Normally I do these three at a time… but, well… 
Cast in Sorrow (Michelle Sagara) – Completes the storyline started in Cast in Peril. I’m indifferent toward it. While on the one hand there’s some tangible progress on the Barrani front, on the other the general style and plot developments are starting to seriously trend into the abstract and hand-wavy. It’s hard to read some of it without feeling a deep sense of skepticism. Aside: For some strange reason I picture the Barrani as being similar to The Last Remnant‘s Sovani.
Chimes at Midnight (Seanan McGuire) – Not much to say about this really other than it’s just as good as the earlier October Daye novels. Well, one more thing: It seems to mark the beginning of shifting the overarching background conflict into the foreground.
Ritual Magic (Eileen Wilks) – It’s fairly amazing that this series continues to avoid the various and sundry paranormal romance pitfalls. Picking up right where Mortal Ties left off, it ends with what looks to be a good point to switch over to a different set of protagonists for a bit.
Steelheart (Brandon Sanderson) – The setting for this novel is very good and having a protagonist that seems to have either asperger’s or autism is an interesting choice. Unfortunately, those are the only things I can praise about it since the general character behavior and plot developments seem ripped right out of a summer blockbuster. It all feels so artificial.
Perdition (Ann Aguirre) – This beginning of a new series set in the Sirantha Jax universe is, for the most part, very engaging indeed. The only area in which it slips up a bit is the romance aspect. The relationship seems a little forced and does not feel quite natural. That said, it’s certainly not as bad as what you’d find in a generic romance novel.
Dancing with the Devil (Keri Arthur) – Speaking of generic romance novels…. I ordered the first three books in this series blind due to what I’m going to chalk up to sudden insanity. For some reason I thought this might be more like Arthur’s Myth and Magic series then her Riley Jenson/Dark Angels series. Again, no clue why I thought that, but this book is as generic paranormal romance as you can get.
Hearts in Darkness (Keri Arthur) – The first entry in this series is merely generic; this one is downright painful. Not only is the most by-the-numbers example of a paranormal romance still present and as vaguely embarrassing as ever, signs of power-level creep start to appear alongside a dash of internal inconsistency.
Chasing the Shadows (Keri Arthur) – While for the most part just as unpleasant to read as the second book, this does take an unexpected turn toward the end. The ‘good guys’ actually losing is a very rare thing to see in this sort of novel. Of course, considering the new suite of powers Nikki gains here that loss may end up being not much of a loss at all in the long run.
