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Another Fine Mess by Lindy Ryan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Thanks to Netgalley for this one and a reminder to self to check where in a series the book is. I.e. I didn't read book one (and obviously this is majorly spoilery for that). That said, it doesn't take too long to figure out what is going on. This runs with an idea I've had for a long time i.e. wanting someone to incorporate funeral homes with fighting the undead, which is actually what the Evans women are doing in a southeast Texas town.

Lenore and Luna, grandmother and granddaughter lost a lot in book one including Lenore's mother and her daughter, Luna's mom, along with the previous sheriff who blamed them for the weird goings on. The new sheriff Robert was sweet on Grace, Lenore's now-deceased daughter and is more of an ally to the Evans women than his predecessor. Luna is of mixed heritage, human and strigori (sort of a vampire so she's technically a dhampir)

Lenore opens the story thinking about breaking one of her mother Ducey's rules: she brings in an outsider to the funeral home, Kim the goth hair dresser who'll help with making up the bodies for presentation because Lenore is drowning in work. Because the weirdness hasn't stopped. Something is killing people and stealing body parts and teeth, something she and Robert aren't going to be able to blame on a 'ghost coyote/wolf' hybrid and rabies for much longer, especially not with a canine expert in town.

Luna is on her own arc trying to figure out what sort of monster she is with the help of her friends like Dillon (Kim's brother) and Crane (Luna's boyfriend and another goth). The bodies start piling up and without spoiling it, the Evans women have some huge surprises heading their way.

I enjoyed this. I liked the premise and the characters. A few things did bother me. It seemed to drag a wee bit as it went over the same territory more than once (and there seemed to be a few holes in the worldbuilding that kept being summed up as Grandma Pie didn't tell us enough about these rising dead people.) Also I wasn't a giant fan of the climax because it felt a touch cliche, bad things going down at a school dance.

Maybe it bugged me because Luna was allowed to go to this vs sneaking out. Seems a little weird they'd let her with a mass killing monster out there. Also something huge happens with Luna's band of friends that we didn't spend enough time on in Luna's point of view, in my opinion. It lost some punch being seen by one of her relatives.

Still, really good story (though I think the blurb talking about humor might be misleading or my sense of humor is not this). I would absolutely read on in this series.



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The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


As much as I like Garth Nix I missed this and came to it via a reading challenge I'm doing and boy am I glad I did. It hits the ground running from the get go. Susan was raised by her hippie mom who might actually not even remember who Susan's father is due to all the LSD she dropped (though she claims she didn't do any). Before starting art college, Susan tries to track down her father in London, leading her to Uncle Frank who was far more criminal and far less human than Susan knew.

Merlin, one of the left handed (which are more of the battle ready side of the booksellers while the right handed are the magical researchers side), has deal with Frank for breaking the supernatural laws they have to follow. Susan finds herself swept up with the handsome, gender fluid Merlin and his/her sister Vivian (who is right handed). Someone is after Susan, maybe to kill her or at least to kidnap her for nefarious reasons.

The book sellers are trying to determine why and just who Susan's father might be. If they're right about her parentage Susan could even be in trouble from their own organization. The book is steeped in British folk lore and is non stop action. Susan and Merlin especially are good characters, strong and intelligent. Doing foolish things is not a mechanism for plot advancement as we so often see. their choices are at least planned briefly.

There is plenty of danger and action and a hint of romance. I loved this book. I wish I had found it a couple months sooner when I was on sabbatical so I could have sat down and read this cover to cover in one sitting. I don't often get book hangovers but this one gave me one in all the best ways. I can't wait to read the next book.



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Night Club, Vol. 1 by Mark Millar

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I might have been more forgiving and rounded up my 3.5 stars if a) the ending b) the cover claiming Millar reinvented the vampire genre. By having vampires fight crime? (Um, Vampire Knight?, Angel the series? P.N. Elrod's Jack Fleming, yes they're all private investigators/cops but is that so different from dressing as superheroes and doing the same thing?)

This suffered from being rushed, like Millar was writing for Netflix (I am not a fan of most streaming platforms idea that less is more and story telling suffers as they try to jam everything into 8-10 episodes) and he does, in fact, write for them. There isn't much in the way of character development. Even the one sided love triangle (eye roll) that the other two people in it don't know exists felt shoehorned in as an afterthought to give Sam something to do.

The character development is so slipshod that if not for Danny Garcia, the main point of view character, narrating a YouTube video I'm not sure we would have even known his two friends names and what they do. It opens with Sam (DJ) and Amy (artist) trying to talk Danny out of doing 'parkour' with his bike on the roof of a Philadelphia building. THey're chasing influencer money, which fine that fits their age bracket.

It ends as one might expect with Danny being seriously injured and he is targeted by a former undercover police detective who turns him to save his life. It goes straight along traditional vampire folklore traits (no sunlight (but they are awake in the day), heal from anything but burning/decapitation, turn into bats/mist, super strength etc). He trains Danny brutally for a little while because he's building an army to do something (unspecified)

Danny does have a few brain cells firing (after his stunt you had to wonder) and he devises a costume out of what looks like a luchador mask and head to toe clothing so he can go out. We get a few panels establishing that Sam (especially) and Amy are very bullied at school and when he offers them to die and be a vampire like him Amy jumps at it (Sam wasn't fully on board). Naturally we get them recording their antics as superheroes (which shows up on film because of clothing) as they work towards getting monetized.

This naturally gets the attention of both the detective and the bad guy vampires (sort of a white supremacists terrorist group) and it comes down to who is going to kill who and how. There is some good ideas in this. I just wish it had slowed down some an explored it. For example the female vampires (both of them) various 'conditions' were interesting but so little time is spent on anyone it feels like wasted opportunity.

It does wrap up the first major arc in this but then ends with Sam thinking of doing something so stupid I'm not sure I want to see more. Sigh. I did like the art a lot with one exception: the bully. I thought he was a street thug because he looked 30 not 17.



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Third Shift Society, Vol. One by Meredith Moriarty

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was a lucky find at the library as I don't get Webtoon (because I'd probably get nothing done if I did) and I enjoyed. Is it anything truly new in the urban fantasy, Buffy/Supernatural sort of genre? No, not really but that doesn't mean it wasn't fun.

Ellie is just your average girl in the city who lost her job and then runs across a pumpkin headed man in an alley battling a monster. Compelled to help (as Ellie is pretty sweet), she learns she has psychic powers and when Ichabod i.e. the Pumpkinhead offers her a job, she says yes. The job is relatively a simple one, they investigate places of supernatural disturbances.

She doesn't nearly as many questions about all this as I might have liked and Ichabod dodges the one she did ask (why is your head a pumpkin). We have them dealing with ghosts from immurement, spiritual snakes things, bug men, demons and a surprise visit from someone who looks a lot like Alice in Wonderland.

Ellie does do the one thing Ichabod asked her not to: to go solo on a case and naturally it goes not as well as she'd like. Vol 2 will probably be dealing with the consequences of that choice.

I like Ellie, Ichabod and Simon (Ichabod's friend and supernatural doctor). I'm looking forward to more of this. The art is excellent as well.



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怪物事変 3 by Sho Aimoto

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Mihai the vampire has sent Kabane, Shiki and Akira on a mission for him inside a strange factory that is highly productive but its work force is not all that it seems. What should have been a simple mission turns dangerous, far more than the trio was led to expect.

It does, however, lead the trio to find inner strength they didn't know they had. As a small trip (that Akira is convinced is a vacation) is arranged by Inugami for Shiki, a misunderstanding means they all go to this bathhouse retreat owned by Shiki's uncle. They're going to seach for Shiki's parents as he's now emotionally ready for it. However there is some real horror waiting for them there.

I'm enjoying this for the most part but there are a few misses for me like the some what infantile nature of Kon (who wasnt in this much) and the shallow approach to Akira's fem-boy nature that feels to have no understanding of the psychology of it (feels more like awww aint' this cutesy). I do want to keep rolling with this series.



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Once & Future, Vol. 1: The King is Undead by Kieron Gillen

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I missed the original run of this since it came out smack dab in the middle of the covid lockdown which is a shame as I would have loved it. That said there is something about the ease of collected editions fitting on a bookshelf.

First up, the art. THIS is what sequential art should look like. How many times have I suffered through art that barely has a notion of what human bodies should look like just because I like the story too much to quit it. Not a problem here. This art is gorgeous. I would buy panels and hang them on my wall. Bridgette especially is wonderful. She's old and they don't try to hide her age. Duncan is an appealing (and appropriate) combination of naive of expression and hot.

The story leans hard into Arthurian legend and at one point when asked if stuff like this happens elsewhere Bridgette's only answer is to say she can barely keep up with the British stuff, she has no idea. The stories and folklore of Britain is coming to life...again.

A group of Nationalists are bringing back Arthur, not quite grasping that his legends in Wales/North England have Brythonic -speaking Celtic roots. He is not a friend of the Anglo-Saxons which make up much of the UK now. He's a big believer in ethnic cleansing and if he gets the Holy Grail he'll do just that.

Bridgette lives a currently quiet life in senior housing and answers the question what would Buffy be like if she were 80. Duncan, her grandson whom she raised as a complete innocent of this lifestyle (and in the sexual sense too) is a museum curator. She forced this lifestyle on him for reasons which you might guess at if you're familiar with the Knights of the Round Table.

In spite of his fear, Duncan is drawn into Bridgette's crazy world and as a result Britain might just stand a chance. I can't go into much more without spoiling some of the twists and they are worth it. Bridgette is hard core and if I had a quibble with this is we're not sure if she is super powered like Buffy because she's doing stuff that might be pushing it given her age. Still, that is minor. This first volume was a blast and I immediate got the next two from the library.



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Once & Future, Vol. 2: Old English by Kieron Gillen

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This picks up from volume one and goes balls to the walls with the action. Duncan has committed to his familial role but not without being angry with his grandmother's deception his whole life (not to mention Mommy dearest and his half sibling Galahad). We have Rose a little more integrated into the story going from someone Duncan is trying to date to their Rupert Giles (and that might be the weakest part of the story, we don't really see Rose's point of view on all of this and why she decides to step up)

Duncan's mom has now teamed up with a very creepy version of Merlin becoming his Nimue and together they pull Beowulf forth from The Story sending him after Duncan and Bridgette. However, if they defeat him then who is to take on Grendel and his mother...oh right, Duncan.

And that is this volume's over arching arc. And it's worth it just to see Bridgette defending the other senior citizens in her home with a chainsaw.

This continues the same high level of story telling and artwork. Galahad's fate is particularly gruesome (though it's not his end and it couldn't have happened to a better prick of a dude). Can't wait for the next volume.



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Once & Future, Vol. 3: The Parliament of Magpies by Kieron Gillen

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Without spoiling anything, we can see in this volume why Mary so disliked her mother. We don't know if Bridgette really wanted to hurt her daughter (I am sure she could have if it was necessary but this is 100% Mary's point of view and she has disordered thinking and a skewed (potentially) view of her mother).

Enter into the story an X-Filesque Smoking Man governmental connection who step in after one too many big fights happen. Mary and Merlin continue their scheming. Rose steps even deeper into the story, taking on an active role. Bridgette and Duncan continue to be a delight. The art remains fantastic. I'm loving this series to bits.



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Blue Exorcist, Vol. 22 by Kazue Kato

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


As I said with Noragami Stray God #22, I stopped reading both series for over a year and I'm not even sure why. I had both volumes but just set them aside. Yeah I was a little annoyed with Yukio in #21 but now I'm kicking myself for waiting.

Rin, now changed after the events of vol. 21 follows Mephisto into the past to observe his history even though he's warned this tale only ends in tragedy. What we get is the history of Father Fujimoto and Yuri Egin, Rin and Yukio's mother.

And it is full on Shiro and Yuri's story. Mephisto and Rin are in the sidelines. And it doesn't just end in tragedy, the whole damn thing is tragic. Neither Shiro and Yuri's childhood is a happy one and what the exorcists were then is much darker too. (I don't want to spoil it, just go see for yourself. This volume is very much worth it).

As a side note Yuri reminds me of Shiemi (and there seems to be something weird going on with her too that's hinted at in the opening pages) and Shiro is an absolute jerk. He's cruel. He may have reasons. That boy isn't well.

The art, as always, is lovely.



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怪物事変 2 by Sho Aimoto

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Another 'monster of the week' set up but Kabane is different enough and interesting enough to keep me going. He has no idea how to even be human, not because he's that much of a kemono (think faerie or demon realm sort of creature) but because the people who raised him dehumanized him. Of course he isn't human and his type of kemono has impressive regenerative abilities (think Deadpool)

Inugami has taken a shine to Kabane and has made him part of the kemono investigative team. Kabane ends up crossing paths with one of Inugami's frenemies, an Inari spirit and there's the whole vampire thing that Kabane gets swept up in. His two young companions get a little fleshing out, well not so much Shiki (who looks a little like and acts a bit like Bakugo from My Hero Academia) and Akira (at least we learn why he acts and dresses feminine which could be tied in to the type of kemono he is because he definitely doesn't want to be a girl at this point in the series at least) gets a bit more fleshing out.

There aren't any female characters within the agency but we get a few from outside but Kon is not a female character I'd ever want (a hundred percent dependent/in service to the Inari character and seems to have very little independent thought or the ability to think much at all).

I'm finding the plot interesting enough to keep me going but I do rather want more from it.



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Gumption & Gumshoes by Alex Kidwell

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I really wanted to love this one. A chinchilla shifter sounded cute and it was good story but not great. It started out on a sour note for me with how we first see August, a geeky, overweight chinchilla shifter who was close to his grandfather. It opens with his grandfather's passing and August inheriting money. We have the 'take this job and shove it' moment as he quits and we join back up later when he's a private investigator and upset he can barely afford rent. I'm like you thought you could make it far on 50k? Asked a few of my fellow author/reader types what they thought of that plot detail and they said what I was thinking: the character isn't very bright, so that's not a good place to start.

Sam is August's landlord and after a few awkward encounters over late rent, he gets swept up in August's case, stealing money from a nearby laundromat. (is it weird that I can accept the shifter aspect of the story but am rolling my eyes at how impossibly fast August got a private investigator license?) After accidentally exposing his shape shifter secret to Sam and encountering a few bruisers tied up in the laundromat mess, he and Sam grow closer.

There is a definite sweetness to their brief romance. The one thing is, however, is all their self doubts leads to a lot of body negativity and age negativity directed at themselves. As for the mystery they're working on solving, that went really well and I enjoyed it. Overall it was a fun story. However, there was one thing I wished wasn't in the story, August referring to his kind as Skinwalkers. That's not what they are and the Indigenous people for whom that term has meaning have repeatedly asked people to stop using the word Skinwalker and especially stop trying to make it into something cutesy



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A Shrouded Spark by Breshea Anglen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The story opens soon after Noni's near-death in a car accident with her cousin who is more like a sister. Noni's parents are long gone and her cousin's mother has raised her so the girls are close. That doesn't stop Noni from planning to go to school in California instead of staying in Ohio. She wants to go into nursing to honor her parents who were in healthcare.

The accident however has gotten Noni off track. She's having intention tremors when she tries to draw, art being her passion, and she's having night terrors, not surprising with the PTSD the accident left her with. She gets the idea that she needs to meet the man who saved her life the day of the accident.

Once she meets him, things get very wild. Magic, portals to other realms, old gods, It all mixes to make an interesting story that Noni is swept up in. She's a very likeable character, easy to root for. It did have an open ending that isn't my favorite way to end a book. The surprise secondary character that I really liked was Eli. His arc was a good one, from creepy kid to why people see him as such and his importance to Noni and her journey. I'm looking forward to the next book.



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