Mallory the Death
Witch can talk to ghosts which should really help her as a murder detective.
But cryptic messages from a drowned ghost aren’t that helpful in actually
solving their murder
When a second almost
murder happens nearly right in front of her - and both victims seem to be
heavily politically connected which brings even more of a level of pressure and
complexity - and personal risk. These are powerful enemies to make
This book adds nicely
to the world building in nicely gentle, non-info-dumpy ways. I really like how
the book expanded on Selkies, giving us lots of hints about their culture
without necessarily sitting us down for a lecture. Similarly the references to
how magical beings had obviously faced brutal persecution and predation was
referenced - and by referencing it we got the full history and ideal without
actually having to lay it all out there. Similarly we have references to
different magical creatures beyond the immediate ones we’ve seen as well as the
different gods of the witches: and how those can blend with other traditions
(one of Mallory’s friends is Jewish and a witch)
I really like how the
world building is done in this book - in this series - this general gentle
build, the exposure to many elements of the world time after time but never
actually throwing a lot of it at us in a way that is false or confusing or
irrelevant, making it all grow naturally
And I really like its depiction of police work, complete with so many red herrings, frustrations, complete lack of leads, going back, trying again, and again, looking for some clue. No easy fx, not quick answer with lots of wild theories on the way. And at the same time the police actually have lives, none of this idea that they should all spend every waking moment on the job. Yes they have lives and friends and hobbies and exercise and go running on a full moon through werewolf haunted woods (hey I didn’t say they did sensible things in their free time. Though, honestly, while I this is the kind of decision that would normally make me roll me eyes, I really like how this was portrayed. With mallory planning her perfect day, having it disrupted and promising herself that she could still salvage it, she could still get in that run, even as it increasingly became obvious she couldn’t, she promised herself it and couldn’t let it go. I can see that - because it’s the sort of thing people who do. Who like running, I guess. I mean, i find the whole thing quite bizarre, but if you sub in “pizza” for “run” then it makes a lot more sense). And they don’t spend all their time focusing on one case either. This murder matters - but there’s a lot of crime out there!
The plot just works
with all this, her friends work with this and I love the world building
An element about
Mallory and Jakob’s relationship - it is rare and interesting to have a series
start with a relationship rather than have them fall in love and build a
relationship during the series. I like the idea of that as it starts us in a
very different place and also avoids fast forwarding the relationship. We also
have Mallory and Jakob living very different lives which is also very different
from most of the genre. Jakob is a vampire but he’s also a businessman, he has
his own life and job and it doesn’t really intersect with Mallory’s job as a
police detective. This is, again, really unique and I like it - I like that
they have a relationship and don’t constantly live in each other’s lives and
Mallory doesn’t have to fall back on Jakob’s woo-woo, resources or anything
else. It’s surprisingly unique and I like it a lot
But… and I feel
nitpicky saying it… I don’t have a huge sense of their relationship. Certainly
not that they’re in love to the point of her moving in with them because they
don’t seem to spend a lot of time together… I mean they spend time together -
and have sex. He cooks for her - which is nice; and I really like how this goes
into his past about how he faced famine and lost family members. This is excellent
on several levels because it stops romanticising the past and adds an extra
level of pathos to what living hundreds of years means and how it can leave
long lasting scars. I mean it’s great about his development - but for their
relationship? The one thing they willingly share together is now kind of
pathologised… and it was all they had was sex (and they have a lot of sex - and
I’m not against sex but they need something other than sex, desperate feeder
obsession and Painful Conversations About Vampires). The few social occasions
they spend together - going to his church for mass (she’s not religious), a
birthday party for E (which Mallory spent all evening being kind of a less than
pleasant grump), watching the super-bowl (which Jakob isn’t really interested
in). I get tolerating your partner’s hobbies, believe me, I’m endured a lot of
inept attempts to learn how to play musical instruments - but your relationship
needs to be more than sex, deep-seated insecurity and then tolerating each
other.
I really like that
they have seperate lives and we didn’t see the beginning of the relationship -
but now we need to see that actual relationship
I love Mallory’s
circle of friends, they’re racially diverse, they’re loyal, even when they’ve
got stuff going on they always make time for each other, always care about each
other, always know what’s going on in each other’s lives. It’s one of the best
friends depiction I’ve seen in a long time
There is an issue:
can this series please never ever ever ever ever mention LGBTQ people again?
Ever. Please. Please just stop. Please no more. The first book had “Jakob’s a
violent homophobe but that’s perfectly fine” as well as a lesbian desperately
pining after a straight woman. The second book had lesbian being punished
by god for being a COWARD and WEAK by being in the closet. And, this book? Well that
goddess now decides she needs little witchy babies and magically compels Anna -
THE LESBIAN - to have lots of sex with a man. Hey, Mallory isn’t super happy
about this but not exactly super perturbed either given we’re dealing with
DIVINE FECKING CONVERSION THERAPY and rape?! Worse, even ANNA isn’t that upset
by this. Do you know who is? Anna’s girlfriend Nancy. Or, as Mallory calls her,
her “room-mate”. Though she describes her, basically, as a freeloader who
doesn’t care about Anna. Are we following this, we just demonised this woman
who loves Anna, lives with Anna so we can drive her out (and her romantic
gestures are completely dismissed) so Anna can make a family with a man she’s
been magically raped into making a baby with because some god - the same god
that made her come out last book - now finds her lesbianism inconvenient so now
straightened her up.
I wasn’t thrilled by
this storyline to say the least. I was also not thrilled by the gay werewolf
having his face broken by said homophobic vampire (he kissed Jakob! Uh, yes,
Jakob was literally trying to kill him because he touched his woman: that kiss
actually represents one of the best non-violent ways to de-escalate that fight)
I honestly mean it
when i say please remove the LGBTQ people because without this steadily
escalating trainwreck, this series would be so much much more fun to read -
because there is so much about this book I love, the world, the characters, the
plot line. But stalking off in disgust because we’ve just divine conversion
therapied a lesbian so she can have a baby, kicked out her girlfriend and is
now all warm and fuzzy with the daddy is not conducive to enjoying any book
