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A heist novella with a clever premise. In a city heavy with magic, Amarelle Parathis and her crew of supposedly retired thieves get into financial hot water and end up with a seemingly impossible task. They have a year and a day to perform the ultimate heist. They have to steal… a street. An enjoyable short read.
Sep. 14th, 2019
The good luck girls are anything but lucky. Sold into prostitution as children they grow up in a brothel, first servants (daybreak girls) and then when they cross their fateful sixteenth birthday they become sundown girls. It's Clementine's 'lucky night', her virginity sold to the highest bidder. Aster, her sister has already undergone the transformation from skivvy to prostitute and she fears for Clem. So when it all goes wrong and Clem defends herself, killing her customer, the girls decide to escape, and end up taking some of the other girls with them. Chased by raveners and aided by one lone sympathetic tracker, who, as it turns out, is looking for his sister, sold to another lucky house by their parents. There's plenty of peril as the girls make their way across hostile country, trying any way they can to stay ahead of their pursuers.
These are the characters from HTV/Goldcrest's Robin of Sherwood, created by Richard Carpenter. This story slots into the later seasons with the Jason Connery Robin, an ties in with one of the Spiteful Puppet audio adventures. Robin is given a warning by Herne the Hunter, the magical green-man type figure, sometimes a god and sometimes a man. A new enemy is about to make himself known, and Robin must face him, but only after he's lost something he holds dear. Herne's cryptic message, doesn't help much, but sure enough a being comes to the forest, able to turn men's minds to his own purpose. He's been invited by the Sheriff of Nottingham to eliminate Robin and his men, but it soon appears that the Sheriff can't control his own man. This is definitely a nostalgia read. It's just like watching an episode of Robin of Sherwood, which, for those of us of a certain age, is fondly remembered as one of the best iterations of the Robin Hood legend.
Booklog 56/2019: T Kingfisher: Minor Mage
Sep. 14th, 2019 02:00 am
Oliver is a very minor mage, in more ways than one. He barely has any magic, and he's a twelve year old child, but he's all the village has got, so when there's a drought he and his familiar, an armadillo, are sent off by a mob (formerly his friends and neighbours) to the Rainblade Mountains to bring back rain. Oliver muses on the transformation of a crowd into a mob, but his mother isn't at home to say no, so off he trudges. He would have gone anyway, but he rather resents being sent. A twelve year old and an armadillo encounter bandits and monster and even though he can only manage three spells (and one of them is to cure his allergy to armadillo dander) he manages to think his way out of some dangerous corners. T Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon) is one of my writer discoveries this year. She's well worth reading. I'm puzzled as to why this has been published under Ms Vernon's T. Kingfisher pseudonym which I understood was the name she kept for her adult books. She writes as Ursula Vernon for children. Granted not all books with a child protagonist are intended to be read by children, but this one is perfectly suitable for the older end of Middle Grade.
This is The First Law trilogy TNG. Our favourite characters from the First law have offspring who are the prime movers in this, the first in a new trilogy. King Jezal's son, Orso, heir to the throne of the Union, is a notorious wastrel, mainly because he's never been allowed responsibility. He's trying to prove himself, with limited success. Arch Lector Glokta, the most feared man in the Union, has a daughter. Savine, a socialite, inventor and celebrated beauty – and also completely ruthless in the pursuit of wealth. The Union is racing headlong into an industrial revolution, with predictable effects for the common people, hence the Breakers and the Burners pitted against the industrialists. And in the north Scale Ironhand and Black Calder are moving to reclaim The Protectorate, now part of the Union and ruled by the Dogman. Stour Nightfall, Black Calder's son and Scale Ironhand's heir rides at the head of the northern armies, while Rikke, the Dogman's fit-prone daughter has the long-eye. Leo dan Brock, son of deceased war hero and Fintree dan Brock, a canny general in her own right, is a prodigious but sometimes reckless warrior. If this all sounds complex, it is. It's one of Abercrombie's multi-character, multi-viewpoint sprawling stories. If you enjoyed First Law, which I did, you'll love this
A St Mary's short story which tells the tale of when Max's husband meets Max's father. Andit's payback time. Leon knows Max's upbringing wasn't kind but Max has been free of her father for many years now—until he suddenly gets the idea that Max isn't a fit person to look after a baby, so he's about to use all his considerable influence to take Matthew into his care. The only problem is that due to Max's arch enemy Ronan, Matthew was 'lost' in the timeline and by the time Max got him back he was ten years older than his birth certificate says he should be. Oops! Can't risk Grandad finding out about that. Usually proactive on her own behalf, this time Max has to sit back and let Leon sort it out, with the help of Markham and a computer whizz. What could possibly go wrong? Jodi Taylor is a buy on sight author for me. Obviously I like to get my teeth into a full length novel, but the short stories are a great stopgap between longer offerings.
A Tam-Lin story, though not entirely. When Jan's boyfriend Tyler disappears, she's upset (thinking it's his way of ending their relationship) and then she's angry and finally she decides to confront him, only to discover that he's well and truly missing. AJ and Martin spin her a tale about Tyler having been 'taken' which Jan finds hard to believe until the bus she's on is attacked by goblins. Things spiral into weirdness from there. AJ and Martin aren't exactly human, they're supernaturals, but the fae (who have taken Tyler) are preternaturals, looking for a way to infiltrate our the world, and if they find it, they won't be kind. Though based on Tam Lin this is a modern day story with computers and tech. It's nicely written, but I confess I'm not rushing to get the sequel. So many books, so little time. However this is complete in itself. No cliffhanger ending.Booklog 60/2019: C.E Murphy: Siryn
Sep. 14th, 2019 02:08 am
Siryn is a creature of the sea, a unique being who can dive deeper than any human, but who can shed her mechanical tail and walk on land. Is she an adapted human or is she something totally unique? She's happy in her own environment until she rescues a man 'broad in shoulder and strong in leg.' It's love at first sight, and she takes to the land, but the seas are rising and something must be done – one way or another. This is a 'little mermaid' tale crossed with the selkie, or would be if the mermaid and selkie were proactive, as ruthless as the terminator, and bloody angry! This is a quick read, a novella, a fairy tale for a modern age.
I generally like Heyer, but I confess I found this boring. The heroine of the piece, Miss Wychwood (Annis) is on her way to her home in Bath when she comes across a young couple whose gig has broken a wheel. On a whim Annis takes the young lady (Lucilla) into her carriage and discovers that she's running away because her parents are trying to pressure her into marrying a childhood friend. (To complicate matters the man she doesn't want to marry (Ninian) is the one who's helping her run away because he doesn't want to marry her either.) It gets complicated even more in a typically Heyer kind of way when Annis, a twenty nine year old spinster who considers herself on the shelf, meets Lucilla's grumpy guardian. You can probably guess the ending. But, oh, it seemed interminably slow. Not one of my favourite Heyers.