Libromancer's Apprentice

Beneath the Sugar Sky (Wayward Children #3) / Seanan McGuire Previously Reviewed Every Heart a Doorway Down Among the Sticks and Bones Set in our world, in "reality," Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children is where those that have fallen through the cracks into other realms and then stumbled back out again find a home.  Our world is not kind to the children remade by worlds of Nonsense and Magic. "Children have always tumbled down rabbit holes, fallen through mirrors, been swept away by unseasonal floods or carried off by tornadoes. Children have always traveled , and because they are young and bright and full of contradictions, they haven’t always restricted their travel to the possible. Adulthood brings limitations like gravity and linear space and the idea that bedtime is a real thing, and not an artificially imposed curfew. Adults can still tumble down rabbit holes and into enchanted wardrobes, but it happens less and less with every year they live. ...

Yeah... remember this little project ? Well, we're starting things up again, so if you want in please join us! Emily and I will be doing a chapter every two weeks (life is busy, yo), going through Unfinished Tales  as we continue reading through Tolkien's works.  So our first posts should be going up on July 1st!

Sparrow Hill Road (The Ghost Roads #1) / Seanan McGuire Some ghost stories we've all heard, or heard some version of.  Sleep over stories, campfire tales, urban legends.  They change, they fade, but they still make the rounds, even as new stories like the Black Eyed Kids or the Slenderman take root. In Sparrow Hill Road we get the story of one of those undying ghost stories, in the form of Rose Marshall, the phantom prom date, the vanishing hitchhiker, the girl in the diner.  She died in 1952 when she was run off the road on prom night, and hasn't been able to truly go home since.  Riding the roads, both  mortal and dead, ushering those to their final exit, or helping others find their way home. Even the dead have something to fear, some of the living have power over them, the Crossroads where bargains are made, and sometimes those who well their souls at the expense of others.  Rose is not only the vanishing hitchhiker, but the girl who got away...

Brief Cases (Dresden Files) / Jim Butcher So.  Imma make a recommendation here.  Stop reading my review, and just go pre-order the book , or place a hold at your library. Go on, I'm not going anywhere. The Dresden Files cast and setting has expanded a lot since the first few novels, and the first few collections of stories.  In Brief Cases we get stories of Dresden's adventures and debacles, but there is also so much more, and the additional voices are fantastic. Things kick off with a weird West story featuring Luccio and an introduction about how Butcher has an idea for a full series based on this short story.  Let me just say I'm so ready for this. The stories in this collection span the range from fun to touching to sad.  We learn how Molly got in good with the Svartalves, the price she's paying as a Winter Queen.  We get three stories about "Bigfoot," one about Butters as a Knight, and even get to hear both Maggie and Mouse. Usually ...