Smoke And Shadows (Hardcover)

Both Tony and, while it's dark out, at least, Henry can be persuasive and they manage to get some help from the reluctant solitaire-playing wizard, but the shadowlord is gathering power with each opening of the gate between their worlds, learning more about the people who live here and our ability to defend against his power--and about the ability of our technology to shed shadows in places even the shadowlord had never considered. Tony's attempt to prevent any shadows from returning to the shadowlord seems like a long-shot, but even the wizard doesn't guess the shadowlord's response.

Setting an occult mystery on the set of a vampire-detective television show is a cute concept and Tony's clever use of light, pattern and darkness in his battle against the shadows adds a nice touch to this contemporary fantasy. Author Tanya Huff's craftman-like writing kept the story moving forward as Tony, with occasional assistance from the wizard and the vampire, tried to stay ahead of the shadows. Still, I found myself waiting for the twist--the ah-ha moment when Huff turned around the story and surprised me with something new. Instead, she seemed to settle for cute.

SMOKE AND SHADOWS is an enjoyable light story. If you're a fan of vampires, gay fiction, and humor, the book makes a pleasant read.

It may not be PC these days to admit this but I don't truely enjoy reading about gay/lesbian love affairs. Actually I don't like reading about ANY love affairs. This is why I don't read romance novels. Usually fantasy and sci-fi are light on romance if they have any at all which is fine by me. I can take a little mushy stuff but not much. Usually Huff's touches of romance are light and easy to stomach but lately she's been getting heavier on the gay/lesbian theme which for me at any rate, takes away from the rest of the story.

Case in point -- spoiler ahead! -- the Shadowlord is supposed to be powerful, evil and feared. He took out a whole order of major wizards in his home world. It was never really explained why he felt it was imperative to come himself to our world but he did. (And why WAS he so after Arra, anyway?) Here's this super-powerful shadowlord and he gets defeated by his attraction to Tony?? [Please]!! What a disappointment -- and it would have been just as disappointing if he had an attraction to Arra or Amy. It's just an awful cop-out.

Well, anyway, the writing is good and the dialog is, at times, hysterical. As another reviewer said, good but not her best.