Dark and Stormy Knights

fine urban fantasy collection

This fine nine urban fantasy collection focuses on dark knights who protect the innocent and the not innocent from dark nights. The anthology contains five strong entries and four solid contributions. The best two tales are "Even Hand" by Jim Butcher with a Dresden connection as his enemy Marcone has a grudge match with an inhuman sorcerer and Carrie Vaughn's "God's Creatures" with a Kitty connection as Cormac the hunter searches for a werewolf at a reform school. Also top quality are "Even a Rabbit Will Bite" by Rachel Caine starring a dragon slayer who faces unemployment and a fear what next since her prey are almost extinct; Vicki Pettersson's Shifting Star has a female lead who stalks a predator kidnapping young girls; and Ilona Andrews' Kate Daniels assigned to protect "A Questionable Client". The entertaining compilation also includes fun tales from Shannon K. Butcher, P.N. Elrod (a Jack Fleming thriller), Deidre Knight and Lilith Saintcrow.

Harriet Klausner

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Very good

I bought this book.


Anthologies are increasingly serving as "samplers" for hungry paranormal readers, but books like this one prove anthologies can be more. In fact, the tales in this book all carry such depth and weight it's hard to choose a favorite. I'd advise readers to make this anthology one of the ones you pick up first.

Dark and Stormy Knights

Ilona Andrews "A Questionable Client" I really enjoyed this novella. It reads like a prequel as Kate's first encounter with Saiman. It was interesting creative and action-packed. I am a huge Kate Daniel's fan; however this novella just didn't feel the same without Curran. 4.5/5

Jim Butcher "Evenhand" Mr. Marcone, a crime lord assists a desperate woman n the run whose plight is not as it seems. I haven't enjoyed many of Jim Butcher's novellas but I did enjoy this short story. The novella was interesting, felt hard-boilish and was full of action. 3/5

Shannon K. Butcher "The Beacon" Ryder is a hunter walking a fine line between villain and hero. This was my first experience reading any of Shannon's work and I enjoyed this novella. It was entertaining and fast moving. 3.5/5

Rachel Caine "Even a Rabbit Will Bite" This story really grabbed my attention in the beginning but after a quarter of the way through, the story just seem to drag on and on. Nothing exciting seemed to happen and the story became more about a dragon slayer's long and grueling training, than the exciting and dangerous profession of being a dragon slayer. I am not a fan of Rachel's Weather Warden series. I stopped reading it simply because there were too many convenient coincidences and it was becoming completely unbelievable, even for fantasy. 2/5

P.N. Elrod "Dark Lady" I've never clicked with P.N. Elrod's novellas in the past and this short story is no different. Even though this novella had a nice 1930s detective feel to it, the plot was completely predictable and boring. 1/5

Deidre Knight "Beknighted" This short story was way too bad paranormal romance for me and I just couldn't get into it. 0/5

Vicki Pettersson " Shifting Star" Skamar learns what it means to be human, with human frailties. This story was well done and extremely interesting. I am a huge Joanna Archer fan and this tease of a story made me salivate for the next book in the Sign of the Zodiac series The Neon Graveyard. 4/5

Lilith Saintcrow "Rockwood & Mrs. King" Rookwood, a vampire PI finds himself in a bind when a mysterious widow shows up with deep pockets and trouble. 3.5/5

Carrie Vaughn "God's Creatures" I just couldn't get into this short story, it was so boring. 0/5

Authors rarely seem to impress me these days and as far as anthologies go, this was ok. The only exceptions were Ilona Andrews and Vicki Pettersson's short stories. Without those novellas this anthology would have been a bust.

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