Wings of Hope (The Veil Series #0.5) by Pippa DaCosta

Muse was a slave to her full demon master, cursed and derided like all half-blood demons, she seem to have no way to freedom and nowhere to go.

Until she meets Mammon, the Prince of Greed who shows her a new way when he demands three nights with her.

This book is well written, dramatic, very well paced and with some very powerful emotional, impactful contact. The story showed us some of the demon world, the elementals, their powers and their council.

It was very dramatic and very stark which graphically depicted Muse’s horrendous past without pulling any punches or trying to romanticise any of it.

My only issue with this book is that I’m not sure what the point of it is? I mean, we know Muses’s history from Beyond the Veil, we know she was a half-demon who was enslaved. We know she was abused and tortured. We know she was raped and tormented and we know that she was passed from one demon to the other.

We were already told all this. And while I’m generally a fan of show-don’t-tell, I’m not entirely sure what is gained from telling and then showing. Especially when the showing depicts graphic abuse and torture and rape.

I don’t think there’s anything this story brings that hasn’t always been told. In some ways that fits with what I want from short stories – I don’t want them to be compulsory. But I also want there to be some point – and that goes doubly for any book that is this graphic. If there is going to be a depiction of such terrible abuse then I really would like to see a powerful depiction of why this is being shown and I didn’t see it here.

Of course, the abuse storyline does, ultimately, end with glorious strength and violence and vengeance. But, again, we already knew that – so why show it again? We know about the scars, so why show the wounds?

Teen Wolf, Season 5, Episode 15: Lie Ability

So, last week, Theo decided it was a greater idea to lure in Parrish the Hellhound and his fireproof shorts. This plan has a terrible flaw – his little pack of chimeras has absolutely no way of stopping Parrish. Pretty much no-one has no way of stopping a Hellhound. The crew gets badly batted around though one does manage to briefly incapacitate him: leaving Valack free to run off with Lydia

Everyone’s plan is kind of falling apart now and we get a lot of desperate teaming up. Malia and Kira team up with  and Corey to help each other: Kira needs Josh to drain out all her excess voltage while Cory needs Malia to stop his pain so he can heal from his terrible Hellhound burns (is anyone even slightly surprised that Corey is, again, the most ineffective and pointless Chimera? This show hates gay people being actual useful integral parts of the plot).

Stiles and Theo, able to get past the Mountain Ash, work together to chase after Valack through the tunnels under Eichenn House, snarking along the way about what a terrible person Theo is while tracking Lydia’s screams.

Scott and Liam want to follow but there’s that pesky Ash everywhere – so Scott decides to seek an expert: Meredith (in a catatonic state). Always ready to be a useful, sacrificing tool (she so deserves better), she has Scott stab her neck with the memory claws so he can see Lydia about to pop and scream everyone to death and that the key to that is Parrish (why this need any advice

While doing this Liam fights off several orderlies including one big guy who is supposed to be scary because he’s big never mind Liam being a werewolf. Well, we have to give the werepuppy something to do.

Parrish can’t just yell “flame on” and charge into action – but a little homespun flamethrower and he’s good to go. Among the many many things that don’t stop a Hellhound we can also add Mountain Ash.

Valack has Lydia because he wants her to use her super scream to discern the name of the Beast so they can catch him while he’s still a teenager – and not transformed into his full and deadly power. He wants to do this by making her wear a Dread Doctor’s mask which tends to kill people – which is a bad idea. He misjudges Lydia’s screams though and ends up with his head rather gruesomely squished by banshee decibels – bye bye Valack.

iZombie, Season 3, Episode 12: Physician, Heal Thy Selfie

This week all the storylines of iZombie pretty much collide together – and it’s surprisingly well done and probably pretty needed

The crime this week is an awkward one for Liv – because it involves 3 decapitated bodies; which means no brain eating or convenient visions. Oops. Awkward to explain this to Liv why her visions have dried up.

The innocuous but creepy Stacey Boss has finally decided to act on Peyton’s (and her boss, Barracus) attempts to bring down his criminal enterprise – so he sent 3 of his men to go kill Barracus. A plan that would have worked if it weren’t for Barracus being a zombie – and zombies being damn hard to kill. Stacey is genuinely upset by the loss of his men – one of them his relative. Liv quickly figures out what happened – partly because Barracus’s kitchen contains an awful lot of hot sauce. And his friend contains severed heads. I mean, if you’re attacked by three guys, it’s a shame to waste those brains, right?

There’s a lot of fallout from this little war between Stacey Boss and a zombie attorney general.

Firstly, Peyton was all set to resign her job. She was, after all, sleeping with her confidential informant who then turned out to be a multiple murdering zombie (Blaine). She is in a deep depression and expresses this by drinking Ravi under the table every night (despite Liv repeatedly telling him that drinking with Peyton is a bad bad bad bad idea). It’s really cute, I’ve always liked them together. Peyton’s boss going missing, though, means the Mayor isn’t willing to accept the resignation – after all, Stacey Boss sends goons after one man who disappears and then the other person prosecuting him decides to quit? It looks like cowardice, it looks like the city has caved – it would be an open admission of defeat. Peyton has to keep going… and she declines to move in with Ravi (even with the promise of Major as a doorman. Did I mention they’re sweet together?)

This also comes with an awesome moment of Liv and Peyton confronting Blaine and giving him his marching orders

That’s not even the worst thing that happened to Blaine this episode – since Stacey Boss notices him. Blaine used to work for Boss before becoming a zombie and starting to sell drugs himself. Except some of those drugs were Stacey Boss’s stash – and he would quite like that money paid back. With interest. Blaine is not a happy ex-zombie.

Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments, Season One, Episode Five: Moo Shu to Go

Clary and Alec are still not feeling each other at all.  When Alec learns that Clary communicated with Valentine through the portal shard that her mother gave her, to say that he's not impressed is to state it lightly.  Alec demands to know the details of what Clary found and when she cannot remember much, he is quick to state that they will never get anywhere with only 3 1/2  Shadowhunters.   Yep, that's Alec making sure that Clary knows that she isn't one of them.  This is also particularly important because he clearly feels that Clary is coming between him and his one true love Jace.

Alec is still very upset that the memory of the one he loved the most is Jace and when he tried taking it up with Jace, Jace naturally assumed that it's because they are parabatti.  It's clear that Alec is trying to tell Jace that there's more going on but he never quite builds up the courage. Not to worry though, Clary takes time out in search for the Mortal Cup, to inform Alec that she knows he's gay and is in love with Jace.  The confrontation in the book is actually far more horrible than that portrayed in the television show, so I suppose I should thank someone for small mercies.  Alec may be in love with Jace but clearly Magnus Banes has plans for Alce, though he believes that Alec is playing hard to get.

This episode we meet Maryse, Isabelle and Alec's mother.  Clary is stunned when Maryse doesn't greet her daughter with a hug but embraces Jace with complete warmth.  It quickly becomes clear that Maryse doesn't approve of Isabelle's relationship with a seelie.  It very much reads like slut shaming.  It seems that dating a downworlder is not approved of and Maryse makes sure her daughter knows it.  Even though Isabele's relationship means that she can learn more about what is going on in the seelie court, for Maryse, that's no excuse to colour outside of the lines.  People apparently need to know their place and keep their knees together.

This week Luke finally gets into the mix.  At the station Alaric and Luke realise that humans with the sight are seeing vampires and werewolves. They interpret this as Valentine building an army to get the Mortal Cup.  Here's the deal, everyone that Valentine has sent after Clary thus far has failed miserably therefore, I'm still not buying the idea that Valentine is to be feared. He hasn't found anyone competent to hire yet as far as I can tell.  It seems the werewolves want the cup because they are tired of the Shadowhunters throwing their supposed superiority around. Given what Alec and Jace are like, I kind of side with the werewolves on this point.  At any rate, the werewolves kidnap Clary and Simon, who has gone all super powered nerd because he's clearly becoming a vampire.  Luke arrives and finally gets Clary to trust him by taking on the alpha and winning.  Unfortunately, the bite of an alpha is deadly and so Luke's life is in peril.

Luke claims that he made a promise to always protect Clary.  Jace breaks all kinds of rules to help Clary and by extension, Alec and Isabelle.  There seems to be nothing that Simon won't do for Clary either.  It's only five episodes in and we have people endangering themselves and sacrificing themselves for Clary left right and center and the writers have not bothered to explain to us what makes Clary so special. Yes, she might know where the mortal cup is but beyond that why exactly are all these people invested in her?  I had really hoped that this was one part of the story that the show would move away from but apparently it's full speed ahead. Super special protagonist is super special just because doesn't work in any story, no matter how many times they try to sell it.

Blood Magic (World of the Lupi #6) by Eileen Wilks

Lily Yu and Rule Turner have a wedding to plan which is difficult because Lily’s mother would quite like her to find a nice Chinese boy and Rule’s family have deep seated religious taboos against marriage and monogamy

It’s not going to be easy

But this pales to insignificance when the newly magical world throws up another threat – one from Madame Yu’s (Lily’s terrifying grandmother) past – one that even the dragons cannot fight directly

This series has had an amazing journey. It started like many other Urban Fantasy stories – we had Lily and her werewolf lover who fell in love because of woo-woo and somewhere along the way they solved crimes. It was good – but not exactly top 10 material or super original

Then the series exploded in every direction, we had Dis and Hell and the Turning and dragons and magical monsters and dimensions and gnomes and elves and everything and it was huge – far far far far too huge. It was nearly impossible to keep up and it was just messed up and drowning and confused

But last book we got more stability, that huge, wide world focused down to something very personal and close to Lily and Rule, it was very personal and only somewhat touched on the wider world

And now we’ve finally got to an awesome place. Enough of that huge meal of a world has been developed while at the same time we’ve had enough focus on Lily and Rule to keep it, well, focused and developed – and it can all come together to form an awesome whole. A huge world, some fascinating characters, a focused, undistracted story and a vast amount of potential. It has arrived. And I love it

I love Lily’s character as it has developed – her need to know things. And not just know things but needing to verbalise it. Her desperate need for order and organising things and making everything line up and make sense. Which is quite stressful given how random and huge and chaotic the world. Her flailing around in her relationship and upcoming marriage with Rule is so classically her – because she knows she’s doing the right thing and the thing she wants to do but it almost falls apart because she can’t verbalise it!

Magicians, Season 1, Episode 4: The World in the Walls

This episode has Quinn in a mental hospital.

Yes – that means we get all those terrible tropes we’d expect – Mentally ill people as babbling, horrifying amusements, the terrible horror of the neuro-typical character being locked up with the insane and mental health professionals who are brutal and awful.

Obviously, Quinn has been locked up in a mental institution because he believes in magic. Quinn fights back, insisting over and over again that magic is real and hardly ever succumbing to the idea that this is reality – even as the pressure mounts. I have to say, yes, the horror of it all is quite well depicted except it rests on some really ableist tropes here. It’s thatclassic being-mentally-ill-is-the-worst trope we see all too often

Quinn is helped by cryptic advice from hallucination Jane because I know nothing convinces me I’m connected to reality in a conventional fashion quite like conversing with characters from children’s books.

Quinn manages to reach out through psychic Penny by plaguing him with the horror of Taylor Swift (poor Penny). The terrible and racist depiction of Penny in Quentin’s dream world is duly called out by Penny when he encounters it’s awfulness (thankfully).

Anyway, it’s confirmed, Quinn is cursed – or this show would be taking a rapidly different direction. And who is doing the cursing? The Hedge Witches – Marina, Julia and Katy (who isn’t a hedge witch but works with them for reasons unknown).

This is all a diabolical plan by Marina to break into Brakebills to reclaim her lost memories – since she was close to graduating they couldn’t just blank several years of memories, they took them and stored them. This plot rests on the Dean needing to bring down the school’s wards in order to use some mojo to bring Quinn back to himself (this also involves more Jane crypticness and possibly Quinn learning some life lessons about living).

Of course, Julia doesn’t realise that this curse she put Quinn on could have been permanent and if it weren’t for his plot armour he may never ever have woken up and she is all duly tearful and repentant and hating herself; she doesn’t even get the semi-redemption of helping Quinn back since she can’t – she can’t just be derided by Quinn’s friends (ish. I mean, I don’t think any of them actually like him).

Marina does get her memories back and pretty much confirms that Brakesbills students are massively more powerful than Hedge witches – with her new power and memories the first thing she does is banish Julia from the Hedge Witches because she needs ALL THE SUFFERING and ALL THE GUILT apparently.

Of Shadow Born (Shadow World #4) by Dianne Sylvan

The unspeakable has happened.  At the end of Shadow's Fall, Jeremy broke David's signet, killing him and separating Miranda from her soulmate. Signet bearers are not meant out live each other and the grief nearly kills Miranda.  Were it not for the intervention of Stella, a witch and long time fan of her music, Miranda might well have died.  Deven and Johnathon show up to help Miranda run Haven and keep her sanity but all feel the grief and loss of David.  Fortunately for them all, David isn't actually dead, he has become something else - Thirdborn.  It seems Persephone has plans for her children and the pieces are being shifted into place.  It's not a moment to soon because the human group Morningstar has its own set of plans for the vampire world which are guaranteed to be a game changer.

Miranda's grief was really well written and her pain was at times difficult to read.  Deven did show up to help her mourn David's loss but I felt that Miranda's pain far over shadowed his. I know that one could argue that Miranda and David were soulmates and that Deven's soulmate is Johnathon; however, Sylvan has made a repeated point of reminding us just how much Deven and David love each other and therefore I really felt like Deven's pain shouldn't have been so overshadowed.

It's a measure of exactly how much that Miranda has grown as a character that she determined to rule her area as the Queen that she is even without David at her side.  I love that she took the time to grieve but then got right back on her feet because that's what one does - one finds a way to live with the pain.  It was obvious from the ending of Shadow's Fall that we would see David again. When David and Miranda do find each other again, David has greatly changed and the bond between them still hasn't returned.  Miranda must choose if regaining her soul bond with David is worth taking a leap into the unknown and becoming an uber vampire.  I love that Of Shadow Born is filled with women having the opportunity to choose for themselves what their fate will be.  David doesn't pressure Miranda and gives her all the time she needs to make her decision.  Similarly, when Stella meets the Goddess Persephone, she gets to choose whether or not she will risk herself  to get the information that Miranda and David both need.

The addition of the witches to this story has not only been fun, it has broadened Sylvan's supernatural world. I very much like that Stella's interest in Miranda isn't about Miranda's vampire nature but her talent as an artist.  That being said, given how long Stella has known Miranda, her willingness to sacrifice has me wondering if this storyline is going to turn into a case of unrequited love between the two women  - something I could definitely do without. I highly suspect that the witches will have a larger role to play as the story goes on, particularly when it comes to the vampires learning about their own lore.  Stella also looks like she will be a replacement for Kat and Faith but it's a bit early to say at this point.

I am also interested to know where the story with Persephone the vampire Goddess and MorningStar the human group determined to eliminate the vampires are going.Persephone is the perfect Goddess in this world as she is the queen of the underworld. I wonder how much more of her we will see as the story progresses.

As with many books in this series, when it comes to GLBT people, Sylvan absolutely has a problem. When David first returns, he has trouble remembering and so Miranda describes Deven as, "Our friend. Little guy, lots of leather, the world's oldest bitch queen."(pg 109)  It's one thing for a gay man to self identify as a "queen" and another for a straight woman to label him that way. Miranda and Deven may have burried the hatchet so to speak but it still very much comes off as pejorative. When Stella sees Deven for the first time she calls him cute. Deven may be short in stature but he is one of the oldest vampires in existence and the power coming off of him is immense. If that were not enough, we learn that Deven is at least part elf. That's right, Sylvan made a gay man a fairy. Thanks for that.

Sylvan has made it clear that Deven is gay and yet in this novel, we have him expressing love for Miranda.

"Miranda," he said, a sort of gentle firmness in the word that brooked no disagreement, "I thought by now you would understand - things aren't like they were three years ago.  If I never expected to still love him, after all those years, well, let's just say I was utterly blindsided by you."

"By me?"

"Yes...I would do anything for you. Anything. Ask for the stars and I'll do what I can." (pg 162)

Here's the the thing, platonic love between Miranda and Deven I suppose I could wrap my mind around but Sylvan certainly stretches the limit on this point.

During Miranda's second transition, Deven gets into bed with her and David, after being instructed to by Johnathon to lie next to Miranda to avoid drama.  As you might imagine, things immediately get a little steamy. In her supposed need to feel close to her sire, Miranda accidentally kisses Deven.

She had no idea who I actually was. I was just there, and when she woke up she was on me like bloodstains on a white shirt.

”Jonathan stared at his Prime for a moment . . . then burst out laughing.

Deven threw up his hands, exasperated. “What the hell is so funny?”

“Sorry,” he said breathlessly. “I just . . . I would have paid to see that.”

David bit his lip, holding back a laugh of his own, but at least part of it escaped when he affirmed, “He looked like a deer in headlights.”

“Have you ever actually kissed a woman before?” Jonathan asked.

Deven looked like he wanted to stake them both. “Of course I have, he said sharply. “Granted, it was five hundred years ago.”They both laughed again. (pg 222)

Why are Jonathan, Deven's husband and David, Deven's former lover happy about Deven kissing Miranda? It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.  Where is Jonathon's jealousy, especially given that he knows that Deven has professed his love of Miranda? This is only the beginning of Jonathan's openness when it comes to Deven and Miranda.  Deven has been sad for as long as Jonathan has known him and it all stems from his loss of faith.  How does Jonathon propose helping Deven? Why, sleeping with both Miranda and David of course.

“So,” Jonathan ventured, keeping his eyes on his book nonchalantly, “are you planning to pursue that whole thing with Miranda, or . . .”

“What thing?” Deven asked, frowning.

“Well, change or no change, she did kiss you. And you did blush when we were talking about it.”

“I don’t blush,” Deven insisted. “And by now I shouldn’t have to ask this question, but, what part of gay do you not get?”

“Oh, please. As old as you are, you know sexuality is more fluid than that for our kind. That’s how you landed David in the first place.”

“I landed David because he had suffered a tragic loss and I give amazing head.”

Jonathan snorted. “Exactly my point. He could get a shag from any woman not connected to another woman or life support machinery, but he tumbled into bed with you. Anyway, aside from the deer-in-headlights thing, what did you do when she kissed you?”

“Besides try to push her off? Well . . .” Deven crossed his arms. “I may have kissed back. Just to satisfy my curiosity.”

Grinning, Jonathan asked, “Then what?”

Deven’s eyes narrowed. “You’re getting off on this, aren’t you.”

“I’ve just never seen you do anything remotely sexual with a woman. I’m sorry I missed it. What was it like?”

“Like? It was just like kissing a man. Lips don’t really differentiate much.”

“Maybe not, but breasts sure do.”

Deven smiled a little at that. “That part was weird.”

“So what if—strictly theoretically, of course—she actually wanted to sleep with you? Or better yet, what if they asked you to join in, and fooling around with her was just part of the equation? Would you try it?”

Deven was giving him a hilariously befuddled look. “What in God’s name are you talking about?”

“I said it was theoretical.”

“What are you fishing for, Jonathan? Are you trying to plan something?”

Jonathan laughed. “Of course not.”

“Good, because nothing like that is going to happen. The whole thing was an anomaly that I’d appreciate you dropping.” (pg 225-226)

We already know that Deven has kissed a woman so why would curiosity cause him to respond to Miranda and why would Jonathon be excited about the prospect?  Deven asserts his sexuality which is a good thing but then you have Jonathon come back with the suggestion that sexuality is fluid.  Yes, there are people who according to the Kinsey Scale do experience varying attraction to both genders; however in this case, it feels like an attempt on Sylvan's part to scale back Deven's homosexuality, just as she earlier scaled back David's bisexuality. Deven has existed for centuries - centuries of battling homophobia and internalised homophobia, but now he's suddenly "curious" about women, but not in all that time? This doesn't even come close to resembling sexual fluidity or exploration - this isn't about him at all, it's all about Miranda and his sexuality conveniently being rewritten to better suite her and her story. Then there's the disembodiment part of the act.   A kiss isn't just a kiss and there's a difference between kissing a man and kissing a woman. It's as though Sylvan is trying to suggest that there's no difference between an intimate act between a man and a woman and two people of the same gender.  If that were not the case, everyone would just fuck everyone no questions asked.

Once again, Sylvan drifts into Deven's background of course it involves torture. We learn more about how Deven was abused for being different.

It irks me that Sylvan takes the time to create LGBT characters and then does the best she can to dial back their sexuality and have their supposed allies and friends use homophobic language.  For all that this series may be inclusive it is still very homophobic.

In terms of POC, we were introduced to Olivia, the second of the territory of Australia.  Because of guilt she follows Jeremy in his quest for revenge against the Primes who orchestrated the death and rape of his wife and daughter.  Though Olivia becomes the first female Prime, for much of the book she is essentially nothing more than a pawn to be moved by David and Miranda.  I have to hope that this is going to change particularly because thus far, all the people of colour have somehow been secondary and servants in one way or another to either David or Miranda.

I want so much to like this series even if it comes with protagonists gaining super duper powers when convenient which is a trope.  Of Shadow Born is beautifully written, particularly Miranda's mourning phase. The problem with Of Shadow Born as with every other book in this series, is that it is loaded with homophobia. If Sylvan could just concentrate on her world building and characterisation without descending into homophobic tropes continually, this series really could be something.

Lucifer, Season One, Episode Three: The Would-Be Prince of Darkness

At the beginning of this episode, it appears that old scratch is up to his familiar tricks. We see a young woman on a rooftop scared to jump and who should encourage her to but Lucifer. I must admit that when she lands in a pool, it's a bit of a disappointment. Sure, we don't need more dead women on television (Law and Order Special Victim's Unit has that market cornered)  but on the other hand, we do want our Lucifer to be the ultimate bad boy. Mission accomplished and it's on to the next task which is to get a quarterback named Ty, to cast his virginity to the wind and have sex. We all know this isn't going to end well right?

 Feeling cheerful about tempting a woman to jump and a man to have sex, Lucifer continues to mingle at a party, only to be shocked when he introduces himself as Lucifer Morningstar, to be called a fake because apparently someone has stolen his identity. I suppose we should call this earthbound problems.

Chloe believes that Lucifer must be some kind of magician and she is determined to figure out how he does the things he does. Despite all of Lucifer's charms, she's not ready to believe for one moment that she is actually dealing with the devil. To date, Chloe has seen Lucifer survive being shot six times, compel people to tell him their most secret desires and in this episode, throw a man one handed throw a glass wall. So far, they have given enough room for Chloe to have plausible disbelief but as the story goes on and Lucifer continues to show that he has supernatural powers, I suspect that this will be harder for Chloe to do.We already have one Scully on television and don't need another . I wonder how they will deal with that?  It will certainly take away from the lightness of Lucifer thus far but I don't necessarily think that this will be a bad thing.

The big case of the week comes to light when Ky calls Lucifer the night after the party when he finds the woman he slept with floating in his swimming pool. I found Ky a very interesting character because when Black males usually appear in the media, they are presented as thugs, violent and hypersexual whereas; Ky is a clean cut, virgin athlete.  Pause for a moment and think about the recent superbowl and how the two quarterbacks were represented.  Cam Newton was called a boy and a bad role model for children for behaviour not at all different from that which we have seen from White football players. Ky makes it clear that the reason he is still a virgin is because his mother raised him better, even though the comment disgusts Lucifer.

Had Ty's storyline stayed the same it would have been subversive but not only did Lucifer tempt him into having sex, he chose to have sex with a White woman.  Later, we find out that girlfriend who Ty is estranged from is also white.  Look, I get that this is 2016 and the era of so called post-racism; however, it's telling that once again we cannot get a good representation of Black love.  Once again, a Black man is paired with a White woman while the sole Black female character on Lucifer is pretty much relegated to the sidelines as a sidekick. If there's a hierarchy to Lucifer, it's clear that Black women are relegated to the servant class.