Recent Reading: Spoilers!

I'm *this close* to being done with James Steven Rogers' _The Early History of the Law of Bills and Notes_, however, I went on vacation and since I've come back I've only been reading genre stuff (interspersed with bits of _Why Iceland?_, which is also excellent).

If you googled in here, and/or are afraid of spoilers, RUN AWAY! NOW! It is not safe here for you.

_Under Her Skin_, Meljean Brook, Ilona Andrews, Jeaniene Frost

Three stories, two by authors familiar to me. I like Andrews' Kate Daniels and connected books and Frost's Cat/Bones/etc. books, but have not yet read any Meljean Brook novels. My primary reason for buying this was to read the Meljean Brook story to figure out if I might want to read a novel by her. I will likely try _Riveted_ at some point. The Andrews and Frost stories do not appear to be connected to their other work (altho I could be wrong) and the Brook story was arguably the strongest of the three. I do not ordinarily read short stories, so I am by no means a good judge of them, however, reading "Grace of Small Magics" felt a _lot_ like reading an early Anne McCaffery short story that would, decades later, be expanded into a novel, or even a series. I had a really hard time recognizing Yellowstone in the descriptions of Frost's "Pack". Also, I tend to be profoundly unsympathetic of people who make the kinds of stupid decisions made by the viewpoint character (and I mean _before_ the werewolf attack).

_Rosemary and Rue_ Seanan McGuire

First entry in the October Daye series. Title character is a Changeling (mother is Daoine Sidhe, father mortal) who in turn marries a mortal and has a daughter. The prologue is set in the mid 1990s; the rest contemporary with the publication of the book. Nothing good happens to Toby in the interim, but even worse things apparently happen to the people she was trying to rescue.

The balance of the book is devoted to Toby attempting to deal with a geas (altho I don't think it is called that in the book, which struck me as a little odd) laid on her by Evening Winterrose/Evelyn Winter. She's forced to acknowledge the Faerie community/world again and take up an investigation when she'd rather shut everyone she knows out entirely.

I don't actually like books about people who are bad at getting their basic needs met (don't sleep enough, eat regularly, etc.) and who respond to bad circumstances by cutting themselves off from their social network. Alas, this is one of those books. On the other hand, I do like good world building and a good puzzle, and this book provided that. So I tried the next book in the series, too.

_A Local Habitation_

Second entry in the October Daye series. While Toby may not understand why Tybalt treats her the way he does, it seems increasingly obvious to the reader. This was an extremely strange book to read, and not (just) because it involved a bunch of Changelings and Purebloods attempting to upload themselves so as to preserve themselves Forever. (Oooh, was that a spoiler? Could have fooled me.) The world building and puzzle aspects of the book continue to be Excellent, so I will probably read a third one, altho not right now. The Alex and Terrie thing was a little overplayed, however. I had wondered, partway through, if the book was going to be either a they-all-did-it or one-of-the-"dead"-people-isn't-dead things. In the event, it was neither.

I think what really struck me about this entry, however, even more so than the first in the series, was just how Unpleasant the characters are. I hesitate to say all, because Quentin is consistently pleasant (I'm a little surprised he continues to survive).

So I'm taking a break from the series in favor of another in the Emperor's Edge series.