Category: urban fantasy

"A Questionable Client" by Ilona Andrews This story is the first in the Dark and Stormy Knights anthology and takes place before the first in Andrew's Kate Daniels series, but I think it does a great job describing the world she lives in, an Atlanta that endures waves of magic, where technology sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. Kate Daniels, a mercenary with the Knights of Merciful Aid, is hired as a bodyguard for a mysterious client whose current bodyguards are ditching out of the assignment. When Kate gets to the address, she meets the shape-shifter Saiman. For those who have read the series, this first meeting is especially interesting, but for those who haven't Saiman is still a fascinating character, in kind of a creepy way. Kate spends the night protecting Saiman from all kinds of nasty things intent on killing him, all because he has something, actually swallowed something, very powerful. Even for those not familiar with Kate Daniels, this is...

We're spending today at the Origins Game Fair, so hopefully I'll have all kinds of games and info to share with you over the next few game night posts. One of the games I'm hoping to see while I'm here is a new release from Evil Hat Productions. I'm not really into Role Playing Games, but I still have to at least check The Dresden Files RPG out. After all it's based on a book series that David and I both enjoy and a world I always get a kick out of visiting. Here's the blurb for Volume 1: Beneath the “normal” surface of the world are things and people which most of us don’t want to know about, and will do our best to forget about if we ever come near them. People won’t see what they don’t want to see. But that’s most of us. And you—you’re not most of us. What’s Your Story? Whether you’re a champion of God, changeling,...

Shadow Blade by Seressia Glass When I first started reading this one, I thought it was awfully similar to other urban fantasy out there right now. There's the strong, brave, independent heroine, Kira, whose father figure/ handler is killed and she wants revenge. Enter the male lead who she's attracted to but doesn't at first want to work with. There are a couple of catches though that set it apart. Kira is a Shadowchaser, working on the side of Light fighting the Shadow, evil and chaos and the man, Khefar, is a 4,000 year old Nubian warrior whose dagger happens to fall into Kira's hands. What really makes the book stand out for me though, is the incorporation of Egyptian mythology. [Kira's] eyes closed as she held her prayers in her heart waiting. She never doubted her patron deity; enforcing order and justice were her life, and she lived the principle of Ma'at every day. Soon enough she felt a brush of warmth,...

She'd added a few ready-made protective charms and safeties before locking it into an iron casket and hiding it in a safe behind a tromp l'oeil facade in her lead-lined basement office. Nothing wrong with a little paranoia. (pg. 21, Shadow Blade by Seressia Glass) Quotes about paranoia always make me laugh. My husband can be slightly paranoid at times, but as he points out, it's not paranoia if they really are out to get you. In his case they're not, but in the quote above, Kira definitely has reason for her concern. Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Play along. I cheated a little this week by not making it random, but the rules are easy. Grab your current read, open to a random page, and give us two teaser sentences. Remember, no spoilers. My copy was sent to me by the publisher and the above is my honest opinion. I am an...

Spider's Bite by Jennifer Estep Gin is an assassin. She makes that clear from the beginning of this book. She doesn't apologize, make excuses, she is who she is. She's a tough woman, strong mentally and physically, but like most flawed heroines, has a soft side, the side that is devastated when her handler and father-figure is killed. She is determined to find who did it and she will kill them and anyone who gets in her way. Gin took a while for me to warm up to. She's so determined to be emotionless, cold as ice, that she's hard to like at first. But she's a more complicated character than she first appears. She's a survivor, but one who believes in protecting her friends, one who keeps her word when she gives it. She's a Stone elemental, able to hear the vibrations in the rocks around her and manipulate the stones themselves, and has a touch of Ice magic that comes...