#55 Bone and Jewel Creatures by Elizabeth Bear

I've sat on this novella for a while. I tend to do that with novellas and I just wait until I want to read an entire story in one sitting but don't want to commit a lot of time to it. I'm happy to say that I can read more about this universe since it is set in the same world as the Eternal Sky series. Now this means I will have to start reading it in my spare time.

The story is set in a world of magic and the beginning of a wizard war in the city. The necromancer is making a bid for power over the other wizards. Bijou is brought a feral child by her old apprentice and she creates a hand out of bone and jewels  to replace the infected one that had to be removed. Her home is filled with the magical bone creatures that serve her and she creates more of them for her customers. In the space of a few pages you find out how the city politics work and a lot of history between the wizards. A good read and I'm glad there is more for me to read as well.

#56 Blood Work by Kim Harrison & Pedro Maia

I have to admit I am not a fan of the graphic novel retelling of novels that I have all ready read. They feel more like cashing in on fans than doing something cool for the fans. This one is  an original story and that is a bonus and that it is set in the Hollows series as a first meeting of Rachel and Ivy. I do wonder what the word count would have been if this had been written as a short story instead of a graphic novel. You get to see most of the players in the main series but not all of them since this is early days in the universe. A light enjoyable read for the fans but nothing that has to read in order to understand everything about the story line.