Magic Bites introduces us to Kate Daniels, a mercenary who’s working in an Atlanta that is in flux – in this world sometimes technology is in charge, but during others magic holds sway. To cope with this, Atlanta has a number of agencies to tackle the supernatural as well as criminal threats. Kate works for none of these, preferring to go it alone, but when her mentor and father-figure (who’s no pushover himself when it comes to monsters) is murdered and both the People (undead) […]
I’ve seen the future, brother. It is murder.
As anyone with even the vaguest idea of my reading habits will have noticed, I’m fascinated by true crime – and serial killers in particular. I can’t tell you why that is (although I’ve read lots of theories about why women, and in particular women with anxiety, are so drawn to the subject), but what I can tell you is that Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters is an excellent book on the history of serial killing, the psychopathology of these types of […]
Rather bored, more like.
Rotherweird is a strange town. Cut off from the rest of England during the reign of Elizabeth I, the outside world has barely encroached on the town since then. Populated almost entirely by borderline genius eccentrics, outsiders aren’t really encouraged except for in exceptional circumstances – like the disappearance of one of the town’s teachers, prompting them to seek a replacement. On getting the job of history teacher, Jonah Oblong arrives in Rotherweird and, stranger still, is given to understand that actual history is very […]
Stay out of the forest…
I haven’t read any Naomi Novik before, but this was recommended on one of those ‘If you liked this, you’ll like…’ on finishing The Bear and the Nightingale, with which it shares a fairytale feel and a young woman coming of age and magic, surrounded by a malignant forest. Uprooted isn’t quite as good as The Bear and The Nightingale, but was good enough for me to note Novik as one to read more from. Agnieska lives in the village of Dvernik where, every ten […]