A review by catevari
Darkness on his Bones by Barbara Hambly
4.0
After the last book in the series, I was really interested to see how Hambly would proceed. On the one hand, it's a little more predictable than some might hope: James and Lydia have not suddenly become vampire hunters. On the other hand, it's delightfully unexpected in that we get a lot of Lydia POV and Lydia driving the action, and we get a LOT of Ysidro background!
I thought--dared to dream--that the book (at least the action parts of it) might end up being entirely Lydia POV, and I was a little disappointed by how thoroughly James' POV takes over the last third of the book, but I don't DISLIKE James at all, so it's hardly a tragedy. I do still think/feel that Hambly has put some distance in the friendship between James and Ysidro that was VERY present in Kindred of Darkness but not in the previous novels, but, given the plot of Kindred of Darkness, that's maybe understandable. I do wish that there was a greater acknowledgement that there was a wary but actual relationship there at one time, though, even if it's damaged at this point.
In any case, I really enjoyed the construction of the mystery; the final result of it and the horror of it. I liked how much Lydia we got and the wealth of Ysidro's background and the pressure and crisis of this playing out against the backdrop of Paris at the start of WWI (a war that's far less "popular" than writing about WWII). I honestly feel that this is one of Hambly's best entries in the series.
I thought--dared to dream--that the book (at least the action parts of it) might end up being entirely Lydia POV, and I was a little disappointed by how thoroughly James' POV takes over the last third of the book, but I don't DISLIKE James at all, so it's hardly a tragedy. I do still think/feel that Hambly has put some distance in the friendship between James and Ysidro that was VERY present in Kindred of Darkness but not in the previous novels, but, given the plot of Kindred of Darkness, that's maybe understandable. I do wish that there was a greater acknowledgement that there was a wary but actual relationship there at one time, though, even if it's damaged at this point.
Spoiler
Though I think a lot of vampire stories pretty (too?) easily use becoming a vampire as an 'out' of dire situations, I've never thought that was really the case in this series. Mainly because James and Lydia are so vocally and morally against it. But in the course of this book, I could suddenly see a further future for it if a) James died, or b) if James or Lydia were forced to become a vampire. I would absolutely read the adventures of Lydia and Ysidro, or James, Lydia and Ysidro if James or Lydia were vampires, especially unwilling vampires.In any case, I really enjoyed the construction of the mystery; the final result of it and the horror of it. I liked how much Lydia we got and the wealth of Ysidro's background and the pressure and crisis of this playing out against the backdrop of Paris at the start of WWI (a war that's far less "popular" than writing about WWII). I honestly feel that this is one of Hambly's best entries in the series.