Friday, June 1, 2012

Book 42: Strange Brew


I was hoping for more with the Strange Brew collection edited by P.N. Elrod.  While it compiled some of my favorite authors from the paranormal/urban fantasy, there was something almost lacking. But there were some good stories in the mix as well.

I love a good story collection. It gives you more especially if it uses characters from series you already love. This is what Strange Brew did. It had stories from Charlaine Harris, Jim Butcher, Patricia Briggs and Rachel Caine. Most of these stories even pulled from their different hit series.

I guess my biggest problem with this book was my two expectations weren’t fully met. I was hoping for some great magical stories and great character development in some of the stories that I knew the characters from the series. In the end, sometimes it felt like the magical aspects were forced into a bit of a whole and the characters weren’t as rich as I would have liked.  It was much more of a vampire and werewolves try to go magical story collection.

My favorite stories came Rachel Caine (no surprise for the people who read my blog since I enjoy her work quite often), Faith Hunter (a bit of a surprise for me since I’m not super familiar with her work but she gave me the types of stories I was hoping for) and Jenna Maclaine.  They were all good and rich and fun.  Also will say I liked the Caitlin Kittredge story but it was okay, felt like I needed more background.

My least favorite was hands down the Jim Butcher story. I want to like the Dresden Files stories but I never end up liking them. I have so many guy friends who love them and yet for another female friend and myself, I just can’t find anything that I truly like or stands out.

Then there were the stories from Patricia Briggs and Charlaine Harris. I think for Patricia Briggs, she does better in a full novel situation and with Charlaine Harris, she is a bit hit and miss.

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