Kristin McTiernan

This month I'm reviewing Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, and Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman.

I also discuss my minor crisis of what to write next and my decision.

I'm so proud to reveal that Book 2 of the Siren Song Series, Black Magic's Shadow is now available in eBook and Paperback on Amazon! For those of you who want to continue with Tess's story, please remember to leave a review when you're finished, as those really help the Amazon algorithm target people who would like my books. Thank you to everyone who is coming on this journey with me.

I've had several men compliment me on how I write the male characters in my books. Not just the way they speak, but the way they think.

I never gave it much thought, as I don't spend my time on Twitter and thus miss a lot of the "cultural debate" going on right now about men and how they are portrayed in fiction. But then I read The Good Daughter by Karen Slaughter and I saw exactly what people are talking about when they say men are being misrepresented in modern fiction.

I wrote a brief review of the book on Goodreads, but in a nutshell,  every single cis-gendered male in the book was violent, insecure, cruel, and unfaithful to their long-suffering wives/girlfriends. The only exception to this rule was the protagonists' father. He was obsessed with his job of defending the guilty from the predations of the far-worse criminal justice system and played a subordinate role to his brilliant, yet cold wife.  All of these characters were met with squeals of approval …

I originally planned to release Book 2 of the Black Magic series in January. But, as it often does, life got in the way a bit. However, I am reasonably sure I will have it available in late February or Early March. This one will be a bit longer than the first, but still a quick read in Tess's signature voice. My artist has once again outdone himself and I'm so thrilled with how it came out!

A world once modern and learned condemned to repeat the dark ages after demons rise from the earth's core every night to feast on humans.

Peter V. Brett starts off the Demon Cycle series in a single small town and grows to world-size proportions. Frankly, it's a master class in high fantasy world-building. It's never explicitly said in the books, but I think the Demon Cycle series takes place in our own distant future—after all our technology failed us in the face of demons. It's that subtlety of world building and the intricacy of plot that makes the Demon Cycle books so outstanding... at least the first three.

Because I love this world and these characters so much, I became truly angry with the direction the series took and my perception of why the author made these choices. As with all my reviews, there will be spoilers, but nothing that should prevent you from reading these books. Your life will be better for it, even with its flaws.

The Warded Man: The Warded Man …

I will start this review with a mandatory disclosure: I love me some Vinnie D. That's Vincent D'Onofrio to you normal folks. I love him in everything he has ever done. I loved him as the sweet yet prideful young man in Mystic Pizza, I loved him in his small role as "Thor" in Adventures of Babysitting, I loved him when he wore an Edgar suit in Men in Black, and I loved him the mostest in Law & Order: Criminal Intent. So while I'll be telling you the strengths and weaknesses of the show, don't be concerned when I seem to love the villain more than the hero.

Though Kingpin AKA Wilson Fisk had a small cameo in the Defenders, Season 3 of Daredevil marked his triumphant return to the status of Big Bad. And make no mistake, Wilson Fisk is as Big and Bad as they come. Obey him or he will kill you. Though he might kill you even if you do obey him. Hypothetically, he might savagely crush your head in if you are simply the bearer of bad news. Hypothetically.

Though…