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A review by write_of_passages
A History of Trouble: A Beacon Hill Sorcerer Collection by SJ Himes
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
If you love the series, you'll love this short work of novellas! This book consists of four novellas that take place sometime before, during, or just after the first three books in the Beacon Hill Sorcerer's series.
Red Wine & Blood actually takes place over a hundred years before the series, which shows a moment between the Salvatores and the Melbournes during the Blood Wars. The shortest of the lot, there are echoes of Angel and Simeon in this pairing which is quite fun, because the roles are reversed in a few ways. Ashwin and Ignatio are really fun characters just for the few pages that we get to meet them and I think the best part is being able to see echoes of Angel and Simeon in their characters.
A History of Trouble gifts us the incident with the zombie mammoth at the college that is referenced in The Necromancer's Dilemma. After reading book three and seeing how far along the relationship between Angel and Simeon has come, it's really fun to go backwards and see how they react together earlier on in their relationship. This one has echoes of nostalgia to it, surprisingly, considering it only takes place between books 1 and 2!
A Dragon in the City This is perhaps the best one in the lot. My favorite, certainly. Here we're gifted an entire short story from Eroch's POV, including his own blood war against the city's pigeon population. S.J. Himes does a brilliant job at making this feel like a dragon's POV, especially as the young dragon that he is. A truly bright piece of work that had me smiling the entire way through.
Fae's Gold The final novella gifts us some more time with Daniel and Rory, who will have further roles later in the series (see: Love Springs Eternal which is book 6 I believe?). This novella does a brilliant job in helping us to see how Rory catches up with the modern world, given that he was in an enchanted stasis sleep since the Revolutionary War in 1776. The developing friendship between Rory and Daniel is truly lovely to read, as well as the cameos by Angel and Eroch that we also get throughout.
Overall, this is a great book to prepare for the next in the series, book 4, Mastering the Flames, which continues with Isaac's story and takes a break from the overarching story from Angel's POV. Highly recommend reading this book!
Red Wine & Blood actually takes place over a hundred years before the series, which shows a moment between the Salvatores and the Melbournes during the Blood Wars. The shortest of the lot, there are echoes of Angel and Simeon in this pairing which is quite fun, because the roles are reversed in a few ways. Ashwin and Ignatio are really fun characters just for the few pages that we get to meet them and I think the best part is being able to see echoes of Angel and Simeon in their characters.
A History of Trouble gifts us the incident with the zombie mammoth at the college that is referenced in The Necromancer's Dilemma. After reading book three and seeing how far along the relationship between Angel and Simeon has come, it's really fun to go backwards and see how they react together earlier on in their relationship. This one has echoes of nostalgia to it, surprisingly, considering it only takes place between books 1 and 2!
A Dragon in the City This is perhaps the best one in the lot. My favorite, certainly. Here we're gifted an entire short story from Eroch's POV, including his own blood war against the city's pigeon population. S.J. Himes does a brilliant job at making this feel like a dragon's POV, especially as the young dragon that he is. A truly bright piece of work that had me smiling the entire way through.
Fae's Gold The final novella gifts us some more time with Daniel and Rory, who will have further roles later in the series (see: Love Springs Eternal which is book 6 I believe?). This novella does a brilliant job in helping us to see how Rory catches up with the modern world, given that he was in an enchanted stasis sleep since the Revolutionary War in 1776. The developing friendship between Rory and Daniel is truly lovely to read, as well as the cameos by Angel and Eroch that we also get throughout.
Overall, this is a great book to prepare for the next in the series, book 4, Mastering the Flames, which continues with Isaac's story and takes a break from the overarching story from Angel's POV. Highly recommend reading this book!