dancingdane's reviews
711 reviews

A new take on vampires and werewolves, at least one that I haven't encountered. Ok writing, kept me engaged in the story, despite some parts of tedium with plot development. Does read like a self-published book/advanced reader copy with typos and misused words ("death throws" instead of "death throes"). Misused words are an even greater pet peeve than typos in books for me.

This book is more of King ala Shawshank and Stand by Me than of Carrie and Cujo. And he didn't kill the dog, so the book got finished. Other than that, I won't say more because there are so many plot twists, I don't want to spoil anything. Very detailed and a fun read, though not quite as suspenseful as I would have expected. In part, we know "who done it" early on, so it isn't a murder mystery. And it helps that the main character is a cop, because he has access to things the normal citizen wouldn't (even though he is retired). Overall, it's a fairly satisfactory read, but not stunning or overly compelling. I cared about the people, I wanted to know how it ended, but I'll have forgotten it in a few days.

Interesting steampunk concepts here. Traveling circuses, alchemy, a British Revolutionary War that divided the country into two parts, the Kingdom and the Republic, the Patent Office with higher authority than police or military. I'll definitely be reading the next volume.

Elizabeth Barnabus, born into the traveling circus, has lived a double life of twins; herself and her brother, Edwin. She has perfected the art of transformation so that she can move about as either man or woman, depending upon what the circumstances require. In order to earn her living, she has become an intelligence gatherer (rather like a private investigator), and works both as Elizabeth and Edwin. This particular novel has her on the case of a missing aristocrat--her employer is the gentleman's sister, the Duchess of Bletchley. The aristocrat has a device that will turn lead into gold and has gone into hiding. His sister dearly wants to see him again, and will pay off the debts owed by Elizabeth's family that make Elizabeth wanted by the Duke of Northampton, another aristocrat in the Kingom. In order to find the aristocrat and receive her payment, she must travel back to the Kingdom and risk being found by the Duke.

Joe becomes embroiled in a Tom-Horn-esque range war between extreme environmental activists and wealthy millionaire "ranchers." Savage Run is the name of a canyon wherein a Cheyenne tribe outran and out-maneuvered their Pawnee enemies. Joe and the environmental activists he's trying to save come across it in their flight from the man who has been hired by the Stockmen's Association to kill them.

Worst part of the book, though, is that his buckskin mare Lizzie dies.

One description I read is that the story is told in reverse order, which really does seem true. But I felt the ending/beginning was rather abrupt. I turned the page (on my kindle) and suddenly got the "see more by this author" message. Was not expecting the literal end of the book when it came.

As for the story itself, well, it felt like the story on the page was not the story I was there to read. I wanted to read about his "accident" and the RPG he created, and the reasons for the trial. But those seemed to be peripheral to a story about, well, just him living. That's not a good way to describe it, but not coming up with anything better.

Very strange little mystery. Takes place in Newcastle, England, sometime in the late 18th century. Our protagonist, Charles Patterson, is a harpsichord/violin/organ player and composer. In this book, his chief rival for director of the "band" of "gentlemen" is a Swiss violinist. He is not a sleuth of any sort, but is forced into the role by a serious of misfortunes that all seem to point to him or his rival as the culprits. (As an aside, the structure of the band is interesting, since in this setting, musicians are considered lower than tradesmen in society, and are therefore not ranked among the titled. However, the gentlemen of the area indulge themselves in performing in the band, and taking lessons from the various musicians in town. Thus is a member of the band, yet not in the same class as the majority of them.)

The story outlined above is the "normal" part of the book. Where things get strange is that in this particular setting, the spirits of people who have died are still present. Patterson lives in a boarding house run by a spirit, because no heirs have yet come forward. The spirits are well known, and interact as every other character; the author makes no effort to turn this into a supernatural thriller. In fact, I had trouble remembering sometimes which characters were the ghosts.

The final little oddity of the book is the shift into an alternate world that Patterson occasionally encounters in the vicinity of a particular house in town. I can't go into much detail here to avoid spoilers, but in this other world, he finds that he is far more successful than in his own.

The perpetrator does seem fairly obvious, but the motives are not.

The novel takes some getting used to (what with the spirits and all), but overall I did find it enjoyable. What was particularly of interest to me was the way the chapter headings use music to describe the events of the chapter. That was a particularly fun little play with music and language.

I can certainly see where some people might find parts of the narrative implausible, but I will day I very much enjoyed this book. The writing kept me engaged, even though I pretty much suspected the eventual outcome.

Interesting questions about the natures of amnesia and love. Very much like the movie Memento. I can't imagine the disorienting feelings of waking up every morning not knowing where you are and thinking you're 20 years younger.

The Hope Diamond as part of the French Crown Jewels stolen in Paris 1792 is the centerpiece of this St Cyr mystery.

I found this one even more satisfying than the first. instead of musical chapter titles, these chapters start with a blurb, withe from the newspaper or a sermon or something similar. Much less bickering with the gentlemen of the band, less musical wrangling. Patterson is almost all detective here, albeit reluctantly. And the last pages are deliciously satisfying.

I'm going with "it was ok." This collection takes Hansel and Gretel and inserts them into a number of other original Grimm fairy tales. It's kind of a nice thread going through. But I wasn't a big fan of the authorial intrusions. In some ways, it's like he's trying to channel Goldstein in The Princess Bride, but he's not nearly as gifted. The intrusions were jarring more than humorous (which is what I think he intended).

Some reviews will doubtless mention the blood/gore/horror of the stories. To that, I say, well, that's Grimm for you. I don't remember enough of the original tales to say how accurate they are here, but if you don't know the original Grimm tales, yes, they are bloody.