Kiss of the Rose
Kate Pearce
Signet, Aug 3 2010, $6.99
ISBN: 9780451230942

In 1485 the Druids and King Henry Tudor made a pact in which the priests are to eradicate the vampire race while he becomes ruler of England and Wales. In 1529 at the Richmond Palace, home of the court of King Henry VIII, there have been a series of murders; the victims drained of all their blood. Obviously a serial killing vampire or multitude of the undead is making the palace unsafe for humans.

The Druids assign born vampire hunter Rosalind Llewellyn to kill the predator. However, before she can find the hidden beast, she must deal with vampire protector Sir Christopher Ellis the Druid slayer. Attracted to one another, both are stunned when their superiors order them to cooperate in finding and destroying a rogue. Neither is prepared to be soul mates fulfilling an ancient prophecy if they truly team up and if they survive the deadly mission.

The first Tudor Vampire Chronicles is a wonderful historical romantic fantasy. The mystery and the history take a back seat to the paranormal and the romance so that the background to a vampiric King Henry VIII castle never fully comes to fruition. Still this is an exciting early fifteenth century star-crossed lovers’ thriller as the immovable vampire hunter meets the irresistible Druid slayer.

Harriet Klausner

Kraken
China Mieville
Del Rey, Jun 29 2010, $26.00
ISBN: 9780345497499

In London’s Natural History Museum, curator Billy Harrow escorts a tour into the Darwin Center where a giant squid resides in a special tank prepared by him. Billy is proud of what he and most experts consider the top attraction of the Darwin center and perhaps the entire museum. When he and the tour group reach their destination, Billy is stunned to find it empty as that is not possible. What is more eerie is that not just the squid is gone, but the tank and preservative too.

Investigating police officer Kath Collingswood explains magical teleportation to a shocked Billy. He has now entered the realm of sorcery where Kath explains the only way to fight back is with sorcery. As Billy learns more about a part of London he and most residents never knew existed, the Congregation of God Kraken worship the giant squid while one of their flock Dane Parnell tries to keep curious Billy safe from two nasty wizards who get off with torture. Sent by their leader Tattoo the insane gangster survived sans body of his own as a tattoo put on the flesh of a wretched soul thanks to the greatest dead wizard. As the curator becomes more acquainted with the other London, city’s familiars are refusing to perform as they picket for better pay, improved working conditions and health care.

Kraken is a wild over the top of Big Ben urban fantasy starring a likable curator, a fascinating dedicated cop-mage, and a vision of London that feels like something from Alice in Wonderland or Simon R. Green. Although the plot meanders much more than a Hyde Street Park speaker, and at times is overwhelmed by the paranormal antics throughout the city, fans of China Mieville will enjoy his jocular lampooning of the police procedural-amateur sleuth in an urban fantasy environs.

Harriet Klausner

Legacies
Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill
Tor, Jul 6 2010, $18.99
ISBN: 9780765327079

The car accident killed her entire family; only teenage Spirit White survived. She has little time to grieve and barely enough to heal as she is informed she will live at Oakhurst Academy where she will attend school.

Spirit is shocked to find Oakhurst is a school for orphans with magical skills. They are being trained to fight in a war against an alleged evil. As she makes friends with Burke, Lachlan, Muirin and Adelaide, Spirit begins to question the accident that left her an orphan and the intentions of those running Oakhurst Academy when it comes to the students who have no parental protection.

Putting aside the obvious comparison to Potter, the first Shadow Grail teen fantasy is an exciting thriller in which the locale, creepy Oakhurst Academy brings the freshness with its foreboding sort of gothic ambience. Spirit is a terrific lead protagonist while the rest of her inner circle of BFFs comes out of the DC Teen Titan handbook. Still with a bit of romance, a lot of suspense and a young adult investigation into missing students, teenage fans will want to attend the dances at eerie Oakhurst Academy.

Harriet Klausner

The Crowded Shadows
Celine Kiernan
Orbit, Jul 1 2010, $14.99
ISBN 9780316077088

The schism between the father Southlands King Jonathan of Kingcourt and his rebellious son Prince Alberon remains wide and potentially deadly. Wynter Moorehawke searches for the Rebel Prince to learn why the split happened and what his intentions are. However each step on her quest seems dangerous as many have come to join the Rebel Prince’s cause.

Thus when Prince Razi and Christopher Garron whom she loves join her, Wynter welcomes them. The trio conceals their identity from rebels, royals, and outlaws as none can be trusted to leave them travel harmlessly. However, the most insidious are Loup-Garou slavers, but the most frightening is rumors that Alberon has forged an alliance with an enemy Marguerite Shirken, who in turn apparently has gained an alliance with the Merron; as everyone seems to want to overthrow King Jonathan.

This sequel to the equally great The Poison Throne is a superb young adult political fantasy filled with plenty of intrigue outside of Kingcourt as strange bedfellows seem to be making alliances. Wynter and her two comrades find potential friends apparently already have joined known enemies as life for the heroine has become increasingly convoluted and complicated; not that love has simplified her personal relationships. This is a strong teen tale as Wynter has no time for coming of age as that will prove to late for the Southlands.

Harriet Klausner

Kitty Goes to War
Carrie Vaughn
Tor, Jun 29 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780765365613

Midnight Hour talk show host Kitty Norville is also an alpha werewolf; perhaps the most visible in the country. On her show, she talks with callers about Speedy Mart and its owner Harold Franklin. The discussions focus on verified supernatural happenings at many of his stores. The final call-in for the evening insists Franklin is always there when a weather catastrophe occurs. Before she can react, his lawyer sues her. They meet, but accomplish nothing.

Meanwhile Kitty gets a call from the NIH Center for the Study of paranormal Biology. A werewolf soldier in Afghanistan infected other soldiers; they were successful as a unit until the alpha died. The squad falls apart as the new alpha Sergeant Vanderman kills those who opposed him. By the time they are stateside, only two soldiers and Vanderman remain. They are held at Fort Carson, Colorado as each is out of control suffering from a form of PTSD. Kitty arrives to save the two followers as Vanderman is too far gone. She takes them outside on runs trying to show them what a good pack is like. During a blizzard, one flees from Kitty in an attempt to rescue his alpha Vanderman. Kitty learns Franklin is causing somehow the blizzard. She can see clearly that she must end the storm and find the missing werewolf before feral Vanderman escapes and the storm becomes like another Katrina. Catching Franklin would be the icing on the cake.

Carrie Vaughn continues to expand her wonderful werewolf urban fantasy mythos with an edgy, poignant yet at times amusing thriller. The cast is solid as everyone wants to sue, kill or help Kitty. However, as always this is her tale as she struggles with helping werewolf soldiers suffering from PTSD. She and the audience will be stunned with a twist as Kitty Goes to War.

Harriet Klausner

The Killing Room
John Manning
Pinnacle, May 2010, $6.99
ISBN: 9780786017997

For nine years and three hundred and sixty-four days, the Young Mansion in Maine is an ordinary home. The room that remains locked always is quiet except on the first day of a new decade. A sacrifice of a family member must be made so every ten years a lottery is held and the selected one is left inside the room.

This has been going on since 1930 with everyone who spent time in the room dead except for one survivor. Since the room is locked, the other family members assume the people commit suicide except for that one female who lived, but her mind was fried and spent four decades inside a padded cell. The patriarch Howard Young hires former FBI Agent Carolyn Cartwright who has dealt with supernatural cases to find a way to break the curse. Carolyn knows her first step is to learn what happened in 1930 in that room and the second step is to pray she and the Young family survive the truth.

Readers will thoroughly enjoy the locked room mystery inside a haunted house tale reminiscent of early King and Koontz. There is a steady growing tension as the answers to the cause percolates, but the solution seems to never boil to the surface. John Manning provides the audience with a chilling tale as the heroine knows there is only one way to learn the truth.

Harriet Klausner

Kiss of Death
Rachel Caine
Signet, Apr 27 2020, $7.99
ISBN: 9780451229731

Morganville, Texas was founded by vampires led by Amelia who sought a safe haven for her species from human hunters. The town is a melting pot of sorts but to keep mortals safe, each human resident has a vampiric Protector. Blood is dispensed at blood banks and no one is allowed to leave once you enter although Amelia has allowed one exception; Claire, Shane, Michael and Evie may go to Dallas so that the vampire Michael can record his music.

On their way, their guard and escort Oliver has them stop in Durrram where he and Michael conduct business while leaving Claire alone. However, Morley and his vampiric followers who oppose the Morganville rules hijack them. Michael and Oliver rescue the others, but they end up on the deserted town of Blacke. The Morley vampires attack, but something more feral assaults both sides as zombie vampires seek to dine on each of the combatants.

The eighth Morganville Vampire saga is different than most of the previous entries as the heroes are outside the town so obtain a taste where the local rules do not apply. Thus the audience sees a diverse species as vampires come in different types and philosophies especially re humans. A refreshing and totally entertaining tale, Kiss of Death is a super Texas fantasy as the Rachel Caine’s world of vampires expands to the delight of teen readers and us folks in the Twilight of our years.

Harriet Klausner

The Killing Edge
Heather Graham
Mira, Apr 2010, $24.95
ISBN: 9780778327714

A decade ago teenager Chloe Marin attended a party that turned ugly. She was fortunate to survive a mass killing of her friends. The police insist all the cult killers were caught.

That deadly incident triggered her to become a psychologist using art therapy to help survivor victims and as a consultant to the police. Her current assignment is to help locate a swimsuit model Colleen Rodriguez whose employer the Bryson Agency insists she went missing in the Keys for some fun in the sun. Her inquiry leads to British private investigator Luke Cane who is undercover as Jack Smith of Mermaid Designs searching for Colleen also. They soon find leads to the same cult leader who engineered the massacre of Chloe’s friends ten years ago while the ghost of Colleen visits Chloe pleading for help. More homicides occur as Chloe and Luke are attracted to one another, but ending the cult leader’s killing spree supersedes their feelings even as more ghosts visit her.

The Killing Edge is an exhilarating paranormal psychological romantic suspense thriller that grips the audience from the opening Manson-like slaughter and never slows down as Chloe charges head first into the fray while Luke tends to back away until now as he finally has a purpose: keeping Chloe safe. Fast-paced throughout, readers will enjoy this fine tale as the ghosts of past and present urge Chloe on while Luke begs her to reconsider her face first plunges into danger.

Harriet Klausner

The King Commands
Meg Burden
Brown Barn Books, Apr 12 2010, $8.95
ISBN: 9780979882418

The Northlands and the Southlings have an uneasy detente though there is little difference between the people who inhabit the two lands. In the Southlings where there is no monarch, they embrace the power of Healing while the Northlands call it witchcraft. Southling Ellin Fisher lives in self-imposed exile in the Northlands because she developed telepathic skills that caused the concerned Guardians to assassinate her father and try to kill her (see Northlander) in spite of her healing prowess.

Northlands King Alaric welcomes Southlings especially those with magic to stay in his kingdom; Ellin is one of his guests, but he exiles her back to her homeland for trying to heal his father’s killer. Alaric’s youngest brother Prince Garreth accompanies Ellin to her country. When she cross the border to Southlings, she realizes the Guardians have made life much worse for everyone as they grow stronger attacking those with forbidden magic and fostering conflict with their Borderland neighbor. She joins a cell of True Southlings with powers similar to hers and becomes an apprentice to a full fledged Healer. A crisis back in the Northlands sends Ellin and Garreth back there where they learn the Guardians are employing magic to cause civil war in the kingdom to the north. King Alaric declares war on the Guardians, but to win he will need the magic of the Southlings.

Although targeted for young adults, older readers will also enjoy the second Borderlands fantasy filled with plenty of intrigue, romance, and adventure. Readers will admire the lead couple as they act like ordinary people though one is a royal and the other a magic practitioner. Fans will root for them as they escape harrowing situations. With strong political spins throughout like a king needing magic to win a war but many of his subjects believe that is taboo, Meg Burden provides a deep thinking yet action-packed fantasy thriller.

Harriet Klausner

The Kingdom of Ohio
Matthew Flaming
Amy Einhorn Books (Putnam), Dec 31 2009, $24.95
ISBN: 9780399155604

In Los Angeles, the elderly antiques dealer has worked for two years on mystery of the photograph he obtained. The picture is that of Peter Force Cheri- Anne Toledo, taken in 1901.

In 1900 Peter came from Idaho to work in the hazardous digging of the subways tunnels beneath the city. Cheri-Anne is a mathematical genius with bizarre memories that seem not of this time and place. They meet accidentally; at least that is what it seemed to Peter. When she insistently claimed to be the daughter of the ruler of the Kingdom of Ohio who traveled in time, he assumed she was crazy. However, he also is attracted to her and soon begins to believe her fantastic tale when others seem overly interested in her including combatant inventors and warring financiers. Soon he will understand that past, present and future of time and place is relevant to the individual as all converge either to conflict or deconflict if free will is meaningful; just like the note left behind “CROATOAN”.

This is a superb time travel romantic suspense thriller that takes a deep look at the sordid underbelly, literally as well as figuratively, side of New York during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The story line is fast-paced in spite of the cerebral underpinnings as fans will relish the tour of the city as rarely seen in novels while being escorted by two strong lead protagonists and enhanced by the real persona they encounter. Matthew Flaming provides a great, intelligent yet exciting thriller.

Harriet Klausner