Shadowed Souls

September 26, 2016
The morally gray heroes of this urban fantasy anthology refute the idea that all magic users are either good or evil. Butcher opens with his own “Cold Case,” the heart-wrenching story of a young woman trying to reconcile her new and terrible power with the duty she must perform. Seanan McGuire’s “Sleepover” follows nicely, revealing a world where magical people are reviled and unwelcome. Tanya Huff’s “If Wishes Were,” the grim story of a vampire holding desperately to her humanity through the man she loves, rounds out a powerful opening, but from here the anthology begins to lose momentum. Several stories are amusing but not exceptional. Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s “Sales. Force.” revives the flagging collection, but the final story, “Impossible Monsters” by Rob Thurman, falls flat, adding an incidental magical element to the tired trope of a serial killer who goes after evildoers. Not every story will appeal to every reader, but the best of them truly shine.

The award-winning Julia Whelan and Emily Rankin bring a youthful assuredness and brightness to this stellar collection of 11 urban fantasy tales. The pair lead a talented group of narrators into an edgy, gray otherworld of demons, healers, and zombies. These are not your grandpa's nineteenth-century "castle-on-a-hill" horror stories. In these, a half-succubus comes to the rescue at the local mall. A group of fairies must somehow pay tribute to the Lady of Winter. A demon visits an evil influence from his past. There's a just-around-corner closeness and humor in each story, and the narrators deftly bring that intimacy and ease to their readings. But listen carefully. These strange beings are among us . . . B.P. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine