2018 anthology of novellas from Stewart's various universes.
It seems likely to me that the purpose of this collection is to
lure me, a fan of twp of the settings, into reading some of the
others. I'm therefore surprised that the material from the Starship's
Mage setting is the start of what had already been published as
Starship's Mage Omnibus in 2014.
But the others were new to me.
"ONSET: Murder by Magic" introduces the secret US government agency
that deals with magical crime, and Jamie Riley the new recruit. Of
course a fair bit of this goes as one would expect; but Stewart likes
to take a science-fictional approach to fantasy, and the understanding
of magic shown here is the result of scientific study rather than the
study of ancient tomes written by half-mad magicians raving about
angels.
More significantly, though, the hero here is very keen to do things
right. The agency has great powers and clearly gets to ignore the
rules, and one would expect it to attract the sort of authoritarian
power-fantasists who infest most law enforcement, but Riley at least
bends over backwards to ensure that procedures intended to safeguard
victims are followed rigorously, and as a result cracks a case that
everyone else had thought too straightforward to be worth thinking
about.
"Starship's Mage", as mentioned, is the introduction to Damien
Montgomery and the universe of that name.
"Fae, Flames and Fedoras" has Fae living inconspicuously in the 1920s,
called to New York to deal with something terrifying in the new sewer
project. But what aren't they being told? This felt a little ragged in
plotting, but the action is solid as ever.
"Ashen Stars", previously published but new to me, introduces Isaac
Gallant, son of the admiral who overthrew Earth's old corrupt régime…
and is now running it as a police state. This will lead into the
Exile series, but as it stands it's decent serviceable space-navy
SF, with an intriguing excuse for why only this ship can make it to
the emergency in time.
All good fun; I like to read Stewart when I'm feeling overloaded with
"serious" books, and these stories get that job done.