Karissa E. (ophelia99) reviewed on 11/24/2009 + 2527 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 3

This anthology includes 5 new stories by popular paranormal authors. In all cases (except for Marr's story) the stories are set in preexisting worlds created by the authors. My favorite of the bunch were "Ley Line Drifter" which gives you a closer look at Jenks' family and "Rekoning" which introduced me to Jeaniene Frost's writing. This book made me want to learn more both about Frost and Drake and read some of their series. "Dark Matters" by Petttersson is an important read for those of us reading the "Signs of the Zodiac" series as it explains in full some of the events that happened in "City of Souls". Marr's first adult story "Two Lines" was also a pleasant surprise and I liked it quite a bit more than her young adult series.

In general the stories in this book tend more towards action/urban fantasy than romance. I personally enjoyed that. All in all a great collection of stories. See below for more detail on each story in this anthology.

- "Ley Line Drifter" by Kim Harrison (5/5 stars)
An excellent story set in Harrison's Hollows world, it's about Jenks helping a fellow pixie. You learn more about pixie culture and there is a ton of action. Given the ending I am wondering if what Jenks and Ivy unleashed will come back to haunt them in the next Hollows book.

- "Reckoning" by Jeaniene Frost (5/5 stars)
A prequel to the Night Huntress series by Frost. This story tells about a vampire named Bones who is hired by the New Orleans Queen vampire to take out some serial killer Ghouls. On top of this hunt for the killers, someone is trying to kill Bones. I have never read any of Frost's Night Huntress books but based on this story I will have to check them out. I like her writing style; no-nonsense and lots of action. Bones was an intriguing character and Frost creates an interesting variation on paranormal alternate worlds.

- "Dark Matters" by Vicki Pettersson (3/5 stars)
This is a prequel to her "Signs of the Zodiac series". It tells the background/history of JJ/Hunter. It was good to read a story that made the events in the "City of Souls" (book 4) make more sense. I still don't understand why "City of Souls" couldn't have explained what this story did. If you are reading the "Signs of the Zodiac" series then reading this story is a must. As for the story itself I didn't like it all that much (aside from the info it gives). The story is more a romance than anything and much of the action is pushed aside for numerous sex scenes. It was okay, but nothing to write home about.

- "The Dead, the Damned, and the Forgotten" by Jocelynn Drake (4/5 stars)
Prequel to the Dark Days series by Jocelynn Drake; I have not read any books in this series. This story follows Mira as she tries to track down a nightwalker killer and avoid assassination herself. Both Mira and Knox are intriguing characters. The story was action packed and hints at an interesting world. An enjoyable read. I will have to check out the Dark Days series eventually to see how I like the full novels.

- "Two Lines" by Melissa Marr (4/5 stars)
This story tells about Eaven, she is a human that will become a glasitig is she ever does two things: kill and have sex. She is hell bent on staying human. Things get out of control when she starts hunting a drug lord. When her grandmother provides a sexy bodyguard for her Eaven begins to wonder if her desire to stay human is worth the sacrifice. Not as much action as the other stories, this story presented a very unique world with supernatural creatures different than I was used to seeing. I actually like Marr's writing style in this story quite a bit more than her writing style in her "Wicked Lovely" series.

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