Crimson Rain-Jaye Roycraft

Crimson Rain


Jaye Roycraft

ImaJinn, Jan 29 2013, $14.00

ISBN: 9781610261067



Dens telepathic exile Rayn DeStar and Interplanetary Investigation Bureau agent telepath Mondina “Dina” Marlijn met in their dreams before they joined forces in person to prevent a calamity (see Rainscape). She went home to Glacia to tell her father she found her mate and on probation he went home to B’harata for the first time in twenty years. Their plan was for her to join him on his planet as he is not allowed to leave B’harata.



However, raider Alecto Kylariz and his Roven first mate Sandy Sanjan take the Palladia whose most valuable cargo is Dina. They flee with her as a prisoner as Kyl plans to use “Hellfire” to force the hand of his despised enemy Dhagaz. However, instead they run into problems with Synergy’s Space Division forcing Kyl and Dina to leave his ship the Tisiphone using the smaller vessel Megaera to escape. Another raider Vaizya attacks the Megaera, but Kyl lands them safely on Ror, a hellhole.



Meanwhile Rayn whose cousin Cyonne and her mate Sage welcome him, but his brother Ryol D'Anthara still holds him culpable with what happened two decades ago to their late sibling. When Rayn learns Dina has been abducted, with the help of Sage, he ignores the rules of his probation to rescue his beloved.



The second Rain science fiction tale is an engaging outer space thriller that rotates leads between the two star-crossed telepathic lovers. The Dina subplot is more exhilarating especially in the first half than the intriguing insight into Rayn’s culture, but the latter goes into hyperspeed once the rescue attempt begins. Readers will enjoy the triangle between Kyl, his Hellfire and her telepath.



Harriet Klausner

Dead Things-Stephen Blackmoore

Dead Things


Stephen Blackmoore

Daw, Feb 5 2013, $7.99

ISBN 9780756407742



Fifteen years ago necromancer Eric Carter fled Los Angeles with no plans ever to return as too many essences wanted him dead. Estranged from his family, over the decade and a half he used his paranormal skills to make a nice living mostly helping spirits move on and occasionally some more dangerous missions, but he always adhered to his vow until now. Something ripped to shreds his sister Lucy in her home. Feeling guilt as he may have been the motive for her torturous death, Carter needs to know who did it so he can bring Lucy justice.



Carter comes home to learn his worst fears seem true when his sibling’s killer left a message that only he could read. Anguished Carter knows Lucy was an avenue to get to him. However, he knows so many want to perform the act of his gruesome murder, but who was amoral enough to use Lucy as an expendable tool? His answer to his rhetorical question leaves him with numerous suspects as he woks the blighted streets.



Dead Things is a great hard-boiled detective thriller inside an urban fantasy landscape. Fast-paced from the moment the kick butt necromancer comes home to the “Mad City” to investigate his sister’s murder and never slows down, readers will appreciate this terrific paranormal mystery as few writers capture Los Angeles as the City of the Lost as well as Stephen Blackmoore does.



Harriet Klausner

The Silent Dragon-Irene Radford

The Silent Dragon


Irene Radford

Daw, Feb 5 2013, $7.99

ISBN 9780756407940



In Coronnan, Dragon Crown King Darville and the Council of Provinces argue over allowing magic to return to the kingdom and over whether the monarch’s fourteen year old daughter Rosselinda should immediately marry in order to birth the male heir. Recently Darville has been beset by accidents that as a pattern indicate assassination attempts.



At the University of Magicians, Chancellor Jaylor refuses to promote his son Glenndon to journeyman in spite of the power the lad possesses because the apprentice is mute. Jaylor ignores that Glenndon’s telepathy is so powerful he does not need to speak to communicate. Darville orders Glenndon, the illegitimate son he had with Brevelan the witch, to come to court as the ruler names the lad his heir to protect his young daughter from an unwanted marriage. Confused as he always thought Jaylor was his sire, Glenndon arrives in Coronnan City greeted by raging councilors who loathe the outsider for his blood interferes with their plans. They barely understanding they and the citizens will turn deadly hostile if they learn of his magic or his silence.



The latest Dragon Nimbus tale (see The Glass Dragon, The Perfect Princess, The Loneliest Magician and The Wizard's Treasure) is an engaging political fantasy. The interesting beleaguered hero becomes abruptly caught up in ugly court intrigue that makes the university in-fighting look tame. Although the theme of a naive youngster becoming overnight the successor to power has been used before, readers will enjoy Glenndon’s efforts to adapt as an unwanted stranger in a strange land.



Harriet Klausner

Demon Hunting In A Dive Bar-Lexi George

Demon Hunting In A Dive Bar


Lexi George

Kensington Brava, Jan 29 2013, $14.00

ISBN: 9780758263131



In Hannah, Alabama, hybrid demon-human Rebekah "Beck" Damian own and runs a dive that employs the gamut of paranormal species serving the gamut of paranormal species; this includes allowing Wampus Kitty inside her establishment though she hurts business with her gloom and doomsday soliloquies frightening the patrons, staff and even somewhat Beck. However her open door policy becomes challenged when Conall Dalvahni demon hunter enters as his kind is at war against her paranormal half.



To their respective chagrin, Beck and Conall are attraced to each other though neither trusts the other. Allegedly Conall searches for a mega-powerful demon-possessed weapon which his prey supposedly possesses that the hunter believes would result in genocide of his kind. As the odd couple fall in love, both know their natural inclination is to kill their beloved and grieve afterward.



The third Demon Hunting urban fantasy (see Demon Hunting In Dixie and Demon Hunting In The Deep South) is a fabulous action-packed thriller due to Lexi George’s ability to make her paranormals appear genuine. The star-crossed lovers are beloved enemies as everyone knows that a demon hunter and a half demon make war not love. While the protagonists fall in love, the overarching theme also moves forward as Beck’s brother Tommy would testify. Filled with danger and jocularity, fans will enjoy stopping at an equal opportunity dive bar in Sweet Home Alabama (Lynyrd Skynyrd).



Harriet Klausner

Blue Bloods-Melissa de la Cruz, Robert Venditti (adapter) and Alina Urusov (art)

Blue Bloods


Melissa de la Cruz, Robert Venditti (adapter) and Alina Urusov (art)

Hyperion, Jan 15 2013, $19.99

ISBN: 9781423134466



Only the elite Blue Bloods attend Manhattan’s ultra-exclusive Duchesne School. However though the students are a special breed as offspring of the movers and shakers, there is a caste system at Duchesne like any school. Below in the ooze underneath the hierarchal ladder is where Schuyler Van Alen and her friend Oliver Hazard-Perry reside or as far from superstar Jack Force or his twin sister Mimi is possible. That is until they change as their reincarnated vampire genes manifest with nightmarish looks as far back as seventeenth century Roanoke.



Duchesne student Augusta Carondolet dies at a nightclub; also there with her were the Force siblings, new pupil bad dude Dylan Ward, student Bliss Llewellyn and sneaking in for the first time Schuyler and Oliver. Soon after Aggie’s death, other Blue Bloods die. As she learns the truth about who she is, Schuyler also inquiries about a schism that goes back to the original Virginia colony as an avenging group the Silver Bloods have begun a killing spree.



This terrific graphic novelization of the first Blue Bloods young adult vampire thriller captures the essence of the original storyline and its high school age lead characters. Fans of the series will appreciate Robert Venditti’s wonderful adaptation enhanced by powerful Alina Urusov’s art as Melissa de la Cruz’s entertaining vampiric teen lit suspense (with two mysteries) comes vividly alive.



Harriet Klausner

A Memory Of Light-Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

A Memory Of Light


Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

Tor, Jan 8 2013, $34.99

ISBN: 9780765325952



The forces of the Light and the Darkness prepare for the final battle, which appears will occur north of the Mountains of Dhoom in Shayol Ghul. Meanwhile hostilities flare up elsewhere as Talmanes leads a depleted Band of the Red Hand in a fight against the Trollocs in Caemlyn; Elayne had taken much of their force especially the cavalry to the Field of Merrilor where the rulers will decide whether to support Rand al’Thor’s dangerous plan to free the Dark One or kill him before his insanity demoralizes the humans. Regardless of who stands victorious in the Last Battle, The Wheel of Time is moving to end this age.



This is an exciting finish to the two decade old Wheel of Time saga as Brandon Sanderson provides an action-packed final battle (and several precursor combats) in his third effort (see The Gathering Storm and Towers of Midnight). The battle scenes are top rate while making up the brunt of the 900 plus page tome, but also have a déjà vu sense after several war scenes occur. Not surprisingly, some of the numerous long-running subplots receive short shrift as do key characters and races. Still, this is a well-done climax as several fronts explode while the adversarial forces prepare and meet for the final battle that will determine the fate of humanity as the Wheel of Time turns.



Harriet Klausner

The Crossing-Mandy Hager

The Crossing


Mandy Hager

PYR, Jan 8 2013, $16.95

ISBN: 9781616146986



The islanders on Onewere in the middle of the Pacific survived the pandemic Tribulation that destroyed much of humanity. Trapped on the coral off their island is the Star of the Sea cruise ship. Residing on board this vessel are the revered Apostles of the Lamb deities who enforce the Holy Book Rules that the Onewere Chosen and other survivors must obey.



Marym believes in the Apostles and their scripture from the Holy Book. She is elated when she learns she is a Chosen to spread the Word of peace to other survivors. On board the Star of the Sea, Marym sees nothing close to the message of peace and harmony; instead she witnesses rape and murder of the darker skinned Chosen Islanders by the Caucasian Apostles in the name of the Lord; and betrayal including sacrifice of loved ones and neighbors by family and friends. Stunned Marym considers the Apostles are devils using the Holy Book to enslave her naïve believing people to do their bidding.



With a nod to Lord Acton’s wry commentary that “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”, this is an exciting profound dystopian post-apocalyptic thriller. The intense storyline looks deeply into organized religion propagandizing its message to further self-interests rather than that of the flock. The cast is developed and constantly changing as on-board death is the consistent final word for the Chosen. Readers will appreciate this extremely dark tale as the fabulous heroine concludes obeisance means rape and death and disobedience means rape and death.



Harriet Klausner