69. Smoke and Ashes by Tanya Huff (Urban Fantasy) 407 p.
Following the events of Smoke and Shadows and Smoke and Mirrors, Tony Foster has now been promoted from Production Assistant to Training Assistant Director, although his boss’s stinginess and reluctance to hire a new PA mean that his actual job remains much the same. Meanwhile, one of the stuntwomen turns out to be a Demongate, and if the demons who are out to kill her succeed, the world will be at the mercy of her demon master. Tony and his coworkers are the only things standing in their way.
I loved reading this book. I smiled (or laughed) pretty much the whole way through. It gave me that effervescent feeling that all really good genre fiction does, that sense of excitement and glee, like ginger ale bubbles rising up inside. The plot is excellent, but it’s Huff’s characters and dialogue that make the book so good. And I continue to adore her for writing such Canadian novels: a hero who eats Timbits and snarks about the CBC! I’ve been waiting my whole life for this and didn’t even know it. I am so incredibly excited to read the Vicki Nelson series (of which this series is a spinoff), since they’re set in my own city.
Books read: 69/100 (69%)
Pages read: 20,636/25,000 (83%)
Days passed: 203/365 (56%)
