July 31, 2021
July 14, 2021
Secondhand Spirits by Juliet Blackwell
I was looking for a quick read and this caught my eye. It’s about a witch, Lily Ivory, who moves to San Francisco, partially to escape her life as a witch, and opens a vintage clothing store. Lily begins an investigation into a missing girl, which relates to some paranormal events.
The book is billed as a mystery. Although there really is no mystery involved. Lily knows the details pretty much from the onset, I think it’s more of a Fantasy/Adventure with a lot of humor thrown in. Lily is constantly encountering odd characters with even more peculiar traits, each bringing a surprise turn to events.
One, Brownwin, is a wikkan, becomes her business partner and provides an impetus to maintain her witchly ways. Another encounter involves a warlock who tricks her into taking a creature off his hands that becomes her familiar.
The characters are fun, even if a bit flat. The story is fairly dynamic and often funny. I might try another in the series, I was hoping for more of a mystery.
July 1, 2021
Nemesis Games by James S. A. Corey
This is book 5 of The Expanse series. In this book, the social order is breaking down. With ships heading through the gate to enter new star systems to start new lives. Colonists are leaving from gravity wells for other systems, leaving Belters fearing that their livelihood will disappear. This leads to radical splinter groups forming. Some of the ships heading to the gate are disappearing, piracy and someone repurposing them is considered, the main Belter splinter group is suspected.
The Rocinante is under repairs that will take a while. Each of the crew takes this opportunity to go address personal issues, each heading in a different direction and each providing a different story.
James Holden remains on Tycho Station and bides his time investigating the disappearance of Monica Stuart.
Alex heads off to Mars to resolve some issues with his ex-wife and to see friends. His ex refuses to talk to him, so he spends a lot of time with Bobby. Bobby is looking into the disappearance of military equipment, including full ships.
The leader of the radical splinter group, Marco Inaros, happens to be a former husband to Noami Nagato, and is turning their son, Filip Inaros, into an active terrorist. Filip led a raid on a Martian outpost to steal some stealth paint. Marco then used that to hide asteroids and then bombard Earth.
Each of the crew ends up getting caught up in the terrorist story from different angles. Noami ends up with Marco, who tries to turn her to his cause. Alex and Bobby are investigating missing Martian ships, sent to search a hiding ship, discover a large fleet owned by Marco. Amos gets caught up in the bombardment on Earth and ends up rescuing Clarissa Mao.
Clarissa becomes a de-facto member of the crew, much to Holden’s chagrin. She seems to fit in and apparently has more control over her emotions and doesn’t use her abilities.
All the main characters make an appearance in this volume. It makes for an excellent story.