Supernatural Crimes Unit: NYPD: book 1: The Thin Blue Ley-Line by Keith R. A. DeCandido

I’ve been reading Keith R.A. DeCandido’s reviews on Tor dot com for years and I’ve loved them.  His Trek rewatches and superhero reviews are excellent, and I have been enjoying his Babylon 5 rewatch immensely. I’ve not been too enamored of his prose fiction in the past, but I thought i should give it another go. 

So when I saw one of his novels on NetGalley I was curious to see if I would like it, and I thank NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for this honest review. This book, unlike the dragon precinct books, which are fantasy police procedurals in a generic D&D style fantasy world, is a fantasy police procedural in what is supposed to be modern New York City. 

I was very disappointed by this book. If I didn’t know the writer from his excellent reviews and web articles, I would’ve thought it was from a two-bit hack who knew nothing about fantasy, New York, police procedurals, or writing in general. 

The characters were interchangeable, unlikable, and boring, and the plot by the numbers.  After seeing the author complain in his superhero movie reviews about how many superhero movies devolve into the heroes having to close a glowing circle in the sky, imagine my surprise when the climax of this book involved the heroes having to close a glowing circle in the sky. It was so trite! And although I am not a police officer, I know a little bit about how the NYPD and law enforcement in New York operates, and if the author had done any actual research beyond watching law &order reruns, it doesn’t show here. I cannot recommend a book that irritated me so much. 

Nobody’s Baby by Olivia Waite

 

As I said when I reviewed the first book in this series, I am a big fan of generation ship stories, so I was intrigued when I saw Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite on NetGalley and I was very happy to be granted an advanced reader copy by the publisher. At the time I said that I thoroughly enjoyed that book and hope that this author writes more in this setting. My hopes were answered with this new volume, Nobody’s Baby, (which I also got an eARC of from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review) in which the protagonist Dorothy Gentlemen’s nephew Rutherford find an abandoned baby, which is a real mystery on a ship in which everyone is living in replicated bodies that are designed to be sterile until they reach their destination.  Even more so than in first book, the mystery itself seemed almost besides the point, since I was more focused on the characters and the world building. Now, I didn’t mind that, since the characters and the world building are what I am here for. I also enjoyed this book a lot and look forward to many more in this series. 

Butterfly Effects by Seanan McGuire

 

Yes! Yes yes yes! This is the book I have been waiting for for years!

I love Seanan McGuire’s body of work.  (Note: I review a bunch of her books so I am copying part of some of my other reviews here to save time.). She has quickly become my favorite living writer and I feel very lucky that she is so prolific. I was first introduced to her work when her book Parasite, written as Mira Grant, was nominated for a Hugo Award. I loved it and quickly devoured the Newsflesh series before I realized that Mira Grant and Seanan McGuire were the same person. 

I started reading her works under her own name, starting with Sparrow Hill Road, which is amazing, but I picked it because I was intimidated by her long running October Daye series. When Incryptid was nominated for the Best Series Hugo in 2018, I dove into that and I loved it! It is probably my second favorite series by McGuire (Velveteen Vs. holds a special place in my heart). 

I was overjoyed when Tor and NetGalley awarded me an eARC of the latest Incryptid book, in exchange for an honest review. 

The book picks up with Sarah’s story, her first stint as narrator in several years - but interestingly, she is not alone. Several chapters are also from Antimony’s perspective, splitting up the perspectives in what I think is a first in this series.

After Artie was shattered and put back together again, I have been very sad. I loved Artie and my heart was broken when he and Sarah finally realized their loves for each other were not unrequited only to have Artie effectively die. Knowing how Seanan McGuire writes, I was not expecting a happy ending for those two. So imagine my surprise when I got to read this book! I won’t spoil any details but I was overjoyed at how Ms. McGuire deftly handled these plot threads and I was very happy with how things turned out. The bonus novella shows the aftermath from Elsie’s point of view in a way that was heartbreaking and hopeful in equal measure. 

I can’t wait to see what happens next!

Lives of Bitter Rain by Adrian Tchaikovsky

I have said in the past that I used to think I didn’t like Adrian Tchaikovsky’s books. I mean, I was told that I SHOULD like them since I’m a big fan of Peter F. Hamilton’s space opera doorstoppers. But when I tried to read one of his books a few years ago I rage-quit it like 12% of the way through. 

But then when his novella Elder Race was nominated for a Hugo, I read it and enjoyed it. I also read Ogres when it was nominated, and it wasn’t half bad. I enjoyed Service Model when the publisher and NetGalley gave me an eARC in exchange for an honest review. My main complaints were too many pop culture references and some incoherent worldbuilding. His other big novel from last year, Alien Clay, really didn’t do much for me. I hated the protagonist and felt it was dreary. 

So I was cautious when I got a copy of his novella Lives of Bitter Rain from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. It is part of his Tyrant Philosophers series, which I couldn’t get into when it was nominated for the Best Series Hugo award. 

Sadly, the shorter length didn’t help me get into this book. I read it but it didn’t feel like I retained much of it. The writing was good, the language was good, but the plot was not engaging. This book is clearly not for me. 

Star Trek: Shaxs' Best (and Worst) Day by Ryan North; Derek Charm

 

My first ever comics were Star Trek comics. I loved superheroes when I was a kid, of course, still do, but what I knew of them came from Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends and the Superfriends and the Super Powers action figures (which did have mini-comics, (as did He-Man figures, but I digress in this double paranthetical)).  When I fell in love with Star Trek in 1988, I couldn’t get enough of it. So in addition to watching the show and reading the novels, I picked up Star Trek comics at a convention and eventually subscribed to get the TNG comic from DC in the mail. 

Although I fell off reading Trek comics for a while, I recently have started reading more of the IDW Star Trek comics (I enjoyed Godshock and I LOVED Ryan North’s Lower Decks miniseries and his new graphic novel Warp Your Own Way) so I was happy to get an eARC of the trade paperback of Mr. North’s two Shax/Lower Decks tie in issues from IDW and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

In Shax’s Best Day, Shax gets to fight a ton of fascist Klingon warriors following the reincarnation of Kahless. In Shax’s Worst Day, Shax is awakened to the unreality of Lore’s reality rewrite by the Sword of Kahless, after which he relentlessly uses his knowledge of past Star Trek technobabble to single handedly take down Lores’s StarFleet in a very satisfying way. It is clear that North knows and loves all of Trek and uses that love and knowledge well. This book is super fun and a great addition to your Trek comics collection. 

Star Trek: Lore War by Christopher Cantwell; Collin Kelly; Jackson Lanzing; Ryan North

 

My first ever comics were Star Trek comics. I loved superheroes when I was a kid, of course, still do, but what I knew of them came from Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends and the Superfriends and the Super Powers action figures (which did have mini-comics, (as did He-Man figures, but I digress in this double parenthetical)).  When I fell in love with Star Trek in 1988, I couldn’t get enough of it. So in addition to watching the show and reading the novels, I picked up Star Trek comics at a convention and eventually subscribed to get the TNG comic from DC in the mail. 

Although I fell off reading Trek comics for a while, I recently have started reading more of the IDW Star Trek comics (I enjoyed Godshock and I LOVED Ryan North’s Lower Decks run and his graphic novel Warp Your Own Way) so I was happy to get an eARC of the trade paperback of Lore War. 

This book really drops you in the middle of a terrible new world in which Data’s evil twin brother Lore has remade all of reality in his own image. It truly is a horrific world and many of our regular characters are twisted in a terrible way. The Sword of Kahless, however, has the ability to awaken people to the changes to reality and slowly but surely Sisko, Beverly, and the others come up with a plan to strike back at Lore. A special highlight in this book is the Lower Decks Shax story written by Ryan North. When Shax is awakened to the reality by the Sword of Kahless, he relentlessly uses his knowledge of past Star Trek technobabble to single handedly take down Lores’s StarFleet in a very satisfying way. It is clear that North knows and loves Trek and uses that love and knowledge well. 

Fate's Bane by C. L. Clark

 

This book was very interesting- I didn’t know anything about the book or the author when I got an eARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. (I think I requested it confusing the author for KJ Parker).  This was a small scale fantasy novel with a sapphic romance between a clan leader’s daughter and the daughter of a rival clan leader who is a captive being raised alongside the other children of the clan. The magic was fascinating, but I never really felt the romance. When two characters get together as children and then hook up as young teens, it is very hard for me to take their “forever love”seriously. They’re still kids for goodness sake! I also had a hard time accepting that the narrator could forgive the other girl after the duel (I don’t want spoil things here so that’s all I’ll say). The structure of the ending was also very interesting. I wouldn’t say that I loved it, but I’m glad that I read it.