Bayou Moon
Ilona Andrews
Ace, Sep 28 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780441019458

The Adrianglian Secret Service asks William Sandine the Changeling to stop Spider from possessing a weapon of mass destruction that will lead to war. Loathing his long time enemy, William agrees to go to the Bayous of Louisiana to challenge Spider and his insidious ring of operatives.

When Spider abducts her parents, Cerise Mar becomes the clan chief. To save their property the Mire swamps of the Edge, Cerise visits the Broken. Returning to her home, Cerise and William meet. The outsider realizes she and her kin may be the tool to prevent Spider from achieving his nefarious scheme and perhaps ending his terrorism all together. However, William’s biggest problem is his attraction to his hostess; a foreign feeling to the Changeling who belongs nowhere and to no one.

This is a powerful swamp romantic fantasy starring a harassed heroine, a hermit hero, a vile villain and the mad Mar mob. The story line is fast-paced with a sort of Scottish historical Highlander feud feel to the Mire while the Spider weaves his web. However, the fun in this delightful tale is the return to Ilona Andrews’s Weird world of the Edge (see On the Edge) where malls and magic converge.

Harriet Klausner

Killbox
Ann Aguirre
Ace, Aug 31 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780441019410

Sirantha Jax, March and their crew struggle with ending the death and destruction of jumpers in Grimspace. However as the peril from the man-eating Morgut expands, the Conglomerate has need of March. They want March to train an Armada whose missions will be to take the war to the deadly pirates and the Morgut.

Jax considers a perilous trek jumping through Grimspace without the use of beacons. Hesitating she wonders if her new nanotechnology will enable her to do the jump or kill her. However, while she vacillates, Jax also knows time is running out.

The fourth Jax science fiction (see Doubleblind, Wanderlust and Grimspace) continues the outer spaces escapes of the heroine and somewhat less March in the dark (sort of like leaping in grimspace without a beacon) bleak Aguirre universe. The story line is faster than the speed of light as Jax goes from one thrilling adventure to another though she is much more mature but still her philosophy remains shoot first or be killed; questions are irrelevant if you are dead. Fans of the saga will need to set aside time as Killbox is a terrific taut thriller, which sets up book five; newcomers can jump right in and appreciate this entry, but will relish it much more with the reading backlist.

Harriet Klausner

Taken by Midnight
Lara Adrian
Dell, Sep 28010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780440245278

The Ancient, one of eight otherworlders, came to earth and created vampire sons when they procreated with native women possessing the breedmark. He escaped captivity and held former Alaskan state trooper Jenna Darrow for hours. He did things to her mind and body that will have long term repercussions. As she nears death, he places an implant inside her; which winds within her skull and spinal column. After the Order vampire police rescued her, medical experts in Boston determine the implant is part of her body having altered her DNA.

She proves strong, faster, and can do things humans cannot. Throughout her ordeal, Brock takes care of her especially with relieving her pain. He begins to have feelings that he does not want as she can never be his breadmate so he rationalizes to himself this is only sex. While the Boston order tries to figure out what the implant is, the vampires fight their biggest enemy Dragos who has an army of Gen-Y warriors. The breedmates fight their adversaries as powerfully as their vampire husbands do fending off Dragos’s attacks and trying to figure out where Dragos and his army are.

Lara Adrian is one of the top urban fantasists on the market today with her Midnight Breed series (see Shades of Midnight). The current entry is fast-paced and moves forward the overarching plot yet insures Taken by Midnight contains a complete enjoyable story line and three dimensional characters including besides the lead protagonists the villain. Brock and Jenna have experienced first hand tragedy and trauma, which brings realism as their relationship teeters because of their respective pasts. Ms. Adrian has written another fabulous thriller that goes on this reviewer’s shelf with all the rest of the works written by this very talented author.

Harriet Klausner

The Longer the Fall
Inanna Arthen
By Light Unseen Media, $28.00
http://bylightunseenmedia.com/
ISBN 9780979302893

In 1952 Boston, recently divorced thirtyish Diana Chilton has belonged to the Order of the Silver Light her entire life. However, she decides she has no reason to stay since her marriage broke up and as a political activist seeking freedoms for all she is frustrated with the glass ceiling for females. So she leaves for Pepperell, Maine home of the “Hermit of Pepperill Hills”.

Diana meets the hermit Thomas Morgan, who was once part of the same order she just left. He has lived for ages because, as she learns, he is a vampire. Thomas was dying from cancer when he begged the Fae to save his life; they did sort of by cursing him by converting him into an Undead who craves human blood. Thomas persuades Diana to help him especially with curing him of his obsession with human blood. However, that proves easier to say then do as the human and the former human spend two years trying to eliminate his thirst. However, each conceals their real agenda from the other.

The second Vampires of New England novel (see Mortal Touch) is an interesting thriller as mortal and the undead work together, but hide their respective motive from one another. The story line loses some speed towards the middle due to the sexual trysts and other happenings expanded too long; but the plot regains the accelerated momentum when the lead couple confronts what they wrought. With a great twist to the delight of appreciative fans, readers will enjoy Inanna Arthen’s vampire tale.

Harriet Klausner

Krymsin Nocturnes
Joseph Armstead
By Light Unseen Media, May 2010, $29.00
http://bylightunseenmedia.com/
ISBN: 9781935303077

For millenniums, the Moon-Chosen vampires and the humans compete for domination of the world. The human governments have cut secret agreements with the vampires while concealing from the general populace that the undead Homo Draeconis live amongst them. Only the metahumans Olympians battle the vamps and their avaricious mercenary mortal quislings.

Blood Mage sorcerer Rajan Seddig Al’Meffistah discovers that a powerful relic has been hidden in California’s Borrego Bay. He wants it as he knows that the talisman will make him an unmatched deity ruling the world. His former lover Calianne has followed him to California to prevent him from succeeding. An alliance of strange bedfellows consisting of Quinn of the moon-chosen, spiteful spirits, gangsters, government “spooks” and immortal and mortal mercenaries are also deployed to prevent the calamity from happening.

Krymsin Nocturnes is an action-packed vampiric techno-thriller that genre fans will fully enjoy. The key to Joseph Armstead’s strong tale is that the author makes his premise of vampires living secretly amidst mortals due in part to human government cooperation seem real without slowing or dumbing down the plot. Readers will want to join (from their armchairs) the confrontation in New Barrington and West Sussex on Borrego Bay as the world order is at stake.

Harriet Klausner

Last Dragon Standing
G.A. Aiken
Zebra, Sep 1 2010, $6.99
ISBN: 9781420108880

Two years have passed since Princess Keita, Dragon Queen Rhiannon’s daughter, has seen family members. Instead the royal has been doing her thing though none know what she is after.

The Queen orders Ragnar the Cunning to lead a group of soldiers in order to find and escort home her beloved son Eibhear and to catch her allegedly seditious sister Esyld, who is believed to have committed treason. Ragnar and his team run across a fleeing Keita who barely escapes execution. They are attracted to one another although he wants to dump her on her mother as he hates her seductive simpering that has his dragon warriors (and him though he denies it) thinking with the wrong head. At the same time the kingdom is in peril from treachery within while the human Queen Annwyl the Bloody fears for the lives of her twin children.

The latest fiery dragon romantic fantasy (see Dragon Actually and About a Dragon) is a superb jocular yet very dark thriller. The lead couple is a wonderful pairing as she is driving the hero insane with his lust for her. Readers will relish this soaring entry as Ragnar wonders how he will survive his current assignment while Keita wonders how she will escape with her heart intact.

Harriet Klausner

Rise Of The Poison Moon
MaryJanice Davidson, Anthony Alongi
Ace, Jul 27 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780441019045

Supplies are dangerously low for those residents of Winoka trapped inside a magical barrier. Ancient Furnace and dragon leader Jennifer Scales are becoming increasingly desperate, but they have no earthly idea how to break through the enchantment “prison”. Jennifer also struggles to survive as Ember and the rogue dragons want her dead.

On the outside Jennifer’s former friend were-arachnid Skip Wilson wants to kill everyone. At the same time the ancient wars between the beaststalkers, dragons and were-arachnids has left many dead or maimed and more deaths likely. Jennifer struggles to prevent further hostilities, but .her plate is already overflowing and her flexibility restricted by the barrier and her enemies.

Fascinatingly, as Winoka remains isolated, the species trapped inside are unable to forge a mutually needed alliance, which leaves all in peril. Mostly told inside the magical containment area,, Jennifer’s troubles and danger mount while outside hell has broken loose too. Although the innocence that marked the earlier young adult urban fantasies in the saga is long gone as pragmatism has replaced it, fans of the series will enjoy Jennifer Scales and the Rise of the Poison Moon.

Harriet Klausner

Black Magic
Cherry Adair
Pocket, Jul 20 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9781439153819

In Western Australia wizard-geologist Jackson Slater is doing field work. His former fiancée wizard Sara Temple is in San Cristobel, Venezuela working on a luxurious hotel deal when the illness struck turning good well balanced people into homicidal psychopaths. When her mentor whom she considers her father since her parents died becomes ill, a panicked Sara instinctively shouts telepathically to the only man she ever loved for help. Jack still loves Sara and hears her cry and teleports to her side instantly as if he is one of Pavlov’s dogs.

Based on the mounting evidence, the Wizard Council fears the serpentine Omnivatics are siphoning off the life-force and power of wizards. They also believe the pairing of Jack and Sara is the only hope to prevent the malevolence from returning to take over the world in their evil way. The chosen duo believes they are a poor matching, but agree to work together to save the world; perhaps as a by-product they can save their relationship too.

This is an exhilarating second chance romantic urban fantasy in which the paranormal elements of wizardry and the Omnivatics seem genuine. The lead couple is a wonderful pairing of two people in love, but with polar opposite beliefs when it comes to magic as she never moved pass the death of her parents so she stopped being a practitioner; they are not a yin and yang fit, but together in unity prove that in their case their love makes for an inequality as 1 + 1 > 2. Like she did with her Night T-FLAC trilogy, Cherry Adair provides an engaging thriller starring two wizards in love; this time trying to save the world.

Harriet Klausner

The Vampire’s Kiss
Vivi Anna
Silhouette Nocturne, Jul 1 2010, $5.25
ISBN: 9780373618392

In Nouveau Monde, NMPD investigator Olena Petrovich is excited as this is her first time on a case as the lead. She and her team look into the crime scene at the Nouveau Monde National Bank where people were put inside the vault before the safety deposit boxes were exploded apart. Thus when Interpol inspector Cale Braxton arrives to take command from her in solving a vampire homicide, Olena is fuming as she knows how rare her boss Inspector Gabriel Bellemonte delegates the lead. To make her even angrier is her attraction to Cale.

Olena is a professional so she will not hamper the case. They team up and follow clues starting with victim’s plan to sell a computer virus, but backed away from doing so. The two law enforcement officials believe the non sale led to the murder. Making the case more complicated is their need to keep the witch niece of the vampire safe from the killers who think she might have what they demand

From start to finish the latest Otherworld police procedural fantasy romance (see is a terrific tale that continues the escapades in Europe’s Nouveau Monde (see The Vampire’s Quest) after leaving the States’ Necropolis (Blood Secrets and Dark Lies). The story line is fast-paced but made to feel real as the Otherworld paranormal species and humans interact as if that is normal. The whodunit and why are cleverly designed as once again time is running out to prevent ruthless killers from murdering more innocents in their quest for something that eludes the two law enforcement officials chasing the villains and each other.

Harriet Klausner

Masked
Edited by Lou Anders
Gallery (Simon and Schuster), Jul 2010, $15.00
ISBN 9781439168820

This fifteen short story collection pays homage to superheroes and supervillains, as each needs the other (like Ali and Frazier) to anchor their super status. None of the entries are horrific though a coupleare only okay. Most are entertainingly super as the authors captured the essence of the comic book sub-genre. The creators of the great Jack of Fables, Matthew Sturges and Bill Willingham respectively open and close the anthology with fascinating solo entries: “Cleansed and Set In Gold” by Sturges focuses on heroes struggling with the death of a seemingly invincible member while “A to Z in the Ultimate Big Company Superhero Universe (Villains Too)” by Willingham is an odd but interesting encyclopedic look at flawed super-humans. In “Message from the Bubble Gum Factory” by Daryl Gregory, an envious sidekick finally understands what sacrifices a superhero must endure. Marjorie M. Liu’s “Call Her Savage” stars a classic heroine whose legend for destruction forces her to live up to the myth as her fan following would expect nothing less. Also excellent is Stephen Baxter’s science fiction “Vacuum Lad.” as the first star child grows up in a seemingly vacuum, but was born over two decades ago in 1557 in Saudi Arabia (2136 by the Christian calendar user). Strange but superb is “Tonight We Fly” by Ian McDonald as Chester gets no peace from the next door kids while Belfast has no heroes or villains yet Captain Miracle flies far away from his adversary Dr. Nightingshade. Masked is a strong collection that catches the essence of the modern golden age of superheroes and their super opponents.

Harriet Klausner