The title of this post sounds as though Tanya Huff belongs in a cage, but nothing's further from the truth; she's a perfectly respectable author from Eastern Canada, who has written a score of stories which have been very well received. I'm in the middle of one; I seem to often be impelled to write about these while I'm just halfway through them, I don't know why. One good consequence of that is that if the story ends unsatisfactory, at least I won't be discouraged from reviewing it. (I don't review stories I don't like; it's not worth the effort.)
The present story---"Summon the Keeper"---is the first in a set of three (?) about the same characters. It is about a youthful woman, who has paranormal powers, Claire, and her talking cat, Austin. Austin comes across as the straight man, though that's not obvious, and Claire as the comic, though that's not obvious either. A lot of the humor is the author's editorializing on the ongoing events, which is absolutely hilarious! There is also an extremely sweet young man from Nova Scotia---or is it Newfoundland?--- who is so wonderful (and people from the maritime provinces are often the absolute salt of the earth, to begin with),, that I'm honestly scared to keep reading, for fear that the young man might be the Devil in disguise.
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(Added later, after I finished reading the book)
No such luck; Dean remains true-blue to the end. I have to say that the setup is fine as a springboard for at least three stories, with a host of characters with potential for hilarious cameos in future books!
I found my head spinning with all the Canuck jargon and inside jokes (and possibly 'Canuck' has a pejorative---er--- thing, when it is used by non-Canucks). (Connotation! That's the word.)
Anyway, two thumbs up, and all that. And all the intimate moments don't just fade to black, they start out black, and get even blacker, which I appreciate.
Kay
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