Salute Your Shorts: Magic Mourns by Ilona Andrews

Salute Your Shorts is a weekly (ish) feature here at Bunbury in the Stacks highlighting and reviewing short stories and novellas. Everyone is welcome to join at any time, just grab the pic above and shoot me a link in the comments so that I can include your post in a roundup.

Title: Magic Mourns in Must Love Hellhounds [Amazon|GoodReads]
Author: Ilona Andrews [Website|Twitter|Facebook]
Standing: Magic Mourns is a Kate Daniels novella between books 3 and 4.  This anthology also includes 3 other novellas which are part of the Guild Hunter, Sookie Stackhouse, and The Guardians series.  As I have not read these other series, I did not read the other 3 novellas.
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Published: September 1st, 2009 by Berkley Trade
Format:  Paperback; 361 pages. Magic Mourns alone is around 90 pages. 
Source: Borrowed from my local library.
Alternative Source: Magic Mourns is also available to purchase as an e-book single here.
Spoilers!: This review contains very minor spoilers for Magic Bites (reviewed here), Magic Burns (reviewed here), and Magic Strikes (reviewed here).  One could, theoretically, read this story without having read other Kate Daniels novels.

The phone rang again.  “Order of the Knights of Merciful Aid, Andrea—“
”Can I speak to Kate?”  An older male voice tinted with country accent.
”I’m filling in for her.  What do you need?”
”Can you take a message for her?  Tell ‘er this is Teddy Jo callin’ down from Joshua Junkyards.  She knows me.  Tell her I was drivin’ on through Buzzard, and I saw one of them fellers she hangs out with, the shapeshifters, run like hell through the Scratches.  Right below me.  There was a big dog chasin’ him.”
“How big was the dog?”
Teddy Jo mulled it over.  “I’d say as big as a house.  A one-story.  Maybe a bit bigger.  Not as big as one of them colonials, you understand.  A regular-person house.”
”Would you say the shapeshifter was in distress?”
”Hell yeah, he was in distress.  His tail was on fire.”
”He ran like his tail was on fire?”
”No, his tail was on fire.  Like a big, furry candle on his ass.
Bing.  Green five, shapeshifter in dire distress.  “Got it.”

When I picked up Magic Mourns, I was expecting Kate.  What I got was Andrea.  The shift in narrators was a surprise for me, but not an unwelcome one.  I love me some Kate, but I’ve really enjoyed Andrea’s character in the past two books, and knowing that Gunmetal Magic is coming out this summer with her PoV, I was pumped for the preview.  And friends, Magic Mourns did not disappoint! 

Often, when you pick up new narration by the same author, it’s incredibly similar.  However, Ilona Andrews really took me by surprise with Andrea.  She doesn’t write the same for this character at all.  Sure, it’s still written very well, but Andrea’s thought process is different to Kate’s.  We see that not only in her mental dialog, but because it is written in first person, we see it in every word.  Andrea’s narration isn’t full of well-known phrases and clichés, it’s not as clipped, moody, or sharp; it is another strong butt-kicking chick with a wry sense of humor, and I am now more than ever a fan of Andrea’s.

I’m going to say after the past three books, Ilona Andrews kind of owed us this one.  Magic Mourns tells the story of Andrea dealing with duty without Kate.  When she receives word of the (supposedly) giant dog chasing a shapeshifter outside of the city, she heads out to check the scene.  There she finds, much to her dismay, Rafael.  Rafael running from what is, indeed, a three headed dog the size of a house.  Andrea doesn’t particularly want to work with Rafael, but she doesn’t want to leave the guy either.  She wants to create a better bond between herself and the Pack, hoping that she can earn a position of trust similar to Kate’s, making relations easier for everyone. 

As always, we get a fun and unique play on mythology (Greek this time), but with it comes the gratification of Andrea and Rafael, and how their relationship differs from Kate and Curran’s.  Andrea and Rafael, unlike the other couple mentioned, actually acknowledge and talk about the issues between them.  For better or worse, at least they have some form of communication going.  Magic Mourns also gives us better insight into Andrea’s past.  We’ve known she is beastkin, but other than the stigma involved, we’ve been a little blind to what that really meant for her growing up.  I was incredibly interested to have her past laid bare, appalling as aspects of it may be.  Where Ilona Andrews has been giving us snippets of Kate’s past and relationship with Curran slowly over 3 novels, it was really quite satisfying to learn so much about another character in such a short period of time.  Not that I’m complaining about Kate’s pacing, quite the opposite, I love it, but that doesn’t mean I don’t need to be thrown a bone every once in a while.  Andrea’s story was well paced, informative, and the perfect balance between action and romance.

Overall, Magic Mourns is a must read for Kate Daniels fans, particularly those preparing to enjoy Gunmetal Magic!

Get a second opinion:
Janicu’s Book Blog (review of entire Must Love Hellhounds anthology)
Literary Escapism (review of entire Must Love Hellhounds anthology)
All Things Urban Fantasy (review of Magic Mourns)

Waiting on Wednesday: Envy by Elizabeth Miles

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcomign releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

  Envy – Elizabeth Miles
  September 4th, 2012 – Simon and Schuster

Spring is here, and the ice is slowly melting in Ascension…revealing the secrets buried beneath.

The Furies are back, and Emily Winters is about to discover that their roots in Ascension are deeper than she ever imagined. With the help of her new friend Drea, she vows to take them down. But it's hard to focus when she's desperate to make up with JD, and to figure out why Crow, a mysterious Ascension High dropout, seems to be shadowing her.

Meanwhile, new girl Skylar McVoy is determined to leave her own dark past behind. So she's thrilled when not only does popular Gabby takes her under her wing, but the stunning and sophisticated Meg offers to give her a major makeover. But everyone knows what happens to the vainest girl of all…

It's tempting to be naughty. But beware: the Furies are always watching, and their power grows stronger by the day.

I thoroughly enjoyed Fury, the first in this series and Elizabeth Miles’s debut, and am very excited for the second installment!  This is the UK cover, which I am using because 1) it matches the cover of Fury and 2) it is significantly better than the GIANT FACE covers that have overtaken the US copies.  What are you waiting on?

Review: Song of the Red Cloak by Chantel Acevedo

Title: Song of the Red Cloak [Amazon|GoodReads]
Author: Chantel Acevedo [Website|Twitter]
Standing: Stand alone novel?
Genre: Young Adult, Historical, Fantasy
Published: July 26th, 2011 by CreateSpace
Format: Kindle edition.  
Source: Purchased.

A prophecy has been told of one prince's betrayal of another, of a slave uprising and the destruction of Sparta, of love and death.  The time has come to pass that these prophesies may be fulfilled.

Galen and Nikolas have grown up the best of friends, much to the concern of most of Sparta; Nikolas is a prince, destined to be king, while Galen is a helot--a slave--destined only to serve.  Galen dreams of freedom, of being a true Spartan and wearing a red cloak, but he knows this will not happen, so he will help Nikolas to achieve his.  While assisting Nikolas in a cruel coming-of-age ritual, Galen and Nikolas have a run in with Zoi, a mysterious young woman with unusual powers.  Galen, however, begins to suspect that Zoi has her part to play in the prophecies he learns from Karinna, Sparta’s beautiful new sybil.  

So, like many out there, I tend to shy away from self-published books, at least until I hear good words from others.  Chantel Acevedo is a real life friend of an author I love, Rachel Hawkins, and she had such kind words to say about Chantel and her book that I just had to give it a shot.  Chantel Acevedo is a total sweetheart, and I was excited to read a book that began as a NaNoWriMo book to see what someone could achieve from this event.  I am so happy to say that not only were there no noticeable typos, Song of the Red Cloak offered a compelling story of friendship, love, and BADASS SPARTANS.

Song of the Red Cloak was an excellent historical fiction, with some awesomely creative fantasy elements drawn both from Grecian myth and Acevedo’s own creation.  I loved all of the elements of Spartan society that were discussed, especially the details about the women.  I’ll say it right now, if I ever have to be part of a past society, I’ll take Sparta please (just not as a helot).  They get to go to school, get trained to fight, can speak their minds, and are pretty much awesome:

When foreigners asked why Spartan women were the only females in all of Greece allowed to speak their minds, the answer was always the same:  because Spartan women gave birth to real men.

Yeah, I know, it’s one of those cliche Spartan phrases, but it’s always in Spartan stuff BECAUSE IT’S AWESOME.  Song of the Red Cloak did not include the other Spartan phrase, “Come back with your shield or on it.” so we’ll let it roll.  I will say though, that one of the things that bothered me a bit about the book in the first half was feeling a bit like I was getting a history lesson.  This is somewhat necessary to make sure readers understand terminology, but occasionally it felt like facts were thrown in because they were cool facts more than because they were necessary.  Another aspect that bothered me were a couple of inconsistencies in descriptors.  For example, near the beginning, Nikolas surprised Galan by coming up behind him, but about three pages later when describing Nikolas, it is said that he could never sneak up on anyone.  My only other issue was the time-line.  While the pacing of the story was good, things seemed to come to a head very quickly, in a matter of days events took place which to me would have made more sense over a matter of weeks.

Song of the Red Cloak addresses the age old and tragic issue of prophecy.  As so often with prophecies, they are open to interpretation, misinterpreted, or people attempt to avoid them.  This, as always, works toward the detriment of those involved.  We see this story through the eyes of Galen, a slave who both respects and hates Spartans.  I very much enjoyed the focus on a male protagonist, and a story where there was just as much (if not more) emphasis on the value of his friendship with Nikolas as there is on his relationships with Zoi and Karinna.  All in all, I very much enjoyed the world depicted by Acevedo, which was both historically accurate and wonderfully creative.  

Likelihood that I'll be back for more:  I’ll totally check out whatever Chantel Acevedo writes next!  I admire her for self-publishing, and think she’s got some great stories up in that head.  Song of the Red Cloak was stand alone, but it seemed very open for the continuation of this story. She also has another book out, Love and Ghost Letters, which won the International Latino Book Award.

Recommended for:  Fans of Ancient Greece (Sparta in particular), people looking for a focus on friendship, strong women--because Sparta had em’ and some hot dudes too.

Real life repercussions of reading this book:  Well...my boyfriend had to sit through 300 with me.  Yeah, guys like 300, but they probably don’t like watching it with their girlfriend literally drooling at all the eye candy.  Also Spartans make me want to eat large amounts of next-to-raw meat and punch things.  And kick people down pits.

Review: Everneath by Brodi Ashton

Title: Everneath [Amazon|GoodReads]
Author: Brodi Ashton [Website|Twitter]
Standing: First book in a new series.
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Romance, Greek Mythology
Published: January 24th, 2012 by HarperCollins/Balzer & Bray
Format: Kindle edition; 384 pages.  
Source: ARC from publisher via NetGalley.
Challenge: Debut author challenge.

Nikki Beckett has returned after disappearing six months earlier.  She wasn’t really strung out or in rehab, she was in the Everneath for one hundred years, partaking in the Feed.  At a desperate moment, Nikki offered herself to Cole, an immortal being that must drain a human of energy every 100 years in order to sustain life.  To everyone’s surprise, however, Nikki didn’t waste away in the Feed.  She remembered her life, she remembered Jack, and she decided to return to her old life to see him and make amends with friends and family with what little time she had left.  Nikki has six months on the surface before the Tunnels come for her, using her as a battery to power the Everneath.  Her only option besides this hell?  To become an Everliving, like Cole, and potentially rule the Everneath as its queen.

Everneath was promised as a retelling of Hades and Persephone, but what resulted was more of a mashup of this myth with that of Orpheus and Eurydice, and some Isis and Osiris thrown in.  More of a nod to, as it were, than a retelling. The interplay of the mythologies was interesting to me.  What could have been a confusing train wreck ended up working surprisingly well.  You could see Nikki identifying with either Persephone or Eurydice, and because the book did not go too in-depth, it was possible to mix Greek and Egyptian mythology in a way that made sense.  The basic concept that all myths are rooted in reality is taken to a more literal level than usual, and I found the world Ashton created in the Everneath to be quite intriguing.

While I enjoyed the mythology created, I had a few issues with the melodramatic tone of Everneath.  Nikki is supposedly drained of all emotions, and will only recover the ability to feel over time on the surface.  While she does become increasingly emotional, I felt the story was rather full of emotion to begin with.  Nikki’s motives were confusing to me.  She seems bent on making amends, and yet she doesn’t want to get too close because she knows it’ll be worse when she leaves again.  She entered the Everneath in a time of extreme emotional strife, and her doubt of Jack was a contributing factor--yet despite her belief that he no longer cares for her, Nikki’s love is so strong that Jack helps her hold on to her life as a human.  I don’t really get this dynamic.  To me, a ‘true love’ connection, one that could literally get you through hell, needs to be one solid enough that you don’t have to doubt your feelings for one another.  Also, I was confused by Nikki’s relationship with her father.  Does he just assume she ran off and was drugged out like everyone else seems to, does she say this is true?  We don’t know.  I guess it’s not odd to me that this may be the rumor of choice, but it is surprising to me that those who knew Nikki would think this of her.  

Despite these personal issues with Everneath, I do see it as a read that will appeal to many.  I did want to hug Brodi Ashton for giving both of her boys brown eyes (NO GREEN EYES HUZZAH), and I thought the smokey cover was gorgeous.  

Likelihood that I'll be back for more: Everneath wasn’t bad, but I don’t think it’s the series for me.  

Recommended for:  It’s funny, I’d say people who liked Fury, but I kinda feel like either you really like Fury, or you really like Everneath.  Haven’t seen a ton of crossover from people who enjoyed both (and I was a Fury fan).  Nonetheless, a good option for mythologeeks, and paranormal romance peeps.

Real life repercussions of reading this book:  I got really annoyed at the overuse of the word ‘niggling’.  I’d never even seen this word before, but apparently it’s completely replaced ‘nagging’ in Ashton’s vocabulary.  Kinda made me want to punch babies by the end.

Review: Fury by Elizabeth Miles

Title: Fury [Amazon|GoodReads]
Author: Elizabeth Miles [Website|Twitter|Facebook]
Standing: Book 1 in The Fury Trilogy
Genre: Young Adult, Greek Mythology, Urban Fantasy
Published: August 30th, 2011 by Simon Pulse
Format: Hardcover; 370 pages.  
Source: Borrowed from my local library.

We all make mistakes, but some of them are bigger than others.  If we're lucky, people forgive us.  But the Furies don't...

It's winter break in Ascension, Maine, and the in-crowd at the high school is excited to kick it off right with a party.  Too bad not everyone's enjoying it.  The tragic news is spreading - Sasha has just jumped off the overpass attempting suicide.  Chase is hit hard, he and Sasha had been close once, before her mother remarried rich and Sasha left the trailer park.  They'd both managed to crawl up the social ladder, but Sasha had fallen back down.  Hard.  Chase has carefully constructed every portion of his image to keep his standing as the popular football quarterback, destined for a scholarship and getting out.  Sasha's attempt seems to have everyone concerned, but no one is more upset than Chase.  He's annoyed, why do they all care?  She wasn't their friend, she was a loser.  Chase remembers how things really were.

Em has been fighting conflicting emotions for months now, and it's just getting worse.  She has a crush on Zach, but is it more than that?  Does he feel the same way?  She's pretty sure he does and that they're meant for something great.  After the party, her best friend Gabby is headed out of town for the holidays and Em's free to explore her feelings with Zach.  Too bad Zach is Gabby's boyfriend, and there is no going back.  Unfortunately, Em will loon soon enough...sometimes sorry isn't enough.

Enter Ty, Meg, and Ali.  Or shall we call them Tisiphone, Megaera, and Alecto?  They seem to appear out of nowhere, and they're only interested in two people: Em and Chase.  What I love about this book is that for the bulk of it, you have no idea who or what these girls are let alone what they want.  Furies aren't mentioned.  Yes, of course you know that's what they are.  You're smart.  You've read the title of the book and know a bit of Greek mythology, but Chase and Em certainly have no idea, and would anyone believe them if they talked about these gorgeous girls that seem to be stalking them?

Fury builds quietly for the first portion of the book.  Miles lets you slip into the comfortable lull of contemporary young adulthood and then terrifies you in brief flashes to remind you that there's more to the picture (there is a reason I don't look out the window when lightening flashes people).  My only complaint about this book was our introductions to both Em and Chase.  The two characters alternate perspectives from chapter to chapter, and each entrance seems a bit too much like an info-dump.  We don't initially get to learn about these characters in an easy, fluid way, but rather the bulk of their social history and relationships is presented up on a platter.  Luckily, this passes fairly quickly and is by no means a deterrence to the overall enjoyment of the story.  Em is likable; you'll likely cringe at her naivety and want to punch something at her inability to see what is right in front of her, but that is your advantage as the omnipotent reader.  Chase is a very honest character, and being in the head of a boy who works so hard to be popular was a new experience for me.  His life clearly isn't a cake walk, and you really do want to like him, even after you find out just what he's done to catch the Furies' attention.  Most importantly, you can identify with both of these individuals.  They each make some crappy decisions and big mistakes, but I bet you have too.  That's what makes this book so accessible--we've all done something we regret.

Once all of the pieces start cascading into place, this novel quickly becomes an avalanche of tension that is impossible to put down.  An eye for an eye, Fury is downright Old Testament.  The Furies never stop, never forgive, and never ever show mercy.  The question becomes: what mistakes count?

Likelihood that I'll be back for more: 100%.  Envy is one of my top 10 most anticipated reads of 2012, and Fury itself was one of my favorite year-end reads.

Recommended for: Those who think revenge is a dish best served cold, Greek mythologeeks, and people whose muscles can withstand being tensed for long durations.

Real life repercussions of reading this book: Fair warning: buy yourself some hot cocoa mix before you start this book.  Elizabeth Miles is a fan, and the consistent mentions of this beverage will have you craving it for days to come.