Beth Barany

Mystery. Romance. Intrigue. On a space station for the ultra-rich.

Janey McAllister is still getting used to her new job as lead investigator at a fancy space hotel when a guest reports the theft of an incredibly valuable gem. And then along comes Orlando Valdez, insurance investigator and enigmatic pain in the arse.

I can't help but compare Into the Black to another novel I read recently. Christopher Brookmyre's Places in the Darkness is an existential crisis of a story that's also a detective novel set on a space station. This, on the other hand, is a romance that's also a detective novel set on a space station. Same, same, but different.

The mystery and science fiction side of this story were both compelling enough to keep me turning the page. I'm not a fan of romance (in stories or in life), so I found that side of it distracting. But that's just me – most people love romance.

Four stars because this needed another round of editing to remove the redundancies. But otherwise this was a great intro to a series.… (más)

The writing was quite clunky and simplistic. Almost all the paragraphs were the same length. The dialog was wooden and a lot if it was unnecessary. Good dialogue is not what we use in everyday speech. Everyday speech is inane and boring full of a lot of okays and sure things and other bits that just don’t make good reading but they are included here. Too many unnecessary bit characters.

The characters were one dimensional. There was too much telling not showing. The mystery was not particularly engaging. I’m usually a fan of romance, even romance within sci fi but here the romance just annoyed me. The hero was obfuscating for no real reason and was I assume meant to come off as a charming character ala Cary Grant in Charade. But just didn’t.… (más)

I need to start this review by saying that I absolutely adore Henrietta's character! Thank you to Beth Barany for writing such a spitfire and strong female character. Henrietta isn't the type to back down from a fight, but she also won't go looking for them either. She's strong enough to know who she is. On top of that, despite her renown as a dragon slayer, Henrietta can't stomach the thought of another kill. All she wants is peace and quiet. That is, until she is swept off on another epic adventure! Henrietta was a breath of fresh air in a sea of whiny female characters. I'm smitten with her.

Along with Henrietta, we meet her motley crew of adventurers. From a knight with an acidic attitude, to a court jester who just wants to tag along for the stories to tell, they are an amazing group of people. I enjoyed that Barany allowed them to each be so different. The interactions between them are fun to read, and they each bring a little bit of their expertise in various areas to the story. Best of all, each character is explained enough to feel as though you know them, without being overly done. Perfection.

There were only a few things that kept this book from being on my list of absolute favorites. The first being that there wasn't very much dragon slaying action. From the title, I assumed (which you should never do I know) that there would be epic battles in this story. In fact, most of the battling of dragons is done in the stories that are told about Henrietta's past. I kind of understood why this was. Henrietta wasn't eager to dive into the battle at the beginning of the story, and so it does make sense that she wouldn't want to get into any trouble if she could avoid it later on.

The other thing I really missed was world building. Although this doesn't really take away from the overall story, which is fantastic, there wasn't very much said about where Henrietta's story was actually taking place. References are made to forests, plains, etc., but you never know much more than that. As a lover of fantasy I'm a stickler for good world building. I'm hoping that since this is the first in the series I'll get to know a bit more about Henrietta's world later on!

Honestly, Henrietta the Dragon Slayer is an excellent read! As I said it is the first in a series, so there will be more of stoic Henrietta and her adventures. I cannot wait! I look forward to seeing where the story takes her, and applaud Beth Barany for writing such a strong character.… (más)

This review was originally posted on Melissa's Midnight Musingson November 28 2012.

Henrietta is a very private, solitary person. So she isn't too happy when she has to go on a quest to save her dying mentor and suddenly she has this very unique group of people tagging along. She thinks they'll just get in her way. And, some of the time, they do. But over time, she learns to love them all, in her own way. She opens up bit by bit and lets them in to her heart.

Henrietta is a very snarky, sarcastic character, which I enjoyed. She reminds me of the way that I wish I could be, if I weren't worried about what other people would think of me. She says what she thinks and doesn't spare feelings. Sometimes this really isn't appropriate, like the time she thinks that Paulette should snap out of it after losing her family. But a lot of the time Henrietta's manner is direct and to the point. I think this is what keeps the story moving along nicely. Henrietta is all about action and moving along, so this story rarely drags, if at all.

The magical touches are also really well done in the book. They're subtle and not overly flashy. It's just the right balance to keep you interested but not too much as to make you want to cringe. Since I'm really partial to characters who are witches, I would really like to see a spin off book with more of Paulette's story. Paulette, as a character does really well to bring out Henrietta's softer, more nurturing side. Plus Paulette has a bit of fire to her, literally and figuratively, so her character holds up really well on its' own.

It's nice to watch the growth of character on both Henrietta and Paulette's parts. Henrietta helps Paulette become more mature and causes her to think before she acts a little bit more. Paulette shows Henrietta that it's okay to care for people and to let them in.

There's also a tiny bit of a romance in the book between Henrietta and Franc. Definitely not insta-love which I appreciate. Their relationship really doesn't develop romantically until toward the end of the book so you're left wondering what will happen to them.

This is a standalone book but I think that it could work as a series as well.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes adventures with a strong female character and magic.

*The author provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*… (más)