Fields of Air (Magnificent Devices #10) by Shelley Adina

Gloria Meredith-Astor has inherited an extremely wealth and successful munitions company, one that is set to make a vast profit off a potential future war

And she doesn’t want it – not the munitions and certainly not the war. She is determined to turn her guns into ploughshares and she adamantly will not allow a war to be fought because of the weapons her company created, no matter what erstwhile family members wish.

If she has to hare off across the continent and ambush a train to stop it – then so be it.

This is one of those series that always makes me smile when there’s another book out – and this book is no exception

The series has a semi-shifting protagonist and this time it’s Gloria Merriweather-Astor. Now, I can’t say she’s one of my favourite protagonists, but I’ve always liked the idea of her, as I’ve said before. I like the idea of her because it would have been so easy, so very very very easy, in any other series to make her the villain. I probably wouldn’t have even criticised it if she were because there are so many other excellent and awesome female characters in this series, that having a single vapid/immoral/damn fool cardboard cutout villain would not have ruffled the waters

But that is not this series, that is not what this series does. So, I loved Gloria for that – for turning out to be brave and dedicated and awesome and full of morality and integrity even in the face of extreme pressure when she could just as easily have been a villain. But I am also interested in her because she is very different from the others. To a degree all the other protagonists have been misfits. They’ve not fit in the world they’ve been in – whether it’s Claire’s ambition and sudden poverty or the Mopsies rising from poverty to high society or Alice living among the raiders – they’ve all followed a different path because they haven’t had much choice in the matter. But Gloria has everything going for her – she’s the heiress to a rich, doting father who fully intends her to take over his company (despite him being evil and despite her being female). She has wealth, power, prestige, influence and she is also quite capable of realising any ambition she may have without every doing anything other than what is expected of her. She’s not like any of the other protagonist who must fight for what they want, their career, the life they choose, the family they value – Gloria doesn’t have any hard choices she HAS to make

The Returned, Season 2, Episode 8: Les Revenants

It’s time for the concluding episode of The Returned which begins with just about everything falling apart.

The soldiers pretty much give up trying to do anything about the Returned after the big escape last week – especially when the priest tells their leader everything and he, rather shellshocked, decides to side step the whole issue and let any further return they’ve gathered go (apart from anything else they’re creepy). Simply because he has no clue what’s happening or what to do. It’s actually pretty well done and not as simplistic as it sounds – he steps back from a situation that has pretty much shattered all he knows: he falls back on the words of a priest who simply tell him to help. And with the dead rising, a priest isn’t exactly an unreasonable person to talk to.

Helping Hand, Pierre’s cult, collapses – with Sandrine dead, Frederick dead in a firefight with Claire (he shoots Camille) and Audrey actually eating her mother (yes – zombie-like. Looks like the Returned do eat flesh – though this may be because Audrey was separated from the others. Camille explains she starts to rot and get marks when she is apart from the other zombies) absolutely no-one believes it’s still a safe place. I’m not sure whether a group under attack wouldn’t just hunker down, so I’m not entirely buying it but it’s not so far outside the realm of possibility – especially since Pierre kept bringing the threat to them which was pretty inclined to leave them alone otherwise

Pierre, all alone, is confronted by Berg, Etienne and Victor – and we learn that Pierre was the last man from the suicide Circle. He was the man who killed Milan but couldn’t bring himself to kill himself. He goes to Milan, who in turn has lost his faith (since Victor has said he basically didn’t want any of this to happen and he was Milan’s divine figure). Pierre shoots himself, following in the culty footsteps

We have lots more foreshadowing of Victor’s specialness: both Lucy looking for him 35 years ago when she first came to town (further adding her as one of the leaders of the mystery) and Victor returning to his dad after being murdered. Something of a shock for papa, but he hid the boy for all those years drawing the spooky spooky pictures that predicted just about everything that happened in the show to date. Victor didn’t age in those 35 years, but his dad did and, eventually died.

Victor begged him to come back… which seems to be what caused the Return to happen. Victor begging his dad to come back. Somehow I find Victor accidentally bringing everyone back rather more spooky than him having a diabolical purpose

Hemlock Grove, Season 3, Episode 8: Dire Night on the Worm Moon

Last week Roman killed Destiny and he now buries her. He’s trying to pass off super sad and tortured but honestly I’m sick of this guy’s Manpain every time he does something evil. He, naturally tries to justify himself and repeatedly yells at a terrible Annie that he’s not a murderer. All evidence to the contrary.

He’s not convincing

Of course, Peter would quite like to know what’s happened to Destiny, especially since he has a major case of the Guilt Weasels over her as well. He’s also not ready to get BACK ON WITH THE MAIN PLOT and look for Spivak while his cousin is out there probably trying to stab gang members which is generally bad for her health. Roman has enough sense to realise saying “I killed her, case closed” isn’t going to help so instead pushes the idea that said gang members have killed her

This involves lots of lies, lots of supernatural intimidation, some planted evidence and more than a little torture while Roman lurks in the background with THE MOST TORTURED look on his face because zomg he has to do bad things because of the bad things he’s done and it’s all bad guys!

Peter is eventually convinced that the gang member did kill Destiny (after beating the man to death) and Roman finishes it off by telling Peter where Destiny is buried. This may stop him looking but I wonder what will happen when werewolf nose reaches that corpse…

No doubt more Manpain. All the Manpain. And anger and guilt and then doing terrible things and then feeling all guiltily angry about it and both guys practicing their tortured look in the mirror until the wind changes and their faces freeze like that and they have to pursue a new career as emo musicians.

At least Annie seems to have given up on bringing her brother to the light and has bought a very big gun (and put the sexist salesman firmly in his place).

Bitten, Season 3, Episode 2: Our Own Blood

Elena was introduced to Sasha last week, a man claiming to be her father, and his two children, her half-siblings. The whole idea of Sasha opens up a big can of worms for Elena – which she vocalises.

On the one hand this is usually kind of clumsy – a character happily narrates their internal conflict with all the precision and accuracy of a trained therapist. On the other it’s actually pretty well done as she explains all her concerns to Clay – the fact she had given up on finding her family, the fact she has a new family with Clay. The fact she has few memories of her (presumably) adoptive family and she feels this may jeopardise them. She has a lot of reasons to not want to open this door.

Of course, the life she’s currently living isn’t shiny either. Sasha even has to help her kill another of the Spanish wolves gunning for her. Jeremy is still playing great draconian alpha, dictatorial, unquestionable and not making great decisions. So far most of the new wolves he’s called in have been cannon fodder, except for Bucky, the traitor. He makes his move with Eduardo’s remaining wolves with another nifty fight scene with Elena and Clay fighting off another attack, with lots of bodies on the ground

One thing Bitten is making a point of doing is emphasising Elena’s skill. She isn’t second to Clay and she doesn’t need his protection. They aren’t letting her “only female werewolf” status turn her into a victim. Here she is clearly as dangerous as Clay – and even saves his life. Still, it does emphasise that they are constantly under siege and this isn’t the life she wants to live

We also have an interesting aside with Elena cooking for the influx of wolves Clay challenges her on this – that she doesn’t have to cook for them but she responds that just because she’s a woman doesn’t mean she shouldn’t cook.  There are two ways this can be pulled out: one, Elena isn’t just going to refuse to cook just because it’s a sexist stereotype (ultimately, there’s a lot of wolves here and they need to eat) and/or she’s not going to refuse to cook for other men because she’s engaged to Clay.

While Elena’s life is all rough and read – it’s clear Sasha isn’t exactly having a rosy time. Firstly, his son Alexei is approaching his first change and being on the move is not really the best way to deal with a new, out of control werewolve. And then there’s Roman, head of the Russian pack, who is willing to torment witches and listen to random prophecy in an attempt to hunt him down. He even comes to America and drops in on Jeremy just as Jeremy is finishing of Eduardo to look for Sasha

Grimm, Season Five, Episode Ten: Map of the Seven Knights

"History is the nightmare

from which I am trying to awake."

Map of the Seven Knights begins with Andrea Stroh, an estate worker finding several antique books. All that she knows is that they are old and might possibly be worth some money. To find out the value of the books, she calls in Felix an antique book dealer, who just happens to be Monroe's uncle. Felix immediately recognizes that these books must have belonged to a Grimm and takes them back to his shop.  Shortly after Andrea is killed by two Anubi, Felix wisely leaves town and heads to see Monroe with the hope of selling the books to Nick.  Unfortunately, Felix wants 100,000 dollars for the books and that's way more money than Nick can put together. We do however get the pleasure of seeing that Monroe's ability to get lost in geeky esoteric things is really quite a family trait. Felix goes on about his love of the written word while everyone else in the room makes faces at each other.

One of the things I did actually enjoy was Felix's reaction to Truble entering the room.  Felix was prepared for Nick, but not for another Grimm.  Monroe had to step between them and hold his uncle back and similarly, Nick had to hold back Truble. Felix was a quiet man, interested only in his books and to see him turn violent at the sight of a Grimm, is a real reminder that Grimms historically have played judge, jury and executioner.  They have slaughtered families without cause, often leaving Wesen with no recourse. There's a reason that upon encountering a Grimm, many Wesen end up woging and revealing themselves. I think that we can agree that the Abubi were obviously not good men because they slaughtered two people in cold blood but is it any less than what Grimm have historically done? Grimm still needs to work harder to convince me as why I shouldn't be team Black Claw and incidents like this aren't swaying me to the side of Hadrian's Wall in the least.

Nick attempts to make a deal with the ever so shadowy Hadrian's Wall to get Felix's money but before he can accomplish this, Felix is murdered.  When Monroe's sees his dead uncle's body, his emotional devastation is clear. I don't think that I've ever seen Silas Weir Mitchell, sell a scene as deftly as he did this one.  Shortly after choking up at the sight of his uncle's damaged and dead body, Monroe has to pretend to be Felix when a call comes in on Felix's phone.

The Scooby team quickly realises that given the weight of the book collection, Felix could not have been travelling around with them and therefore must have shipped them to Portland. With the help of Hadrian's Wall, the scoobies learn where the books are being stored and head off to intercept the two Anubi.  Mornoe ends up woging and taking out an Anubi with his teeth.  When Monroe stands, his mouth is full of blood after seeking justice for Felix's death. It's clear that Nick is disturbed to see his best friend covered in blood but he doesn't say anything.  Monroe simply says that Felix was a good man.  For much of the time, Monroe, with his vegetarian diet, and fascination with clocks,  has been the nerds nerd.  This scene reminds Nick that behind the facade, there's someone who can kill and someone who isn't human.

The crate containing the books is taken back to Nick's new place and the scoobies are thrilled to have a new Grimopedia, especially after finding a cache of weapons in the false bottom of the shipping crate. Am I the only one thinking that they had better digitize it this time?  It's something that Wu could do and it might bring him further into the Scooby gang.  One of the books turns out to be a genealogy which explains why this collection  was of  particular interest to Black Claw.  With the genealogy book, they would be able to know who the Grimms are.  Truble is really interested in finding out her background but before she can search for herself in the book, Monroe discovers that the lock on the crate is actually masking keys.

Vampire Diaries, Season 7, Episode 13: This Woman's Work

Time for some insight into Rayna’s past. She’s the daughter of one of the Brotherhood Hunters (one of those hunters that Jeremy has become who gets the fancy body art and super vampire killy powers). And her dad went out to kill a vampire – Julian – and it didn’t go well.

Since killing a Brotherhood hunter eventually drives a vampire insane and then to suicide, Julian has an elegant solution – compel Rayna into killing her own dad

And, lo, now we know why Rayna really really wants Julian and the Heretics dead. Though (and it does kill me to provide any kind of defence for Julian), killing the hunter that was trying to kill him is hardly the worst thing he ever did.

From there Rayna went to some shamans who promptly sacrificed themselves (Native Americans – death, sacrifice and woo-woo. I think these and Rayna are these the first Native American stereotypes characters that the show has had.)

She hunts down the heretics and is the reason why Bo (hey, remember him?) can’t speak – but eventually they do manage to escape, until the present day anyway. Enzo’s people have her locked up which lasts all of 5 minutes because she’s determined and their glass cages aren’t very secure. She also wants her sword back

Enzo manages that one by blackmailing Damon with the possibility of telling Bonnie that he murdered Elena.  That gets Damon to convince Bonnie to give up the sword in an exchange in which Bonnie gets hurt, Enzo gets tied up, Rayna gets her sword and Bonnie and Damon have some… connection moments. Between Damon not hesitating before healing Bonnie as he did before –since her dying would wake Elena (yes Bonnie has low expectations, but who can blame her after the way they’ve treated her), to lots of talk of Bonnie being Damon’s only and best friend and even a very on-the-nose conversation about how Elena would totally not expect him to be celibate waiting for her.

Yes, I think we’re definitely inching down the road to Bonnie/Damon romance.

The Originals, Season Three, Episode Thirteen: Heart Shaped Box

I've recently been complaining about the fact that Freya spends too much time in the plotbox.  I was happy to see her appearance at the beginning of the episode, particularly when she called out Klaus on the way that he speaks to her. Unfortunately, that was not to last. With white oak bullets in tow, Aurora de Martel is determined to kill Elijah so that her brother can die and not drown repeatedly in the ocean.  To that end, Aurora decides to kidnap Freya, convinced that Elijah and Klaus will come for their sister.  I have long complained about The Originals treatment of women and what happened with Freya just adds to my frustrations.  Can we please find a female character who is strong and doesn't continually become reduced to a trope?

Davina is still obsessed with bringing Kol back because true love. Davina convinces Aya to bring Kol back as a ghost in order for Davina to figure out to break the sire line.  When Kol arrives, though he is truly happy to see Davina, he's absolutely worried with the coven she has aligned herself with. Naive Davina believes that true love will solve all, saying that they can deal with the Stryx after Kol is brought back.  By process of elimination, Davina figures out that the key to breaking the sire line is the heart of a vampire who has not been sired and there's only been one vampire like that in 1,000 years. Can you guess who that is? Well it's Hayley.  Davina does call Hayley to warn her but by the time she does, witches have already arrived at St. Anne's, where Hayley is sparing with Camille.

Since becoming a vampire, The Originals has positioned Camille as some petulant child meddling in things way above her pay grade.  It makes sense to me that she would want her dark objects, considering that as a fledgling vampire, she's essential powerless in the supernatural world. Camille represents yet another female character who is weak.  Hayley and Camille have a little girl bonding time when Hayley takes Camille to St. Anne's to learn how to fight.  Yep, sisters are doing it for themselves.  I do however believe the ease with which Hayley kicked Camille's ass,  proves exactly how much Camille needs her dark objects. When the witches attacked, Camille was ineffective at best.

Marcel is still busy playing both sides against the middle.  He has promised to keep the Mikaelsons appraised of what is going on with the Stryx but he is clearly working his own agenda.  Here's the issue, every time Marcel tries to get clever it always backfires in a major way.  It's Marcel who figures out that since Jackson's heart is the mirror image of Hayley's, all they need to do is dig it up, thus stopping a potential war with the Mikaelsons. Marcel makes a point of threatening Aya, claiming that he will figure out a plan to kill her but Aya suggests that they work better as allies.

Aya is a clear believer in hedging her bets.  Aya's next move is to track down Aurora and suggest the two become allies.  It seems that Aya wants her revenge against Elijah for leaving when Michael showed up and challenging her leadership of the Stryx.  We all know what this means for Aya right? Aya, like everyone who goes up against the Mikaelsons is destined to die.  Thus far, The Originals have avoided casting her as the uppity Negro in the fashion that they have done with Marcel, but it really feels like it's just a matter of time.  It's also worth noting that if Aya does die, she will be another in a long line of Elijah's lovers to die.  At least three of the women which we have been Marcel involved with have been WOC and they are all dead.  I wonder if The Originals are ever going to start thinking about the messages they are sending with this.  What I see is the disposability of WOC and the suggestion that we are fine for sex and nothing else.

Sleepy Hollow, Season 3, Episode 11: Kindred Spirits

We have a return of an old monster/ally this week – the Kindred. On the good side he starts out by brutally murdering a rapist. But then he murders the rapist’s victim as well so definitely killing spree here.

Abbie is still recovering a little from her experiences (on the plus side she hasn’t changed her hair so we may actually be getting choice to follow last week’s episode) struggling with sleeping and reminding us all that she and Ichabod work so very well for each other. Even when he has killed her house plants – they’re just so very excellent together.

There are other issues from Abbie’s long vanishing. Reynolds is pushing for her to return to the FBI asap, having not actually passed on her resignation when she gave it at the end of last season. But she’s not ready to return and it’s all kind of tense and unresolved.

While Ichabod runs into Zoe Corinth, the woman who he almost, kind of, sort of dated and then didn’t speak to for the several weeks while searching for Abbie. She is, unsurprisingly, more than a little annoyed that he just vanished without bothering to contact her. Very much not amused.

Back to the case, Ichabod and Abbie quickly realise that the new serial killer is the Kindred which they are responsible for raising. More, they realise he’s not just a random killer, but is driven by feelings of bitterness and anger because he is becoming human, feeling human and being pretty bitter about how isolated he is and how humans have all these fluffy things he can’t have.

This causes no small amount of angst because Abbie and Ichabod recognise their own responsibility – and that just killing the Kindred for existing and lashing out in pain they caused is not exactly just. But Sophie is much more practical – just or not, it’s killing people

Time for a Plan B – luring him into a trap using a convenient invention of Franklin (yes Betsy Ross was involved, she was involved in absolutely everything, it’s a rule) which Jenny and Joe go grab. Unfortunately while the lure kind of works, Ichabod and Zoe arguing attracts him further – and he runs off with Zoe?

Why? Because he wants a wife. Thankfully for the gang, Franklin prepared for this eventuality and between fighting and black magic they raise Bride-of-Kindred and we all get to see two zombie courtiers without lips kiss. Because we all needed to see that.