I listened to the audiobook of the short story that grew into the novel The City We Became. The reading is amazing; Landon Woodson did a great job with the audio. I enjoyed the book but I really love the compact focus and punch of the short story.
Tag: genre-urban fantasy
The Mask Falling, by Samantha Shannon
The embattled heroine leaves London, and with it all the cool psychic gang members with their amazingly ornate Victorian titles… but fear not, she is now in Paris where the psychic underworld figures have amazingly ornate French titles. I liked that she and the love interest are finally on equal footing instead of uncomfortably trapped within the various power imbalances that have defined their relationship in the previous books, but annoyingly, they’re still playing will-they-or-won’t-they with the trust dynamic. Some pretty interesting developments in the interdimensional vampire front as well. Shannon badly needs an editor but, four books in, the series finally seems to be moving in a coherent direction.
Trail of Lightning, by Rebecca Roanhorse
This is a kind of book I read a lot of back in the 90s: gritty urban fantasy with angsty warrior chicks. Except this urban fantasy takes place on a postapocalyptic Navajo nation, where gods and spirits roam freely; the angsty warrior chick on the front cover is often called in to defend the humans that find themselves caught in the middle of supernatural issues. Loved the action and the interesting take on indigenous mythology; did not love how warrior chick’s issues revolved completely around the men in her life.