Book Review: Night in the Waking City (an Elemental World short story)
Elizabeth Hunter re-released her novella A Very Proper Monster yesterday. It had previously been paired with a Grace Draven short (which you should read…), but now it’s out in the world alone and with a brand new cover.
I reviewed A Very Proper Monster when it came out before, but this edition has a new short story in it that gives us a new glimpse of Josie and Tom.
The short was genuinely fantastic. I enjoyed Tom and Josie the first time around, and this look at them, with bonus Tenzin and Ben, was just the best.
The Blurb
Tom and Josie travel to New York City to meet with allies and publishers, but a chance encounter sends Josie into a rage, leaving Tom to look for unexpected allies in the city that never sleeps. Can a young human and an ancient vampire find his ailing mate before Josie does something she’ll regret?
The Review
This story was both laugh out loud funny (honestly-I was laughing loudly enough sitting alone at the bar last night that people gave me side-eye) and sweetly (but not too sweetly) poignant. Not many authors have the chops to pull off heart-string tugging and funny bone whacking in the same short story.
Josie is a delight-she’s eccentric, passionate, and not quite like other vampires. Honestly, she’s what I want to be when I grow up and have enough money to be eccentric instead of merely odd.
I also want the ability to find offensive authors and have a “chat” with them about the abuses they’ve perpetrated on the English language.
(And I want to hang out with Tenzin and discuss romance novels.)
The Quotes (I couldn’t pick just one…this story is so quotable!)
“He does write in a genre,” [Josie] said. “It’s a genre called ‘predictable sexist shite.’ Trust me, he’s hardly the first writer to publish in it.”
Typical. She gives a man perfectly valid writing feedback, and he threatens her.
And the best for last (and not something I worry about over muchly…ha!)
“Just tell me. Are you going to kill me?”
“I don’t know. Are you going to keep abusing adverbs?”
The Verdict
If you haven’t already read A Very Proper Monster, you’re going to want to do that immediately – and especially now that you get this fantastic short story with it. Run, don’t walk, to Amazon and download your copy today.
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