Codex Born (Magic Ex Libris #2) by Jim C Hines

Isaac, Lena and Nidhi are developing their new relationship – but hardly have the chance to do so on peace before being called into the field again.

There’s been some murdered Wendigo – and Wendigo are pretty hard to kill.

But throw in some strange, lethal metal insects, creations of a dead Libriomancer and his far less fun father.

An ancient order of Chinese mages who have a severe beef with Gutenburg’s followers – and made extra uncomfortable by them maybe being right

Then throw in the Devourers, dryads and a dragon and there’s certainly a lot to handle; all confused further by Gutenburg’s secrets and that nagging question as to whether or not they’re actually on the right side.

I love the very concept of this world. The idea of pulling things out of books – and now e-readers – and both the wonder and the complexity that can come with that. I love the geeky shout outs to so many books I’ve read and loved. I love just how much the love of reading and the power of it and this genre which we adore so much is all just worshipped in this series.

And things have got complicated – wonderfully, gloriously complicated.  We have an enemy – who everyone hates, even his allies and rightly so. Then we have an enemy who Isaac kind of feels sympathetic towards with lots of recognition of past injustice. Then we have Gutenburg who may be their ally and super powerful and he may have some extremely good reasons for his decisions – but he’s still done a whole lot of evil, he’s still keeping a whole lot of secrets and Isaac still doesn’t trust, despite working for him. And under all that you have the big nasty monsters that may try to eat everyone.

It’s wonderfully complex.

And part of that complexity is the complexity of the characters (while still giving us someone who is evil and we can hate without having to be complicated about it – because that’s fun too). The entire history of the Libriomancers is a fascinating one that’s been really well developed. I love the dispensing of the idea that Gutenburg is the first Libriomancer – the Chinese have been printing long before him and already had their own variety. At first it seemed like a simple case of Gutenburg attacking, slaughtering and stealing from the Students of Bi Sheng. But then lots of nuance get added:

Are we judging someone based on what they did 500 years ago? With attitudes, standards and thought processes that were prevalent at the time?

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

Alright, I fully admit that by doing a marathon on all of the Star Trek movies, I am stepping completely outside of our stated genre, but as a life long Trekkie, this simply had to happen. Given the success of this franchise, I'm betting that at least a few of our readers are also Star Trek fans. Of course, I will stick to the usual social justice perspective, as we work our way through the series.

 

The Enterprise finally makes it back to earth after holding a funeral and  jettisoning Spock's body.  Before they reach earth, Kirk is notified that someone has broken into Spock's cabin.  He immediately rushes there and finds McCoy, who seems quite delusional.  Bones asks for help and why he has been left behind on Genesis.  What Kirk does not now is that just before Spock's death in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, he transferred his katra (living spirit) to McCoy. 

When the crew checks in, they are told that Genesis is now classified and that they are not to speak of what happened.  They are given an extended shore leave with the exception of Scotty, who is sent to USS Excelsior. When Scotty says that he would like to stay and get the enterprise refitted, they are all informed that because the enterprise is 20 years old, it is being decommissioned. 

In the meantime, aboard the Grissom, David and and Lieutenant Saavik are scanning the Genesis planet when they pick up life signs.  They ask to bring it on board and are denied by the captain and so instead beam down to the planet to investigate.  Once on the planet, they discover the capsule which held Spock's body now only contains his funeral garb.

What would a Star Trek movie be without Klingons? Well, Commander Kruge picks up on Kirks report about what happened on the Genesis planet, cloaks is bird-of-prey and heads there because he believes that Genesis is a weapon of great power.

Back on earth, Sarek seeks Kirk out to discover what happened to Spock's katra.  Kirk puts two and two together and realises that Spock gave it to Mccoy. Kirk then approaches Star Fleet in the hope of retrieving Spock's body and is denied, so he hatches a plan with crew, steals the Enterprise and takes off.

What follows are the Star Trek basics: show down with the Klingons, a big fight scene for Kirk, and triumph for the crew.  Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, also includes the first time ever on screen that The Enterprise is destroyed. Fans of the series know that this will happen again, in a later movie.

Almighty Johnsons, Season 3, Episode 9: Mike in the Mirror

Apparently Zeb dreams of awful sexist beer adverts when thinking of finding Frigg. He takes his master plan to Axl and even he realises that it’s dubious and nothing about the Frigg prophecy guarantees Frigg’s bra size.  Unfortunately, as he talks Axl decides running auditions for a fictitious advert for a fictitious beer “Odin’s Ale”, requiring actors fit the model of Frigg is somehow a good idea.

In one way this is very true to Norse Mythology. The Aesir aren’t the brightest bunch around.

To Anders’s office where Dawn is happy they’ve got rid of Colin (the wanker), but that they still need business – and she pokes for more information about what actually happened in the alley. Anders ducks the question and is rescued by Axl and Zeb arriving with their not-so-masterful idea about finding Frigg and wanting to talk in private (poor Dawn).  Anders hears their plans and tells them exactly how utterly awful they are – but he will help them find Ingrid (who has gone missing) because her genealogy isn’t the worst idea – but no way is he setting up an advert that the real Frigg will run screaming from.

Is it shallow of me to want to give a small award to Dean O’Gorman’s tailor? Or a not-so-small award?

At Mike’s, Michele is glowing and happy despite putting in long hours at work – apparently on a medical research project (she is a doctor). Mike doesn’t believe her – he and Olaf go making money with his Ullr power and discuss the inscrutable secretive ways of conniving women when men don’t bother to actually ASK them if something’s going on. (Y’know, if he really wants to know, he could just have Olaf says “I bet you can’t guess what Michele is doing all day”).  Mike decides that since she’s content, not guilty, it’s probably secret goddess stuff and, therefore, something he should stay out of (especially when Olaf points out Mike isn’t exactly telling her about the money he’s making using his Ullr powers)

Anders tries to get Stacey to tell him where Ingrid has got to. From there he goes to a swanky looking hotel, the same hotel Michele has been visiting and sees there’s an event called “The goddess healer speaks”. And Ingrid is the receptionist for the event (and collecting fees). He breezes past Ingrid to see Michele giving an empowering, but rather generic new agey presentation to a room full of women.

Anders confronts her afterwards about how it’s all generic new agey stuff and she’s really healing everyone with Yggdrasil – and to make lots of money. And he wants a part of it – she ignores him, so he asks what Mike thinks of the whole thing, to which she brings him on board.

Zeb and Axl continue their awful advert idea on social media, get a large number of women auditioning and borrow a set at a local theatre to “interview” potential Friggs.

Iron Queen (Iron Fey #3) by Julie Kagawa

Ash and Meghan have been banished from the Summer and Winter courts due to their illicit love. They are free to go to the human world, free to live with Meghan’s family again – except the Iron fae are still interested in her and she can’t bring their conflict to her parent’s home.

The only place to turn is the Queen of the Exiles, the Leanansidhe – and Meghan’s own mission to save her father

But the Iron fae haven’t gone away, led by a false king, they launch their armies against the beleaguered forces of Summer and Winter. Meghan may be their only hope.

I already love the world building but I further love how it is developed in this book – new insights introduced, new angles to consider. The nature of Iron glamour. What oaths mean to the fae who cannot lie. What releasing a fae from a promise means in their culture. The power of a true name. What happens to mortals trapped in faerie land. The very nature of the Iron fae and the way they fascinatingly contrast with the old fae – the old fae are timeless and immortal and eternal, while the Iron fae fully expect to be replaced over and over again because they become obsolete. With that comes the very nature of the Iron King’s power passing to the next worthy candidate – the next upgrade.

This insight also applies to the characters, their motivations and roles – removing many of the obvious villains and casting both Ferrum and Mechania in a very different light. There’s the added complexity that, while the Iron fae are destroying the Nevernever, if they weren’t on the offensive the Old bloods would probably kill them as well – the two sides are inherently damaging to each other.

There’s some old gems as well – Grimalkin is always shiny (even if, for once, she managed to confuse him), effortlessly perfect and amazingly snarky. And I do like Puck – and his unconventional magic that is a nice shift from the more direct attacks that Ash throws.

The story itself was fun and adventurous. The fight scenes were exciting, the descriptions never got in the way of the story expanding the theme and the characters while still keeping everyone largely on task (I do think there was something of a lul while they stayed with the Leanansidhe) – but it wasn’t exactly unpredictable. You could sort of see how the book would end just as it began.

The title fits the theme and all that – but it’s also a bit of a solid giveaway of how this book ends. I can’t say it ruined it because I think it was fairly clear where we were heading and it was definitely a fun ride anyway, but I still feel the need to object to a spoiler in the title on sheer principle.

As is very common with books about supernatural creatures and the fae in particular, there are no POC in this book. In fact, with Ironhorse’s death, there aren’t even any dark skinned fae (and I’d not exactly be eager to consider that as representation anyway – even aside from the fact he was an animal). There are also no GBLT people. I don’t approve of erasure in any book – it’s never a good or acceptable thing – but as casts get larger and series get longer, erasure becomes more and more blatant and worsens the problem. We’re on book 3 now.

Dead Like Me, Season 2, Episode 1: Send in the Clown

First episode of a new season – and that means a recap. Actually, it’s a pretty good recap, nicely summing everything up elegantly. Worries for this season? Season 1 was left with no plot hooks and a fairly weak overarching plot itself – I wonder where this season will go and whether the separate episodes can be interesting enough in their own right

We open in the Waffle House and George reading the Obituaries – the Reaper Sports pages – and feeling bitter when people live even to be 50; given her own very young death. At least it was very well reported – she asks Daisy and Mason if there’s was (Mason no – drug death in the 60s wasn’t newsworthy and Daisy’s death was buried since it happened on the set of Gone with the Wind). This leads, because of Daisy, to a conversation of the many men Daisy slept with and questioning of why George died a virgin (George’s reasons don’t impress Daisy). And Mason realises since he’s knocked off the booze & drugs he’s suddenly attracting more attention (aha, season 2 is jettisoning the bizarre fiction that Callum Blue is not hot).

Rube arrives with the assignment including multiple deaths at a farmer’s market (and a discussion about what constitutes a “disaster”. 7 deaths and under is a “crying shame”. I do love their banter). To the Farmer’s Market and the usual game of tracking down exactly who is going to die and putting the Reaper touch on them. Throw in some highly dubious but partially challenged racial banter, a discarded cigarette, a graveling and a gas leak and Booooom. George feels especially bad because she Reaped a flower seller who gave her a flower just before being Reaped. George flees the scene – especially since the disaster zone resembles her own death too much.

Back at the Waffle House, Mason is revelling in his newly awakened taste buds after being sober and drug free for the first time on 40 years. And Roxy has an insightfully cutting note about Daisy and her demeanour and why it doesn’t work on Roxy.

And at the Las household, family life is rocky and Joy continues to try and understand and bond with Reggie.  And a reminder from George that Rube hates her stalking her family – as she returns to the Waffle House, still disturbed and short tempered and guilty; leaving her flower and breakfast going to work (after Rube walks out from more tales of Daisy’s “star fucking” days).

George heads into work – actually relieved since it’s a job where she won’t be dealing with life and death. She has to deal with Delores – and bad news, training the bosses inept nephew Brennan. Well, apparently bad news but the consolation prize is that he’s easy on the eyes. Time for training and, yes, Brennan is not very intelligent. Also, George is pretty creepy when she finds a guy hot. She also gets jealous over other women paying attention to him (already claiming him as her boyfriend) and Delores advises her against office romance – that she’s young and has her whole life to meet someone. Ouch. As George says – she’s a virgin with a death certificate, what is she waiting for?

A Letter from Urban Fantasy Parents to their Beloved Children

Dear Long Lost Son/Daughter

Hey, this is your dearly departed parent. I have a lot to tell you and, since we’re in an Urban Fantasy story, I thought it best to write it down because the chances of me living long enough for you to get past the “gaa-gaa, goo-goo” stage is pretty limited.

You have just turned 16/18/21/met that super hawt guy and everything has changed! You can now see things you never thought existed. You can do things that were impossible! You have powers and skills and a whole lot of teenaged angst about them!

Surprise!

You’re actually a vampire/dhampire/lost faerie princess/super powerful mage/shaman/god* (Delete as appropriate)!

This must be something of a shock to you since we decided to keep it completely secret all of your life, but we had our reasons. See it’s dangerous to be a (insert shiny magical thing) so we decided the best way to help prepare you was to keep you completely ignorant of everything so one day you will have to fight/run from/conquer the terrible, dangerous evil while also dealing with disbelief, culture shock and one hell of a learning curve

If you’re really lucky, you’ll also be doing this while grieving over my recently deceased body.

Yes, we decided this was a much better way to prepare you than, well, actually preparing you. But I’m sure this note explaining things will be far better than a childhood of understanding, teaching, support, learning your skills, training and being told about your enemies

It’s quite possible that our decision making skills may be why Urban Fantasy parents don’t live very long...

Don’t worry, child, these new powers come with a full set of plot armour. You’ll be fine!

Love you forever for lots and lots of angst that should still be having you moping in Book 3,

Dead Urban Fantasy Parent.

(P.S. Please find enclosed cryptic magical Mcguffin/Deus Ex that I won’t explain because I’m running out of paper or something, but it’ll be useful. Honest).

(P.P.S. Trust Complete Stranger Guide person who I have never ever introduced you to before despite them being my oldest friend in the world. It was necessary to hide this person you will completely rely on from you because…oh look, out of paper again.)

In the Blood (Maker's Song #2) by Adrian Phoenix)

After the events of the last book, the powers that be are seeking to tie up loose ends and cover up Bad Seed and make sure no-one ever knows what happens. Which means people have to be silenced – which puts Dante and Heather in a very dangerous situation with some powerful forces hunting them.

In addition, the whole events, including the dramatic death of the Bad Seed agents at Dante’s hands has brought Dante to the attention of Dr. Wells, the initial founder of Bad Seed. He has plans for Dante – as does his brilliant son – and both have the tools to manipulate Dante’s shattered mind and pull him into their web.

Then there’s the Elohim; Lucien has done his best to hide Dante from his fellows, but his song is being heard and he cannot hide much longer.

This book avoided, to an extent, the main problem I had with the first book. Of course, that’s rather to be expected – my problem was the first book being too full, with too much world building and new weird words and too many characters and too many agendas made the whole book far too full and confusing and rushed. I didn’t know where I was or what everyone was doing or even what everyone was – it took a lot of back tracking and notes and head scratching to finally get everyone in the right place.

Now with all of these characters established, the world resolved and everything set, we didn’t have to face that… except I wrote “to an extent” up there – because while the world building was already set, we still had the shifting POVs, the 10 squillion unnecessary characters and the million unnecessary agendas. We had:

Heather, Dante, Von et al. The good guys! Yay!

Then there was the Shadow Branch of the government (miscellaneous nefarious folk). Their agenda is to kill everyone to cover up Bad Seed and everything that happened in the last book

Their agent/assassin Caterina has her own agenda because of her vampire mother

Rutgers is the boss of the more conventional FBI who wants to kill a different set of people from the Shadow Branch because… I’m not even sure. Spite, I think.

Under the Dome, Season 1, Episode 10: Let the Games Begin

In the barn, the Children-of-the-Dome (hereby forever known as COD), Angie, Joe and Norrie wake up to find that there’s a caterpillar in the Minidome – a Monarch Butterfly caterpillar (also Norrie is engaging in inept bondage to stop Joe sleep walking).  The CODs talk about whether or not to trust Julia again (not) and check again that they do need the fourth hand print – there is another COD out there!

Dodee has been following the CODs because… the script says so, because I can’t think of any other reason. When they leave the barn she goes in and finds the Minidome! She takes pictures – then touches the Minidome and is thrown across the room, unconscious. The COD hurry back from wherever they went (I don’t think they went anywhere, I think the script just said “leave Dodee alone with Dome for REASONS”) to find her unconscious and with a burned hand from where she touched the Dome.

She has failed the Children of the Dome test.

They hurry her to the clinic and she doesn’t remember anything – just electricity. They seize on the explanation of the generator and hand her over to a nurse. Angie takes the chance to ask Nurse Adams if anyone else has had seizures and she says “not since your 10^th grade dance.”         

This causes Angie to storm angrily. Why? Because that seizure was Junior’s. Junior is the 4^th hand, the remaining COD – damn it Under the Dome, why? You’re going to have the story force Angie and Junior together?

Angie tells Joe and Norrie about Junior kidnapping her – which causes Joe to announce he’ll kill Junior and Angie to counter that she’s the one who gets to kill him. Alas, this kill Junior tag team stops because Norrie returns them to the 4^th hand. Oh Norrie, you can cut off his hand after you kill him.

Elsewhere, Barbie consults with Jim about Max – the enemy of my enemy and all that. To stop her they need to find her little insurance dirt and they brainstorm Osiris properties – a legitimate estate company she owns that owns property in the area. Of course they still don’t trust each other. They go to the town hall to find an isolated property on an island in the middle of methane lake which may be the best place to check. And Max comes in with a shopping list she expects Jim to fill.

Seriously Max? You’re going to use your blackmail material to humiliate them with menial tasks? It’s not like Jim is a man with a temper, a predilection to violence and a Napoleon complex so pathologically strong it drives him to maim and murder for the sake of saving face… oh wait?

Julia goes looking for Barbie at the police station and finds a troubled Linda going through a pile of files. Linda asks Julia about being told by Ms. Grinnel about the propane warehouse and shows Julia the footage of Duke meeting with Max (behold, Julia is shoe-horned into another storyline!) and tells her about the drug production. After brainstorming, Linda remembers the hat that was oh-so-special to Duke and finds a key to a safety deposit box in the brim – a box in Chester’s Mill Bank

Wait, hold on now, you’re telling me Barbie and Jim are looking for where Max has stashed her blackmail material in abandon properties when there’s a bank in town with safety deposit boxes?

Speaking of, Jim is heading to that island – with a gun. There he finds a big, beautiful house and a working generator. There he runs into the caretaker, Agatha, who likes him (she doesn’t know him beyond his adverts) and knows nothing about Max – she thinks the house is owned by an Oliver Luckland..

Alas, it seems we have to catch up with Junior, driving around with all the authority of the law (oh dear). A guy sees his car and runs which looks a little suspicious so Junior grabs him – he’s been shoplifting salt. Why salt? Because apparently it will get you into the cement factory. I’m… not entirely sure why one would want to get into a cement factory or why table condiments are replacing currency so quickly. Having taken the purloined salt, Junior heads to the cement factory but he’s not welcomed since he’s a cop (ish)