Recent Reading - Late July

[davidgillon]

The Biergarten of the Damned, Seana Kelly

Sam and Clive are back from their honeymoon/search and destroy mission in The Hob and Hound Pub and trying to squeeze Clive's extensive wardrobe into Sam's small flat at the back of the her pub/bookshop. Only a demon seems to be attacking Clive in his sleep and half-demon cook Dave just quit. Could the two things be linked?

This seemed rushed to me, and I'm not convinced the two halves of the plot meshed together seamlessly, or at all. OTOH it's interesting for incorporating Christian demonology pretty much straight on, including sinners being dumped into lakes of lava, rather than trying to produce some bowdlerized version. Still it's definitely the weakest of the series so far. And I'm pretty much convinced naming an orc Fangorn is a crime against Tolkien,

Bewicched*, Seana Kelly

Casey's new, linked series in the same universe as the Sam Quinn series. Artist/witch Arwyn Corey just wants to concentrate on getting her gallery ready for opening day and hanging out with her friends the starfish, the octopus and the harbour seal (not making this up). But there's an annoying werewolf working on her deck and family pressure from her mother and grandmother to take up her position as the junior member in the triumvirate Corey Council, which is a tremendous vote in her sheer power, but a potential nightmare. Arwyn's a clairvoyant/seer, something the Corey family turns out every couple of hundred years or so. She's also the first of those not to kill herself before reaching 14, because every person she touches, she reads their innermost secrets, making gloves top of her don't leave the house without 'em items of clothing. Even with that precaution she still regularly gets hit with random visions intense enough to knock her to the floor. Taking up her mantle will mean actively using her powers, something she mostly tries to avoid.

But then a police detective comes knocking on her door because there's a kid missing**, and the cop's not taking no for an answer. And then someone else tries to kill her aunt. Arwyn might not want to use her powers, but the choice may no longer be hers.

In contrast to Biergarten, this doesn't feel rushed. There's a really, really good evocation of just how nightmarish Arwyn's life can be. And some really good supporting characters. The main weak point is the link back into the Sam novels, which bears a little too heavily on being familiar with their backstory.

The Banshee and the Blade, Seana Kelly

This is a really slight short story, following on from Biergarten, with Dave trying to find his wife, said banshee. As far as I can tell, it exists solely to bring Dave into contact with Arwyn, so that she will know how to contact him during Bewicched. Why it couldn't be incorporated into either book, or both, I really don't see. It's one saving grace is it only cost 79p, and even that may be a bit much.     

* Ick on the cutesy spelling.

** Content warnings for fairly detailed child abuse and animal harm