So what have you been reading?

Set in the same universe as The Spellshop but there is no need for the reader to have read it before this one since it doesn’t hurt the enjoyment of the story.  Terlu was a lonely librarian in the Capital of the Empire and used magic to make a sentient spider plant. Her punishment is to become a statue and placed in a library reading room as a warning to anyone who thinks about using magic without being a sorcerer.  Six years later she wakes up in a snowy wood not knowing where she is or how she got there.  She finds herself on an island full of magical greenhouses and one irritated gardener. Yarrow is the last person on the island of Belde taking care of the magical greenhouses created by a sorcerer that has died, but the greenhouse magic is failing and he needs help.  Terlu uses her linguistic skills to puzzle out the late sorcerer’s magic all the while worrying about being caught and turned back into a statue.  This is a very slow friends to lovers story and the setting is so gorgeous And I hope there will be more stories set in these islands.

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Mallory Viridian has seen way too many murders in her life and even after leaving Earth to live among aliens she hasn’t completely gotten away from it.  Currently in a lull ignoring her messages and trying to raise a baby spaceship. When a cruise ship full of mystery lovers is going to dock at the space station she finds out that she is supposed to give a keynote and meet with her agent who has been trying to reach her.   The ship docking isn’t a normal ship it seems to have limitless ability to adapt its interior to anything and has stored almost all of the data from Earth’s internet.  Mallory meets up with her agent and guess who gets murdered later on that day.  Now she needs to solve the murder and figure out what is so different about Metis. And for fans of the series, Tina is back bringing her own special blend of chaos.

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Long time fans of the series finally get to see these two tell the world that they are partners. The story isn’t told linearly and keeps flipping to the past and present with the present in the book being centuries after the war. This story of long time friends to lovers is nice and it gives fans of the book a glimpse into the futures of so many of the characters in the book. It almost felt like a coda to the series but at the end there is a sentence that will bring joy to fans of this setting…. The Guild Hunter series will continue soon.

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This one deals with falcon shifters and a Justice Psy.  The story focuses on new characters so it can be a good start for a new reader if they don’t mind a few spoilers.  The Justice at the end of her career since her shields are disappearing which happens with all Justice Psy and Eleri is trying to atone for a lie her trainer had her say about a murder case with a Psy killing some falcon shifters. Adam is the leader of the WindHaven and orphaned by the killer that went free, and he isn’t happy that Eleri is back in his area. But if you have read enough of this series, you know the sparks will fly and they will solve a mystery together.   I liked seeing more about the Justice Psy in this one and seeing more new shifters made for a great read.

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This book has an murderer that sets up tableaus of famous paintings using the bodies of his victims. He is a spoiled rich man that never grew up and was always cossetted by his mother. He has never wanted for anything and for art gallery owners turn down his work he will show them just what he can do with his talents and money.  Eve and Peabody work the case with every clue that is left behind and always serve justice to the victims of the crimes.

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Thara Celehar can’t speak for the dead officially since he has lost his power but he is still doing a lot of the same duties and helping Velhiro Tomasaran find her way in the office of Witness for the Dead.  When he is cast in the roll of Speaker for the Dead to a massacre of dragons that happened so long ago he has to return to the capital and trade on the connections he made in the first book set in this universe. 

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I have read the Kushiel series years ago and thought it would be interesting to read it from the view of Joscelin.  The new part for fans of the books is his time as a child learning the Brotherhood’s ways.  It was amusing to have book one from his point of view, but I definitely enjoyed going back to Terre d’Ange and meeting everyone all over again.  

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A talented AI that is an investigative reporter wakes up and finds they are missing over a week of memories and have no idea what they were working on.  A bit of sleuthing on their part has them back on the path of what xir were doing on the moon.  I liked the idea that Scorn has both parents in xir life and an older AI sibling.  The setting and mystery was good and I would like to see more in this setting.

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The third mystery has Pleiti going to help a former classmate now at a rival university. She goes to recruit Mossa’s help against the plagiarism charges on her friend’s cousin’s academic work.  Mossa is depressed and sends Pleiti away offering no support and just wants to be left alone to wallow in her melancholy. Pleiti arrives at the university and uses the mantra “What would Mossa do” to guide her to help Villette find the person slandering her and stop her from receiving a donship from Stortellen University. It was fun to see the role of primary investigator on Pleiti’s shoulders. 

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With Eve’s boss dead things appear to be going Eve’s way but not for long. When she presents the current Prime Minster, an Elder God, Upert’s skull she finds out that time travel is tricky and now she has to find and present another version of Rupert’s head to the PM. Rupert shows up and the geas that he has on her comes roaring back to life and she is almost powerless to fight him.  Eve finds herself walking the dream paths on the hunt for Rupert in the past and bring his head back to the present day. Stuck in the Regency and constrained by a woman’s role in that time, Eve has to find a way to escape the magical prison she has been put into. A great book and now it makes me want to reread the books about Eve.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss