They’re the last defenders of humanity, the lone wolf bad boys— and girls—who do dark deeds for the right reasons. Modern day knights who are sexy, funny, mad, bad and dangerous to know because they do what most of us only dream about…and get away with it. In this all-star collection, nine of today’s hottest urban fantasy authors bring us original stories of supernatural, modern day knights that will have readers clamoring for more! The truth is I did not buy this book. I took horrible, shameless advantage of my local Borders and sat in a corner and read the Ilona Andrews and Jim Butcher stories.
But I just couldn't help it! It's a $15 trade paperback and I only cared about 2 stories! 2 stories that in a such a large anthology were only about 20 pages long! I'm sorry authors, but I'm going to wait until this comes around in the mass market size to purchase.
Still, to get to the stories, the ones by Andrews and Butcher(which were the only ones I read) were great. Andrews is a side story, giving readers the back story of how Kate originally met Saiman. It's got the action and dialogue that make every one of their (husband and wife team) books fun to read, and since Kate & Saiman's relationship is pretty f*cked up, it was interesting to me. Butcher is the surprising one because his addition to his anthology is not the usual fare given to use written in first person from Dresden's point of view; John Marcone takes the front seat and readers are treated to another round of his type of honor. Of the ruthlessness that makes him someone to fear and the surprising notes of honor that continue to make him a character you want to watch.
Together these two stories almost make the anthology worth it, but ultimately I decided to wait. I will have it to round out my collection, but not right now. These stories are good, but I need more than 40 pages to take $15 out of my wallet, when that $15 can usually get me two full length mass markets. It's a math I can't seem to argue with.
Overall Feeling - Thumbs up (but IMO not worth the buy at trade paperback price)
Series - None, though most of these short stories have connections to other books published by the authors
