A Feral Darkness is hands down my favorite of Doranna Durgin’s books. There are a lot of elements to it that might file it into the paranormal romance or urban fantasy genres, though for my money, I would still call it a straightforward fantasy. Romance it’s got, to be sure, but quieter and sweeter than most current paranormal romances do. Neither is it urban; if anything, it’s more like suburban/rural fantasy.

When she was nine years old, Brenna Fallon sacrificed her hair in desperation to the god Mars Noden, hoping to save her dying dog. The dog mysteriously lived for many years after, and Brenna acquired both an uncanny knock with all dogs as well as a head of miraculously long hair. Now, she’s a dog groomer stuck in a shopping center pets store, frustrated to no end with her job, puzzled by the stray Welsh Cardigan Corgi she discovers at the site of her childhood sacrifice, and troubled by the recurring rumors of a feral wolf pack in the area–and recurring impressions she has of voices warning of a strange new mutated rabies virus. Soon enough, she learns that what’s going on has its roots in an assault carried out on the spring where she’d made her prayer, and now she must try to raise Mars Noden’s power again to counteract the darkness that assault has raised.

I like every single thing about this book, pretty much: Brenna’s talent with dogs, the suburban/rural setting, the male lead Gil Masera and his Basque background, and the romance that blooms between him and Brenna. Their chemistry is a lovely, subtle thing, exemplified by a scene where he takes the time to comb out her incredible hair for her, and it never needs to rely on blatant statements of sexuality or graphic love scenes. In other words, exactly how I like it. And, the Celtic influence on the magic at hand is nicely understated, as is the challenge it puts to Brenna, who must figure out how to reconcile it with her Christian upbringing.

The biggest win in the story though is the dog Druid, who walks a balanced line between being insanely cute, believably canine, and an effective participant in the plot. Durgin’s own experience with dogs and horses shines through beautifully in Druid’s characterization, all throughout the book. Make no mistake, Druid is every bit as much a character as Brenna, Gil, and the rest of the humans in the cast.

This is Durgin at her best, a book I have re-read multiple times now. It came out in 2001, though, so it might be hard to find; if you can grab a copy from a used bookstore, though, I highly recommend it. Especially if you’re a dog lover. Five stars.

I’ve always loved Doranna Durgin’s work, although I miss her earlier fantasy novels. Her latest paranormal romance, The Reckoners, hearkens back a bit to those even as it’s squarely targeted at the paranormal romance crowd.

The book starts off a bit shakily, introducing us to Lisa “Garrie” McGarrity and her team of ghost hunters, who call themselves “reckoners”. We learn that Garrie was befriended in her childhood by an actual ghost, Rhonda Rose, whose wisdom is frequently quoted by the team, and we get a general idea of the abilities and personalities of the various team members. What we don’t get, though, is a scenario like unto the blurb that appears on the back of the novel, which would lead you to believe that Garrie and her team are trying to handle a huge upsurge of ghost activity when our hero Trevarr shows up. The scenario that actually happens is that the Reckoners have been quite hard pressed for serious cases as of late–and mysterious Trevarr, with a minimum of explanation and a jaw-dropping amount of cash, shows up and offers to pay their way if they’ll come with him to Winchester House to deal with strange goings-on with the ghosts trapped there.

I found the order of scenes explaining how Quinn (Garrie’s former boyfriend) opts to stay behind a little jerky, and I kept wanting to smack Trevarr for his stubborn insistence on not telling Garrie and the others any serious detail about what they were walking into. Likewise, I periodically wanted to smack Garrie too for only putting forth token insistence on these details until later on in the plot. Some of the worldbuilding I found a bit sparse, too–such as why Garrie and her team call themselves “reckoners” to begin with. Another review I saw said that this felt kind of like it should have been a third or fourth book in a series establishing this characters, and I have to say I concur; I almost feel like I was introduced to these characters too swiftly, without enough to really orient me with them.

But. All that aside, I did find the book fun. Once you get past the roadblock of Trevarr flat refusing to give up details until they’re pried forcibly out of him, the pace picks up considerably. Winchester House, the site Garrie’s team goes to investigate, does actually exist; scenes set there make good use of random tourists as well as the site staff. Glimmers of what I miss about Durgin’s fantasy days come to the fore with the big reveals about what’s going on in Winchester House as well as with Trevarr himself. The last stretch of the novel felt much more like a fantasy novel to me than a paranormal romance, and the few details given about Trevarr’s background are the best worldbuilding in the book, piqueing my interest about what might be written about him and Garrie later.

All in all, not my favorite Durgin, but pleasant nonetheless. Three stars.

I’m primarily familiar with Mira Grant, a.k.a. seanan_mcguire, through her filk music and through the folks in the Pacific Northwest who know her. That was enough of a connection, though, to make me quite pleased to hear she was pursuing a writing career, and certainly I was pleased to see that as urban fantasies go, Rosemary and Rue stood out for me as better than normal in an overcrowded genre.

That was before I read Feed.

Now, granted, I’m a sucker for a good zombie novel. But what makes a truly kickass zombie novel is a plot that’s much less about the zombies and much more about the world that a zombie outbreak creates, and Grant does this in spades in this book. I’m not sure what impressed me more, and there’s a lot to impress here: the backstory of the Kellis-Amberlee virus; the various complex social and political changes that happen in America as a result of the Rising; the fact that in this world, George Romero is considered a national hero; or the upsurge of bloggers as a source of organized journalism. Either way, it makes me very much want to up the ante on my own writing efforts. Take note, my fellow writers. This is how worldbuilding is done.

And when you take impressive worldbuilding and throw in highly engaging characters on top of it, the result is riveting. I loved the two protagonists, Georgia and Shaun Mason, as well as the supporting crew surrounding them. I loved Buffy the support tech chick, who quips that she’s blonde and cute and hunts zombies, what else should she name herself? I loved Rick, who signs on with Georgia and Shaun after working for actual newspapers. I even loved Senator Ryman, a halfway decent politician.

Quotes from the various major characters’ individual blogs add a lot of lovely atmosphere to the book. Be sure to read them in depth, too. There’s lots of detail you don’t want to miss, and the blog excerpts are of critical importance in the climactic end of the book.

Watch out for that climax, too, because it’ll totally make you tear up. Or, aheh, so I’ve heard. *^_^*;; Five stars. Because I mean, DAMN.