Fantasy – Page 5 – Carol's Notebook

What the Cat Knew by P.D. Workman

April 8, 2022November 15, 2022 by CarolNo Comments

What the Cat Knew is a paranormal cozy mystery that totally hooked me. Reg is tough, smart, and can run a good con, but is caring and loyal underneath it. She's setting up as a medium "for entertainment purposes only" in Black Sands, Florida. She has a couple of problems. First, turns out she actually is a medium and can contact the dead. Second, the man she contacts isn't actually dead. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. We've got our eccentric characters, this time witches and probably other magical creatures. Our amateur sleuth has a legitimate reason for investigating, apparently she's the only one who knows the man is still alive, but since he's in a coma she can still make contact. We've got a touch of romance, maybe, but I'm hoping that fades away. And there's Reg's cat, who I loved. The plot moves along quickly and it was a lot of fun. I'm not quite clear on what kind...

The Valentine Dine or Die by J.B. Michaels

February 15, 2022February 15, 2022 by CarolNo Comments

I love a good holiday-themed cozy and The Valentine Dine or Die is only 99¢ for Kindle. I did read the first in the series last year, but this one could work fine as a standalone. Mac and Millie, our ex-cop and witch, are back in another fun mystery. What could be better than an interactive mystery dinner experience, especially for Valentine's Day? Mac can't pass up free tickets to the dinner, especially since he hasn't bought a present yet. Of course, since this is a cozy mystery, when the lights go out at dinner, someone ends up well and truly dead. Maybe it's a suicide, probably not. Mac and Millie make a good team, they have some cute banter and they actually trust each other. Vance, Mac's brother, is handling the case for the cops, but he's hitting some dead ends, and Mac doesn't have to follow the rules, which makes his help useful. The characters, even the secondary ones,...

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

January 26, 2022January 26, 2022 by Carol2 Comments

Before the Coffee Gets Cold is simple, lovely, and quirky. There's a cafe in Japan where you can travel in time if you sit in a certain chair. Of course, there are restrictions, as you can read in the blurb above. All of the book happens in the cafe, so we get to know the people who work there and the regulars. I don't know if we really get to know them or just get a peek into their lives. We see who they are at the cafe, how they interact with the others there, but not what they do, who they are otherwise, aside from what we're told. It's interesting that, unless someone is there specifically to go back in time, time travel is rarely talked about. It's just part of the cafe, unremarkable to those who are most familiar with it. In this book, we see four trips in time. Each individual knows that the present can't be...

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

January 25, 2022January 25, 2022 by CarolNo Comments

Black Sun is the first book in Between Earth and Sky trilogy, and it is a high fantasy inspired by the civilizations Pre-Columbian Americas. The winter solstice in the holy city of Tova usually means a time for celebration and renewal. But this year a solar eclipse will occur with the winter solstice. The story marches toward that Convergence. I listened to the audiobook and each of the four points of view had their own narrator. We have Xiala, a boat captain who can control both water and people with her Song. We have Serapio, a blind man who Xiala needs to make sure is in Tova before the Convergence. The chemistry between them is fabulous. Naranpa is the Sun Priest, doing her best even though she has more enemies than she understands. Last is Okoa of clan Carrion Crow, who we know the least, but seems the most willing to accept what he doesn't understand. They're all compelling...

The Christmas Walk Caper by J.B. Michaels

November 18, 2021November 16, 2021 by CarolNo Comments

The Christmas Walk Caper features Mac O'Malley, a retired Chicago cop, who is attempting to write a memoir of his last big case. When Mac learns that Patricia, the owner of The Tiny Wanderer, has been found dead in her home on the morning of the annual Christmas Walk, his cop instincts are telling him she didn't just die of old age. If the local cops, including his brother Vince, don't agree, maybe he and his girlfriend, Millie, can do some investigating on their own. The small town at Christmas setting was charming. The Christmas Walk sounds like an event I'd love to participate in, touring people's decorated homes. For a novella, the mystery was well-done. We had a couple of suspects and clues but not so many that the conclusion felt rushed. I liked Mac, although he was pretty quick to discount the abilities of the local police. I found the fact that he started investigating as a way to put...

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

November 8, 2021November 12, 2021 by CarolNo Comments

First of all Harrow is not an easy read. It's absolutely necessary to read Gideon the Ninth first then take a short break before reading this one. At least, I had to take a break. I tried going from one right into the other and found I wasn't quite ready to immerse in that world again, but maybe that's just me. It's a dark, tense world and the writing style is very distinct, which is both good in the fact that it makes it mysterious and memorable, but also meant I needed a breather. Harrow has become a lychtor, a superpowerful, immortal magical necromance knight to the Necrolord Prime, the Undying Emperor — we know that — probably. In the present, told in the second person, Harrow is having a tough time. While she is an amazing bone magician, she's finding the process of becoming a true lychtor difficult, if not impossible. Sadly enough, we have no Gideon here, just...