Hit and miss in places
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"Wild Thing" is a romantic anthology featuring four short stories.
Animal Magnetism by Maggie Shayne
Macy MacNamara can communicate with animals, and as a result she is able to obtain an image of the rapist who attacked her friend Christine, an act witnessed by Christine's dog. But how does she pass this information on to Detective Jay Harris without him thinking she's crazy; easy interrogate his basset hound Fred and reveal details of Jay's private life she couldn't possibly know, including an interesting fantasy she acts out. Jay himself is deeply attracted to Macy but is sceptical of her abilities, yet despite this he still sleeps with the "crazy lady". Unfortunately now the rapist knows Macy can recognise him and acts to protect himself.
I'm not a huge fan of Maggie Shayne and honestly only purchased this book to get my hands on Marjorie M Liu and Alyssa Day's stories; however this is the most enjoyable tale I have read by this author. I do though have to agree that "Animal Magnetism" started off quite strong but rather than finish with fireworks, it spectacularly fizzled out. Like the previous reviewer, I thought the ending of this story was remarkably weak. Perhaps MS thought it would be romantic that Macy would rather compose a love note to Jay than battle for her life; however I found this incredibly feeble.
3 stars
Paradise by Meljean Brook
Selah is a Guardian, a powerful being created following great self sacrifice to battle the demons, Nosferatu and Vampires which plague the world. I'm not exactly sure who she protects as these species are all bound to cause no harm to humankind; however this doesn't stop them from killing each other.
Although Lucifer has agreed that the Gates of Hell be sealed for 500 years, it doesn't stop him from twisting the rules of the compact and creating a new gate. When a demon discovers that the violent death of a vampire can convert a portal between worlds to that of a Hell Gate, no vampire can consider themselves safe, including Lukas Marseden; the powerful head of his vampire community.
This author offered an interesting premise on the creation of the Nosferatu and how they differ from vampires; however an overwhelming abundance of supernatural beings and the confusing history of Selah left me somewhat bewildered. There was just too much going on in this short story and it would probably have worked better as a full length novel. I've since discovered this is the third offering in MB's "Guardian" series and would undoubtedly have benefited from reading "Demon Moon" and "Demon Angel" first.
2.5 stars
Hunter Kiss by Marjorie M Liu
Maxine Kiss is the last Demon Hunter on Earth, connected to those she hunts in a very close and unusual manner. Although she hunts and destroys demons which infest humankind, she is also protected by these creatures. During daylight hours she wears her own demons as tattoos, markings covering most of her body which protect her to such an extent they can deflect bullets. Yet when the sun sets "the boys" assume their demon forms, leaving Maxine at her most vulnerable and without their protection until dawn. Her relationship with her demons is incredibly well written; a loving acceptance of the beings she knows one day will fail to protect her; the day "the boys" deem her daughter ready to accept them. On the day they abandon her, Maxine knows she will die an extremely violent death; like her mother and grandmother before her.
Whilst battling demons, Maxine saves the life of Grant Cooperon, an ex-priest and a man with the ability to see those humans possessed by demons and influence them with the music he plays on his flute. Yet whereas some demons welcome this change as an opportunity to escape the dominion of their Dark Queen, others want him dead. With his knowledge of the world she lives in, for the first time since her mother's murder Maxine finds herself drawn to another human being.
This dark fantasy is certainly very different from the majority of MML's normal works and certainly much darker than her highly recommended "Dirk and Steele" books. That said, I found "Hunter Kiss" to be a fantastic introduction to a new series and now eagerly await the release of its first full length novel; "The Iron Hunt", due for pub. 2008.
4.5 stars
Wild Hearts in Atlantis by Alyssa Day
Bastien, a warrior of Poseidon is selected to act as a liaison between his people and a clan of shape shifting panthers; Weres on the brink of agreeing to an alliance with the vampires to join together and subjugate mankind.
Bastien firmly believes he is the wrong man for the job of negotiating with shape shifters, and finds his concentration disturbed by the aptly named Kat, a half blood Were secretly ridiculed by the women of her clan for her inability to assume her animal form. Kat has the unusual ability to send out calming waves to curb aggressive behaviour; yet it is this very gift that stops her tapping into her own aggressive inner beast. Kat and Bastien briefly met 2 years prior, and both have had difficulty forgetting the other; unfortunately Poseidon strictly forbids his warriors mating with a shape shifter.
This was the other story I was eager to read, the second offering in AD's "Warrior of Poseidon" series and a short sequel as cracking as its predecessor "Atlantis Rising". I already have the next book in this series on order; "Atlantis Awakening", due for publication November 07; the story of Ven and his relationship with a witch.
4.5 stars
I normally enjoy anthologies as I'm always drawn to favourite featuring authors and find it a good way to scope out undiscovered talents. Marjorie M Liu and Alyssa Day failed to let me down; however I can't say I'm inspired to check out the lengthier works by Maggie Shayne or Meljean Brook; despite the high star ratings their full length books have earned.
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All the stars are for Marjorie M Liu
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I wouldn't normally buy an anthology featuring authors I wasn't familiar with, but I desperately wanted to read Liu's entry, Hunter Kiss, so I forked out. If it wasn't for Liu's entry, I'd be very disappointed at how I'd spent my money.
Maggie Shayne's entry (I can't actually remember the title) had a good concept - vet who talks to animals learns identity of serial rapist via a victim's dog. Cop who's hunting rapist gets involved with vet because she's hawt. He thinks she's utterly crazy when she tells him she can talk to animals, but decides to sleep with her anyway on account of how hawt she is. At this point I lost interest in the cop. The ending was rather lame - our sexy vet is attacked, but rather than fight back against the rapist/murderer, she decides to write "I love you" on her arm in case the cop finds her. Or something.
Next up was Paradise by Meljean Brook. I really wanted to like this, and for the first three chapters, I did. I love angels and I loved the idea of guardian angels working on earth. But I found Brook's writing style impossible to follow and after eight chapters, I was so confused by what was going on, inbetween vampires, nosferatu, guardians, angels, devils and fallen angels that I just gave up.
Next: Liu's Hunter Kiss, the introduction to her new urban fantasy series. This was brilliant, fast-paced, edgy and utterly unique. Maxine Kiss is the last demon hunter, protected by demonic tattoos that come to life at night. They both protect her life and guarantee its end one day. When Maxine saves former priest Grant Cooperon from a demon attack, her solitary life is irrevocably changed, as is her understanding of the demons she destroys. I cannot wait for the first novel in this series.
Finally, Alyssa Day's Wild Hearts in Atlantis. I quite liked this tale of Atlantean warriors on earth. The dialogue occasionally had me stumped, a mixture of modern slang and archaic speech, but the story was enjoyable enough. Atlantean Bastien finds himself acting as an ambassador to a colony of shape-shifters, and falling madly in love with one of them, Kat. (She turns into a panther, har har.) But Atlanteans are forbidden to take shape-shifters as their mates, so what will become of the couple? And can the alpha shape-shifter be trusted when he's been known to associate with vampires?!
Honestly though, apart from Liu, there was nothing special in this anthology for me. If you're already a fan of any of the authors, you'll want this to fill in the gaps between novels, especially in the case of Brook and Day. But if you're new to any of the authors, this probably isn't the best introduction.
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