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ATDrake · 08-13-2016, 02:33 PM

Finished Edge of Nowhere by Michael Ridpath, a novella in his Fire & Ice series starring bi-national Icelandic-American cop Magnus Jonson aka Magnús Ragnarsson. This fits in right after the 2nd novel, but is otherwise standalone, as Magnus investigates a suspicious death in a small town, which some locals ascribe to the huldufólk, or "hidden people" (Wikipedia), popularly termed elves (but not actually like the popular fantasy conception of elves), who are apparently environmentally-minded and object to intrusive large-scale construction projects, as we all should (though not with, like, murder).

This was an interesting look at what's not actually a small-town superstition, but in fact seems to be a reasonably widespread Icelandic cultural notion which people kind of give lip service to even if they don't personally believe, kind of like feng shui. Anyway, there were perfectly cromulent material means and motivations considerations to go along with the supernatural distraction, and it was nice to how Magnus had to work around the firmly held (or sometimes just potential guilt-obfuscating) beliefs of certain of the townspeople to get useful information to solve the case (and the teasing of his colleagues for taking an X-Files assignment), making for an enjoyable short read.

Currently started another book about elves, this time from a Lovecraftian perspective, since my library hold on The Nightmare Stacks, the latest in Charles Stross' Laundry Files series which has gone from spoofing spy thrillers to spoofing urban fantasy tropes—this one apparently being the volume which gives his take on genre notions of faerie creatures—has finally come in and takes priority over everything else, since there's about 5 people in line after me for it, so I'll want to return it as soon as I can.

08-13-2016, 02:33 PM	#24400
ATDrake Wizzard Posts: 11,517 Karma: 33048258 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Roundworld Device: Kindle 2 International, Sony PRS-T1, BlackBerry PlayBook, Acer Iconia	Finished Edge of Nowhere by Michael Ridpath, a novella in his Fire & Ice series starring bi-national Icelandic-American cop Magnus Jonson aka Magnús Ragnarsson. This fits in right after the 2nd novel, but is otherwise standalone, as Magnus investigates a suspicious death in a small town, which some locals ascribe to the huldufólk, or "hidden people" (Wikipedia), popularly termed elves (but not actually like the popular fantasy conception of elves), who are apparently environmentally-minded and object to intrusive large-scale construction projects, as we all should (though not with, like, murder). This was an interesting look at what's not actually a small-town superstition, but in fact seems to be a reasonably widespread Icelandic cultural notion which people kind of give lip service to even if they don't personally believe, kind of like feng shui. Anyway, there were perfectly cromulent material means and motivations considerations to go along with the supernatural distraction, and it was nice to how Magnus had to work around the firmly held (or sometimes just potential guilt-obfuscating) beliefs of certain of the townspeople to get useful information to solve the case (and the teasing of his colleagues for taking an X-Files assignment), making for an enjoyable short read. Currently started another book about elves, this time from a Lovecraftian perspective, since my library hold on The Nightmare Stacks, the latest in Charles Stross' Laundry Files series which has gone from spoofing spy thrillers to spoofing urban fantasy tropes—this one apparently being the volume which gives his take on genre notions of faerie creatures—has finally come in and takes priority over everything else, since there's about 5 people in line after me for it, so I'll want to return it as soon as I can. Last edited by ATDrake; 08-13-2016 at 02:36 PM.