Two from the Hip(1): Reapers and Ghost and Lost oh my....

Bang Bang....

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Over the last year PYR has put out some excellent YA branded fiction; Lightbringer by K.D. McEntire was the flagship title; it is the first in what I hope to be many urban fantasy novels featuring live and ghostly characters referencing the mythology of J.M Barry's Peter and the Lost Boys. This world is one split between the living and the dead, the real and the Never, a place where the spirits of people animals and even loved things exist after their passing. In Lightbringer we are introduced to Wendy who much like Buffy has an inherited responsibility, Wendy's to reap the various souls lost in the never into the "light". We also see the world from the point of view of the riders, ghosts of those that died in their teens who persist in the never protecting the child ghosts from the decayed walkers who would feed on their essence.

Lightbringer is an action adventure tale, a love story and a mystery that pushes Wendy its protagonist deeper into the realm of the Never which reveals it has many more secrets then her mother ever told her. The novel deals with the complex relationships that we all have with family friends and our past which we may be trying to protect our loved ones from. K.D. pays respect to the memory J. M Barry, who created Peter and the Lost Boys and also makes me fondly recall my hours of enjoyment watching Buffy and the sarcastic wit of Joss Whedon. Like Fair Coin this is a YA that lacks nothing in complexity or heart and is nothing quite akin to the big names in that movement at the moment. Lightbringer is everything that a fan of Buffy or Once upon a Time might want in a novel and will please fans of the likes of Jim Butcher and Patricia Briggs too; Its a book that is the beginning of something bigger and drops the next plot threads along the way but is a complete story fulfilling and heartfelt. Like any Romeo and Juliet tale you know tragedy is in the cards and here the cold or the burn of that pain is worth it.

The setting of these stories is also one close to my heart seeing as it is in the San Francisco Bay area and K.D. has a good feel for the area and made it come alive both the living and the Neverlands. She makes geek references to warm the heart and shows an obvious love for all that genre fiction has to offer in this and its follow up novel Reaper....

And now...

Reaper is the follow up and comes thankfully not even a year on the heels of Lightbringer. I will strive not to give too much away here but I will say that Reaper builds the size and scope of the Lightbringer universe quite some ways. Wendy is some the worse for ware in this story from the trials and reveals after then end of Lightbringer and has a new loved one in a mysterious death yet not deathlike state. I was struck by how absent her father is and maybe that is one of the reasons I feel a bit of kinship with her. We also see Piotr, her other main protagonist suffering the losses from Lightbringer; he is as much adrift as one can be and is searching for purpose in his confusing afterlife in the dark and ever more sinister Never. K.D. expands our knowledge of the realities of the wider world of the reaper with the introduction of more of the family of reapers( think the slayers council) and more of the hierarchy of the recently and long long departed in the Never. Things are no where near as clean and clear cut as we were lead to believe and the games afoot are more deep and complex then we assumed at the end of Lightbringer.

This is a novel that feels much more dangerous and cynical then the initial volume. The stakes are higher here as we learn why Wendy's mom kept her from the wider world and the role she played in keeping the wider world out of the San Francisco bay area that had been her stomping grounds. Reaper is a book that deals a lot with obfucation and betrayal and fear. There are multiple players working behind the scenes of fhe story and lying to the multiple protagonists and as a reader its hard to tell who is playing whom; and its half the fun of the read. I look back on Lightbringer and see the realities of that book broken down by the truths revealed by Reaper. This book does horrible things to our heroes and makes a great second act. Wendy is given some of the training she should have received from her mother. The roles of the Riders have changed in the aftermath but they are as much stalwart friends through thick and thin.

Reaper though a full novel left me hanging and I hate the mid season breaks just as much now as I did watching episodic TV in the late nineties. Reaper is a novel of twists and turns as much as any great spy of thriller novel and ratchets up the emotional tension a couple notches. Sure we and her heroes learn so much in the course of the adventure but even with all the new heroes and opponents it just may not be enough.

Existential horror is my thing and the eire portrayal of the land of the never appealed to my spiritual angst. Loved both these suspense filled horror tinged romance adventures.... K.D. has the goods as a writer and delivers with, I hate to say it but, both barrels with these novels.... all I will say is where is volume 3.... please....

Anyway here are the links to the novels and to K.D.'s web site...

K.D. McEntire can be found here on the internet go and check her out and really give the books a look...

Lightbringer
by K. D. Mcentire

Reaper (Lightbringer)
by K. D. Mcentire

.....if wishes were fishes.....

Fair Coin is yet another great addition to the YA shelf of books from PYR. EC Myers novel is filled with emotional tension, moral questions and highly believable characters and situations; it is another novel that I think works on multiple audiences because adolescence is something pretty much was turbulent for everyone. Myers hits right away with the turmoil in Ephraim's life as he gets home to find his alcoholic mother having attempted suicide; his already shaky life clicks down another couple notches. The troubles he is in and the magical coin that seems to get him out resonated with me and though readers might figure there is more going on then mysterious items and notes lead the hero to think the reveals and repercussions hit on the emotional issues.

I empathized with Ephraim from the beginning; he is in a much worse situation then I was so many years ago but i can imagine taking care of an alcoholic mother and relate to his being bullied in school and being attracted to someone but feeling hopeless about it. He is a geeky guy as is is buddy Nathan and though its more in fashion now he is still not gregarious or a hit at parties. His situation goes from bad to worse with his mom in the hospital from a suicide attempt because of his apparent death. This twilight zone situation lands him with a bizarre quarter that should not exists showing Puerto Rico as a state in 1998 and according to a note fulfills wishes. His life changes as does the subtle relationships in his life as he wishes for this or that and odd sighting haunt him throughout. I related to the feeling that if only I could change "X" my life would be great and the prospect of wish fulfillment without the work sadly still appeals to me. As a reader its easy to suspect there is much more going on plot wise and, oh , there are but the emotional center of the story and his relationships play the major roles.

Of the aspects of the main characters that makes them real are their foibles. E.C. 's heroes are the geeks in the school, they are the ones bullies and belittled or used by the popular kids. This is something that is sadly universal and I was one of those people who had been bullied and my life has been affected by it ever since. I enjoyed Fair Coin because Ephraim has courage I never had and well wish I did have. Wishes are a big part of the novel and I think a big part of peoples lives. Ephraim and his cohort of buddies have to live with the consequences of wish fulfilment and they do a much better job then you'd expect.
No matter how Ephraim might think his social circle is small just him and his buddy and fellow geek Nathan as a observer in his life I saw that his circle was bigger then he knew. Before all the wishes and the twists and turns that those cause good and bad he has a connection to the girl of his wishes Jena and her friends Mary and Shelly. There are numerous geek culture winks like that appearing through the novel; EC must have grown up like I did on 50's 60's sci fi reruns on TV and his world though much younger then I am right now really feels of home. I wish I had encountered this story as a teen; I may have missed it being a depressive but its pretty clear Ephraim has more friends then he knows before the first wish. As the world changes around him he gets good with bad and more bad and the creepy. He reveals things to Nathan and well its a interesting ride to say the least.

To be honest though I know blowing the story from there on is so tempting, blowing what is happening if you got clued into it by the story or not; its all to cool to read it for yourself I think. The beauty of the story from the realization of the truth on is the moral implications of what happened and the implications for the future. The friends he has once the third act starts are in much more danger then the bullies and concerns of a teenager. The adventure from there on in is more a caper story and its a real great twist on things; still emotionally charged but grown out of the teen angst to something more adult. E.C. Myers does not opt out of the implications of his story and take the easy way out.

In the end of the story Ephraim though changed in his desire for instant gratification is changed by his experience. The knowledge he gained through his trial and his decisions have made a more fully realized person and again I would love to have read this at much less then more then twice the protagonists age. His supporting cast of geeks, freaks and above all friends are all as vibrant as he. The many changed Jena's, Mary's Shelly's and Nathan's are all as unique was you'd want from a novel that shows multiple views of the same people. I do not want to say more. I got what might be the reveal early on and it ruined nothing. I loved this book and felt for the characters. One of the nicest part of the setting and familiar to me was the mix of people in the core group there was not a self conscious mix of races or mixed race characters but the multi national mix of players was so much like my groups of friends; I wish I appreciated them more then I did.

Really saying more would be giving things away. The end delivers on all the promises E.C. made in the opening and I can not wait for more from the author. Ultimately the characters make the hard choices taking the paths they can live with, again it's moral and emotionally loaded in ways some spec fiction does not get near. Strong characters and strong storytelling make this a must read novel no matter your age; Myers hits where we live and sometimes not where we still live at times. I wish I had another chance yonder it right so often but one chance is all we get really.

EC Myers bio and website can be found here

Lest I forget I received my copy from Pyr for review and am very happy they sent one.....

Fair Coin
by E C Myers