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Blood Reunion by JCM Berne: Space Vampires, Secret Identities, and a Promise of Something Worse

Finally, after umpteen drafts, I have something finished. Not in a satisfying (to me, anyway) way. But I’ve covered everything that I want to in a way that doesn’t make me recoil. I’m going to have to call that good enough.


Cover of Blood Reunion by JCM BerneBlood Reunion

by JCM Berne

DETAILS:
Series: Hybrid Helix, Turn 3
Publisher: Gnost Hose
Publication Date: October 17, 2022
Format: Hardcover
Length: 399 pg.
Read Date: August 15-17, 2024
Buy from Bookshop.org Support Indie Bookstores

What’s Blood Reunion About?

There’s a nasty, Buffy-Summers-would-be-paralyzed-with-fear level vampire loose on Wistful. Rohan and his friends, some new allies, and a couple of people he’d really not rather work with have to stop it before it kills everyone aboard and countless others when it can escape—or before the Empire obliterates Wistful to achieve the latter end.

’nuff said.

Back to Wistful

I guess some readers complained that the second book in the series took place on Earth, not on Wistful, the sentient space station that Rohan calls home. I didn’t share the sentiment, but I guess I could understand that—it wasn’t just Wistful that we didn’t get that much from, it was most of the other characters that were introduced in the first turn.

Being back on Wistful, however, has me thinking that maybe those people were on to something. Having our hero back on his adoptive home turf—with the advantages and challenges that it brings really adds something to the story. Wistful is an interesting character and a great setting (and we get to see a lot more of both aspects of Wistful here). Having characters like Wei Li and the Ursans on hand is a major plus, too.

I won’t complain about Rohan going to visit Earth—but I’m sure glad to see him home.

Daddy Issues

We met Rohan’s fantastic mother in Return of The Griffin, and now it’s time to meet Dad. Boy, I missed Mom—and this isn’t a knock on Berne’s work introducing us to Dhruv, I think we’re supposed to find hi a problematic character.

He’s got quite the charm about him, do doubt. He’s determined, he’s focused, he’s powerful, he’s wily—things that he clearly passed on to his son. He’s also deceitful, egotistical, stubborn, and unwilling to consider opposing points of view (other things you can see in Rohan, but he’s fighting them).

He and Rohan have a complicated relationship, let’s say.

The addition of Rohan’s mother to the series was fun and mostly sweet. This is fun and…something else. I’m not sure what that something is quite yet. I think we need to see a little more from Dhruv, and I expect we will.

Rohan’s Dilemma

This right here is what draws me to Rohan (well, in addition to the banter, the action, and everything else)—Berne isn’t satisfied to just give us a super powerful, quippy, superhero. Rohan is trying to get away from his past and to live differently.

But…like the man said, “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!” Rohan can’t get away from his reputation, his status, his errors/crimes, and even his inclinations to act as the Griffin. Not only can he not escape all that—he has to rely on it here. I don’t want to get into details here, but Rohan has to play the Rohan card to keep the il’Drach Empire from coming in making a bad situation worse.

He also has to wrestle with himself—he knows (on some level) and is being told repeatedly by just about everyone—that to save the people on the station (and maybe even beyond it), he has to kill the vampire. But he’s trying not to do that anymore. Also, he thinks there are ways to defeat the vampire without killing him…Rohan just has to figure out what those are. But he’s torn—if he does “the right thing” for him and his morals, what’s the risk/damage to the innocents on Wistful? Should he be willing to even consider that?

Beyond that…Rohan has to let some people jeopardize themselves—and even outright sacrifice themselves so he has a chance to stop the vampire.

I really love that Berne is making Rohan deal with this (it’s not the first time, and it won’t be the last, I trust).

So, what did I think about Blood Reunion?

It’s a JCM Berne book. This means I liked it and I think you should read it. I have two unread JCM Berne books on my TBR shelf—I can tell you now, with 98.732% confidence, that’s what I’m going to say about those. The question here is…what do I say specifically?

The vampires (both kinds we see here) are just cool. Nothing incredibly revolutionary about them—it’s nigh unto impossible to do something new with a vampire, it’s just about how can you make one of the most utilized creature-types feel fresh. Berne pulls it off. They’re even different than the vamps in Return of the Griffin, so that’s a neat trick. I want to say more about this, but that’d violate my spoiler policy.

Dhruv was just great—I mistyped that a second ago as “grate,” but maybe that was a slip of the Freudian-type. Because he can be a little grating, too. By design, I should stress. But I look forward to his return as much as Rohan is apprehensive about it.

The exploration of Wistful was interesting and the promise of finding more layers to her is fantastic. I would’ve liked a bit more of it now though, it’s the one point where I think Berne could’ve improved here. Maybe in the aftermath of this, Wistful and Rohan (or Rohan and Wei Li) can debrief some on this and I’ll feel better about it.

Speaking of Wei Li—if anyone is going to supplant Rohan in my book, it’s going to be Wei Li. Can we get a spinoff novella or seven?

I have to mention the dialogue, not just the bantering (but especially the bantering). Berne has reached Jim Butcher-levels here. I don’t care what the story is, I just want to read his characters talking.

I don’t have anything else to say, really—action, dialogue, great aliens, some good moral dilemmas, and some quality time with characters that are becoming old friends. Blood Reunion is another winner from Berne. Go grab Wistful Ascending and dive in!!


4 1/2 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
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Opening Lines: The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein

Head & Shoulders used to tell us that, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” That’s true for wearing dark shirts, and it’s especially true for books. Sometimes the characters will hook the reader, sometimes the premise, sometimes it’s just knowing the author—but nothing beats a great opening for getting a reader to commit.

I see in Lwnava Pravda that Luna City Council has passed on first reading a bill to examine, license, inspect—and tax—public food vendors operating inside municipal pressure. I see also is to be mass meeting tonight to organize “Sons of Revolution” talk-talk.

My old man taught me two things: “Mind own business” and “Always cut cards.” Politics never tempted me. But on Monday 13 May 2075 I was in computer room of Lunar Authority Complex, visiting with computer boss Mike while other machines whispered among themselves. Mike was not official name; I had nicknamed him for Mycroft Holmes, in a story written by Dr. Watson before he founded IBM. This story character would just sit and think—and that’s what Mike did. Mike was a fair dinkum thinkum, sharpest computer you’ll ever meet.

Not fastest. At Bell Labs, Buenos Aires, down Earthside, they’ve got a thinkum a tenth his size which can answer almost before you ask. But matters whether you get answer in microsecond rather than millisecond as long as correct?

Not that Mike would necessarily give right answer; he wasn’t completely honest.

from The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
Cover of The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein

Opening Lines Logo

PUB DAY REPOST: The More the Terrier by David Rosenfelt: Andy Carpenter’s 30th Is as Satisfying as the 1st

Cover of The More the Terrier by David RosenfeltThe More the Terrier

by David Rosenfelt

DETAILS:
Series: Andy Carpenter, #29
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: October 15, 2024
Format: eARC
Length: 304 pg.
Read Date: October 5-7, 2024
Buy from Bookshop.org Support Indie Bookstores

What’s The More the Terrier About?

The Carpenter family returns from a vacation to find that their house/dog-sitter has brought in a stray from the weather. Before they can take it to their rescue shelter to scan for a chip, his son, Ricky, recognizes the dog—he’s a little terrier that they’d fostered a few years ago, who’d gotten lost and found his way back to a place he knew.

Andy returns the dog, to find out that this was a bit of coincidental timing. The dog was adopted by a mother and son—the son attends a local college, and is in jail awaiting trial for killing a professor. His current lawyer is pressing him hard to take a deal, but BJ is resisting. Andy has a conversation with BJ and takes over the case—there’s something fishy about this lawyer and how he got involved in the case.

As one expects by now, the more that Andy looks at things, the more complex things appear. Soon, Andy and his team are up in their necks with experimental computer software, drug dealers, sexual assault (don’t worry, it’s not anywhere near graphic), and other sorts of criminal activity. This includes one of the biggest challenges (possibly the biggest) Marcus has faced in this series.

Marcus

At one point in this book, Andy and Marcus are having a conversation and in the middle of it, I stopped just to marvel at a totally normal conversation happening between the two without any wisecracks in the narration about finally understanding him or anything.

It was just strange. It’s good, I think I like it this way. But it’s taking some getting used to.

Marcus as a whole is losing some of his mystique, though. He’s becoming more human—which is a good (and a bad thing, I miss the superhero).

The Holiday-ness of It All

Since this is a “Christmas”/”Holiday”-themed release, I like to take a moment to talk about that aspect of the book. There’s barely any. If someone had told me that Rosenfelt had spent a day changing the Summer 2025 book into the Holiday 2024 release, it’d come out like this.

That said–it worked. We don’t need chapters upon chapters every year about Christmas, Laurie’s obsession with Christmas decorations and music, all the stuff about gifts, etc. If you’re a fan who reads every book, the allusion is enough. If you’re new to the series–or just not obsessive–there’s enough Holiday content to add flavor, to set the mood.

This is not a comment about quality or quantity. I’m good with either—it’s just an observation. Also, it’s hard to find something to talk about here at book #30.

Metaverse Overload?

So the Metaverse is a major component in this novel—it’s a place where the victim spends a lot of time, as well as several other characters in the book. There’s a lot of conversation about it, and so on.

Few things speak to the lead time between the submission of a manuscript and its publication as clearly as something like this. I verified my assumptions with the Gen Z and Millennial people in my family, and they all tell me that the Metaverse is just not as big as these characters made it seem (and people thought it would be a few years ago).

Does this hurt anything? Nope. It just made me roll my eyes.

So, what did I think about The More the Terrier?

Few things in my life are as certain as that I will have a good time with an Andy Carpenter book. The More the Terrier is no exception. We get to spend some time with some good friends, maybe make another friend or two (maybe just good acquaintances)—we get to see that Corey’s relationship is growing (we need another Team K-9 book!!).

The mystery is satisfying. The way that Andy and Co. solve it is, too. Andy’s narration is reliably entertaining and chuckle-inducing. The material about the dogs is great (the Sebastian jokes are something I’ve started to really look forward to). Andy’s courtroom antics are restrained here, but the trial is still the best part.

I really don’t know what else to say—this is a fun read. If you’ve never read an Andy Carpenter book, you’ll enjoy it–if you’ve read 1-29 of them, you know this is the case.

Rosenfelt’s books are like potato chips—once you start, you just can’t stop. Go ahead and open this bag.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from St. Martin’s Press—thanks to both for this.


4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
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The More the Terrier by David Rosenfelt: Andy Carpenter’s 30th Is as Satisfying as the 1st

Cover of The More the Terrier by David RosenfeltThe More the Terrier

by David Rosenfelt

DETAILS:
Series: Andy Carpenter, #29
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: October 15, 2024
Format: eARC
Length: 304 pg.
Read Date: October 5-7, 2024
Buy from Bookshop.org Support Indie Bookstores

What’s The More the Terrier About?

The Carpenter family returns from a vacation to find that their house/dog-sitter has brought in a stray from the weather. Before they can take it to their rescue shelter to scan for a chip, his son, Ricky, recognizes the dog—he’s a little terrier that they’d fostered a few years ago, who’d gotten lost and found his way back to a place he knew.

Andy returns the dog, to find out that this was a bit of coincidental timing. The dog was adopted by a mother and son—the son attends a local college, and is in jail awaiting trial for killing a professor. His current lawyer is pressing him hard to take a deal, but BJ is resisting. Andy has a conversation with BJ and takes over the case—there’s something fishy about this lawyer and how he got involved in the case.

As one expects by now, the more that Andy looks at things, the more complex things appear. Soon, Andy and his team are up in their necks with experimental computer software, drug dealers, sexual assault (don’t worry, it’s not anywhere near graphic), and other sorts of criminal activity. This includes one of the biggest challenges (possibly the biggest) Marcus has faced in this series.

Marcus

At one point in this book, Andy and Marcus are having a conversation and in the middle of it, I stopped just to marvel at a totally normal conversation happening between the two without any wisecracks in the narration about finally understanding him or anything.

It was just strange. It’s good, I think I like it this way. But it’s taking some getting used to.

Marcus as a whole is losing some of his mystique, though. He’s becoming more human—which is a good (and a bad thing, I miss the superhero).

The Holiday-ness of It All

Since this is a “Christmas”/”Holiday”-themed release, I like to take a moment to talk about that aspect of the book. There’s barely any. If someone had told me that Rosenfelt had spent a day changing the Summer 2025 book into the Holiday 2024 release, it’d come out like this.

That said–it worked. We don’t need chapters upon chapters every year about Christmas, Laurie’s obsession with Christmas decorations and music, all the stuff about gifts, etc. If you’re a fan who reads every book, the allusion is enough. If you’re new to the series–or just not obsessive–there’s enough Holiday content to add flavor, to set the mood.

This is not a comment about quality or quantity. I’m good with either—it’s just an observation. Also, it’s hard to find something to talk about here at book #30.

Metaverse Overload?

So the Metaverse is a major component in this novel—it’s a place where the victim spends a lot of time, as well as several other characters in the book. There’s a lot of conversation about it, and so on.

Few things speak to the lead time between the submission of a manuscript and its publication as clearly as something like this. I verified my assumptions with the Gen Z and Millennial people in my family, and they all tell me that the Metaverse is just not as big as these characters made it seem (and people thought it would be a few years ago).

Does this hurt anything? Nope. It just made me roll my eyes.

So, what did I think about The More the Terrier?

Few things in my life are as certain as that I will have a good time with an Andy Carpenter book. The More the Terrier is no exception. We get to spend some time with some good friends, maybe make another friend or two (maybe just good acquaintances)—we get to see that Corey’s relationship is growing (we need another Team K-9 book!!).

The mystery is satisfying. The way that Andy and Co. solve it is, too. Andy’s narration is reliably entertaining and chuckle-inducing. The material about the dogs is great (the Sebastian jokes are something I’ve started to really look forward to). Andy’s courtroom antics are restrained here, but the trial is still the best part.

I really don’t know what else to say—this is a fun read. If you’ve never read an Andy Carpenter book, you’ll enjoy it–if you’ve read 1-29 of them, you know this is the case.

Rosenfelt’s books are like potato chips—once you start, you just can’t stop. Go ahead and open this bag.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from St. Martin’s Press—thanks to both for this.


4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
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Opening Lines: Blind to Midnight by Reed Farrel Coleman

Head & Shoulders used to tell us that, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” That’s true for wearing dark shirts, and it’s especially true for books. Sometimes the characters will hook the reader, sometimes the premise, sometimes it’s just knowing the author—but nothing beats a great opening for getting a reader to commit.

SEPTEMBER 11, 2001, 11:43 P.M.
He is the last man alive. Or at least, things would be less complicated if he were.

He is standing on the platform at the Smith and Ninth Street subway station. The tallest station in Brooklyn looms over the Gowanus Canal. The canal, so polluted with toxins and heavy metals that you don’t have to be Jesus to walk on its waters. A writer once joked it was the only body of water that was 90 percent guns. Nobody is joking tonight. Nobody! Not about anything.

The lone man is waiting for the G train. He smells the acrid windblown smoke continuing to rise from where the World Trade Center stood. His blue Mets cap is squashed low on his forehead, his eyes fixed on the pebbled concrete under his running shoes. He hopes that by not looking up he might be invisible. It makes no rational sense. Today the world stopped making sense. Still, he can’t help but peek at the place where the towers once stood. He quickly looks away. The pile smolders. Ash, shreds of paper, and carcinogenic dust still rise into the air, carried by the prevailing winds. A downy coating of gray snowflakes falls around him.

from Blind to Midnight by Reed Farrel Coleman
Cover of Blind to Midnight by Reed Farrel Coleman
Sure, picking up a Coleman novel, you know you’re not in for a romp. But starting off with that date, you know things are going to be grim–and the next three paragraphs emphasize that.

Opening Lines Logo

PUB DAY REPOST: Candle & Crow by Kevin Hearne: Growing, Changing, and Moving On

Cover of Candle & Crow by Kevin HearneCandle & Crow

by Kevin Hearne

DETAILS:
Series: Ink & Sigil, #3
Publisher: Del Rey Books
Publication Date: October 1, 2024
Format: eARC
Length: 352
Read Date: September 13-18, 2024
Buy from Bookshop.org Support Indie Bookstores

What’s Candle & Crow About?

What isn’t this about? Al has to address a potential treaty violation of a group against some British citizens, which leads to some treaty re-negotiations; Gladys wraps up business she started in the last book, prepares to leave her job, and sees some shite; the Morrigan tries to settle among humans in her new body; Al, Buck, and Nadia are targeted by the police; Al has to help out his American counterpart with a tricky problem; Al gets a line on who cursed him; and…a few other things that I can’t figure out how to describe in a phrase or two.

Seriously, this book is busy. But somehow, it doesn’t feel crammed or over-stuffed; everything gets as much time as it needs to be addressed; everything makes sense; you don’t lose track of any plotlines; characters get to grow and develop (and be introduced!). And the last couple of chapters are so satisfying that I don’t care that I can’t finish this sentence properly.

A Trio of Druids

Fittingly for what Hearne has stated will be the last book in the universe of the Iron Druid Chronicles (I’m waiting for him to change his mind. Maybe a foolish hope, but it’s one nonetheless), we get to see all three of the Druids from that series for a little while—and none of them togther.

Working with his students has been good for Owen, Atticus—I mean, Connor—is in a good place (in several senses of that word), and Granuaile is…well, still Granuaile. I think I’ve mentioned she was getting on my nerves toward the end of IDC, and she’s still there. But she’s still essentially the same character—so if you weren’t annoyed by her, you’ll enjoy her appearance (I did, even with my attitude).

We got just enough time with them all to get a sense of where they are, what the future holds for them, and to see that they’re doing well—the events of Scourged are far enough past that they’ve settled into the next stage of their lives. It’s a good way to say goodbye to this world.

Deities

Since at least book 3 of the IDC we’ve had a good understanding of how gods, goddesses, and lesser deities function, live, and have power both now and throughout the ages. Hearne’s had Atticus and Al explain it a time or two since then, so faitful readers will get it.

But in these pages, we are given two examples (or three, depending on how you want to count something) of how this functions toward entities that aren’t part of the major pantheons (or minor ones, either—how would you describe Perun’s?). They are two divergent types of entities and the application of what we know about deities in this world is quite different (while linked).

I think it’s clear that I’m struggling to describe this without giving something away (if you haven’t noticed, let me assure you that I am). However, for fans of this world and fans of just good worldbuilding—Hearne does a great job with this stuff, if I didn’t know better*, I’d say that he started building toward this novel in Hammered.

* Okay, I don’t know better, he might have had this as part of his Master Plan all along. But I’m willing to bet he didn’t.

Al and the English

Al has to deal with a representative of the British government a few times over the course of this book as a part of his sigil agent duties. I honestly don’t know if I’ve been so purely entertained by Hearne (outside of an Oberon-heavy moment) as I was in reading Al’s narration during these parts.

He really doesn’t like this guy—and it’s tough to say that Al gives him a real chance before deciding to write him off—but the reader can understand why. I think that Al gets close to mean in his attitude and actions toward this man, but I don’t think he crosses the line. Then again, I was chuckling and highlighting so much in these interactions, I might have missed it.

So, what did I think about Candle & Crow?

I have said many good and complimentary things about the books in this series—and I stand by them—but this is what all of the Ink & Sigil books should’ve been like, at least at their core. We’ve seen a little of the Sigil Agent life, but there’s been a lot of other things going on, and not that much of it has to do with the administration and enforcement of contracts. It was just so cool to focus on that as much as we got to here. Yes, the big action stuff, taking on whacky monsters and nasty people experimenting on supernatural creatures and whatnot is pretty cool, too. But we get that kind of thing in all sorts of UF—we don’t get to see a lot of supernatural people wrangling with human governments over the wording of a hundred year old document* and the deadly ramifications of that wrangling not going well. It’s a shame that Hearne embraced this aspect of Al’s life so completely here at the end.

* Well, we get glimpses of that in The Rivers of London series, don’t we? But it feels very different.

I enjoyed every bit of this book—and am not sure how to talk about it without just blathering on and on about how good everything was. The action—and despite what I may have suggested earlier, there was plenty of it—was gripping and moved well. The emotional arcs of the characters were done with Hearne’s typical deftness (and maybe more than typical deftness). The humor was Hearne at his best. The magic at work was perfect, and…yeah. I just have nothing but compliments upon compliments here.

If you have any kind of emotional investment in Buck, Nadia, or Al going into this book, you will love the ending. It was a real treat, the last chapters just made me feel all warm inside.

I was so enthusiastic about this book that i think i might have convinced a friend to pick up the first IDC book just so he can catch up and appreciate all of this book—and another friend who’d read Hounded through Scourged to pick up this trilogy. And I’m more than ready to do that to anyone else reading this post.

I don’t know what Hearne’s next project will be, but I’m ready for it. In the meantime, I’m just going to bask in how wonderfully satisfying that Candle & Crow was.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine | Del Reyvia NetGalley—thanks to both for this.


5 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
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HC Chats with Adrian M. Gibson about Jeff VanderMeer

Cover of Mushroom Blues by Adrian M. GibsonIf you’ve been on Bookish Social Medial at all in the 6+ months, I’m willing to bet you’ve seen the name Adrian Gibson or at least the cover of Mushroom Blues. You may also know him from the podcast he hosts with M.J. Kuhn, SFF Addicts. Last week, Adrian was gracious enough to struggle with StreamYard (and it was in a mood) in order that we could sit down and talk about Jeff VanderMeer–an author that I’ve been intimidated to pick up and try, but who has been instrumental in Gibson’s career. I walked away excited to try VanderMeer, and I had a good time in general. I hope you watch this and walk away thinking the same.

As I said, StreamYard wasn’t happy, so the video freezes a couple of times on both of us, but the audio is fine.

Adrian M. Gibson Links:

Twitter ~ Instagram ~ Website ~ Newsletter ~ Amazon ~ Goodreads


Are you a Reader of Things and want to chat with me about an author/series/something other than promoting your own work (which we will do, just not primarily)? I’d love to keep trying this, but I’m not ready to start pestering people about it. So please let me know.

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Candle & Crow by Kevin Hearne: Growing, Changing, and Moving On

Cover of Candle & Crow by Kevin HearneCandle & Crow

by Kevin Hearne

DETAILS:
Series: Ink & Sigil, #3
Publisher: Del Rey Books
Publication Date: October 1, 2024
Format: eARC
Length: 352
Read Date: September 13-18, 2024
Buy from Bookshop.org Support Indie Bookstores

What’s Candle & Crow About?

What isn’t this about? Al has to address a potential treaty violation of a group against some British citizens, which leads to some treaty re-negotiations; Gladys wraps up business she started in the last book, prepares to leave her job, and sees some shite; the Morrigan tries to settle among humans in her new body; Al, Buck, and Nadia are targeted by the police; Al has to help out his American counterpart with a tricky problem; Al gets a line on who cursed him; and…a few other things that I can’t figure out how to describe in a phrase or two.

Seriously, this book is busy. But somehow, it doesn’t feel crammed or over-stuffed; everything gets as much time as it needs to be addressed; everything makes sense; you don’t lose track of any plotlines; characters get to grow and develop (and be introduced!). And the last couple of chapters are so satisfying that I don’t care that I can’t finish this sentence properly.

A Trio of Druids

Fittingly for what Hearne has stated will be the last book in the universe of the Iron Druid Chronicles (I’m waiting for him to change his mind. Maybe a foolish hope, but it’s one nonetheless), we get to see all three of the Druids from that series for a little while—and none of them togther.

Working with his students has been good for Owen, Atticus—I mean, Connor—is in a good place (in several senses of that word), and Granuaile is…well, still Granuaile. I think I’ve mentioned she was getting on my nerves toward the end of IDC, and she’s still there. But she’s still essentially the same character—so if you weren’t annoyed by her, you’ll enjoy her appearance (I did, even with my attitude).

We got just enough time with them all to get a sense of where they are, what the future holds for them, and to see that they’re doing well—the events of Scourged are far enough past that they’ve settled into the next stage of their lives. It’s a good way to say goodbye to this world.

Deities

Since at least book 3 of the IDC we’ve had a good understanding of how gods, goddesses, and lesser deities function, live, and have power both now and throughout the ages. Hearne’s had Atticus and Al explain it a time or two since then, so faitful readers will get it.

But in these pages, we are given two examples (or three, depending on how you want to count something) of how this functions toward entities that aren’t part of the major pantheons (or minor ones, either—how would you describe Perun’s?). They are two divergent types of entities and the application of what we know about deities in this world is quite different (while linked).

I think it’s clear that I’m struggling to describe this without giving something away (if you haven’t noticed, let me assure you that I am). However, for fans of this world and fans of just good worldbuilding—Hearne does a great job with this stuff, if I didn’t know better*, I’d say that he started building toward this novel in Hammered.

* Okay, I don’t know better, he might have had this as part of his Master Plan all along. But I’m willing to bet he didn’t.

Al and the English

Al has to deal with a representative of the British government a few times over the course of this book as a part of his sigil agent duties. I honestly don’t know if I’ve been so purely entertained by Hearne (outside of an Oberon-heavy moment) as I was in reading Al’s narration during these parts.

He really doesn’t like this guy—and it’s tough to say that Al gives him a real chance before deciding to write him off—but the reader can understand why. I think that Al gets close to mean in his attitude and actions toward this man, but I don’t think he crosses the line. Then again, I was chuckling and highlighting so much in these interactions, I might have missed it.

So, what did I think about Candle & Crow?

I have said many good and complimentary things about the books in this series—and I stand by them—but this is what all of the Ink & Sigil books should’ve been like, at least at their core. We’ve seen a little of the Sigil Agent life, but there’s been a lot of other things going on, and not that much of it has to do with the administration and enforcement of contracts. It was just so cool to focus on that as much as we got to here. Yes, the big action stuff, taking on whacky monsters and nasty people experimenting on supernatural creatures and whatnot is pretty cool, too. But we get that kind of thing in all sorts of UF—we don’t get to see a lot of supernatural people wrangling with human governments over the wording of a hundred year old document* and the deadly ramifications of that wrangling not going well. It’s a shame that Hearne embraced this aspect of Al’s life so completely here at the end.

* Well, we get glimpses of that in The Rivers of London series, don’t we? But it feels very different.

I enjoyed every bit of this book—and am not sure how to talk about it without just blathering on and on about how good everything was. The action—and despite what I may have suggested earlier, there was plenty of it—was gripping and moved well. The emotional arcs of the characters were done with Hearne’s typical deftness (and maybe more than typical deftness). The humor was Hearne at his best. The magic at work was perfect, and…yeah. I just have nothing but compliments upon compliments here.

If you have any kind of emotional investment in Buck, Nadia, or Al going into this book, you will love the ending. It was a real treat, the last chapters just made me feel all warm inside.

I was so enthusiastic about this book that i think i might have convinced a friend to pick up the first IDC book just so he can catch up and appreciate all of this book—and another friend who’d read Hounded through Scourged to pick up this trilogy. And I’m more than ready to do that to anyone else reading this post.

I don’t know what Hearne’s next project will be, but I’m ready for it. In the meantime, I’m just going to bask in how wonderfully satisfying that Candle & Crow was.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine | Del Reyvia NetGalley—thanks to both for this.


5 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
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REPOSTING JUST CUZ: Top Ten Tuesday: Top 10 Opening Lines

Today is turning out to be a bad day for me to post things, but I’ve been inspired by Witty & Sarcastic Bookclub’s thread on Twitter to revisit this post (and a similar one). So, why not repost it while I consider revising the list? From wayyyyyy back in 2020.



The topic for this week’s Top Ten Tuesdays is Opening Lines.

Part of what made cutting last week’s Top 5 Opening Lines down to just five was that I knew this was coming. I let myself go a little long with these, hopefully not annoyingly so. These may not be the best openings I’ve ever read, but they’re the most memorable.

10 White Noise

White Noise by Don DeLillo

This is just one of those novels that imprinted on me in ways I don’t fathom, and it all started like this.

The station wagons arrived at noon, a long shining line that coursed through the west campus. In single file they eased around the orange I-beam sculpture and moved toward the dormitories. The roofs of the station wagons were loaded down with carefully secured suitcases full of light and heavy clothing; with boxes of blankets, boots and shoes, stationery and books, sheets, pillows, quilts; with rolled-up rugs and sleeping bags; with bicycles, skis, rucksacks, English and Western saddles, inflated rafts. As cars slowed to a crawl and stopped, students sprang out and raced to the rear doors to being removing the objects inside; the stereo sets, radios, personal computers; small refrigerators and table ranges; the cartons of phonograph records and cassettes; the hairdryers and styling irons; the tennis rackets, soccer balls, hockey and lacrosse sticks, bows and arrows; the controlled substances, the birth control pills and devices; the junk food still in shopping bags—onion-and-garlic chips, nacho things, peanut creme patties, Waffelos and Kabooms, fruit chews and toffee popcorn; the Dum-Dum pops, the Mystic mints.

I’ve witnessed this spectacle every September for twenty-one years. It is a brilliant event, invariable. The students greet each other with comic cries and gestures of sodden collapse. Their summer has been bloated with criminal pleasures, as always. The parents stand sun-dazes near their automobiles, seeing images of themselves in every direction. The conscientious suntans. The well-made faces and wry looks. They feel a sense of renewal, of communal recognition. The women crisp and alert, in diet trim, knowing people’s names. Their husbands content to measure out the time, distant but ungrudging, accomplished in parenthood, something about them suggesting massive insurance coverage. This assembly of station wagons, as much as anything they might do in the course of the year, more than formal liturgies or laws, tells the parents they are a collection of the like-minded and the spiritually akin, a people, a nation.

9 The Violent Bear It Away

The Violent Bear It Away by Flannery O’Connor

O’Connor’s the perfect mix of Southern sensibility, Roman Catholic worldview, and glorious prose.

FRANCIS MARION TARWATER’S uncle had been dead for only half a day when the boy got too drunk to finish digging his grave and a Negro named Buford Munson, who had come to get a jug filled, had to finish it and drag the body from the breakfast table where it was still sitting and bury it in a decent and Christian way, with the sign of its Saviour at the head of the grave and enough dirt on top to keep the dogs from digging it up. Buford had come along about noon and when he left at sundown, the boy, Tarwater, had never returned from the still.

The old man had been Tarwater’s great-uncle, or said he was, and they had always lived together so far as the child knew. His uncle had said he was seventy years of age at the time he had rescued and undertaken to bring him up; he was eighty-four when he died. Tarwater figured this made his own age fourteen. His uncle had taught him Figures, Reading, Writing, and History beginning with Adam expelled from the Garden and going on down through the presidents to Herbert Hoover and on in speculation toward the Second Coming and the Day of Judgment.

8 The Doorbell Rang

The Doorbell Rang by Rex Stout

I could’ve filled this list with Stout beginnings. But I limited myself to this one.

Since it was deciding factor, I might as well begin by describing it. It was a pink slip of paper three inches wide and seven inches long, and it told the First National City Bank to pay to the order of Nero Wolfe one hundred thousand and 00/100 dollars. Signed, Rachel Bruner. It was there on Wolfe’s desk, where Mrs. Bruner had put it. After doing so, she had returned to the red leather chair.

7 Dead Beat

Dead Beat by Jim Butcher

The first words I read by Butcher, got me hooked but good.

On the whole, we’re a murderous race.

According to Genesis, it took as few as four people to make the planet too crowded to stand, and the first murder was a fratricide. Genesis says that in a fit of jealous rage, the very first child born to mortal parents, Cain, snapped and popped the first metaphorical cap in another human being. The attack was a bloody, brutal, violent, reprehensible killing. Cain’s brother Abel probably never saw it coming.

As I opened the door to my apartment, I was filled with a sense of empathic sympathy and intuitive understanding.

For freaking Cain.

6 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

This was the hardest cut from last week’s list, but I just can’t resist the moocow.

You don’t know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain’t no matter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth. That is nothing. I never seen anybody but lied one time or another, without it was Aunt Polly, or the widow, or maybe Mary. Aunt Polly—Tom’s Aunt Polly, she is—and Mary, and the Widow Douglas is all told about in that book, which is mostly a true book, with some stretchers, as I said before.

Now the way that the book winds up is this: Tom and me found the money that the robbers hid in the cave, and it made us rich. We got six thousand dollars apiece—all gold. It was an awful sight of money when it was piled up. Well, Judge Thatcher he took it and put it out at interest, and it fetched us a dollar a day apiece all the year round—more than a body could tell what to do with. The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me; but it was rough living in the house all the time, considering how dismal regular and decent the widow was in all her ways; and so when I couldn’t stand it no longer I lit out. I got into my old rags and my sugar-hogshead again, and was free and satisfied. But Tom Sawyer he hunted me up and said he was going to start a band of robbers, and I might join if I would go back to the widow and be respectable. So I went back.

5 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

I remember in our English class in High School when we were assigned this book, pretty much no one was interested. When Mr. Russo passed out the paperbacks, a few of us flipped it opened and read these first words—and suddenly we were open to the idea (didn’t last long for all of us, but that’s beside the point, we’re focused on the opening lines here). It’s stuck with me for almost 30 years, that’s gotta say something.

Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo….

4

Neuromancer by William Gibson

This sentence was love at first glance for me. Still love it. Naturally, no one knows what color this is referring to anymore.

The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.

“It’s not like I’m using,” Case heard someone say, as he shouldered his way through the crowd around the door of the Chat. “It’s like my body’s developed this massive drug deficiency.” It was a Sprawl voice and a Sprawl joke. The Chatsubo was a bar for professional expatriates; you could drink there for a week and never hear two words in Japanese.

Ratz was tending bar, his prosthetic arm jerking monotonously as he filled a tray of glasses with draft Kirin. He saw Case and smiled, his teeth a webwork of East European steel and brown decay. Case found a place at the bar, between the unlikely tan on one of Lonny Zone’s whores and the crisp naval uniform of a tall African whose cheekbones were ridged with precise rows of tribal scars. “Wage was in here early, with two joeboys,” Ratz said, shoving a draft across the bar with his good hand. “Maybe some business with you, Case?”

Case shrugged. The girl to his right giggled and nudged him.

The bartender’s smile widened. His ugliness was the stuff of legend. In an age of affordable beauty, there was something heraldic about his lack of it.

3

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

Oft-parodied. Oft-imitated. Often-celebrated. Does it get better than this?

It was about eleven o’clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills. I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars.

The main hallway of the Sternwood place was two stories high. Over the entrance doors, which would have let in a troop of Indian elephants, there was a broad stained-glass panel showing a knight in dark armor rescuing a lady who was tied to a tree and didn’t have any clothes on but some very long and convenient hair. The knight had pushed the vizor of his helmet back to be sociable, and he was fiddling with the knots on the ropes that tied the lady to the tree and not getting anywhere. I stood there and thought that if I lived in the house, I would sooner or later have to climb up there and help him. he didn’t seem to be really trying.

2

Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone by J. K. Rowling

Why bother saying anything here?

Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you’d expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn’t hold with such nonsense.

1

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.

Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-eight million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.

This planet has—or rather had—a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movement of small green pieces of paper, which was odd because on the whole it wasn’t the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy.

And so the problem remained; lots of the people were mean, and most of them were miserable, even the ones with digital watches.

REPOSTING JUST CUZ: Top 5 Tuesday – Top 5 Opening Lines

Today is turning out to be a bad day for me to post things, but I’ve been inspired by Witty & Sarcastic Bookclub’s thread on Twitter to revisit this post (and a similar one). So, why not repost it while I consider revising the list? From wayyyyyy back in 2020.



I love a good opening line. A solid opening paragraph or page is great, but an opening line that sells you on the next 200-500 pages? Magic. When I saw this list topic listed, these 5 jumped to mind—they may not be the best I’ve ever read, but they’re the most memorable.

(I tried, tried, tried to limit myself to the opening line, but I failed on a couple of them, couldn’t help myself.)

5 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

I remember in our English class in High School when we were assigned this book, pretty much no one was interested. When Mr. Russo passed out the paperbacks, a few of us flipped it opened and read these first words—and suddenly we were open to the idea (didn’t last long for all of us, but that’s beside the point, we’re focused on the opening lines here). It’s stuck with me for almost 30 years, that’s gotta say something.

Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo….

4
Neuromancer by William Gibson

This sentence was love at first glance for me. Still love it. Naturally, no one knows what color this is referring to anymore.

The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.

3
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

Oft-parodied. Oft-imitated. Often-celebrated. Does it get better than this?

It was about eleven o’clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills. I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief, black brogues, black wool socks with dark blue clocks on them. I was neat, clean, shaved and sober, and I didn’t care who knew it. I was everything the well-dressed private detective ought to be. I was calling on four million dollars.

2
Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone by J. K. Rowling

Why bother saying anything here?

Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you’d expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn’t hold with such nonsense.

1
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

I’ll go on and on about this book next week, so I’ll just keep my trap shut here. But man…there was something about these lines that got into my blood.

Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.

Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-eight million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.

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