While I have a couple of series underway, there was only one where the final book was the only one I had left to read, so the This Is The End square was a simple choice. The Jackaby series is comprised of four books, Jackaby, The Beastly Bones, Ghostly Echoes, and The Dire King. I have absolutely enjoyed my time with the series over the past few years, but the fourth book was unfortunately the weakest. The Dire King continues the story of the Seelie […]
“Kindness is an act of bravery. I think, just as hatred is an act of fear. “
Back during CBR7 I picked up Jackaby by William Ritter because it featured a bit of a paranormal mystery with a sassy female protagonist who doesn’t have a romance with the male protagonist. While I love a Romance novel, I don’t need romance in all my stories. As it turns out Jackaby was a strong book and over the years I’ve kept up with the series in a (mostly) timely manner. Ghostly Echoes is the third full novel in the series (there’s one short story […]
Sherlock Holmes meets *insert your favorite fantasy story* here
I really enjoyed this book. I also forgot I read it almost the moment that I finished it. I track my reading in both a spreadsheet and Goodreads and I forgot to list this book in either place until several weeks later when I heard it mentioned on a podcast and I suddenly remembered that I had read it. That probably sounds harsh, but I genuinely did enjoy the book and would recommend it to people. The book takes place in the late 19th century […]
“I fear I may be forced to declare ‘shenanigans’!”
This is funny, guys! And well-written! (At least to me it is.) We have R. F. Jackaby, an American Sherlock type who can see things that others can’t. Not just notice things others don’t, but things others physically cannot comprehend. There’s magic here, and Jackaby has a gift. And just like Sherlock, a lot of people thing Jackaby is crazy. Or on drugs. “All the world’s a stage, as they say, and I seem to have the only seat in the house with view behind […]
An Adventure Amongst the Bones
I hate to say it, but William Ritter seems to have hit a sophomore slump with 2015’s Beastly Bones. I loved my experience reading Jackaby last year: it had so much of all the things that I love about books of the type. Much of that remains in book two, Abigail is still independent and self-assured, Jackaby is still his off-kilter self without being off-putting, we still have a live in ghost, and a shape shifter, and a relatively tightly paced mystery. But… book two […]
A Pocket Sized Adventure
Last year I was delighted with Jackaby by William Ritter. It had just the right mix of historical fiction, fantasy, and whodunit to be right up my alley. It’s got a bit of Sherlock mixed with a little Doctor Eleven for a male protagonist and a female protagonist who is smart, wily, and sarcastic in equal measure – and a great example of female agency in print. I immediately added the second book, Beastly Bones, on my to read list for 2016 as well as […]