Legacies, Season 1, Episode 3: We're Being Punked, Pedro

We have a special scary knife which Alaric is studying in detail to see why it’s so special, which means reading lots of ancient French and us getting a flashback over a gargoyle killing a couple of ancient witches who tried to steal the fancy knife. Which seems pretty resistant to fiery magic.

He has also decided to punish his brawling high school students who have drawn attention to themselves by sending them into the town under the eyes of his chief librarian Dorian to do community service. Because mixing your volatile supernatural kids with hostile and volatile towny kids is just such a great idea. Lizzie protests that she was provoked (true) and then breaks and totally throws her sister under the bus blaming her. Bad twin etiquette!

Hope is angry that she isn’t being allowed to stay with Alaric to research the dagger - but Alaric dismisses her, let the adults handle it (her and Dorian the Librarian) and Hope is angry about this because he wasn’t saying this when he called her in to use her magic to fight the dragon last episode. Again, this is the problem with Alaric running the school - I’ve said this repeatedly even as this series was proposed - a completely human Alaric does not have the tools to handle the problems that can arise with this school. Instead he uses his students - Hope and MG - to be tools in his tool box to fix whatever problems he has. Which is both inappropriate, exploitative and means Hope has a very real point. It also really undermines his authority - a headmaster cannot run a school when he relies on his students to handle major structural procedures of that school

Also he needs Dorian to do research but has just sent him to monitor students doing community services in the nearby town probably without a great deal of relevant reading material. Alaric’s decision making is… pretty much consistent with everyone else in this world.

They go for litter picking and graffiti cleaning and lots of snarling. Lizzie is shunned by Josie, has many issues with Hope and then gets into a nasty milkshake accident with one of the locals. She storms back to the school in a rage.

Josie and Hope are pretty much together after a rockys start - Josie points out that Hope is continually poking them and picking fights and how this isn’t going down well especially since she’s already keeping secrets with Alaric - and Alaric is spending more time and attention on Hope than he is with his own daughters. They have issues, she’s clear which Hope kind of concedes, especially after Hope accidentally impales her own foot and Josie helps and Hope reveals that she didn’t tell Alaric that Josie helped her with the naughty black magic. Also Hope pushes Josie to make a play for Rafael because she shouldn’t always defer to her twin

Meanwhile MG makes out with a local towny girl before compelling her to find out why and discovering that she’s only doing it to make another guy jealous - but since he’s doing the same thing for Lizzie, he recognises that he can’t be angry and also that continuing to make out with her knowing the underlying motives is kind of exploitive. He compels her to forget making out with him (so if anyone talks about it to her later she looks like she’s suffering from weird amnesia) but also remember he’s awesome (he’s a teenager. Apparently. Maybe. He’s a vampire so who even knows). But later he finds fellow vampire Caleb is also compelling that girl so he can feed off her… and he agrees to keep his secret when he appeals to friend and fellow vampire (and possibly fellow Black man). He also has some disturbing ideas on the superiority of supernatural beings over humans

Lizzie returns to the school, she curses out her father with Emily, the therapist, apparently believing it’s appropriate as a professional to get involved in this family discussion uninvited. Lizzie blames everything on Alaric’s absence as a dad and how he is more focused on Hope than his own daughters. Which… is…. Not wrong

Hard to Handle (Gargoyles #5) by Christine Warren

Like her brothers before her, Ash bursts to life immediately aware that something has gone terribly wrong in the world and that this is why she has been summoned. Normally, when a Guardian awakens, a Warden is present to inform of them about what the danger is and to help formulate a plan to keep the Seven in check. Like her brothers before her, Ash must deal with the fact that her newly minted Warden doesn't have the slightest clue about what is going on, or even that he is a person of power. With a threat looming, Ash barely has time to think about the ramifications that she is the first female Guardian ever and that she is developing feelings for Michael. The fate of the world is at risk and Ash and Michael are simply unprepared to meet it. 

Unlike the other books in this series, Warren tried to infuse a little more humour into the story. Anyone who has siblings and has retained a close relationship with them into adulthood should be able to see themselves reflected. Sure, Michael and his four sister are all adults now and are living active and busy lives but that doesn't mean they won't rat each other to their mother or engage in puerile games to get what they want. At times, this approach had me laughing and thinking about my own younger brothers. 

As a male love interest Michael was as crotchity as an old man. I understand that he would have been overwhelmed by a honest to goodness gargoyle coming to life and learning that the forces of evil were aligning but the way that he treated Ash throughout the novel was truly disturbing.  I don't think that Michael actually ever moved past sexualising her and so when he declared love, which is the habit in paranormal series, it didn't fit for even a moment.  Michael barely saw Ash as human let alone an individual person with feelings which could be hurt. This of course was magnified by the fact that the evolution of Michael's relationship with Ash mostly happened through internal monologue rather than shared experiences.

The Elusive Elixir (An Accidental Alchemist #3) by Gigi Pandian

Zoey has travelled to Paris to try and find some answers to Dorian’s condition before the gargoyle turns completely to stone. But she finds few answers – and worse, seems to be recognised as the alchemist who lived their 70 years before

Fleeing back to Portland, trouble seems to have followed her. She may have finally found the backward Alchemists she has been looking for, but they’re not as helpful as she’d hoped – and may present a whole new risk as well as bringing revelations about her past she never imagined.

I think this book improved on many of the issues of the previous book. The storylines that Zoey was involved in actually made sense. She had a reason to get involved in the murder investigation, she was personally invested either directly or indirectly in all of the events that took place. She either had to protect friends and people she cared about or she was directly affected as it was a threat to her and her alchemical secret

This made the whole thing a lot more interesting especially as we build on more of Zoey’s past, her relationship with Ambrose as old figures from her past come back to haunt her. It fills in more gaps and also really develops the nature of Alchemy and the concept of Backward Alchemy. I really like the revelation that Zoey has here about Backward Alchemy – the whole idea that, ultimately, Alchemy is really really hard work. Alchemy take study, dedication and a lot of work and research. Backwards Alchemy isn’t so much evil or wrong or broken as much as it is lazy – it’s the ultimate short cut which leads Zoey to question whether she is actually going to find any solutions from Backwards Alchemy. Which in turn comes with a whole lot of soul searching and the creeping, horrible realisation of what it may actually take to save Dorian… and whether that is worth it.

The antagonists come with a lot of twists back and forth – assumptions are challenged and challenged again and then challenged again. We also get some really difficult positions when we see friends of Zoey make difficult, painful decisions and face terrible moral quandaries… and fall short. And I like that. Far too often in books characters seem almost impossibly good. They are willing to sacrifice everything, they’re willing to drop their hopes even their own survival for the greater good. Sometimes people just aren’t that perfect – especially when it comes to life and death. I like the clarity of the conflict there.

There are still parts that, for me, don’t make sense. She talks about the persecution of alchemists in the past and the need for secrecy but there’s no real bringing that up to date. Why would she believe that would happen today? Especially since she says she loves Portland precisely because it is so new agey and accepting. Equally, there’s a whole side plot where she desperately flees France because an old woman claims she remembers Zoey when she was a small child. This is a reason to run?

The Masquerading Magician (Accidental Alchemist #2) by Gigi Pandian

Zoe continues to struggle to find a cure for Dorian, the gargoyle animated by Alchemy centuries ago. And though she’s an immortal alchemist herself, she continues to struggle to find answers and her treatments for Dorian are costing her her health.

Her research stalled, she looks desperately for an Alchemist who may know more – but Alchemists don’t keep in touch and do keep themselves well hidden.

Zoe’s continued exploration of Alchemy continues to draw me in, along with her life with Dorian the gargoyle and the attempt to try and save him from a fate worse than death. They interact really well over food and caring and jokes and lots of banter. We expand the world building a bit, exploring the different kinds of alchemy, the different talents of alchemists and what those talents mean. There’s more look at the cost of the new alchemy Zoe has discovered and some great connections with another Alchemist from Zoe’s past.

There are some flashbacks into the past of the book and Dorian’s family/mentors which are interesting. I liked them, I liked the insight into the past and the history of the book that is the key to so much – but I think I would have liked them a lot more if the rest of the book had been better paced. This is a thing I often come across – interesting interludes which are great in a coherent, fast paced story but become a painful drag in a story which meanders and limps along

But this book is slow. The sad thing is that it doesn’t really come together. The elements that most interested me about this story just don’t appear to be here in large amounts. Zoe spends a lot of time fretting about Dorian, but other than fret, not a lot is done to address it. We don’t get a whole lot of Alchemy. This isn’t for lack of trying it’s because they simply don’t really have a huge amount of leads – but I’m left wondering through most of the middle of the book about what exactly is happening and where we are going.

So we then have this historical jewel theft and treasure hunters and a bizarre murder and this whole not-quite mystery about a guy who may be an alchemist or not which just drags on in circles after circles and more circles and ends up not actually being all that relevant to anything. And it just seems so bizarre that they’re even involved – even after looking at the whole alchemist question they start wondering about this historical crime et al and I’m just bemused as to why? Am I supposed to care? Why does Zoe care? Why is she invested in this?

Consent in Romance - Love at First Woo-woo

Romance will always be one of the central elements of Urban Fantasy - and is certainly the foundation for Paranormal Romance. Naturally, there are many many tropes that are dubious or troublesome when it comes to romance (and more than a few that are mockable), but in our society where rape culture is so entrenched, there are few things more damaging and more disturbing than the many issues around consent.

We have already spoken about magical romances that bind the couples together, removing their consent to leave - but now we look at the foundation of so many of those romances.

We have referred to this in the Lexicon as Love at First Woo-woo, but often it is far more pervasive and destructive. Whether it’s magical bonds, the whims of some deity, magically induced lust or some other convoluted reason, all too often we see the woo-woo swoop in and the characters squished together into a romance.

Whether they want it or not.

Whether they chose it or not.

Whether they would ever choose it. Even when it goes against everything they want or dream or stand for. The woo-woo has spoken. Choice, autonomy, sex is irrelevant.

Magical sexual attraction seems to be the mildest form of this - and we have no end of incubi/succubae/witches et al who simply must have sex or are overwhelmed by the woo-woo lust for each other. Anya Bast’s Witch Series, is a classic example, elemental witches are drawn to each other by the woo-woo. The sad thing is it’s completely unnecessary - there’s no reason why these characters couldn’t have just found each other attractive - but no, there had to be coercion. There has to be that external pressure that forces that sexual step

There has to be an excuse.

At the core a lot of these tropes stem from the enduring, sexist, trope that a sexual woman is evil. A woman who pursues sex is a slutwhorejezebel and terribad awful, to be shamed and condemned. Nice Girls don’t sully themselves with the dreadful, awful sex and reach shakily for the smelling salts and the fainting couch, pearls clutched in a death grip, at the very idea. The only way your pure shining womanhood can possibly use her sinful ladyparts is if it isn’t her choice - or, more accurately - her FAULT. It’s very closely linked to the trope where a woman says “no” and has to be “worn down” by a male love interest until her defences are finally breached.

This is epitomised by the Anita Blake Series where we see Anita having one of the most expansive sex lives of any protagonist ever - but had to be dragged kicking and screaming to every sexual encounter.

It’s a tragic trope and the prevalence of it - that women need to be able to blame magic for them actually having sex - is why I still repeatedly praise series like Yasmine Galenorn’s Otherworld series that show pro-active, sexual women who enjoy their sex lives without any magical nudge to justify them getting down. This shouldn’t be praiseworthy, this shouldn’t stand out - but sadly it does

Of course this trope goes beyond reinforcing the idea a “good” woman needs to have an excuse to have sex - we can’t stress enough how often this violates consent.

Twilight is an especially infamous example of this trope - where magical “imprinting” results in werewolves (nearly all male) bonding with their love interests after just looking at them - making the relationship pre-ordained. And consent? Well one of these “women” who is “imprinted” on is actually a small child. The other a baby in the womb - but we’re assured they’ll have an attentive, loving caring future-boyfriend to dote on them until they come of age.

That’s called grooming. It’s a crime. And even if they don’t touch that girl until she’s 18, honest, that’s still a lifetime of brainwashing to impose on her. No reasonable person can call this consent.

While Twilight is extreme because of it’s involvement of children - it’s not alone. Nalini Singh’s Psy/Changeling series has changelings begin the “mating dance” with their chosen mates - even when those mates are completely uninterested not just in love, but in emotion at all! But the woo-woo has spoken! Personal consent, lives, beliefs or inherent nature are irrelevant! Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Werehunters form magical bonds - again before any real acquaintance has even been established. Eileen Wilks World of the Lupi series has mating bonds so strong they can’t even move too far away from the other! They’re literally joined at the hip!

It’s not just shapeshifters (though they do seem to dominate for some reason) - the Black Dagger Brotherhood (which has never seen a terrible romance trope without claiming it) has vampires getting in on the bonding-at-first sight nonsense as well.

This is another element that has to be emphasised of this trope - nearly all of these bound-for-life-at-first-sight people are virtual strangers. It emphasises not just a lack of consent but also strikes us as lazy writing. You could build a relationship, you could write the things about the other that attracted and endeared your protagonist. You could write them falling in love as they come closer and see all the wonderful qualities. Or, woo-woo could strike within seconds of seeing each other and they could be happily skipping down the aisle before they even know each other’s surname.

Rocked by Love (Gargoyles #4) by Christine Warren

When Kylie Kramer gets a phone call to inform her that her best friend Bran has died due to a previously unknown heart condition, she's certain that something doesn't smell right about the story. After breaking into Bran's computer and doing some research, Kylie is even more convinced that there's more to the story than she has been told.  Her search for the truth of the death of her friend causes her to enter a battle for the survival of humanity that just might cost her heart.

As you can tell from the man titty on the cover, Rocked by Love, is paranormal romance.  This fourth novel of the series is almost identical to the previous three.  A woman unaware that she wields magical power is attacked close to a statue of a gargoyle which bursts to life to protect her, thus introducing her to a world of magic and danger.  Naturally, she turns out to be the gargoyle's mate. Kylie, like all of the other female love interests balks at the idea that she is destined to be the mate of a Guardian/Gargoyle but is of course convinced by the end of the novel. It's all rather formulaic.

I know, I know. There are those of you who feel that the paranormal romance genre should not get knocked down for being formulaic however, I don't agree.  In the case of Rocked by Love, while the romance itself comes down to paint by numbers, it does have an intriguing plot which continues to hold my interest in the series.  The gargoyles series is focused on stopping agents of darkness from ending humanity and in this entre, Warren even included a surprise ending quite separate from that of the predictable HEA. I want to know what is going to happen with Nocturnis and how our heroes are going to defeat this great amassing power.

In Rocked by Love, Warren used technology as a form of magic to power Kylie.  I found this interesting largely because tech is an industry largely run and ruled by men.  Kylie is an absolute tech mogul and genius, successful enough to never have to work again in her early 20's. Not only is she sure of who she is, she sure of her capabilities.  My biggest problem with her portrayal is that Warren made so much of Kylie being a geek but couldn't seem to follow through with the requisite references and no, tribble slippers alone don't count.

The most obvious thing about Kylie is her Jewishness or rather non Jewishness.  Kylie's father is Jewish; however, she doesn't attend synagogue. or keep Kosher and so does not self define as Jewish. However, Kylie's speech is constantly littered with Yiddish phrases.  Her Jewish heritage is clearly an important part of her identity and something that Warren continually reminds the reader of.  Let me start off by saying that I am far from an expert on Jewish culture, religion or mysticism but as I read Rocked by Love, something felt really wrong to me. I very much want to give Warren credit for not shying away from making her female love interest someone other than the prototype that has come to proliferate this genre but I am not the only reviewer to take issue with her stereotypical and empty characterisation.

Hard as a Rock (Gargoyles #3) by Christine Warren

Wynn Powe comes from a long line of witches.  As a child, Wynn thought that she would grow up to be a member of the Guild and maybe even have her own Guardian to watch over.  Because of the extreme sexism of the Guild, Wynn gave up her childhood dream and watched as her brother fulfilled the role she had once dreamed of. When Wynn finally does get her wish, it's nothing like her childlike fantasy and the Guardian she had once dreamed of, may just want more from her than she is prepared to give.

Hard as a Rock is book three in the Gargoyles series and at least as far as the romance portion of this series, the story has gotten pretty formulaic.  A woman with magical powers wakes a Guardian - a gargoyles who can shift into human form and bound to protect humanity from evil.  Said Guardian is initially amazed by his feelings for the woman but quickly comes to realise that the woman in question is his mate. The female love interest is quickly aware of her attraction but struggles against the idea of a fated mated but by the end of the book comes around. Were the Gargoyle series just about getting to the HEA, I don't think I would be willing to continue.

Warren does seem intent to use one book to wake each Guardian which very much makes the meta feel at times as though it is being dragged out unnecessarily. It's worth noting however that this is a case of mileage may vary.  Though the Gargoyles series is paranormal romance, as evidenced by the Man Titteh on the cover, it also has a very interesting meta which has the characters actively investigating dark magic. It is the latter element that has drawn my attention to the series; however, if you are reading this series especially for the paranormal aspects, you many not mind the slow down in the meta which happened in this book.

Though it is part of the formula to have the female love interest deny her feelings for her Guardian, I really like that Wynn's dissent is based in the idea that if she succumbed to her lust that she would be giving up her free will.  That being said, the importance of agency ends up of course being mute when Wynn gives in and agrees to become Knox's mate. The fact that Knox and Wynn are set up as a couple means that they never address the fact that he is slow to accept her limits and borders on abusive.

"Get off me,” she growled, matching him bared teeth for bared teeth. In another moment, he might have found her attempts at ferocity amusing. Now they just confused him. She wanted him, the beast insisted, wanted him almost as badly as he wanted her, so why was she pushing him away?  

 “I said. Get! Off!”  

This time, he felt a jolt of energy behind her shoves. She still lacked the power to physically move him—he was easily twice her size—but the force broke through the urgent lust clouding his mind, and he eased back a few precious inches.

"That was a really bad idea,” she stated, her voice eerily calm and filled with tangled undertones of anger, fear, desire, and frustration. “I think it would be best if we each got some space and took a little while to cool off. I’m going to go into my bedroom, and I’m going to lock the door.” (pg 84)

Because Knox is certain that Wynn is attracted to him, he doesn't comply immediately when she tells him to stop.  Warren uses woo woo to explain Knox's supposed confusion at an explicit request to stop sexual activity.  Wynn has to actively attack Knox to get him to back off and then tell him that though the he is capable of breaking down her locked door, she expects him to respect her space. None of this should have happened, nor should Knox have had to be told that he couldn't just claim a woman for woo woo reasons.

Stone Cold Lover (Gargoyles #2) by Christine Warren

Felicity is asked to check out a gargoyle statue by a friend.  She finds herself ridiculous drawn to the statue and even dares to break into the museum where it is being displayed in order to look at it with her second sight, certain that there must be some odd about this specific statue. What she doesn't realise is that this decision will bring her to the attention of the noctouris, a group of cultist determined to bring on the end of the world.  Fortunately, the gargoyle she was interested in comes to life and because Spar is a protector, he quickly becomes all that stands between her and destruction.

I'm going to say at the outset that I am not necessarily a fan of paranormal romance; however, there were a lot of moving parts to Stone Cold Lover that held my interest. Yes, a major part of this story is to bring together Spar and Felicity; however, it is set against a plot of trying to stop a series of murders in the Montreal area which have stymied the police.  Felicity is not trained in magic though she has the ability to sense it.  Felicity never shies away from danger and is more than willing to sacrifice herself for her friends.  It's an admirable quality in any protagonist to have.  Normally in these true love scenarios, relationships between women fall by the wayside to center the romance and I am glad to say that Warren very much avoided that.

Felicity is also very much full of snark and refuses to be controlled. At times, it veers into a bit of Kellie Independence. It has become customary for the female love interest to have a tragic backstory and in this case, Warren steps up to the line and shies away from it. Felicity's mother was a drug addict and that made her unable to raise her daughter and so, Felicity was raised by her grandparents. We learn that her grandparents raised her to be resourceful; however, since the death of her grandparents, Felicity has been on her own in the world. I very much like that while Felicity is bothered by her mother's addiction, she very clearly states that she had a happy childhood. Yeah for female love interest that aren't overly damaged and have had good childhoods.

Things have gotten really bad with the dark side because they managed to get the Wardens on the run and blow up their safe house.  This means that the guardians are frozen in stone until someone magical awakes them.  We are told that the guild of Wardens is extremely sexist and only trains perhaps one woman out of every 100 trainees.  Sexism in a very ancient order makes perfect sense to me and I like that the women in Stone Cold Lover are not shy about critiquing this.  My issue is that this line of characterisation for the Guild of Wardens sets up women as temptresses who ultimately distract men from their task.  We are told that the original Guardians had stopped caring about humanity and refused to wake until a woman approached one and it heard her call.  All nine guardians that were awoken by women eventually quit being Guardians and new ones had to be summoned. Over time, Guardians occasionally give up their immortality to mate with women.  The woman as a man stealing Jezebel trope I really could have done without it.

Heart of Stone (Gargoyles #1) by Christine Warren

Ella Harrow is a psychic who keeps to herself and tries very hard to lead a quiet life.  It all changes when she is attacked at the museum where she works and a Guardian (read: Gargoyle) comes to her rescue. Suddenly, this shy woman finds herself on the run for her life in a race to keep evil from overwhelming the earth and bringing an end to humanity.  There's so much at stake and Ella can at best be described as a novice user of magic.  Somehow she has to master magic, stay alive and deal with all of the feelings which Kees arouses in her.

As you may have guessed from the man titty on the cover and the description, Heart of Stone is a paranormal romance. The plot which brings Kees and Ella together really is quite standard though it has the potential to be so much more, if Warren hadn't been so determined to push Kees and Ella together.The plot definitely suffered because of the forced romance. Having characters so quickly fall in love, particularly when Kees had completely frozen out Ella after the first time they were intimate just made the romance seem ridiculous.  It made me wonder if Ella had any self esteem at all?

 In terms of world building, Heart of Stone, would have been far more compelling had Warren focused on building her gargoyle lore. The little work Warren did with gargoyles was spotty at best.  Kees is an immortal being who spends hundreds of years sleeping until he is called to battle by a Warden. The last time he was awoken was in the 1700's and yet he supposedly has a great understanding of the world around him.  English has changed rapidly over the years and yet, Ella has no problem conversing with Kees.  When Kees needs to fly Ella home, he simply goes to the address she gives him.  How is it that a creature who has been asleep since the 1700's can navigate a city as metropolitan as Vancouver and from the air no less, yet land on the appropriate fire escape? Warren decided to present Kees as a man outside of time by his failure to understand pop culture references.  Warren explains Kees's seeming ability to navigate this world by having him slumber yet be aware.  Well, if Kees's was so aware, how come he didn't know that his Warden had been murdered years before?  A man outside of time works but only if he is actually outside of time and difficult to relate to for more reasons than he doesn't get it when he's sarcastically called Yoda.

As a protagonist, Ella alternates between absolutely submissive and irritating and feminist and strong. At the beginning of Heart of Stone, Ella is assaulted twice within the space of a few minutes. She knows that she has power that she can access to defend herself but refuses to kill her potential rapist. Ella almost instantly becomes concerned with her attackers ability to cause problems for her because of his wealth and not only refuses to call the police but almost immediately goes into denial that anything happened.  Ella is rescued from her second attack by Kees, the Gargoyle.  Rather than using her powers against either of her male attackers, Ella decides to aim her magic at Kees, though he saved her and says repeatedly that he won't hurt her.  Normally, after being saved from someone wielding a knife, more people would say thank you and not attack.

Kees is the typical Alpha male that we get in most paranormal series. Under the guise of protecting her, Kees demands to go everywhere Ella goes and even kisses her when he senses another male's interest in her. When Kees attempts to steam roll over Ella however, she doesn't stand for it for one moment.  Ella won't allow Kees to talk about her as though she isn't even in the room and refuses to allow him to make decision for her.  Ella is also quick to notice that all of these ancient organisations seem to lack female members or don't take women seriously.  Ella is absolutely adamant that this amounts to misogyny.

The Accidental Alchemist by Gigi Pandian

Zoe Faust, alchemist, herbalist and semi-immortal, has stopped her long years of wandering across America to finally settle in her new home in Portland. She’s finally ready to set down some roots and let go of the pain of the past.

But her fresh start wasn’t intended to include a stow-away gargoyle in her storage crates. Dorian needs an alchemist, desperately, as his body is turning back to stone and only a studious alchemist can reverse that if they can interpret the book he has…

…which is then stolen at the same time as a murder victim is dumped on her porch. Not exactly the most welcoming of homewarmings.

We have a lot of original elements to this book which first drew me to it. The whole use of Alchemy, a form of magic that has very little in the way of flashy moves or deus-ex story fixing definitely intrigues me. It has a presentation of longevity that manages to be angsty but in a more reasonable fashion than the over the top dramatic moping I’ve come to know and loathe. A gargoyle is definitely a nice touch and it all comes together very well. Even the way Zoe is inserted into the mystery generally works well – it gives her a motive and a need to be involved without any sense of the protagonist randomly inserting themselves where they don’t belong.

There’s also a lot of research in this book that really shows in the writing – the history that has been delved to has informed the characters and added some nice substance to the overall book

This is all very promising but the plot falls down in one main way – the pacing. The pacing of this book is really slow, there’s a lot of time spent describing situations and experiences and Zoe’s past. There’s also a lot of time spent with Zoe being involved in Brixton’s life and his drama and even more time spent cooking and describing that cooking in detailed terms. On top of this we have her moving into the new rickety house and the problems inherent with that and her general getting by in her new neighbourhood. It’s frustrating because we’re hammered home by Dorian how very very urgent and essential it is that a solution to his petrification be found but there’s absolutely no urgency from the characters themselves, the narrative or any interaction.

In some ways, though, this slowness adds to the theme of Zoe not really knowing what to do and having all this urgency she has few tools to deal with. Ultimately, Zoe is severely out of her depth. She isn’t an investigator and she doesn’t want to be one, she has spent much of the last few decades keeping to herself and keeping her secrets – these are things she wants to go on doing. Still, even with that thematic note, the story needed advancing and there just needed to be more urgency injected into the characters – Zoe taking regular leisurely walks or stopping for tea destroy any sense of her being hurried or being even slightly aware of the time constraints she’s under. I’m not saying they’re poorly done – she managed to make the food sound pretty appetising, for example – but they were out of place and often severely in the way. This isn’t a recipe book and in storyline with such urgency, I shouldn’t feel like I’ve been dropped into one

Review Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone

Three Parts Dead is outside of our genre, as it falls squarely into the category of high fantasy, rather than urban fantasy, though it does include mages, vampires and gargoyles.  In an alternate earth there are Gods which are worshiped for their ability to provide for human society.  Essentially a legal contract is formed with a God in which they agree to provide certain services for worship. The crafts people are in charge in writing these contracts and ensuring that the letter of the law is followed.  When Kos dies, it endangers the city of Alt Coulumb. He must absolutely be resurrected but with various claims on his person, this is going to be difficult and Kos will not necessarily come back as the God Alt Coulumb knows.

Tara who is an associate at international necromantic firm of Kelethres, Albrecht, and Ao is tasked with bringing back Kos and arguing the side of Alt Coulumb.  With the help of Abelard, a priest who practices his faith by chain smoking, they must take on Tara's nemesis, and deal with gargoyles who have their own claim to Kos' body.  

I chose to read this book because it was recommended to us and the cover showed a Black female protagonist.  Let's be honest, people of colour are highly erased in the fantasy genre and when they do appear, they are most often sidekicks.  Had I not seen the cover of this book however, I would have no idea that Tara is Black.  I understand that in an alternate world, markers of Black culture would most assuredly be different but non-existent does not make sense.  I don't even really remember a descriptive passage in which we are told what Tara looks like.

I really wanted to like this book, but I feel that Gladstone got to caught up in his own story.  After about 60 pages in, I actually started to wonder whether or not I was reading the second part of a series rather than the first book.  The fact that I had to turn to Goodreads to confirm that I was really reading the first book evidences a shortcoming in how Gladstone chose to frame his world.  There was not nearly enough world building and I felt as though I was reading an already established cannon, rather than being introduced to a new world. I constantly felt like I was missing something and the story didn't really pick up for me until about the two hundred page mark.  Having to read 2/3 of a book to get some excitement makes for a slow and boring read.