Fangs For The Fantasy

A blindfolded Bo is looking for the mystical cricket of good luck or some such, urged by Stella, because barking your shins on furnishings is ritually important or something. A test Bo fails, leading to more angst and sharing stories about Hale and Dyson’s little rituals (I want to know about Dyson and the fleas). Her next stage is to wait for an invite, giving Bo the day off – and Stella chance to invite Trick for dinner.

Unfortunately, Bo starts said day off by fiddling with a device she probably shouldn’t which buzzes to life behind her. And we cut to a girl in a chair crying – with some odd tubing that appears to be collecting her tears. See, people will sell ANYTHING on the internet.

On the plus side, Lauren comes to meet Bo at the Dahl buzzing with excitement, to a degree where Bo (and I) worry she may be on drugs. Not drugs – she’s just won a science award for sciency stuff which is impressive and… sciency. Science!  Yes, Bo is confused as me. Still Lauren’s excited and there’s a special dinner to go to for the award and Bo is definitely going as Lauren’s +1. Lauren is cute when excited and buzzes out in a cloud of plans and randomness, leaving Bo with the newly arrive Tamsin. Why is she there? She’s taking Bo out to lunch – because everyone’s been lying to her. What?! Lauren hasn’t won the award?! Ok, it’s possible the lies may not be about the award…

“Lunch” in Tamsin’s world comes in a glass and is normally known as Bloody Marys (did I ever mention I quite like Tamsin?) in a Dark Fae bar – with Bo commenting it doesn’t look much different from a Light Fae bar. Tamsin tells Bo that they’re all bullshitting her, the Dawning is the most horrendous ordeal she’ll ever go through and she’ll probably not get through it. At which point the camera pans out to focus on a random bar patron who is, presumably, relevant?

Back at the Dahl, Trick is getting ready for his date with Stella who arrives advising leather – I’d agree except for the orange fuzzy thing she’s wearing. And they notice the thingummy that Bo was fiddling with earlier – she says it’s Bo’s invitation to the Dawning in the form of a game. And Bo has activated it – at which point it buzzes to life. Stella says they’ll have to do it for her – wherever she, whatever she’s doing, the game will affect her. Her closest blood relative has to play.

Oh… I’m cringing now – magical fae game that will make Bo do embarrassing things at Lauren’s fancy science of award of sciency things? Please nooooooo!

While Trick plays, Bo is still at lunch with Tamsin who tells her that everyone’s bullshitting her to protect her. They’re interrupted by a group of fae who want to know how Bo can call herself unaligned when she’s clearly Light (you and me both buddy) and how they don’t appreciate an all-but-Light fae coming into their bar. (He kinda has a point, I’m just saying.) Tamsin distracts them by punching one into the other 2 (if they go down this easy, you could probably take them, I’m just saying) and they run out with helpful bystander fae (the one who attracted the cameraman earlier() showing her the way out. Once out in the ally Bo says “thanks I owe you one” and shakes on it with the man.

Oh my good gods, how has this never come up before?! It’s like fae mythology 101 don’t say thank you, don’t make deals, don’t imply debts! Yes I’m grumbling over mythology, I don’t care.

Yes, the man is a Spriggan which means his debts are binding and he’s calling in the debt Bo just incurred now.  At which point Trick makes a choice on the game – seeming to choose a brick wall over a lock and key. Anyway, Bo is being called upon to go to the secret lair of Fang, a Tong boss, to free Cookie.

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October Daye is managing to move on with her life after the loss of both Connor and her daughter – but it’s hard and her grief is a background for this book. But, perhaps more so for that grief, she cannot turn away Etienne when he comes to her for help. He has a daughter, a changeling daughter who he never knew about. Her mother has only just informed him of her because she has gone missing – not just gone missing, but literally vanished before her friend’s eyes.

Perhaps not impossible, given that Etienne’s a Tuatha de Danaan, a skilled teleporter, but there’s definitely something suspicious with this disappearance. And to make it worse, Chelsea is one of those Changelings without limits – or controls – on her power. She can break barriers that were never meant to be broken, open portals to places that were best kept sealed and the consequence of doing so may be to bring down those barriers entirely, devastating faerie.

Getting involved quickly drops her into a whole heap of fae politics – only further complicated with chaos in Tybalt’s court of cats

This is another excellently written adventure with the multiple threads of the story coming together and conflicting with each other. They have a desperate mission, the world itself could rest in the balance and at the same time –with the worst possible timing – Tybalt is faced with his own revolution from the court of cats. I like how the four story threads we have here: finding Chelsea     , stopping Chelsea destroying the world, finding Raj and dealing with the court of cast are all interlinked, even extremely closely related storylines but they also serve as competition for time. It adds to the tension to have it all going on at once but also adds to the realism to have them inter-related.

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This episode opens with Kenzi and Bo fighting with a fae.  Apparently, these attacks are being ordered by The Morrigan.  It’s not long before Bo asks Kenzi what her problem is with Lauren.  Kenzi hesitates at first and then says that Lauren is bossy, territorial, and controlling.  Bo counters back by saying that Lauren finds Kenzi to be immature, irresponsible and clingy. Bo tells Kenzi, “that in the battle of BFF versus main squeeze, I think it’s time to call it truce.” 

The man that there were fighting has gone back to The Morrigan and she is not pleased that he has been defeated.

Vex has gone to see Lauren to find out why his powers are working.  She tells him that there is nothing physically wrong with him and that this must be psychological.  Finally, Lauren suggests that this is common in a fae his age, as Vex tries to use his powers to strangle her.  When nothing happens, Lauren pulls out some pamphlets to help Vex deal with his condition. After he makes comments about Lauren having trouble keeping up with Bo sexually, she orders him out of her office.

Vex heads over to The Dahl and tries to confide in Trick about his problems but Trick has put earplugs in and hasn’t heard a word he said. He then heads over to the pool tables, where Tamsin and Dyson are taking aboutwork. Dyson cuts Vex off before he can even start and says that he is not buying Vex another drink. Tamsin joins in and adds that she is tired of hearing about how the dark fae don’t want him and the light fae cannot stand him.

Vex walks off as Bo enters the room.  Bo heads over to the bar after Tamsin rolls her eyes. Trick asks what Bo has been up to and Bo assures him that after the issue with the Garuda that the dark and light have decided to work together.  When Trick points out that because Bo is unaligned that she is unprotected, Bo pulls out a picture of The Morrigan tied up.  Trick advises Bo to talk to The Ash because he believes she needs a break.  As they are talking, Vex crashes into Bo and steals her phone because that is where she has the picture of The Morrigan stored.

Bo goes to see Hale, who tells her that she brought this all on herself by handcuffing The Morrigan and taking a picture of her. Bo is not impressed and brings up Dyson’s partnership with Tamsin.  Hale asks her why she cares and Bo says she does not.  When Hale hands her a dedication to the light form, Bo rejects it saying that she is not going to make a declaration out of fear.  When Bo starts to leave, Hale calls her back to say that the staff of righteousness is missing and is believed to be in the hands of Mortimar the pawnbroker.  Hale agrees to give Bo some security, if she finds his missing relic.

Vex heads over to see The Morrigan and hands over Bo’s phone, and she deletes the photograph.  Vex is expecting a warm welcome but The Morrigan says that if he really wanted to please her that he should have brought her Bo’s head on a platter.  The Morrigan suggests that Vex’s impotence has spread to his spine and says that she won’t have him killed today.  She adds, the next time we meet, either you or Bo will be dead.

Bo heads over to Lauren’s and when Lauren says that she is just doing some doctor stuff, Bo says that she is interested in her work.  Lauren then describes exactly what she is doing and Bo suggests a movie.  Bo then tells Lauren that she has the staff of righteousness and that she shouldn’t touch it. Lauren asks what she can touch and comes onto Bo, which surprises Bo because she thought that Lauren would be too tired after last night.

Vex is lying on the couch and when Kenzi asks what’s up, Vex says it’s his arm.  Kenzi has no sympathy for him and says that now he gets to know what it’s like to walk around like her and that he should suck it up. Vex snarks back, “you know, if I were you, I’d reconsider a career in social work.” Kenzi suggests that he stop wallowing for a moment and that they start talking about something that’s really important - mascara.  Kenzi points out that Vex has amazing lashes. Vex says that it’s all in the brush technique and that he picked up a few tips from Leonardo Da Vinci. “Now that was a queen, he was all over David’s ass like curry on chips,” Vex adds. 

Bo interrupts the conversation by entering the room and complaining that she cannot  find her cell phone.  Vex of course denies knowledge, so Bo demands he shift his butt so she can look under the cushion.  I suppose some weird magic happens then because the music changes and Bo pauses briefly. Kenzi goes back to putting on her mascara and Bo says that she wishes she had a makeup buddy and that Tamsin is so mean girl. Vex questions whether Bo rifled through his duffel bag and consumed several yellow pills.  Bo simply says that she is going to talk to Dyson and then practically skips out of the room.

Kenzi says, “Lauren’s pelt is going to be steamed,” causing Vex to ask what her issue is with Lauren. Kenzi replies that “she bi banged Bo”, causing Vex to remind Kenzi that Dyson has dropped kicked Bo’s heart several times and that she still howls when he comes around. Kenzi quickly changes the subject back to mascara.

Bo goes to see Dyson and says that she does not like Tamsin and asks what she has been saying about her. This causes Dyson to ask if Bo has been drinking. She then asks Dyson if he has fake ID and something crawls down the side of Dysons neck.  Dyson tells Bo that she is so beautiful and that he has to go.  When Lauren approaches Bo, Bo says, “I think Dyson likes me. Don’t tell anyone this but I think I might kiss him.” The two wave to each other as Lauren looks on.

Lauren takes Bo back to her place for examination and says that she is stumped about what is wrong with Bo. Bo then tells Lauren that she is really hot and asks if she has ever kissed a girl. Bo then says that Lauren is a boring doctor who does not like any fun, while playing with Lauren’s stethoscope. Lauren is getting frustrated with Bo’s antics and asks if she has been in contact with anything strange. Bo brings up a guy with a magic stick and then starts laughing

Back at The Dahl, Dyson approaches Tamsin and asks her if she is playing with herself. Tamsin asks if someone spiked his beer and Dyson responds, “this one time it totally happened and I got to be Kenzi - nailed it.” Dyson then asks if Tamsin thinks that Bo likes him and that he is going to ask her out on a date. When Tamsin leans over to take her next shot at pool, some kind of creature leaps from Dyson and crawls into her ear. Tamsin start to sing, “Bo and Dyson sitting in a tree.” Dyson tells her to shush because people are listening.

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Alex Craft returns to pursue a new business venture – she’s always sold her Grave Magic abilities to interested parties but with her deteriorating eye sight which is only going to get worse unless she changes the focus of her work. So, she and Rianna try their hand at being private detectives, putting their full magical skills on the job, not just the ability to speak to shades.

And their first case is a major one. People are dying – committing suicide. Only this suicide seems to be catching, leaving a string of bodies across the city. And Alex may be the only one with the magical skills to figure out what’s happening. Investigating is hampered, however, by her fraying ties with the police – she’s been involved in too many mysterious and closed cases. Worse, when a case of ghouls breaks out in the city, the eyes of the authorities fall on Alex as the state’s only known Grave Witch.

Then there’s the fae. Thanks to her father’s hidden heritage, Alex is becoming a full Sleagh Maith which comes with its own learning curve. The Queen of Winter is also losing patience with Alex’s undeclared status and pressure is mounting on her to finally pick a court.

In all I think this book did an excellent job when viewed in relation to the previous two. In Grave Witch, we’re introduced extremely well to a very large and involved world with multiple concept s. It was, as I said at the time, a very good introduction novel that set us up well. Grave Dance, however, dropped a lot of new concepts, new developments, new world building and new meta on us in a very short period of time. It was a little overwhelming and, at times, a little hard to follow – especially with it only being book two in the series.

Now comes Grave Memory and it did an amazing job of taking all the pieces that had been dropped on us in Grave Dance and put them in a nice, understandable order. It had its own plot to avoid being just about the world building (and that, in turn, carried one of the concepts from a previous book about why ripping holes in the planes is such a very very bad idea) but it also took the chance to explore what had been dropped on us and remind us where the metaplot stood at this point. So we saw Alexis’ relationship with her father, her relationship with her friends – Caleb, Holly, Tamara and Rianna bringing us up to date on them. It reminded us of her faerie holding, defined exactly what her faerie blood meant and what that manes in relation to the courts and – again – what those courts where and what they meant to degree. We got to see where her almost-relationships with Death and Falin stood and what the principle oppositions were. We even got an expansion on the Soul collectors – not a lot, certainly not to reveal all of their secrets by any stretch, but it was another addition of information without adding more to our already very full plate.

I think this book did an excellent job of balancing and grounding the series, explaining the meta rather than advancing it, letting everyone do a quick recap and figure out where all the various players in this game.

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Vex and Kenzi are at an underground performance with Kenzi’s friend Aussie. When a human jumps out at Vex, he tries to use his powers to push him away but when his powers don’t work, Vex pushes him into a wall and holds a knife to his throat. Kenzi is forced to tell him that it’s all make believe and that he needs to back off.

Bo and Lauren are having sex and Lauren pauses to say that they need to start stocking the fridge with sports drinks.  Obviously, keeping with Bo is exhausting for her. She then comments, “I must be the only woman in history who has to pretend to be a ditz to repel sexual attraction.” They are interrupted when Bo gets a message from Trick asking her to come to the bar.

At the performance that Vex and Kenzi are attending, they suddenly see creatures moving quickly. The lights go out and the man dressed as a sewer alligator on stage is dead. The crowd quickly starts to disperse, as Kenzi yells for her friend Aussie.

Bo wakes up from a dream about her stealing essence from someone outside of the Dahl, which we saw at the end of last week.  Lauren asks if she is okay and Bo says that she is fine. Lauren points out that for the last two nights that she has slept over that Bo has woken up screaming and so she asks if committing to her is scary. Bo reassures Lauren and tells her to go back to sleep.

Kenzi and Vex rush in and tell Bo what happened. Vex says that he believes that the attack was fae related. Kenzi says that they have to go now but when they ask Vex to join them, he declines saying that there is a “Real Houswives” marathon on. When Kenzi moves to attack, Bo tells her that it is not worth the effort and threatens Vex if he goes near her girlfriend.

At a gym, Dyson is boxing and a woman walks in and says, “20 bucks if you kill the white boy.”  It turns out that the woman is Dyson’s new partner Tamsin. Dyson says that he has not heard anything about a new partner and she hands him a folder about a fae which is causing trouble. In even more shocking  news, it turns out that Tamsin reports to the Morrigan and their team is part of a peace project between the Light and Dark fae.

Kenzi and Bo use a storm drain to enter the area of the festival.  When Bo asks how Kenzi knew about this, Kenzi admits that after running away from home, she used to live there.  Bo says that she has never had to live below ground and Kenzi replies that her life was easier because of her abilities as a succubus.  Bo gets a call from Trick, who has contacted a weaver to help her with her night terrors.  Trick says that the weaver is specialising in annoying him and wants to know when Bo will be there.  Bo tells Trick about Kenzi’s friend, so Trick suggests that Eunice has other places to be and things to do, but Eunice grabs his hand and replies that she would love to stay. Trick begs Bo to hurry after Eunice makes a pretty blatant pass.

Bo and Kenzi come across someone wearing a blindfold.  He moves away from them when he hears a rat and then promptly eats it. They follow the man and see more people just like him. Bo says that they are fae and that they live like animals. On the ground, Kenzi sees a dead man with his leg sliced off.  When they try to leave, the exit is blocked off and they are accused of trespassing. They are interrupted by a man who is also blind and Bo tells him that ripping a man to death is barbaric.

At the festival, Dyson and Tamsin are examining the body of the man who was pretending to be the sewer alligator.  Tamsin feels that Dyson is holding back information and Dyson replies, “orders or no orders, I’ve been around long enough to know that I would be a fool to trust someone from your team.” Tamsin asks if Dyson means, “dark fae or women.”

Bo stands in front of Kenzi to protect her but Atticus says that he used to live up ground and had  wife in child who were quarantined because their poor quality of life had lead to a disease.  Atticus  says that the disease was most likely a means to an end place them out of sight  The rat eater says that his coveted home did have an ocean view.  In frustration, Kenzi strikes him demanding that he return Aussie. The eater leaves locking Bo and Kenzi in the room and gas starts to rise from the ground.

When Bo and Kenzi wake up, they’re back at home with Vex watching over them eating.  Vex asks, “how was it to finally consummate your marriage?”  Bo asks how they got there and Vex replies, “I don’t know but if I had to guess, years of latent sexual tension.” Bo and Kenzi start to beat Vex with pillows when they are interrupted by Dyson and Tamsin.

Bo heads to the precinct and it’s clearly awkward between her and Dyson. Dyson says that last night they were investigating the old subway tunnels and he smelled her perfume. Bo admits that they went in to get Kenzi’s friend Aussie.  Dyson says that city workers have gone missing and that they have been ordered to exterminate them.  Tamsin shows Bo a picture of the man she fed off of dead in an alley. When Bo says that it looks like her feed, Dyson tells her to stop talking because apparently this crime is punishable by death. Tamsin asks what she should tell the Morrigan and Bo is not at all pleased when she realises that Dyson’s new partner is a dark fae. When Tamsin asks where Bo was at the time of the murder, Dyson covers for her and says that she was with him getting out of prison.

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Well, it’s finally here, a new season of Lost Girl.

Bo walks into an alley and is confronted by two men.  She takes them on with a bag of all things and leaves them lying on the ground. She then walks up to a line of men waiting to get into a bar, sucks essence from the bouncer and then throws money from her bag at the crowd.   Bo is then chased into  Trick’s bar by Dyson, who wants to know if there is any fae law that she hasn’t broken in the last three weeks.  Kenzi attempts to intervene but Vex uses his power to stop her. Dyson slams Bo on the table and handcuffs her.  Bo makes a quip about begging for sanctuary and Trick tells her that he is not going to fall for that again and doesn’t know who she is.  Yeah, I smell a set up.

Bo is taken to a lockup where her possessions including a watch and a pocket rocket are taken. She is then forced to shower and is led down the prison block to a cell. Her cellmate is Sylvie and she claims to be nervous and admits that she is in prison because she stole some bread to feed her family. Bo of course makes a reference to Les Misérables. Would it really have been that hard to come up with a realistic crime and still have Sylvie be sympathetic?  Sylvie then hands her a stack of letters that she wrote to her mother, which apparently have been returned unanswered. Bo asks, “what’s the deal with the feminazi’s?”  Really, in 2013 we’re still using that hateful term to apply to strong women, on a show apparently about a strong woman.  Sylvie says that the guards are all Amazons and apparently not only do they not like men, they refuse to take orders from men. Once every few years, the Amazons search out men to mate with and then abandon any male babies in the woods to their fate.

Their conversation is interrupted when Bo is led away for work detail.  Surprise, surprise, Bo is taken to the medical lab, where Lauren is in charge. As soon as they are alone, it’s clear that it’s a scam. Lauren has coated herself in some noxious product to pass as fae.  Bo’s mission it seems is to go undercover to deal with “sadistic man hating Berthas.” Lauren is also concerned that her mentor is missing. They banter back and forth about whether or not they are in a relationship, until they are interrupted by the warden. Despite Lauren’s suggestion that she needs Bo, the warden reassigns her.

At the bar, Kenzi is freaking out firm in the belief that the plan they have concocted is not going to work. Kenzi marches up to Hale and tells him that he needs to fix this because he is the Ashe now.  Considering Hale’s limited role in previous seasons, I cannot help but think that this is nothing more than a promotion to obscurity.  Kenzi says that she didn’t like the plan but went along with it anyway and now she is concerned that Bo has no one to act as backup but Lauren. Trick tries to reassure her about Lauren’s resourcefulness.  Hale reminds Kenzi that he is only the acting Ashe and explains that does not want to go up the line to get one of the female elders to intervene.  Trick suggests that this is the perfect opportunity for Hale to make a name for himself.

Kenzi looks down at the prison plans and learns that it is built on ley lines, which means that Bo has been stripped of her powers.  Dyson assures her that everything is going to be fine because Lauren slipped Bo a stone, which will allow access to her powers.  Apparently, all of the Amazons carry these stones, which is information that Trick is not happy that Hale revealed.  Trick then reminds Hale that he is has to be careful about what information he gives out as the acting Ashe. Dyson calls Kenzi over and says that Bo can handle herself.

Back at the prison, Bo is scrubbing the floor on her hands and knees and is scantily clad. The warden goes into her office where she is confronted by another Amazon, who wants to know how long she is going to keep up with her ongoing activities.  The warden says that she does what she has to, to keep the Amazons strong.

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Menolly steps back up as protagonist in this book as the sisters come across an old potential crime while burrowing through the storerooms of the Wayfarer. Tracking down a missing elf from years ago isn’t easy, but is complicated by a missing vampire, a posse of undead, a friendly neighbourhood necromancer and his wandering ghouls, a demonic frat house who get exactly what they deserve and a whole new force of demons who fight on the astral plane

It’s a lot to juggle and, of course, behind it all is the politics from Otherworld and the eternal threat of Shadow Wing and his demons.

Menolly also has relationships to balance – Nerissa is finding her time taxed with the puma council demanding she assume a political role; while Vanzir and Rozuriel both pursue Menolly, their demonic natures fitting powerfully well with Menolly’s vampirism.

One of the main problems I’ve had with this series in the past is that it brings in a lot of extraneous issues, lots of side plots and lots of distractions that bogs down a very epic story – which is further exacerbated by the over-description, unnecessary recapping and constant talking everything through.

So I was really happy that this book managed to avoid a lot of that. I think part of it is that the world is so huge now there’s a limit to how much recapping and reiteration you can actually do. Similarly most of the storylines and elements were pretty much relevant to the plot without too much in the way of distraction. The writing was more concise, there was no need to reiterate the battle order every time they fought, less random anecdotes from Iris, less putting the end of the world on hold so they could have a meal – it was tighter. There was still some side references that made things longer than they needed to be, but they were relevant side references to things like the fae queens or Iris’s personal life. The story was much more contained and moved at a much brisker pace with a far greater sense of both the urgency and the epic consequences they face.

I wasn’t especially happy with how the story started, however. I can understand going after the astral demons since Delilah was targeted and people were dying. It was a nice reminder that, while Shadow Wing must be the priority, he’s not the only threat out there and they can’t focus on him when there are bodies on the ground. I can also understand Chase asking for information on the missing vampire from Menolly since she’s his vampire contact and it’s only a matter of asking questions. What I don’t understand is, with the ominous threat of Shadow Wing looming over them, they decided that it’d be great to search for an elf who may or may not have gone missing several years ago. Where’s the triage? Where’s the sense of priorities? I’m actually a little put out that it did all end up being related to Shadow Wing. Maybe it’s supposed to be a sense of how wide spread his power and influence is, but I felt it was a little “hey we got another spirit seal!” “How?” “Uh… we kind of stumbled over it, to be honest.”  The story itself was great – fun, well written, well paced – but the beginning and end were shaky.

I also think the friendly neighbourhood necromancer is really unnecessary in a cast that already has a rather large cast of characters. This is a wonderfully huge world with a massive, multi-layers epic storyline with so many factors and sides and forces that it always stands on the edge of becoming bloated.

Of course, it’s that world and epic story that keeps me coming back to this series. The fae, the devas, the different realms of fae, the demons and their factions, humans, shapeshifters, vampires – I don’t think there are many worlds I’ve come across that are as rich as this series. And it’s not just the sheer number of supernaturals that are present, it’s how all these forces are relevant to the plot line. All of them have an influence and all of them have a stake – they’re not just mentioned in passing, they are integral parts of the story.

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Viveka has arrived in San Francisco from the Midwest to start a new job. That’s already pretty challenging, a new work place, a new city, finding a place to live (despite a limited budget) and trying to keep her very grumpy cat amused and tolerant during the move.

And then a woman gives her a sword and runs off. A sword that virtually no-one can see – Excalibur. She’s just been recruited as the new Lady of the Lake with a solemn duty to try and protect the people of San Francisco from Morgan Le Fay – queen of the fairies who has a specialty of kidnapping children. And like it or not, she can’t stand by while children are taken – especially with recaps moving against her. She has a few friends, a complicated love life and a lot to learn.

This book did a very good job in setting up the world, the characters and the concepts of the story. By the end, everything is firmly in place and it’s a lot of fun getting there, from battle the tomte in her home, to swordfighting with the Society for Creative Anachronism to just moving to a brand new city, starting a new job and trying to set up a new life. We get to know Viveka, her life, her duties and the people that are part of it.

But I felt the plot itself was a little floppy. Viv gets the sword and gets on with her life, she makes some adjustments like spending more time with Noah practicing and going to an SCA meeting, but otherwise she gets on with things. I don’t object to the story, but she’s very reactive – which I can understand in the beginning but she seems to continue in the same vein throughout. Of course, I can’t criticise too harshly because I can’t think what she could have done or what other sources she should have contacted or what information she should have found out – but the plot didn’t really draw me in because it felt like Viv was constantly reacting. I don’t think we left the book knowing much more than we knew to begin with – and a lot of what we know was packed into the last scene.

I think part of that as well is that so many things were handed to Viv. She was handed the sword, it wasn’t something she studied or sought out. Once she had the sword she ran into Piper who gave the free info. Through Piper she ran into Raven who gave her magical help. She went to work and ran into Noah who happened to be an SCA member who knew how to use a sword, knew Arthurian legend and was happy to research for her and teach her. It felt like a lot fell in her lap without her seeking it out or doing a whole lot to get it. It’s not that she’s inactive – she fights a dragon after all and rides to the rescue of kids and faces down the wild hunt. She acts – but she acts when directed.

It wasn’t boring by any stretch and it kept me amused throughout. There weren’t moments when I wanted to put down the book down because I was bored. But there were moments when I finished a scene and thought “that was fun – but why is it relevant?”

This book does have 3 gay characters and they’re largely free from stereotype (largely. We had a lot of “sweeties” dropped in there). I quite like them – though it’d be nice if Viv could meet them in the Castro without having to constantly remind us of the sex shops (seriously, in no other location in San Francisco are the local shops relevant unless Viv is actually shopping). I would come close – cloooooose – to saying that they’re pretty flawless side characters and certainly vastly better than most of what I’ve read in the genre. The problematic aspect is they are pretty small characters, they don’t appear regularly or form a major part of Viv’s life – or even a minor part of Viv’s life and one thread connected when they had screen time: Viv needed something. One keeps giving Viv magical advice and assistance, one, a near complete stranger, is roped in to helping her fight Redcaps and the last is an enemy.

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As Lie the Dead, begins exactly where Three Days to Dead ended.  After surviving a vicious battle, All Evy wants to die is sleep for a week.  Evy wants time to deal with her feelings for Wyatt but more important to deal with being in Chalice’s ( this has got to be the worst name ever) body permanently and the loss of Alex. Unfortunately for Evy, the rest she so desires and deserves is simply not in the cards for her.  When she is approached by Phin, an owlkin theorian who asks for her protection for the next few days.  Believing that she is at least partly responsible for the near extinction of the owlkins Evy agrees only to discover that Phin and the counsel want the death of the handler Rufus.  Evy is now caught between the debt she feels that owes both men.

If that were not enough, someone in the triads has decided to turn their back on humanity and gather therians for an assault.  The Triads numbers are low and they are desperate to stop the assault before it happens.  Evy must get to the truth behind the origins of the Triad to discover the sickness which has caused one of their own to turn against humanity.

As Lie the Dead was packed with action from the very beginning. I must admit that this is something that doesn’t particularly agree with me.  I prefer character development and in this story, it really felt squished in between fights. I really liked that Evy continued to struggle with her new body and her rough childhood rather than having these issues being cast aside to deal with the problems at hand.  As a character however, Evy seemed barely able to maintain control of herself.  Sarcasm dripped from her tongue and her constant desire in a moment of conflict was to punch someone.  She didn’t always act on this impulse but the repetition of the impulse did become irritating the more it appeared.  Evy also rushed headlong into situation without thinking and deeply resented anything that kept her away from the action.  I am hoping that as this series goes on, Evy will mature out of this.  It is possible to be a person of action and think though you wouldn’t believe that from reading a lot of urban fantasy.

We did have kitsune which are Japanese wereshifters but if you didn’t know that, you would never have thought of them as characters of colour from Medings descriptions. It is almost as though she actively stove to make As Lie the Dead as White as possible, even as she borrowed from other culture. It was clear that Meding attempted to make the therians and oppressed class with a juxtaposition to racism.  Phin spent much time informing Evy about her cultural ignorance and even heavily suggests that Dreg, the term used to describe all supernatural creature constituted a racial slur.  In Medings world, instead of having racial discord, we got a united humanity against the supernaturals who doubled as an oppressed class.  It makes absolutely no sense to have this juxtaposition while heavily erasing people of colour from the text.

The most interesting character in this story is Phin and in fact, is far more likeable than Evy.  I would greatly enjoy a spin-off story of just this character.  I thought it was interesting that therians were explained throughout human history by things like fairytales and myths.  Owlkins for example, explained angel sitings.  I wish that Meding had expanded on this idea as it would have added a greater dimension to the story.  We know virtually nothing about the Dregs beyond the fact that some are a threat to humanity.

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This book is one of the more original concepts I’ve come across in a long time. Demons in hell who have escaped their bondage in all their myriad forms and seek to corrupt and control humanity, feeding on their sin. The Fallen, angels that fell but sought forgiveness being tasked with defeating these demons and protecting humanity. And these Fallen come in so many forms – different kinds of fae, vampires, werewolves, even things like harpies and griffins. There’s immense diversity there. And then the hellhounds, created expressly to bring down the demons and level the playing field. It’s an amazingly rich world

Kas, as a young hellhound is an interesting character. I won’t say she’s unique in anyway, but she has some conflicts, not least of which is her frustration that she and hers must sacrifice themselves for humanity that seems driven to pursue self-destruction – and the unfairness of her being punished for what her ancestors did.

The story itself follows an incredibly interesting path with many different twists and turns, each unveiling and entirely new chapter, a new section of the world, and following Kasadya’s path from neophyte to formidable warrior in a world that is rapidly changing.

Unfortunately, despite all this good potential, the book fell very flat for me for me.

Firstly, this felt like several books rolled into one, like a series was compressed. We begin with a typical YA school setting; Kas has gone to supernatural school, she doesn’t like it, she’s bitter about her parents, there are mean girls, her teacher is mean but she’s oh-so-special-and-good.

Then we move and there’s a new threat (demons in… clubs?) and they need to train for that… but then we move again and she’s now growing and changing as a gladiator… then we move again and she’s training and fighting with a human team… then we move again.

Too many stories and none of them were developed as much as they could have been. They felt shallow and not properly built upon, almost like the author starts writing a story then suddenly switches to a different one, then suddenly she gets bored of that and moves to another one entirely.  They’d have been better served stretched out over 3 books to have greater impact, development and world building.

The second major problem is the main character’s voice. She starts as a whiny teenager, stropping and tantrumming around, drowning in angst and OMG IT’S NOT FAIR that makes her intensely unlikeable. It doesn’t help that the dialogue is, in general, pretty stilted and not very natural. And then after 2 years in the gladiator pits… she’s the same person! She’s more dangerous and lethal but her voice is the same and nothing ruins taking a level in badass like a character suddenly declaring “OMG!” Not “Oh My God”, literally “OMG”. Even Buffy would have a hard job passing that off as cool and dangerous snark. The only real growth we get out of her is a level of cockiness and a need to stare everyone down.

The story just ends up filled with loose ends and random inserts that never develop into anything because the story keeps changing. She makes friends at school, who then disappear. We have some obligatory Mean Girls, because every school must have Mean Girls who hate the protagonist on sight, but only one remains relevant and her animosity is still baseless. We have a love interest – who ceases to become relevant almost as soon as he’s introduced, and then a love triangle that does likewise and then the brother of one of the love triangle members which, again, doesn’t maintain relevance. The story changes so quickly and so shallowly that I can’t follow or becoming invested in any of these storylines in any major way.

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