Everyone is talking about war. A [Goblin Lord] has arisen to the south of Liscor and Flos, The King of Destruction, is gearing up to reconquer his empire. The city of Liscor feels safe enough from the goblins behind their walls, but racial tensions are at an all time high thanks to the actions of Erin and Ryoka. Erin rescued a human girl who was exiled for not only stealing from the market but assaulting Kershia and burning down her shop. Ryoka saved a gnoll child who's tribe was wiped out by the goblins, but the cub is now seen as a doombringer by her people. Even the minions of Az'Kerash are on the move as they search for Ryoka to ensure she can't reveal that the [Necromancer] is still alive and the location of his lair. Since the Antinium "discovery" of a dungeon entrance near the city everyone with [Danger Sense] on the continent feels a sense of foreboding, but at least the adventurers are hoping for lots of new treasure.

This latest installment in the Aldoran Chronicles gets off to a slow start, but eventually finds its footing and delivers meaningful progression to the series. All the main PoV characters return, but for me they are not all created equal. Ayrion remains the most compelling of the bunch and he finally gets his chance to return to his homeland after he was banished as a child. For anyone who has read the Street Rats of Aramoor this is an interesting storyline, but sadly this is end loaded in the book and it can be a slog at times to get there. Especially in the Ty storyline where way too much time is spent recounting what has already occurred. Ty is the typical "chosen one" trope character and he is the least interesting of all of the PoV characters. At least Ferrin's storyline continues to be solid with him playing a role in some big events and Adarra's storyline also has its moment. All in all it's an uneven entry in the series that isn't the return to solid story telling I was hoping for.

Liscor is recovering from the overwhelming assault by the undead and the dungeon boss called Skinner. The city blames the four silver-ranked adventuring teams who went into the crypt for stirring up the undead, but only Yvlon survived and she's catatonic from what she saw. The citizens can hardly grasp that it was a combination of a crazy human innkeeper, Antinium workers, goblins, and a [skeleton warrior] with levels in [barmaid] that brought Skinner down. None of that group feels the same afterwards, except maybe Erin who isn't really a deep thinker. Torvand the skeleton is depressed because he and his crappy sword weren't more effective. The goblin Rags, who started out as a [scavenger] and then added [tactician] by learning chess from Erin, did finally gain [warrior] for dealing the killing blow to Skinner, but she's still a very small goblin with no real power to improve things for her tribe. And Erin is depressed because most of the Antinium defending her died, including her friend Klbkch, who was both the Prognugator of his hive and a guardsman of Liscor.

Erin Solstice walks into her bathroom one night and she's suddenly in a cave dodging dragon fire. Quickly followed by running from little green people, who can only be goblins, until she finds an abandoned inn to hide in. Erin's not the only one who suddenly finds themselves alone in a world populated by several intelligent races, lots of monsters, dungeons, and where people have classes and skills. Erin, for instance, promptly becomes an [Innkeeper]. The storylines mostly center on the old inn that Erin dubs The Wandering Inn and the nearby city of Liscor that is about to have a very exciting, strange, and sometimes horrifying year. The discovery of a new dungeon draws several groups of silver-ranked adventurers to Liscor in search of artifacts and treasure. A young goblin discovers that not all humans are the enemy, the insectoid Antinium discovers that playing chess with Erin allows them to develop individuality, and a homeless [Mage] turns out to be a brilliant [Necromancer]. Welcome to the soap opera that is The Wandering Inn.

James Crowley is used to travelling alone, but this time he finds himself on the way to Crescent City with a few companions. Rosa, Bram Stoker, Irish, and Harker all return from the first book, and their presence certainly makes things complicated for Crowley. He is being sent to Crescent City by the White Throne to deal with the "Betrayer", and that's not exactly information he can share with his travelling companions. Two of which, Bram and Rosa, happen to be very interested in the supernatural, and that lends itself to some uncomfortable conversations on the road. As they get closer to town the situation starts to spiral out of control as one of them is mortally wounded. They must seek immediate medical attention in town only to find that Crescent City has been overrun by supernatural beings and they are entering a powder keg of a situation. Out of the frying pan and into the fire, typical Crowley.

James Crowley was your typical outlaw until his life was ended in a hail of gunfire; however, his well-earned trip to hell was unexpectedly interrupted by the White Throne. He now serves them as a Black Badge, also known as a Hand of God, hunting down demonic entities in the old American West. His task this time is to visit a small town known as Dead Acre, a place where outsiders are never welcome. He doesn't exactly know why he is sent to the ass end of nowhere, but upon arrival he quickly discovers that the local cobbler is missing and a number of graves outside the dilapidated church have been desecrated. Certainly a suspicious situation, which is only made worse by the less than warm welcome he receives at the only saloon in town. Of course Crowley is not easily intimidated, so he starts investigating following the clues and eventually discovers that a few of the locals are nto what they seem to be. A number of dark entities have indeed made Dead Acre their home, so Crowley is definitely the right man for the job.

Cade begins his narration by asking the reader to imagine a "wizard" and then informs us that if we're seeing an old man with a long beard and pointy hat that we're idiots who've read too many fairy tales. He then drops straight into a battle where he and his fellow mercenary "wonderists" are laying siege to a city. Cade himself is pretending to be a wonderist who's magic is tied to the plane of Fortune, but in reality bargains for spells with the Infernals. His closest friend is a "thunderer" who is known to laugh as his lightning shatters walls and crushes defenders. Wonderists take on physical and mental traits from their plane of attunement, so they're a truly motley crew. This particular battle is taking place because the city refuses to recognize the latest religious leader chosen by the Lords Celestine, or gods of the Celestial plane. Personally, Cade believes that the Lords Celestine have lost their minds and he plans to murder the asshole who employs them. Cade's murder mission is interrupted when his fellow wonderists decide to kill him because the Glorian Justiciars have arrived. His ties to the Infernal plane aren't as secret as he thought, so Cade's fellow wonderists plan to kill him in the hopes that it will distract the Justiciars long enough for the rest of them to escape. Remember, just when things look bad they can always get worse..

James Crowley is a former outlaw who didn't always make the best choices in life, but he has no regrets about the choice that ended it. Crowley was as rough as they come, but he did have his limits. That turned out not to be a good fit with the leader of his gang, who eventually ended him for standing up to prevent the rape of a captured woman. Perhaps it was that final act of redemption that caused the White Throne to interrupt his journey to hell and select him to serve as a Black Badge, but he doesn't really know that. In fact, he doesn't really know much. His handler, Shar, sends him to deal with the darker evils that roam the American West: nephalem, werewolves, shapeshifters, and yetis, just to name a few. That makes him part bounty hunter, and part supernatural sheriff, but he has no earthly authority, so he is constantly trying to figure out how to take care of his quarry without revealing to everyone else that he himself is undead.

Although author Michael Moorcock announced that Elric was retiring after 30 years back in 1992, he decided to honor the 60 year anniversary of his most beloved character with one last adventure. Melniboneans can command dragons and tremendous sorcery because their ancestors, the immortal Phroon, were half dragon themselves. As part of his education Elric was sent on dream quests and in some he met his "Aunt", the sister of the first Emperor of Melnibone, who tutored him in sorcery, became his lover, and invited him to visit someday. After destroying his homeland and the tragic death of his cousin caused by Stormbringer, the sorcerer Elric of Melnibone started wandering through the lands known as the Younger Kingdoms. Along the way he was befriended by the jovial adventurer Moonglum who joins Elric on a perilous journey off the edge of the map and onto the flip side of their world (everyone knows the world is flat) to find the mysterious Phroon and his Aunt. Thanks to Moonglum's current girlfriend they have found a merchant ship brave enough to attempt the plunge off the edge of the world in search of exotic goods they can take back to the Younger Kingdoms. Surviving the plunge is only the first of many dangers Elric and Moonglum face as they journey through a strange continent and Elric gets entangled in his Aunt's schemes.

A Midsummer Night's Dream is my least favorite work by Shakespeare and at this point book shelves are collapsing under the weight of books with Fey or Faerie characters, so this book was a nice surprise. Author Sydney Cobb apparently likes Midsummer enough to ponder the identity of the child that Oberon and Titania were fighting over and realized there had to be a lot more to the story than Shakespeare knew. Of course the first thing Robin Goodfellow tells us is that Shakespeare didn't get the story quite right in the first place. The second thing he tells us is that he was still young and impulsive back then before admitting that not much has changed. It took a few hundred years but Titania has finally figured out why Oberon wanted her handmaid's child and she complained to her older sister Mab, Queen of the Gray Court, as opposed to Oberon's Green Court, who is now threatening war for the sake of her sister's honor. Naturally, Oberon has turned to his favorite and most trusted courtier to keep the half-fey boy hidden. Matching wits with Mab is exactly as difficult as Robin expects but he's determined to save the young man he loves like a brother even if it costs his immortal life in this twisty faerie-tale.