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80 reviews for:
Urban Enemies
Jonathan Maberry, Kevin Hearne, Kelley Armstrong, Seanan McGuire, Jim Butcher
3.5 AVERAGE
80 reviews for:
Urban Enemies
Jonathan Maberry, Kevin Hearne, Kelley Armstrong, Seanan McGuire, Jim Butcher
3.5 AVERAGE
3.6* average
I'm just going to say off the hop how much I love villain POV stories. I really, really do. There were only a couple of stories in this that I didn't especially care for.
That being said, this is the eighth anthology I've read in the last three months in an effort to read all the InCryptid supplementary material, and oh god, am I ever glad to be able to take a nice, long break from anthologies for a while. Now, onto the review!
Even Hand The Dresden Files are on my Books to Read list, so I skipped this story so as to avoid spoiling myself. When I get to it in the series, I'll come back and edit my review.
Hounded It took me a couple pages to get into this, which isn't great thing to say for a short story, but once I did, it really pulled me in. This is not the first Kelley Armstrong short story I've read, and they've consistently impressed me so far. Being unfamiliar with the main series, the Huntsman seemed entirely reasonable (4*)
Nigsu Ga Tesgu I know "magic needs a human sacrifice to work" trope is done to death (pun definitely intended), but it's one I like when done right, and I found this was done very well. This story was delightfully ruthless, and I look forward to seeing what the rest of the series is like. (4.5*)
Sixty-Six Seconds This story was delightful. Fontaine a fantastic character with a great kind of nuance. Rache was also delightful and her reactions to things was unexpected. Even Ada, who didn't appear much, was great and layered. The action was glossed over, but I thought it worked quite well for the story, which wasn't an action story but rather one about character motivation and untold histories. (4*)
Kiss I just couldn't get into this at all. Maybe I needed more context to really enjoy it, but I found myself asking "why" a lot without ever receiving an answer. I'm also not super into WWII stories. The setting is never enough to actually turn me off from a story, but it's never even close to a draw for me. Finally, I found myself wondering who "you" was the entire story. Was Pericles literally addressing the presumably human reader, or was there an in-universe character he was speaking to? Not knowing drive me up the wall. (2.5*)
The Naughtiest Cherub This made me laugh more than once. It's hilarious. Clever, imaginative, and definitely made me want to read the rest of the series. (5*)
The Resurrectionist I mostly enjoyed this one, I think, though not excessively much. I wrote this review at least a week after reading this story, and while I could remember the story itself, I just can't remember what my reaction to it was, which tells me I didn't especially like or dislike it. (3*)
Down Where the Darkness Dwells Simon was a super un character, and I really enjoyed every aspect of this story, from the Indiana Jones lead in, to the. All very well done. (I also wrote this review like, a week after reading the story, but unlike the previous, I remembered how much I really liked it.) (4*)
Bellum Romanium This story was competent, I suppose. There was nothing I can pinpoint about it about why I didn't like it - aside from the beginning and the climax apparently being disconnected entirely from the middle. I just could not get into this story at all. It took me several tries, and over a week to finish this story.(2.5*)
Altar Boy I really, really enjoyed the beginning of this story. I'm a devout atheist, but Toys' regret and redemption was super well-written and engaging, even before I learned what he needed redemption for - and this story did a good job of explaining that, too, in a nice, concise manner that didn't detract from the main story. And then, toward the end, I just... didn't like it anymore. Maybe the series isn't Islamophobic and doesn't try to paint Catholicism as some fantastic redemptive force and Islam as a religion for fanatics, but this story was tainted by the perceived ideology and the unfortunate connotations. (3*)
Make it Snappy The writing in this was very formal -at times it was unfortunately stiff - and sometimes during the action sequences it was a little hard to follow. The story wasn't anything special, though near the end I did become interested in Leo's past. Despite all of its flaws, however, I still more-or-less enjoyed this. (3*)
Chase the Fire What a twist that ending was. While tehre's no doubt this story would be more interesting to me if I knew any of the backstory, including who Lawson was, this still held my attention and kept me interested. The writing is smooth. And wow, what an ending. (4*)
Unexpected Choices This was a lot of fun. The world-building is intriguing and unique - I definitely wanted to know more - and the characters were interesting, especially Shofiel. I can't say I understood everyting, not knowing the canon, but I wanted to. (4*)
Reel Life There is absolutely nothing likable about Seth Lockwood, a brutal, callow man, which might be what makes him such a great villain. I did have a lot of trouble understanding his (and Eleanor's, for that matter) logic (3.5*)
The Difference Between Deceit and Delusion This was another story with another irredeemable villain and a lot of culture. It had interesting magics and creatures - I especially liked the twist on vampiric lore for the main character. I did think there was a lot of completely unnecessary plot elements included in this though. (3.5*)
Balance This was a great insight deeper into the cuckoos. It talked about their history, and you could see into their psychology. There was an intriguing nod toward cuckoo queens with an ominous mention of "their fate" which is apparently undesirable, and definitely makes me want to know more. Unfortunately, the main character really isn't much except for a vessel for telling us about all of this - McGuire's unfortunate habit for telling, not showing, is especially strong in this. And a major flaw: (3.5*)
Everywhere Surprisingly, Pitchfork County is on my To Read list, and so I skipped this story too in order to avoid spoilers.
I'm just going to say off the hop how much I love villain POV stories. I really, really do. There were only a couple of stories in this that I didn't especially care for.
That being said, this is the eighth anthology I've read in the last three months in an effort to read all the InCryptid supplementary material, and oh god, am I ever glad to be able to take a nice, long break from anthologies for a while. Now, onto the review!
Even Hand The Dresden Files are on my Books to Read list, so I skipped this story so as to avoid spoiling myself. When I get to it in the series, I'll come back and edit my review.
Hounded It took me a couple pages to get into this, which isn't great thing to say for a short story, but once I did, it really pulled me in. This is not the first Kelley Armstrong short story I've read, and they've consistently impressed me so far. Being unfamiliar with the main series, the Huntsman seemed entirely reasonable
Spoiler
at first, and then he morphed into something beyond. It was subtle and chilling and really fantastic.Nigsu Ga Tesgu I know "magic needs a human sacrifice to work" trope is done to death (pun definitely intended), but it's one I like when done right, and I found this was done very well.
Spoiler
Even if an ancient, paralyzed old woman floating away while cackling is a ridiculous mental image.Sixty-Six Seconds This story was delightful. Fontaine a fantastic character with a great kind of nuance. Rache was also delightful and her reactions to things was unexpected. Even Ada, who didn't appear much, was great and layered. The action was glossed over, but I thought it worked quite well for the story, which wasn't an action story but rather one about character motivation and untold histories. (4*)
Kiss I just couldn't get into this at all. Maybe I needed more context to really enjoy it, but I found myself asking "why" a lot without ever receiving an answer. I'm also not super into WWII stories. The setting is never enough to actually turn me off from a story, but it's never even close to a draw for me. Finally, I found myself wondering who "you" was the entire story. Was Pericles literally addressing the presumably human reader, or was there an in-universe character he was speaking to? Not knowing drive me up the wall. (2.5*)
The Naughtiest Cherub This made me laugh more than once. It's hilarious. Clever, imaginative, and definitely made me want to read the rest of the series. (5*)
The Resurrectionist I mostly enjoyed this one, I think, though not excessively much. I wrote this review at least a week after reading this story, and while I could remember the story itself, I just can't remember what my reaction to it was, which tells me I didn't especially like or dislike it. (3*)
Down Where the Darkness Dwells Simon was a super un character, and I really enjoyed every aspect of this story, from the Indiana Jones lead in, to the
Spoiler
demon possessionBellum Romanium This story was competent, I suppose. There was nothing I can pinpoint about it about why I didn't like it - aside from the beginning and the climax apparently being disconnected entirely from the middle. I just could not get into this story at all. It took me several tries, and over a week to finish this story.(2.5*)
Altar Boy I really, really enjoyed the beginning of this story. I'm a devout atheist, but Toys' regret and redemption was super well-written and engaging, even before I learned what he needed redemption for - and this story did a good job of explaining that, too, in a nice, concise manner that didn't detract from the main story. And then, toward the end, I just... didn't like it anymore. Maybe the series isn't Islamophobic and doesn't try to paint Catholicism as some fantastic redemptive force and Islam as a religion for fanatics, but this story was tainted by the perceived ideology and the unfortunate connotations. (3*)
Make it Snappy The writing in this was very formal -at times it was unfortunately stiff - and sometimes during the action sequences it was a little hard to follow. The story wasn't anything special, though near the end I did become interested in Leo's past. Despite all of its flaws, however, I still more-or-less enjoyed this. (3*)
Chase the Fire What a twist that ending was. While tehre's no doubt this story would be more interesting to me if I knew any of the backstory, including who Lawson was, this still held my attention and kept me interested. The writing is smooth. And wow, what an ending. (4*)
Unexpected Choices This was a lot of fun. The world-building is intriguing and unique - I definitely wanted to know more - and the characters were interesting, especially Shofiel. I can't say I understood everyting, not knowing the canon, but I wanted to. (4*)
Reel Life There is absolutely nothing likable about Seth Lockwood, a brutal, callow man, which might be what makes him such a great villain. I did have a lot of trouble understanding his (and Eleanor's, for that matter) logic
Spoiler
in consistently returning to Glass Town, or why he would think that destroying one person in his family would somehow make the rest of the family, who assumed he's been dead for decades, forget about him.The Difference Between Deceit and Delusion This was another story with another irredeemable villain and a lot of culture. It had interesting magics and creatures - I especially liked the twist on vampiric lore for the main character. I did think there was a lot of completely unnecessary plot elements included in this though. (3.5*)
Balance This was a great insight deeper into the cuckoos. It talked about their history, and you could see into their psychology. There was an intriguing nod toward cuckoo queens
Spoiler
(Sarah?)Spoiler
The MC talks repeatedly about how cuckoos can't live near one another, and how even in a city the size of the one she was in, there was only room for one cuckoo. So how, then, did a virtual parade of them show up, by car, within minutes of her putting out a distress signal? It makes absolutely zero sense, and really detracted from how solitary they're supposed to be.Everywhere Surprisingly, Pitchfork County is on my To Read list, and so I skipped this story too in order to avoid spoilers.
3 1/2 stars again
So this doesn't have any of our favorite characters but is an Incryptid story about a coo coo and her thought patterns while taking over people's minds and lives. I wish I knew who the hunter was and where he came from.
So this doesn't have any of our favorite characters but is an Incryptid story about a coo coo and her thought patterns while taking over people's minds and lives. I wish I knew who the hunter was and where he came from.
My review and an extended sample of the audiobook are posted at Hotlistens.com.
3.5 stars
So this book was very tricky for me. I loved the concept of getting stories from the POV of the villains. The majority of books are written from the POV of heroes, people who are out for the greater good in some way shape or form. I’ve read a few books that were told from the POV of villains, Forging Hephaestus by Drew Hayes and Villains Rule by M.K. Gibson. I really enjoyed those stories, so why not see the POV of villains I already know.
Now, I’ve read a few of these series. I’m completely up to date with Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files and Kevin Hearne’s Iron Druid Chronicles. I read the entire Jill Kismet series by Lilith Saintcrow, but that was back in 2012. I’ve read the first few books in the Cainville by Kelley Armstrong, but I’m not up to date. I’ve only read the first book in the Kitty Norville books by Carrie Vaughn. The rest were new-to-me authors or series.
The stories in this anthology are pretty short. I’m not sure of the word count guidelines that the authors were given, but I think the longest story was just over an hour in length. Some were as short as about a half hour. Most of them ranged in the 45 minute range. I think I would’ve enjoyed these stories a lot better if they had been longer stories. The series that I was familiar with, the shortness of the story didn’t bother me as much, because I already knew so much about the characters and world. The new-to-me worlds were harder to enjoy with such short stories.
The other thing that I noticed is the difference between the villains. Some of the villains had lines that they wouldn’t cross. For example, Marcone, the villain from Dresden Files, goes after someone who is hurting children. He may be a monster, but don’t mess with kids in his town. I felt there were some other stories (admittedly, a story I wasn’t familiar with), where I felt like the villain was so extremely evil, it felt like an over exaggerated Bond villain to a cartoonish level.
I did appreciate the fact the authors provided a blurb at the beginning of each story explaining the series and the villains in question. I think that helped make the stories much more enjoyable, knowing about the world.
So, overall, I enjoyed this anthology. I do wish the stories were a little longer. As with most anthologies, the level of enjoyment was different for each story. Some stories I DNF because I was either lost in the story or just didn’t care enough about the characters to continue. Again, I really like the idea of writing from the villain’s POV. I hope to see more stories like this (especially when authors do collections of short stories for their own series). I don’t know that this is the best introduction to new authors. I have found some new authors because of anthologies in the past, but I’m not sure that is the case here.
Narration
I haven’t listened to Paul Boehmer or Tanya Eby, much if at all. I think they did a really great job with narration. Now, my two favorite series in this collection, Dresden Files and Iron Druid Chronicles which both have amazing narrators. It wasn’t that Paul Boehmer did a bad job, it was just it wasn’t the same voice as the voices I’m used to. I think the fact that it was told from the villain’s POV helped a lot in this aspect. Outside of the two series that I’m extremely familiar with, I thought both narrators did a really good job. I liked the male and female voices of both narrators. I thought they both did a good job bringing out the evil side of the main characters. I would gladly listen either of these narrators again.
**I like to thank the publisher for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
3.5 stars
So this book was very tricky for me. I loved the concept of getting stories from the POV of the villains. The majority of books are written from the POV of heroes, people who are out for the greater good in some way shape or form. I’ve read a few books that were told from the POV of villains, Forging Hephaestus by Drew Hayes and Villains Rule by M.K. Gibson. I really enjoyed those stories, so why not see the POV of villains I already know.
Now, I’ve read a few of these series. I’m completely up to date with Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files and Kevin Hearne’s Iron Druid Chronicles. I read the entire Jill Kismet series by Lilith Saintcrow, but that was back in 2012. I’ve read the first few books in the Cainville by Kelley Armstrong, but I’m not up to date. I’ve only read the first book in the Kitty Norville books by Carrie Vaughn. The rest were new-to-me authors or series.
The stories in this anthology are pretty short. I’m not sure of the word count guidelines that the authors were given, but I think the longest story was just over an hour in length. Some were as short as about a half hour. Most of them ranged in the 45 minute range. I think I would’ve enjoyed these stories a lot better if they had been longer stories. The series that I was familiar with, the shortness of the story didn’t bother me as much, because I already knew so much about the characters and world. The new-to-me worlds were harder to enjoy with such short stories.
The other thing that I noticed is the difference between the villains. Some of the villains had lines that they wouldn’t cross. For example, Marcone, the villain from Dresden Files, goes after someone who is hurting children. He may be a monster, but don’t mess with kids in his town. I felt there were some other stories (admittedly, a story I wasn’t familiar with), where I felt like the villain was so extremely evil, it felt like an over exaggerated Bond villain to a cartoonish level.
I did appreciate the fact the authors provided a blurb at the beginning of each story explaining the series and the villains in question. I think that helped make the stories much more enjoyable, knowing about the world.
So, overall, I enjoyed this anthology. I do wish the stories were a little longer. As with most anthologies, the level of enjoyment was different for each story. Some stories I DNF because I was either lost in the story or just didn’t care enough about the characters to continue. Again, I really like the idea of writing from the villain’s POV. I hope to see more stories like this (especially when authors do collections of short stories for their own series). I don’t know that this is the best introduction to new authors. I have found some new authors because of anthologies in the past, but I’m not sure that is the case here.
Narration
I haven’t listened to Paul Boehmer or Tanya Eby, much if at all. I think they did a really great job with narration. Now, my two favorite series in this collection, Dresden Files and Iron Druid Chronicles which both have amazing narrators. It wasn’t that Paul Boehmer did a bad job, it was just it wasn’t the same voice as the voices I’m used to. I think the fact that it was told from the villain’s POV helped a lot in this aspect. Outside of the two series that I’m extremely familiar with, I thought both narrators did a really good job. I liked the male and female voices of both narrators. I thought they both did a good job bringing out the evil side of the main characters. I would gladly listen either of these narrators again.
**I like to thank the publisher for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
Some of these short stories are okay, but most of them are pretty forgettable. Maybe I just don't like antagonists. Or vampires. Or violence. Or short stories. I did like how the line dividing hero and villain is blurry in many of the pieces. And the line between life and death, and human and inhuman.
I only read a handful of stories in this book. The others were written well enough, but they were parts of on-going series that I didn't know and were, therefore, confusing to me.
I saw this book on NetGalley and eagerly requested it, since I like a lot of the authors with stories in it.
I admit to being somewhat disappointed. As others have said, the Butcher story is not new. I'd read it in another anthology, though I did like it. And while I normally love everything from Seanan McGuire, this story from the POV of a cuckoo just wasn't what I was hoping for. I'd rather have seen a story from the POV of the Covenant, but that's just me.
All in all, they were good stories, and it was interesting to see things from the other side, but I still prefer the main characters I know and love. I did get a few new to me authors to look into, and that's always great.
*I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book provided by the publisher via NetGalley.*
I admit to being somewhat disappointed. As others have said, the Butcher story is not new. I'd read it in another anthology, though I did like it. And while I normally love everything from Seanan McGuire, this story from the POV of a cuckoo just wasn't what I was hoping for. I'd rather have seen a story from the POV of the Covenant, but that's just me.
All in all, they were good stories, and it was interesting to see things from the other side, but I still prefer the main characters I know and love. I did get a few new to me authors to look into, and that's always great.
*I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book provided by the publisher via NetGalley.*
Picked this up mostly for Jim Butcher & Seanan McGuire's contributions...but enjoy d most of the rest, as well.
I enjoy seeing things from a villain's pov and many of these stories were enjoyable. Some were honestly better than when the story is told from the hero's pov. 'Balance' is a good example of this, if the author wrote books from this pov, I would read more of their work. There are others that were just ok and you needed more knowledge of the original series to understand.
Overall this book was exactly what I expected it to be. The stories that I specifically wanted to read, by the authors I sought out (Butcher, Hearne & Armstrong) were fantastic. The rest were just okay, though they might have been more enjoyable if I was familiar with those authors/worlds. They were entertaining. Though to be upfront there was one author whose story I didn't read, by choice because I won't read their writing - it's not for me and the person leaves a bad taste in my mouth, as it were.
Some of the villains I enjoyed and others definitely gave me the chills. Very interesting to walk on the dark side of the story. I hope there is more to come with these types of stories. I like being in the villains head and seeing how they tick.