Supernatural – Everything Is Better With Dragons

TBR Review: Winter’s Gifts, by Ben Aaronovitch

Series: Rivers of London (#9.5)
Characters: Kimberley Reynolds
Format: 211 pages, Hardcover
Published: June 8, 2023 by Orion
ISBN: 9781473224377 (ISBN10: 1473224373)

Description

When retired FBI Agent Patrick Henderson calls in an ‘X-Ray Sierra India’ incident, the operator doesn’t understand. He tells them to pass it up the chain till someone does.

That person is FBI Special Agent Kimberley Reynolds. Leaving Quantico for snowbound Northern Wisconsin, she finds that a tornado has flattened half the town – and there’s no sign of Henderson.

Things soon go from weird to worse, as neighbours report unsettling sightings, key evidence goes missing, and the snow keeps rising – cutting off the town, with no way in or out…

Something terrible is awakening. As the clues lead to the coldest of cold cases – a cursed expedition into the frozen wilderness – Reynolds follows a trail from the start of the American nightmare, to the horror that still lives on today…

My Review

A novella from last year that’s been sat on my TBR pile for a while! I’ve been prompted to read it by the arrival of the latest Rivers of London novella. I thought I’d better get up to date.

Kimberley Reynolds is sent to the Great Lakes in the middle of winter to deal with an incident with unusual characteristics, and is snowed in almost immediately. Stuck without back-up, and her contact missing, she must discover what’s going on, what it has to do with an exhibition by the Virginia Gentlemen in 1848 and where Henderson in. Unfortunately, she’s not the only one looking into things, and it gets complicated when the local meteorologist takes her out to the site of the 1848 winter camp. Malevolent forces are at work, a teenage genius loci comes to the rescue, and Kimberly falls in love.

Kimberley Reynolds is a character that pops up in some of the novels but to be honest, she never struck me as a interesting character, or one I’d taken much note of. However, this novella gives the reader more information about her background and develops her character. I enjoy these novellas because they allow Aaronovitch to explore characters and locations without a full novel focused on Peter. He does make an appearance, over the phone and in her head, but it’s mainly about Kimberley and her slowly blossoming romance with William, while investigating both modern and historical crimes.

The dust jacket is cool too.

Recommended for fans of the series.

TBR Review: The Masquerades of Spring, by Ben Aaronovitch

Format: 182 pages, Hardcover
Published: September 5, 2024 by Orion Publishing Co
ISBN: 9781398723887 (ISBN10: 1398723886)

Description

New York City, New York.

Meet Augustus Berrycloth-Young – fop, flaneur, and Englishman abroad – as he chronicles the Jazz Age from his perch atop the city that never sleeps.

That is, until his old friend Thomas Nightingale arrives, pursuing a rather mysterious affair concerning an old saxophone – which will take Gussie from his warm bed, to the cold shores of Long Island, and down to the jazz clubs where music, magic, and madness haunt the shadows…

My Review

A fun novella set in jazz-age New York, with a queer cast and inter-racial love. Nightingale turns up unexpectedly, and Gussie must help him rescue a fae. Interrupting things in the US, and upsetting lots of politicians, businessmen and mobsters, and people of a magical persuasion, events culminate at a drag ball, with policemen amusingly debagged, and explosions on lonely roads.

Aaronovitch conjures the air of excitement and danger that pervades New York in the 1920s and 30s, as jazz clubs and bathtub gin fill the need for escape after the horrors of war, and chronicle a forgotten period of cultural explosion, particularly exemplified by the Harlem Renaissance, in which Black culture and Queer culture flourished, before being appropriated and repressed after the second world war. He also captures the culture of corruption in the city, from police shakedowns for personal gain to gang violence. I loved the inclusion of the drag ball. I’ve heard about them, and how popular they were, but I don’t think they’re particularly well known outside of people interested in Queer history.

Gussie and Lucy are adorable, and I was sure Beauregard is some species of fae, although he might just be a practitioner with connections. I hope Lucy, Gussie and the gang all have long and fun lives, although I think they’d be old before their relationship becomes legal.

I enjoyed the ‘Jeeves and Wooster’ tone of the narrative, and Gussie is a funny narrator. He’s self-deprecating and observant, and astute enough to know when and when not to be himself, even if he has a low opinion of his own intelligence. The references to golden age crime fiction made me laugh – especially when Gussie decides to be a detective for a minute.

Enjoyable novella that introduces new aspects of the Rivers of London universe. Highly recommended.

Review: ‘iHunt’, by David A Hill Jr

#iHunt: Killing Monsters in the Gig Economy by [Hill, David] — Cover for the UK Kindle edition

Published By: Independently published

Publication Date: 11th August 2017

I.S.B.N.: 9781522077435

Format: Kindle & paperback

Price: £3.85 or £11.54 (paperback)

Blurb

It’s like Uber, but for slaying monsters!

Lana is a monster hunter. She kills vampires, werewolves, demons and all the other terrifying creatures of the night. She doesn’t do it because she’s the chosen one. She doesn’t do it because it’s her duty. She does it because working one job just doesn’t cut it for a millenial in Southern California.

She takes contracts using iHunt, an app which freelance monster hunters use to find profitable prey. It’s like Supernatural meets Uber, Buffy meets Airbnb, and sadly, Blade meets Fiverr.

Lana’s story is about making ends meet, about economic anxiety, and about what a person’s willing to do to pay the bills. It’s a equal parts horror, dark humor, slice of life, and social commentary on the gig economy.

She deals with the same problems other millennials face: begging the landlord to extend your rent due date until the next paycheck comes, dating guys not concerned about their partners’ orgasms, dating women who have to sleep all day because they burn in the sun, the cost of clothing you need to replace because you got into a fight with the undead, and trying to explain that the security footage where you’re killing a guy is actually a viral social experiment to advertise your new film. You know, normal millennial issues. I’m sorry, I meant to say #millenialissues. Gotta get those views!

Continue reading “Review: ‘iHunt’, by David A Hill Jr”

Review: ‘Drip’, by Andrew Montlack

Published By: Rent-Controlled Films

Publication Date: April 2017

I.S.B.N.: 9781541102125

Price: £10.36

Format: Paperback

Blurb

“A hand wearing a fancy watch parted the office blinds, and J.D. felt nauseous with despair: suddenly he knew—even though he could not explain how—that all of his mojo had been permanently taken away.”

J.D. and George: thick as thieves since the fourth grade. J.D., the troublemaker, the stud: the alpha. George, the sidekick, the misfit: the loser. Upon graduating college, J.D. has convinced the only job creator in rusty Middlestop to hire them. BrewCorp, the hot new coffee and retail chain, is offering a vice presidency to the employee with the boldest plan for growth, and J.D. is determined to be the guy. When not sleeping with co-workers, he hatches his pitch for a one-of-a kind data pipeline. He is unbeatable–until George grabs the promotion. Now J.D. wants answers. His quest to find them—and to deal with the monstrous truth—is the subject of indie filmmaker Andrew Montlack’s wry debut novel, which features the same biting satire that made his mockumentary, The Devil’s Filmmaker, a cult classic.

My Review

Took me a bit to get into, and at first I couldn’t understand the ‘gothic’ part of the title, but then, of course I got the reason.

It’s an unusual vampire tale, set in the corporate world, of two friends. George is hopeless, JD is charismatic. Where George trips and falls through life, JD dances and laughs and gets his own way. Friends from a young age, the pair finally graduate from university and get jobs at BrewCorp, the latest business to set up in their small, dying town.

When George wangles the job of junior executive, JD is jealous – HE was going to get that position. George starts to change, and much to his chagrin, JD loses his mojo. Secrets about BrewCorp and its real purpose start to leak though, as the project that got them their positions comes to fruition.

I liked this story, eventually. It took a bit of getting into and JD, the main character, was a bit of a prick. The writing felt pompous but as with JD’s character, that gets better as the novel goes on and I certainly enjoyed the second half as the ‘gothic’ part in the novel became clearer.

Could have done with a bit of editing for spelling towards the last few chapters, even allowing for dodgy US spelling conventions. Story instead of storey is just about acceptable, souls when the word is clearly meant to be soles is not.

3/5

June reviews: part one

It’s the middle of the month and yet I haven’t posted a single book review. To make up for it I’m going to review four today.
Continue reading “June reviews: part one”

Review: ‘The Last Werewolf’ by Glen Duncan

6th February 2014
Canongate Books

ISBN: 9781782112662
£7.99
Paperback

Jacob Marlow has lived for 200 years, a werewolf bitten in Snowdonia while on a walking holiday. Now he’s the last of the species. He’s hunted by an organisation, WOCOP, known as the Hunt, dedicated to the eradication of all supernatural entities, including werewolves, vampires and demons. He’s also being hunted by the vampires, who are looking for a way to walk in daylight.

Jacob doesn’t care. He’s tired of living. When his only friend is murdered by the Hunt he can’t find the energy to fight.

Until something he thought was dead, had died in him long before, returns. Love. With new incentive Jacob decides he has to live.

At this point it all goes to hell.

Continue reading “Review: ‘The Last Werewolf’ by Glen Duncan”

Review: ‘Affliction’ by Laurell K. Hamilton

2013

Headline

In the twenty-first Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, novel, our heroine finds herself in an unusual situation: meeting her in-laws in Boulder. Unfortunately she’s meeting Micah’s parents because his Dad is dying from a zombie bite that’s rotting faster than the doctors can cut it away.

Probably not the best time for a family reunion?

Continue reading “Review: ‘Affliction’ by Laurell K. Hamilton”