Tag: Mystery

Peace Talks (Dresden Files #16) by Jim Butcher

Posted on October 14, 2020 by - Book Review

Peace Talks (Dresden Files Book 16) by [Jim Butcher]

Almost twenty years ago I picked up a book on a whim because the blurb described the story of a wizard for hire in Chicago. That book was Mr. Butcher’s first Harry Dresden novel — Storm Front — and I’ve not looked back since.

To say that I devour Dresden content is an understatement. I supported the television show (even though it wasn’t the best, and really should have had James Marsters in the title role), and even read each comic book adaptation.

Adventures with Harry were like clockwork: every year there would be something new. Then, after book 15 — Skin Game — came the lull. Six whole years without a new book. And, boy howdy, Skin Game did not end cleanly. I’m not going to spoil anything, but that was an agonizing wait.

Suddenly, it’s 2020 and, lo and behold, there’s a new Dresden book dropping in July! So I subtly shuffle my ever-growing to-be-read list around and slide it in as quickly as possible.

Let me tell you, this is exactly the Dresden book I needed. Yes I whined that it had been six years with no new fix, but this one made great strides towards mending that wound. We get new characters, old characters with new-found talents, new alliances, and stunning new foes.

About halfway through the book I get a notification that book seventeen of the Dresden Files is dropping on September 29. Two Dresden books in less than four months?!?!?!? So this is what Mr. Butcher has been doing for the last six years (I’m still waiting for another Cinder Spires book, too). Battle Ground will get its own review after I am done devouring it, and, while Peace Talks and Battle Ground could have been one giant epic of Harry Dresden greatness, I totally understand the split, and why it was very important to have an oh so brief pause between the two.

Peace Talks is the perfect stage-setter for what is to come while also building up an interesting semi-reboot of the the series. Harry, interestingly enough, has become less impulsive, more introspective, and is beginning to realize the responsibilities he has to himself, his family and loved ones, and the obligations he has gotten himself into. Hell, I think I counted less than ten FUEGO! mentions in the entire book!

Ultimately, it’s good to have Harry back, and it’s even better to have something other than short story case files in hand from Mr. Butcher.

I am still waiting for Cinder Spires book two, though…

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

Posted on September 28, 2020 by - Book Review

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Every so often I come across a book that is both incredibly enjoyable, and masterfully constructed. The Starless Sea is definitely one of those books.

I really enjoyed Ms. Morgenstern’s first book, The Night Circus, so I figured I’d give this one a go after it sat in my “to be read” pile for a good chunk of the year. I am both happy and sad that I sat on this one. Happy that it did not get to overshadow a lot of what I have read in 2020, and sad that I did not have the characters within in my life sooner.

The Starless Sea is the story of Zachary Ezra Rawlins, the son of a fortune teller and lover of books. Without giving too much away, the story really starts to progress when Zachary stumbles across a very particular and mysterious book with no apparent author or origin.

What ensues is a grand adventure involving deception, intrigue, secret societies, and, of course the Starless Sea.

To me, this story really captures a perfected world of fantastic fables and storytelling. Hold your hands together like you are packing a snowball. What lies within that sphere of space in your empty hands is how I imagine the world within The Starless Sea: it is compact, mysterious, yet perfectly contained.

I cannot wait to read what Ms. Morgenstern has in store for us next.

Four Tombstones (Josie Jameson #1) by Jennifer L. Hotes

Posted on September 14, 2020 by - Book Review

This book was provided to me by NetGalley in return for a fair review

Four Tombstones: a Josie Jameson mystery by [Jennifer Hotes]

I’m a huge fan of magic/mystery books, an even greater fan of YA; and Four Tombstones hits all the right buttons in what I look for in a book.

The story of Josie Jameson, a Seattle-area teenager who lost her mother to cancer six years ago, Four Tombstones is a story of love, loss, hope and mystery.

Everything opens with Josie desperately wanting to connect with her mother through dragging her four friends — the Baby Group — to the cemetery where her mother is buried in the guise of having some Halloween night fun to make some grave rubbings. As a result of that fateful night, new connections are made, Josie and her friends each end up getting set on tasks that will both bring them all closer, and, at some points, threaten to break them all apart.

The genuineness in Ms. Hotes’ writing really sells each of the journeys. Each member of the Baby Group faces some sort of harsh reality, and each have to grow a bit more out of childhood to reckon with their dilemmas: both individual and collective.

An air of the mystical permeates most of Josie’s story, and she tackles the unknown with both vigor and trepidation. It was not until I got to the end of this book that I was made aware that there are two others in the series. I very much look forward to reading more about Josie and her friends’ adventures.

Book Review: Gideon the Ninth

Posted on August 21, 2020 by - Book Review

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

There are stories one reads that one hopes will never end; then there are stories that absolutely cannot end. Harrow the Ninth falls firmly in the second category.

I absolutely fell in love with the wit and language of Gideon the Ninth and the story of Lyctor and last necromancer of the Ninth House, Harrowhark Nonagesimus is right up there in caliber. The glorious weaving of language and humor tied into yet another catastrophic mystery makes for one of the most enjoyable reads I’ve had all year.

Yes, parts of the story are confusing as all hell, but that’s part of the story. Sometimes you just have to let go and patiently observe the author taking you on a wild rollercoaster ride, and you’ll just have to like it. Believe me, the ride is worth it.

Extra kudos to Moira Quirk who did the voice acting/narration for the audiobook. These stories are made that much better because of her involvement in the project. The characters are as much hers as they are Ms. Muir’s.