"The Tribulations of Ross Young, Supernat PA" Review

Let’s move from one book by A.J. Sherwood with a super-long title to another: “The Tribulations of Ross Young, Supernat PA”. This one, too, is a comedic male-male erotica book which was originally a collection of shorter stories which bring the two main characters, human Ross Young and vampire Glenn Reagan, closer and closer together as all progresses. It’s just as much fun to read as the last of her books I wrote about (“How I Stole the Princess’s White Knight and Turned Him to Villainy”), even if it’s more urban fantasy than high fantasy. It’s just as weird, just as fun, and just as re-readable, at least for me.

According to the foreword of the book, the whole story was originally written as a series of shorts for the author’s newsletter recipients. As A.J. Sherwood never really intended to publish the story in book form — despite now having done so —, she felt free to dive deep into all kinds of fan fiction ideas and all kinds of references, be it the ‘Aunt May’s’ gas station where Ross works in the first story or titles like “This Isn’t the Dog You’re Looking For”.
When the author compiled the stories for publication, she added a few extra stories, describing certain events from the stories from Glenn’s perspective (as the main story is strictly told by Ross, not changing viewpoints between chapters as in “How I Stole…”). Like this, we get some fun extra stories.

Now for the story as a such. Ross Young is a college student who works the better-paid night-shift at a gas station. He’s taken some time off college to be able to build up some savings for the rest of his classes and that’s why he has taken the job in the first place. While working there, he’s already realised that there are some strange, supernatural creatures coming in. He’s grown used to it and deals well with vampires, werewolves, fairies, and many other beings in the same way he would deal with regular customers. To him, they’re nothing else, and he’s all about customer service — and deadpan reactions, which also endears him to quite some of them. He’s unshakeable, but doesn’t try to use the knowledge to blackmail anyone, which endears him even further to the supernatural community.
One night, a vampire comes in and offers him a new job. Glenn Reagan, the clan master of a clan made up of different supernatural beings, needs a new Function — a human PA or secretary who can organise things for the clan and make sure all runs its course in daylight as well as at night. Not to mention that there’s a lot of shenanigans to get clan members out of. Ross is hesitant about it — after all, he wants to finish his education, so how could he take a job like that? After a fire elemental destroys the gas station, though (and Ross only escapes through luck, prior achievements, and a vampire carrying him out of the still hot building), Ross takes the job he’s been offered and becomes the new Function to the clan. Glenn promises to support him through college as he, too, has an interest in Ross being even better at his job.
From there, more shenanigans happen, some lighthearted — like the werewolves of the clan adopting all the dogs from the local shelter —, some less so — like Ross being kidnapped by one of Glenn’s old enemies. Yet, all of these stories also serve to deepen the relationship between Ross and Glenn, leading to a well-developed romance in the end.
The clan is made up of many weird, yet friendly members who represent different supernatural species: there’s a full pack of werewolves, there’s kobolds who man the garage, there’s dwarves who do construction work, there’s a witch and a wizard (not just a difference in gender, but in magic use), there’s different mythological beings from all over the world.

Ross feels drawn to Glenn — and not just for the other man’s looks, either — from the very beginning, yet he fights the attraction for quite a while, worried first about a relationship with a vampire, then about a relationship with his boss (which could turn horrid, no doubt about that). Both can be intimidating, but both can also be good. It’s only well into the stories that they start dating (unsuccessfully at first, thanks to the clan) and only at the end when they get serious about their relationship.
The relationship also doesn’t feel forced. Glenn cares for Ross as he’s caring for all in his clan and Ross is caring for Glenn as a PA and as a friend, not just because ‘he’s hot’ — although Glenn is. As they grow closer, their relationship shifts, as it would for everyone.

There are some stories which include more bloody scenes, but they do not take the stories as a such out of their ‘comedic and comfy’ zone. Nothing is described in too much detail, the bloody things happen, but they’re not in the main focus (again, very much as in “How I Stole…”).
For me, the book has made its way on my regular rereading list, it’s a good one to curl up with at the pool or on the couch on a rainy day with a beverage of your choice. I have read into it again several times, choosing the stories in the order in which I wanted to read them after having finished the book once. They’re still fun, Ross’s internal comments on the situation are still hilarious, and the developing relationship between him and Ross is still just so sweet.
There’s actually only one sex scene in this one, so it’s much easier to skip if that is what you want to do. Of course, you can also read it, it’s good. It is, at least nominally, an erotica and not a romance story through this, but it also makes for a great romance story if you’re more into those.

On the whole, A.J. Sherwood’s “The Tribulations of Ross Young, Supernat PA” is a really fun book to read. It has an urban fantasy setting which doesn’t take itself too seriously. It has good and sometimes outright weird characters. It has a nice, slow-burn romance. It has some bloody bits which do not erase the humour in it. If you enjoy more ridiculous stories, you will definitely enjoy this one, so give it a look if all of this sounds interesting to you.

"How I Stole the Princess' White Knight and Turned Him to Villainy" Review

The title of the book I’m reviewing here today is pretty long: “How I Stole the Princess’s White Knight and Turned Him to Villainy” by A.J. Sherwood. The book itself is also long in a purely page-count-defined way, but not really — it’s made up of six smaller stories (referred to as ‘Miracles’ in the book) which form the full narrative (with a last short story which was written for the collected works at the end to give the readers a nice ‘happily ever after’). The book itself is an easy and funny read and has already found its way onto my short list of ‘comfort reads’ I return to when I just want to relax and have some fun. That alone should tell you how much I’ve enjoyed it.

To be honest, I’m not quite sure how the book ended up on my list of suggestions from Amazon in the first place. I do read fantasy, though, especially more lighthearted and funny fantasy, and I am also a fan of male-male romance and erotica. The book falls in both categories, if more so into ‘erotica’ at times, so that might have been the reason. It might also have been a strange glitch in the matrix, but the end result was positive for me in any case.
At first, I just looked into the book in the catalogue and thought ‘well, looks interesting’ and put it on my wishlist. Many books from the wishlist just disappear from it again after a while, so it doesn’t say too much. I put them there so I can find them again, but that doesn’t mean I’ll eventually buy them. A few days later, I decided that I was going to give myself a little present and I bought it to enjoy. Enjoy it, I did.
Afterwards, I dipped into it and read the first three stories in quick succession, then I was lured away from the book for a while, came back, dug my teeth in again, and went through the rest of it in one go, even going to bed much later than normally. Then I started out at the beginning again and went through it again more than once.

The book starts out with surprisingly high stakes — the lives of about 1.100 people are at stake because the supposedly ‘good’ princess has decided to sacrifice a city to destroy a barbarian army. Devan, one of the two main characters, simply can’t allow for that to happen. After all, softening the hard blows of the princess’s decisions is his job as the First Knight of Goodwine. His only chance is the Black Sorcerer of Grimslock, the most powerful magic user he knows — and one who might listen, if the plea for help is phrased well enough, even if he has forgotten the customary kitten as payment. Tan, the aforementioned black sorcerer, definitely is prepared to listen to the man on whom he’s had a crush for fifteen years. He also is delighted to help — Tan is a black sorcerer because he had no other choice after training, not because he loves doing evil. Not that he doesn’t like to torment a few newbie adventurers every now and then, but he doesn’t harm them. Neither does he harm the kittens — they join his army of spies and guards all around the property and get ample pets and snacks.
From there on, the story takes off for real as Devan himself feels pulled towards Tan, too, and has found an ally to help him mitigate the damage Princess Serenity can do, at least for the time being, even if that can’t be the final solution.

Even though the story has many high-stakes encounters (with vampires, sirens, and other creatures as well as a magical weapon gone wild), there’s constant humour in the bantering and teasing between the two main characters, balancing out the darker parts.
It’s a surprise to a degree that a book which features the possibility of a city being burned down with everyone inside in the first story can at the same time keep everything light enough to be enjoyable and relax the reader to a degree. Perhaps it’s the fact that the reader will assume from the lighthearted ways of Tan’s and Devan’s interactions that everything will go well. Perhaps it’s just the constant humour from the teasing and bantering which takes off the edge.
On the whole, between vampires, sirens, and even murder, the story still stays rather bright and comfortable, which is not an easy feat. Partially, it is the very close third person perspective which comments everything that is happening from within the viewpoint character’s (both Devan and Tan get to be viewpoint characters) own thoughts and feelings. Partially, it’s the way everything is handled, making it clear that between them, Devan and Tan have all it needs to get things under control. There’s still the question of ‘how,’ but not the question of ‘if.’
The stories are further lightened by the clear chemistry between the leads and the way they grow closer and closer together. With them, it’s not a question of ‘if,’ but a question of ‘when.’

It should be noted that the story is also full erotica and includes several scenes of hot, steam sex between men. Yet, I’ll be honest, I mostly simply skip those on my rereads, because I’m more interested in the teasing and the building of the relationship as a such. For those who are looking for this kind of content, though, I’m sure they’ll enjoy it a lot.

On the technical side, the book shows a little that it has been made up of different parts which were out on their own in the past, such as story bits being doubled by being repeated at the beginning of the following miracle again. This makes sense for stories published independently of each other, but not so much for stories all published in the same book. There also were some editing mistakes and wrong words, but that is something you can find in every kind of book — including mine and many others from large publishers. Such things happen, no matter for how long you hunt for those mistakes. Some always hide too well until the book is out in the world.
On the whole, the story develops well, though and works out nicely. The technical weaknesses don’t take too much out of the enjoyment, at least not for me.

As I’ve already written in the introduction, I have enjoyed the book very much and have already read through it several times. It’s easy to read, the language is flowing well, and it’s a lot of fun, even once you know what happens next. Knowing that nothing of the dark things will come to pass, makes the story even more enjoyable, of course. If you like fantasy and erotica (or are prepare to just skip the latter), this might definitely be a book to look into.

Call of the Jersey Devil Review

I’ve stumbled over a lot of interesting and fun books by coincidence in my life — sometimes I’ve even found much-beloved authors that way. With this book, though, it was even more strange than normally.
I was actually looking for Aurelio Voltaire on Amazon, but not for him as an author. I was looking for his newest album, “The Black Labyrinth”. Instead, the first hit for the name was a novel, “Call of the Jersey Devil”. It had a pleasantly pulpish cover and so I looked into it and put it on my wish-list. The next day, I decided to buy it, as the e-book wasn’t expensive and I had time to waste, and I could barely put it down to do my duties during the day.

“Call of the Jersey Devil” first got me interested by the wordcraft I experienced from the very first page of the ‘look inside’ feature.
It is only to be expected, I guess, that a singer and songwriter like Voltaire would have the necessary skills to write an engaging scene, yet the wording he used was evocative and powerful and also very, very pulpish. It is also to be expected that someone who delves into the dark side of things in his songs can also write good dark scenes in prose. As I love pulp, the writing was right down my alley. Even though the story starts with a scene set in the past, this scene is also definitely setting the stage, presenting a visceral fight between good and evil, monsters and murder, and a suggestion for what the future might hold.

“Call of the Jersey Devil” is a horror novel and I am sometimes weary of those, as they often include body horror and I’m not generally a body-horror type — I usually prefer psychological horror.
In addition, I do like a balance between darker and lighter scenes, which not all horror stories offer. To me, it’s important to be able to unwind at a few points so I can be properly tense and scared again afterwards. “Call of the Jersey Devil” definitely delivers on this. There are dark and horrid scenes, there’s body horror, and the writing is visceral and very evocative throughout, yet there are also scenes of dark humour which help me relax and get ready for the horrors that await me, so I can properly experience them.
Those scenes also all offer much-needed windows into the souls and pasts of the characters, giving me more reasons to care for them.

Given the pulpish tone of the story, I was also surprised at how well-rounded the characters became over the course of the book.
They started out a little stereotypical, but they gained depth and individuality over the course of the story. Of course, most of them did not survive to the end (although in one case, ‘survive’ is debatable), but that is a given in a horror story. Yet, I cared for them, which made their eventual demise by ghouls, the Jersey Devil, or other forces all the more engaging. It’s easy to see a whole crowd of nameless, faceless stereotypes die and another to see people whose lives’ woes you know go down and be changed into something horrid (or land the worst gig in eternity).
I also love how some horror-story stereotypes were reverted in the book, especially who is allowed to see the end.

The novel does have quite some body horror, from decapitation right up to slowly turning into a ghoul, but it does its job well. I am a little suspicious of body horror most of the time, as most of it only seems to be there for the mere gore factor and not really to drive the story, yet here it is used fittingly.
A character who is defining herself by her beauty (because that is what she learned from her own mother) slowly finding her perfect skin being tarnished with boils and other blemishes, her body bloating from the quick decomposition, her beautiful hair falling out, her face becoming hideous, that is horror. Even though I myself am not defining myself through beauty, I can understand what it would be like to see that shift happening in minutes, turning into a monster, losing your identity and your past, becoming nothing but a blind, ever-hungry creature of Hell.
The book’s excellent wordcraft only enhances this and similar scenes by the visceral and evocative words used — putting pictures in my head which only enhanced the horror of what was happening. It takes a lot of talent to do this and Voltaire pulled it off in his first-ever novel. He has, of course, done it in many songs beforehand, so perhaps I shouldn’t be that surprised.

The pacing of the novel is excellent as well. There are twists and turns in all the right places, the comic-relief moments are frequent, but short, and only make the next rise in tension all the more palpable.
That is the main reason why I couldn’t put “Call of the Jersey Devil” down. The pacing gave me the moments of rest and relaxation when I needed them and then got me engaged in the story again by showing me the next horror, the next monster, the next problem and how the characters reacted to it — sometimes wisely, sometimes less so.
Together with the excellent wordcraft and the well-rounded characters, it was neigh-impossible to put the book down and I finished it within a day. While that is not unheard of for me, it’s been a while since a book engaged me that much and made me want to pick it up or go on reading while there was other stuff that really, really needed doing.

If you like horror stories and pulp, “Call of the Jersey Devil” by Aurelio Voltaire should definitely be on your ‘to read’ list. It’s well-written, has interesting characters that grow on you, paces itself very well, and also gives you a little window in the past of the author himself (since nobody can tell me that has-been Gothic singer Villy Bats has nothing to do with him, even though I wouldn’t call Voltaire a ‘has-been’). Give the story a chance if you can stand more visceral horror stories, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.

Return to Liesel Van Helsing

Liesel Van Helsing is not a widely-known character, she’s a comic heroine who fights monsters (like her father, the original Van Helsing) and basically kicks ass and takes names. I came across her in a Humble Bundle of digital comics (delivered as .pdf files) and I recently dived back into the digital stack to have fun. I had forgotten how much I like the world of Liesel Van Helsing, despite the obviously ‘male-gazey’ designs of the female characters (at least there’s a lot of them). Here are a few reasons why I like her and her world so much.

The comics come with a lot of characters, recurring as well as non-recurring. There are villains (like Dracula himself) who make an appearance more than once, but it’s mostly Liesel’s friends who are around regularly, helping her fight or being drawn into a situation and making the best of it.
The design of the female characters, as mentioned above, seems to be more for the male gaze than for the female one, but that is pretty much a given for comic books. Yet, despite tight-fitting clothes and skin showing where a fighter should not show skin (like the midriff), the characters are well-written and have depth. They have their own problems, they have their own dreams, they have their own goals. Sometimes, those goals align when they work together, sometimes they don’t — just as in real life.
It’s also not that Liesel can’t fight on her own — she very much can —, but that many of the enemies she is facing as bosses in the stories simply are too powerful to be taken down by one more or less normal person (all characters, including Liesel, show some superhuman or supernatural tendencies, but then, that goes for the villains as well).

I do enjoy the way they work with each other, too. They support each other, they’re not trying to prove they’re better, stronger, or faster than the other one. It’s all about the monsters, about getting them down. It’s not about who kills more vampires, it’s about getting all those vampires killed. It’s a group effort and nobody tries to use it to make themselves look better than the rest.
The characters have different strengths, too. Some are physically strong, sometimes to a point where it’s not realistic, but this is a comic series about vampires, werewolves, and other supernatural creatures. It’s not unrealistic in this context for a descendant of Henry Jekyll to morph into a super-strong and super-ripped self at times. Some are excellent shots and agile to boot, taking out enemies long-range while they’re avoiding being hit. Some have strong magic at their disposal (or they are part demons themselves). Some are mentally strong and can go on despite all the things which have happened to them. They all make do.
By supporting each other — even if, as in two of the story-lines, the original meeting wasn’t very positive —, they manage to take down enemies who are by far too strong for one fighter alone.
There are male characters, but they aren’t put up as the ultimate saviours (even though Hades, for instance, ought to be extremely powerful). They might fight alongside the women, but they never take the central role and push Liesel or other female characters out of the limelight.

The stories include a lot of different enemies, too, not all of which need the same kind of treatment. We have Dracula and his daughter (who is Liesel’s half sister), of course, because whom else would we have as the nemesis for a character named ‘Van Helsing?’
We have Frankenstein’s creature. We have werewolves. We have different kinds of vampires (because Dracula is not the only bloodsucker and not all vampires must be his offspring). We have undead beings with great power (such as a proper Egyptian Queen Reborn — take that, “The Mummy 2018”). We have low-class demons. We have creatures from all over the world, as Liesel lives in the early twenty-first century and can just hop into a plane.
The villains are well-balanced between being powerful (as they ought to be) and still having a weakness that can be exploited by Liesel and her friends in the end. They make the heroes work, which is always good, and they have the upper hand for quite some of the story. Especially Dracula’s daughter proves herself to be a dangerous adversary (perhaps more so than Dracula himself who seems to underestimate Liesel a lot despite prior encounters). All in all, the villains are very satisfying in the stories, because a story with a weak villain is no fun, especially in a comic book.

The graphic design of the series is very much early twenty-first century, which means a gorgeous use of colours and details, a free use of panels, and great inking. Sometimes I would wish for the female characters to be drawn with less revealing clothes, but that, too, was normal at the time and I can’t fault the artist for going with the flow there. At least Liesel, Robyn, and all the others look gorgeous, strong, and confident, so there’s that.
The storytelling is good as well. Sometimes, comics give the impression of hurrying over some aspects which are hard to put into a picture, but the artists do a good job with portraying the inner workings of their characters through facial expressions and the occasional thought bubble or suchlike. Sure, Liesel and the others don’t get that much of a character arc in most stories, but that isn’t necessary — it’s a comic book, not a novel focused on personal development. Comics are about action first and character development twenty-second or so.

If you come across the comics somewhere, like in another Humble Bundle (they’re doing very nice comic bundles — I’ve bought several from them), you might want to give them a closer look. I know that I’ve been entertained by them the first time I read them and I have been entertained by them when I reread them recently, too. They’re fun to read, have gorgeous artwork, and women working together instead of trying to out-do each other for the sake of a guy is always a good thing to see.

Myths & Monsters Review

“Myths & Monsters” is a collection of horror-themed short stories by Scottish author William Meikle. I have to admit that I had the book in my ‘to read’ stack for a long time without really getting into it. That is more of a ‘me’ problem, though, because I just have so many unread books in my stack and some just slip out of sight. Now I regret that, as the stories are great and I have certainly enjoyed myself while I was reading them — in that uneasy way in which you enjoy horror stories where people are killed and maimed. Meikle fuses monsters and mythological creatures from all over the world with his Scottish homeland and the Scots and creates short, poignant, and readable stories of monsters, myths, and humans.

Every now and then, I love reading some short stories. While I’m also a fan of novels and novellas (and comic books and audio books and graphic novels), the nice thing about a short story is that it is short. A small, nice package to enjoy in a short time (an hour or less) which is a lot of fun if it is well-crafted. Meikle’s stories are always well-crafted, no matter the length.
When I just want to curl up on a rainy and cold day or when I’m not feeling too well, a short story is the best choice for me. It doesn’t demand that I devote a lot of hours to it in one go. It gives me quick gratification while I’m having a cup of coffee or tea and let the world around me fade into the background for a little while. While I can certainly wait for my gratification, sometimes a quick shot is welcome as well.
Many people do not give short stories the respect they deserve. A short story needs to be very well-plotted, because there’s not much time and space for mistakes. It is much harder to write a good short story than it is to write a good novel. The novel forgives a few weak plot points, the short story does not. Every word, every sentence, every scene counts.

As these are horror stories, not all of them end well for the main character or characters. There are only two stories which share the same main character (the first and the next-to-last one) and both of them don’t necessarily have a good ending, either, even if the character survives.
That doesn’t mean, though, that the stories are exceptionally depressing or dark. They are horror stories and that means that not everything will end well for everyone. Within the story, you will find monsters and mythological creatures which are not always nice towards humans and often enjoy killing, maiming, or even eating them. Yet, we humans do have a tendency to survive even against the worst odds, as many monsters have had to learn the hard way over time.

I’ve first read several pastiches by William Meikle — he’s written several Sherlock Holmes, Professor Challenger, and Ghost Hunter Carnacki stories as well.
I find his Professor Challenger much more palpable than the original by Doyle and like how he has the three characters he’s worked with cross paths every now and then. One of the stories in “Myths & Monsters” does include Challenger, Malone, and Carnacki, although they can’t find out what the message given to them and several others means — until history makes it clear what ‘three and thirty at three thirty’ means.

Meikle loves to set his stories in Scotland or to use characters from Scotland in them. That’s not a bad thing — Scottish people have travelled far and have seen much, in real life as well as in this collection. The Scottish highlands are also a great place to set a horror story in. He has a great way with words and has mastered the way of pulp writing. That is not a negative thing at all. Meikle writes in a way that makes you want to follow the story, to read on, even if you don’t really have the time or have something else you need to do. It’s a good thing, therefore, that this book is full of short stories.
Another great thing about the book are the illustrations at the beginning of every story. They are beautifully done and always connected closely to what the story is about. While they’re not the main draw for me, they certainly add to the overall atmosphere of the book.

“Myths & Monsters” is a book for people who love short stories and enjoy horror stories where not everything ends well. The stories are well-written and span a wide range of monsters and mythological creatures. There are some which are tinged with Lovecraftian horror (like the second one) and others which follow a much more traditional path. Give the book a chance as you should be able to read most of the first story through the ‘Look Inside’ feature on Amazon. I had a fun time with the book and I’m sure many of you will have one as well.

Review: The Society of Paranormals aka Miss Knight

I’ve had the first book of the “Society of Paranormals” series by Vered Ehsani on my Amazon wish list for a while. After my computer croaked, I bought the book to spend some time with until I got my new one and found myself diving deeper and deeper into the series, reading all ten novels and one novella in about four days. Whenever I started one book, I already bought the next one and never regretted it. The stories pulled me along and I wanted more of them. I still wouldn’t say ‘no’ to book number eleven, to be honest.

My first draw was Miss Knight, the main character of the series. A woman who, despite constantly being addressed as ‘Miss’ Knight, was a widow whose dead husband still was around her as a ghost (and quite often a nuisance). A woman who, due to living in Victorian times, had had to return to the family she’d grown up with and play companion to her cousin and aunt. A woman who, at the same time, was a daring member of the society and had adventures — including the one of settling in Nairobi at the time at which it was barely more than a railway builder’s camp.
Yet, she wasn’t the only interesting character. Vered Ehsani wrote a whole host of deep and interesting characters, both human and less so. There’s the locals Miss Knight meets up with. There’s the not-quite-natural ones. There are outright gods of Africa. All characters change over the course of the novels (the novella is a prequel detailing Miss Knight’s first meeting with Koki the Praying Mantis) and show themselves to be more than they might be at first glace. Not only Miss Knight is growing over time, so are many of the others.

As the series progresses, there are many twists and turns. Koki, for instance, is an enemy Miss Knight fears (due to the situation detailed in the prequel novella) for the first three novels. At the end of the third novel, there is a confrontation which leaves them both unsatisfied, but also alive, which is more than Miss Knight expected.
In the fourth book, after having been forbidden to kill Miss Knight, Koki instead bites off Miss Knight’s left hand — yet in later books, the two begin to work together and they develop a friendship, despite all which happened. Besides — once can argue that it was ‘a hand for a leg,’ as Miss Knight cut off one of Koki’s leg (in Koki’s true form as a gigantic praying mantis) during their first meeting. The local mad doctor and engineer makes a new hand for Miss Knight which, most of the  time, is powered by the spirit of the wolf that is left from a werewolf bite she received as a child, so the loss of one hand isn’t hampering her long-term, quite the opposite. Having a hand made from steel can be quite useful in many adventures.
While the external plot for each book is finished by its end, the internal plots, such as character developments and relationships, span the whole series and grow in a natural-feeling way. Nothing is rushed, nothing seems forced. Relationships shift, people learn to do things in better ways, just as one would expect. Even if it might be obvious that Miss Knight will get into a relationship again, her new relationship (with a man who can see her first husband’s ghost, no less) processes slowly and both she and her new husband grow into it together. Her relationship to other characters shifts as their characters change.

Apart from characters and plots, the setting itself also has a lot going for it. Africa is not a common setting in western stories and Vered Ehsani knows the history of Nairobi as well as she knows the mythology of several different African areas and cultures. Her books offer a great window into a place on earth which is not already known to everyone.
For me, the setting was new and interesting. Victorian-era East Africa is not a common place for stories to be set, even if the Victorian era itself is not uncommon. By keeping the aspects of British culture in the late nineteenth century, but contrasting them with an area of the globe where many traditions and routines from Britain make no sense, the setting for the books is fresh and engaging every time. Miss Knight meets many interesting people with different backgrounds and learns a lot about Africa and its cultures as well. So does the reader.
Every book has a list of facts and fictions at the end — about the aspects of the story which are historical truths and those which are pure fiction. Given the setting many are not familiar with — both in space and in time —, this is a marvellous idea. I personally have learned a lot about Nairobi’s early history, including the local MD doing his rounds on a zebra (not fiction, but fact) from these pages.

I love the series and would have liked to dive deeper into the details, but that would take too long, given the series spans ten novels and one novella. The first novel already shows the strengths of the series, so if you want to look into Miss Knight’s life in Nairobi, read this one and then decide whether you want more (like I did) or not. Perhaps don’t read them all at once as I did — although I don’t regret it —, but give them a chance. I’m sure you won’t be disappointed. I can only recommend the series, as it’s full of interesting characters, good twists and turns, and has a great setting.

Thor and Loki: Double Trouble Review

“Thor and Loki: Double Trouble” is a four-issue mini series I stumbled over by coincidence. I do get regular Amazon recommendations (as everyone who shops at Amazon does) and it was in my recommendations after I’d bought another comic book. I took a look at it, like the initial pages and the design, and decided to buy it. I loved it very much and have read it several times in a row, as it’s a fun romp which makes good use of its characters.

In general, I have a soft spot for stories which are more focused on the relationship between Thor and Loki instead of their big adventures or the darker sides they both have. Even by just looking into the first few pages I could access through the ‘look inside’ feature, I could tell that this mini series was one of those stories. It was about Thor and Loki being Thor and Loki and about them having an adventure that came about because of their characters and their relationship.
With its bright colours and clear lines, it was also obvious that the mini series wasn’t going to be dark — you don’t use that style in a story which is supposed to be dark and foreboding. Therefore, I was sure that it would be a fun read and bought it. “Double Trouble”, as I learned a little later, was a series in itself in 2021, there are more Marvel heroes in ‘double trouble.’

With Thor and Loki, though, the story is a ‘double trouble’ in more than one way. After Loki plays on Thor’s weakness of being unable to withstand a challenge and gets him to steal an artefact, they get into trouble over the results of using it. When trying to make their punishment of cleaning up after the facts easier, Loki accidentally sends them to another reality which has its own Thor and Loki — Jane Foster’s Thor and Lady Loki. This means we don’t just have the ‘double trouble’ of Thor and Loki, but also the ‘double trouble’ of two of each.
Naturally, there is a fight between the regular one and Lady Loki and an argument about who really is Thor between regular Thor and Jane Foster’s version. Yet, while Thor and his female version get their argument out of the way easily, their siblings need a lot longer to finish their fight over the artefact which brought regular Thor and Loki there in the first place.
Even though there’s the severe destruction of down-town Asgard, there’s no injuries or dead people in that scene, just a lot of rubble that needs cleaning up by the two people who caused the destruction in the first place. In the end, there’s still a lot of cleaning up to do, so Loki’s magic solved nothing. It’s a light-hearted story with a good end, if not necessarily a happy one for Thor and Loki.

Of course, if we’re talking about a comic book, it’s not only about the story. Comics are a visual medium and that’s a good thing, too. For the “Double Trouble” series, the graphics are crisp and bright and the line-work is clear and simple, often more akin to a Japanese manga than to a classic American comic book. Like this, it is easy to follow the action (and there’s quite some action in the comic) and it’s also easy to recognize the important parties within the story.
The writing of the story in general and the writing of the dialogues is also excellent. The behaviour of all involved is believable (although I was not aware Odin loved ice-cream that much until I read the comic). The dialogues are fun to read and play off quips to keep things light-hearted and fun.
The design of regular Thor and Loki is suggesting adolescent characters rather than adult ones (while Jane Foster Thor and Lady Loki are clearly more grown-up), which makes the story much lighter in tone. Thor and Loki look and act more like teenagers than like adults and their arguments are not harsh, but rather the usual arguments one would expect from two teenaged boys. Loki goads Thor, Thor lets himself be goaded. Thor impresses his fans, Loki cuts in and starts a fight. That’s very much an adolescent way of acting around each other.
The general framing of the action is also very well done. The panels are fun and show the story very well. Seeing Thor and Jane Foster Thor snack on some apples in the background while Loki and Lady Loki are fighting, for instance, is the kind of light-heartedness which you might want while two powerful shifters re-enact the fight of Merlin and Madame Mim from “The Sword in the Stone” — only without rules about ‘no dragons’ and in tones of green and turquoise instead of pink and blue.

“Thor and Loki: Double Trouble” doesn’t take itself or its main characters too serious and plays on the more light-hearted and funny aspects of their relationship. It helps, of course, that the comic can draw on versions of Loki who are less evil and more heroic or at least more of an anti-hero than a villain. Sure, Loki is a trouble-maker in the comic, but Thor is so, too, to a degree. After all, he has to be aware that breaking into the treasure room isn’t going to go over well. The quarrels between them are not dark or intense, they’re just sibling rivalry. As a matter of fact, they remind me of my Thor and Loki from the Loki Files — only that they have gotten over their rivalry and have become good friends and brothers who stick together by the time they reached adulthood.

Revisiting the "Relic"

In the nineties, “Relic” by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child was one of the first ‘specialist thrillers’ I ever read. I found a German version in my favourite bookshop around the time around which the movie based on the novel hit theatres in Germany and picked it up for good reading. I fell in love with the novel to a degree and read it several times in the following years. The sequel, “Reliquary”, was one of the first book I read in English and never in German at all. I followed the series for some more books, but I haven’t read any of them in years. That changed recently.

As a matter of fact, I never saw the movie in theatres, but bought the VHS tape when it came out (it was the nineties — VHS was still the norm). The first time I watched the movie, I was not elated. As a matter of fact, the movie’s changes make the sequel impossible, but there were other things as well. Characters which should have been there, especially Special Agent Pendergast from the FBI, were nowhere to be found. The whole story had been moved from New York City to Chicago (which didn’t hurt as much as the missing Pendergast — the series is following him, not another character from the first book).
The movie isn’t bad as a such — it is fun to watch and the monster is even still good today. It pays not to push your monster out in the bright light of day, darkness is your friend for every CGI-created creature. As a thriller with supernatural/dubitable science tropes, the movie is good, as it were — as long as you’ve never read the book it’s based on.
Recently, Roanoke Gaming, whose videos on the possible biology of movie and computer-game monsters are a delight, did a video on the monster of “Relic” (the movie) and this inspired me to look up the book on Amazon — learning that the “Agent Pendergast series” I followed for six to eight books has capped out at twenty! I decided to buy the first three as e-books, “Relic” and “Reliquary” as a collection, “Cabinet of Curiosities” on its own. Those three are, as a matter of fact, my favourites in the series.

I dived into “Relic” again and was in for a surprise. Many books I’ve loved in the past have become far less of a favourite to me by now for various reasons. “Relic”, however, does still hold up. Thrillers need tension and “Relic” delivers it from the well-done and necessary prologue right up to the suggestion of the sequel at the end. It makes you love the characters and worry for them. It creates situations that are both believable (by the technology of the nineties) and tense.
Despite the fact that I have read “Relic” at least ten times, if not more often, I immediately got caught by the story. Not because I remembered nothing — I was still very aware of the big strokes of the story —, but because the storytelling was excellent. The characters were likeable and easy to imagine. The situations were grounded, the characters acting as one would expect — an FBI agent will have a different reaction to a horrid body than a doctorate student. The story evolved the way it should, pushing tension and stakes, with enough twists and turns to make things interesting.
Yes, many things which are part of the story wouldn’t work like that in the modern world. Especially smartphones are a game-changer when comparing eighties and nineties movies to modern-day ones. Access to information and easy ways to call for help can kill tension quickly. The time in which the book is set — then the modern day — doesn’t offer such help. Yet, that doesn’t matter — within the setting, the story works and not every story has to be transposable to the modern world.

Especially the climax of the book is intense and set in several different places at the same time. Preston and Child handle the different viewpoints well, knowing precisely when to switch from one to the other as to keep ‘he who walks on all fours’ in the focus. There is a constant feeling of dread, a fear of where the monster will be next. There’s additional dangers for the biggest group as well, not only are they the most likely target — so many brains to feast on —, they’re also underground and the water is rising (as it so often is during strong rain in New York City). The museum is on lock-down, so many people, most of whom are not trained to fight, are locked in with the monster. The few heroes inside have their hands full, trying to keep the innocent protected and get the creature down.
Leading up to this situation, we have more than just physical danger. There are several murders (albeit one stays undiscovered for several days — right until the big night of the exhibition opening), but there’s also a lot of museum politics. The need of the director to boost visitors’ numbers. The PR manager’s need to keep control of the narrative. The animosities between different departments and curators. All of this undermines the most logical actions under the circumstances — closing down the museum, doing a complete swipe, moving the exhibition opening. Those additional problems, however, are very grounded, because that is what it is like out there. So is a local FBI agent with a plan for promotion doing his best to shoulder aside the ‘stranger’ from Louisiana, despite the fact that Pendergast has the better plan. All of this is very human, all of this is realistic. All of it helps making the climax even more tense.

Even thirty years after the original release, “Relic” is a good book to read that will draw you in and make you worry for the main characters. The technology might be ancient by now (imagine computer systems run on key input alone — no Windows standard then), but even it does its job to add to the story. It was so clearly written at that time and is so clearly ‘top of the technology’ for that time as well. If you liked “Relic”, I would at least recommend the sequel “Reliquary” as well. Personally, I find “Cabinet of Curiosities” close to them, too, as two of the characters from “Relic” and “Reliquary” in addition to Pendergast appear there as well. All books are a good read and all are easily available for you, both in book and in audio-book form.

Review: The League of Gentlewomen Witches

“The League of Gentlewomen Witches” by India Holton is a sequel to “The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels” (here’s my review) and makes not secret of it. In the very first chapter, the main character of the first book is name-dropped and she will appear as a side character in later chapters. After enjoying the first book of the “Dangerous Damsels” series very much, I actually pre-ordered this one and I’m glad I did and got it right as it came out that way. I had a fun time reading it, just as I did with the first one.

The first book in the series has established the general world-building — about a century before the late-Victorian ‘now,’ a woman named Beryl Black got stranded with her husband, a rather unsuccessful explorer, and found a message in a bottle on the beach of the Caribbean island she was stranded on. The message was a Latin poem which, if properly pronounced, enables the user to lift and direct an object of any size. Beryl first used it to fly back to England in a small hut, then outfitted her house with cannons, and became the very first sky pirate under the alias of Black Beryl, flying her house on plundering runs.
She shared the poem with her friends and some of those, too, took to the skies, forming the Wisteria Society. Other friends decided to use the poem in a more discreet way, not moving full houses, but small objects to manipulate the world around them (or steal and sell the objects — witches have to eat, too, after all). They’re known as the Wicken League and are considered witches.
The first book in the series deals with the pirates and is focused on Cecilia Bassingthwaite. The second book deals with the witches and is focused on Charlotte Pettifer, who is destined, according to her aunt, to become the next leader of the Wicken League.

Both organisations are in play in the book, because both have the same target in mind: an amulet which Black Beryl created out of the bottle in which the poem was found. As the bottle must have housed the poem for a long time, the amulet is thought to be immensely powerful (although nobody knows what the power is), so both the pirates and the witches want it.
Charlotte is supposed to secure it for the witches, but finds herself in a bind when a pirate flies off with the amulet (and the poor guy holding it at that time) and she is in need of quick transport. That transport can very well be provided by Alex O’Riley, a pirate she’s had a run-in with before and whose house is closest to her position. Alex, on the other hand, despises witches for what one did to him as a child, and wants the amulet for himself. Yet, she manages to be ‘kidnapped’ by him, although not to commandeer his house.
From there, the story is off to twist the tropes of Gothic novels and Regency romances into new shapes to the reader’s amusement.

One thing I love very much about the book is that while it presents the reader with new main characters (Charlotte and Alex, obviously), it doesn’t ignore what came before. Not only does Alex have a smaller role in the first book already, as he’s a good friend of Ned Lightbourne, the male lead, and comes to Ned’s help, but Ned and Cecilia also turn up in the story again (as do many of the pirate ladies, including Cecilia’s now-married maiden aunt whose new marital status is a result of the first book’s climax).
Ned and Cecilia are still very much in love, but they are also both pirates and want the amulet as much as everyone else. Even Cecilia’s current state (she’s pregnant) doesn’t keep her from being an adventurous woman who enjoys her life. I was not expecting this at all — most authors who write about different romantic couples let those who have finished courting and are happily married drop from the story. I’m glad, though, that the “Dangerous Damsels” series isn’t doing it. It’s so beautiful to see Cecilia and Ned together, now a perfect team, who are still deeply in love, too.
Yet, the focus remains on Charlotte and Alex who have their own problems to work through, from Charlotte’s aunt who insists she needs to stay single over their growing interest in each other to Alex’s hatred for witches which comes from his own childhood. That doesn’t mean, though, that the story is dark and depressing.

As in the first book, India Holton manages to create a fascinating and engaging tale that keeps you reading from the first to the last page. She wields all the tropes of both Gothic novels and Regency romance masterfully and name-drops real-world books like the full Jane-Austen canon or Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” at fitting times.
Twisting the tropes into something new and making fun of them as she does is one thing which already endeared her first book very much to me. In the second one, for instances, she makes fun of the ‘last room at the inn’ trope which she played straight in the first one. Everyone knows that when a couple thrown together by circumstances is forced to spend a night at an inn, there will only be one room left and this room will only have one bed in it. Well, in this book, there is the inn and the one room, but that room dares to have two beds in it (which the couple immediately pushes together to work through some sexual tension).

Charlotte is in a similar place at the beginning as Cecilia is in the first book — both are in a cul-de-sac they can’t get out of on their own. Cecilia is being kept from full status as a member of the Wisteria Society because she might be too much like her father, Charlotte is seen as ther future replacement of her aunt who is still rather healthy and probably not going to die tomorrow. Both meet men they immediately feel pulled towards, but still refuse to go along with easily (Ned first turns up as an assassin sent to kill Cecilia, Alex has his briefcase stolen by Charlotte). Both are also active and proactive — they are not, in the regular way of seeing them, damsels at all.

“The League of Gentlewomen Witches” is a great fun, it has action, romance, comedy, and melodrama of the best kind. The mixture of all of the elements is what makes it a joy to read. Comedic situations, as a fight in a coffee shop over a thrown book, turn into action, such as being followed by the theft victim and using discreet magic to stall the follower, then into bickering with romantic undertones as he catches up, and back into action when the only way out is escape by flying bicycle. India Holton is good at all of theses things, which is what makes the book such a great read and has earned it a place on the list of my books to certainly reread.

Review: Heavenly Official's Blessing

I’ve recently slipped into Chinese stories (the Boys’ Love stories by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu to be more precise) and “Heavenly Official’s Blessing” is my favourite out of her three series which are now officially released in English (there have  been fan translations before). I simply love Xie Lian, the main character, and the way the story unfolds during the two (of four) books I’ve read by now.

Once, Xie Lian was a prince. He did good deeds and proved himself worthy of ascension, so he was elevated to the status of a god (Chinese mythology comes with many gods, so it isn’t that impossible for a human to attain god status, provided they are good at what they do). Acting on his idealistic mindset, he broke the laws of heaven, specifically the one not to use his divine powers in favour of one group of regular humans — in his case his country. For this, he was banished from heaven, his powers blocked. He learned to survive in the world and was deemed worthy again, so he ascended once more — for about half an hour spent in battle up in heaven. This led to his second banishment. Recently, he has ascended again, but did a lot of property damage as he did. Now Xie Lian, the Scrap Immortal, has large debts to pay off, but not a single temple or shrine from which to ear merits, the heavenly currency.
I’m not summarizing the first book here, by the way. That is how the situation is after a short prologue which summarizes things for the reader. Xie Lian’s story doesn’t start with his ascension, it starts with him in debt.

Yet, Xie Lian has friends and so he gets the chance to work off some debts by following the cry for help from a local noble whose daughter has fallen prey to an entity which is dubbed ‘ghost groom’ and has been kidnapping brides for quite a long time already. Since Xie Lian has no powers (his are still bound by two curse collars on his body, so he cannot generate divine energy outside of heaven and thus has to be careful about using whatever he takes down with him), his friend Ling Wen (the up-most bureaucrat in heaven) tricks two young martial gods into helping him, which they do more or less willingly.
On this first mission, Xie Lian makes an important acquaintance — a strange man in red with silver accessories who turns into a cloud of silver butterflies when Xie Lian tries to attack him. This, he learns later on, is the most powerful ghost in the ghost realm, the only active of the Four Calamities who is worthy of the title ‘supreme’ (two of the others are no longer active and the last is ‘in name only’ as a calamity, he’s not really a supreme in power). The man in red is Hua Chang.
Hua Chang became notorious for challenging thirty-five gods after becoming a supreme ghost, thirty-three of whom rose to the challenge. He defeated them all and, after they didn’t descent from heaven as agreed to, burned all of their temples and shrines in one night to force them down from heaven. Yet, Xie Lian finds nothing horrible about that man whose face he didn’t see (on account of being disguised as a bride to lure out the ‘ghost groom’ and wearing an opaque veil).
Xie Lian then has a novel idea: if nobody else will built him a shrine and worship him, he’ll do it himself. This leads him to a peaceful village and makes him cross paths with San Lang, a young man from high in society who is travelling seemingly aimlessly and staying with him. San Lang, who dresses in red like the supreme ghost Hua Chang and knows too much about the past to be a regular human but doesn’t show any signs of a ghost pretending to be human (such as missing palm- or fingerprints).
This is not the ending of the first book, by the way, but rather somewhere before the midpoint.

I like Xie Lian’s outlook on his life. He’s learned humility during his eight-hundred years of banishment to the human realm, has become good at improvising and living off scraps (hence the moniker ‘the Scrap Immortal’). He doesn’t complain about his status as laughingstock, he doesn’t demand to be given something, least of all respect. He, the once powerful and immensely wealthy prince, is happy with the scraps he can find and accepts any kind of gifts with great humility and gratefulness. Xie Lian shows respect to all people around him (in later chapters showing him as a human, though, you see he was already going in that direction). He rarely uses a weapon — most of the time the silk band wrapped around his body which is a powerful divine object —, but is actually a swordsman second to none. He has simply chosen not to use a sword any longer after something he did in the past.
Hua Chang is another character who is easy to like. Yes, he’s an immensely powerful ghost even feared by the gods. On the other hand, he doesn’t appear to do horrid things, he doesn’t kill unprovoked (though he will, without hesitation, when he deems it necessary), and he rules the ghost realm well. He clearly is very much interested in Xie Lian (and might have been for a very long time, too) and wishes to be in his vicinity.
The two of them do make a nice couple, sharing both similarities and being different in other areas. Besides, what would be more interesting than a couple made up of a god (ascended for good deeds) and a ghost (descended for bad deeds)? No other couple of lovers can ever have been more star-crossed.

It also helps that the author is good at adding comedy to balance out scenes full of pathos and heavy feelings. There are scenes which are outright funny, scenes which are full of action, but also scenes filled with emotional depth. That’s one of the things which I love about her books. It’s easy, especially in stories which include such immensely powerful characters, to make everything seem grim and dark (and many authors would do so), but she breaks it up with lighter scenes to balance it all out.
I also like how her Boys’ Love stories are foregoing all the angst from the Japanese YAOI stories. In those, the whole ‘OMG, I’ve fallen in love with a guy, what will I do now?’ is a big part of the story. In the stories by this author I’ve read, it’s more sort of ‘that guy looks good, I wonder what happens when we go on an adventure together.’ It’s much more relaxed, the romance angle is there, but it is not played as a tragedy, it’s just part of the story. In some of her stories, like some scenes in “Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation”, it might lead to humour. In some of her stories, it leads to emotional scenes. It never leads to angst, though.

“Heavenly Official’s Blessing” by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu is available in an official translation now and it’s a lot of fun to read, so give it a look at least. You might also like the other two series by the same author — “Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation” (turned in to a life-action series under the title “The Untamed”) and “The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System” (which is as ludicrous at times as the title looks). I’ve certainly had a good time with all I’ve read so far.

The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels - Review

I did hesitate to buy “The Wisteria Society for Lady Scoundrels” by India Holton. It was, as a matter of fact, on my Amazon wish list for quite a while. After buying and reading it, I wondered why. The book is wonderfully written and tells a fun story with great characters and many twists. It’s also the beginning of a series (although the next book isn’t out yet) which won’t, it seems, use the same main characters over and over again. There will be many Dangerous Damsels and that means many full stories.

 

The story has a lot of novelty. Set in an alternate Victorian era, it has a lot of interesting female characters - the mentioned lady scoundrels.

Imagine, if you will, a Gothic romance novel in which there are high-born lady pirates flying their houses (no matter the size) on plundering expeditions and into battle (cannons included). Imagine a novel in which the ladies of the society set assassins on each other, but it is considered a reason for being expelled (forcefully and at great height) to endanger civilians, put in the milk before the tea, or steal another lady’s house. Imagine a novel in which the ‘maidenly aunt who raised the orphaned girl’ turns out to be a woman who isn’t sure who the father of her son is because she had at least three illicit affairs at that time (and says ‘if society wanted me to keep books on my lovers, they should have given me a better education’).

The novelty, however, is not the only thing the story relies on. Like in a proper Gothic romance, there are many twists and turns and a large cast to act them out. Apart from the leading lady and her love interest (pirate, spy, and much more…), there’s a lot of lady pirates and other interested parties - including the large crew of the piece’s villain. Many of the characters - all but those who are merely window dressing - have interesting backgrounds and their own agency.

 

The book clearly is a parody of a regular Gothic romance novel (right down to the heroine and the hero love interest sharing a walk in the countryside) and doesn’t try to hide the fact that it is comedic in tone. The usual trappings of a Victorian period piece are there - bustles, corsets, afternoon teas, ladies being snappy towards each other -, yet they are also re-interpreted. The ladies of the Wisteria Society don’t just throw shade at each other - they send each other an assassin. Running in full bustle and corset setup is part of the training of a lady-pirate-in-training. A steel-enforced corset means less risk of a bullet wound (as does carrying “Wuthering Heights” in the vicinity of the chest). None of this is keeping the ladies of the society from their work as pirates - while the men stay home and take care of the children, as they should. This, by the way, is the better fate for lady pirate’s husbands. Some of the ladies have had and ‘misplaced’ several.

The writing in general is very entertaining, combining story beats one would expect from a Gothic novel with the kind of thinking a young lady raised by a (not quite) maidenly aunt might have when suddenly confronted by a good-looking pirate or being frustrated about still being a junior member of the Wisteria Society, despite having passed all tests. Yet, the ladies in this story are not helpless damsels, neither the old nor the young ones. They can hold themselves in a fight and know how to fly a good attack on an abbey, if necessary. The writing itself feels ‘Gothic’ without being hard to read, making the reading easy, fluent, and fun.

The parody beats are easy to see in things like the many identities of the male lead (assassin, pirate, spy, government agent), the absolutely ridiculous reasons of the villain (a poet who is no longer allowed to send his poetry to most publishers), or the idea that the aforementioned abbey was much more modern and much brighter before the villain got his hands on it and had it made more ‘Gothic’ to suit his mood.

 

The book is the first in a series (with the next one being published next year in March), but it is also a finished story. The main characters have their happily ever after in a cosy library (the perfect present for the book-loving heroine, of course), but the setting itself with magical powers to fly houses does, of course, lend itself to more books. I’m looking forward to the next one - in which the hero’s best friend will make another appearance, but the ‘Dangerous Damsel’ will be a new one. The next damsel will, as it were, be a witch - from the opposite of the Wisteria Society. The lady scoundrels use the magic to fly houses, the witches use it to manipulate details and make things go their way.

I’m also definitely going to re-read the story at some point - it was a fun read, despite the book’s length, and I will definitely enjoy it a second time around. I can see this one on my list of books to re-read for comfort, to fill an afternoon or a day when I want to be lazy and relax.

 

“The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels” is not only a book for women who like their heroines active, feminine, and smart. It’s a book for everyone who enjoys Gothic romance novels or just adventure stories with good writing. It a joy to read and entertains with characters, setting, and twists. Give it a try, I’m sure you won’t regret it.

"Manners and Monsters" Deep Dive

With volume six, “Hessians and Hellhounds”, out by now, the main plot of the “Manners and Monsters” series by Tilly Wallace is finished. Both the plot about the ‘Afflicted’ and the romantic plot about Hannah and Wycliffe have reached a satisfying conclusion. There will be a little epilogue in the form of a Christmas novella, but that is just a bonus for the readers. The main story is done.

 

This gives me an excuse to go into a deep dive of what I love about the series.

Spoilers may follow!

First of all, I do love historical settings and “Manners and Monsters” is set in the Regency era shortly after the Napoleonic war (both of Hannah’s parents have served in the war, her father as a surgeon, her mother as a mage, as has Wycliffe who was accosted and turned during it). It is, of course, always a bit of a surprise to see more or less the same historical period in a series where things should have gone differently. In the series, there’s a constant number of twelve powerful mages in England and other places have their own mages as well. Under the circumstances, one would wonder why the Regency era should have come about in very much the same way as in our reality.

Yet, this happens a lot in fantasy - alternate realities which are almost like ours with the most minimal changes to them. It’s not that much of a surprise and it works well enough for the story.

 

Early on in the first book, the big problem of the series is addressed: the ‘Afflicted.’ The history behind it, as explained over the course of the series is a curse, transported to England via face powder (hence most victims are upper-class women), which kills its victims, then reanimates them. One of the first victims was Lady Seraphina Miles, the only female mage in England. She and two other women were cursed by poison in their tea and the other two were later on killed while discovering what they needed to keep their bodies from rotting: human brains. Since then, a little cottage industry has sprung up as two former grave robbers have opened a business to sell ‘pickled cauliflowers’ to the Afflicted.

As mentioned, Seraphina Miles, the mother of main character Hannah Miles, is one of the Afflicted. She was lucky as her husband Hugh loves her with all his heart, even though she’s now undead and he had been forced to amputate her legs below the knee after they’d rotted off. Many other women are not so lucky. Britain doesn’t recognize them as real citizens, so they cannot hold property, they cannot inherit anything, and they cannot marry. Many men have simply discarded their ‘dead’ wives and taken new ones, leaving the old ones to the mercy of others.

 

At the beginning of the first book, as Hannah attends a party at her best friend’s house, there is a murder where a servant has been killed and his head smashed open to feast on the brain. Rude and dismissive Viscount Wycliffe takes control of the situation and demands all afflicted women in the room owe up so he can check whether one of them could have done the deed. Needless to say that doesn’t endear him to anyone. He is with a government department which investigates the supernatural, though, so he has the right to investigate. Yet, his superior ‘forces’ him to take a woman along to the questionings and he settles on Hannah, thinking she won’t stop him. He’s in for a bit of a bad surprise there - Hannah, like her mother, is quite outspoken when she feels the need to be.

Wycliffe finds himself schooled on the topic of the Afflicted, though, both by Hannah’s mother who is one and by the dastardly way the husband of another Afflicted speaks of her (admitting that had he had his way, he would have had her locked in a coffin and buried by the time she was reanimated). Having a mirror held to his face from which his callous remarks are thrown at him and having met the sweet-natured, soft-hearted woman supposed to be locked in a coffin, he can only despise the other man and second-guess his own thoughts on the matter.

 

At the beginning of the second book, Wycliffe, who was left in financial strains by his gambling father, moves into the Miles household on Seraphina’s invitation. When it seems as if Hugh Miles might be locked up unrightfully, which would leave his wife and daughter in danger of losing everything - since Hannah, too, is cursed, but her mother’s spells keep her frozen in time -, Seraphina makes Wycliffe an offer: he marries Hannah and swears to keep her even should the curse win out, so she and Seraphina are safe, and she will give him a large amount of money, so he can set his estate right. Wycliffe agrees for two reasons: he needs the money and he does want to see Seraphina and Hannah protected, should the worst happen. Hannah is less happy, but can’t argue with the need for protection.

During the following books, the relationship between Hannah and Wycliffe changes slowly as they discover that they also love each other. Hannah learns that Wycliffe is a hellhound and that he was changed into one against his will. She sees how much he longs to set his estate right, how much he needs to help people. He understands that Hannah can’t just be a regular young woman, that she has a thirst for knowledge and needs to satisfy it. They grow closer and closer over time while investigating more supernatural cases. With “Sixpence and Selkies”, the fifth novel, things are taken to the climax for their relationship. Hannah almost falls prey to a selkie because she doubts Wycliffe, with whom she has just begun to also have a sexual relationship, really loves her. It is only when he fights for her life that she realizes he does. It is when he realizes that he should have said the words and devoted time to his wife instead of trying to show it through putting hard work into their new home that he does the right thing.

 

“Hessians and Hellhounds” brings the other plots to their conclusion. In it, Wycliffe learns that he was turned into a hellhound because his ancestor made a deal with Anubis (who is still the master of the dead, controlling the realm between life and afterlife). Seraphina learns that she still has the powers of a mage because the curse was based on a ritual by which a mage was dedicated to Anubis as his shadow mage. Hannah becomes a servant of Anubis’ wife, seeking out lost souls to help them move on. Hannah also learns how to help the Afflicted. She can return the ka to them (one aspect of the soul in Ancient Egyptian belief), which stops the rot and gives them their full bodies back, and can even bring them back to life, although they have to be judged and might be going to hell if they are found unworthy. This will actually also bring her and Wycliffe (who will take the unworthy souls to hell as a hellhound) an income through gemstones in which the ka of the afflicted is caught. Whether they come back to life, move on to the afterlife, or stay in their undead state, the Afflicted will no longer need ‘pickled cauliflower,’ which will calm down the masses to whom the business of the ‘cauliflowers’ has been exposed.

 

I do love the series and have enjoyed reading it very much. I do like the slow pace of the love plot which takes most of the series to come to completion. Instead of trying to set them up for love immediately, the story shows a rather realistic way in which two people who marry for sensible reasons might grow to love each other. There’s the fact that Seraphina is the first female mage in Britain because other girls born with magic were killed to correct ‘a mistake’ made by nature. There’s the way the government denies the afflicted women citizen rights it would never, one can be sure, deny the Afflicted, were the majority male. Without putting on a teacher’s hat, the story does address social unfairness which is not completely gone these days.

 

The “Manners and Monsters” series is a fun read with a good love story and many good supernatural crimes which you can guess along with as they are investigated. The characters refuse to be paper cut-outs and are interesting and engaging. I am looking forward to the Christmas novella right now, but, as said, the main story is finished and you will be able to read it from beginning to end in the six novels of the series.