Mist
by Susan Krinard
reviewed by by AJ Reardon
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I need to start this review off with a little disclaimer: I'm actually casually acquainted with Susan Krinard, as her husband and I met via a blog and as such I've enjoyed a couple of dinners with them when they've visited Arizona conventions. They're great people and I'm really happy to see that Susan was able to once again get some of her fantasy work published in addition to her romance novels. That said, I did buy this book so there's no promotional consideration at work here. So, let's get on with the review. Mist is a new urban fantasy novel set in San Francisco, a favorite city of the genre. Rather than vampires, werewolves or faeries, this time around we get Valkyries and elves and giants and gods. And while many urban fantasy stories stick with smaller-scale stories (at least to start with), the very fate of the world is at stake in this story, so it has a bit of an epic feel to it as well. Our protagonist is Mist, a Valkyrie who has been charged with guarding Odin's spear. However, believing that Ragnarok already happened, she's kind of been less concerned with the spear and more concerned with trying to fade into a normal life. Like many immortal-ish supernaturals, she's had to move around a bit and has currently settled into SF where she apparently works as a blacksmith? I dunno. I have to admit that my suspension of disbelief balked at the idea of anyone being able to afford housing in SF with any sort of artisan job, but perhaps she invested wisely or works for the movie industry. Let's face it, urban fantasy heroines can so rarely hold down a truly normal career while fighting monsters, let alone the issue of a Valkyrie trying to provide a valid SSN to her potential employer. With SF in the grips of an unreasonably cold winter (ignore the back cover blurb when it says that it's snowing in summer, this book takes place around Christmas), Mist finds herself fighting a jotun and suddenly she starts to learn that things might not be what they seem, Ragnarok might not have happened... yet... and maybe she should be keeping an eye on that magic spear after all. Along the way she makes friends and enemies, gets into lots of battles, learns secrets about her heritage and unlocks magical powers. The story moves along at a pretty good clip, with a nice balance of action, exposition, and character building. It makes good use of the San Francisco setting, relying on some familiar landmarks and some less-familiar (at least to an outsider like me) neighborhoods to build a good background for the story. The writing over-all is pretty good, with a couple awkward moments here and there and a bit of romance-esque language. That said, Krinard does a good job of throwing in some Norse-inspired turns of phrase and analogies that actually fit the narration and don't feel cheesy or forced. And her knowledge of Norse mythology seems pretty solid and she doesn't do what so many authors do by butchering the myths to shoe-horn them into the plot. Mist (the book, not the character) is clearly intended to be the first book in a series. Krinard's site shows at least two more books coming over the next two years. As such, the story is not neatly wrapped up at the end. Some plot elements are resolved, but there's still a lot of story to tell and the reader is definitely left wanting more. I think this will shape up to be a pretty enjoyable series for fans of urban fantasy.
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E-mail AJ at: ErtheFae@aol.com Visit AJ at: www.erthefae.net
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