Tanya Huff
 

I've not read this author's worth before either, and wondered about Summon the Keeper The first book in the Keeper's Chronicles series

Anyone got any feedback for me :)

rune

I liked this book. The story was kinda standard fare, but the writing style was quite good and the thing was genuinely funny in lots of places.

Thanks for the feedback :).

Generally what is the story about?

rune

Generally what is the story about? Okay...

The universe is modern day with the addition that there are people who can perform magic and two tiers of them, Keepers and like Watchers or something. Basically Keepers get assigned to fix tears in the fabric of reality that let fantasy creatures in or out.

The book is about a Keeper who gets called to an old hotel and in the basement, finds a semi-sealed portal to Hell and in an upstairs bedroom, finds the older Keeper who basically did the sealing, and, because she can't seem to find a way to seal the portal without causing serious trouble, is forced to stay put and make sure it doesn't cause trouble.

It sounds very similar to the Word series by Terry Brooks, and I liked that one a lot :)
Thanks for your time, it's helped me alot :)

rune

Can I thank people who recommended this author to me. I just finished Summon the Keeper and loved it :D

So now there are a few more books on my to buy list.

I'm looking for reviews on Victoria Nelson series by this author :) Any thoughts!

The series is good, it is a vampire series.

The main character has a disability and has to leave the Toronto PD. She sets up as a Private Investigator and ends up finding a vampire ( a short, red-haired vampire no less - he was one of Henry VIII's illegitimate sons). There are 5 books I think. Amazon Listing of the Books (hopefully)

Though she just puublished one set in the same world and with some of the other characters in it but not Vicky (called Smoke and Shadows) it is in HC still. She may be trying to start the series again given the phenominal success of LKH's Anita Blake.

If you like Anita then you might like this series also. It isn't as good to me, and Huff is a bit bland compared to LKH, but it is a similar idea. I do like her characters and the setting of Toronto is interesting. Probably the main difference is that the supernatural creatures in Huff's world are all still hidden, and officially don't exist.


Edit: Sorry I don't think the Amazon link works. I did a power search using author: huff and Keywords: "blood" and it listed just the five books. It doesn't seem to let you link to the page though. I guess you would have to redo the search to get it.

I had found out about the existance of this series from Amazon when I bought my last Tany Huff book :D I just wondered if it was worth trying to get it, as I also noticed a lot of the books are out of stock :(
I think they are going to be re-released later this year.

I do like the Anita Blake series and thought perhaps Huff had used her wonderful humour in a vampire tale instead :)

Tanya Huff
 

Read her Keeper novels which are excellent : very funny
and romantic.

Also recommended are her Quarter novels : I read Fifth
Quarter and No Quarter. More traditional sword & sorcery
kind of fantasy about two trained assassins (brother and
sister).

Huff is very good in mixing adventure, comedy and romance. Huff is one of many good Canadian writers
who have emerged lately (Michelle West, Julie Czerneda,
Sean Russell, Steven Erikson etc...)

I wouldn't call the Huff series humorous, though it has her light touch. In terms of being reprinted, I think it already has been. At leas here in the stores the whole series got 'Bold New Covers', which is another reason I think she is going to continue with the series.

I've just finished reading all 3 volumes of her Blood Books (the 5 Blood novels plus a collection of short stories) and thoroughly enjoyed them. I've read the first 2 novels in the series over 10 years ago, and am pleasantly surprised to see that the quality of the series never dipped. Minor quibbles with the publisher DAW for making some unnecessary spelling changes (I know it's an American publisher hence the American spelling in the books, but that shouldn't apply to names of actual places like the Eaton Centre) and some spelling errors with street names (can't imagine Tanya actually making those typos).

I'll pick up the Smoke series since it involves some of the Blood characters. But I noticed that there are omnibus editions of her Blood books, along with Wizard of the Grove (Child of the Grove + The Last Wizard) and Of Darkness Light and Fire (Gate of Darkness, Child of Light + The Fire's Stone), so does anyone know if her other series (Quarters, Valor, Keepers Chronicles) will have omnibus editions too? As a fan of her Blood series, should I get those other series?

I don't know if her Quarters series is in Omnibus or not. The Blood series had been out of print before it came back in the bold new covers, don't know if they are oop now, and the Omnibus is to take their place.

In terms of if her other series are worth it: I haven't read the Quarters series, so I don't know about them. She has another series called The Keeper series, and it is very good. It is light and fluffy, set in modern day, there are magical beings called Keepers who try to protect the world when evil magic spills through from other realms. Sort of like magic is a toxic waste spill. They are funny and have details about the POV's family and relationships. I enjoy them. Don't think these are in omnibus, and as far as I know the series is still on going. It starts with Summon the Keeper . I haven't read her SF Valor series, so I don't know about that one.

Thanks for the input FicusFan! I enjoy her Blood books as much as Jim Butcher's Dresden Files, and it sounds like both of them might have competing tv shows on the horizon according to the Internet Movie DataBase. Hopefully both of their focus will still be on their novels instead of the shows.

I haven't read her books yet, though I do have volume 1 of her Blood Books on my TBR pile.