Winter’s Gifts, by Ben Aaronovich. Subterranean Press, 2023

I was delighted to find the library had the latest (I think- at least until November) installment in Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series, because I love this fictional world and the fictional detectiv that inhabit it. I was a little disappointed to find that these rivers were not actually in London (this one is in northern Wisconsin), which means a different narrator from the main series.  This time we get a woman (FBI Special Agent Kimberly Reynolds). She knows significantly less magic than main narrator Peter Grant, but is a cut above the one in the book set in Germany.

The FBI’s ‘Mulder’ called in an event, which really should have been paid more attention to. No one knew what to do about it… so it made the rounds until someone *did* know that the FBI does indeed have an x-files sort of division. Sadly, it’s only a couple of people, and one is retired and missing. So it falls to Reynolds to head to Wisconsin in mid-winter, to face she knows not what. First off she’s facing a tornado (and this is not tornado territory) that tore apart buildings with surprising accuracy. It keeps snowing and the roads are closed, the tornado keeps appearing and going after people with surgical precision, and it looks like an event from more than a hundred years ago is at the heart of this problem.

I did enjoy this book. Not as much as the ones set in England, but more than the Germany one. Kimberly is an interesting and lively narrator, not slow at all in figuring things out; great fun to read. With a mix of Native American lore, early American history, and magical things going on, it’s a good mix. It could have stood to be longer; the ending comes in bang! And that’s it, in a rather hectic way. Four stars.

 

 

Into Every Generation a Slayer is Born: How Buffy Staked Our Hearts, by Evan Ross Katz. Hachette Books, 2022

I was so happy when I saw this book on the New Books shelf at our library! A fan book on Buffy! I’m almost 70 but damn I love Buffy. But the book was not what I expected. I’m not sure what I expected, really, perhaps a look at how Buffy changed the TV world, how it changed its audience, something about the themes. That’s…. not what I got. The first part of the book is several chapters describing the seasons. This takes up a lot of space. Then he goes to some interviews, of cast and crew. Sadly, many of the main characters declined to be interviewed, so there is a lot of space given to interviews with secondary characters. Not that I mind knowing about the experience those actors had, I just thought it would have been nice to have a lot more about the leads. There is a chapter about the wardrobe, mainly Buffy’s, and of course a good deal of space is given to what a turd Joss Whedon turned out to be, and the paradox of him creating a cast with strong female leads, empowered to the max, and then being an abusive ass in real life, to the point that he wasn’t allowed to be alone in a room with Michelle Trachtenberg. Parts of the book are his personal memoir, slipped in there here and there. He’s definitely team Angel/Buffy, and down on people who are team Spike/Buffy because he found out that James Marsters used the style of a predatory man in a bar when Spike first started stalking Buffy. He seems to think that is Marsters personal way of living his life. Can you spell “acting”, Mr. Katz?

I was fairly disappointed. Parts of the book had me overwhelmed with details about things that weren’t central to what I thought the book would be about, while I was sad that there wasn’t more about the central cast. Sad that he never touches on how Buffy probably opened the way for other TV shows to give their female leads more empowerment. He writes about how he doesn’t think queer relationships are given enough screen time; for instance, how Willow and Tara don’t share a kiss until very late in the relationship. Meanwhile he sort of ignores how Willow and Tara are pretty much the first queer relationship on American TV (Queer as Folk notwithstanding).

I personally feel that Buffy went a good ways to normalize queer relationships on American TV, while Spike’s character proves that people- even those without a soul- can grow and change, just as Cordelia did earlier in the series. I loved that the primary cast were women who had male colleagues but not male saviors- they all saved each other.  

The book needed a good edit. Not just for grammatical errors, but to reel in the sprawl of a book that went in multiple directions at once. I’ll give it four stars, I suppose, because while it was rough going it did deal with subjects I was passionate about.

What Moves the Dead, by T. Kingfisher. A Tom Doherty Associates Book, 2022

When Alex Easton, former soldier, arrives at her dear friends the Ushers’ home, she is rather surprised by what she finds. The mansion is pretty much in ruins, the lake right out front is dank and full of… something… , there are some really weird hares in the brush, and it seems deserted. Worse is the appearance of his friends: Roderick is pale and gaunt, while Madeline looks at death’s door. A doctor friend is staying with them, and he is baffled as to the cause.

Based on Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, the story has a lot more life to it than the original. The story is very dark- there is body horror that really got to me- but there is a lot of wit in this version. Easton’s horse, Hob, is more articulate than many people I know. The dialog is well done. I love the characters.

It’s been a long time since I read Poe’s original (I first read it when I was in elementary school), but I really don’t remember it giving me the all-out creeps. This story did. It’s based on a concept I haven’t seen used before (but I’m far from an expert in horror). The story, like it’s inspiration, is pretty short – I read it in one night- but a lot happens in it. The atmosphere is close and creepy. Everything is dark, dreary, and nothing is nice about it. Another win for the author!