The Blue Fairy's Bookshelf

The Fleet (Fleet, Book One) Edited by David Drake and Bill Fawcett, 1988 Premise: Anthology series in which authors (many well-known) write stories in a shared universe. The human-allied worlds are at war with the Khalia. We can’t understand each other, we don’t know for sure how it started, but The Fleet is the last line of defense against invasion and subjugation. Ever since I randomly read the second one in this series in 2007, I’ve kept an eye out for the rest of the series. They’re anthologies, the quality is mixed, but there’s enough little gems here to keep me checking the dollar rack. This first volume includes eleven stories very loosely strung together by a frame story about a news (propaganda) producer looking for a good story to boost morale. The stories range widely, including a semi-hypothetical account of how the war started, a comedic piece about a quartermaster put in charge of a third-tier base who has to figure out how to convince a newly encountered spec...

Bones of the Fair Andrea Höst, 2013 Premise: Sequel to Champion of the Rose , but you don't need to read that one first. Gentian has been 14 long years away from her home in Darest. She returns for an irresistible job and the possibility that the miraculous return of the ruling family will have repercussions for her particular problem. She will stay to investigate a mystery that impinges on the future of her home, and its complicated relationship with the ones who lived there before humans... Don't expect a direct continuation of the story of Champion of the Rose . While several characters are in both, and this is the continuation of the larger story, Soren - the heroine of CotR - only appears briefly. Instead, this is Gentian's story, and she is marvelous. Quiet and self-possessed, she is heir to a line of master mages but she specializes is the relatively unflashy business of garden design, informed by her sensitivity to places. Her opposite is the other viewpo...

Locke & Key Volume 6: Alpha & Omega Joe Hill, Gabriel Rodriguez, 2014 (issues originally 2013) New Release: I received a digital galley of this book from Netgalley for the purpose of review. Premise: Sequel to Clockworks . The final chapter. Everything is in place. The Omega Key has been found. Evil forces are on the move in Keyhouse, and Tyler and Kinsey Locke are going to have to be very careful and very lucky to live through the end of the school year… Ack. What is left to say about Locke & Key? I wasn’t sure about this series at first, but it really grew on me over time. The horror grows slowly and steadily, the characters and the backstory are built piece by piece. This volume opens with a fully natural-feeling recap, just so you know where everyone is, and then launches full-tilt into the climax. Everything that happens was set up. It all makes sense (for the most part anyway) with each character’s established motivations, but all the plot twists and tur...

Avengers: The Enemy Within Kelly Sue DeConnick, Scott Hepburn, Matteo Buffagni, Filipe Andrade, 2013 Premise: Collects Avengers:The Enemy Within #1, Captain Marvel #13-14, 17, Avengers Assemble #16-17. Sequel to Captain Marvel: Down . Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel, has been having a rough time. Between dinosaur attacks and villains threatening her friends, her own powers might be killing her. She'll need the help of all her teammates to face down the force behind the plot against her. I really enjoyed this, both for itself and on principle. But first, my little quibbles. Because this story took place over two series, there are two art teams. The styles aren't too jarringly different, but one team has an obsession with bulging veins that I find really off-putting. The dialogue might be just slightly too quippy. It's superheroes, so it should be quippy, but there were a lot of characters in this and their dialogue could have differentiated them just a bit mo...