#56 The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

I had heard lots of good things about this book when it first came out but wasn’t sucked in by the book description. I did pick this up to read for the Hugo ballot since it is up for best novel.  Maia has been tucked away and mostly forgotten the youngest son of the elven Emperor born.  He has been tucked away far from court since the death of his mother, the third wife of the Emperor and is half goblin. He is awoken one night to find out his father and three older full elven brothers have died in a dirigible accident.  Completely unprepared for court life and trusting no one not even his guardian the book covers his coming to power and trying to find his way in the politics of court and family.  The book ends on a happy note and there are no battles or wars to be fought, just mostly court intrigue and finding out who killed his family.  This is a coming of age novel but has our hero at the top of the food chain and uses politics instead of battles to chart his progress.  An enjoyable read and I would like to see more in this setting even if it doesn’t follow Maia

#57 Dead Ice by Laurell K. Hamilton

I still read these with the hope that it will be less romantic interactions and more on the zombie raising crime fighting Anita from the early books. And I start the book and it seems to be going that way and then it slides down into group relationships and politics and sex.  After years of furry politics how can Anita say she doesn’t know group dynamics of the were groups that live in St Louis.  The story started out strong with a throwback to a zombie power that Antia though no one else know how to work but it turns out someone has figured out how to put a soul back into a zombie and they are using it for porn.  Once that storyline is set up it is mostly forgotten about and deals with Asher causing drama in the group.  The plot doesn’t get back to the FBI until almost the end. What the book does do is have Antia talking to Manny again and also talking to Larry.  Not sure if this will continue in the future but it was nice to see her talking to older characters again.