In Ashes Lie by Marie Brennan

Set several decades after Midnight Never Come, In Ashes Lie covers the Onyx court, the fae sister city to London, from the years of 1639 to the great fire of London in 1666. While Midnight Never Come focused on the story of Lune and Devon and the mystery of the link between London and the Onyx Court, In Ashes Lie focuses on the connection between Lune and the Onyx Court, and what that means for England.

The story is told nonlinearly, with the climax in 1666 spread throughout the book as framework, with the rest of the book covering the years leading up to it. These parts, too, are nonlinear, with each scene marked with a place and date. It should be confusing, or at least cluttered, but isn’t, and works surprisingly well. With Midnight Never Come I was somewhat put off in the first fourth of the book because it felt like the politics were getting in the way of the plot. If anything, In Ashes Lie has even more politics, but worked intrinsically into the plot so that they propel the book.

It’s a very different book from its predecessor, but in a way that is neither better nor worse, just independent. That said, I don’t think it can be read and properly understood without Midnight Never Come as both the plot and Lune’s motivations and reasoning rely on the events of Midnight Never Come. (I have deliberately avoided most plot details to try to avoid spoiling Midnight Never Come much, and because most things specific to In Ashes Lie are either specific to expectations from Midnight Never Come, or require spoiling more plot points to explain them.)

Don't Tempt Me by Loretta Chase

When she was 12, Zoe Lexham disappeared on a trip to the Mediterranean with her parents. Twelve years later, she escapes the harem she’s been in ever since and makes her way back to her family’s home in England. Her parents are thrilled. Her sisters are in danger of a stroke every time she opens her mouth and reveals her very-improper way of thinking. Lucien, the Duke of Marchmount and a childhood friend who is also a relative of some sort, is convinced she’s the latest in a long line of frauds until he actually meets her. Then he decides there can’t possibly be two people that stubborn in the world, and so he promises to help her reintegrate into Regency London society. Which could be the cure for his chronic boredom.

Did I mention that, having been married to an impotent man, Zoe emerged from the harem a virgin. If you’re like me, this will make you go “…” a lot. (it is, though, suitably explained.)

I have very mixed feelings about the book. On the one hand, the book is extremely entertaining, and both the leads and the supporting characters are a blast. On the other hand, Chase doesn’t really have a good track record with non-English cultures (it’s a large part of why I can’t really enjoy a couple of her earlier books, much as I like most of them) and even though Don’t Tempt Me takes place exclusively in England, I found her representation of the East rather offputting.

But still, it’s a Loretta Chase book, which means the dialogue is great, the leads have an entertaining relationship, the hero manages to be the rare unannoying womanizer, the heroine is independent, and genre tropes are played with.

comics: Witchblade #124-127

Gaah! Top Cow! I thought you were mostly through with alternate covers! You should at least include warnings if I’m going to be subjected to Chris Bachalo covers. (Bachalo is, IMO, one of those artists who used to be great, but who sank so deeply into his “style” that his stuff is kinda ugly now. Sadly, I think that started towards the end of his stint on my beloved Generation X. )

( spoilers )