Charlaine Harris: MIDNIGHT TEXAS TRILOGY

Author:  Charlaine Harris
Series:  MIDNIGHT TEXAS TRILOGY   
Plot Type:  Urban (actually, Small-Town) Fantasy (UF)     
Ratings:  Violence—3; Sensuality—2; Humor—3 
Publisher and Titles:  Ace
          "In the Blue Hereafter" (prequel story about Manfred in Games Creatures Play, 4/2014)
          Midnight Crossroad (5/2014)  

          Day Shift (5/2015) 

          Night Shift (5/2016) (FINAL)

This ongoing post was revised and updated on 5/3/2016 to include a review of Night Shift, the third—and FINAL—novel in the trilogy. This post begins with an overview of the world-building and then presents my reviews of the prequel story and the three novels in chronological (reading) order.

NOTE: The series will soon appear as a prime-time TV series on NBC beginning on July 25, 2017. Click HERE to view the official trailer. 

                         WORLD-BUILDING                         

     The series is set in Midnight, Texas, a rundown town at the intersection of Witch Light Road and the Davy highway in West Texas. This crossroads town has 14 inhabitants, a lot of boarded-up windows, and a few struggling businesses. The citizens of Midnight are an interesting lot, mostly because they all harbor deep personal secrets and because some of those secrets are supernatural in nature. Even though each one has been drawn to Midnight for a different reason, they all realize immediately this this is where they fit.

Here are the 14 citizens of Midnight as the series opens:

    > Bobo Winthrop: He is the owner of Midnight Pawn and was in a karate class with Lily Bard back in Shakespeare, Arkansas.

    > Manfred Bernardo (aka the Incredible Manfredo): Bobo's tenant, a psychic who is new in town and is an old friend of Harper Connelly. He has also been to Bon Temps, where he met Sookie Stackhouse.

    > Lemuel Bridger: Bobo's basement tenant, a centuries-old, energy-sipping vampire who works the night shift at the pawnshop.

    > Olivia Charity: Bobo's other tenant, a mysterious woman who is frequently away on secretive travels. She and Lemuel have a "close" relationship.

    > Fiji (pronounced "Fee-gee") Cavanaugh: She is a witch who owns The Inquiring Mind, a shop filled with New Age paraphernalia and surrounded by a lush garden of flowers and herbs.

    > Joe Strong: Co-owner of the Antique Gallery and Nail Salon.

    > Chuy (pronounced "Chewy") Villegas: Joe's life partner, the other co-owner. They also co-own a Pekinese named Rasta.

    > Teacher and Madonna Reed: He is a handyman and she runs the Home Cookin Restaurant. They live with their infant son, Grady, in a double-wide trailer behind the restaurant

    > Reverend Emilio Sheehan (aka the Rev): He runs the Wedding Chapel and Pet Cemetery.

    > Shawn Lovell: Shawn owns the Gas-N-Go service station and lives with his two teenage children: his son, Connor, and his daughter, Creek. 

     Before you read the series, you might want to click HERE and watch the video trailer for Midnight Crossroad, which gives you a nicely creepy overview of Midnight.

    The MIDNIGHT TEXAS series will soon appear as an NBC TV series and is currently shooting on location in New Mexico. Click HERE and HERE for more details. Click HERE to read an on-line interview in which Harris describes visiting the set during filming.

                       PREQUEL STORY:  "In the Blue Hereafter"                       

     This story features Manfred Bernardo, one of the lead characters in the MIDNIGHT, TEXAS series. The character of Manfred originated in Harris's HARPER CONNELLY series as the psychic friend of the title character. Click HERE to read my reviews of the four novels in the HARPER CONNELLY series.

      This little tale is set in present-day Bon Temps, Louisiana, where Manfred meets Sookie Stackhouse when he attends a softball game at the behest of his dead grandmother. 

     Click HERE to read my review of this story and all the others in this anthology, Games Creatures Play. Click HERE to read my reviews of the novels in the SOOKIE STACKHOUSE SERIES.

                         NOVEL 1:  Midnight Crossroad                         

PUBLISHER'S BLURB: 
     From Charlaine Harris comes the first novel in a series that takes place in a darker locale—populated by more strangers than friends. But then, that’s how the locals prefer it. 

     Welcome to Midnight, Texas, a town with many boarded-up windows and few full-time inhabitants, located at the crossing of Witch Light Road and Davy Road. It’s a pretty standard dried-up western town. 

     There’s a pawnshop (someone lives in the basement and is seen only at night). There’s a diner (people who are just passing through tend not to linger). And there’s new resident Manfred Bernardo, who thinks he’s found the perfect place to work in private (and who has secrets of his own).

MY REVIEW: 
     The first thing that Manfred learns when he moves to Midnight is that everyone has secrets and that no one asks personal questions. The group is friendly and supportive of one another, but everyone is holding back information of some sort. 

     The primary plot line follows the disappearance of Bobo's girlfriend, Aubrey Hamilton. As the novel begins, Aubrey has been missing for about two months, and Bobo is still grieving because he believes that he must have done something to make her leave him. His friends don't have very high opinions of Aubrey and seem to think that her disappearance from Bobo's life is a blessing in disguise. Early in the story, Aubrey's skeletal remains are discovered on the bank of a near-by river, and everyone in town becomes a murder suspect, except for Manfred, who just moved to Midnight. The investigation of Aubrey's murder uncovers one of Bobo's secrets: that his grandfather was mixed up with a white supremacist group called the Men of Liberty (MOL).   

     The murder investigation plays out in a police procedural sort of way with brief interruptions for expositional information about the town and its quirky inhabitants. The sheriff who heads up the investigation is Arthur Smith, a character who has jumped over from Harris's AURORA TEAGARDEN mystery series. Harris follows the classic crime mystery format: providing fair but cunning clues, throwing in several plausible suspects, and keeping the killer's identity secret until the end. As the investigation moves along, some—but not all—of Midnight's secrets are gradually revealed. One word of advice to the reader: Keep an eye on Fiji's cat, Mr. Snuggly.

     In a break with tradition, Harris tells this story in the third person voice from various characters' perspectives, primarily Manfred, Bobo, and Fiji. In an on-line interview, Harris has this to say: "I was really stoked by the prospect of doing something new. I don't like to repeat myself, so I needed the challenge of the third-person point of view and the different premise and setting." Harris says that the second book will be narrated by a different set of characters than this first one. Although some have criticized Harris's break from her usual first-person female voice, this third-person male/female approach worked quite well for me. The characters are such unique personalities that there was never any confusion about whose words and thoughts I was hearing. The dialogue and the inner thoughts of the characters are quite entertaining as Harris continues to demonstrate her mastery of dry, matter-of-fact small-town Southern wisdom. She can make me laugh out loud with just a few wry words, and that happened a dozen or so times as I read this book.

     I find myself of two minds about this novel. On the one hand, I loved the characters and their eccentricities, but on the other hand, the pace is extremely slow. I realize that first novels require a great deal of exposition, so I'm willing to give a pass to the pacing. The more I think about the characters, the more I want to read more about them. I'm hoping that Harris will give us her usual blockbuster story in the second novel because I can't wait to see how the town's citizens handle any new mischief-making that occurs in Midnight.

     One scene midway through the novel suggests that some woo-woo action is on the way in future books. One night, hours after Fiji falls asleep, "something big brushed up against the outside of the house…After a few seconds, [her] cat heard huge feet padding away…The same creature visited every inhabited house in Midnight, sniffing at the air, inspecting the doors and windows. It spent the longest time giving its attention to the trailer in which Madonna and Teacher lived with their baby. There, it rumbled, deep in its throat. But no one woke." (p. 172) This isn't really a spoiler because this is the one and only time this "creature" is mentioned...but I'm certain it will be back.

     Click HERE and scroll down a bit to read the first four chapters (51 pages) from the British edition of Midnight Crossroad, which includes brief bios of Manfred, Fiji, Bobo, and Olivia.

                         NOVEL 2:  Day Shift                         
PUBLISHER'S BLURB:
There is no such thing as bad publicity, except in Midnight, Texas, where the residents like to keep to themselves. Even in a town full of secretive people, Olivia Charity is an enigma. She lives with the vampire Lemuel, but no one knows what she does; they only know that she’s beautiful and dangerous. 

     Psychic Manfred Bernardo finds out just how dangerous when he goes on a working weekend to Dallas and sees Olivia there with a couple who are both found dead the next day. To make matters worse, one of Manfred’s regular—and very wealthy—clients dies during a reading. 

     Manfred returns from Dallas embroiled in scandal and hounded by the press. He turns to Olivia for help; somehow he knows that the mysterious Olivia can get things back to normal. As normal as things get in Midnight…

MY REVIEW: 

     The primary mystery involves Manfred and his dead client, Rachel Goldthorpe. Rachel's loathsome son, Lewis, immediately claims that Manfred killed his mother and stole her expensive jewels, so Manfred is soon pulled in for questioning by the police and besieged with paparazzi at his home in Midnight, to the chagrin of the other residents, all of whom despise publicity of any kind (for reasons that are becoming more and more obvious).

     In addition to this main story line, Harris includes others that percolate mostly in the background:

    > A child named Diederik comes to stay with the Rev. When he arrives, he looks to be about four years old, but he seems to age a year or so for every day he is in Midnight.

     > Dark secrets from Olivia's past threaten her future when her face appears in a newspaper photo taken at the "death hotel" in Dallas.

     > A huge corporation renovates the broken down hotel in Midnight and reopens it to serve a specific population, some of whom are chosen under mysterious circumstances.

     Then, further in the background, Harris raises other questions. Why does Joe believe that Teacher and Madonna need to leave Midnight? Why is the owner of the Gas-N-Go unable to find a new manager? Lemuel, Midnight's guardian vampire, is out of town searching for someone who can help him translate the ancient books he discovered back in book 1. How will the content of those books affect the residents of Midnight?

     The bulk of the book deals with Manfred's dilemma as he and Olivia are forced to work together to solve the murder and find the jewels in order to stop the flow of outsiders into Midnight. We learn much more about Olivia—both past and present—making her one of the most interesting characters in the book (although the most tragic part of her backstory is also the most banal). The story lines about the hotel and the mysterious child pull in two characters from the Sookie Stackhouse universe, one of whom assists Manfred and Olivia in their investigation. The other turns up near the end and fills us in on the recent events in his life (although the details don't match up perfectly with his bio in After Dead: What Came Next in the World of Sookie Stackhouse).

     Two interesting human characters are a part of the story: Arthur Smith, the sheriff, and Magdalena Orta Powell, Manfred's attorney. (She is also Lemuel's lawyer.) So…how much do these two really know about the supernatural world? Arthur plays the role of the laid-back good-old-boy, but seems to see everything with his big blue eyes and his disconcerting stare. Magdalena comes across as a tough, expensive, pragmatic lawyer, but as Manfred gets to know her better, he learns more about her private life, which includes the fact that her mother is one of his biggest fans.

     Harris does a great job in this book as she spins a moderately suspenseful murder mystery while revealing a few more secrets about the supernatural denizens of Midnight. One question that I raised in my review of the first book is answered in this one: the identity and nature of that "something big" creature that was stalking around town in the middle of the moonlit night.

     Harris tells the story in the third-person voice mostly from the perspectives of Manfred, Joe, and Olivia, although Fiji and Mr. Snuggly get a brief voice as well, mostly as observers rather than active participants. (The story tellers in the first book were Manfred, Bobo, and Fiji.) Although Harris is using multiple perspectives, Manfred appears to be the lead character in this quirky ensemble.

     I will admit up front that I have a positive bias toward Harris's fiction, and this book doesn't budge me from that stance. She always tells a great story by finely balancing suspenseful drama with quirky characters to concoct stories that draw in and engross the reader, stretching out the tension until the final scenes of resolution. By the end of this book, two of the story lines are resolved, which still leaves a number of mysterious yet to be revealed. I am particularly interested in what will happen next to Olivia and what the books reveal to Lemuel, not to mention the Teacher-Madonna situation. To read or listen to an excerpt from Day Shift, click HERE to go to the book's Amazon.com page where you can click either on the cover art or the "Listen" icon.

                         NOVEL 3:  Night Shift                         

PUBLISHER'S BLURB: 
     At Midnight’s local pawnshop, weapons are flying off the shelves—only to be used in sudden and dramatic suicides right at the main crossroads in town. 

     Who better to figure out why blood is being spilled than the vampire Lemuel, who, while translating mysterious texts, discovers what makes Midnight the town it is. There’s a reason why witches and werewolves, killers and psychics, have been drawn to this place. 

     And now they must come together to stop the bloodshed in the heart of Midnight. For if all hell breaks loose—which just might happen—it will put the secretive town on the map, where no one wants it to be.

MY REVIEW: 

     Harris winds up her terrific MIDNIGHT TEXAS series by setting up several story lines around a compelling central plot:

>  The main plot centers on discovering the “something” that is living under the crossroad in the middle of Midnight and figuring out how to stop it from destroying the town.

>  Olivia’s past comes to the fore as she and others in Midnight realize that several recent events in Midnight are connected to her wealthy father and that she is being watched by two sets of stalkers—one that wants her dead and one that wants to protect her.

>  A new owner—Sylvester Ravenwing—takes over the Gas-N-Go service station, and it turns out that he has a long-standing connection to one of Midnight’s citizens.

>  Fiji and Bobo’s relationship reaches a climax (in more ways than one), but not without a period of angst-filled misunderstandings.

>  The supernatural residents of Midnight are suspicious that Teacher and Madonna are hiding something so they use their various skills to figure their big secret.

     Harris hopscotches among these story lines, some of which eventually merge as secrets are revealed, teamwork succeeds, and love triumphs for several Midnight residents. Meanwhile, in the background, we watch Diederik dealing with the sexual issues of early manhood under the watchful eyes of Quinn and the Rev—very humorous. Nearly everyone from the first two books (except for the Lovell family) returns to play a part, even the three elderly reprobates from Las Vegas—Tommy, Mamie, and Suzie—who are now residents of the Safe Harbor assisted-living center.

     The first line of the book leads directly into the main plot: “The first suicide arrives one October night.” That man drives into town, parks his pickup, and heads for Midnight's lone traffic light at the crossroad, where he shoots himself in the head. As it turns out, this wasn’t the first suicide after all, though, because Lemuel (the only vampire in town) cleaned up the mess several days ago when a homeless woman stabbed herself in the heart in the middle of the night—also at the crossroad. As more people arrive at the traffic light with suicide in mind, Fiji works her witchy magic to keep them away. But then, a deep voice begins speaking in her mind, explaining who the suicidal people are and what their connection is to her. When swarms of animals begin falling dead at the crossroad, the tension rises and the action heats up.

     Meanwhile, Lemuel is doing his best to translate the ancient travelogue books that Bobo found hidden in the pawn shop. He is certain that they contain all the answers to the crossroad problem, but the most important of them is written in Etruscan, a language in which Lemuel is not fluent. He’ll have to solve that huge problem before Samhain, which is just days away.

     As the various story lines weave through the plot, Harris ties up each loose end, some of which have been dangling since the first book. In the process, she gives us much more backstory on several of the main characters, for example,  Lemuel, Teacher and Madonna, Manfred, the mysterious Sylvester, and Fiji. (She has an evil sister!) We even get Mr. Snuggly's full biography.

     Harris describes the book like this: “It’s kind of gruesome, kind of scary and kind of sweet,” and that’s a pretty good description. The story-telling is terrific and each conflict is resolved in a plausible, satisfying manner (as is the usual case in works by this author). Harris involves almost everyone in the narration as she tells the story from multiple perspectives in the third-person voice. Naturally, Harris’s writing also includes those dry asides and wry descriptions that make me chuckle every time. Here are some of my favorite bits:

>  Best line describing a character: “Other than the fact that Olivia killed people, she was just an ordinary Midnighter.”

>  Best Buffy reference: At one point, Fiji wonders if Midnight might be on the Hellmouth, like Buffy’s Sunnydale. “Manfred laughed…‘You must be Willow, and Olivia must be Buffy. And Lemuel is Angel.’” Fiji replies, “I would classify Olivia more as Faith,..Bobo can be Xander.” And Manfred ends the comparison with “So Diederik would be Oz.”

>  Another cute pop culture reference: A group of elderly residents at the town hotel are “talking about how to play Texas hold ‘em and debating how many books Nora Roberts had written.”

>  Question that brings the discussion at an important town meeting to a complete halt (except for one small voice): “Is there a virgin in Midnight?”

>  The character who deserves a medal of honor for bravery in protecting his witch: Mr. Snuggly

     The only section (very tiny) that gave me pause was the moment when Fiji “realized that Midnight was able to have its own little rainbow” because of the wide range of ethnicities and life styles among its small group of citizens. That came across to me as overkill, with Harris waving a huge (rainbow) flag rather than trusting her readers to “get” it. 

     The Houston Press describes Harris as “the Mark Twain of things that live under your bed,” and that's exactly right. Her characters are so wonderfully drawn that it’s hard to leave them behind now that the series has ended. Let’s hope that the TV version will be as well done as True Blood so that we can continue to immerse ourselves in the Midnight story.

A note about crossroads in folklore: If you know anything about the mythology of crossroads, you know that the suicides in Midnight are being caused by a Big Bad. (In addition to Buffy, the TV show Supernatural frequently uses crossroads events as the focus of its plots.) In folklore, a crossroad is seen as a no-man’s land, not owned by anyone, and, as such, is a perfect place to conduct a ritual or cast a spell. The crossroad is a location between the worlds, a site where supernatural spirits can be contacted and magical events can take place. Symbolically, it can mean a locality where two realms touch and therefore represents a place that is literally neither here nor there. Click HERE for more information about crossroads symbolism.

     To read or listen to an excerpt from Night Shift, click HERE to go to the book's Amazon.com page where you can click either on the cover art or the "Listen" icon.

FULL DISCLOSURE: My review of Night Shift is based on an electronic advance reading copy (ARC) of the book that I received from the publisher through NetGalley. I received no promotional or monetary rewards, and the opinions in this review are strictly my own.

"Night Shift" Anthology: Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews, Lisa Shearin, Milla Vane

Title:  Night Shift Anthology
Authors:  
     Nalini Singh
     Ilona Andrews (pseudonym for Ilona Gordon & Andrew Gordon)
     Lisa Shearin
     Milla Vane (pseudonym for Meljean Brook)
Plot Type:  Urban Fantasy (UF)     
Publisher:  Berkley (11/2014)      

            INTRODUCTION            

     The back-cover blurb describes this book as follows: "Four masters of urban fantasy and paranormal romance plunge readers into the dangerous, captivating world unearthed beyond the dark…" This statement is true to a certain point. Yes, all of the novellas were written by master paranormal fiction authors, but no, not all of the stories are urban fantasies—only the first three. The fourth is an erotic medieval fantasy story, the first in Meljean Brooks's new BARBARIANS series.   

     This anthology has apparently been cobbled together by Berkley to introduce/promote BARBARIANS, but, unfortunately, that series is completely unlike the other three that are represented in this volume: different in genre, different in sensuality level, different in tone, and different in quality. "The Beast of Blackmoor," a dark and violent medieval fantasy, is a misfit in this book, which is three-quarters romantic, urban fantasy. 

         Nalini Singh: "Secrets at Midnight" (a PSY-CHANGELING novella)          

    Singh delivers a typically smoldering love story featuring the leopard, Bastien Smith (Mercy's brother), as he picks up the elusive scent of the woman who is meant to be his mate. He, of course, tracks her down and immediately turns into an over-protective, possessive alpha male. Predictably, there is problem in their new relationship. Kirby Rosario, Bastien's soon-to-be mate, believes that she is 100% human, but Bastien soon discovers that she is a changeling. When Kirby begins to show definite changeling characteristics, Bastien realizes that he's going to have to help her through her first shift. This novella has no evil villains and no Psy drama, just a bewildered young woman who knows nothing about her genetic heritage and who realizes that everything in her life is about to change forever.

     This is a typical love story for this series but it is missing an action plot to counteract the oh-so-sweet romance. I admit, though, that I enjoyed watching Bastien find his mate—it's about time! Click HERE to read an excerpt from "Secrets at Midnight." Click HERE to read my reviews of Singh's PSY-CHANGELING series. 

         Ilona Andrews: "Magic Steals" (a KATE DANIELS novella)         

     This story features a familiar pair of shape shifters: white tigress Dali Harimau and jaguar Jim Shrapshire, Curran's chief of security and alpha of Clan Cat. Even though Dali has strong magical powers, she has always felt inferior because she isn't beautiful and physically strong like all the other shifter females. Here's how she describes herself: "a skinny vegetarian girl who had to wear glasses with lenses as thick as Coke bottle bottoms, threw up when she smelled blood, and was about as useful in a fight as a fifth leg on a donkey." Dali is in love with Jim but figures that they can never be together because he needs a much more powerful and aggressive mate.

     The conflict begins when a woman asks Dali to find her missing grandmother. Dali has the power to banish evil, so many people come to her with their problems. Dali and Jim investigate the case and figure out who is causing problems for the tenants of a building housing five different businesses, each of which is having dangerous magic-based problems. They follow the clues to solve the case and resolve their personal relationship at the same time. Humor comes from Dali's mother and other relatives, all of whom interfere as much as they can in Dali's life.

     This is another strong addition to a great series, with an interesting romance and a suspenseful mystery. For me, it's the best novella in the book. Click HERE and scroll down a bit to read an excerpt from "Magic Steals." Click HERE to read my reviews of the authors' KATE DANIELS series.

         Lisa Shearin: "Lucky Charms" (SPI FILES prequel novella)         

     This is the prequel to Shearin's SPI FILES series in which Makenna (Mac) Fraser works as a seer for Supernatural Protection and Investigations, the law enforcement agency for New York's supernatural world. SPI has two missions: to keep the world safe for supernaturals and humans and to keep humans in the dark about the existence of supernaturals. 

     Here is Mac's description of her work attire on her first day on the job: "slacks, blouse, blazer, nice pumps,…small silver crucifix and a water pistol filled with holy water—supernatural business casual." Her first assignment is to track down a leprechaun prince and four of his friends as they take on a variety of glamours and enjoy the strip joints and sex clubs of Manhattan. Unfortunately, some evil supernaturals, including a goblin mage, want to capture the leprechauns before the SPI can find them. Mac meets sexy Ian Byrne for the first time when he is assigned as her partner and protector. 

     This has the makings of a solid, entertaining series, and this story gives a taste of Shearin's story-telling strength. My only quibble is that in this story and in the first book of the series, Mac comes across as rather ineffective and weak in comparison to the rest of the SPI team, always needing a man to rescue her. Let's hope that Shearin toughens Mac up as the series moves along. Click HERE to read my reviews of the books in the SPI FILES series. 

         Milla Vane: "The Beast of Blackmoor" (the first BARBARIANS novella)        

     Apparently, this is the first story in a new series—BARBARIANS—by Meljean Brook, writing here as Milla Vane. The heroine is Mala, a warrior princess who is on a quest for her goddess, Vela. When Mala meets the beast she is supposed to tame, she finds that he is a dark and menacing barbarian warrior named Kavik (aka the Beast of Blackmoor), who has all the sex appeal of a primitive, barely coherent cave man. This erotic and violent story is a throwback to the bodice rippers of days gone by (but without their civility), and it has the highest sensuality rating (5) of all the stories because of its many scenes of down-and-dirty oral sex. (Literally filthy, dirty sex because the pair rarely takes time out to bathe as they travel by horseback for days on end through mud and dust and bloody battles.) The lust scenes in this novella are crude and repulsive—never, ever romantic in any way.

     This is my least favorite of the four stories, partly because medieval fantasy is not one of my favorite genres and partly because the supposedly intelligent and independent heroine constantly puts herself at the sexual mercy of the dour, churlish, cruel antihero. This one just didn't work for me, and I probably won't read or review the series.

     To read an excerpt from "The Beast of Blackmoor," click HERE, then scroll down and click on the second Night Shift cover, and finally scroll down a bit more to click on the "Excerpt" icon. To read a free short story set in the BARBARIANS world, click HERE and scroll down just a bit.

Yasmine Galenorn: INDIGO COURT SERIES

Author:  Yasmine Galenorn
Series:  INDIGO COURT
Plot Type:  Urban Fantasy (UF)
Ratings:  Violence—5, Sensuality—4, Humor—1
Publisher and Titles:  Jove
     Night Myst (6/2010)
      Night Veil (7/2011)
      Night Seeker (7/2012) 
      Night Vision (7/2013)

      Night's End (7/2014) (FINAL NOVEL) 

      "Night Shivers" (12/2015, e-novella) 

This ongoing post was revised and updated on 11/21/15 to include the publisher's blurb for "Night Shivers," a novella that revisits the INDIGO COURT world. That blurb appears first, followed by an overview of the world-building and summaries or reviews of all of the novels in the series. 

                       NOVELLA:  "Night Shivers"                       

PUBLISHER'S BLURB: 

     Revisit the world of the Indigo Court. Cicely, Queen of Snow and Ice, is slowly getting used to her new role in life as Queen of Winter. The Vampiric Fae have been conquered and Myst is gone, but now something new is unsettling her kingdom. A ship sails across the Crashing Sea from the Golden Isle with new members for her kingdom, but all of the Sidhe aboard are missing. And the Wilding Fae are appealing to the Fae Queen. Several of their members have vanished, and a large shadowy wolf has been seen on the outskirts of their village. 

     It seems Fenrick, a wolf-shifter and priest of Hel, the frozen goddess of the underworld, is on the loose, trying to usurp control of the Realm of Snow and Ice. Now, Cicely and her friends must face down the monster before he can marshal the ice giants, and destroy the new Queen and her rule. 

     Includes a sample chapter of Night Myst—the first book in the INDIGO COURT world, with permission of Berkley Publishing. 

     Click HERE to read an excerpt from "Night Shivers" on the novella's Amazon.com page by clicking on the cover art. In her introductory remarks, Galenorn reveals that she plans to self-publish more novellas for this series, all in e-book format. 

                       WORLD-BUILDING                       

      The Indigo Court is made up of a hybrid race of supernaturals who are half Fae and half vampire, with all of the strengths and a few of the weaknesses of both groups. One of their biggest weaknesses is that they are extremely sun sensitive. Sunlight throws them into a day-rage, resulting in uncontrollable violence. Here is a brief history of the origin of the Indigo Court: "Eons ago, Geoffrey, the Regent of the Northwest Vampire Nation and one of the Elder Vein Lords, had attempted to turn the Unseelie Fae. it was then that Myst had been born, turned from his lover into a creature neither vampire nor Fae. A terrifying half-breed. And she was able to bear children. She had become the mother of her race and Queen of the Indigo Court." (Night Seeker, p. 16) After her changeover, Myst turned against Geoffrey because she wanted all the power for herself. As a long-term goal, Myst has plans for world domination, with all humans and supernaturals bowing down to her.

     The series heroine is Cicely Waters, a wind-controlling witch who returns to her hometown—New Forest, Washington—when she learns that her aunt and cousin are in danger. Cicely soon discovers that a dark force, the Indigo Court, has taken over the woodlands and is kidnapping both magical and human citizens of the town.

     Cicely’s love interest is Grieve, a Fae prince who was her childhood sweetheart but whom she abandoned years ago when he wanted a romantic commitment. Now, Grieve has been enslaved by Myst, the psychotic, power-mad Indigo queen, and Cicely’s Aunt Heather has become one of Myst’s captives.

                       BOOK 1:  Night Myst                       
    In the series opener, Cicely makes an uncomfortable deal with the local vampires in order to gain their assistance. This is the beginning of her uncomfortable relationship with Lannan Aldos, a local vampire leader who is perpetually aroused by Cicely's rejection of his sexual talents. 

     Cicely also discovers stunning new information about her family history and her magical powers. The book ends in a cliffhanger, with Cicely readying herself to save both Grieve and the town. Click HERE to read the first chapter of Night Myst. 

                       BOOK 2:  Night Veil                       
    As book 2 begins, Myst has brought down a cold and snowy winter on New Forest, and her minions are murdering humans (who are called yummanii). Cicely and her friends are trying to come up with a plan to rescue Grieve and put a stop to Myst's devious plans. At the beginning of this book, Cicely's allies include the following:

   > Rhiannon ("Rhia"): Cicely's cousin

   > Leo: Rhia's fiance, a day-runner for the vampires

   > Peyton: half werepuma and half witch

   > Anadey: a witch who is Rhia's mentor and Peyton's mother

   > Kaylin: a dreamwalker possessed by a demon

   > Chatter: a Fae who was Grieve's best friend and who has a crush on Rhia

   > Lainule: Grieve's aunt, who is the Fae Queen of Rivers and Rushes

     Unfortunately, some of these friends become enemies by the end of the book. On the other hand, some of Cicely's enemies change sides and become her allies. As the story proceeds, Cicely has to contend with the carnal desires of Lannan, the sex-obsessed Elder vampire to whom Cicely must give a blood tithe each month. She also must deal with the devious plans of Geoffrey, Regent of the Vampire Nation, who is a warlord always in search of more power. Cicely is still discovering the extent of her inherent magical skills, which now include the ability to shape-shift into an owl and to use a magical fan to stir up and control high winds. As Cicely works to free Grieve from Myst's clutches, she learns some shocking facts about her parentage and about the true agendas of some of her supposed friends. The book ends with Cicely and her remaining allies planning for future battles with Myst and with their new enemies among the vampires and the Fae.

     Although the mythology of the series is fresh and inventive, Galenorn weakens her plots by cramming in details that aren't necessary and which actually detract from the action. For example, we get way too many detailed descriptions of the foods that Cicely and her friends eat and the clothes that Cicely wears. We also get scenes that have little or nothing to do with the plot. For example, there is a scene in Night Veil in which Cicely worries at length about one of her clients who is being abused by her husband—a woman who never reappears in the story and has nothing to do with the plot. At several points, Cicely muses about the evils of abusive males—a laudable emotion, but entirely unnecessary to the plot line and somewhat distracting. Although there are a few holes in the plot (e.g., characters make great leaps of logic or seem to know facts that we haven't seen them learn), the story arc is engaging and compelling. We really want Cicely to get back together with Grieve, and we want him to be cured of his day rage. I would rate this as a middle-of-the-road series, not great but not horrible, either. Even though I'm calling it an urban fantasy for its strong, dark story line, the Cicely-Grieve relationship is definitely that of soul mates. Click HERE to read the first chapter of Night Veil.       

                       BOOK 3:  Night Seeker                       

     As the series story arc continues to play out, Cicely and her friends fight battle after battle against Myst's forces as Cicely attempts to complete several difficult tasks. She must journey deep into Myst's territory to retrieve the heartstone of the Queen of Summer, fend off Lannan's never-ending attempts to get her into his bed (or against a wall, or whatever), and help Grieve break away from the vampiric effects that he has suffered ever since Myst turned him into a Shadow Hunter. No pressure! In the meantime, both Cicely and Rhia learn more about their family connections and their surprising (to them) future. Cicely's magical abilities are continuing to develop, and she now has much more control over the wind, but she must also be careful not to succumb to bloodlust when she uses an obsidian knife against her enemies.

     Cicely and Grieve have resumed their romantic relationship without a hitch, except for his understandably jealous feelings about Cecily's ties to Lannan. The dialogues between Cicely and Grieve overflow with melodrama. When Cicely says things like, "Love me. Take me, my Prince." (p. 103), it's like you're reading a 1980s bodice ripper. Remember, Cecily grew up on the streets, being dragged from one city slum to the next by her drug-addicted mother, so it's hard to imagine that she would talk like that in real life.

     The story line follows Cicely as she fights, then showers, fights, then bathes, fights, then showers, and again...and again. In one day alone, she fights four battles and takes four showers/baths, with complete descriptions of the fragrances of her various bath gels. This is one of the primary problems that I have with the series: too many frivolous details that neither enhance the characterization nor advance the plot. Again in this book, the food details are also piled on. Every time Cicely eats, we get a complete description of what's on her plate. On p. 190, for example, her lunch is "sliced ham, aged cheddar, a handful of cherry tomatoes, some fruit salad,...a chocolate cookie." Cicely doesn't eat plain old mashed potatoes; her potatoes are "fluffy" and "fork-whipped." (p. 237) Why should we care what she eats? These extraneous details are, for me, annoying and distracting. I'm never quite sure whether to skip over them and get back to the story or pay close attention in case a pertinent fact is hidden somewhere. The latter is the case with the peppercorn sauce served with the roast beef in that same scene—although why the entire incident is even included makes no sense to me because it has nothing whatever to do with the story line. I'm guessing that the author couldn't think of any other way to illustrate Lannan's true feelings for Cicely, but that could—and should—have been done in any number of plot-related ways.

     Throughout the story, multiple, not-too-subtle hints are dropped about what the future holds for Cicely, Grieve, Rhia, and Chatter. I figured it out very early in the book. In fact, by the end, Cicely and Rhia seem to be the only ones without a clue as to their own fates. The book ends, once again, with a cliff hanger. Myst is still out there; the traitorous vampires are still on the loose; and Lannan will, no doubt, do everything in his power to keep Cicely from marrying Grieve.

     All in all, this is stacking up to be a so-so series, despite its obvious weaknesses. The main characters are likable, if not fully developed, and the action is compelling, though bloody. Click HERE to read the first chapter of Night Seeker.  

                       BOOK 4:  Night Vision                       

     On the first page, Cecily is reminiscing about the huge changes in her life: "So much had changed over the past few weeks since I'd rolled into town," and that's the first time I realized that this entire series covers less than a month's time. It's tough to keep track of the time frame when the books are published a year apart. To review, during the past few weeks Cecily has learned that she is half Cambyra Fae, discovered that she can shape-shift into an owl, developed a powerful ability to control wind, reunited with her lost love, survived countless battles with vampires and enemy Fae, watched former friends become enemies, welcomed former enemies as allies, survived a blood-letting relationship with a hedonistic vampire, and—last but not least—accepted the fact that she is the new Queen of Snow and Ice. That final accomplishment is the focus of the plot of the fourth book. Beginning on page 24, the author provides an 8-page series summary that introduces Cecily and delineates the main events up to this point, thus bringing the reader up to date on Cecily's life. That section makes it possible for this book to be a stand-alone read. A character-connections list is included at the end of the book. 

     The plot of this book is very simple: In the next 48 hours, Cecily and Rhiannon are due to be installed as queens of their respective empires, followed by a double wedding in which each marries her soul mate. Cecily will marry Grieve; Rhiannon (the new Queen of Rivers and Rushes) will marry Chatter. That is the basic story line, but things are never quite that simple in Cecily's life, so you can be sure that her enemies lay a series of obstacles in her path. The plot action consists of one mini-battle after another as Cecily and her friends are attacked seemingly every time they venture out from their secure Barrow. At one point there is a kidnapping, and that leads to the climactic battle that ends the book. 

     At this point in the series, Cecily has two major enemies: the evil Myst and her Shadow Hunters and Geoffrey and Leo, the vicious revenge-seeking vampires who have released the monstrous Crawl (aka the Blood Oracle) from his prison cell. Crawl is an ancient, primitive vampire who has taken a particular liking to Cecily's blood. Geoffrey wants to torture and kill Cecily in revenge for her past actions against him, and Leo wants to take Rhiannon away from Chatter and make her his blood slave. Myst, of course, wants her kingdom back, and she's not going to sit still and watch Cecily become its queen. That's basically the whole story. The level of violence is definitely a "5" because of a horrific rape scene and one near-rape episode. 

     This is one of the weakest books in the series, primarily because it is so repetitive and so predictable. Every time Cecily and her friends leave the Barrow we know that someone will ambush them—although Cecily never anticipates the attacks. Galenorn has (thankfully) dialed down on the food and clothing descriptions that overpowered previous books, but she still piles on too many details about the color and style of everyone's clothing. Galenorn seems to delight in inserting uncomfortably private details into the story. The yuckiest one in this book has to do with splinters getting caught in Cecily's pubic hair as she climbs a tree while stark naked. Ewww! TMI! The author's obsession with keeping Cecily clean is still a problem as she gives us way too many details about Cecily's obsessive schedule of baths and showers, including the scents of her various bath oils and descriptions of her bath-time snacks. At one point Cecily explains that she requires at least two showers a day, and she takes them, no matter what type of mayhem is going on in her life. In one scene, Cecily and her friends need to make an emergency night-time rescue so she sends her guard back to the Barrow for some dark clothing, emphasizing that she wants a clean pair of panties. Again...ewww! I can't understand the author's obsession with these kind of useless and off-putting details. They just serve to make Cecily a little bit creepy. Click HERE to read the first chapter of Night Vision. 

                      NOVEL 5:  Night's End                       
     A month has passed since Cecily and her cousin, Rhiannon, married their consorts and became queens of their respective realms: Cecily as Queen of Snow and Ice (the Winter Queen) and Rhiannon as Queen of Rivers and Rushes (the Summer Queen). Now they face one last hurdle: the defeat of Myst, the power-crazed Vampiric Fae Queen of the Indigo Court. Galenorn provides enough background material to give even a new reader enough information to read the book as a stand-alone, although I recommend that you read the series from the beginning to absorb all of the nuances in the relationships and watch the gradually developing enhancements in Cecily's magical powers.

     As this installment opens, Myst begins her final assault, first on New Forest and then on the rest of the world. She covers the world in a blizzard of ice and snow and sends out her Shadow Hunters to gobble down the human (aka yummanii) population, leaving only gristle and bone behind. It's up to Cecily and Rhiannon to forge a series of alliances with witches, vampires, ghosts, and other supernatural groups in an effort to unify their forces and defeat Myst once and for all.  

     The author includes a series "Character List" at the back of the book. Besides, Cecily, Grieve, and Rhiannon, these are the main characters in this final adventure:    

   > Chatter: Rhiannon's consort, King of Summer

   > Ulean: Cecily's Wind Elemental

   > Hunter: Cecily's grandfather, a shape-shifting owl (aka Uwilahsidhe, a branch of the Cambyra Sidhe)

   > The Snow Hag: a Wilding Fae who began to help Cecily after Cecily rescued her from one of Myst's snares (in an earlier book)  

   > Kaylin: a demon-possessed dreamwalker who has a crush on Luna

   > Luna: Cecily's best friend, a human bard with dark magical connections

   > Peyton: Cecily's friend, half werepuma and half witch

   > Ysandra: a human witch with connections to the Consortium (of witches) 

   > Lannan Aldos: a local vampire leader with whom Cecily has a long history of mutually lustful attraction

   > Regina Aldos: Lannan's sister and lover; Emissary of the Crimson Court

     A large  part of the story involves Cecily's changing relationships with her friends. Now that she is the queen, Cecily must think first about the greater good, which means that she has to make some very tough decisions. When Cecily learns that one of Myst's spies is hiding among her friends and subjects, she is forced to use various means of mind-searching to figure out the spy's identity. "Painful and intrusive, the ritual allowed them to delve into someone's mind, to root through their thoughts and feelings and secrets. Essentially it came down to a form of mental torture. But it got the job done." (p. 16) Everyone is suspect, including Grieve, Cecily's closest advisors, and her best friends. The fallout from the mind-searches causes lasting changes  in Cecily's relationships with her friends as each one's life takes a new, sometimes horrendous, path after the experience. 

     Throughout this book, Cecily struggles with her new position as Queen. People keep lecturing Cecily on the inevitability of transitions and changes. Ulean reminds her, "This is what it meanest to be the Queen. And yes, you will find your world narrows, even as it expands. The higher you climb, the less your life is your own." (p. 24) Regina lectures her: "You..now understand the nature of what it means to be a royal—and what it means to not know whom you can trust. Cicely, when you take a position of power, it means leaving activities, and people, behind. You can never be as free as you were." (p. 82) Just before Kaylin makes a major transformation of his own, he tells her, "You, too, went through a transmutation, Cicely. You are not the same person you were a month ago. Everything changes. Everyone evolves." (p. 222) Although Cecily isn't happy about all of these changes, she eventually makes peace with the fact that she must place her duties to her people ahead of her private feelings and personal loyalties.

     Much like the previous novel, this plot involves a series of small but deadly battles with various monsters that Myst sends to attack the good guys. Throughout the story, both Cecily and Rhiannon display an increase in their respective powers, and those powers come in handy as they fight the horrific Shadow Hunters and Orb Spiders. Finally, towards the end of the story, the Snow Hag gives Cecily some cogent advice that helps Cecily figure out Myst's fatal weakness. At that point, Cecily and her closest allies fight their way through a dangerous trip deep into the forest for a final confrontation—an inevitable showdown—with Myst herself. 

     One question raised in the early part of the story concerns the meaning of "immortality." When Cecily, Rhiannon, and their consorts took their places as kings and queens, they supposedly became. Cecily says, "If we avoided accidents and murder, if no one found our heartstones, we would live into the mists of time…" (p. 12) But then on the next page, Cecily says that she can still die from an anaphylactic reaction to seafood. So…does "immortality" here mean simply that she will not die from old-age-related causes? What kind of "accident" would kill her? Why hasn't her new immortality canceled out her allergy? This immortality issue comes up in other paranormal series, but usually the mythology contains specific details spelling out what will and will not kill immortal characters. This may seem like a nit-pick, but I really wish that Galenorn had clarified the issue.

     Other than the repetitiousness of the ongoing battle scenes and the slightly silly (and ubiquitous) post-battle cookie crunching (sometimes in blood-spattered clothing), this is a satisfying ending to the series. The resolution of the "lust triangle" (Cecily, Grieve, and Lannan) is kind of kinky, but apparently Grieve is more laid back than I thought he was. Although this has been an uneven series, Galenorn is a good story teller and has developed her characters well. The book ends with an "Epilogue" that takes place 25 years later, so  that you can see what happens to everyone. (But please don't peek at the ending before you read the story.) Click HERE to read the first chapter of Night's End.