Review: The Chronicles of Viktor Valentine #2: What Lurks in the Shadows

The Chronicles of Viktor Valentine #2: What Lurks in the Shadows by Z Brewer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If I remember correctly, Pibling Z announced this series with only two books to start, but reading this quick little all-ages thriller makes it clear that there has to be at least one more to resolve certain cliffhangers. As a loyal Z Brewer Minion Horde reader almost all the way back to the beginning of their career, this book gave me flashbacks to the original Chronicles of Vladimir Tod something fierce, with Viktor having to deal with not only friendship drama with Damon, but Alys as well. Not to mention Joss McMillan being back in the picture to train Alys as a Slayer, October still refusing to speak to Joss even though she's married to his cousin Henry...and, of course, Lilith being Lilith and lurking on the periphery with her unknowable, mysterious schemes. And it happens that I read this book on the same evening when I cracked open a bottle of Sprite Vanilla Frost, so similarly named to the Prairie Frost which Viktor drinks at times in this book. While I didn't get to read this one at Halloween (due in large part to my having moved in October of this year), hopefully if Book 3 comes along at Halloween next year, I'll be able to properly read it during that season...

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Review: A Daughter of Fair Verona

A Daughter of Fair Verona by Christina Dodd
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Another surprising new find in the mystery section of the Washington County library system, this is the first of a speculative new series of quasi fantastical historical thrillers set in medieval Italy and focusing on Rosaline, daughter of Romeo and Juliet, who faked their mutual suicide and broke free of their feuding families to start a family of their own. It’s a bizarre combo of Shakespearean wit and Rosaline’s twentysomething snark to lend the prose a modern twist or two. Naturally, literary professors would be liable to shit their pants reading this - I’m especially picturing David Strathairn’s character on A Man on the Inside - but for the rest of us, it’s a promising start to a new series, and while it doesn’t quite stick the landing, I’m still glad to have Book 2 on my shelf already.

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Review: One Final Turn

One Final Turn by Ashley Weaver
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The fifth and final mystery in this series finally goes to Lisbon as its predecessor promised, and also resolves the longest standing family mystery cliffhangers going all the way back to Book 1. While each book is a relatively short one, and the time frame in which the whole series takes place feels shockingly short as well, it still earns its place as one of my new favorites with all the drama that comes with it - including the ever shippable Ellie and Ramsey romance. Tropey it may be, but Weaver uses her tools well, and this series now gets itself an ave atque vale after so much binge reading from the library.

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Review: Empire of the Dawn

Empire of the Dawn by Jay Kristoff
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Dear Mister Kristoff:

Fuck.

My.

Face.

Review: The Impossible Fortune

The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Thursday Murder Club returns after a brief hiatus for the fifth mystery in the series, and this one’s a 3.5 rounded up to 4 in large part because returning to these characters is a stark reminder that Osman utterly goofed it by pivoting to We Solve Murders and its much more annoying cast of characters last year. By now, this series is so well lived in that I’m much more invested in them than ever, even Ron whom I disliked so much at first. This book does a great job picking up the pieces after the personal tragedies of The Last Devil to Die, and reminding us all of how much life goes on even when another big crime is right around the corner.

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Review: Locked in Pursuit

Locked in Pursuit by Ashley Weaver
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The fourth Electra McDonnell promises quick resolution to the dramatic reveal from the very end of the previous book, and delivers there. What it doesn’t deliver on as much is its promise of traveling to Lisbon, capital of the neutral (though still fascist) Portuguese state, as part of Major Ramsey’s ongoing investigations into Nazi spycraft. Luckily, the ending of this book suggests there might finally be more travels to Lisbon in store, but it also ends on a personal low note for Ellie. Which makes me hope more than ever that the final book ends the series as satisfactorily as it deserves…

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Review: Every Spiral of Fate

Every Spiral of Fate by Tahereh Mafi
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Tahereh Mafi’s fourth book in her lavish Persian style fantasy series - now being marketed more heavily than ever as romantasy these days - takes everything on the drama scale up a few notches to the greatest effect yet. From a long awaited and long dreaded wedding to an expedition across the most far flung reaches of the empire, leading to some revelations I didn’t see coming…let’s just say that while Mafi planned this book as the penultimate in the series, it would also make just as much sense as the finale. Which makes me really wonder what kind of surprises she has in store for our heroes in the fifth book…

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