Nell's life is going surprising well. She has gained legal custody of her younger sister Mindy who is thriving as a "townie" girl, her sister Esther is settling down with her newborn twins and bonding with the acre of land Nell gifted her, and she's going to marry Occam before the month is out. However, the story begins with her being summoned to visit the vampire Ming of Glass who is now officially Master of the City but something is very wrong with Ming. She was always slightly erratic but now she's completely insane and sends Torquemada and his minions after Nell as a distraction. Once in Knoxville, Torquemada discovers that most of the young men thrown out of the Church carry the devil dog bloodline and he starts kidnapping and torturing them to force them to shift shape. Since there still isn't enough going on, the military has finally caught on that the Church has spawned two unique paranormal bloodlines and is willing to resort to forcing them to "work" for the government. Somehow all of this is connected to Soul's disappearance and Unit 18 pulls together like never before to stay alive and find their boss.

From the start of the series, there have been flashbacks to unexplained visits from dark forces in Gen's childhood that have never been fully explained. These events have never appeared to have much impact on Gen, because after each visit an unknown individual always arrives to erase the memory. Gen has often been the only person capable of keeping the Chalaine safe from the dark forces trying to disrupt the holy prophecy, but now that she is pregnant with the Holy Child, Gen protects her no more. The significance of those visits in Gen's past have come into light, so now the Padra Athan and the church want him dead, and so does the Chalaine's new husband. However, the Chalaine's mother, Mirelle, still believes in Gen and she works to keep him from Athan's forces, convinced he is the only one who can protect her daughter. It's a mess of a situation, but one thing is clear - whichever side of the prophecy Gen's loyalties are on is likely to come out on top.

The first book of the series totally leaves you eager to find out what comes next, especially in the character relationship department. Gen finds himself promoted to the Chalaine's Protector because he was the only one with the moral fortitude to stand up for her when her future husband, the Ha'Ulrich, tried to treat her like a common harlot. Of course, this puts Gen in quite a predicament as the Ha'Ulrich and the Chalaine are prophesied to marry and conceive a child that will become the embodiment of a god. Because of the way Gen humiliated the Ha'Ulrich he knows that once the marriage is complete, the Ha'Ulrich will have the power to order his death. Still, that won't stop Gen from doing his duty, but the enemy army led by the evil god Mikkik just might.

Have you ever thought the world would be better off without your boss? Do they claim credit for your ideas while reducing production costs by removing safety features? Perhaps they resort to blackmail and their price is your hard earned promotion, or maybe they demand sexual favors in return for letting you work at all. If you're fortunate karma will catch up to these despicable supervisors, but if it doesn't, or you just can't afford to wait, the McMasters Conservatory is here to offer a comprehensive education in all things murder. A year or two of classes and you will be ready to attempt your thesis where a passing score consists of eliminating the horrible person and not getting caught. Fail in the attempt and you won't have to worry about prison because McMaster's will deal with the problem, you. This enlightening and humorous guide shall follow the academic performance of three students with the above workplace issues and their thesis. Fair warning, not all three succeed.

Gen is a bard's apprentice growing up in a small town and getting into mischief with his friends. He is a decent young man who pines for the prettiest girl in the village and gets in trouble for playing pranks on the local nobles, that is until his somewhat idyllic life is ripped away from him in an instant. Shadan Khairn is a war monger, and master swordsman, who's army invades Gen's small town unexpectedly during the winter. Shadan's goal is simply to establish a unexpected foothold in Gen's country for a larger summer invasion, but this invasion results in Gen going from bard to prisoner over night. Things only get worse for Gen when Shadan quickly becomes bored in this nowhere town, and he decides to train Gen to be a sword fighter. He does this mainly for the sick pleasure of inflicting one devastating injury after another onto Gen, and then magically healing him of his wounds so he can do it again the next day. This process of repeated beatings changes Gen at his core, and puts him on a much different trajectory in life.

Jade Godfrey owns a popular cupcake bakery in Vancouver, BC, Canada. She's also half-witch on her mother's side, and although she's not any good at spell casting, she's a dowser. Dowsers are the rare Adepts who can see magic and "taste" the magic associated with individual Adepts. So werewolf magic tastes like chocolate, witches like grass, and so on. She mainly uses her gift to combine random objects with a trace of magic on them into little trinkets that she hangs around her bakery or turns into jewelry. They're just pretty and don't do anything. At least that's what Jade thinks until they start appearing on dead werewolves that have had all the magic sucked out of them. Black Magic. Naturally, the nearest pack, which consists of more than just wolves, first suspects Jade. But with her curly blonde hair, sunny disposition, and tasty cupcakes, Jade is an unlikely murderer. Still, she must be relevant to the case since her trinkets are found on the bodies, so the alpha, Desmond, slaps a life debt on her that can only be paid off by finding the killer. So far it seems like a typical urban fantasy with a Canadian flair, but Doidge skillfully manages to avoid the most common tropes as Jade slowly discovers who and what she really is. The Dowser, Alchemist, and Wielder of the Instruments of Assassination.

It is hard to believe that this series has reached book eleven already, but here we are. Xavier has finally stepped down and is no longer King of the Vanguard Islands, so he heads off with Magnolia in search of Michael, who is missing. Michael is out there somewhere trying to find a home for his family after they managed to escape the islands in the last book. Since they took the last remaining airship with them, Kade Long, who has taken over as king, has inherited an impossible situation. The Knights of the Coral Castle are coming for them, and they have no remaining air power of any kind. His master plan is to send out Gran Jefe, of all people, along with a few Barracudas to bring back two helicopters from an ancient facility. X, Michael, Kade and Gran Jefe means there are four separate story lines going on at the same time in four different locations. Has this series finally lost its way or does it all come together into something coherent?

Liscor has faced monstrous moths, cannibalistic gnolls, and an undead horde, but now they face a bigger threat, a greedy human lord armed with a goblin army and Earth inspired catapults. The death of Zev Shivertail ended Lady Magnolia's attempt to stop the Goblin Lord and has left the way clear for Lord Tyrel's great plan. If he's successful, it will mean the end of both the Goblin Lord and the city of Liscor which will mean war between humans and drakes and cement his political superiority among the humans of Izril. This is the most exciting installment of The Wandering Inn and the continent of Izril will never be the same.

Despite the Ash Angel victories in the prior books, the threat from the Dreads has only increased and the Ash Angel Organization finds itself on the verge of collapsing. Other Dread Loremasters have risen in power to fill the power vacuum at the top, and the war has grow so large that it now threatens entire cities of normals. As an Angel Born, Helo may possess power never before heard of, but that is also true of the new Dread leadership. Toss in the fact that Aclima is now back on the dark side, and Helo has limited options available to him. He knows that he can't win this fight without the other Ash Angels, but since he finds himself alone in his belief that Aclima can still be redeemed, joining up with them could cost Aclima her life. Despite his best efforts, Helo finds himself on a path where he may have to kill the only woman he has come to love in his afterlife in order for good to triumph over evil. Could he even do it?

Charlie's life has been going steadily downhill for several years. When he sees a report that his wealthy uncle has died, he doesn't expect it to impact his life since he hasn't heard from the uncle since his mom's funeral decades ago. But when he has to stop the guests from stabbing the corpse at the funeral to make sure it's actually dead he begins to suspect that not all of his uncle's wealth came from owning parking garages. Before he knows it, he has inherited a private island complete with volcano and hidden base. Charlie's first crisis as a new supervillain comes as soon as the plane lands. It seems some of his minions feel that their working conditions are unfair, so he's forced to fake his way through negotiations with supersmart asshole dolphins. The supersmart cats are management, so they don't have any complaints. Then he has a crash course in supervillain 101 because in less than a week he's due to meet the other dozen supervillains. All of which hated his uncle and see him as easy prey.