Lianne Willowmoon

This volume continues the collaboratively written story of the Everleigh and her oddly matched bunch of passengers who have, by now, despite themselves, become close friends. The book starts where volume 1 left off and gives us a pretty exciting and well written set of puzzles for our characters to solve. Once the puzzles end and things slide into an explanation of political intrigue, past lives, and what happened in the years following the Everleigh adventure, I have to admit that my attention wandered a bit. However, the book brought me right back in with solo stories from each of the authors digging into the backstory of their character and their relationship to the assassinated Governor. These were uniformly strong and compelling, and provided an interesting counter-balance to the group writing of the rest of the novel. The volumes together are a fun, creative exploration of characters and situations. While some things hold together and some things fall apart, the journey as a whole is definitely worth taking.… (more)

This co-written fantasy novel is "an anthology of authors, not of stories" -- a fascinating experiment in collaborative fiction that brings together seven authors and nearly a dozen major and minor characters. Each member of our group of characters had one part in a successful assassination five years ago. Since then they have been individually blackmailed to keep their part in the murder from being discovered. That is the status quo until our leader, Rena (a Harpy and currently an exiled member of the royal house) brings all the blackmailees, the blackmailer, and all the evidence on board the Everleigh, a ghost ship that has been in her family for generations. The original plan is for everyone to confront the blackmailer, get their money back, and go on with their lives. The first night, however, ends in a murder, and the spirits of the Everleigh won't let the group rest until the murderer is found, treasures returned, and all on the ship is made right. This means that a disparate group of near-enemies now has to work together to placate the ship, and the spirits are not cooperating.

The collaborative style of the book leads to some inconsistencies in voice, quite a bit of repetition, and some characters that are more fully realized than others, but overall the book holds together and the action keeps the story moving. My personal favorites of the story are Taniz, the shapeshifting dragon with an insatiable appetite for food and treasurers; and Alistair/Lloyd two men trapped in the same body, which happens to be encased in a weapons-filled steam-engine run suit of armor -- one a talented mechanical engineer, the other an unstoppable weapons designer, and both big rum drinkers.

Despite some pacing and dialogue issues, this is a very fun read with lots of action, humor, a little bit of sex, and a supernatural being for pretty much any taste. Volume 2 continues the story, and I can't wait to see how this motley crew gets out of the tight spot we leave them in at the end of Volume 1.… (more)