Nick O'Donohoe

The premise of the story was interesting and the plot well-developed. I found the descriptions of foundry and mechanical work circa 1940 to be educational, and the details were incorporated easily into the story.
There wasn't a lot of nuance about who were the bad guys and the good guys, but that was okay in this context.

One problematical section involved sexual customs differing between the Dwarves and their human ally, and I don't think the human was treated fairly (this is the PG13 section; everything else in the book is fine).… (more)

Vet school students go to the Crossroads, where they treat unicorns and other magical creatures (and get caught up in an invasion of the place by the murderous Morgan). While the Morgan plot was truncated and awkward, and the magical healing worked a little too neatly for my tastes, I ended up liking this fantasy because the students quickly became recognizable people rather than collections of traits; not unrelatedly, the women outnumbered the men and spent a lot of time dealing with each other.… (more)