The Demon’s Librarian by Lilith Saintcrow

GOOD LORD is that an awful cover. 

I got this book because I still don’t want to read A Week to Be Wicked by Tessa Dare. Sorry.

Most of you will only have to take a look at the title to see why this book instantly appealed to me. And many of you will be delighted to hear that the main character, Chess, is really a librarian. She has an advanced degree and everything! Whether or not the lead guy, Ryan (or Orion, in case you thought you’d escaped from Paranormal Nameville) is ACTUALLY a demon is up for debate. He is half demon, or DRAKUL. If you’ve seen Bram Stoker’s Dracula 187 times like I have, this name will be familiar. If not, don’t worry. Lilith Saintcrow (don’t you LOVE that name?) packs a lot of exposition into this book.

Unfortunately, said exposition is not exactly seamless. This is one of the few (only?) paranormal romances I’ve read recently that’s not part of a series, and Lilith Saintcrow (I’m just going to type that as many times as possible) has pretty lofty ambitions for a standalone book. There is an Order (there’s always an Order), and different kinds and classes of demons, and people called Maliks who are humans, and Maliks are protected by Drakul. Chess does not QUITE fit into the scheme of things. She discovered a ~*~SECRET LABORATORY~*~ in her library and is doing her best as an amateur demon hunter on her own.

Can you believe how many parenthesis are in this review? I predict more.

I don’t have all that much to say about this book. My two main complaints are that the exposition is a bit clunky, and also this is a romance that’s pretty lacking on the romance. They kiss. That’s it. You will probably find yourself saying “That’s IT?” I’ve read YA books that are more explicit.

All in all, this was not a bad use of my epic train commute, and it’s pretty good if you like books and wish Buffy had read more. I’d be willing to check out more Lilith Saintcrow on the basis of her name alone, but she seems like a decent writer and I’ll keep an eye out for more.

Rosemary and Rue (An October Daye Novel) by Seanan McGuire

I wasn’t going to review this. I just reviewed a book about fairies that I hated, but here I am, 90% through the book, and it has pissed me off enough that I’m going to write a bitchy review. Even better/worse than that, I’m going to half-ass the shit out of it.

This is an urban fantasy/detective hybrid, and the heroine, October Daye, is a changeling, which means that she is half fae and half human. She’s a private detective.

The backstory is that she was tailing some dude and he ended up turning her into a fish, and she was stuck as a fish in a koi pond in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco for fourteen years. Then she stopped being a fish and now she’s sort of back to being a private detective, but she’s all reluctant and confused about it. Okay, whatever.

Here’s what bothered me: the whole thing is super info-dumpy. It’s the first in the series, so I’ll tolerate this, to a point. I know it’s the first in the series, so we have to set the scene. There’s better ways to do it, and it doesn’t have to be clumsy, but okay, whatever.

On top of the info landfill, we’ve got October Daye spitting out lines that sound like they come from an old radio serial starring a hard-boiled detective, except they make no sense. Take this:

One way or another, I was going to have to trust somebody, and when it comes to finding somebody you can trust with someone nobody can know exists, you always turn to the ones you hate.

Oh, okay. Whatever.

And then on top of being incomprehensible half the time, October refuses help from super powerful fae people who love her (for some reason) just because … she’s stubborn? She doesn’t want it? Take this, for example. This is the last example out of many, but this is the straw that pissed the fuck out of the camel and made her go write a bitchy review on her blog:

“Tell [super powerful king] I’m going Home,” I said. “I’ll try not to die before I get there.”

“Wait for him,” Lily said. “you don’t have to do this alone.”

“Time is too short, and the stakes are too high.”

The stakes are too high? THE STAKES ARE TOO FUCKING HIGH? The stakes are so jacked-up that you’ll refuse the help of a super powerful king just because THE STAKES ARE TOO DAMN HIGH?

Girl, bye.

Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

I just finished this, and let me tell you, it was a ride. If you are looking for good urban fantasy, look no further.

Kate Daniels is … some kind of magical person with a very vague history and lineage but she’s got this cool SWORD, you see, and then her … guardian person? is killed and it is all VERY MYSTERIOUS and she must go to work to solve the crime.

There is no dude, not really. This is urban fantasy, not romance. There IS a Beast Lord, and he is very sexy, and I reeeeaaaallly wished that there had been a sex scene with him, but I guess this is Not That Kind of Book. Honestly, it was kind of cool to read a book in which two people were not forced together just because, and I would have been kind of pissed had Ilona Andrews adhered to that convention, but damn. It would have been INSANE. Not that I’ve spent any time thinking about it, of course.

Uh, where were we?

Okay so this is the first book in a series, and so there is a lot of worldbuilding going on. There are vampires (but not the sexy ones you’re used to), shapeshifters, crusaders, a mysterious Order of Something or Another, and it all takes place in a post-magicpocalypse Atlanta. There are a lot of familiar buildings, but their shit is all busted up. A few decades before, something BIG happened (we never get a clear explanation), and now technology has surrendered to ~*~magic~*~. Although this magic is kind of sinister and unruly and not really the sparkly kind.

One thing that I really liked about this book is that there is never an infodump, and minimal exposition. Ilona Andrews never really flat-out explains what’s going on with the magic, or the Order, or Kate’s past, because she believes that you are an intelligent human who can make connections yourself. I appreciate that. A whole lot, actually. It’s what makes the difference between a cheap thrill and a satisfying read.

Also, while I am smart enough to pick up information even if it’s not in an infodump, I am usually not smart enough to keep up with EVERY. DETAIL. in a crime thriller and usually by the end, I get confused. Who are these people? What are they doing? Which crime are we investigating? Because of this, the big reveal is usually a bit anticlimatic - THE KILLER IS THIS PERSON WHO APPEARED 100 PAGES AGO THAT YOU DO NOT REMEMBER! GASP! That did not happen here. There was a lot going on, but even I could keep up! Makes me feel SMRT.

So, all in all, I thought this was a terrific book and a great example of UF. There were times where Kate was like, gratingly bad ass (there are a LOT of one-liners, you guys), but it never got to be TOO cheesy for me to swallow. My friend Nancy, who has sort of adopted the role of Paranormal Guide for me, immediately went out and bought the rest of the series. She loved this shit. Me, I am not quite chomping at the bit to read the next in the series like I am with the Tempest books, but I’ll probably dive in again if my TBR pile ever dwindles (HA HA HA … ha).

Next up! Tipping the Velvet, then I’m thinking of going back to the Night Huntress and the Tempest series, and then maybe a Georgette Heyer or another YA book. And would you guys still respect me in the morning if I really wanted to read an Anne Rice book? It just looks SO trashy and good.