Review: Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch

Midnight Riot (US)/Rivers of London (UK) Ben Aaronovitch Orbit, 2011 Midnight Riot, more properly titled Rivers of London across the pond, is the first non-shared world novel of British author Ben Aaronovitch; his previous work was on original novels in both the Doctor Who and Blake’s 7 universes. I have a soft spot for urban [...]

Review: Unclean Spirits by M. L. N. Hanover

Unclean Spirits M. L. N. Hanover (Daniel Abraham) Pocket Books, 2009 Unclean Spirits by M. L. N. Hanover, a pen name for one of my favorite authors Daniel Abraham, is the first in urban fantasy series the Black Sun’s Daughter. While I didn’t have any major trouble reading Unclean Spirits it is a far cry from other [...]

Review: Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire

Rosemary and Rue (October Day #1) Seanan McGuire DAW, 2009 I have a soft spot for urban fantasy. Plucky heroines, luckless detectives, murder, magic, and mayhem. When an urban fantasy is done right, when an author manages to blend our own mundane reality with other realities both strange and magical it is a wonderful experience [...]

Review: Hard Spell by Justin Gustainis

Hard Spell Justin Gustainis Angry Robot, 2011 The first thing that drew me to Justin Gustainis’ Hard Spell is the cover. The layout, title and art style are all explicitly designed to mimic that of Hard Case Crime, itself a recent imprint (founded in 2004) whose covers are known to mimic pulp covers of the [...]

Review: Bloodshot by Cherie Priest

Bloodshot Cherie Priest (twitter) Spectra, 2011 Bloodshot by Cherie Priest marks what I would consider a significant departure from her earlier work particularly in terms on setting. While some of her work in the past has touched upon urban fantasy tropes, in so much that Boneshaker, despite its nineteenth century setting takes place in an [...]

Review: Changes by Jim Butcher

Changes Jim Butcher Roc, 2010 Chapters 1-4 available here! Changes is the 12th novel in Jim Butcher’s consistently excellent Dresden Files.  Of all the series I read the Dresden Files is one I most frequently question whether or not I should even bother reviewing.  Not because it isn’t good, but because it is so consistently [...]