Review: In the House of the Wicked (Remy Chandler, #5) by Thomas E. Sniegoski

In the House of the Wicked by Thomas E. Sniegoski

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I wasn't sure there would be another book in this series after the last one seemed to reach a bit of a resolution. Plus the author's beloved dog, Mulder, who was the inspiration for Marlowe, passed away. But clearly his new boy, Kirby, is continuing to inspire him. Loving pets is like that, heartbreaking and wonderful at the same time. He even writes in the book about the girl in the story, Ashley, losing her cat, and showed the circle of life when Remy ended up getting Marlowe to comfort her. But perhaps his loss did affect him, or maybe it was just storyline dictated, but this book was lacking in interactions between Marlowe and Remy. One of Sniegoski's major strengths is his warm and humorous portrayal of the relationship between Remy and his dog, and I did miss it I'm this one.

But it was a better book than the last one (which I liked, don't get me wrong). It was more focused and consistently paced. A lot of reviews that I read complained about the changing points of view in the last one, and he did it again in this one, but I think it worked better, it was easier to follow this time. And even enough it was still dark, it was less grim. It just felt like a tighter and more focused book to me with a concept that was more clearly going somewhere.

Except for one thing. I'm kind of confused about the stuff about Squire and the multiple worlds, it just didn't feel consistent with the mythology and world building that the author had developed. It was so strictly Christian up to this point, all about the different classes of angels, Noah, Lucifer, and the Creator, etc., and that's still the major theme. So I don't get where a hobgoblin fits in, or the shadow worlds filled with giant water serpents and insects and other monsters. There was just no explanation for any of it, it was a bit bizarre. I just don't understand how it fits into this mythology except as a tool to tell this particular story. It should have been explained to fit into the world building or done in a more consistent way, I just don't get it.

But overall it was a good story. I worried about the characters and was anxious for their safety. I turned the pages quickly to see what would happen next. I chuckled a few times (the car was cool). And it left me curious to see where the author takes things next. But I do hope Marlowe is in the next book a lot more. Featuring Francis and Steven and whoever else is all very well, but for me it's all about the dog. OK fine, we all know that it's always all about the dog for me. But he really is needed in these books too, he helps keep Remy human and adds a very much need touch of comic relief and lightness to these rather dark stories.



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Review: Death Warmed Over by Kevin J. Anderson

Death Warmed Over by Kevin J. Anderson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


3.5 stars. A light but entertaining urban fantasy book by Anderson, but it wasn't quite up to par with what I'm used to from him. I'm used to giant scope space operas with multiple points of view and lots of depth and introspection and suspense. This was just pretty cute. From another author I might have thought that he just wanted to capitalize on the urban fantasy craze. But Anderson really does seem to enjoy exploring different genres, he also did the Terra Incognita fantasy series and has edited several anthologies of terrific urban fantasy stories.

In fact, now that I think about it, this fits right into the premise of his Blood Lite anthology series, I guess that's where he got the inspiration: a humorous, slightly dark murder mystery with lots of zombies, witches, vampires, werewolves, mummies (Ramen Ho-Tep was my favorite character), and many more fun "unnatural" people. And it is quite stylized, it isn't like he just wrote some fluff. It reminds me quite a lot of Simon R. Green's Nightside books (Green even did one of the quotes on the back cover), but not quite as flamboyant. They both like to introduce a lot of cases and showcase their little bits of cleverness, whether they're related to the main story or not. Anderson did a better job than Green of working most of the little bits together. It was all pretty cute, somewhat predictible, but full of likable characters with a charming style. I just would have liked to see him do something darker or deeper when he decided to tackle urban fantasy, he could have kept the cool cat detective and creative version of the Big Uneasy, but made it a bit more significant for my taste.



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Endgame by Ann Aguirre (Sirantha Jax #6)

Endgame by Ann Aguirre

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Well the series definitely didn't go where I expected it to. For a while there it seemed like it was going the route of Jax always being the center of interstellar politics and it got to the point where it was a little much for one woman to play such a prominent role in such huge sweeping stories. It made sense to try to bring the scale of the story back down a tiny bit and focus more on the characters that we care about, while still having an important mission for them to focus on. Using the commitment Jax felt to Loras to help free his people from the slavery they were under from the chemical warfare that they had undergone was a smart storyline. It brought the series full circle in some ways, because the story with Loras went back to Jax and March's relationship with him in the first book and throughout the series. There are a lot of fans who don't like it, but I thought it was a smart choice.

There was an awful lot of military action in this book though, for a romantic sci-fi series. I'm more of a sci-fi than romance reader, but military sci-fi is not my thing and it did get to be a bit much. I did like how realistic it was. I liked the timing, she didn't try to rush things and act like rebellion and war were something that could happen quickly or without great pain and sacrifice. She also managed to show how time passed effectively without being boring. And it showed the toll that time and stress placed on Loras as a leader, on Jax having to be a soldier again and being grounded, on March trying to raise his nephew and being grounded as well, and on Jax and Vel, and of course on Jax and March. It was good storytelling. But... it just wasn't always exactly my favorite kind of storytelling. Just a matter of taste.

As for the romance aspect, I always complain about books and series that feature relationships that happen too quickly and unrealistically, sudden-love syndrome. Usually followed by ridiculous obstacles to keep the couple apart. So this series did have tons to the second, the obstacles were many and insanely frustrating. But in the end there were two well developed loving relationships that got explored because of it. I'm a huge fan of Jax and Vel, their love is so deep and real, it's been a real pleasure to watch it develop. As for Jax and March, suddenly-in-love didn't necessarily mean working thing out for these two pig-headed, determined people. Which is mostly interesting. Sometimes they were just childish and annoying, but generally it was good that they both had things that they needed to work out and that it wasn't easy, it was a real adult relationship and that's more interesting to me than an everything is easy fantasy. Jax standing up for herself, insisting that it wasn't selfish to put herself and her needs first, or that if it was selfish that was still the right thing to do, that was good reading. This notion that love has to be about sacrifice is kind of bizarre, I enjoyed the idea that maybe love is stronger when it's equal and balanced instead. And if that means walking away, then sometimes that's what you have to do.

There were some weird things in the book too. I really didn't get the stuff about her face change. That whole section seemed out of place and it just seemed like such a bizarre thing to do for one short mission. Yeah, she gets to go be anonymous now, but is that such a big deal? March's face is known. And Tarn and Leviter being there is just odd. Tarn was the most powerful guy in the entire galaxy wasn't he? What the heck is he doing there? It's never really explained.

Overall I thought it was a very good story. It showcased how much Jax has grown and matured, which seems to be the overall goal of the series. It also showcased the special relationships that the fans have come to cherish. It was a fitting end to the story.




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