Book Review

Book Review: THE HAUNTING OF MOSCOW HOUSE by Olesya Salnikova Gilmore

| Jessica Crawford

The Haunting of Moscow House by Olesya Salnikova Gilmore is a 383 page standalone novel published by Berkley in 2024.

Genre:

Historical Fiction, Horror, Gothic, Romance

Opening Line:

If someone from their past should catch a glimpse of the formerly aristocratic Goliteva sisters, they would find two wraiths instead of countesses.

My Thoughts:

…the ghosts wouldn’t have returned unless there was space for them among the living…to let them and the past in, maybe in hope of healing it and themselves.

Irina and Lili were Russian countesses, but after the revolution they are “former people” living at the mercy of the Soviet regime. In 1921 they live in their family’s Moscow estate with their grandmother, aunt, and young cousins, although electricity has long since been shut off and they have had to resort to selling valuable family heirlooms in order to be able to feed themselves. A group of Bolsheviks arrive one day and commandeer their home, forcing the family to move into the attic. But then things start happening in the house, frightening things, and people start dying.

A good portion of this book is historical fiction about post-revolutionary Russia, the Cheka, the Bolsheviks, the American Relief Administration providing former aristocrats with jobs helping to ease the famine. There are two separate romances, which I’m not sure were really needed. The Gothic part is due to the fact that the main characters live in a derelict mansion where spooky things are happening. The horror and folklore parts were by far the most interesting to me.

There is no slow, creeping build up of suspense here, as right from the get go our sisters are confronted up close with footsteps from behind, a growl, an earsplitting screech, something skittering past in the dark, glowing red eyes, an implosion of air throwing them off balance as furniture crashes and things smash, culminating with the discovery of a dead body in their home–all in one go. Well, okay then, you can’t have imagined ALL of that, I guess there’s no questioning an actual haunting going on here, then! (Although actually, Irina sees dead acquaintances sporting their fatal wounds appear before her very eyes at her dining table, and “still doesn’t believe in the supernatural, but it’s growing harder and harder to refute its existence”…ya think?!)

The last, I don’t know, 15% or so of the book really ramps up on the horror and excitement, and I enjoyed it the most.

The rest I only felt lukewarm about. There were a couple of things about the writing that I didn’t love. It is understood, even mentioned, that except when speaking to the Americans, everyone is speaking Russian and we’re just reading about it in English. So why mix the two languages in some sentences, like with, “Your family, nothing but upyrs” (vampires)? If all of those words were actually delivered in Russian, why present it mostly in English with one word randomly in Russian? It seems just because the author wants to impress.

Also, we are treated to several diary entries, one of which reads, “‘What happened, Marie?’ I demanded in rapid French.” No one would write like that in a diary. It’s like me writing, “Dear Diary, ‘What would you boys like for breakfast?’ I cheerfully inquired this morning”.

There was also a parakeet in the book, a somewhat anthropomorphized one that was never caged but just flew around the estate wheresoever she wished, and I couldn’t help but think, “Gee, there must just be bird shit all over that house.”

For me this was a case of “Come for the horror, stay only for the horror”, because the romances and the historical fiction just weren’t that engaging to me. But that Domovoy sure was!

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Book Review: RAISING HARE by Chloe Dalton

| Jessica Crawford

Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton is a 224 page nonfiction book published by Canongate Books in 2024.

Genre:

Nonfiction, Memoir, Nature

Synopsis:

Imagine you could hold a baby hare and bottle-feed it. Imagine that it lived under your roof and lolloped around your bedroom at night, drumming on the duvet cover when it wanted your attention. Imagine that, over two years later, it still ran in from the fields when you called it and snoozed in your house for hours on end. This happened to me.

When lockdown led busy professional Chloe to leave the city and return to the countryside of her childhood, she never expected to find herself custodian of a newly born hare. Yet when she finds the creature, endangered, alone and no bigger than her palm, she is compelled to give it a chance at survival.

Raising Hare chronicles their journey together and the challenges of caring for the leveret and preparing for its return to the wild. We witness an extraordinary relationship between human and animal, rekindling our sense of awe towards nature and wildlife. This improbable bond of trust serves to remind us that the most remarkable experiences, inspiring the most hope, often arise when we least expect them.

My Thoughts:

This is really stirring nonfiction about how a singular hare changed the author’s life for the better.

When Dalton found a leveret, a newborn hare, chased out of its hide into the open, she first waited to see if its mother would find it and hide it away safely once again. When that doesn’t happen, she sets herself to learning how to raise a wild hare. After caring for the animal through its infancy, she ensures it is free to make its own choices. The hare comes and goes, roaming the English countryside at nighttime and returning to the author’s garden and even into her home to rest, eat, and play. Dalton tries her best to not anthropomorphize the wild animal, or to make it into a pet. Regardless, the hare is so comfortable with her human associate, she even gives birth to one of her litters inside her home, and keeps her babies hidden away safely there while she forages at night.

A focus of this book, besides the story of the interactions and relationship between woman and hare, is how changing her life to accommodate this animal and watching it thrive led the author to learn a new appreciation for nature and life itself. She slowed down, observed more, lived in the moment, and developed mindfulness that allowed her to take more joy in the small realities of life. Additionally, she became more conscious of how human endeavors affect the habitat around them, as well as the wildlife that depends on it. She was able to effect some change to help alleviate some of these environmental harms.

Beyond being educational about hares, their behaviors and natural habitats (a subject that has apparently historically been somewhat neglected), this was an emotional, meditative and reflective book that was a pleasure to read.

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Book Review: A SORCERESS COMES TO CALL by T. Kingfisher

| Jessica Crawford

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher is a 336 page standalone novel published by Tor Books in 2024.

Genre:

Fantasy, Fairytale Retelling

Opening Line:

There was a fly walking on Cordelia’s hand and she was not allowed to flick it away.

After reading and adoring What Moves the Dead and A House with Good Bones, I adopted T. Kingfisher as one of my autobuy authors. Her newest novel, A Sorceress Comes to Call, is a reimaging of Goose Girl by the Brothers Grimm, with the inclusion of Kingfisher’s signature humor as well as some additional dark fantastical elements.

Fourteen-year-old Cordelia is the daughter of a ruthless, social-climbing sorceress. She is terrified of her mother, who not only permits her daughter no privacy, but goes so far as to frequently take control of her body. When she sets her sights on the Squire of Chatham and gets to work trying to procure a marriage proposal from him, Cordelia finds allies among his family, friends, and household staff. Can this group of unlikely heroes manage to best a wicked woman with immense power and a demonic familiar?

This is a grimly suspenseful story with great characters, and funny lines sprinkled throughout. This is not my favorite of this author’s work, but it’s still a decent showing. And it makes a beautiful shelf trophy!

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Book Review: LUCY UNDYING: A DRACULA NOVEL by Kiersten White

| Jessica Crawford

Lucy Undying: A Dracula Novel by Kiersten White is a 452 page standalone novel published in 2024 by Del Rey.

Genre/Subgenres:

Romance, Horror, Gothic, LGBTQIA+, Paranormal, Vampires, Retelling

Opening Line:

It starts the moment you look out the window.

Synopsis:

A vampire escapes the thrall of Dracula and embarks on her own search for self-discovery and true love in this epic and seductive gothic fantasy from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Hide.

Her name was written in the pages of someone else’s Lucy Westenra was one of Dracula’s first victims.

But her death was only the beginning. Lucy rose from the grave a vampire and has spent her immortal life trying to escape from Dracula’s clutches—and trying to discover who she really is and what she truly wants.

Her undead life takes an unexpected turn in twenty-first-century London, when she meets another woman, Iris, who is also yearning to break free from her past. Iris’s family has built a health empire based on a sinister secret, and they’ll do anything to stay in power.

Lucy has long believed she would never love again. Yet she finds herself compelled by the charming Iris while Iris is equally mesmerized by the confident and glamorous Lucy. But their intense connection and blossoming love is threatened by outside forces. Iris’s mother won’t let go of her without a fight, and Lucy’s past still has Dracula is on the prowl once more.

Lucy Westenra has been a tragically murdered teen, a lonesome adventurer, and a fearsome hunter, but happiness has always eluded her. Can she find the strength to destroy Dracula once and for all, or will her heart once again be her undoing?

My Thoughts:

Forever is composed of nows.

Yas, queens!

The newest novel from Kiersten White focuses on the story of Lucy Westenra from Dracula. It is told through alternating timelines and POVs. For the first two thirds or so these primarily consist of excerpts from the journal Lucy kept before being turned into a vampire at age 19 in the year 1890, transcripts from current day Lucy’s talks with a therapist as she explains everything that has happened to her since then (a la Interview with the Vampire), and a narrative following a woman named Iris, who is trying to escape her abusive and controlling family and its company/MLM empire. Her connection to the rest of the story becomes apparent over time as hints are dropped like a trail bread crumbs. Later, we get several chapters from the POV of the Transylvanian count himself.

I was always good at moonlight, though, because moonlight isn’t real, either. It’s just a wan reflection of something else’s light.

This is the story of women who are expected, by their families and by society, to be a certain way, fit into a certain mold. These women may try to please these others so much that they are unable to even recognize who they truly are behind the act. They play at being meek and cooperative, but then no one pleased by their resultant vulnerability bothers to protect them when called for. The damage wrought by this kind of trauma can ultimately be cured by being wholly loved for exactly the people they are, nothing less and nothing more.

Dear, dear Mother, who loves like a knife, slicing me into ever smaller pieces until I’m exactly the shape that pleases her the most.

In that way, this winds up being a really sweet and inspirational sapphic romance story. It also has mysterious and Gothic elements, and the tension and dread of being constantly watched by those who believe they own you. Lucy’s story takes us from England to China to Istanbul, and through two World Wars. Eventually we are brought to the States to take on the horrifying company that will never willingly let Iris go, and even Dracula himself.

Speaking of…the character of Dracula was the least compelling here. Maybe that’s intentional as he thinks he’s the best thing since sliced bread and everyone should worship him, but after centuries of growth some of the women he’s screwed with realize he isn’t worth taking up any more space in their thoughts. These women, though – by the end of the story, I loved them so much! Over the course of her Unlife, Lucy met and…sure, “befriended”, a handful of other women turned into vampires by Dracula, and they wind up all being quite delightful in their own ways! Girl power!

First things first, though, we start this girls’ trip the proper way: arson and then a visit to my therapist.

Not just doom and gloom, there are some quite funny moments in this book as well. These are often provided by snarky and irreverent Iris, but not always. I got a real kick out of one of the vampires only just trying to learn about cell phones, sending a blurry picture of a squirrel. The recipient sends Who is this?, and the dear, sweet, insane vampire replies You mean what is this it’s a squirrel.

The main reason I decided not to go with 5 stars for this book was because it did seem overly long and dragged a bit in the middle. But when it did pick back up once the three timelines converged, I loved all of the ass-kicking, and the healing of trauma through being loved for one’s true self. Great stuff!

Thank you so very much to NetGalley and Del Rey for the eArc in exchange for my honest review.

Note: “Forever is composed of nows” is attributed to Emily Dickinson in this book

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Book Review: THE SECRET SERVICE OF TEA AND TREASON by India Holton

| Jessica Crawford

The Secret Service of Tea and Treason by India Holton is a 334 page novel published by Berkley in 2023. It is third in the Dangerous Damsels series, but can be read as a standalone.

Genre:

Historical Romance, Cozy Fantasy, Humor

Tropes:

Rivals to lovers, fake marriage

Opening Line:

It was the best of dress shops, it was the worst of dress shops.

Synopsis:

Two rival spies must brave pirates, witches, and fake matrimony to save the Queen.

Known as Agent A, Alice is the top operative within the Agency of Undercover Note Takers, a secret government intelligence group that is fortunately better at espionage than at naming itself. From managing deceptive witches to bored aristocratic ladies, nothing is beyond Alice’s capabilities. She has a steely composure and a plan always up her sleeve (alongside a dagger and an embroidered handkerchief). So when rumors of an assassination plot begin to circulate, she’s immediately assigned to the case.

But she’s not working alone. Daniel Bixby, otherwise known as Agent B and Alice’s greatest rival, is given the most challenging undercover assignment of his life— pretending to be Alice’s husband. Together they will assume the identity of a married couple, infiltrate a pirate house party, and foil their unpatriotic plans.

Determined to remain consummate professionals, Alice and Daniel must ignore the growing attraction between them, especially since acting on it might prove more dangerous than their target.

My Thoughts:

THE SECRET SERVICE OF TEA AND TREASON by India Holton 🫖☕️🕵️🏴‍☠️🧙‍♀️💗

A rivals to lovers, fake marriage historical romance with fantasy elements and neurodiverse main characters? Yes, please!

My Books on Tap group (we meet at a different brewery twice a month and go around the table taking turns discussing whatever book we’re reading at the time) recently had a mystery book swap night. We each brought a book wrapped up to hide its identity, then wrote a few descriptors on the front. This was the book I picked (actually, I wound up picking two because the host brought extra in case someone came empty handed). It is the third in the Dangerous Damsels series, but worked perfectly well as a standalone. I could tell which of the characters here had wound up together in previous books in the series.

Alice and Daniel are the two top agents in an underground agency that trains “the help” (maids, housekeepers, butlers, footmen, valets) in espionage. They must join a party of pirates (who, by the way, use incantations to make their houses fly) posing as a married couple in order to thwart a conspiracy to assassinate Queen Victoria. What follows is a fun and absurd romp that prioritizes humor over a sensible plot. Chapters begin with amusingly modified literary quotes from the likes of Austen.

There are pretty explicit open door love scenes, and mild comedic violence.

One complaint that is exceedingly minor in the grand scheme of things: I counted four instances of characters’ mouths shrugging. Wut?

I had been wanting to try this author and am glad the book swap gave me the opportunity. It was a fun story that managed to be fairly swoonworthy to boot.

Book Review: SERVICE MODEL by Adrian Tchaikovsky

| Jessica Crawford

Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky is a 376 page standalone novel published by Tor Books in 2024.

Genre:

Science Fiction, Dystopian

Opening Line:

On activation each morning Charles’ first duty was to check his master’s travel arrangements for the day.

My Thoughts:

This book is clever and funny, but because of how grim it is, I’m not sure how much I actually enjoyed it.

A robot who finds himself no longer of use goes searching for purpose in a dystopian future in which humanity has pretty much wiped itself out, and poorly thought out programming leaves scores of inefficient robots dedicated to performing useless tasks.

..he completed two contrasting analyses of the situation using his best human-facing sophistication and decided that it was simultaneously of enormous credit to [his] ongoing fidelity and professionalism, and also that it was terribly pointless and sad.

Society collapsed thanks to a combination of factors, including climate, economics, problems with infrastructure, etc. Plus with all of the automated services provided through AI, people’s skills were not needed, and yet they were still looked down on for being lazy and idle. As civilization itself was dying:

”…I estimate that 45% were unaware of the situation or considered it fake, owing to the precisely curated news sources that they limited themselves to, whilst a further 30% were aware but did not consider it their problem and 20% were aware and actively cheering on the fact or profiting from [it]…A final 5% seem likely to have been directly and deliberately contributing to the collapse…”

Uncharles teams up with The Wonk, who wants to learn the meaning of it all. There is a moral that a kind and ordered society should be the goal.

Smart and oftentimes extremely amusing writing, but the bleakness and the infuriating absurdity of all of the situations Uncharles comes across during is journey into the world kind of canceled out some of the joy these things offered.

There is no sexual content in this book, and the only violence involving humans happens off the page.

I wish to report an error in the way that everything works. Charles, it is not an error. It is how things are.

Book Review: SANDWICH by Catherine Newman

| Jessica Crawford

Sandwich by Catherine Newman is a 240 page standalone novel published in 2024 by Harper.

Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Literary Fiction

Opening Line:

Picture this: a shorelined peninsula jutting into the Atlantic Ocean.

Synopsis:

From the beloved author of We All Want Impossible Things, a moving, hilarious story of a family summer vacation full of secrets, lunch, and learning to let go.

For the past two decades, Rocky has looked forward to her family’s yearly escape to Cape Cod. Their humble beach-town rental has been the site of sweet memories, sunny days, great meals, and messes of all kinds: emotional, marital, and—thanks to the cottage’s ancient plumbing—septic too.

This year’s vacation, with Rocky sandwiched between her half-grown kids and fully aging parents, promises to be just as delightful as summers past—except, perhaps, for Rocky’s hormonal bouts of rage and melancholy. (Hello, menopause!) Her body is changing—her life is, too. And then a chain of events sends Rocky into the past, reliving both the tenderness and sorrow of a handful of long-ago summers.

It’s one precious week: everything is in balance; everything is in flux. And when Rocky comes face to face with her family’s history and future, she is forced to accept that she can no longer hide her secrets from the people she loves.

My Thoughts:

Life is a seesaw and I am standing dead center, still and balanced. Living kids on one side, living parents on the other, Nicky here with me at the fulcrum. Don’t move a muscle, I think. But I will of course. You have to.

Holy nostalgia, Batman!

This book is equal parts heart-wrenching and hilarious, and wholly bittersweet.

The main POV character is 54 year old Rocky, who tells us of this year’s annual week-long vacation to Cape Cod with her family, in which she is sandwiched between young adult children and elderly parents. I could relate so much, if not in particulars then in vibes, to the fond recollecting of these trips of the past, when the children were younger and the parents in better health. My own children, my spouse and myself are about a decade behind in age than the family in this book, but we just recently had a similar weeklong beach vacation that has become a tradition, where my parents joined us for part of the time.

This part of the story, the joyful reminiscences of past family quality time as well as enjoying one another’s company in the present, made me want to hug this book (alas, I took it in via audio format). There was also a very funny streak, often provided by either Rocky’s adult children or else her own internal monologue.

Less heartwarming but still appreciated was all the commentary about the bodies of middle-aged women. I myself have not yet had the distinct displeasure of perimenopause, but I sure know it’s coming for me before too much longer, and it seemed to be addressed really well here. Rocky rails against the betrayals of her own body throughout her adult lifespan, and how it never feels like it belongs just to her. Her family often feels the brunt of her hormone-fueled rage, but she is self-aware enough to recognize that some of the problem is hers, not all theirs.

Then there were more difficult aspects of the story: pregnancy termination and loss, mental health struggles. And the troubling knowledge that one’s parents are drawing closer to the inevitable end.

There is plenty of talk about sex in this book; there is no violence (but see the above content warnings regarding pregnancy). The audio narrator was amazing, except only that I absolutely despised the voice she chose to use for Rocky’s daughter Willa – a twenty year old lesbian described as butch, but whose voice sounded like an especially whiny prepubescent child. I greatly enjoyed the character of Willa – her voice, not so much.

This book made me laugh out loud, it made me tear up, and it made me wish I was physically capable of hugging soundwaves, so in all I think that’s worth five stars. Perhaps I’ll also make a note to revisit this one when menopause starts knocking at my door…

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Book Review: BEAR by Julia Phillips

| Jessica Crawford

Bear by Julia Phillips is a 304 page standalone novel published by Hogarth in 2024.

Genre:

Literary fiction

Opening Line:

The ferry from Friday Harbor left fourteen times a day-fifteen on weekends-to loop around San Juan Channel’s scattered islands.

Synopsis:

A mesmerizing novel of two sisters on a Pacific Northwest island whose lives are upended by an unexpected visitor – a tale of family, obsession, and a mysterious creature in the woods, by the celebrated author of Disappearing Earth.

They were sisters and the would last past the end of time.

Sam and here sister, Elena, dream of another life. On the island off the coast of Washington where they were born and raised, they and their mother struggle to survive. Sam works long days on the ferry that delivers wealthy mainlanders to their vacation homes while Elena bartends at the local golf club, but even together they can’t earn enough to get by, stirring their frustration about the limits the shape of their existence.

Then one night on the boat, Sam spots a bear swimming the dark waters of the channel. Where is it going? What does it want? When the bear turns up by their home, Sam, terrified, is more convinced than ever that it’s time to leave the island. But Elena responds differently to the massive beast. Enchanted by its presence, she throws into doubt the plan to escape and puts their long-held dream in danger.

A story about the bonds of sisterhood and the mysteries of the animals that live among us – and within us – Bear is a propulsive, mythical, rich novel from one of the most acclaimed young writers in America.

My Thoughts:

This is slow-moving literary fiction ruined by infuriating characters that I had a hard time understanding.

Sam and Elena are adult sisters living paycheck to paycheck with their ailing mother an the island off the coast of Washington State. A bear swims to shore one day, likely on its way to Vancouver in search of a mate. One sister is unreasonably distraught by this all out of proportion to the situation, while the other thinks it’s the best thing that’s ever happened. These differing views throw a wrench into their relationship.

That’s it, that’s the story.

When they first see the bear outside of their home, the women freak out, hide out of sight of the windows, and cower. They are upset that it takes the officers from the sheriff’s department something like 20 minutes to arrive after they call. What exactly did they expect them to do? Then, even knowing that their sick mother is likely to die soon, Elena repeatedly tries to call her sister at work and sends her a text that says only, “CALL ME,” and it turns out the urgent message is just, “I saw the bear again.” …okay? And? Then the dumb dumb starts to feed the wild animal.

Sam is the main POV character, and she is just the worst. Not only does she continue to be absolutely terrified that this wild animal exists on the same island as her and cause problems with her sister because of this, she is unspeakably rude to several characters who are nothing but nice to her. One of them she feels justified in being nasty to just because his financial circumstances are more comfortable than hers. She asks another for help, and the woman offers help, and Sam’s response is, “Screw you!”

Then, after very little plot but a WHOLE LOT of angst, the ending feels emotionally manipulative.

There is sex in this book, not in any scenes that the reader is actually present for, but referred to in some fairly graphic terms. There is a bit of mild violence.

It’s clear I was irritated by some aspects of the book, but the writing itself was good, as was the audiobook narration (other than there often being audible loud intakes of breath before each line, which seems like an issue with the editing, not the voice work). I liked some of the message regarding the sisters’ differing views on their lives in general. But ultimately, for the aforementioned reasons, this one was a miss for me.

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Book Review: THE HEXOLOGISTS by Josiah Bancroft

| Jessica Crawford

The Hexologists by Josiah Bancroft is a 318 page novel published by Orbit in 2024, and is the first entry in a new series.

Genre: Fantasy

Subgenres: Steampunk, cozy

Synopsis: The first book in a wildly inventive and mesmerizing new fantasy series from acclaimed author Josiah Bancroft where magical mysteries abound and only one team can solve The Hexologists.

The Hexologists, Iz and Warren Wilby, are quite accustomed to helping desperate clients with the bugbears of city life. Aided by hexes and a bag of charmed relics, the Wilbies have recovered children abducted by chimney-wraiths, removed infestations of barb-nosed incubi, and ventured into the Gray Plains of the Unmade to soothe a troubled ghost. Well-acquainted with the weird, they never shy away from a challenging case.

But when they are approached by the royal secretary and told the king pleads to be baked into a cake—going so far as to wedge himself inside a lit oven—the Wilbies soon find themselves embroiled in a mystery that could very well see the nation turned on its head. Their effort to expose a royal secret buried under forty years of lies brings them nose to nose with a violent anti-royalist gang, avaricious ghouls, alchemists who draw their power from a hell-like dimension, and a bookish dragon who only occasionally eats people.

Armed with a love toughened by adversity and a stick of chalk that can conjure light from the darkness, hope from the hopeless, Iz and Warren Wilby are ready for a case that will test every spell, skill, and odd magical artifact in their considerable bag of tricks.

Opening Line:

“The king wishes to be cooked alive,” the royal secretary said, accepting the proffered saucer and cup and immediately setting both aside.

My Thoughts:

Josiah Bancroft is a criminally unsung fantasy author. His first novel, Senlin Ascends, was self-published and submitted to author Mark Lawrence’s Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off. It made it to the final stage of the competition before losing to another novel, but had been reviewed so positively by the book bloggers that it gained its own following. It’s the first book in a now-completed tetralogy, The Books of Babel. The Hexlogists is the first book in his new series, and it is pretty darn great! A work of fantasy, this new world he has created has a healthy helping of steampunk elements, and some cozy factors to boot (although the stakes are certainly high).

It was bedlam, a hedonistic riot, or as Victor described it, “the usual whoop-de-do.”

Isolde and Warren Wilby are a very happily married couple known as The Hexologists, though it’s really only Is who practices the art, while War mostly cooks gourmet meals, acts as the brawn when called for, and takes over in social situations requiring the finesse that his wife lacks. Neither is much of a fan of the Crown and its policies, but find themselves hired to look into the matter of blackmail by someone claiming to be the illegitimate child of the king. Of course, there winds up being much, MUCH more going on behind the scenes, and our hexologists are in for quite the adventure.

“That is a Hex of Woe. Its bearer will suffer from insomnia, vertigo, tremors, impotence, styes, tinnitus, and galloping flatulence.”

Bancroft fleshes out this fantasy world with its politics and history of its magics: wizardry, alchemy, necromancy, and hexology. I admit to being a bit lost at times with the details of world building. But this was more than made up for with the fascinating characters, engaging adventures, and an abundance of lines that made me literally laugh out loud. I love how this author writes more unique fantasy rather than simply borrowing from what has become standard for the genre. The result of that combined with the humorous voice of his writing is simply delightful. It’s got the discipline of hex-casting, an incubus who can tell you the details about any corpse buried within its jurisdiction, a gargoyle Goddess of Grotesques, and a gourmand dragon inside what amounts to a bag of holding and who offers many moments of hilarity throughout the story.

He soothed her with walks and theater tickets and outings to bookshops, museums, and restaurants where he confounded the staff by pouring entire boats of gravy into a tattered carpetbag that vented fire like a steak flambé.

There is some mild violence in this book, and several fade to black scenes of our heroes getting randy, but nothing graphic in either regard. This book does not end on a cliffhanger, but just leaves the door open for further escapades for our intrepid duo. Reading this was a delight and I definitely plan on continuing in the series when the sequel is released. I cannot recommend this author enough to fans of the genre!

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