Once upon a time, witches used to guide the dead to the afterlife. These days, in the world of Witchmark, only Storm Singers matter: witches are either guaranteed to go mad and require confinement in asylums or, if highborn enough, to be enslaved to the Storm Singers, who will use them as magical batteries, and breeders of the next generation of magical batteries. And what happens to the dead? Most folk assume they find their own way, I would guess.
How many miles to Babylon?
Proving once more that the third book of any urban fantasy series is where it hits its stride, An Artificial Night was absolutely everything I’d been looking for in this series and more, with Toby’s supposed investigatory skills taking a back seat and the strangeness of Faerie brought to the fore. When a number of children, both fae and human, are kidnapped from their homes one night, leaving behind nothing but a strange smell and burning window-glass, Toby heads to the older fae for answers […]
Even grim reapers can be unlucky in love
Second Grave on the Left is Darynda Jones’ second book about Charley Davidson, full-time grim reaper and private detective. Charley doesn’t have a hood, just a gun and the ability to see dead people. She helps them cross over literally through her body as a portal to heaven. Book two begins with Cookie, Charley’s neighbor and receptionist, dragging her to a diner for a potential case. When they arrive, the client Mimi is nowhere to found, but she scrawled a name on the bathroom mirror. Suddenly, […]
Harry’s long dark night of the soul.
See, this is why we need half stars. This book right here. This is not a five star book for me, but I liked it better than four stars, also, and feel weird rating it the same as other books I’ve rated four stars and enjoyed less. It is a perfect encapsulation of the 4.5 star book. So round up or down? Up or down? It is a terrible decision. Don’t read on if you haven’t read through book twelve. Spoilers ahoy. A little bit […]