eyes.2c Reviews

The Darkness: A Thriller (Hidden Iceland #1) by Ragnar Jonasson        Ok, I don't quite know what to do with this story. It left things puzzling unfinished, and me hanging in midair. (Hanging on every word and action by the way) Unfinished from the point of view of about to retire Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir of the Reykjavík police and her enquiry into the assumed suicide of a young Russian woman found washed up on a deserted shoreline two years before. The more we learn about Hulda, the more we sympathize with her perceptions about her work colleagues, and her inner drive that seems to ignore anything but the goal she's fixated on. As little by little Hulda's life history is revealed, some of her actions become more understandable, if not sometimes slightly bizarre. Hulda's enforced retirement notice begs the questions of the last chapter's happenings and her colleagues opinions of her. Where does the truth lie? Hulda chooses one last case to...

The Bartered Brides (Elemental Masters #13) by Mercedes Lackey                                    Lackey's Sherlock Holmes trope with a touch of horror is vastly engaging. Sherlock and Moriaty have perished over Ravensbruck Falls. Elemental masters John and Mary Watson, occultists Nan Killian and Sarah Lyon-White find themselves enmeshed in a struggle with a necromancer who just might have had links to Moriaty's network. Headless bodies are beginning to turn up, dressed in white garments. Brides!  But for what purpose? Disturbing developments see the Watson's targeted by the unknown adversary. All must be vigilant as danger looms on all sides. The introduction of the spirit Caro, is an interesting addition to the mix. Sarah and Nan along with their feathered companions, Neville the raven and Grey the African parrot, fierce protectors of the girls in the occult adventures. I initiall...

Angel in the Glass, The: (Gabriel Taverner Mystery #2) by Alys Clare                                      A vagrant's body is found in an isolated hut near the small village of Tavy St Luke. Physician Gabriel Taverner and coroner Theophilus Davey rule death from natural causes. Gabriel is puzzled by various lumps on the vagrant's body but it seems leprosy is not the cause. Still, Gabriel is troubled. The more he investigates, the more troubled he becomes. The story weaves together a group of dispirit occasions and people to make a whole. The local doctor, Gabriel and his sister, the midwife, the minister, the Coroner, a dead man with part of an astounding drawing of what seems to be an angel, a household where all is not as it seems, and what was reported as a wolf being seen in the region. Meanwhile local boys think they have found a cache of jewels.  It's 1604 early in the rei...

Shadow of the Fox (Shadow of the Fox #1) by Julie Kagawa     Kagawa has come through again with a winner! I was wrapped around with Japanese folklore characters, demons and samurais, on an epic quest...and it was heavenly! A startling new fantastical world to roam in, led on by a master storyteller. Half human / half Kitsune ("Wild kitsune, the foxes that roamed the hidden places of Iwagoto, were masters of illusion magic and shapeshifting. Kitsune were yokai, creatures of the supernatural"), Yumeko has spent her life in a secluded temple being brought up by monks. The most challenging things she faces are self inflicted, brought about by her fun loving, trickster Kitsune nature.  One very ordinary night all that changes! One moment  everything is normal and within the space of a heartbeat the monastry is under attack by creatures from nightmares--demons and their entourage. Yumeko escapes with the Silent Winds temple leader, Master Isao's blessing, taking ...

Dark Queen Rising (A Margaret Beaufort Mystery #1)   by Paul Doherty       It's official! I am enslaved to Paul Doherty's historical novels. Now a brand new writing that encompass's the time of Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond, and the sweeping tale of the woman who would put her son on the throne of England.  The balancing acts, the fragile knitting together of fact and fiction displayed by the lead characters particularly Christopher Urswicke, Margaret Beaufort’s personal clerk, reflect the masterful unfolding of the penmanship of Doherty as he weaves a saga based on his avid research, the truths he has to work with, the findings of others and his not inconsiderable storytelling talent. I was aghast as I trudged knee deep in blood and gore with the antagonists, and witnessed the sacrifices carried out towards the goal of wearing the crown of England, from the inexplorably command for foes to be cut down 'no quarter' given, to the dank back paths...