Unbound

Unbound

Jeaniene Frost "Reckoning" The novella's main character, Bones, is from Jeaniene's Night Huntress series. Bones accepts a contract to hunt down a psychotic-murderous pair of ghouls down in New Orleans. It seems the couple have been ruthlessly and heinously torturing, eating and killing innocent citizens (in that order, btw). This was my favorite story from this anthology. I am a sucker for Bone's quick and twisted humor (he always reminds of Spike from Buffy, yet not). For those Bones and Cat fans, this story takes place a few years before Bones and Cat are to meet, so she isn't in this novella; however, the story is no less interesting. The story is eerie, fast-paced, smoothly done and felt complete. 5/5
Kim Harrison "Leyline Drifter" I bought this anthology specifically for this novella. This short story is influenced from the world in Kim Harrison's Hollows series. It was so nice to see Jenks, Madalina and their kids interact from day-to-day. Jenks, a pixie and third partner to Ivy & Rachel of Vampiric Charms Investigative Agency and Bis, a gargoyle who rents roof-space on top of the agency's church make a dynamic duo, when Jenks is hired by another pixie to investigate the death of one of his kids and also the possession of his daughter by an unknown entity. The novella was a nice creative Hollows teaser and also very interesting, with smooth transitions and lots of excitement. 4.5/5
Vicki Pettersson "Dark Matter" This novella is a prequel from Vicki's Sign of the Zodiac series, before Joanna goes through her transition and becomes an agent of light. J.J. is an agent of light and Solange, an agent of Shadow, both are sworn enemies but destiny has something else in mind for them. J.J. and Solange try to break the notion that evil and good can not coexist and even fall in love. This story had moments of dry parts but it also had a lot of excitement and action. I loved the twist at the end! 4/5
Jocelynn Drake "The Dead, The Damned and the Forgotten" I stopped reading Jocelynn's Dark Days series after book 2, it doesn't bode well when you'd rather the "bad guys a/k/a naturi/fae" win, instead of the heroine. I can't say that this novella made me want to reach out and pick up where I Ieft off from the Dark Days series but I did enjoy this novella nonetheless. Mira, the head vampire of Savannah, GA investigates several gruesome deaths in her area. Someone has been setting vampires on fire during the day while they are "dead asleep". This novella didn't knock my socks off but it was interesting and smoothly done. 3/5
Melissa Marr "Tow Lines" I've never read anything from this author but judging her by this novella alone, were she to release an adult novel, I probably wouldn't read it. However, there's just something about this author that makes me want to give her a second chance. Eavan, a glaistig (glaistigs are supernatural beings of the Scottish Highlands, with the upper half of a woman and the lower half of a goat) stalks a flesh peddler; who drugs women, kidnaps them and then sells them to the highest bidder. Now a storyline like this is just twisted enough to get my attention but for some reason, this novella did not. I just wasn't thrilled with this story. To be honest, most of the times I found it confusing. 2.5/5

I thought this anthology was well done. I was excited to get a snippet from Jenks life, I loved seeing how Bones lived before he met Cat and the twist at the end of Vicki's novella

12 out of 12 people found this review helpful.

Anthologies

I really like anthologies. It gives you a good idea of the writing styles of several authors. In this particular book, I had already read all of Kim Harrison's books. I really like her story lines and her characters are always fully involved. I had already read all of Vicki Petterson's books as well and found her story to be just as good as her stand-a-lone books. The other three authors participating in this anthology were new to me. Having read their stories, I would probably look for them the next time I need a book to read. All-in-all, this was a good book to read with some very good story lines. If you want to get the feel of an author . . the very best way is to read their short stories in a collection like this.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Good urban fantasy anthology

I love anthologies and short story collections! I think it's a great way to discover new authors, as well as get a quick taste of stories from some of my favorites. I try to make my "purse book" an anthology as they're easier than full length novels to read sporadically. They're also perfect for my lunch hour reads. This book was a little different for me as I'm already a big fan of all of these ladies, so no new authors to sample. But it is a great selection of stories, so I highly recommend it to all fantasy lovers!

The first story is Ley Line Drifter by Kim Harrison. It features Jenks, my favorite pixie investigator from the Rachel Morgan series. Jenks gets a case of his own, helping a pixie family because their children are being magically attacked by a statue. Was nice to see Jenks and Bis, the teenage gargoyle, again. Rachel doesn't make an appearance, but Ivy has a cameo. Jenks handles things really well, and I think it did both Jenks and Bis good to spread their wings a little and act independently.

The next story is Reckoning by Jeaniene Frost. Good story about vampire bounty hunter Bones tracking two undead serial killers in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. Always nice to see Bones again.

Dark Matters by Vicki Pettersson is the third story presented. It involves the agents of Light from her Signs of the Zodiac series, but before Joanna came into the picture. I really enjoyed it, but the ending took me a little by surprise. I didn't see it coming, but it made sense so I liked it!

Next up is The Dead, The Damned, and the Forgotten by Jocelynn Drake. This one features Mira, from her Dark Days series. I haven't read the series yet, but have several of the books in my TBR pile. A nice introduction to Mira and her world, involving the murder of a nightwalker in her territory. If Mira can't solve the murder, she may lose her territory and be sent back to the Council. Another good story!

Last but not least is Two Lines by Melissa Marr. Liked this one, but could have used a little more background as I'm totally unfamiliar with glaistigs. Eavan does not want to become a full glaistig, which apparently involves both murder and sex. Think those are the two lines that she does not want to cross, but it's getting harder and harder for her to resist. There is a sexy bad guy and an equally appealing good guy, as well as family pressure to just get on with it already. Not bad, but there was that confusion over glaistigs, which dampened my enjoyment a little.

All in all I'd say that this was a good collection of urban fantasy, so I gave it 4 out of 5.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Great Read

Any book with Jeaniene Frost and Kim Harrison is a good book.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Good short stories

I bought this mostly to read the latest short story from Kim Harrison and was pleasantly surprised with the rest of the novel. I ended up enjoying all the short stories from authors that I haven't read before, which goes to show, you don't need a background on these characters to enjoy the stories. It was a fun read!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

fun read

i always enjoy these authors, fun ready

Disappointed

I've read a couple of these authors before and really enjoy their books, but this was just a so so book. Jeaniene Frost's story was one the best in the book. But, that being said....really wasn't worth the money for the whole book.

Recommended

Recommended

Pretty good.

For some reason, I couldn't get into Kim Harrison's story. I re-read the first 3 pages at least 3 times, and couldn't for the life of me understand it... but I have odd tastes and understandings, so don't mind me with that one. BUT! This book is THE book that started me on Jeaniene Frost (Bones is definitely a hottie!) and Jocelynn Drake (Idk, I liked the whole Vampire keeping the bratty vamps in line thing). I enjoyed those the most. I also enjoyed Melissa Marr (the gistligs look cool in my mind!) and Vicki Pettersson (light and dark working together) anthologies. When I was finished, I started looking for anything with Jeaniene Frost, and found her Cat and Bones series. I started reading, and got hooked :) I also looked for Jocelynn Drake, but I think that fanaticism started from just curiosity... but I didn't start on any of the others with this one.

bad idea

this is not the book for anyone wanting to read anything that they can just go atraight into. i had only read two of the authors work, and both of their stories were horrifically confusing. the other stories were both confusing and depressing. it was most definitely not worth it.

Harrison's Story

I bought this solely because of J. Frost's story. I had not even heard of any of the other author's in the book. The first story in the book by Kim Harrison was terribly confusing, and I had no idea what was going on. The dialect was confusing and the storyline also had me confused. Trying to understand what was going on had me scratching my head. I guess if you read her series it makes more sense, but me going into it with no former knowledge of her stories left me very confused. Needless to say, I didn't like it at all and it had me upset that i even bought the book in the first place.

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