Book Log 12/2013 - Seanan McGuire: Rosemary and Rue - October Daye #1

October (Toby) Daye is a half-fae private investigator in San Francisco - at least until an enemy turns her into a carp and leaves her swimming in a fish pond for 14 years. By the time she gets out her wholly human husband and (by now teenage) daughter don't want to know her and with her life in ruins she takes a normal job and tries to leave the magic world behind. Tries. Unfortunately when an old friend, Countess Evening Winterrose, is murdered she's forced into finding the killer or suffering the fatal consequences of Winterrose's dying curse which binds her to the task.

The investigation leads Toby into finding out who her friends really are - unfortunately that also means finding that friends an enemies alike are not all what they seem.

I enjoyed this. It's urban fantasy crossed with noir detective fiction. Toby has an engaging voice and the whodunnit angle keeps you guessing.

Book Log 13/2013 - Patricia Briggs: Frost Burned – Mercy Thompson #7

A new Mercy Thompson book is always an event to look forward to. Patricia Briggs writes this character so well and as this is book seven on an ongoing series. We've come to know Mercy pretty well over the course of the previous books, She's a VW mechanic and coyote shapeshifter, possibly even the daughter of Coyote himself, the trickster of legend. There's the usual assorted cast of werewolves, vampires and fae.

Mercy married Adam, the alpha of the Tri-cities werewolf pack, a couple of books ago which makes her second to the boss, despite the fact that she's not a werewolf herself. Protect the pack is always the imperative, so when the pack, Adam included, is mysteriously snatched, drugged and held captive by some government agency Mercy, along with one foul-mouthed, escaped, injured werewolf and Jesse, Adam's daughter, are the only ones who can do anything about it. But the pack has friends and Mercy sets about recruiting a few more people to help including recurring characters Steafan the vampire, Zee, the fae ironsmith, with his son, Tad, and Azil, the Moor, a very old, powerful, but somewhat unstable werewolf sent by Bran, Mercy's foster-father and the head of all the werewolves in North America. It was nice to see Azil again, as we've previously met him in the crossover 'Alpha and Omega' series and he's an intriguing character.

Patricia Briggs is one of my favourite authors. This urban fantasy series is well-grounded in the real world and you can almost taste the grease on the engine and smell the burnt rubber on the road. If characters make mistakes there are consequences and no one is infallible, even Adam, though he tries hard to be.

Highly recommended, but don't start here. You need to read the rest of the series.

Book Log 14/2013 - Kari Sperring: The Grass King's Concubine

Set a few hundred years after the beautifully written 'Living with Ghosts' and in the same world, but a different part of it, Kari Sperring's second novel is a delight. Aude is from a wealthy family in the Silver City, rich on the proceeds of the sweat of the workers in the Brass City which has a very steampunky feel to it and is almost on the brink of revolution. She meets Jehan, a guard in the city torn between his duty and the just cause of the oppressed workers. He sets her straight on a few of the social aspects of how the city and wealth works. When Aude decides to escape an arranged marriage and go on a quest to discover the source of her family's wealth it's Jehan who accompanies her, now more than just a guard. The action goes from the grease and sweat of the Brass City to the arid Steppes, dying to dust for lack of water because Something is Broken in the WorldAbove.

In WorldBelow the Grass King reigns with his terrifying Cadre of elementals, each with their own hidden agenda. Something  is out of balance and both worlds are suffering for it. Aude and Jehan are parted and both swept into the WorldBelow separately with echoes of the Persephone legend coming to the fore

There are two different timelines, one with added shapeshifting ferret-women, who are absolutely charming characters, searching for their lover Marcellan, in WorldBelow.

The world building in this book is superb, with grimy cities and sweeping vistas above and the creepiness and danger of below. The plot unfurls at a leisurely pace and the writing is elegant.

I read some of this in manuscript form while it was still being written as I've done a few weeks at various Milford Writers Conferences (www.milfordSF.co.uk) with the author and it's lovely to see it at last in printed form. I do happen to know that there is a sequel to look forward to.