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annathepiperFor those of you who are fans of the Vicki Nelson "Blood" series by Tanya Huff, the "Smoke" series is a followup trilogy to that--starring Tony, the former street kid who was Vicki's source and later Henry's companion. It's a solid story, and it's nice to see what happened to Tony and Henry once they moved to Vancouver following the tail end of the Vicki books.
It won't be a surprise to anyone familiar with Huff's writing, but for those of you who aren't, it's also a nice switch to have an urban fantasy star a queer boy. As is Huff's way, she is quite straightforward with Tony's sexuality, and at the same time doesn't really make a big deal of it, either. He has a huge crush on a straight boy, is tentatively flirting with another queer boy in his workplace, and is wrestling with his ongoing connection to Henry--which has persisted in strength even though Tony has moved out into his own place and is trying to establish his own life. Really, he's got all the complications you'd expect of any straight urban fantasy lead character, only he's queer. It's a nice change. ^_^ And unlike with Huff's previous novel with a queer boy in the starring role (The Quartered Sea), I like Tony as a character.
Plot-wise, things are not terribly complicated: Tony, Henry, and a refugee wizard from another world must team up to fight off an incursion of magically animated shadows that have come through a gate between worlds in pursuit of said wizard. Most of the plot is driven by Tony wrestling with establishing his independence from Henry, while Arra, the wizard, wrestles with her conscience and is dragged kicking and screaming into the fight. As part of it all, we get to see the beginnings of intriguing talents on Tony's part which, through the next couple of books, will quite likely help him out with that whole holding his own with Henry thing.
Half a star off for occasional editing errors, but otherwise a good and entertaining read. Three and a half stars.
It won't be a surprise to anyone familiar with Huff's writing, but for those of you who aren't, it's also a nice switch to have an urban fantasy star a queer boy. As is Huff's way, she is quite straightforward with Tony's sexuality, and at the same time doesn't really make a big deal of it, either. He has a huge crush on a straight boy, is tentatively flirting with another queer boy in his workplace, and is wrestling with his ongoing connection to Henry--which has persisted in strength even though Tony has moved out into his own place and is trying to establish his own life. Really, he's got all the complications you'd expect of any straight urban fantasy lead character, only he's queer. It's a nice change. ^_^ And unlike with Huff's previous novel with a queer boy in the starring role (The Quartered Sea), I like Tony as a character.
Plot-wise, things are not terribly complicated: Tony, Henry, and a refugee wizard from another world must team up to fight off an incursion of magically animated shadows that have come through a gate between worlds in pursuit of said wizard. Most of the plot is driven by Tony wrestling with establishing his independence from Henry, while Arra, the wizard, wrestles with her conscience and is dragged kicking and screaming into the fight. As part of it all, we get to see the beginnings of intriguing talents on Tony's part which, through the next couple of books, will quite likely help him out with that whole holding his own with Henry thing.
Half a star off for occasional editing errors, but otherwise a good and entertaining read. Three and a half stars.
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Date: 2007-07-28 10:52 am (UTC)I shall have to keep an eye out. Or get my local genre bookstore to order it in.
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Date: 2007-07-28 11:10 pm (UTC)I'm hoping to pick up the second of her Smoke trilogy tonight if I have the chance!