u/Kell_Shaw

James Stark is back in town, and he's pissed.

Eleven years ago, Stark’s magician ‘friends’ turned against him and sent him to Hell, where Stark spent all of that time battling demons in an arena. Oddly, each time he got torn apart or nearly died, he got better and became more powerful in the process. After achieving a position of respect as an assassin for demons, Stark goes on the lam, stealing a bunch of powerful artefacts, including a key that allows him to move between dimensions, and returns to LA where he goes on a revenge spree for the people that hurt him eleven years ago, and murdered his girlfriend.

The book has a strong start. Stark's got a clear goal, and it was fun to see him deal with his first enemy, now a washed-up magician running a crappy video store, while trying to figure out how to get to his arch-enemy Mason. Stark has a strong, straightforward, brutal personality. He'd rather beat up someone than do a deal, or doesn't think too hard about the consequences of his actions, or really care. If you're in his way, watch out!

And this violent, driven man is perfectly matched by his circle of enemies. Except things get more complicated. There's some heavy epic world-building going on with angels, demons, and other invading forces, lots of different supporting characters with secretive agendas, and lots of location changes. In fact, the main personal revenge arc (of Stark versus Mason) is buried under the supernatural invasion/political plot, and when the confrontation between them finally occurs, it feels a bit anticlimactic. In fact, Stark feels so powerful towards the end that I wondered if anything would ever challenge him. I reckon that this first book is too jam-packed; maybe it would have worked better as two books or a trilogy. Still, there's a lot to like, with that revenge-thriller energy, a sort of story and background reminiscent of Hellblazer/Vertigo Comics and a dose of early 2000s urban fantasy television.

Whether you like this book (and presumably future books) will depend on if you like Stark: an in-your-face, Mike Hammer-esque supernatural investigator. I preferred the early part of the book where it was one man's revenge rather than all the cosmic stuff, but this is the first book in a long series. It'll be fun to see where it goes from here!

(Also posted on my blog)

I have this love/hate relationship with LGBT fiction. Either it's too sugary sweet for me, or so bitter and miserable that I want to lie in bed with the covers pulled over my head and not turn another page. I was trying to describe this to a friend, and they explained the concept of queer fiction being ‘hug-boxing' – as in everything is bright and shiny with rainbows – or scab-pulling, where it looks at the messy side of being an outsider in a world that isn't really made for you. (Apparently this was from a Twitter thread centuries ago in internet time.)

This book by HS Kallinger strikes a medium approach. There's trauma and depression, but it's more about getting over it and forming connections with others. Gabriel Belmont, our protagonist, is a high school-aged dhampir (half-vampire, via Dad), who starts the book with no friends and has to cut himself to feel things. And then he summons a demon, Lex, using a pentagram made of his own blood. But when the demon arrives, there's no violence or soul-stealing. Instead, the pair have a deep and meaningful conversation that lasts all night (like Before Sunrise). And that moment of connection enables Gabe to get his act together. Cut to two years later: Gabriel has a successful group of poly-partners lined up, he's getting ready to go to college, and has decent relationships with his parents and best friend Jackie. And he's keen to explore his genderqueer and bisexual side.

I enjoyed the book when it focused on Gabriel's relationship with his vampire father. He's a strong, assertive male, but in a protective, family-oriented way. It was great to see Dad rescue Gabriel after he goes on an ill-advised date with a vampire, which leads into a heartfelt discussion of depression, anxiety, and the secrets families share. After that, Dad gives Gabriel an admin job at the police station, which helps him focus. I did like seeing how there was a special vampire division of the police. I was less interested in the story around Gabriel's relationships with his poly-partners, which also gets a fair focus.

I was also keen to see how Gabe would meet up with the demon Lex again. By the law of mirroring in writing, I'd assumed that as Lex saved Gabriel, the favour would be returned. That plays out, but it feels a bit rushed, and I wish that this had been a stronger focus in the book, with a less ‘easy win' solution.

Still, it was fun, and I really enjoyed meeting Vampire Dad. Overall, I'd recommend this to people who want to read about a young queer person finding themselves after high school, overcoming depression and anxiety to get into a good place with their friends and family. There's also a sequel out, Blood Dhampir, where Gabe is off to college and on to new adventures.

First posted on my blog.

Useful associations: SPFBO-XI, pride month
Bingo squares (lots!): Trans or Nonbinary Protagonist (genderqueer), Small Press or Self-Published, Non-Human Protagonist (he's a dhampir or half-vampire)

Imagine waking up in your favourite fantasy world. Except, what if it's Game of Thrones? And what would you do? Try to warn Ned? “Don't take the job!” Help Tyrion? Try not to change the plot? Except portal fantasy is deliberately designed to allow outsiders to mess around with the plot, ever since there was A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. In Lost in Austen, a television miniseries, the protagonist is spectacular in how she messes up the plot of Pride and Prejudice.

And in This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me, Maggie wakes up in the world of her favourite book series, on the streets. She's got no money, clothes or resources.

But she has a secret weapon. She knows the Plot. Her strongest weapon. Except, while she's read books 1 and 2 to death, book 3 was never published, so she doesn't know all the twists or how her favourite fantasy series ends. And she's going to change things, for the better. Or so she intends.

Anyway, part of the fun of this is seeing how Maggie can leverage her knowledge of the Plot to change the world. She's got some issues - if she changes the Plot, her ability to see the future isn't worth it any more. So she resolves not to change too much, but then, as her relationships with the world and the characters deepen, she focuses on preventing a murder that has a bunch of horrifying repercussions.

Maggie pulls some cash together, meets some characters that she knows (but don't know her), and establishes herself as an information broker.

One issue with the story is that there's a lot of info-dumping; I mean, Maggie has read these books and we haven't, so she'll do lots of exposition to explain characters, situations, and plots. (I'd love to have seen Andrews or even another author, having written a straight fantasy series, the later mess things up with an isekai character visiting that world.) Another thing is that the characters sits around, wide-eyed, as she narrates their backstory to them, or the Plot. And they don't interrupt. (This never happens while running D&D).

Anyway, the backstory is dense. Sometimes, when a character's true identity was revealed, I went, “Who?” and had to search back through the book to review the context. Definitely one of those will work better in a re-read. But everything is tightly structured, and there's payoff for all the info dumps and plot drips. It all fits together nicely, like Lego.

But for all these issues, I couldn't put it down and even felt a pang of regret for having ended the book. It ends on a cliffhanger, and I'm definitely going to get the next one to see how it unfolds.

Bingo squares: Published in 2026, Murder Mystery (maybe), Politics and Court Intrigue

First posted on my blog.