I don’t remember much after Ursula K. Le Guin. My literary ventures blur together, but I clearly remember the day I read Rachel Vincent’s series opener “Stray”. The year was 2008 and it was a cold morning, when I picked the book. I actually remember that it was January - the New Year’s festive spirit still hung in the household (read this as there being delicious leftovers) and I had a very special present in my hands.

Here are the most important bits about my experience with it:

(1) Urban fantasy is a thing? Hello there! Nice to meet you. Never ever leave me, OK? Do you pinky swear?

Bulgaria, I feel, has been the slowpoke of the world. Trust me. A cultural revolution could spark around the world and we’d catch up on it after the dust settled. Can you believe Buffy took until 2006 to actually air on Bulgarian Fox? I knew I liked it, but I had never suspected it existed as a genre – in fiction no less.

I thought Faythe Sanders to be the book equivalent of Buffy (which to a point can be said about a great many urban fantasy heroines) and followed her readily in her pride politics. Vincent writes a good fighting scene and as far as I can remember, she nailed down the mandatory flirty scenes. Continue reading »