Unbound
By Multiple Authors (see story breakdown for authors and their websites)
ISBN# 9780061699931
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi
Unbound is a compilation of several popular paranormal and urban fantasy authors. Included in this collection is a prequel to Jeaniene Frost’s Night Huntress series, a Hollows short story from Kim Harrison and more. Let’s start by breaking it down per story.
Ley Line Drifter
The Hollows, Book # 7.5
By Kim Harrison
Author’s Webstie: http://www.kimharrison.net/
This story is from Rachel’s pixie partner, Jenk’s perspective. He is preparing to move his family back into their beloved stump after living the winter in Rachel’s desk, when a visitor comes knocking. A young pixie buck named Vincet needs Jenk’s help to save his family. Their garden is in the park, but a statue is killing his children at night. They just had some new babies and it’s too risky to move them so he wants Jenks to help fix the problem and rid their home of the evil lurking there.
When I first started reading the Hollows series, Jenks was one of my favorite characters with his inventive strings of curses about Tinkerbell and the overall humor that he brings to the story. I felt over time Jenk’s character and personality have really tamed a bit and he’s not nearly as entertaining. And, I just couldn’t get interested in this novella about him at all. And, overall the story was pretty predictable. Who would have figured the ancient creature in the statue would lie to get free?
Reckoning
Night Huntress, Book # o.5
By Jeaniene Frost
Author’s Website: http://jeanienefrost.com/
This story was the main reason that I decided to read this anthology. It takes us back into Bones’s past, before he ever met Cat. He’s in New Orleans and has been asked to assassinate a couple of ghouls that are torturing and killing people.
I thought this was a decent short story and I really enjoyed learning more about Bones and how he thinks. I’m glad to see that he did have a little bit of guilt about using Becca to get what he wants. I’m also glad that Frost opted to not go into detail with the sex between the two as I don’t want to picture him with anyone, but Cat, even though my rational mind knows this was before he met her. This to me was by far the best story in Unbound.
Dark Matters
Signs of the Zodiac, Book # 0.5
By Vicki Pettersson
Author’s Website: http://www.vickipettersson.com/
JJ was born into a family of superheroes that were sworn to protect the humans from the Shadows. And, when he was five he begged his parents to take him to see the Fourth of July fireworks the humans were having. They eventually got all the necessary clearances and went, but on their way home were attacked by a legion of Shadows that inevitably killed JJ’s parents. Ever since he has had to live with the fact that it was his fault his parents lost their lives.
Now, JJ is an adult and is an agent of the Light as were his parents, but he is just going through the motions and not really living his life. Until one night he comes across Solange, one of the Shadows that killed his parents and he starts an unlikely and forbidden affair with her that sparks life into him at long last.
This story started out well enough as I found the idea of the main character being a superhero to be kind of neat. But overall I found the story to be a bit too unbelievable. I have a hard time believing that somebody so racked with guilt over his parents’ death would partake in a relationship with one of the people involved in killing them. I get the whole sleeping with the enemy type of storyline, and I was still OK with story until it took a turn into what the fuck land! The end of the story was so bad that it made me shout at loud, “This is stupid!” I understand that love makes you do dumb things … love makes you blind and all that, but I couldn’t fathom why Solange needed to see JJ differently and why he would risk an innocent child’s life for something so vain. The result was not all that surprising to me.
The Dead, the Damned , and the Forgotten
Dark Days, Book # 0.5
By Jocelynn Drake
Author’s Website: http://www.jocelynndrake.com/
Mira is a nightwalker that is in charge of keeping all the other vampires and sups in line. So when she ends up with dead bodies in her territory she has to clean it up fast or be forced back to Venice and live under the thumb of the Coven, where some of her most gruesome memories of her past reside.
I found this story to be quite interesting. Drake’s vampire world was dark, fun, and they definitely live by their own set of rules. I also really enjoyed Mira’s interaction with Knox and I hope that readers will get to see their relationship evolve as the series progresses. I know this series isn’t new, but I’ve never read it and this novella made me interested in reading more.
Two Lines
By Melissa Marr
Author’s Website: http://www.melissa-marr.com/
Eavan is drawn to Daniel even though he is evil. He drugs girls and sells them in the black market and she’ll do just about anything to stop him even though she knows she’s flirting with danger as she tries to get close enough to take him down.
She has worked her whole life to stay human, but Eavan’s growing need to take Daniel down could be her undoing. Her mother is a glaistig and if Eavan partakes in sex and murder in the same month, then she will change into a glaistig as well, where she will be forced to murder on a regular basis just to survive.
This story was interesting and definitely a little different. I had never heard of a glaistig so I found it entertaining to be introduced to a new creature. But it’s not a story I would want to continue if given the opportunity.
Overall Thoughts:
I was quickly drawn to this anthology because of the big names of the authors involved, but only a couple of the stories were really worth reading, Jeaniene Frost and Jocelynn Drake were definitely the shining stars in the book, I just wished that all the authors could have written at that same level. This was an OK read, but one that I would never consider re-reading.
