Review: Unclean Spirits by MLN Hanover

I am known to pick up books by unknown-to-me authors frequently just based off gut instinct or because something drew me to it. Very rarely is it because I read something about it and am going off recommendation. I like this fly-by-the-seat-of-my-instinct method of book selection, and it has yielded some fascinating reads. Some horrible, some great, some okay, but very few boring. My other half sometimes does this, but I am, apparently, drawn to the weird. Or so he says. I just think I have more eclectic and free-spirited tastes. Oh, I also have an unfortunate tendency to forget to read some of them, so they sit on my shelf awaiting the time when I am back in that same mood that drew me to the book originally. I never regret these purchases though, because I know some day I will be there! There are so many books out there, that if I don’t snag it when it catches my eye, I might never remember it again. {Yes, I have heard of libraries. I love libraries. I support them in concept and theory. In actuality, I like to own stuff and returning a library book is difficult for me to do; it’s like giving up a favourite child. I don’t even sell back stupid textbooks. I keep them forever. It’s an illness. More cowbell and Christopher Walken might be the cure, but I don’t want fixed.}

Books picked this way include: The Good Fairies of New York; Vellum (still on the unread shelf, damn it); Gun, With Occasional Music; Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse; Pride and Prejudice and Zombies; The Secret History of the Pink Carnation; The Alphabet of Thorns; The Pillow Friend; several others I’m sure, and of course, the whole point of this blog entry, Unclean Spirits.

I worried about this one. There is a glut of “urban fantasy” out there and people trying to tap the massive market potentials. Lesser or lighter works tend to skyrocket to the top, yielding the opinion (much-maligned by myself but still at times true I think) that the more popular something is with the average masses the more pablum-based it is. The average masses buy romances, for goodness’ sake, so when they start clamouring for fantasy, I weep for the genre and its eventual ruination under the crush of underwhelming intellects and undiscerning tastes.  Then I realize how elitist I sound, and I fight with my inner self over it for awhile.

I don’t mind books appealing to the masses. Unfortunately, once something appeals and is high-quality, a gagillion low-quality publications come out, and we have to sort through and find the winners.

So yes, I worried, for when I see a hot, tough woman with tattoos on the cover, because I don’t want to get hurt again. I am scarred by diving into the Anita Blake series and being treated like so much flotsam on the sea of Screw My Original Fanbase – I Want The Big Money. I worried more spines would bow, and I would weep.

Fortunately, at least with this first book in the series, I made the right choice in pulling it from the shelf and keeping it with me all the way to the register (I change my mind frequently in the book store). It was fun and had depth. I didn’t feel like I had hit one of those more popular urban fantasies where the goal was to suck in the reader with witty banter and a penchant for naughtiness and then toss them around on a frothy wave before kicking them ashore at a quick, pat ending. There was meat to this book, and it lived up to what I consider true urban fantasy.

Unclean Spirits is one of the winners. I am looking forward to the next book to see if he keeps it up.

Recommendation: Yep, read it.