Book Review: Million Dollar Demon by Kim Harrison

 

Million Dollar Demon

by Kim Harrison

Million Dollar Demon is the latest (#15) in the long running urban fantasy series, The Hollows, by Kim Harrison – one of my favorite urban fantasy series.

Harrison takes the premise that back in the mid twentieth century, humans were sickened by a bioengineered plague, delivered through tomatoes. Other groups such as the pixies, fae, witches, vampires, werewolves, etc. came out of hiding to keep society running.

This is not a static series of book after book following the same formula. There is a typical arc of problem and solution but characters and relationships evolve and change over time. Trent Kalamack, Rachel’s love interest, is a prime example. When they first met, they were enemies. He was power hungry and bent on world domination. Rachel reigns him in over the course of several of the books. She loves him and they have great chemistry, but she also has some commitment issues.

I would highly recommend starting from book 1 and working forward. It’s a great ride, interesting and engrossing. There are some sad moments but it’s mostly a fun, fairly light, action-based series of modern fantasy books. A perfect summer read.

The main setting is Cincinnati, Ohio, and specifically the Hollows neighborhood, but they do sometimes venture into the demon realm and even an alternate history Alcatraz jail, where witches are kept. Rachel finds herself back in her old digs for a bit here, the church where she, the pixie Jenks, and her vampire friend Ivy lived at one time. It has been damaged but they need to get it ready to sell. There’s a challenge there as the incoming Master Vampire, Constance, has warned people off of working for Rachel.

Therein lies the crux of the problem for this book – Constance is the new power in town and she’s bent on running things through fear, something Rachel can’t stomach, so there’s bound to be a showdown. There is a whole rule book for dealing with vampires, but Rachel sometimes forgets and reacts, or subconsciously reacts, in ways that are not helpful. She can be a bit impulsive.

Characterization is phenomenal fun here. Jenks, a pixie, has some fantastically creative phrases for swearing. Bis, Rachel’s gargoyle friend, is not forgotten though he is currently stuck as stone. Ivy is stuck in D.C. but she puts in an appearance by phone. David, a lone were, and Etten, a cop, show up to help out in their own ways. The demon Al plays a small but pivotal role.

You can find my review of the prequel, The Turn, here. https://storymusing.blogspot.com/2020/04/book-review-turn-by-kim-harrison.html

This is a great series for a fun, fast-paced read, with solid characterization and setting, and some action. I thoroughly enjoyed this installment.

 

 

Book Review: The Hidden Palace by Helene Wecker

 

The Hidden Palace  

by Helene Wecker

It is not every day that a book of this caliber comes along. I tried to savor it, to read it slowly, really hear the words in my head, but I confess that I stayed up late Sunday night rushing through the ending. If you haven’t read The Golem and the Jinni, I highly recommend you go and read that one before reading this one. I promise you it will be worth it.

You can find my review of the original book here https://storymusing.blogspot.com/2020/04/book-review-golem-and-jinni.html

A quick recap – In The Golem and the Jinni we meet the main characters, Chava Levy, who was created to be a bride for a man who dies on the ocean crossing to America, and the Jinni, Ahmad al-Haidid, who was bound with iron by a wizard and ended up in a flask that was sent to America. Chava and Ahmad meet in New York during the early part of the 20^th century. There is a myriad cast of neighborhood characters where Chava lives, where the Jinni lives, and even up town, where Sophia Winston lives.

In this book, we add in Kreindal Altschul, a young woman whose rabbi father creates another golem to take to Europe to help his people, but never has the chance. Kreindal ends up in an orphanage, master of a golem in hiding.

Sophia returns, somewhat changed and continuing to change over the course of the novel as she travels to the Middle East in search of treatments or a cure for her ailment. She comes into contact with a Jinniyeh, who is much like the Jinni was in the beginning, arrogant and a loner, concerned only with her own well-being and needs.

Chava’s friend Anna Blumberg returns with her son, Toby. There are limits to Anna’s friendship with Chava. She knows what Chava is and what she can do, has seen it, and her first priority is always keeping Toby safe, sometimes to his detriment.

Maryam and Sayeed Fadoul, purveryors of a small coffee shop in Little Syria also return, trying to run interference between the people of the neighborhood and the strange power they know Ahmad holds.

Things are a bit tense between Chava and Ahmad now. He's restless and becoming irritable. They tend to debate and squabble just as part of their relationship. They also have very different perspectives of the world, she was literally created to serve while his entire existence is founded on being a creature of whimsy with little natural constraints because of his power. He naturally chafes at the restraints from time to time in this different type of existence.

I've loved every little interlude and vignette that make up the fully realized whole. Wecker is a fantastic story teller. She brings history to life in a fantastical story. Her sidelong description of the Triangle factory fire is heartbreaking as we see how it affects people in the story. The storyline is at once fresh and original, the plot surprising and yet reasonable, so that one thinks, ah, of course that happened, after it happens.

I can’t recommend this book, and the first, highly enough. I look forward to the next one though I fear it will be few years before it is ready.

Book Review: The Sandman - Volume 1: Preludes & Nocturnes

The Sandman, Volume 1, Preludes & Nocturnes

by Neil Gaiman

Illustrated by Sam Kieth, Mike Dringenberg, Malcolm Jones III

Colorist is Daniel Vozzo

Letterer is Todd Klein

Covers by Dave McKean

Graphic novel of horrors.

This month I am dedicating my Friday reviews to graphic novels, and as an avid fan of Neil Gaiman’s writing, it seemed fitting to read some of the Sandman series. (Of course, it didn’t hurt that my husband had it on hand.) This volume includes five separate comics brought together into one book.

Once, long ago, a man tried to trap death using spells. Instead, he caught something else. This other . . . being, wouldn’t speak to him or work for him in exchange for freedom. Instead, he bided his time for freedom, decades. The man took his items of power and sold them off. Finally, the man died, and the son tried to keep the being contained, but of course, eventually, someone failed.

The being escaped, revealing who he was at last - Morpheus, lord of the dream realm. Things had changed in his realm of dreams while he was in captivity. And he no longer had his three items of power. He went to the Fates to ask where they could be found. They gave him some clues.

Morpheus, also known as Dream, goes to John Constantine whose former girlfriend stole his bag of sand. A bad idea, like any drug. The story becomes darker here.

He ventures into hell to retrieve his helm, a mask of pure dream, but must win it back from a demon.

“The Hellfire Club. It feels like a bad joke. And like everything else in hell, it is deadly serious.”

The ruby he created from his own souls has been taken by someone else, changed, and used against people. It has also warped the user and the horror he creates is some of the worst in the book. He must retrieve that.

The stories go on but this where I must part company. If you like horror, then this is a good title for you. The writing is good, the ideas interesting, but the imagery and events are quite horrific.

I adore Neil Gaiman’s writing – Neverwhere, Good Omens, and The Graveyard Book are among some of my favorite books. There are elements of that writing here, such as the concept of the lord of dreams being taken hostage by a greedy human, and I enjoyed those, but in the end, the writing was too far into the horror aspect for me to enjoy as a whole.

The artwork is often beautiful and the coloring is lush, but I have to admit I’ve never been fond of the way human faces are depicted in comic books and this is no different. I prefer something more realistic.

The pictures often come in panels that are irregularly shaped and spaced. It takes a bit of work to get used to reading them, left to right, then down and across again. Then you come across a page in a more irregular grouping and the pictures are placed at an angle. It’s odd, but I suppose that befits a book about dreams and the lord of dreams, Morpheus.

I’m afraid, as much as I love Neil Gaiman’s writing, this is just a little too dark for me. I don’t think I’ll continue reading these. 

 

Book Review: Max Hamm Fairy Tale Detective by Frank Cammuso

 

Max Hamm Fairy Tale Detective

by Frank Cammuso

This month my book club chose graphic novels for our theme. The first one I picked up was a tongue in cheek noir detective fairy tale re-write.

It reminded me a bit of the old Bugs Bunny cartoons, “Oh, you’re a smart guy, are ya?”

It was mostly funny, though there were a couple jokes that fell a bit flat for me.

The seamy underside of Hollywood is reprised in the The Big Sheep as Storybook Land to good effect.

Max Hamm runs a detective agency with Humpty Dumpty called Hamm and Eggs Detective Agency. Well, you can guess what happens to Humpty, though perhaps not exactly how or why.

Little Bo Peep makes an appearance right off, with a sob story about coming to the big city and falling on hard times.

“It was after midnight when the cops called me to come down to King Cole’s Supper Club. My not so hard-boiled partner had an accident.”

It seems Bo Peep has drawn them into quite a sordid little story, but eventually Max gets the upper ham, I mean hand.

Events become even more sordid in The Long Ever After. “Rose Red did the bump and grind at the Puss-n-Boots.”

This is definitely not a comic book for little kids, but the parade of familiar characters in noir setting continues. Snow White is a very prominent character, an old friend, perhaps even an old flame, Max Hamm. Apparently Snow White married badly.

The artwork is monochromatic with gray washes used to good effect. The pictures alternate between full page and a traditional comic panel layout on the page, making it easy to follow the progression of events and speakers.

Yeah, it’s pretty, well, hammy, but fun.