Lace and Blade 2

December 8, 2008
Just in time for Valentine's Day, Ross delivers a charming second anthology brimming with romantic fantasy tales of swashbuckling ladies and daring gentleman. Among the best are two sequels to stories from 2008's Lace and Blade
: in Diana L. Paxson's “The Crow,” an old flame of Claude le Baron's has become entangled with a blood sacrifice cult, while in Robin Wayne Bailey's “Trial by Midnight,” Lady Elena Sanchez y Vega and her beloved highwayman, Ramon Estrada, enjoy an adventure with startling repercussions on their future together. Also outstanding are Sherwood Smith's amusing tale “Miss Austen's Castle Tour,” which suggests a “mysterious gap in Austen's letters” might have occurred when Jane visited Count Dracula, and Tanith Lee's eloquent “Comfort and Despair.” Readers will be left starry-eyed and hoping for the series to continue.