Blending the realms of Paranormal Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Rebecca Alexander brings us The Secrets of Life and Death, the first book in her Jackdaw Hammond series. Here in the US this is pretty much a new release. We just got this novel last October from Broadway Books (a Crown Publishing imprint, part of the Penguin Random House family) with the sequel, The Secrets of Blood and Bone, released in September (Working on that review as well). The Novel however was initially published in the UK in 2013 by Del Rey UK, with the second installation published in 2014. Sorry UK readers, but its new to us.

In The Secrets of Life and Death, Alexander takes us on two journeys separated by over 500 years. In present day England, a university Professor is brought in to consult when occult symbols are found on the body of a young girl. Professor Felix Guichard is top this novel what Robert Langdon is in Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. Felix’s research and investigation bring him to meet Jackdaw Hammond, the titular character of the series. Jack is strange girl who holds some stranger secrets, among them that she is dead, or rather she should be.

On the other side of the story, in the 16^th century we Edward Kelly, assistant to Dr. John Dee and apparently a medium for an angel. Dee is a physician, alchemist and dabbler in the occult. Dee and Kelly are actual historical figures. Dee practiced the aforementioned skills while advising Queen Elizabeth. In this story they are called to Poland to help the King’s niece, Elizabeth Bathroy, who is suffering from an unknown and virtually untreatable ailment.

Both of these women have one thing in common: they are on borrowed time. Their lives are extended by magic. The magic system here is a bit unique. The only other series I can think that uses a similar structure (though still quite different) is Peter V. Brett’s Demon Cycle series, of which I am very fond.  As Felix investigates, we delve further into both the accounts of Edward Kelly during his and Dr. Dee’s work with Elizabeth Bathroy, and the world surrounding Jack. These two stories turn out to be intertwined in a way that ties the novel together quite nicely.

I definitely enjoyed the book. Like 4 out of 5 stars enjoyed it. The combination of urban fantasy and historical fiction worked very well for me. It gets more interesting if you know who Elizabeth Bathory is. I will not spoil it here, but I will link to the Wikipedia article if you are interested. The magic system combined with the dark history really turns out something very different and enjoyable. I also think the characters were well developed. You get a good feel for who most of them are and why there are where they are. I find this to be true for both time periods. I have seen some criticism of the jumping back and forth, but in SciFi and Fantasy novels, jumping between characters, settings and time periods is not really unfamiliar, so I had no problem with it. The only minor thing for me was that I felt the ending was a bit predictable, but satisfyingly, so It seemed the only way to end it.

I also wanted to note that not only did I really like this book, but I was also very excited by the fact that I knew a sequel was coming. When I wrote the bulk of the review I was watching out for it. By the time I was getting back to finish his up, I already had a review copy of the next book. Now at the time of uploading this, I have already finished that book too. I hope to have that review up shortly as well.
Disclaimer: I receive this review copy through GoodReads First Reads program.

The Slow Regard for Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss was originally intended to be used as his short in George R. R. Martin’s Rogues anthology. He eventually wrote “The Lightning Tree” instead, which focuses on Bast. This was not meant to be a book or novella of its own, but it ended up way over the short story length. After showing it to some people, who all seemed to like it, Rothfuss still was unsure that it was fit for the masses, but as something he enjoyed, shared it with some more friends as well as his editor. Eventually he became convinced that maybe it was fit for publication, and DAW published it. The result was this odd sort of story than nobody can really describe, but many people love for what it is and others hate for what it is not.

If you are expecting Kvothe in this novella or anything really having to do with the actual storyline of the Kingkiller Chronicles, this isn’t it. If you want something to satiate that need for the next story in the series, this will likely not do it. If you happen to be intrigued by Auri and wanted a bit of a glimpse into her head and her life, then you’ll want to pick this up. I honestly cannot explain this story. It takes place in the same universe, at the same time as the other books, with a character from the series, but I wouldn’t even put it in the same genre.. It is one of the oddest things I have ever read. I shouldn’t like it, I know that and the author knows that, he even states that explicitly. This is not a normal book, it does not follow any real literary process, it just is. I know that this means nothing to anyone, but when(if) you read it, you’ll get what I mean.

Here is what I can make enough sense of to tell you. You get a chance to see the world (well, the Underthing at least) as Auri sees it. It is an adventure through her little nook of the world and the strange working of her mind. Unfortunately we learn basically nothing of her past, something I was sort of hoping for in this. There is a ton of emotion experienced by Auri which Rothfuss does a great job of conveying. He really paints an excellent picture of her feelings so that the reader can ride them out along with her. While we see somewhat into her mind and her feelings, I do not think we really come any closer to really understanding her as a character though. She is clearly an enigma, and a well crafted one at that. I don’t see this as a flaw in the character development, quite the opposite actually. To experience a character in this much depth and see their thoughts, yet still be puzzled by them, is not something easily achieved.

I can’t really comment much more on the character development because… well… there aren’t really other characters. That may be debatable, but not by my definitions. There isn’t and real dialogue, and at best a hint at the inkling of a plot. I can’t even rate this using any standard process because the parts are just not there. This story has been a little controversial among fans, some love it, some hate. I honestly cannot tell you why, but I liked it. It was a well written case study on an odd and troubled girl. It is very different, but it is endearing. I do not know whether to recommend it to other readers or not, but I gave it 4 stars based solely on how I felt when I put it down. I enjoyed reading it and regardless of the criteria we are supposed to look for in a “proper” story, isn’t the reader’s enjoyment or entertainment the only thing that really matters? Like I said, not everyone enjoyed it the way I did and it really may not be for everyone, but if this odd and nonsensical review made you at all curious, give it a shot.