Category: Twenty Palaces

In Ben Aaronovitch, Faith Hunter, Fantasy, Fiction, General Fiction/Literature, Harry Connolly, Jane Yellowrock/Soulwood, John Scalzi, News/Misc., Science Fiction, The War Arts Saga, Twenty Palaces, Urban Fantasy, Wesley Chu

2023 Favorite Non-Crime
Back when I started this site, I knew the content would be largely “genre”-oriented. I’d have wagered the content would be roughly 1/3 Mystery/Detective fiction, 1/3 Urban Fantasy, and slightly less than 1/3 SFF, with “non-genre” fiction, humor, and non-fiction being enough to make my one-thirds just an approximation (honestly, if you asked me what I read regularly, that’s pretty much how I’d describe it today). Actual numbers show that’s wrong—it’s almost 40% Crime/Thriller Fiction, the rest of fiction is around 30% combined. Which is just a long-winded way to get to these two points: because Crime Fiction takes such a big chunk of my reading, it gets its own “Favorite” list, but none of the others really garner enough numbers for their own.

When it comes to this list of favorites, I had to choose—top five or top eleven. There are six I just couldn’t choose between—but hey, it’s my list, so here are my favorite 11 non-Crime Fiction Novels of 2022. It took me very little time to regret trying to write anything new about these books—I’m supposed to cover these in a measly paragraph? I borrow from my original posts, and really say less than I wanted to (or this post would be about 5 times as long as it is).

As always, re-reads don’t count—only the works that were new to me.

(in alphabetical order by author)

Amongst Our Weapons

by Ben Aaronovitch

My original post
Any installment in this series is a strong contender for a favorite of the year even before I open it, and this one is a great example of why. While telling a pretty strong story, Aaronovitch expands this world and the reader’s understanding of it, a whole new magic system, and seemingly introduces the next major story arc for the series. We get to see almost every major (and more than a few minor) characters, too. For a fan, this book was a heckuva treat.

4 1/2 Stars

Wistful Ascending

by JCM Berne

My original post
This novel—a Space Opera/Super-Hero mashup—hit just about every button I have and probably installed a couple of new ones (talking space bears, for example). If I try to expand on that I’m not going to shut up anytime soon. Read my original post—or just read the book.

4 1/2 Stars

The Veiled Edge of Contact

by James Brayken

My original post
Brayken’s debut surprised me more times than I thought was possible. Every time I thought I knew what direction Brayken was taking for the story, the protagonist (or major characters), tone, or even genre—he’d make a sharp turn and make the book better than I thought it was. I have questions and qualms about some aspects of the novel—but this is going down as a highlight of 2022 anyway.

4 Stars

The Art of Prophecy

by Wesley Chu

My original post
In my original post, I said, “I don’t know that I can really express how excited I am about this book. The last time I was this enthusiastic about a Fantasy novel was Kings of the Wyld, and I’ve read some really good Fantasy since then. But this is a whole different level.” It features my favorite new-to-me-character of the year. It’s just a glorious read. I’ve read (and enjoyed) a lot of Chu’s previous work and this is so far beyond those that it’s hard to describe.

5 Stars

The Iron Gate

by Harry Connolly

My original post
Every Twenty Palaces novel is better than the last—and The Iron Gate is no exception. This novel is a better version of everything Connolly has delivered before. We get character growth in a character I’d have considered pretty unchangeable, a dynamite plot (two, actually), and a disturbing monster to boot. There’s just so much to commend here—both for this novel and what it promises for the future.

4 1/2 Stars

The Part About the Dragon Was (Mostly) True

by Sean Gibson

My original post
This is not a book to read if you’re in a “find out what happened and get to the end of the story” frame of mind. This is a “enjoy the trip, not the destination”/”stop and smell the roses” kind of book. The destination/what happens is fully satisfying, but the getting-there is so much better. This Fantasy/Comedy sends up and celebrates so many Fantasy mainstays that fans (and detractors) of the genre will have a blast on that front alone. The cast of characters is a blast and the protagonist, the bard Heloise, is even better.

4 Stars

Final Heir

by Faith Hunter

My original post
The fifteenth Jane Yellowrock novel was the series finale and the series went down the way it should—with a lot of heart, a lot of love, a lot of violence, and so many buckets of blood. I’ve been reading these for so long that I really didn’t want to see the series end (but it was time). From the jaw-dropping first chapter to the last lines that genuinely made me misty, Final Heir was a great ride.

5 Stars

The Kaiju Preservation Society

by John Scalzi

My original post
This book delivers all the ridiculous fun that the title (and premise) promises. Scalzi calls it a pop song, I tend to compare it to a popcorn movie. It’s not meant to provoke thought, to be pondered over, or analyzed. It’s meant to be enjoyed, it’s meant to be light and entertaining. Consider this me writing on the literary equivalent of a bathroom stall, “For a good time…”

5 Stars

Station Eternity

by Mur Lafferty

My original post
A Murder Mystery set on a living Space Station with only three human characters surrounded by some of the strangest alien species you’ve seen (those three humans are pretty odd, too). This novel is one for mystery fans open to aliens walking around, SF fans interested in a different kind of story, and readers who like good things. Social commentary, a twisty narrative, a clever mystery, and more chuckles than I expected to get from this. An inventive read that’ll leave you wanting more.

4 Stars

Theft of Swords

by Michael J. Sullivan

My original post
Multiple people over the years have told me to read this book (some multiple times). I finally did, and regret not paying attention to them earlier. It’s more “traditional” Fantasy than the others on this list, there’s almost nothing that someone who’s read/watched a handful of fantasy series hasn’t been exposed to before. It’s the way that Sullivan has assembled these tried and true elements that is going to make you happy. The sword fights are fantastic. The imagination showed in the magic system, the magical creatures, and the politics—between races, within the remnants of the human empire, and the ecclesiastical politics—are really well conceived and effectively portrayed. I can’t wait to dive into the rest of the trilogy.

4 1/2 Stars

Adult Assembly Required

by Abbi Waxman

My original post
This novel starts in the same bookstore that Nina Hill works in, and she’s around a lot—but this isn’t her book. It’s the story of a woman who moved across the country to start her life over, and the results aren’t what she expected. Adult Assembly Required is funny, it’s sweet, it’s heartwarming, and will make you feel good all over. It’s full of the Waxman magic.
5 Stars

The Iron Gate by Harry Connolly: The Twenty Palaces—Back and Better than Ever

By HCNewton

On October 10, 2022

In Harry Connolly, Twenty Palaces, Urban Fantasy

The Iron Gate

by Harry Connolly

DETAILS:
Series: Twenty Palaces, #4
Publisher: Radar Avenue Press
Publication Date: September 30, 2022
Format: E-book
Length: 390 pg.
Read Date: October 1, 2022

“My name is Ray Lilly,” I said to the empty room.

There it was. I’d remembered my name, and with it came the realization that I had come to this place, whatever this place was, to find someone—no idea who at the moment—and kill them.

Setting the Stage

It’s been a while since the last Twenty Palaces fiction was published (a novella 5 years ago, a novel more than twice that), let me give a quick review.

Magic is in the world, people who come across a book of it run the risk of opening a gate to another dimension and letting monsters (called predators) into our world. Once in, they won’t stop until our reality is gone.

Standing in the way is the Twenty Palaces Society—their peers track down the books and those who are using them and stop them. Almost always this is a lethal stopping. Annalise has been a peer for quite a while now, she gets the job done without really worrying too much about what stands between her and the target.

Ray Lilly is her wooden man. His job is to be a distraction, getting the attention of the troublemakers (human) and the predators focused on him, so Annalise can dispatch them. He’s not supposed to survive for long, but somehow he’s both lived and proven pretty effective when helping Annalise. Before this, he was a criminal—a car thief, freshly released from prison and trying to live a better life for the sake of the relatives who supported him.

What’s The Iron Gate About?

Annalise sends Ray into a building in a small coastal town to do some recon. They know a predator is in the building, but before she does something (probably destroying the building) he goes in—something happens and his ghost knife (the one spell Ray possesses) lands at her feet. Ray’s been taken by that predator but is still alive. She cancels the “apocalyptic tsunami of magic” she had planned for the building to wait for Ray to either die (which would get that tsunami rescheduled) or to escape.

Meanwhile, Ray finds himself in an Everytown, USA. Everyone calls him “Carl” and…ugh, I’m just going to copy and paste from the book description, because it’s more concise (and better) than what I’ve come up with:

[Ray] realizes that for some time now he’s been living as a puppet, his body and mind under the complete domination of an unknown power, and the townsfolk think this puppet is his real identity.

And that power can still seize control of Ray’s body at any time, forcing him and the people around him to playact in nonsense stories that center around a mysterious boy and his monster dog.

The town and its people shift and change, but only Ray seems to notice.

While she waits to find out what’s going on with Ray, Annalise devotes her time, energy, and money into keeping other people from getting access to that building. The last thing she wants is anyone else feeding that monster.

It’s the Little Things

Ray’s Ghost Knife could easily be the MVP of this series. Despite being a simple spell—and Ray’s version of it screams “bargain basement” in an endearing and charming way—is a surprisingly effective and reliable piece of magic. It turns out to be as versatile as a certain someone’s Sonic Screwdriver.

The way it’s utilized in this book is completely different than we’ve seen before, and is probably responsible for me spending more time thinking about it than I would’ve otherwise (although it’s always been a favorite thing in each book/story). As much as I enjoy the whole world and magic system that Connolly has given us, it might really be this tiny element—which almost seems to be a forgettable gadget when we first saw it—that could be his masterstroke. Just for what it’s allowed him to do in each setting.

Character Growth?

There are certain characters you run into in novels/series that are formed. They don’t display a lot of growth and development and that’s fine, they don’t need to. Most of the time, that’s a flaw in the writing/character design—but sometimes the character just is who they are and that’s good. Everyone around them changes and grows, but they remain a rock. Like a rock that Marcus Aurelias would talk about amidst the raging waves.

Annalise Powliss has always seemed like one of those characters to me—Ray and the civilians they were around would change, and Annalise would remain pretty much the same (maybe relaxing a bit and trusting Ray, but that’s it). But man, over the course of this novel, things happen to change her. The Annalise who drives away from this is not the one we met in Child of Fire.

I’ve liked her since the beginning, but this version takes less effort. More than that, I enjoyed watching the transformation (and how much she hated it when she noticed it happening, yet she rolled with it).

So, what did I think about The Iron Gate?

This book is everything I’ve thought this series could be—not that I thought the previous novels, novellas, short stories, etc. lacked anything, but this seemed to be a slightly better version of them. That’s probably because Connolly’s a better novelist now than he was when he started the series.

Given the set-up for this series, that extra-dimensional powers are about to break into this reality and devour everything—there’s an inherent darkness to the books. Ray, Annalise, and the rest of the Twenty Palaces are the equivalent of the proverbial little Dutch Boy, and they might be running out of fingers to hold back the destruction. There’s a sense of futility to what they’re about, every victory is Pyrrhic. That doesn’t take away from the gripping nature of the storytelling or the entertainment value of the novels—but you don’t shake the feeling of impending loss. I didn’t feel that this time—I have a few theories to explain it, but most feel inadequate, so I’m not going to share them. I don’t know if that’s a tweak Connolly’s making to the series, something tied to The Iron Gate‘s events, or if he’s setting us up for something. I’ll buy any of those explanations—or a combination.

I wonder a little bit if that makes this a more commercial novel than the previous ones. Hopefully—and hopefully word gets out about this book and it finds the audience it deserves.

There’s so much in this book to celebrate—the way Ray figures out what’s going on and how he tries to address it, everything Annalise gets up to, the way things wrap up, and the promise of the last chapter for what’s to come. Connolly is firing on all cylinders here, and it’s great to see. You’ve got unique magic, great action, flawed protagonists, unexpected humor, and a couple of compelling intertwined plots—what more can you ask for?

This would be a good jumping-on point for this series, Connolly gives you enough to get your footing in this world and overarching story while immersing you in this book’s plot (actually, he probably made this as accessible for new readers as the first book was). This is an Urban Fantasy for those who want something out-of-the norm, and is well worth your time.

4 1/2 Stars

A Two-Fer: Twenty Palaces and Child of Fire (Audiobooks) by Harry Connolly and Daniel Thomas May

By HCNewton

On February 17, 2021

In Audiobook, Harry Connolly, Twenty Palaces, Urban Fantasy

Twenty Palaces

by Harry Connolly, Daniel Thomas May (Narrator)
Series: Twenty Palaces, #0
Unabridged Audiobook, 8 hrs., 14 min.
Tantor Audio, 2020
Read: July 29-30, 2020
4 Stars

Child of Fire

by Harry Connolly, Daniel Thomas May (Narrator)
Series: Twenty Palaces, #1
Unabridged Audiobook, 10 hrs., and 9 min.
Tantor Audio, 2020
Read: September 8-10, 2020
4 Stars

What is The Twenty Palaces Series?

The Twenty Palace Society is a secretive and ancient group that has devoted itself to the regulation of magic in this world for the benefit of humanity. Those who use magic outside of the Palaces control have a tendency to unleash disaster—and by disaster, I mean things with the potential to destroy the world—and the Society stops them with extreme prejudice (and if collateral damage happens, so be it—we’re talking about the survival of the human race here).

Most of these threats come by way of unleashing Predators—beings from the “Empty Places” between dimensions. Their main drive seems to be coming into this (or any) reality and snacking on whatever life forms they can find. They typically begin by seeming to obey and/or help the humans who summoned them. But eventually, they turn on their summoners and exact a horrible price.

The Society’s methods, structure, and personnel largely lie in darkness, but we know a little bit—there are peers (magic users of impressive strength, but not as strong as others in the Society), investigators (whose purpose is to look for magical/Predatory activity), and wooden men. Wooden Men are cannon fodder. They’re the designated redshirts whose purpose is to draw the attention of the humans or Predators the Society is attacking so their peer can come in and eliminate the threat while they’re focused on the Wooden Man. It’s obviously not a place to be if you’re all that concerned with living a long and quiet life.

Our protagonist, Ray Lilly, is a Wooden Man (or becomes one in TP). In that book, he stumbles upon some unauthorized magic use, casts one spell himself (which would be enough to kill him over, but he proves useful to Annalise so she delays that), and then stumbles upon a group of predators and helps Annalise stop them from turning Seattle into a home base to bring in others of their kind and then to destroy humanity.

In Child of Fire, the two find themselves in a small town, where a man/company (it’s hard to tell at first) seemingly has made a deal with a Predator for some benefit to the town, but at the cost of the children of the town—and it happens in such a way that the memories of parents are affected enough that they don’t remember their children ever existed.

Publication/Listening Order

While I do think a good prequel can be fun, by nature they are wholly unnecessary. If you don’t have everything you need in the books/movies/whatever as they were published, the author/creators failed. Also, you probably don’t get something successful enough to generate a prequel.

Again, they’re fun. It can be entertaining to get an explanation for something in the original work (“Oh, so that’s why there’s a lampstand in the middle of the wood”), occasionally it gives you a new perspective on the series, that kind of thing. I was more than happy to read Twenty Palaces when the series had been mothballed, but I wasn’t clamoring for it.

But last year, when Tantor started putting out the whole series in audiobook form (the first book had been already, but the rest hadn’t been), I went with the order that Tantor published—Twenty Palaces first and then moving on to the rest.

I was surprised at how well it flowed. There’s very little time between Twenty Palaces and Child of Fire and it really felt like CoF was a sequel. There were just so many throwaway details in CoF that were there to make it seem like Ray had a past (not that we learned much about it), that there was a little bit of history with Ray and Annalise (but not much of one). As you read it (assuming you read in publication order), there’s a mysterious, violent past—one that it’s good to know Ray has, but we don’t need to know it.

Connolly did a great job of taking those details and building events in Twenty Palaces around them. I’m not saying this is the best way to listen to the books—but it makes them a lot more approachable. I can see why Tantor went the way they did.

Ray Lily

Yes, Ray Lilly is an ex-con with a violent streak. But he sincerely wants to live a straight life—while he admits to himself that he enjoys the rush of violence. He also likes the fact that his work for the Society matters. He tries to be a good, law-abiding citizen as much as possible. He works hard to prevent injury to those who have nothing to do with the Predators.

He’s incredibly loyal to Annalise—which is not a little twisted because Annalise has told him repeatedly that she will kill him.

He’s essentially what you expect in a male UF protagonist—but he’s as close to powerless as you can be in this world and yet survive. Which definitely marks him out as different. He also has a real talent for getting people (many people, anyway) to trust him and is better at inspiring bystanders to action than most UF protagonists (although most of them don’t need to recruit help, and Ray does). There’s a very human quality to Ray that makes you like him.

Annalise Powliss

Annalise is old (well over one hundred years old), but looks younger than Ray. She has a high voice and looks like she hasn’t had a decent meal in ages. But that’s deceptive—she’s supernaturally strong and magically powerful. While she doesn’t relish the prospect of collateral damage/fatalities—she’s familiar enough with the treat posed by Predators that she’s more than willing to let a town’s worth of citizens die to prevent all of humanity from being consumed. Still, she’s largely willing to indulge Ray’s compassion—up to a point.

Annalise has all the powers of your typical UF protagonist—maybe even more. But none of the wit, sarcasm, or optimism. For her, this is a duty, not one she particularly enjoys, but it’s something that has to be done.

Daniel Thomas May

I admit that I was worried about Daniel Thomas May as the narrator for these audiobooks. All I know him from is the Venators series, and this is about as far from a YA Portal Fantasy as you can get. But my worries proved groundless and he does a bang-up job portraying Ray Lilly and the horrors that this world holds.

More than that, I’m glad I listened to these if only for Annalise’s voice. It’s both exactly what Connolly says it sounds like—and is about 3.4 million miles away from what I’d imagined.

So, What Did I Think about these Audiobooks?

They’re just great—I thoroughly enjoyed being back in this world and I still don’t understand why the books weren’t bigger sellers. I hope they find a new audience in audiobook. I don’t know if I’ve ever talked about the series on this blog without using the phrase “criminally underselling,” (or words to that effect). It comes to mind once again, I just don’t get why readers didn’t get behind this.

They’re dark, they’re grim, they’re on the violent end of the UF spectrum (but I can easily find darker, grimmer, and more violent series)—but there’s a glimmer of hope throughout them all. Not just from Ray’s undaunted trust in humanity, but that’s where most of it comes from. Even with all the death and destruction, they’re entertaining reads and you get immersed enough in the world that you don’t want to come out of it.

You really should get these in your earbuds or in front of your eyes.

The Iron Gate (Break Kickstarter)

By HCNewton

On July 22, 2019

In Books, Fiction, News/Misc., Twenty Palaces, Urban Fantasy

Next year will see the publication of the next story in one of my favorite Urban Fantasy series, the criminally underselling Twenty Palaces. This is music to these ears, I will read just about anything Harry Connolly puts out, and will read Twenty Palaces until he stops. Kickstarter is trying something new, and Connolly is taking advantage of it. He’s running the campaign on a on a per-word rate.

So here’s the deal: the minimum pro rate for short fiction is five cents/word, so for every five bucks pledged to this campaign, I’ll write a hundred words. Upper limit… let’s say two hundred thousand words, which would be two new Twenty Palaces novels.

Not that I expect to reach that limit–to be honest, I’m half-expecting that I won’t make the basic goal.

The good news: he hit the bottom level of funding in less than an hour, and is over 600% of it right now. I’ve got to wait a couple of days to figure out how much I can kick in, but I’ll be sponsoring over 100 words. You should, too!

The Twisted Path by Harry Connolly

By HCNewton

On December 22, 2017

In Harry Connolly, Twenty Palaces, Urban Fantasy

I had a hard time writing this one up — I’m not sure why. I tossed out 98% of what I prepared to post yesterday and came up with this instead. I think the book deserves something better, but this is what I have.

The Twisted Path

by Harry Connolly
Series: Twenty Palaces, #4

Kindle Edition, 109 pg.
Radar Ave Press, 2017

Read: December 20, 2017

Annalise Powliss is a powerful sorcerer who travels through the US on behalf of the Twenty Palace Society keeping magic out of the wrong hands — generally by killing the owners of those hands (and anyone standing too close to them). Ray Lilly is her Wooden Man — an assistant whose primary responsibility is to distract her foes, draw their fire, and die in her stead. It’s not the world’s best gig, but he’s an ex-con and doesn’t have a lot of prospects (there are other reasons, but you should read them for yourself). The thing is, Ray’s worked a lot with Annalise without dying, which makes him a remarkable example of a Wooden Man.

So the two of them have been called to the Society’s HQ in Europe so The Powers That Be can meet Ray, examine him and . . . well, he’s not really sure what to expect. Naturally, while they’re there, the pair have an opportunity to take out a supernatural bad guy in their spare time.

This is a very different kind of story for this series, the focus isn’t on the magical threat, but on the Society itself. Yes, there are Predators to be dealt with — but that’s almost a side-note. The Twisted Path gives Ray, as well as the reader, a much greater understanding of the Society. Not that I ever had a complaint about the focus in the earlier stories, but reading this pointed out what I wasn’t seeing before. Initially, you care about the Society’s mission in that, 1. they’re saving the world, blah, blah, blah; but primarily, 2. because you want Ray to succeed (or at least survive) and therefore you want to see the Society’s goals met. Now, I think I have a greater investment in the whole organization.

There’s just so many things I loved about this — Ray, the small-time crook from the Western U.S. being in Europe, trying to cope with all the differences that he never realistically expected to see. Just his reaction to walking on stairs that have existed for longer than the U.S. was a great paragraph. Ray’s initial response to the peers he’s called was so perfect, that I know it brought a smile to my face. Connolly did all the little things right, and that makes it so much easier for the reader to care about the bigger things. He’s probably done that throughout the series, but in a full novel, it’s easier to not pay attention to those details so you can get on with the story — so you can find out what’s going on. In a novella, you can feel like you can take your time.

Not only that, Connolly structured this novella in an atypical fashion — it allowed him to do some things with the story that were natural, organic, and not-cheating, but were able to take the reader by (some degree of) surprise that he wouldn’t have been able to in a straight-forward beginning-to-end structure. It’s possible, really, that this is the best writing of Connolly’s career — he’s had books that I liked a bit more, but I don’t know if he’s written anything better.

Short, fast, action-driven, but with a lot of things to chew on — this is a great UF novella for readers of this series. I don’t know how it’d work as an introduction to the series, maybe fine, but I think you’d be better off with Circle of Enemies. I bought it within minutes of hearing that The Twisted Path had been released and re-shuffled my week’s plans to read it as soon as I could — which were probably the best moves I made this week.

It’s been years since I last read one of the novels (or the novelette), so I spent a little more time than I’d have liked trying to remember why we encountered some of these characters before or how this compared to the style of the others. I’ve got to add the series to my re-read pile, I want to revisit this world soon. If you haven’t spent time with it — go grab Circle of Enemies (don’t read the prequel until after you’ve read #3, if you ask me), there are few, if any UF worlds like this.

4 1/2 Stars

Twenty Palaces by Harry Connolly

By HCNewton

On November 20, 2013

In Authors, Fiction, Harry Connolly, Twenty Palaces, Urban Fantasy

Twenty Palaces

by Harry Connolly
Series: Twenty Palaces, #.5

E-book, 250 pages
Radar Avenue Press, 2011

I’m not usually one for prequels — if the author/filmmakers have done their job, we know what we need to know already. Sure, it allows the creator to fill in some blanks, make the in-joke — but on the whole, they just seem to serve as red meat for fans^*, while offering little new.

But a well-done prequel can be a lot of fun — and in the end, if you’re not reading genre fiction for fun — what’s the point?

Between the rest of the books in this criminally-underselling series, we’re given a decent idea what happened between Ray and Annalise before Child of Fire, how Ray got his Knife (one of the coolest tools I can remember reading about), and about Wally getting Ray into this mess. So, I put off reading this one longer than I’d intended to. Glad I finally got around to it — this was a blast.

Ray Lilly is a messed up, broken, not-so-good guy trying to live straight — to become a “seat belt person,” as he puts it. He’s fresh from prison, but he knows he hasn’t finished paying his debt to society (his policeman uncle helps drive this home) and really wants to get on with his new life.

Naturally, his old life — particularly his old friends, are there to drag him off his new path. But this isn’t your garden-variety recidivism at work. There’s some otherworldly magic using his friends — and almost everyone around him — for ends that even a guy of Ray’s questionable morality can’t abide.

The new reality that Ray steps into here is unlike anything you’ve seen before — dark, scary, amoral, and uncaring — a lot like our world seems too often. The magic system that Connolly has created in this series is something special — I so, so wish we’d gotten to see more of it following Circle of Enemies.

This was fun, very satisfying — and most of all, it made me want to re-read the rest of the books, I’d forgotten just how addicting these books were.

If you’ve read the Twenty Palaces series, this is a nice little cherry on top — if you haven’t? Skip this for now, and run to your indie bookstore (or internet retailer, I guess) and grab them.

—–

^* Not that I’m against red meat for fans — as a fan of many things, including red meat, I like when creators entertain me.

—–

4 Stars