Pardon me while I geek the fuck out...

*flails around like the T-1000 in an industrial-sized smelting pot*

Fuck yeah! This! This is why I love the Sandman Slim series. Yes, the third book did not live up to my expectations, but this one went back to what made the series fun to begin with. Action for days. Twists around every corner. Vulgar, sarcastic dialogue and narration. And I'm actually excited for the next book, which I wasn't after finishing Aloha From Hell. To top it all off, I realized why I disliked the last book as much as I did. Too many feels. Too many questions. And, of course, it took Stark over half the fucking book to make it to Hell. I'm down with character development, but not an entire book of it. The action in AFH was too little, and the drama was too much. What should have been fun urban fantasy turned into some weird amalgamation of literary fiction meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Devil in the Dollhouse fixed all that. 

Narrator MacLeod Andrews is as fantastic as ever here. I highly recommend this series on audio book. 

In summation: If you disliked Aloha as much as I did, don't give up on the series yet. This novella has more action and story than the entirety of the last novel-length venture. So, so looking forward to Devil Said Bang now. 

Geek-gasm over. I think I need a towel.

Holy shit, Scott Lynch is my new hero.

"Now, it’s undeniably true that male writers (including yours truly) are generally and commercially allowed to write about “girl stuff” without being penalized for doing so. In part this is the same old shit it’s always been… I’ve said before that men who write mostly about men win prizes for revealing the human condition, while women who write about both men and women are filed away as writing “womens’ issues.” Likewise, in fantasy, the imprimatur of a dude somehow makes stuff like romance, relationship drama, introspection, and adorable animal companions magically not girly after all.

In a sense, we male fantasists are allowed to be like money launderers for girl cooties."

Can I just say how happy I am that this MC isn't another goddamn Mary Sue? Can I tell you how pleased I am that she embraces her sexuality and isn't ashamed of actually feeling lust or...gasp, following through on said lust? And don't even get me started on how she doesn't feel guilty or slutty or any of the other bullshit that most novels and the media tell us we should feel. 

Keri Arthur,