Cirsova 7 – The Iynx
While wandering the sf/f desert of the early aughts through the mid teens of this century I flirted with urban fantasy and aside from a few light thrills delivered by the Iron Druid series found the whole genre to be flat as a pancake and half as flavorful. With few exceptions, they featured dour women miserable about their real, ultimate power and the love triangle in which they found themselves. Total snoozefests. Even the generally well regarded Dresden Files left me cold. Heck, even Glen Cook’s series, Garrett P.I. did nothing for me, and I love Glen Cook.
Which means I’m far from the target audience for “The Iynx”. But I liked it anyway.
An eldritch mask washes ashore on Coney Island and two modern day shamans war for control over it. One wants to throw the evil back in the drink for another thousand years, and the other wants to use it to resurrect his lost love. Sort of. His plan is a little more complicated than that in the same way this story is a little more complicated than just a fight for a MacGuffin.
It’s a fairly gritty story that includes a brief appearance by a demon caught in the crossfire. It doesn’t get bogged down in lengthy and tedious descriptions, which is a definite plus. The tension ratchets up nicely until the final explosive showdown, and then Reyes gets out of the story with just the right
We’re two for two on this issue, can we bowl a turkey with the next story?