Series: Victoria Nelson #1

This is definitely not a book with which to play the “just one more chapter” game (long chapters). It’s a vampire urban fantasy that was written before cellphones were commonplace (this is important to the plot). Part of its charm comes from its setting, however. It takes place in Toronto and makes references to Canadian Tire instead of Walmart. It can probably most succinctly be summarized in its own words:

In eighteen short hours, the hordes of hell could be ripping the city and its people apart.

 

“And the only thing in the way is one half-blind ex-cop and the bastard son of Henry VIII.”

Covid-19 may be influencing my ratings since I seem to be going easier on books, but there’s a good chance I’ll check out the rest of the series although I’m not rushing off to do it. The villain did feel a little cartoony at times but wasn't entirely unbelievable either.

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“The people writing these stories don’t believe in vampires, and most of the people reading these stories don’t believe in vampires, but we’re talking about a culture where more people know their astrological sign than their blood type. Somewhere out there, somebody is taking all this seriously and spending his spare time sharpening stakes.”

The vampire is worried about people's reaction to stories of a vampire in their midst.

Right, run toward the vampire. *Rolls eyes*

You deserve what you get, Vicki.

So we have some gratuitous partnering that seems mandatory in urban fantasy although I take comfort in the author's foreword that the relationships are only secondary to the plot. But we also get lots of Toronto points (as in, points awarded to the book for making Toronto references) and I'll probably be tempted to continue the series on that strength alone. So many of the books I read either take place in places I've never been or don't know well enough to really get that sense of familiarity. Not that I was familiar with the Toronto of the early nineties, but I wasn't an adult in the early nineties either, so it's a bit of a wash there.

by Kerry Nelson Selman

The Introduction to this book gives me the impression that we're about to have a look inside the author's personal spiritual journey, which to an extent is proven true when we read the parts about specific stones and the oils and essences that have been attributed to them by her.

The book is about semi-precious stones, oils, and flower essences working in conjunction in a New Age, spiritual context. Some of it does go further into 'New Age' than I can personally identify with, but I found it interesting all the same and have already started experimenting with the author's ideas. She mentions practicing Reiki among other disciplines associated with healing.

The book has a very upbeat tone. There are 13 combinations of highest resonance covered and in Part One: Understanding the Energy Body, we read about energy, movement, and how vibration is at the heart of all life. Chakras are briefly mentioned and how the system relates to color correspondences, which in turn relates to choice of crystals for various purposes.

There is a practical explanation of how crystals work with vibration, citing crystal radios to demonstrate physical evidence that crystal vibrations do have practical application in some way. Then we move on to the author's theories for adding essential oils and flower scents that work in conjunction with the crystals for best effect. There is also information about how flower essences are made, which explains the hefty prices they can command.

The author also assigns Archangels to each combination, which I have to admit is a step too far for my personal beliefs and I sort of skimmed over those parts. She tells us about her personal practice and offers meditation rituals that incorporate all of the elements of crystal, scent and Archangels.

Part Two is about Synergistic Crystal Combinations and Practices. This is where she gives the meditations and Chakra associations. Each section is in a standardized format giving the main application, in other words, what it's supposed to do, followed by the combination of crystal, oil, flower essence (from two systems) and associated Archangel.

The author explains how she has made personal experiments to determine these close resonances and makes no secret of the fact that they are her own attributions. She also allows for disagreement and states that she does not intend to replace any other system and that all that is in nature is good, but in her own experience, these combinations work most effectively together.

I found the book interesting and plan to experiment a little with some of the suggested combinations, though I'm not particularly drawn to flower essences. Mixing essential oils with crystals may be as far as I ever go personally, but the concept behind these combinations is something that is likely to stay with me.