Category: Urban Fantasy - Alyce Caswell - Author

Alyce Caswell - Author

Second and Second to None

4/5/2022

Corpselight (Verity Fassbinder #2)
by Angela Slatter

Verity Fassbinder is back in the thick of things - and she's also heavily pregnant. Something wet and gross and deadly is lurking in Brisneyland, but it doesn't offer the same danger that a mysterious kitsune does...or the appearance of those thought lost. Verity can handle an attack from all sides...but can she also protect her family?

Easily the best book of the trilogy and definitely not bogged down by the issues that usually afflict a book 2 in a trilogy - although, it's obvious this was meant to be more than trilogy (and how I wish it was a proper series). I've always liked how David was used in the other books and this is no exception. Verity is a character who is grounded by her family and she's not the isolated hero that pervades so many other novels (side note - even I'll admit that isolating her in book #3 was a stroke of genius). Anyway, I loved Corpselight and I'll forever be salty that this "trilogy" didn't get the marketing it deserved.

Time Wounds Some Books

30/4/2022

The Good, the Bad and the Undead (The Hollows #2)
by Kim Harrison

Rachel Morgan is struggling to make bank, to avoid a demon who's marked her, to not get eaten by her vampire roommate - and oh yeah, now she has to catch a serial killer who's going after witches who know a thing or two about ley lines. So it'd be dangerous if she, a witch, also started acting like she knew something about ley lines...

This was a MUCH stronger novel than the first one and I'm glad I gave it a chance. I was really drawn in by Rachel's struggles and she irritated me less - clearly Harrison managed to get a better grasp on her the second time around. I would have rated this more had I read it when it was published...but the rampant sexism - and oof that homophobic joke - had me cringing so hard in 2022.

Marvel It Ain't

27/4/2022

House of Sky and Breath (Crescent City #2)
by Sarah J. Maas

Bryce and Hunt are trying to lie low and also trying not to "get together" in any fashion, but of course this won't last for long. A boy rumoured to have great power is missing and on his way to the city. Rebels are rising seemingly everywhere - and they are hardly unified. And more of Danika's secrets will be revealed, along with the truth about Asteri.

Hmm. I actually think this is Maas' best work. Her previous books weren't very good, but they were all training grounds for House of Sky and Breath. I feel like this is the book where she finally hit her groove. I was actually invested in this plot and the laborious info-dumping from the first Crescent City book was missing. I was honestly loving this. I was thinking "damn, do I like Maas' writing now?"... and then the ending happened. Such a lazy, self-indulgent thing to do. Look, I get it. It's something most writers think about doing... when they're teenagers (yep, even I've had those thoughts). But while it might be fun to do for your own amusement, it's best kept as an idea and not as an actual plot device in a published novel.

Living Book Limping

19/4/2022

Dead Witch Walking (The Hollows #1)
by Kim Harrison

Rachel Morgan has just quit Inderland Security to strike out on her own and her former boss has it in for her - as in, he's put a price on her head because she took one of his best employees with her. This makes investigating a guy who is running - possibly evenly creating - biodrugs somewhat difficult. There's also the matter of her vampiric roommate...

Hmm. This is definitely a product of its time. I've reread my fave UF serieses too many times so I thought I'd give it a go...can't say I'm impressed. Dead Witch Walking is a typical 2000s urban fantasy novel and a surprisingly weak first entry for a series of this longevity. Rachel isn't a particularly strong or likeable character, though I'd be interested to see how she develops - hopefully she loses her "gay panic" over Ivy? It's somewhat common for characters from the 2000s to insist "I'M STRAIGHT" in certain situations, but honestly it reads like Rachel/Ivy is meant to be endgame lol. And I know that's not the case.

If You Go Down in the Woods Today...

4/3/2022

Wild Sign (Alpha & Omega #8)
by Patricia Briggs

A group of recluses disappear from their small camp on land belonging to Leah, the Marrok's mate. Secrets and lost memories are only a small part of the problem that Charles and Anna must confront as they hike towards - and find - Wild Sign. There are some evils that are old enough to wait for those that come to them.

Books in the Mercy Thompson universe are (with a few exceptions) reliably good, warm and comforting for me as a reader (even if horrible things happen inside those pages!). Wild Sign is another excellent entry to the universe. Delightfully creepy, its story slowly unravelling, the added bonus of Anna and Charles still being as cute as ever - I'm definitely going to be rereading this one at some point.

Weyrd Times in Brisbane

29/11/2021

Vigil (Verity Fassbinder #1)
by Angela Slatter

Part Normal and part Weyrd, Verity Fassbinder can access two worlds in the same city - and she needs to, in her line of work. Sirens are falling out of the sky. Human children are going missing. Verity is run off her feet helping the police and the Weyrd community. Maybe everything is all connected, but that doesn't make her job any easier. It's also probably not a good time to start seeing someone new...

I found this trilogy through the last book and I wish I'd been able to start with the first instalment. I really enjoyed this. Urban fantasy is one of my great loves and Vigil delivers. It also delivers a setting that's familiar to me (even if it's not quite the Brisbane I know!). The romance is more realistic than most books of the genre - David is the kind of guy that actually exists. Slatter created something fascinating and wonderful in these books. It's such a shame that there's only three of them. Seems to me it was a sales issue only, because the quality is definitely there.

I should have heard about these books when they first appeared. I'm an Urban Fantasy hound with a penchant for Australian content, so I'm an easy target. If I didn't hear about it, something went wrong at the marketing level. But honestly, that's been a massive problem with Urban Fantasy titles by new authors for several years.

Welcome to Brisneyland

2/5/2021

Restoration (Verity Fassbinder #3)
by Angela Slatter

Verity Fassbinder is now working for an angel who is burnt, broken, and clearly mad. He's sent her looking for a grail and a tyrant, a task that endangers her and everyone around her. And it doesn't help that Verity is surrounded by people she can't trust - or people she can trust to kill her.

I am astounded that I've never heard of these books before, because Australian urban fantasy is my jam. Thank you, random bargain box. I had a lot of fun reading Verity's adventures - she is exactly my kind of sassy heroine (bonus inheritance in the shape of a magical sword). And I definitely FEEL her problems with pregnancy changing her tastebuds. So I'm probably going to have to read the first two books in the trilogy now (alas, just a trilogy? there's enough here for a 10-book series, surely??). I'm not sure how this book stacks up against them, but it's pretty great on its own.

Still Smitten

11/3/2021

Smoke Bitten (Mercy Thompson #12)
by Patricia Briggs

Mercy has problems - well, how could this be a Mercy Thompson novel without problems! - in the form of a nefarious jackrabbit, an invading pack, a gate to Underhill appearing in her yard, and something weird going on with her alpha husband. Any one of these problems could be dealt with on their own. But together, they have the potential to bring Mercy and the pack to their knees.

There's something comforting about reading these books. Mercy and co feel like old friends and Briggs somehow keeps the rhythm going so well. I was pleased with Smoke Bitten. It was exactly what I wanted and needed. And this time I could enjoy it without interruption - there are no more photos of me passed out with a baby passed out on top of me, a Mercy Thompson novel hanging from my hands (2020 was A Year, for sure). Briggs is still in fine form here.

Vampires and Superheroes oh my

16/1/2021

The Labyrinth Index (The Laundry Files #9)
by Charles Stross

The United Kingdom is currently being run by an elder god, but it seems things are worse across the pond because most people there have forgotten the President exists. Enter Mhari, a vampire(?) who is being sent with a bunch of her colleagues to see if they can't help out the stricken US of A. Very weird things happen. Cthulu is involved.

I never, in my life, expected to stumble across a book that was a chaotic merging of Doctor Who, James Bond and Lovecraft. But it's definitely the most entertaining book to have emerged from that bargain box I bought last year. I did find it a little too choppy though, since the scenes were all arranged out of order (which can be a fun literary device, but I am so very tired and that state of being isn't likely to change soon). Jim and Mhari were a delight. This whole thing felt like a fever dream. I do think I liked it, however.

A Little Bit of This and That

1/11/2020

Warlords, Witches & Wolves by Various

I received an ARC of this book, but only after I'd already preordered it so I'm not sure what disclaimer to put here! I'm definitely going ahead with the preorder though.

This anthology collects romantic fantasy stories involving characters that are at least one of the promised "warlords, witches and wolves". There are magical lands to discover and pockets of our own world to revisit with new eyes.

I was a little daunted by the size of this anthology (14 hours to go, or so the Kindle informed me at the start), but each novella is just the right size for someone who's about to fall into bed. Unsurprisingly, the authors I already like were behind he novellas I enjoyed the most. My favourite novellas, however, would be Daniel de Lorne's (I always enjoy an exploration of the power dynamics in a relationship) and Claire Boston's (Mongolian fantasy!).

Less enjoyable were the novellas that stopped before reaching a conclusion. I think a novella should have a fully realised story - prequels and spin-offs are fine, but cutting the story off is less preferable to me.

All in all, a fine collection that lets you dip your toes into the work of various authors. I found at least one new author that I'd like to investigate further.