Strange Candy
Laurell K. Hamilton

From a woman who marries into a family of volatile wizards to a couple fleeing a gang of love hungry cupids, from a girl who seeks sanctuary in the form of a graceful goose to the disgruntled superhero Captain Housework, you'll read the many twists and turns of fortune in these unique, sometimes surreal visions. Even hardened vampire hunter and zombie animator Anita Blake gets blindsided by the disturbing motives of her clients in the new story "Those Who Seek Forgiveness" and in "The Girl Who Was Infatuated with Death".

This is a book of short stories from different times in Hamilton's career, all put together in this one novel. Some are rather intriguing, some are beyond what I thought the author's ability was after reading her Anita Blake series, and none are ones I wish I had skipped. In most books of short stories, there are at least one or two that aren't that great, but not so with this one. The stories in this novel range from above average to fantastic. Best of all, these stories seem to be before Hamilton went into her phase of putting as much sex as she could into each of her novels. These are pure plot.

I have to say this book surprised me. I had taken Hamilton for someone with mediocre writing skills and an obsession with sex - but these stories show me that she is more than that. I wish her other novels were on this level because these short stories were all very impressive. They were also all of a different nature which kept things fresh.

There are two Anita Blake stories in there and one in the Anitaverse without Blake. The rest all seem to be various original ideas set in different worlds.

I have to say, I rather liked this novel and would recommend it to any reader who has a preference for the fantasy genre or who likes Hamilton's other works.

My rating: Four out of five snails.