Jenny spent her childhood fighting evil as a Hunter of Artemis, trained from the tender age of thirteen to take on the supernatural entities that would end our world she walked away from Artemis forty years ago and never looked back.
Annette is a half succubus who spent decades tracking down cheating spouses and stopping a couple of apocalypses as a PI. Her personal life, however, has been well a mess, with four marriages one of which resulting in a son that she could have been a much better mother too she walked away from that life too, hoping to become at least a semi decent grandmother to her grandchildren.
At ninety-nine years old Temple is still one of the strongest wizards on the planet. As the protector of the East Coast he has done battle with things straight out of a Lovecraft novel and won more times than he'd care to count. Twenty years ago, however, something cast a financial curse on him and Jenny and Annette swooped in to save the day. Into his house, which isn't just any house, it is as much apart of Temple and his family as any person is. And for some reason House not only decided to welcome these gate crashers it's accommodated them far more than Temple ever thought it would, even allowing these exasperating youngsters to start a bookstore in his home. Which okay fine, isn't that bad.
As the three of them and House navigate semi-retirement together a young man arrives after having a prophetic dream, the world is going to end and it starts with them, dragging the three of them back into a well, just another day at the office.
Jim C. Hines is one of those authors that I don't talk about often, but I 100% credit for getting me back into reading and not just reading but speculative fiction. I started with his Princess Series (and excellent series and I highly recommend it) and didn't look back. His writing is hilarious and full of heart while addressing pretty serious topics including abuse, sexual assault, and how LGBTQ+ humans are treated in this world. So when I saw that he had decided to tackle aging well there was no way I was not reading it. Needless to say Hines not only lived up to my expectations this may actually be my new favorite book of his!
Each of the MCs face a different issue in terms of aging. Temple is simply, well old. He doesn't move around as quickly or as often as he did when he was younger, he hurts constantly, his memory is going, and he isn't The Temple any longer. He simply doesn't have the energy to cast world changing spells anymore and therein lies his problem. Temple has reached an age where he realizes that he's just not who he once was and that's okay, but he hasn't come to terms with it yet, no one around him expects him to have the same vitality as he did when he was even fifty, but he does even as he realizes that's simply not happening. For me Temple's story is probably the most straight forward of these conversations because it is one that I think many of us, even if we are far from ninety-nine years old can appreciate, at some point we simply won't be useful eventually. What made us us will slip away into something less than and we will rely on others instead of being able to do the things that were so much easier in our youth. It's a scary prospect especially living in a society where the elderly are treated as an afterthought, shipped off to a retirement home while children and grandchildren go about their daily lives. Temple is certainly the most active ninety-nine-year-old I have ever come across and yet, his fears and insecurities are much the same as any other ninety-nine-year-olds.
Jenny is a little bit more complicated but simply put she has PTSD. Like so many millennials and Gen Xers who were sent off to the Middle East over the last what twenty, thirty years now Jenny fought a battle where she was a weapon shot by people who were not necessarily telling the truth over whether or not the people she was killing were actually the bad guys. She watches her friends die, become alcoholics, become permanently disabled, and become twisted versions of themselves who have decided they are judge, jury, and executioner. She walks away from her religion as this was what she saw as a part of the problem, so she is spiritually, emotionally, and mentally wrecked. And yet she finds that she can still be a force for good in the world. She tunnels her knowledge into helping those supernatural entities that have been othered and killed by groups like the one she was raised by and while this helps it doesn't fix the real issue.
Annette isn't like either of the other two. She actually had a fulfilling career as a PI and while being a succubus certainly caused issues in her life it's nothing like what the other two faced. Annette's problem is simply that parenting is hard even if you don't have to tell your child that they are part demon. Annette faces problems that many working mom's face; the dreaded work life balance and simply being unable to speak with your kids and as she doesn't even realize herself that "mother bear" attitude that's supposed to kick in doesn't kick in the same way for everyone which makes many mothers' feel inadequate thanks to societal expectations. I related the most to Annette which I think comes as no surprise to anyone. Women have so many expectations placed on us but once we become Mothers (yes that's with a capital M) those expectations increase a thousand-fold. There is a certain way to Mother that is ingrained in the very fabric of our society and if you don't Mother in that manner those around you, including family, friends, and even your children begin to question whether or not you are actually fit to be a Mother and in turn you do too. Fighting that is easier said than done, it's simply easier to run away which is what Annette did. Healthier would have been standing up for herself not just to the world but her son especially but fighting your own child in defense of who and what you are is exhausting.
I obviously loved each of these characters and I could go on for hours discussing each of them at length. They are so very simple and straight forward in terms of characterizations of aging in America. Which is not simple and straight forward, but I am going to move on now. To the great generational debate.
One of the themes in this is obviously parenting, but a big one is how we treat our children with information they should absolutely have. Annette's son Blake is pretty freaking adamant that his children know as little about being demons as possible. He believes that he is doing the right thing which as a parent in living in the U.S. in 2025 is a tough pill to swallow, but also as a parent living in the U.S. in 2025 it is a disgustingly common attitude. Far too often as parents we decide what our children can handle for them with very little input from them. We will swear up and down we are doing it to shield them but at the end of the day it is 100% to shield ourselves from having conversations we don't want too. This plays out with Blake and his son. Blake's refusal to allow Annette to discuss what it means to be a demon with her grandson forces him to seek answers elsewhere and as so many parents can attest too, those willing to take children under their wings do not often have those children's best interests at heart. This is a story played out far too often where individuals or groups simply prey upon children who are seeking answers and not finding them in their safe places.
Our bad guy here is your run of the mill incel and I genuinely don't have much more to add about him. He's as pathetic as it gets anyone who would use children to further their own ends is disgusting.
Finally, I want to really touch base on what this is overall, there's a lot going on here and quite frankly in terms of real life it's an important read. As I said earlier Hines is a genius when it comes to discussing difficult topics and the reason, he is so good at it is because he addresses them with a ton of humor yes, but with a ton of heart too. Each of these characters are lovable for so many reasons but mainly because they are so very human. Oh, sure they take on eldritch horrors before breakfast but that's not what makes them great it is freaking relatable, they are. All of them, even the side characters. But what truly makes this wonderful is House. The thing is we have all of the preceding going on but at the center of this is House. House is what brought them all together, House is what protects them, House is what sees them each at their worst and never judges them, House is the physical representation of the Found Family Trope and while I would protect each of these characters at all costs, I would protect House more than all of them. Hines found a way to take all of those feels from a found family story and turn them into a tangible thing that we can touch and feel he didn't just give these characters a family he gave them a Home. A place where they can exist safely, where they feel loved and appreciated and a place they love and appreciate in turn. He gave these characters something far bigger than themselves to fight for and that's an important comment to make right now. The world sucks, everything genuinely seems to be on fire, eldritch horrors are nothing compared to the headlines, the outside world is a truly terrifying place for so many of us and fighting everything is exhausting. Every time we turn around there's some new battle that has to be waged and it gets harder every day to see what the hell the point is. House is the point. House is a place where you can go and be loved and love in return. House is the place where you can rest yourself after dealing with all of this and cry and regroup and fight another day. House is worth fighting for. Your home is worth fighting for.
Hines is truly one of the most underrated, underappreciated authors on the planet as far as I am concerned. I rarely hear of someone discussing his books and quite frankly it's a shame. This one though, this one needs to be read and shared and dissected and probably discussed with your therapist because he's going to touch on somethings that aren't comfortable as he always does. However, as usual I walked away from this feeling more appreciative than ever for the communities I exist in, for my old aging house, and for my family both those related to me by blood and those not. Warm hug doesn't even begin to cover it.
As always thanks to NetGalley and DAW for the eArc!
Comments
Post a Comment