So what have you been reading?

 

This is set earlier in Penric’s life and has him solving the murder of a woman that wanted to speak to the archdivine but was turned away.  When Penric finds out she is dead the next day he starts to find out what she wanted to tell his boss and who wanted her dead.

 

The latest finds Penric off to see a potentially possessed ox at a bridge building site that his brother-in-law is working at along with Penric’s son.  Otta and Rina are brought with them so Otta can learn first-hand about newly possessed and Rina to keep her company. Rina is happy about this because she is interested in possibly following in her father's footsteps.  Things happen and the ox gets lose and everyone is searching for it before something happens and the demon jumps to another host. This is also a story of a father watching his kids make decisions about their futures and possibly laying the groundwork for future books about the kids.

 

This novella is from Zane’s point of view.  At the Summer Solstice party and charged with giving a gift to a woman his grandmother expects him to wed for a financial alliance for his house. When the Techwave breaks into the research lab of the house hosting the party Zane is right on them to figure out what technology they are trying to steal. But the mystery gets even more interesting when he sees Asterin Armas, his potential bride in the lab as well. The Techwave grabs her as a hostage and but Zane is able to free her, but the Techwave gets away and has what they are looking for.  Zane has several interesting conversations after all the action and you get a new spin on his character.  

 

Vesper is now in charge of the company she used to work for after exposing her boss’s treachery. But she is still hiding her bond with Kyrion from him and Lord Holloway.  When the Techwave kidnaps her to use her technical expertise Kyrion realizes the bond between them is still active. Now the two of them are on the run and trying to avoid death by having the power of their bond siphoned off by Lord Holloway.  A fun followup to the previous book.

 

Pen and Des are on the trail of some books that might be found at an abandoned abbey, Along the way he picks up a helper of sorts, Roz a deserter from both the army and a bandit group.  Roz plans on robbing Penric after getting to the monastery but his former bandit buddies have found him and he sells them on his plan of robbing Pen of the riches he is going to find.  But riches to Pen and Desdemona are not the same to Roz, and it doesn’t help that Pen and Des know what is going on with Roz. A nice enough tale and maybe someday we will see more of Roz. 

 

Sachi is being married off to the Dragon to fulfill a bargain that has gone back centuries. But she isn’t what sees seems. Instead, she is to kill the Dragon within a few weeks or die from a curse that was put on her in order to have her complete the mission.  The Dragon is bound to the kingdom that sends an heir every 100 years to bind him with the kingdom but the current King is tired of not being in control.  Sachi is also in love with her handmaid that has been trained as an assassin to help with her mission. Of course plans don’t go the way they were supposed to. Things get resolved by the end but there is a lot more to this universe to find out about.

This is set after the first series, but this is a great starting point for a new reader since Kate and Curran have moved away from Atlanta and are starting a new life with their son Conlan.  The idea of them trying to live a quiet life even as they are renovating an old fort to live in is amusing to fans of the characters.  The kidnapping of the nephew of their head construction guy puts Kate on the road to let everyone know she is back.  She wasn’t planning on introducing herself to all the major players in the area but she is going to try and maintain a low profile and it will be amusing once everyone knows who she is.   

Curran is also trying to stay out of Pack politics but it doesn’t take long at all to show that it will come back to bite him  and get drawn back into the Atlanta pack.  The consequences of good intentions is going to be the death of their quiet retirement. 

 

A fun story and I’m glad that the authors decided to surprise the fans with this novella.

Once again Mira Grant hits it out of the park with a story that first gives you giant monsters but then settles down into a years long search for a sister caught on the other side of a barrier that produced those monsters.  Susan and Katherine become separated the day the monsters came and haven’t been able to contact one another since.  But a message gets through to Susan from Katherine, and Susan who has spent her life studying the barrier will do anything to see her sister again.   Life is different on the other side of the barrier and the children conceived and born around the barrier are of great interest to multiple governments.  Now think about what would happen if people born in the rifts could come through.  A good what if story and a setting I would certainly like to see explored some more. 




 

This Penric novella is set earlier in his timeline so if the reader isn’t caught up with all of them it is fine.  Penric has stopped being a physician and is now just working on his book and occasionally as a temple sorcerer. The city of Lodi has a huge festival for the Bastard god, the god that Penric represents.  What starts out as consulting a shipwreck victim that has a demon inside causes Penric to meet the local saint to help cast out the demon.  But the victim has escaped the temple and Penric needs to hunt him down with only the saint for help during the festival night.   A great story and very enjoyable without having to have read all the other ones.