The Highest Justice by Garth Nix
Who decides on justice? Where does it come from? What on earth is the highest justice?
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Tag: Dark Fantasy
Mona Lisa Betwining by Sunny
This novella sends goosebumps running up my arms – the raw sensuality of the words is enough to make you glance sneakily around for an audience. But the emotive descriptions of the night, the moon and the forests add to this heightened sense of reality which Sunny is able to so effortlessly create. This heady combination left me speechless and dreamy for a long time after finishing this novella – something that is incredibly difficult, believe me!
Dark Sins by Jenna Maclaine
The employment of the Morrigan in a story about vampires was not something that I expected. Neither was the merging of a vampire and a witch into one incredibly powerful being. However, it worked brilliantly! Cin Craven is everything that I love in a heroine – and the fact that she is a vampire was a different twist. Unlike a lot of vampire stories that have become popular in our modern culture, her condition as this type of paranormal creature is not fully romanticised, nor is it portrayed as something that all simpering teens desire. It was a lot darker and, due to this, felt a lot truer.
The Devil’s Left Boot by Faith Hunter
I enjoy anything set in the Jane Yellowrock world – it is always sassy, strong and constantly reminds you that no matter how odd you may be, there is somewhere in the world that you can fit in. If anything, I found this short story easier to relate to than the others so far – the twin Everhart witches are not only trying to cope with their sad past, but they are forced to confront a school bully. For those of us who have been bullied, we all imagine that day that we are reunited and can show that person how wonderful we are now that we’re not in school. When you’ve found a place in society that you can actually fit into, you want to show others that all of the hurt in the past doesn’t matter anymore (even when it does). The Devil’s Left Boot allows the twin witches to do this. And it works brilliantly.
Cherry Kisses by Erica Hayes
There is something so tantalising about a main character that is so obviously not good. Whether it’s someone like Cherry Kisses’ Lena Falco, or a morally ambiguous hero like Batman, the blurred line in morality makes these characters both more relatable and scandalous. Especially when the tale ends in a truly moral dilemma and the choice made really isn’t what the truly good heroes would make.
How Do You Feel? by Simon R. Green
How Do You Feel? was a completely unexpected short story – it was quite dark, with a twisted and unexpected strain of humour throughout it. The completely unforeseeable love story that rounded it out just polished it off to make me want to read the rest of the Nightside series. The use of a main character whose name is Dead Boy should have given me a hint to what kind of story I was in for though.
Buying Trouble by Karen Chance
This story took a lot of unexpected turns – first, the journey started at an auction house, then Clare finds out that she’s actually up for auction, and then she finds out more about her true heritage. All in all, the combination of these facts created a tumulus ride which spanned a number of beautifully constructed settings. The fact that the alliances and loyalties of the obvious love interest within the story were vague and difficult to pin down helped to add to the unpredictable, fast-paced track of this novella.
