Dragons can be annoying.
So if you don't like those preternaturals,
How about vampires, trolls, shifters, and half-breeds galore?
Lessons from My Reading
series, featuring Val, a middle-aged, half-elf loose cannon assassin and Zav, a powerful, pompous dragon lord who wears interesting shoes, like yellow crocs.
Oh, the fantasy elements are there in abundance, as is action, magic, and shifting around multi-dimensional worlds. Humans, goblins, dragons, fairies, elves, vampires, shifters, trolls, half-breeds of all kinds, both friend and foe, abound. The wondrous part is that Buroker manages to make even the clichés her own. [Example: Buroker uses caramel chocolates to distract a pissy fae queen.]
Mostly, I enjoy the wicked first person point of view Buroker uses to make the most of a wise-cracking middle-aged protagonist. Her take on our modern world--Seattle in particular--often makes me pause even when I'm not laughing.
Buroker is also strong on drawing secondary characters. I enjoyed the fact that her human characters are almost as diverse as the preternaturals. All are well drawn and distinct. Her boss, Colonel Willard, is even more snappy than Val plus the more intimidating woman. [Val has an insecure streak as wide as a fun house mirror.] Basically, Buroker makes Val's band of friends a crucial part of the stories.
Oh, I forgot the tiger companion. He's the i-beam that makes the series with his dry, snarky advice to Val.
Bottom line on the nine books in this series: They're action-oriented urban fantasy. By definition that means that the books are basically light and move fast without much introspection from the characters. Yet they have endless charm...and laughs. More important, well-done humor is rare and a great treat.
All I can do is look on with envy. I'll never write as funny...or as fast. There's still one more book for me to read in this series which I think is complete. Buroker does have other series...though I haven't read them.
You can find the Death by Dragons books on Amazon, and Barnes & Noble
You can find her other many novels on iBooks and kobo.
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My Writing Rut
don't know where that came from, but it's there.] Renna isn't quite as snarly as she is in Vengeance, set 400 years later.-- I'd think I'd be cantankerous, too, if my hair was white and I needed a walking stick when my childhood friend still looked like a sexy young woman.
My editor is going through the third content edits...slightly delayed by the death of her dog. After I transfer her suggestions/comments, come the copy edits and formatting. I really think the book will be published in Fall, 2021...in spite of how slow I am.
Perhaps, my eye troubles haven't be able to keep a good book down. At least, my editor thinks it's good. Said I should try a traditional publisher. My ego would like me to try. But I'm a realist. At my age, I'd probably be dead before the agent/publisher-finding-process ran its course. Yeah, it'd probably take five years and umpteen "not for us" rejections before I even found an agent...if I found an agent.
Heads up. This is my first blog in awhile, and I don't seem to be working it too well. I can't find the links or buttons I want.
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