Review--Unbound

FIVE MASTERS OF DARK FANTASY CROSS THE BORDERS BETWEEN OUR WORLD AND OTHERS.

Not all hunters are bound by human laws...

Revisiting the paranormal realms they've made famous in their wildly popular fiction, New York Times bestselling authors KIM HARRISON, JEANIENE FROST, VICKI PETTERSSON, and JOCELYNN DRAKE--plus New York Times best selling YA author MELISSA MARR with her first adult supernatural thriller--unleash their full arsenal of dark talents, plunging us into the shadows where the supernatural stalk the unsuspecting...and every sould is a traget.

Get ready for the ride of your life--because the wildest magic has just been unleashed...and evil is about to have its day.

This is the BEST anthology of novellas ever!! Not 2 or 3, but 5! 5 GREAT authors are in this book with short stories! I was thrilled upon hearing about this book earlier this year and loved reading it! Of course I read it while in school so it took longer than it should, but the stories were great!

I'll break this review down by stories, Kim's was first and it was astounding! Ley Line Drifter, was from Jenks' view, well third person point of view, but it's still Jenks story. Jenk and his gargoyle friend, Bis, must help another pixie to rescue his endangered daughter from a psychotic nymph with "delusions of goddesshood". This was a verrrry interesting story. Definitely one that you won't want to skip. We finally get to see how Jenks sees things, his worries that were semi-present in the Hallow series, worries over his wife, his son Jax, they all come up. Also the ending leads to believe that there might be more to see in the Hallows series itself! That's just a guess on my part and that's all I can and will say for fear of leading to a spoiler!

Moving on next to Jeaniene Frost's Reckoning was a story about Bones before he met Cat. Not so long later, he'd meet her. Bones is in New Orleans tracking down a pair of "famous" killers, but there are extenuating circumstances to why he's there in the first place. Also there is a hitman who's out for Bones himself. And he has formed an attachment to a young woman who might know something about the murders that are going about town. And Bones is on a very strict timeline, it's Mardi Gras, and he has until its end to catch the killers before they leave the city yet again. This was an incredible story. I love Bones in the Night Huntress Series and to see him before he met Cat was great! I love his personality and his little quirks. We also see him get his new color dye in this book, the one he has when he meets Cat. I found Jeaniene's writing to be AMAZING in this novella. It's a third person point of view, yet we're still seeing things from Bones' perspective. Incredible!

Vicki Pettersson's Dark Matters is another prequel like story. This story tells the tale of J.J., agent of Light and how his life was in the beginning (think real hard Zodiac fans and you'll know who it is, if you've read City of Souls). J.J.'s parents were murdered in front of him when he was a small child and one of the members of the group that killed them spared his life. He remembered her name for the next several years. Years later he meets her again, but yet can't bring himself to do the deed that must be done. But if he doesn't commit the deed soon, terrible things will happen. This all takes place before The Scent of Shadows, and it was just fascinating to finally learn a little about the history in the Agents of Light's history. This was definitely a fun read, I almost need to go back and re-read City of Souls to put the rest of it all together back to back, but first I must find the time for that. Unlikely. :)

Jocelynn Drake's The Dead, the Damned, and the Forgotten is another prequel story that doesn't have Danaus, but Mira herself. Who's about to get into a whole lot of trouble unless she can solve the murder of a nightwalker in time. A nightwalker was murdered in her city and now she has to find out who killed him before the sun rises. But along the way more trouble occurs that makes her day--err, night a living a hell. There was tons of action in this short story that I found myself craving for more. The twist at the end was definitely a shocker as well. I so didn't see this angle coming! Jocelynn really knows how to surprise her readers.

Melissa Marr makes delights us with her debut adult short story, Two Lines (Word has it that she will soon be publishing an adult series as well, not sure if this is a prequel to it or not. As soon as I find anything out I will be sure to post info here!). There is a sense of strangeness in this story, we have the Other--it's kind of undefinable. Eavan does have a vampire friend, but her identity herself is a little peculiar. It's something new for me in the urban fantasy world. Eavan is set out to get a local drug dealer who is mixing Haitian zombie powder and selling enslaved woman. She has a sort of attraction to him as well, but she fights it. Apparently killing and having sex will "damn" her in some way. A way that will make her a full Glasitig. This is what she is, which is still a little unclear to me. But still interesting enough. The ending was great too! It might just be the basis of Melissa's soon to see adult urban fantasy series. That's just a guess on my part, no confirmation whatsoever! Very entertaining story!

Overall a very wonderful anthology!! I enjoyed the prequel stories, I find that variety to be entertaining to a story. Even with movies, but that's a different topic. And the two tales that weren't prequels were still equally grand! This is a must have for the urban fantasy lover.