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A review by kentcryptid
Smoke and Shadows by Tanya Huff
2.0
The ex-boyfriend of Henry VIII's illegitimate vampire son has a crappy job on a TV show about a vampire detective and spends his spare time fighting supernatural threats, with the occasional help of his undead ex.
This book has a cheesy, fun premise, but it's let down by three major factors. It's written in a style that seems very typical in urban fantasy, wherein every mundane conversation and encounter the narrator has is over described to the point of tedium. Additionally, the supernatural threat (evil shadows) never feels truly menacing - possibly because most of the characters are so dull you don't really care if they do come to a bad end. And finally, Tony, the narrator, expresses a lot of self-directed homophobia which I think the author meant to be amusing, but felt incredibly dated and left a bad taste in my mouth.
I'm only giving it two stars because I was intrigued by Henry Fitzroy and I'd like to read more about him. I'll probably be looking up fanfiction, though, rather than reading the rest of this series.
This book has a cheesy, fun premise, but it's let down by three major factors. It's written in a style that seems very typical in urban fantasy, wherein every mundane conversation and encounter the narrator has is over described to the point of tedium. Additionally, the supernatural threat (evil shadows) never feels truly menacing - possibly because most of the characters are so dull you don't really care if they do come to a bad end. And finally, Tony, the narrator, expresses a lot of self-directed homophobia which I think the author meant to be amusing, but felt incredibly dated and left a bad taste in my mouth.
I'm only giving it two stars because I was intrigued by Henry Fitzroy and I'd like to read more about him. I'll probably be looking up fanfiction, though, rather than reading the rest of this series.