Mean Streets

Mean Streets is one of the best anthologies I've read in a while. It only has four different pieces in it, but they're all novellas, and all by strong, experienced writers. I don't think any of them are here riding on someone else's name on the book cover.

Jim Butcher's “Warrior,” the first piece, is very good. It follows Harry and the Carpenter family after they experienced some major changes in the last Dresden novel. I could have stood a little more Molly, but Harry and Michael were the focus characters and they worked out some things that really needed to be dealt with. I'm glad I read this before the next Dresden novel, because I feel there's important character development. I seriously recommend this book to all Dresden fans.

I haven't read any of Simon R. Green's novels, though I've heard of the Nightside series and thought about picking one up. If “The Difference a Day Makes” is typical, though, I may not bother. He is a good writer, so I'm not sure what it is that bothered me so much. I know that something framed as one of the nastiest things people could choose to do in this piece isn't even in my top 10, but I feel there's something else that I just can't quite articulate yet.

I've read all three of Kat Richardson's Greywalker novels and enjoyed them enough that I plan to keep reading. “The Third Death of the Little Clay Dog” is my favorite piece of her work, hands down. There's more light, somehow, and that's important to me.

“Noah's Orphans” is my first exposure to Thomas E. Sniegoski, as far as I can recall. It was an interesting piece. I found myself wondering about Remy Chandler's past, about how the character has developed. If there are novels featuring that character, I may give them a read. In any case, it brought up some interesting questions about faith and obedience. I think it would have been more personally relevant to me about 20 years ago, though.

I would say this is the first time I have given an anthology 5 stars. I thoroughly enjoyed all four stories. My least favorite was the last one but I think its because I wasn't as familiar with the author but I did enjoy it and want to explore the world a bit more.

The stories are:
“The Warrior” by Jim Butcher 5 stars
“What a Difference a Day Makes” by Simon R. Green 4 stars
“The Third Death of the Little Clay Dog” by Kat Richardson 5 stars
“Noah's Orphans” by Thomas E. Sniegoski 4 stars

I picked up this book because I already read the Dresden Files, and Nightside books.

I enjoyed all 4 stories.

Unsurprisingly, since Jim Butcher is currently my favorite author, I enjoyed the Dresden tale the most. This is especially true after reading Turncoat mini-spoiler alert and being disappointed there was nothing with Micheal or the swords.

The nightside story was my least favorite of the four, but I always enjoy when Dead Boy makes an appearance.

I had never read any of Kat Richardson's Greywalker books, but I enjoyed the short story in here such that I may take a look at the series.

I found the story about Remy Chandler very interesting. Having been a fan of the movie Prophecy with Christopher Walken, as well as Constantine (the movie not the comics), I've been intrigued by fiction based around the war of the angels. I plan to check out this series next.