Deathless
Catherynne M. Valente
Tor, Mar 29 2011, $24.99
ISBN 9780765326300

The city has changed names several times over the past century, but currently is called St. Petersburg as everything goes full circle. On Gorokhovaya Street, Marya Morevna was six years old when she saw the bird turn into Lieutenant Gratch of the Tsar’s Personal Guard who came to take away her older sister Olga with him. Three years later Lieutenant Zuyok of the White Guard also changed as he came for Tatiana. Finally when Marya was twelve Lieutenant Shulan of the Red Army arrived for the third daughter Anna. Watching the birds change to men come for her older sisters leaves Marya musing over the type of bird her mate will be.

Koschei the Deathless Tsar of Life arrives for his woman, Marya. However, she must prove herself worthy as Koschei’s mate. In that regard Baba Yaga tasks Marya with three impossible assignments; failure to compete all three proves she is not the mate of the Deathless Tsar of Life. Marya begins her Herculean tasks, Marya starts to lose her humanity until she meets the innocent Ivan “The Fool” Nikolayevich, who pulls her back to Mother Russia; leaving her confused with one foot in Koschei’s realm and one in the land of her ancestors.

This is a terrific complicated retelling of a Russian folktale that uses The Revolution era as a backdrop to the saga; in fact Marya becomes a Major-General in the Red Army. Fast-paced with a strong protagonist who keeps the engaging story line focused; readers will appreciate this intriguing look at Bolshevik Russia through a fantasy lens.

Harriet Klausner

Alien in the Family
Gini Koch
Daw, Apr 5 2011, $7.99
ISBN: 9780756406684

Kitty Katt the human and Jeff Martini the Alpha Centaurian are in love and planning their wedding in Vegas. However, the human learns her hunk exiled from the nearest star has through attrition over the decades (time is relative) become the heir to the empire. Kitty who had trepidations now has Olympus Mons doubts that her résumé as an exterminator qualifies her as a future queen especially when she must pass the royal worthiness examination.

Besides the Martini royal horde invading Sin City, outer space Amazon terrorists plan to introduce the couple and their guests to the big bang theory. The CIA and the Centaurian Division are outraged by the audacity of testing Kitty. However she has one thankful thing going: whatever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

The third zany kill Kitty Katt science fiction tale (see Alien Tango and Touched by an Alien) is an amusing over the top of the combined miles of Animas, Hatchet and Chiricahua Peaks romantic sci-fi thriller. The jocular exciting story line is faster than the speed of light as the heroine struggles to get married while the universe seems to voice their opposition. Readers will enjoy this bizarre totally out of control yet fully entertaining adventures of a woman just wanting to marry her hunk from outer space.

Harriet Klausner

My Soul To Steal
Rachel Vincent
Harlequin Teen, Jan 1 2011, $9.99
ISBN: 9780373210275

While Nash suffers excoriating withdrawal pains from the Netherworld’s addicted Demon’s Breath his maybe girlfriend Kaylee feels betrayed by his actions (see My Soul To Keep). He knows she is not ready to talk while she misses him after two weeks of no Nash. However, Kaylee wants a serene spring term at school after the nightmarish previous semester that no sixteen years old girl, even a Banshee like her, should ever face.

However, their chance to reconcile their differences takes a tortuous spin towards hell when Nash’s former girlfriend Sabine the Mara transfers to their school. She has arrived with one goal: to win back her boyfriend and any means to achieve her end is acceptable. The Mara uses her skill to read fear and turn that trepidation into a nightmare. as subsistence. She turns up the fear factor to the point people especially her adversary Kaylee cannot sleep due to the nightmares that have their souls screaming for solace as increasingly their dreams are literally killing them.

The fourth Soul Screamers teenage urban fantasy (see My Soul To Save) is a fabulous complex relationship thriller as what Sabine wants Sabine gets. The fast-paced story line is driven by the relational triangulation as the female banshee struggles with her feelings made into something to fear by her vicious rival. My Soul To Steal is much more personal in nature than the powerful previous three tales.

Harriet Klausner

Taste Me
Tamara Hogan
Sourcebooks, Mar 1 2011, $6.99
ISBN: 9781402246012

At the Subterranean Club for werewolves, a homicide occurred. Sabastiani Security Lukas Sabastiani the Incubus is very concerned as changes to the ruling Council is happening and homicides could derail the presenting of other species to the humans. Making it worse, the victim is Were Andi Woolf, daughter of the Council’s biggest opposition to coming out to humanity, Krispin Woolf. However, Andi still lives barely.

Meanwhile rock star Scarlett Fontaine the Siren is worn out from an extended tour with her band. However, the assault on Andi and other deadly attacks on the band and those associated with the band places her at risk; especially as the daughter of a Council member Claudette. Lukas is assigned to protect Scarlett, the female he knows owns his soul; she feels the same way about him. Neither realizes who the serpent is destroying their Eden.

This is an exciting and spellbinding second chance at paranormal love urban fantasy. Readers will believe that the other species exist as sirens, incubus, weres and oh! my! seem genuine. Although the set up of the Hogan universe starts a bit slow, sub-genre fans will enjoy clubbing with Scarlett and Sebastian while wondering who the psychopath is and the motives for the killings and the attempted murders.

Harriet Klausner

The Unremembered
Peter Orullian
Tor, Apr 12 2011, $27.99
ISBN 9780765325716

In the Hollows, an Order of Sheason wizard and a beautiful elven Far order two orphans (Tahn, and his sister Wendra) and their friend (Sutter) to undergo a dangerous quest. Than is the key, but his sibling and his buddy are needed to protect his back if he to succeed on the dangerous impossible mission. None of the trio understands why they were chosen as they have no skills or experience and never been outside the Hallows. Although each doubts their worthiness they set forth on their mission.

They have hardly begun when a malevolent god sends his evil horde to kill them. Surprising themselves, Tahn, Wendra and Sutter survive assault after assault from the odious minion. At the same time an invasion adds to the chaos.

This is an entertaining coming of age quest fantasy starring a strong young trio. Although the story line is exciting, it comes across somewhat as standard sub-genre fare. However, what makes the plot brisk and fun is the changing relationships between the heroic threesome. Fans who relish an enjoyable epic adventure will want to join Tahn and his cohorts as they fight overwhelming evil in the first Vault of Heaven thriller.

Harriet Klausner

To The Galactic Rim
Bertram Chandler
Baen, Mar 1 2011, $12.00
ISBN: 978-1439134214

The Road to the Rim. Recently graduated Federation Junior Lieutenant John Grimes begins his career amidst the Rim Worlds. He plans to follow orders so he can advance. However, John learns the best laid plans of mice and Grimes often go astray when a beautiful damsel in distress is involved while he is directed to ignore the Waldegrenese Navy piracy.

To Prime the Pump. On El Dorado, men have become infertile though the reason is unknown. The women demand action, preferably of a sexual encounter. The Space Cruiser Ares arrives to provide humanitarian aid to this race that has gone from near immortality to near extinction. With Lieutenant Grimes and his horny naval mates on a mercy mission all is not lost.

The Hard Way Up. These seven short stories (”With Good Intentions”, “The Subtracter”, “The Tin Messiah”, “The Sleeping Beauty”, “The Wandering Buoy”, “The Mountain Movers” and “What You Know”) continue the maturing of John Grimes. The hero matures as he ignores orders from a distant bureaucrat who has no idea how to survive and complete the appropriate mission on the Galactic Rim.

The Broken Cycle. Grimes and police officer Una Freeman are lost in space. He is unconcerned as she is pretty; but she is frantic as she has a job to perform. Both are surprised to meet an essence claiming to be God and insisting the couple populate the Garden of Eden. Though he wants some R&R with Freeman, he is unprepared to battle serpents in a convoluted and complicated universe.

These are entertaining reprints of three novels and seven short stories from the 1960s and 1970s. Though aptly labeled as a Captain Horatio Hornblower sailing the Galactic Rim, Grimes is also a swashbuckling James Bond in space.

Harriet Klausner

Home Made Haunting
Rob Stennett
Zondervan, Mar 24 2011, $14.99
ISBN: 9780310321927

After years of teaching high school English, Charlie Walker, with his wife Rachel’s consent, quits. They sell their house in Boulder and accompanied by their kids move into a run down rental in Castle Rock. Charlie plans to write a horror novel. His first few chapters come quickly, but the next few fail to gel.

He realizes that like a method actor, he needs to feel first hand his subject that he knows nothing about. An atheist when it comes to the paranormal, Charlie buys an Ouija board not expecting anything to occur. Thus he is shocked when it works as he writes the next few passages. When Charlie hits another wall, he turns to the board again. He soon sees writings on the mirror in his bathroom. When he shouts out asking if anyone else is here, Rachel is thrilled to be living in a haunted house and delves onto the supernatural more deeply. He tries to stop, but the Dark has come and taken over his family. With a guardian angel at his back and a demon at his soul, the war between heaven and hell has brought the latest combat to a run down rental in Castle Rock.

The engaging story line switches in tone from humorous to poignant to frightening as immortal combat has come to disbelieving Charlie who never forgave God for ignoring his prayers to save his mom. It is only when he realizes that evil has attacked his loved ones, like soldiers in a foxhole, he turns to the Lord asking for a saving miracle for those he cherishes above his own soul. Rod Stennett provides a powerful inspirational thriller as heaven and hell fight over battlefield Homo sapiens.

Harriet Klausner

Hide And Seek
Allie Harrison
ImaJinn, Feb 4 2011, $14.00
ISBN: 9781933417493

Ten years old, Tess Fairmont tells her mama she needs to say goodbye to her beloved Grandmama who died suddenly. Tess reaches into the casket to hold Grandmama’s hand one last time, but sees something horrible: her Uncle John suffocating Grandmama with a pillow to obtain her money. Shaken, Tess witnessed first hand the violent crime.

Although her psychic skill feels more like a curse than a gift, over the next eighteen years Tess uses it to help solve homicide cases. Chicago PD Detective Jake Williams meets Tess at the morgue where she loathes touching the dead but loves knowing Dr. Michael Adams is there. Tess dreams of Michael kissing her and he muses over what she would see if she touched a live person falling in love with her. Tess touches the twenty-something tortured victim and sees five females in the room with Raymond whose face fails to come in clearly as the deceased never looked at him in her final moments. However, this time for Tess is different as she feels the actual pain. Turning to the pathologist for comfort while trying to cling to her façade of No Fear, Tess knows Raymond will continue to kill.

Hide And Seek is an enjoyable paranormal police procedural with a supporting romantic subplot. The key to this entertaining serial killer urban fantasy is that Tess’s psychic ability seems real as a critical element in to the deadly game of Hide And Seek. Michael is supportive and protective of her while he and Jake never call a body “it” as each knows someone probably cares for the late human being, but even if no one did the victim deserves respect. Allie Harrison writes a compassionate psychic mystery.

Harriet Klausner

Dreams of a Dark Warrior
Kresley Cole
Pocket, Feb 15 2011, $7.99
ISBN: 9781439136805

Regin the Radiant Valkyrie and Aidan the Fierce Viking Berserker met and fell in love. However before he obtained immortality, a vampire murdered him. Regin mourned her loss and prayed for a happier ever after when they next meet.

Over the centuries Aidan is reincarnated several times. However each time Regin finds her beloved, she manages to get him to remember his regressed memories of them together. Still in spite of their efforts, he dies each time.

In his latest life, Aidan is Declan Chase, the Magister of the Order. He and his minions stalk and kill immortals. Declan is especially a berserker as immortals murdered his family and tortured him. The Order has captured Regin and other Immortals. They plan to execute their prisoners on the remote island the Order uses as a prison. The last chance to live resides with Regain and her love for Aidan, but will she get through the barriers of hate that Declan has warped his soul.

Occurring at about the same time as Demons From The Dark, the latest Immortals After Dark thriller is a fabulous romantic fantasy that grips the reader from the first time Regin and Cole ever they saw each other’s face and never slows down until the final confrontation. The overarching theme of the saga moves forward, but it is the bittersweet love and death cycle that hooks the audience who wonders whether Regin’s Dreams of a Dark Warrior will finally end with her beloved’s hands bloody from her death by him.

Harriet Klausner

Moon Spun
Marilee Brothers
Belle Bridge, Jul 1 2011, $14.95
www.bellbridgebooks.com
ISBN: 9781935661955

At John J. Peacock High School in Peacock Flats, Washington, student Alfrieda “Allie” Emerson cannot believe how she could go from unpopular to pariah all because her mom dates the principal Mr. Hostetler. However, she has issues besides no clean underwear at a time when two boys are once again sniffing her; as Junior has come from Mexico with a retinue and Beck the half demon is healing the new girl on the block.

Meanwhile besides dodging the usual high school suspects of miscreant and deviant behavior, Allie knows the Trimarks remain a major threat to world stability (what there is) and to her well being. However, her biggest issue besides the pendant she wears is that a third boy shapeshifting Ryker has joined her other two sniffers. This were-hawk knows he and Allie are destiny’s darlings as life mates if they can save Boundless, the land of the fairy, from a horde that make the Trimarks look like elementary school. Allie knows as tough as this evil crew may be they are not near high school lethal.

The third Unbidden Magic teen urban fantasy (see Moonstone and Moonrise) is an engaging tale as the heroine struggles to balance in her small town surviving the rituals of school, saving two worlds, and flirting with boys; the latter being the most difficult. Having a new male per book adds fun to the mix by enhancing the bewilderment of Allie, but none have ample time to grow as they compete for heroine and subplot spacing. Still young adult fans will appreciate her efforts to learn to use her power reminiscent of the Greatest American Hero while diligently trying to save Boundless.

Harriet Klausner