2012 modern fantasy short novel, originally published as blog posts on
the author's web site. Dina Demille keeps a faded bed-and-breakfast in
small-town Texas. But it's actually a way station for travellers from
other worlds.
And that's "worlds" in the sense of "planets": although there are
werewolves and vampires and other things here, as urban fantasy
largely requires, they've travelled through space, and they're
biological entities rather than supernatural creatures. Sure, there's
magic, but it's presented as technology that's sufficiently advanced.
In spite of the subject matter, the treatment of it is distinctly more
science-fictional and questioning in tone than one usually expects
from urban fantasy, which I rather welcome.
In the short term, though, something's killing neighbourhood dogs, and
there's no reason to think it won't work its way up to humans. Which
is complicated for Dina: she wants to do something about it, but her
powers are largely defensive, and very limited outside the grounds of
the inn. More significantly, while attacking an inn is accepted as a
great big error by everyone, if she violates neutrality by getting
involved in outside events she will have no backup at all.
Yes, all right, our heroine gets involved in a love triangle with a
vampire and a werewolf (it's in the contract, probably) but she's
rather too busy working out what's going on and staying alive to let
herself get all mushy. And at least everyone involved is aware that
this is a cliché.
The moment-to-moment writing is refreshingly free of Portent and
heavy-handedness; it's light and humorous even when dealing with grim
subjects. Sure, the two men in the triangle do macho bullshit at each
other, but the heroine (and first-person narrator) has entirely
sensible reactions to it.
In fact that's possibly what distinguishes her most from many urban
fantasy heroines: Dina is very much the protagonist and driver of the
narrative. There are things for which she has to rely on other people
because of the nature of her (and the inn's) powers, but that just
means she has to be a leader as well as a fighter in her own right.
Very light but highly enjoyable, and I certainly plan to read more.
Followed by Sweep in Peace.
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