Dragon's Claw by Karen Chance

A Spoiler Free Review

Okay so, I have come to realize that although Karen Chance does write some pretty good battle scenes, her writing really shines in the quieter moments. It’s a shame, really, that the quieter moments between epic battles are subsumed by those battles. I was really enjoying the “Dory plays detective” aspects of this novella and then most of that went out of my head because of the high-stakes epic battle that always happens toward the end of Karen Chance’s books.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Pritkin show up. I found it a little weird that we only know it’s Pritkin is because the nameless Irin name-drops him. Which is like, Easter Egg for those reading both Cassie and Dory books. I don’t know that I would have taken that one name drop and followed him from the Dory books to the Cassie books, but I might have been more interested if it was more than a single name drop and not “the mage” or “maybe a mutant” thing that was going on.

As for the ultimate “villain reveal” I’m feeling incredibly underwhelmed. The info-dump of the reveal is… not great. It definitely doesn’t make me wanna go back and re-look at all the clues and it didn’t make me go “oh that works really well.” Just blah. And the “villain” remains nameless, so the ending has even less of an impact.

I might be expecting a lot from a novella, but this really doesn’t feel like it had much bearing on the overall story. It feels like Dragon’s Claw largely serves as a vehicle to showcase Dorina’s power set and solidify Cheung and Zheng’s places on the Senate. I could be wrong, but I guess I’ll see once I start Queen’s Gambit. 

Favorite Line

"To be remembered is the only real eternity." - Irin

Lost in the Moment and Found by Seanan McGuire

A Mostly Spoiler Free Review

I have pretty much loved this entire series. Seanan McGuire stole my heart as swiftly as the Doors steal away children. Lost in the Moment and Found is no exception. In fact, I probably enjoyed this one the best out of the single character stories. Antsy might not be the most well-rounded character, but I liked her well enough.

So, the author’s note at the beginning of the book had me in a sort of dread lock while reading the first part of Lost in the Moment and Found. The warning was a good idea for those who have experienced the same type of trauma Antsy did, but it definitely had me reading in a “when is the other shoe going to drop” kind of way. I am so glad Antsy got the chance and made the decision to run. That said, Lost in the Moment and Found is definitely dark but doesn’t stay that way… mostly.

I also enjoyed the Land of Lost Things. Definitely brought back memories of how thrift stores felt when I was younger. I would very much enjoy going back with either Antsy or a different character.

This part is kind of a spoiler, but I think it bears some talking about. Vineta and Hudson’s attitude toward the cost and letting the children make the informed choice is very understandable. Vineta experienced the cost and doesn’t think it would really make that much of a difference letting the kids know. Hudson’s got that longer view due to the magpies being around to see whether or not it would make a difference to know the cost. Antsy not realizing there even was a cost was also understandable. We have to teach kids about cost because they just don’t know until they learn eventually. I very much agree with Elodina and Antsy’s view that the cost must be known. Informed consent is best consent. Just letting kids do all the dirty work, essentially, without knowing what they’re giving up is just messed up.

Speaking of information, I really liked that we got some more information about the Doors and how they work. I always enjoy the world-building aspects of this series.

I’m really not sure if I can say much else without properly spoiling things, so I’ll just stop here. If, for some reason, this is your first Wayward Children book, I highly recommend reading the rest of the series. It’s wonderful and Lost in the Moment and Found is a wonderful addition.

Shadow's Bane by Karen Chance

A Spoiler Free Review

Well, that was a fun, crazy, but still coherent ride. Dory fights slavers and body-jumping fey and finally kinda figures out how to communicate with Dorina. Kinda, cuz it’s really Dorina who initiates all the communication, but it will do.

Dory and Dorina aren’t the only ones dealing with alternate personalities here. Claire is also learning to deal with her dragon side. She’s also finally slowly accepting the vampires she’s just going to have to deal with if Dory’s around, which I think is a good thing.

We also learn more about the Fey in Shadow’s Bane. Caedmon is an actual font of information, even if it’s mostly the legend of Alfhild. There’s actually a lot packed in there. All the stuff about fey bones and the vargr powers. Very important. I was less pleased with Caedmon deciding to bait Louis-Cesare, but I guess it was kind of fun?

Louis-Cesare and Dory are yet again doing the on-again-off-again relationship thing that I hate. It’s even more annoying because they had it worked out and were being all cute and then Dorina’s suddenly a threat… it’s just ridiculous and they don’t actually talk it over. I’m just really hoping now Dory and Dorina have more or less worked out their shit that the Louis-Cesare stuff is settled. I think Dory and Louis-Cesare would work much better as more of a power couple.

Ray’s back. Cementing himself as Dory’s Second and bringing her a vampire family. I’m interested to see how that works out with her being a dhampir and all.

I quite liked the plot of Shadow’s Bane. It all manages to hang together really well. I’m not entirely sure I like how it was all info-dumped for Marlowe toward the end, but I guess we gotta spell it out somehow.

Shadow’s Bane is definitely more of an introspective book, but Dory’s introspection often comes with action, of which there is plenty. Most of the fight scenes are chaotic but fairly easy to follow. My favorite one was the Louis-Cesare/Kit Marlowe fight. It made me laugh. So yeah, pretty good all around.

Favorite Lines

"Love is sending someone away, because you would rather hurt than hurt them, Love is fighting beside them, bleeding along with them, and putting their well-being above your own. Love is trembling at their touch so much that you do not notice that they are trembling at yours." - Louis-Cesare

"Read a book sometime, you philistine." - Radu Basarab

The Last Herald Mage Overview

The Last Herald Mage by Mercedes Lackey

There will be spoilers for the entire trilogy in this post. You have been warned.

Alright, here we go. The Last Herald Mage trilogy is kind of a hard one for me to put an overall label on. The series takes place basically over Herald-Mage Vanyel Ashkevron's lifetime but there are very few actual events from that lifetime that we get to witness. Mostly we get to witness Van's various recovery eras rather than his exploits, which I think is fair. Vanyel has got to be one of the most traumatized characters I've encountered in a while.

So when we first meet him, Vanyel is being mentally abused by his father, Withen and various siblings/foster-siblings while at the same time being physically abused by the Forst Reach's weapon's master, Jervis. All this prompts Withen to send Van off to his sister in Haven, Savil. While this stops the abuse, Van ends up pretty much shutting himself off emotionally from everyone he meets until one Tylendel Frelennye manages to get under Van's skin and break him of this destructive behavior. It's nice that Tylendel is able to do this, really, but that relationship is pretty much never healthy. Healthier than it could have been, yes, but it's not great that they become codependent.

I've never been a fan of the Van/Tylendel pairing and I really think part of that has to do with how rushed it is in Magic's Pawn. We go from Tylendel bringing Van out of his protective shell to them being absolutely inseparable (within Savil's living quarters anyway) to Tylendel's breakdown upon the death of his twin and Tylendel's death, all in pretty quick succession. We barely get to see Van and Tylendel as an actual couple and their dynamic is remarked upon as being potentially unhealthy by Savil, who then never really checks up on that afterward. She just leaves them to their own devices even when she probably shouldn't have. Aaand then Tylendel manipulates Van... so it's just always left this icky feeling behind, for me anyway.

I find the Van/Stefen romance much more palatable, reincarnation stuff aside. It really doesn't affect their relationship at all anyway, since Savil and Starwind opt not to tell them about that. I feel like Van and Stefen came at their relationship in a much healthier manner and it really feels like an actual relationship. I'm also glad Stefen stuck by Van when they went off after Van's nemesis. Van needed a more grounding influence on that trip than even Yfandes could provide... and then, ya know, help through the trauma after the bandits captured him. Thinking about Van's relationships now, actually, it's like the difference between your do-or-die teen romances as opposed to more adult ones. Just all the cringe followed by something much, much better.

And speaking of those changing relationships, Van and his parents are interesting to look at. We're made to really dislike Withen Ashkevron in Magic's Pawn but by the Magic's Price he's mostly a cuddly teddy bear. I think the progression throughout Van's life is quite realistic, even if, at times, it does seem a little rushed. I found the timeline a tad hard to keep track of between Magic's Promise and Magic's Price, to be honest, which accounts for the rushed feeling. Withen's change in attitudes are also helped along by the death of Father Leren and a retelling of Moondance's story. Treesa, on the other hand, is a bit of an odd duck to me. I like that she at least attempts to foster Van's talents and later completely accepts Yfandes. I find her clinging to youth thing more annoying than anything else, and that "courtly love" thing she does rubbed me the wrong way. Of course, not being a girly-girl myself and having absolutely no flirting game, I'm not even sure how the "courtly love" thing actually works. However, if it's coming on strong enough to freak out a traumatized child, there's an issue.

Van's other family members aren't really worth going into, but I do have to mention Van's sister, Lissa. I wish we'd gotten more Lissa. I liked Lissa.

Jervis turned out to be a much more likeable man and important character during Magic's Promise. He clearly had some time to think about how he treated Van and how he should be treating his other charges. I think it's a little odd he didn't tell Van why he wanted to spar all the time instead of just letting Van stew about it... but it turned out all right in the end.

I feel like I'd be a bit remiss in not mentioning the Tayledras pair of Moodance and Starwind k'Treva. They are instrumental in both healing and training Van after the whole Tylendel incident. They also help after the assassination attempt on Treesa. I like them, but they're also relatively flat as characters. Moondance is more fleshed out than Starwind, but mostly because of his backstory... which is told exactly the same way in both Magic's Pawn and Magic's Price, though with different intentions.

Pivoting to the plots of The Last Herald Mage: I'm pretty sure I enjoyed Magic's Promise the most. Magic's Pawn mostly just had Van along for the ride and then recovering from that ride. Magic's Price felt like there was too much for the one book. Magic's Promise, while mildly infuriating, probably had the best overall plot. The mystery around Tashir was a good one and fairly well put together. My only issue with Magic's Promise was just how long it took Van to get back to the initial crime scene. An actual investigator, he is not. It also bugged me a little how long Van spent undercover in Lineas for fairly little reward.

There's also some discussion (actually a fairly small discussion, but turned into Stefen's life's work after Van's death) in the books about how Heralds are viewed and view themselves. I find it interesting that Herald-Mages are apparently much more valued than regular Heralds... probably because I read The Heralds of Valdemar trilogy first, in which there are no Herald-Mages. So... the numbers just don't seem to make sense to me in terms of valuation. Granted, we as readers don't actually have a good idea how many Herald-Mages there were to normal Heralds, but we do know there aren't many older Herald-Mages to act as guides to the younger Herald-Mage Trainees... hence part of why Savil had three trainees at the start of Magic's Pawn. The Herald-Mages were also largely wiped out during the war with Karse to the point that it left Savil, Lissandra, Van, and Kilchas as the remaining Herald-Mages. The numbers in my head of Heralds vs Herald-Mages just don't make sense with how the general public views them... I mean, I guess it's probably more akin to, like, A-list celebrities vs the rest of Hollywood. I don't know. It's just odd to me.

I'm not really sure I have much else to say about The Last Herald Mage. I did enjoy the trilogy a lot more than I did The Mage Wars and a little less than The Founding of Valdemar. Yfandes is probably my favorite Companion.

Short Reviews Batch 4

A Fistful of Charms by Kim Harrison

A very short, spoiler free, reread review

Originally posted to GoodReads: 3-31-2019

Okay so, the pace of this one is actually kinda slow, compared to the other books. I like the insight we get into Were society, after several books focusing on Vampires. Also appreciated the small look into Pixies we got. Looking forward to more of that.

I did find the "Oh, Rachel's got a wandering eye for every good looking dude" thing really annoying and uncomfortable, especially when directed at Jenks. Just... why?

Deep Wizardry by Diane Duane

A very very short, spoiler free, reread review

Originally Posted to GoodReads: 4-6-2018

Wow... I forgot how much this book dealt with death and sacrifice... and I really shouldn't have read it in small chunks like I did this time. It's really better in larger sections.

Magic's Price by Mercedes Lackey

A Re-Read Review

Magic’s Price is a hard one to review. It’s not bad at all, but it also feels like it should have been two books rather than one. It really feels like Stefen and Vanyel’s romance and relationship should have been given time to really breathe and Van’s whole thing with Learth could probably have been its own story. It made the last third-or-so of Magic’s Price really intense compared to the earlier parts of the book.

I quite enjoyed the beginning with Van and Stef’s blossoming relationship. I feel like it’s a better representation of the kind of age-gap relationships I’ve seen represented. I also actually buy Van and Stef as a couple, like I didn't with Van and Tylendel. I also liked that Van’s relationship with his family turned out the way it did. After Magic’s Promise I felt they were well on their way to earning the redemption for their early treatment of Van and here, they definitely earned it and fully repaired that relationship.

Van’s transitioning the Herald Web from the Herald-Mages to Heralds as a whole took up much less time that I was really expecting it to. He was charged with that by Jays at the end of Magic’s Promise so I was expecting it to be harder or something.

The last, about third, I think, of Magic’s Promise was intense, to say the least. As soon as the last batch of mages were being killed (and no, this is not as spoiler as the series is The Last Herald Mage), it really ramped up the pace and tension. I had honestly even forgotten that Kilchas and Lissandra were even characters, even though they worked with Van and Savil earlier in the book. That’s about how much is packed into this one. Anyway, I really felt Savil’s death and completely understand how that kicked Van into high gear.

I’m very glad we got most of what happened after than from Van and that bandit kid’s perspectives. I don’t think Van’s head was right before the bandits got him and it definitely wasn’t after. That we also had time in there for Van to recover from his trauma was interesting. Weirdly didn’t feel like there was a dip in the pacing, either. I was pleasantly surprised to get kyree and actually see some into their culture. Before this they were only vaguely mentioned in the series.

The ending… well, the ending had the kind of bow on it I like. A nice ending that’s not sickly sweet nor overly horrendous. I was very pleased. 

On Another Note...

I'm currently in the middle of a run of Valdemar short stories and then starting The Collegum Chronicles.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Illustrated Edition by JK Rowling

Re-Read Review

If you are planning to purchase this book, please do so used in order to curb J.K. Rowling's spending on her transphobia.

I have probably read Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets at least 20 times. This time, I read the illustrated version with a few jumps back over to the paperback because spiders are just not my jam. The Jim Kay illustrated version is beautiful. I loved almost every moment of it with a special highlight being the full 2-page spread of the phoenix. The illustrations really added to my enjoyment of the book, which is not really one of my favorites of the Harry Potter series.

Chamber of Secrets is definitely one of those books that both flourishes and suffers upon reread. The flourishing part has to do with the massive amount of foreshadowing and set up Rowling seeds throughout. Like, really, the amount of stuff from Chamber of Secrets that is more relevant because of later books is astounding. Not entirely surprising if you’re a massive Harry Potter nerd like I am or find out that Rowling originally wanted to have a lot of Half-Blood Prince stuff in Chamber of Secrets, but still really impressive. The suffering actually has more to do with Rowling’s magic system and the holes I saw in it… which of course is what this review is going to focus on.

Okay so, somewhere in between taking off from London and getting pummeled by the Whomping Willow, the Ford Anglia managed to gain sentience. Unless it was sentient from the time Arthur started working magic on it… in which case, how??? This is where Rowling’s magic system really starts getting into the weeds of “how does that happen” and we’re apparently not supposed to notice because “magic.”

I honestly feel like this is the most sinister Tom Riddle ever is. There’s just something special about a more quiet villain, which he definitely is at this point. I’m not sure I felt this way in my first read, but this time around it’s like “ooohhhh crap. Harry doesn’t have a clue and Riddle’s just smiling and doing his own thing…”

On a side note, “werewolf cubs”? So… not kids bitten my werewolves, but hereditary werewolves? The implications of this are not actually touched on here and are never brought up again and I have questions.

I find it interesting that intent has nothing whatsoever to do with freeing House Elfs. Lucius just vaguely threw the sock in Dobby’s direction and Dobby is freed. No intent on Lucius’ part. I feel like, if the House Elf enslavement thing was magically binding, there would have had to be some intent on the part of the wizard to unbind the House Elf. Slavery is gross to begin with and the method of keeping House Elfs enslaved is also gross and brings into question some logistics, but yeah… this really jumped out at me on this reread.

Anywho, Chamber of Secrets is really where the Harry Potter series starts to show its darkness. I know this isn’t revelatory for us older fans, but it’s very, very true. Chamber of Secrets is still ostensibly geared toward younger readers, but it’s unmistakably dark.