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A review by jdhacker
Mean Streets by Jim Butcher
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
A brief, okay, collection of relatively fast paced urban fantasy stories featuring four authors long running magical detective protagonists. I'm a little unsure what the goal of the collection was. While some of these novellas serve as reasonably good introductions to the worlds and characters that are otherwise centered in long running series, others are perhaps not the best pick if that was the goal. And I'm reasonably sure they're all available in other collections elsewhere.
Jim Butcher's Dresden novella isn't a bad one, in fact I quite enjoyed it when I read it in one of the two collections of short fiction specifically for Dresden stories. However, it seems like a weak choice for this collection. Its plopped right in the middle of ongoing events in the Dresden series and requires a lot of pre-existing knowledge of long-running characters and relationships to carry much weight.
Interesting, while I'm not a fan of Simon Green's Nightside series, I think the novella here works really well as a stand alone. I wonder if I'd feel the same way in general, that maybe that world works better for me in short form than long? The short form does solve some of the issues of repetitiveness that the full novels suffer from. Just be aware that mileage may vary between this as an introduction to that series, and the series itself, in terms of quality.
I had not read any of Kat Richardson's Greywalker books, but "Little Clay Dog" was a fun and touching introduction to that world that leaves me curious about. Which I would assume is the point.
I'm a little ambivalent about the final story by Sniegoski, both in quality and how well it serves to introduce and entice the reader into a new world they may want to explore.
Overall, I'd say skip this unless you find it cheap, you're a fan of these series already, and are a bit of a completionist. I think there are probably better collections that can serve as exposure if you're curious about these series, or for that matter you could pick up the first book of each, used, for cheap enough to go that route instead.
Jim Butcher's Dresden novella isn't a bad one, in fact I quite enjoyed it when I read it in one of the two collections of short fiction specifically for Dresden stories. However, it seems like a weak choice for this collection. Its plopped right in the middle of ongoing events in the Dresden series and requires a lot of pre-existing knowledge of long-running characters and relationships to carry much weight.
Interesting, while I'm not a fan of Simon Green's Nightside series, I think the novella here works really well as a stand alone. I wonder if I'd feel the same way in general, that maybe that world works better for me in short form than long? The short form does solve some of the issues of repetitiveness that the full novels suffer from. Just be aware that mileage may vary between this as an introduction to that series, and the series itself, in terms of quality.
I had not read any of Kat Richardson's Greywalker books, but "Little Clay Dog" was a fun and touching introduction to that world that leaves me curious about. Which I would assume is the point.
I'm a little ambivalent about the final story by Sniegoski, both in quality and how well it serves to introduce and entice the reader into a new world they may want to explore.
Overall, I'd say skip this unless you find it cheap, you're a fan of these series already, and are a bit of a completionist. I think there are probably better collections that can serve as exposure if you're curious about these series, or for that matter you could pick up the first book of each, used, for cheap enough to go that route instead.