Chupacabra's Song (Magic Ex Libris Short Story) by Jim C Hines

I find myself writing the same short story disclaimer with every short story I read – that I don’t generally like them and prefer if they add something to the overall series without being essential. I don’t think a series of books should require you to actually read every little e-short in the series. At the same time, a short story that’s just a random fluff tale without adding anything of substance to the larger series always leaves me thinking “well, why did I read this? What’s the point?”

Because I’m awkward like that

But this short story again shows how it can be excellently done – but using the book to tell some of the history and develop some insight into one of the regular side characters of the main plot:

Nicola was a very intriguing regular background character throughout the Libriomancer series and definitely one I wanted to know more about. Her magic, the magic of a bard, of music is definitely one I wanted to see expanded and explained in the same way that book magic was examined throughout the series.

I also loved Nicola herself. She’s autistic and that deeply informs her character, is a part of her character and personhood and very much part of her story, her interactions and her experiences. Yet at the same time she’s a person not just defined by her magic of being autistic. She’s also very powerful, very capable and you can see, even as a child, the core of the leader she becomes in the books.

She’s also a woman with her own agenda and opinions, not following on a party line or being guided or controlled by others. Even when manipulated and deceived, she finds the truth and deals with it decisively

Once Upon a Time, Season 5, Episode 13: Labour of Love

The gang are still questing for Killian in the Underworld – where he and a woman are being held prisoner and guarded by Cerberus (Hades’s big three headed doggy). Killian nobly sacrifices himself to said pooch so the lady can run off and fetch help – so it’s confirmed that Killian is back on team good guy

So, how do you bring down Cerberus? Well, anyone up on their Greek Mythology knows that capturing Cerberus (albeit temporarily) was Hercules’s 12^th labour – and we have Hercules

Yes, he’s in the underworld and he’s a childhood friend of Mary Margaret (I know it’s contrived, but I really like the all-legends mash up of Once Upon a Time) this comes with a montage of how he trained Mary Margaret to fight when she was young Snow White and gave her the confidence to keep trying and keep fighting

Far more awesomely, this is repeated in the present by Regina when Mary Margaret has a despair moment. Because Regina does absolutely everything awesomely, even acknowledging how Mary Margaret eventually won in the war against her. I liked that Regina showed respect for Mary Margaret without the eternal self-flagellation she has had to endure in past season.

This is all part of Mary Margaret’s character arc in which she decides she doesn’t WANT to be Mary Margaret any more. She wants to be Snow White, the hero she once was

And can I say this gives me so much hope? I mean, anyone reading my recaps knows that there are intestinal parasites I find more appealing than the Charmings – but if you look back on some of my earliest recaps it wasn’t always like this. Early days Snow White was considerably less soggy. May ths be a return back to those days! Especially when she openly says all she’s offering are sioggy messages about hope (ok, I added the “soggy” but still, that’s my complaint for a while now – all the Charmings do is offer insipid feel-good sound bites). I am clinging to this

The Walking Dead, Season Six, Episode Thirteen:The Same Boat

The triumph of taking out the Saviour compound is short lived.  Rick gets a message that the Saviours have captured both Carol and Maggie.  Rick tries to encourage them into a trade since they are holding onto one of the saviours but the Saviours decide to stall for time, after calling in some reinforcements.

In many ways, The Same Boat is Carol's episode.  From the very beginning I knew that the protective Carol would do whatever she had to do to protect Maggie.  I watched as she pretended to hyperventilate, in order to keep a rosary and convince her captives that she was weak.  Carol's behaviour was the ultimate act of playing possum.  From hyperventilation, to talking about being a battered woman, to the crocodile tears that tolled down her face, everything Carol did was to ensure that she and Maggie went free.

Polly pretty much made the decisions for the Saviours and many ways she was just like Carol.  Polly and Carol had very similar backgrounds and because of this, not only did she buy Carol's act of possum, she reacted with very little sympathy for her. Carol's supposed weakness served to make Polly angry causing her to repeatedly ask Carol what she was so afraid of.  It's not until the end when we learn that Carol was afraid of killing Polly.

Maggie was subjected to questioning about why she would choose to get pregnant now. I believe that it was heavily implied that Maggie is privileged. Her captors are quick to notice that she is relatively clean, she looks well fed and that her clothing is all in pretty good shape.  Maggie is a far cry from her days on the road and because she is an integral part of Alexandria, where there's no abuse and no one has to steal food, her life is quite different from the Saviour women.

There's a lot of moral grey on The Walking Dead. We've been following Rick's group through the apocalypse for six years and they are very different people from who we first met. Rick has certainly made some questionable decisions but we - the viewing audience - have adjusted to their reality time and time again, accepting their justifications for the various actions they have taken.  When Maggie is told that she isn't part of the good guys, it's clear that she doesn't believe it but it's true. Yes, the Saviours attacked Darryl, Abraham, and Sasha on the way back to Alexandria, but they were blown to bits for their trouble.  The saviours didn't attack Alexandria and Maggie agreed to go and kill a bunch of people she has never met based on the fact that she wanted food for her community.  Yes, food is an essential need but does it justify outright murder?  Is Maggie part of the good guys?

Wickedly Powerful (Baba Yaga #3) by Deborah Blake

Bella is one of the three Baba Yagas in charge of the United States.  When she feels an urge to head to the forest in Wyoming, Bella is originally unsure if she is there to investigate the missing Riders, or to deal with the sudden fires that are occurring.  Growing up as a Baba Yaga in training was hard for Bella and she found that never really fit in with humans and therefore now enjoys spending time by herself with her companion Koshka, a dragon disguised as a cat.  The stakes her high but despite all Bella has to do, she finds herself distracted by the handsome but deeply scared, former hotshots fireman Sam Corbett.  If that were not enough, when Bella finds Jazz, a runaway teen living rough in the forest, Bella realises that she cannot just leave the girl to fend for herself. Can Bella somehow handle it all?

By now, the Baba Yaga series has become pretty predictable.  When Bella meets Sam and Jazz, there's never any doubt that all three of them will end up together living as a family. It's always only a matter of how it happens.  That beings said, when Bella's fellow Baba Yagas show up to look for her, I was expecting  Deborah Blake to bring on the awesome.  I feel very much at this point that we were due, particularly given that this book was written largely by the numbers.  Unfortunately, to say the big showdown was anticlimactic is to be kind. Blake didn't bring the epic and seemed rush to wrap everything up in a neat little bow, so that she could move onto writing about the Riders.

I liked watching Jazz and Bella bond; however, I wished that the bond had not occurred over the fact that they are both orphans and come from a history of abuse.  I suppose at least for Jazz, there was no other way to have her living in a forest withput adult supervision.  The issue for me is that suffering is used too often as a shortcut to characterization.  The same issue occurred with Sam, with his PTSD, survivor's guilt and scared face. I never felt like I got to know Sam as a person and he really became was his loss and fears.  The only good thing I can say is that while woo woo was used to cure Sam of his lung damage and scars, at least Blake had Sam acknowledge that dealing with his PTSD was going to take some time.

The antagonist is Brenna, a former Baba Yaga the queen had forced to retire.  We met Brenna in Wickedly Wonderful; however Blake did a good job of explaining to readers where Brenna's anger stemmed from and her history with the Baba Yagas.  If you have not read any of the other books in this series, you will not have any trouble following along with Wickedly Powerful. Brenna, is not pleased to have been forced to retire and she is further enraged that this means the loss of the Water of Life and Death, which slows down the aging process of the Baba Yagas and strengthens their powers. As her hair begins to go grey and bones begin to creak, Brenna is driven to kidnap the Riders and torture them until they lose their immortality so she that she can become what she once was - powerful.

Bitten, Season 3, Episode 5: Of Sonder's Weight

This episode revolves around one major, terrible thing in the life of all werewolves – the secret. The secret that no human can know werewolves exist and how it’s tearing them all up.

The big one is, of course, Elena and Sasha sitting down to explore her history – particularly how her mother died because Sasha told her the big secret and Roman then killed her to keep everything secret. Sasha still blames himself for that because, well, that is the rule and he, Jeremy et al kind of agree with those rules. Elena is not so sure – not just because it killed her mother (which she squarely blames on Roman – not that Sasha’s off the hook. Abandoning her as a baby and then hiding the truth about her mother hasn’t exactly earned him any brownie points). Elena has her own history with the rule – when she first met Jeremy he planned to kill her because he thought Clay had exposed their secret to her – she was almost the same innocent victim as her mother.

In the woods, Alexei and Clay try to track down the man Alexie attacked during his first change: he’s bitten but running through the woods. Alexei clings to the idea that maybe he could survive and Alexei hasn’t killed him, how the man could even become a werewolf. But there’s the rule which Clay brutally lays down: this man has a family (his partner calls repeatedly on the mobile phone they’ve found), he has a life, he’s an exposure risk. Whether he survived Alexei’s bite/claw or not, he’s doomed to die which is a horrible weight on Alexei.

They do find his body – and in addition to us seeing more of the pain the secret causes, Clay explains how they control the wolf so it doesn’t kill people. They pretty much wallow in the pain these deaths cause, brutally confronting all the grieving loved ones their victim leaves behind and use that, that human part of themselves, to suppress the wolf even when they’re in wolf form. It’s a nice mix of both sympathy for Alexei and brutal reality being forcibly dropped on him. It’s a hard truth her has to learn but there’s a strong acknowledgement it is hard. Clay doesn’t seem to blame Alexei while also realising that Alexei basically has to feel uber guilty over this to control his wolf in the future.

Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments, Season One, Episode Nine: Rise Up

I think I would have titled this episode #teamdownworlder.  At any rate, Simon is now a vampire and is not at all happy with his transformation.  He runs away and though Raphael promised to take care of him, he quickly runs out of patience.  Before Jace and Clary can go and track Simon down, Jace gets a call to inform him that the institute has been invaded and that Alec has been hurt.  Of course, Clary wants Jace to come with her but he's unwilling to tag along because Alec is important to him. Somehow I get the feeling that if it were Clary in danger that Jace would simply say that Alec can look after himself.  The only reason he is prioritizing

At the institute, Alec is still very angry, having learned that his parents used to be circle members.  He feels betrayed, particularly given all the pressure which was placed on him to uphold the family name. His fiancee has an axe to grind and decides to bring in Meliorn for questioning, suggesting that Izzy may have inadvertently shared secret information with him.  In interrogation, Meliron is quick to reveal that Clary has the Immortal Cup but when he doesn't give up any more information, Lydia decides to have him questioned by the Silent Brothers, though this will amount to torture.

Clary has managed to save Simon from himself.  Simon had returned home and was about to take a big bite out of his mother when Clary arrived.  Having convinced Simon to come with her, the next step is for Clary and Simon to find a place to hide.  Having few options, the two ask for sanctuary from Raphael.  Once inside the Hotel du Mort, Clary and Simon are locked up together. Simon is very angry and still falsely believes that it was Raphael who turned him into a vampire, so after some lip biting, Clary confesses that it was her decision. It's okay though cause they are bff's and who cares if the Jewish Simon has been turned into something he finds evil right?  Simon being a fledgling and having not fed a lot finds Clary a bit too tempting and is forced to ask for blood from Raphael.

Back at the institute, with Meliorn on his way for questioning, it's time to get serious about the supposed right way to go after Valentine and apparently, these teens have the right answer.  Jace gets Magnus to steal Alec's stele so that he steal the Mortal Cup.  Cup in hand, Jace then encourages Izzy to get moving, as Magnus uses magic to place the stele back with Alec's other positions.  While Izzy and Jace make their escape, Alec and Magnus share a moment.  Alec reveals that he is engaged and Magnus initially takes it as Alec wanting to lead a closeted life because of how strict his society is.  It seems however that Alec has decided that while this is a political marriage, he will be faithful to Lydia.  Magnus is doe eyed and disappointed but he says his goodbye with grace.

Izzy and Jace meet up with Raphael, Clary, Simon and Luke at the Hotel Du Mort. After hearing that Meliorn is being taken for questioning, Clary suggests that they all work together to free him because if the clave can do this to Meliorn, they can do this to any downworlder.  They all meet up at the Downworlder entrance to the Silent Brother area.  As expected, things don't go smooth and Clary has to give another team downworlder speech and Simon has to pledge allegiance to Raphael to assure the vampires role.

Grimm, Season Five Episode Twelve: Into the Schwarzwald

What's past is prologue 

Into the Schwarzwald is a huge milestone for Grimm because it's the 100th episode.  I have to admit that back in the first season, I would never have believed that Grimm would make it that far.  Many times over the years, I have been frustrated by the repeated return to the Wesen of the week coupled with slow and plodding meta each season.  To be honest, season twelve really has been no different what with Rosealee getting threatening calls, and Renard caught up in a local election.  None of it fee;s connected whatsoever to the main meta which is about bringing an end to the uprising by Black Claw.  This week, Grimm neatly tied these events together while reminding of us of the relationships between all of the characters.

This week in Nick and Monroe's excellent adventures, we saw these two team up to find the seven Grimm treasure.  It took up the majority of the episode and seemed to just plod along. The two seem to be stymied at every turn and Monroe is injured in the escape.  I do have to say that I loved Monroe telling Nick that not all Blutbad look alike when he is asked to fool the men who are hunting them. On the way home, the two men call the spice shop to speak to their respective partners.  That sentence hurt to write because Nick clearly sees his rapist as someone who is important to him.

In the wake of the murder of Andrew Dixon, Wu and Hank take off after Marwan but he climbs down the side of a building like spiderman and escapes the cops.  Marwan, despite all of his skill, cannot escape Eve and she causes him to be hit by a bike and then uses her evil hexenbiest breath to knock him out, before stealing his phone.  This is a huge break for Hadrian's Wall because they believe that Marwan could potentially lead them to his handlers, thus allowing them to break the back of Black Claw. After copying the information on Marwan's phone, Eve heads to the hospital and tucks Marwan's phone in with his things.  The moment Marwan awakes, he calls his contact and asks for a ride.

Back at the station, Hank, Wu and Renard are stymied what to do about the missing Marwan.  All the cops feel that they cannot put out an APB for him because they have no way to explain exactly how it is that Marwan came on their radar. I gotta say, given that all crime seems to be committed by Wesen, I'd really like to know how it is that their identity has been hidden for so long? Renard instead instructs Hank and Wu to tell the feds that they saw someone on the top floor who got away.  Renard then gets a call tipping him off as to where Marwan is.  The cops track Marwan down at the hospital and after a brief battle, Renard takes him out.  I gotta say, if I were Marwan, I would have fought off the two humans instead of going toe to toe with a Half-Zauberbiest. Later, a pissed off Meisner confront Renard because now that Marwan has been compromised he is no good to them and cannot lead them anywhere.

Renard goes back to his office and reviews the tapes and notices that Rachel Wood is on stage looking up at exactly where the shots came from.  Renard goes to see Rachel and after a kiss woges and suggests that they have an honest conversation.  Rachel, who is a Löwen, woges in response.  It seems that Rachel's entire interactions with Renard have been about grooming him to run for mayor. He is presented with a rip off Hope and Change poster (really Grimm is that the best that you could do?) and introduced to Lucien. Finally, Renard might have some relevance this season and it also moves him back into the position of being in the grey area where he is best suited to exist.  Will Renard play both sides against the middle?

Sleepy Hollow, Season Three, Episode Fourteen: Into the Wild

The episode begins with Abbie and Jenny rock climbing. It's clear that the year Abbie spent in the alternate dimension has left her in some great shape.  Abbie is also in no mood to suffer fools when some strange man tries to get her to play the role of helpless woman.  Gotta say, Abbie had me screaming booya.

When they get back, Abbie learns that Ichabod has made plans for them to travel to Rochester N.Y. to meet a professor to discover more about the symbol which Abbie seems to be addicted to.  Abbie has to take a rain check because Daniel has organized a survival training weekend for the FBI.  I was initially not pleased to see Abbie and Ichabod go their separate ways for this episode because Sleepy Hollow is always better when these two are playing off of each other. We've also had enough of Abbie and Crane being separated from each other recently.

At the training site, Abbie learns that they are going to be given the bare minimum to survive and this means no cell phones. As a die hard city girl, I would consider this particular assignment cruel and unusual punishment.  Unsurprisingly, Abbie gets paired up with Sophie and because their third partner is in the hospital, Daniel decides to join them.  Sophie is certain that this is going to be awkward and she's right.  As I mentioned earlier, I wasn't pleased to see Abbie and Crane separated but this little weekend retreat gives Abbie and Sophie a chance to bond which is important given that they are going to be working together.  We learn that Sophie sees the supernatural as something which could possibly give her answers regarding her missing parents while Abbie can only see all that she has lost because of the supernatural. While the women chat, Daniel and the tour guide find an old well.  The tour guide leans in long enough to take a picture and it quickly becomes clear that there's something supernatural in the well.

They don't get far from the well when the guide is attacked by some mummy looking reject. The guide gets bitten and Abbie and Sophie cover claiming that the guide was bitten by a coyote.  After giving the guide some basic first aid, they build a wooden stretcher planning to walk him out of the woods.  Sophie believes that Daniel should be told what is going on but Abbie is adamant that anyone she has ever brought into the supernatural has suffered extreme consequences.  Ummm so how is letting the man walk through the woods unaware of the real threat actually taking care of him?  Abbie feigns tiredness and stays behind as Daniel and Sophie start walking back to the cars.  The creature attacks and Abbie manages to cut off its hand, only to watch in horror as it regenerates. This time, it's Sophie to the rescue and she manages to save Abbie.  When they meet up with Daniel, Abbie suggests resting at a cabin for now.  Is anyone else wondering why they feel the need to rest? How far could they have gotten from the starting point given that at one point they were walking in circles?

They aren't at the cabin for long before Daniel decides that he can move faster by himself and should go and get help.  Abbie tries to talk him out of it but Daniel is in no mood to listen, claiming that everything is always about Abbie. A stunned Abbie questions why he asked her to come back and Daniel cryptically answers that maybe he didn't have a choice.  Daniel takes off and for the life of me the fact that Abbie still doesn't tell the man she so clearly cares about what is going on is astounding. Is Daniel suddenly going to go invisible in the woods so that creature cannot see him?  Abbie checks on the wounded guide and discovers that  he has maggots crawling around in the wound. Yeah, it's as gross as it sounds.  Sophie just happens to find a journal in the cabin and learns that when the reject mummy creature bites someone, they also turn into a reject mummy creature. I guess there's no need to explain to us how or why Sophie reads Dutch right?  Right on cue, the guide stands up snarling and Abbie knocks him unconscious with a huge piece of wood. The women figure out that the only way to save the guide is to kill the creature which infected him.