Dark and Stormy Knights

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1. 

   Abigail @ 8:40 am

   Review courtesy of [...].

   A Questionable Client by Ilona Andrews (Kate Daniels prequel)

   Review:
   
   I would have bought the whole anthology for this story alone. We get an early glimpse at Kate’s life and find out how she met the shapeshifter Saiman. Sadly, no Curran, but we do get a fun bit of Russian mythology. If you haven’t tried this series yet, you get a great sense of the humor, characters, and world that Kate lives in all packed into 46 excellent pages….5/5 bats

   Even Hand by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files #11.5)

   Review:
   
   I’ve only ready a couple Harry Dresden books so far, and wasn’t familiar with the character of Gentleman Johnnie Marcone who is the protagonist this time (Harry only gets a few mentions, mostly from Marcone wanting to kill him). This story had a Thumbelina quality for me in that Marcone protects a beautiful young woman who escaped after being abducted by a nasty froglike creature. I loved the character of Marcone with his harsh, stoic exterior that belies a more compassionate man than even he’s willing to acknowledge…4/5 bats

   The Beacon by Shannon K. Butcher

   Review:
   
   Possibly the weakest story in the bunch for me, but still good. A self-loathing man has killed dozens of men who, unbeknownst to them, are beacons for unstoppable killing monsters, before they can summon the creature…until he discovers the next beacon is a little girl with a beautiful single mother…3/5 bats
   
   Even a Rabbit Will Bite by Rachel Caine

   Review:
   
   My second favorite after the Kate Daniels story. The last dragonslayer must train her replacement before she can retire. This one had a cool Buffy vibe with the idea of a watcher training a young woman who had no idea she had a destiny. The ending was a fantastic surprise…5/5 bats

   Dark Lady by P.N. Elrod (The Vampire Files #?)

   Review:
   
   Vampire PI Jack Fleming helps a woman trying to clear her fiancés name and keep the mob from killing him in this 1930’s story. A fun supernatural mystery with temperamental ghost…3/5 bats

   Beknighted by Deidre Knight

   Review:
   
   Another one of the weaker stories. A puzzle maker/painter must work alongside a dangerous man to free another who has been haunting her dreams. PNR fans will like the added romance of this story, but I found it slightly confusing and apart from a few references, it could have been a regency story…3/5
   
   Shifting Star by Vicki Pettersson (Sign of the Zodiac #4.5)

   Review:
   
   I’m not a huge fan of this series, and it took me awhile to remember what was going on since the author didn’t ever really explain her complex world this time. I don’t recommend newbies to this world start here as there are lots of spoilers from the previous books. It focuses on the character Skamar as she continues her quest to destroy the Tulpa, this time with the help of her hot neighbor cop…3/5

   Rookwood and Mrs. King by Lilith Saintcrow

   Review:
   
   I’m a fan of Lilith Saintcrow’s Dante Valentine series, so I was hopeful with this one, and I loved it. A dhampir vampire hunter helps a wife/widow stake her newly turned lawyer husband and imparts his vampire knowledge along the way. A little sexy, a little mysterious, and a lot of fun. I hope Lilith considers writing more about Rookwood in the future…4/5 bats

   God’s Creatures by Carrie Vaughn (Kitty Norville #2.5)

   Review:
   
   This is the shortest story in the bunch (only 31 pages) and it feels it. Kitty is a no show. Instead this story focuses on werewolf hunter Cormac as he accepts a job to eliminate a rogue werewolf before it kills any humans at the local Catholic school. Not a lot going on in the story, but Cormac fans might enjoy it…3/5 bats
   
   Sexual Content: Kissing. References to sex.

   
2. 

   Wulfstan @ 9:52 am

   Ok, I know many Jim Butcher fans are going to be interested in the short story here, hoping it has a hint about what the heck happened to Our Hero (I am being a little vague in case some of you haven’t read “Changes” Book 12). No, sorry, no news here, this story is told from the viewpoint of Gentleman Johnnie Marcone. Not a bad story at all, but not Jim’s best, either. Note that “Side Jobs: Stories From the Dresden Files” (“This title will be released on October 26, 2010″) will include a story titled “Aftermath” , which is set right after the end of “Changes”. I already have mine pre-ordered!

   There’s a Kate Daniels tale by the husband & wife writing team known as “Ilona Andrews”, which is very “Kate Daniels” in tone- fans of that series will love it, new readers can see if the series is their cup of tea, so this is a good choice for either.

   “The Beacon” by Shannon K. Butcher reads a great deal like a Twilight Zone episode, one of the better ones, but not one of the “top ten” if you know what I mean. It starts with the twist. Interesting.

   Rachel Caine comes at us with a new character, and the story is quite interesting with a few twists and turns. Reminds me a bit of “Buffy”, you’ll see why.

   PN Elrod supplies us with a new short about her Vampire Noir Detective, Jack Fleming, set in 1930’s gangland Chicago. Good intro for new readers, nice tidbit for her fans. I found her series interesting, and the first couple of books I enjoyed very much. This has prodded me into looking for the next couple of these books.

   Deidre Knight, a writer of paranormal romance novels, has a short story set in an very different world. I think I needed to know more about that world’s backstory before I could enjoy this, but I have never read any of her stuff before, so it went over my head. Confusing if read by itself. I am not sure if her other novels tread into this world.

   Vicki Pettersson’s short is set in her world, and it’s also a bit hard to get into or grok unless you have read more of her stuff. Good for her fans, not very useful if you haven’t read that series.

   Lilith Saintcrow has a nice little Dhampir/half-vampire detective story. I think it’s a stand-alone, certainly it’s not based upon her two well-known series protagonists. I enjoyed it.

   Carrie Vaughn has a nice but very short character piece on what it’s like to be a werewolf hunter.

   Overall a mixed bag. If you are a fan of two or more of these authors or series, this would be a good choice.
   

   
3. 

   silverwolf @ 12:04 pm

   I enjoy anthologies very much. You get a story or two from authors you know and love (Jim Butcher, you rock and so does Marcone! Loved the story from his POV and PN Elrod, I love Myrna and was thrilled to read a story that featured her more!). And, you get a chance to sample other authors of that genre. As far as I’m concerned, those two stories in particular made this book worth the purchase. However, this book also gave me the chance to try out several other authors without investing in their books right away and I love that opportunity. Pick this book up. You may discover your new favorite author.

   
4. 

   Library Girl Reads @ 2:35 pm

   Dark and Stormy Knights is a collection of short stories by some great authors of paranormal and fantasy fiction. The book includes stories by Ilona Andrews, Jim Butcher, Shannon K. Butcher, Rachel Caine, P. N. Elrod, Deidre Knight, Vicki Pettersson, Lilith Saintcrow, and Carrie Vaughn. I had read books by a couple of these authors before but many of them were new to me.

   I really loved the majority of stories in this collection. I think short stories are incredibly difficult to write because there is not as much time to develop characters and do world building. The writing has to be very tight to fit all the information in that the reader needs to understand what is going on during this brief episode in the character’s journey. All of the authors did a wonderful job with this. The stories that I enjoyed less were still very good and well written, they were just not to my reading taste as much as the others.

   Another thing that I find difficult with short stories is when they are written about a character who is also a main or supporting character in a series of novels. Sometimes I feel like I need to have read the other books to have the background to understand the story. This was not the case with the stories I read in this book. I’ve been wanting to read Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels’ series anyway and now that I’ve read “A Questionable Client” I’m moving those books up on the list. Although I’ve read Jim Butcher’s books, I think I would have been able to follow “Even Hand” just as easily if I hadn’t known Harry Dresden’s story. “Dark Lady” by P. N. Elrod made me want to read more of The Vampire Files that my husband has sitting on the shelf.

   I think Dark and Stormy Knights is a fantastic collection of stories for paranormal and fantasy lovers. It introduced me to some new authors and now I want to read more!

   
5. 

   G. Robinson @ 3:35 pm

   This is 9 short to longish shorts. There are a couple of 3 1/2 stars (much better than average for the genre), a couple of 4 stars (great but not home runs) and some 5 star truly excellent stories.

   One by Ilona Andrews tells about how Kate met Saiman and why he as sch a case of the hots for her. The Jim Butcher is a surprise as is about John Marcone not Harry Dresden but it adds depth to the character and has a nice twist. The Carry Vaughn is about Cormac when he is starting out and has a nice but linear plot and a kind of bitter sweet ending. A nicely done vampire slayer who inadvertently teaches his client to hunt vampires.

   Very rare to have this many high quality stories together.