Mercedes Lackey: Diana Tregarde Series

So every so often, I reread Mercedes Lackey. Just because she is like a cozy cuppa in front of a fire. No cast amount of concetration needed, just ann enjoyable escape into a fantasy world. The Diana Tregarde series is a forerunner of modern day Urban Fantasy, and while a little dated now (they were written in late 80's-early 90's) they are still pretty decent, though some may find the casula racism and misogyny a little offputting. Take it from whence it came though, Misty is very liberal for the times comparitively speaking. Sadly, the third book ended in a slightly open-ended fashion which implied that the series would continue, but after Mercedes was stalked by a looney-toon who believed that the magic in the series was real, she felt obliged to end it. I believe the guy ended up jailed for life on other charges (paedophilia I think) but the series died a death. The books chronologically are 1) Children of the Night 2)Burning Water 3)Jinx High - They were published out of order though, so spoilers abound if you read the books in published order.

CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT : Very 80's rock band - sex, drugs, rock n roll and vampires. In the chronologically first book of the series, Diana is minding her own business when she suddenly gets thrown into helping a French vampire avenge the death of a young Rom boy who was killed and drained by psychic vampires. At the same time, her two neighbours Lenny and Keith have encountered the same thing. It turns out that Diana's ex - Davey - and his band have been turned into psychic vampires who are preying on the emotions of their followers. Of course, negative emotions are stronger than positive ones, so they begin hunting people to cause fear. Davey doesn't really 'dig' this, so turns to Diana for help. There's also a weird creepy Japanese demon-thing working with the vampires, and he is strong enough to nearly kill Andre. I liked the rock references, but Diana was whiny as hell most of the time, and it had a Queen of the Damned meets Anita Blake feel to it. Also crappy that we get to know Lenny and Keith here, whilst already knowing what happens to them by the time Burning Waters comes along. Spoiler - they die of AIDS.

BURNING WATER: Dated but fun. Diana gets summoned to Texas to help an old friend figure out who or what is killing people in bizarre and ritualistic ways. Throw in some ancient Aztec gods, a bit of Deus ex Machina, and a bit of gory ritual detail, and you have a decent enough story. I learnt how to properly pronounce Quetzalcoatl as well. Not brilliant but enjoyable enough. Note, this is chronologically the second book

JINX HIGH: I probably enjoyed this one the most of the three. Diana is invited to Tulsa, Oklahoma- a psi null area - to help out her friend 'Kosmic Kid' whose son is in trouble. She goes 'undercover' at the local high school, teaching a writing class to try and figure out what's going on. There's also a young girl who wants to be a writer who is suddenly being attacked by imps and minor demons. Of course the two cases are related, made more complicated by the fact that the girl (Monique) fancies Deke (the son) despite the fact that he has a steady girlfriend. We the readers are aware that it's actually this girlfriend Fay who is the Big Bad. In fact, she is a 3oo year old sorceress who has a daughter in order to body-swap with her and so continues living as a goodlooking wealthy young woman. Lots of mention of drugs, Sex Magick, and the general misbehaviour of teens, which seems to have not changed at all over the last 30 years! A lot of reviews start with 'Before there was Buffy...' or 'Before there was Anita Blake' there was Diana Tregarde, and while her character is no where near as developed as it could have, they are still enjoyable reads and a nice insight into early Urban fantasy