July Book Reviews: Stained Glass Monsters by Andrea Host
Working my way through Host's backlist. In Stained Glass Monsters, secretive mage Rennyn has hidden in secret for all her life, poised to destroy the threat her family created centuries ago. Now that a long-gone queen is awakening, Rennyn finds herself entangled with the superhuman monster hunters called the Kellian, as well as an orphan teen who's a potential mage. Will her new connections destroy all of her careful planning—or save her?
Although Host does have her own particular quirks, I consider her one of the better indie fantasy authors out there, and I've greatly enjoyed going through her backlist. While the real protagonist of Stained Glass Monsters is Rennyn and her Significant Heritage, most of the plot is filtered through the point of view of Kendall, the suspicious and untrusting orphan teen. After all, Rennyn has a number of schemes that she's concealing from all of the other characters and also the reader, so it wouldn't do to reveal them too early. Stained Glass Monsters is a slow reveals sort of book, so it's difficult to discuss much of the novel, but there was a loyalty/fealty plotline with the Kellian that I particularly enjoyed. I also liked Kendall's slow development into a mage—yes, we've seen this plot ten million times, but that's because it's good...
Host has the finger on the pulse of writing really good angst and meaty characters, and Stained Glass Monsters follows suit. If the cover is not as polished as in tradpub, oh well, that's just the price we have to pay for getting to read books that stray from tradpub's preferences. I enjoyed this book, and I'm excited to read the next book in the duology shortly.
