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jacey9) 17/3/11
Tanya Huff: Enchantment Emporium
Tanya Huff is always good value whether writing straight fantasy, military SF or – like this one – urban fantasy. This is a fast paced book which introduces the Gales, a magical Ontario family ruled by The Aunties – as fearsome a bunch as ever sported a blue rinse. Don't go all fuzzy on me, here. The Aunties are controlling, ruthless and completely amoral who seem to employ an ends-justify-the-means approach to wielding their magical powers. Alysha Gale, (Allie) temporarily unemployed, receives notification that her grandmother – an 'Auntie' who has slipped the leash – is dead and has left Allie a business in Calagary which must continue to serve the community. Allie leaves behind her squabbling pack of oversexed cousins, the overbearing Aunties and sets off to find out what's happened to Gran, and to see what she's inherited. On arrival she discovers that it's a junk shop and the community it serves is fae.
Allie's a Gale girl and possessiveness is built into her genes. In short order she adopts a stray leprechaun, starts up a relationship with a newspaper reporter (Graham) who is More Than He Seems, She wards off someone who is threatening her leprechaun, discovers a dragon infestation and has problems with a sorcerer. To be fair the Gale Girls always have problems with sorcerers, so much so that they usually kill on sight, but Calgary is now Allie's (in magical terms) and she's going to do it differently. Besides if she calls the Aunties in to do for the sorcerer it's likely that her reporter will be caught in the crossfire and she doesn't want that.
Members of Allie's family start to show up: Charlie, her unconventional (even for a Gale Girl) cousin who can walk between dimensions; Roland the accountant, her completely conventional Gale cousin (Gale boys are rare); Michael, her first love who broke her heart when he swung the other way and moved to Vancouver with his lover Brian; and David, her powerful brother whom the Aunties predict will go wild and end up a sorcerer needing to be dealt with in their customary way.
There's a threat to the city, hell it may even be a threat to the world. Something's coming through from the Under Realm. It's big and it's bad and only the sorcerer (he says) can stop it. Yeah right! Do we believe him, boys and girls? Allie has to deal with dragon lords, sort out truth from lies, protect her family and flock, and ward off the Aunties until the time is right to yell for the Seventh Cavalry.
A rollicking, fast-paced, sexy book with anguish, action, twists and turns. I do hope this isn’t the last we see of the Gales. Ms Huff says it's a standalone, but there's potential here.
Tanya Huff: Enchantment Emporium
Tanya Huff is always good value whether writing straight fantasy, military SF or – like this one – urban fantasy. This is a fast paced book which introduces the Gales, a magical Ontario family ruled by The Aunties – as fearsome a bunch as ever sported a blue rinse. Don't go all fuzzy on me, here. The Aunties are controlling, ruthless and completely amoral who seem to employ an ends-justify-the-means approach to wielding their magical powers. Alysha Gale, (Allie) temporarily unemployed, receives notification that her grandmother – an 'Auntie' who has slipped the leash – is dead and has left Allie a business in Calagary which must continue to serve the community. Allie leaves behind her squabbling pack of oversexed cousins, the overbearing Aunties and sets off to find out what's happened to Gran, and to see what she's inherited. On arrival she discovers that it's a junk shop and the community it serves is fae.
Allie's a Gale girl and possessiveness is built into her genes. In short order she adopts a stray leprechaun, starts up a relationship with a newspaper reporter (Graham) who is More Than He Seems, She wards off someone who is threatening her leprechaun, discovers a dragon infestation and has problems with a sorcerer. To be fair the Gale Girls always have problems with sorcerers, so much so that they usually kill on sight, but Calgary is now Allie's (in magical terms) and she's going to do it differently. Besides if she calls the Aunties in to do for the sorcerer it's likely that her reporter will be caught in the crossfire and she doesn't want that.
Members of Allie's family start to show up: Charlie, her unconventional (even for a Gale Girl) cousin who can walk between dimensions; Roland the accountant, her completely conventional Gale cousin (Gale boys are rare); Michael, her first love who broke her heart when he swung the other way and moved to Vancouver with his lover Brian; and David, her powerful brother whom the Aunties predict will go wild and end up a sorcerer needing to be dealt with in their customary way.
There's a threat to the city, hell it may even be a threat to the world. Something's coming through from the Under Realm. It's big and it's bad and only the sorcerer (he says) can stop it. Yeah right! Do we believe him, boys and girls? Allie has to deal with dragon lords, sort out truth from lies, protect her family and flock, and ward off the Aunties until the time is right to yell for the Seventh Cavalry.
A rollicking, fast-paced, sexy book with anguish, action, twists and turns. I do hope this isn’t the last we see of the Gales. Ms Huff says it's a standalone, but there's potential here.
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Date: Mar. 19th, 2011 10:43 am (UTC)Have you read any of Nina Kirikki Hoffman's novels? They have a similar feel to this. Recommended, if you don't know them.
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Date: Mar. 19th, 2011 05:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Mar. 20th, 2011 08:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Mar. 19th, 2011 11:07 am (UTC)OK, I have been reading fantasy, but that sounds a bit different and I'll add it to my list.
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Date: Mar. 19th, 2011 05:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Mar. 19th, 2011 06:20 pm (UTC)Among Others is curate's eggish in my opinion. Most of it is excellent and the fairies are truly weird, but I wish that she'd kept the amibivalence about whether magic is real or not throughout. If she had, I think it might well have been published over here as a literary novel, but I thought the ending tipped it firmly into fantasy.
Anyway, as that is brand new and only available in US paperback (I read the Kindle version), I suggest starting with Farthing or Tooth and Claw.
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Date: Mar. 20th, 2011 02:14 pm (UTC)Must go re-read Enchantment Emporium again.
Mary Anne in Kentucky