Kris‘ guest review of Huntress by Christine Warren, Marjorie M. Liu, Caitlin Kittredge, and Jenna Maclaine.
“Devil’s Bargain” by Christine Warren
Supernatural bounty hunter Lilli Corbin made a pact with the Prince of Hell: She agreed to recover a book of prophecies. When she learns it could trigger the apocalypse, Lilli is forced to make the ultimate choice: save her soul, or the man she loves?
“The Robber Bride” by Marjorie M. Liu
Welcome to a post-apocalyptic world where women are fed on for their life forces. Now it’s up to Maggie, one of the last female survivors, to hunt down and destroy an army of darkness…
“Down in the Ground Where the Dead Men Go” by Caitlin Kittredge
Ava is a demon slayer who needs help from mage Jack Winter to reach the demon underworld—a place of dark seduction…and, maybe, one of no return.
“Sin Slayer” by Jenna Maclaine
London 1889. Jack the Ripper is killing off the city’s vampire population, and now it’s up to Cin Craven to hunt him down—and save the infected Michael, the love of her undead life.
This is an anthology of kick butt women who live in paranormal worlds.
The first story, “Devil’s Bargain” was one of the reasons I wanted to read this because I really like Christine Warren’s stories. This one was a good story. She packed a lot more than I expected into a short story. It was a nice, solid paranormal story. 4 out of 5.
The second story, “The Robber Bride” was very interesting. I do not read much that takes place in a post-apocalyptic world so that was a nice change. The storyline was different, and the ending was not what I expected which is not a bad thing, just made me go, “hmm, I think I like that, but I am not sure, I have to ponder a while”. I think I have only read like one thing by her, so I am not sure if it is typical of her writing style. 3.5 out of 5.
The third story, “Down in the ground Where the Dead Men Go” is not a romance story. It is a good urban fantasy story though. I might have enjoyed it more if I had read the other books in the series that it is from. From what I can tell Jack is a character from her Black London series. The first book, Street Magic came out in June. It was very well written and very gritty. Re-reading the story and knowing that it was not a romance, I enjoyed it more. The first time I read it, I was trying to figure out how they were going to get together and also hoping that they did not because I did not like Ava. The first time through I would have given it a 2 but after I re-read it in a different light I give it a 3.75 out of 5.
The fourth story, “Sin Slayer” is also part of a series (Cin Craven series) but you can still read it as a stand alone. I really enjoyed it and it convinced me to go find the rest in the series (Wages of Sin and Grave Sins are the two books in the series). The storyline kept me interested. There was enough background so that I was not lost but not so much that I got bored. The love between Cin and Michael was fun to watch. I was very impressed with this author. 4.5 out of 5.
Over all I would give the book a 3.75 out of 5.
This book is available from St. Martin’s Press. You can buy it here.