Death and Resurrection

Ewen Young finds his uncle shot dead on the floor of his uncle's Kung Fu school, and then promptly gets shot himself. Despite dying, Ewen comes back with a new and unwelcome ability to move between life and death, though it does prove useful in protecting his family from the gangster who killed his uncle. He meets Susan Sundown and her dog Rez and go off hunting a malign Indian spirit murdering holy men, and has a few other adventures while he's at it. This feels like four novellas strung together, though the stringing is smooth, and the adventures are fun and extremely enjoyable, mixing up martial arts and meditation various types of mysticism.

I have really loved RA MacAvoy's writing, starting all the way back with Tea with Black Dragon. The Grey Horse is part of the scenery on the inside of my head, and the Lens series floored me several times. So I was thrilled to see that she is writing again.

For me this was reminiscent of Black Dragon and Twisting the Rope, that sort of modern day fantasy/mystery set among artists - in Dragon, it was a musician, here its a visual artist. I know these people, I have had dinner and arguments with people just like these. In fact one of them still has my potato fork. Of course the ones I know don't disapparate, or at least if they do they don't tell me about it. But still, I feel very at home with these characters.

This particular book is a show more set of four closely related stories involving the same set of people. I liked the first three a lot, the fourth felt sketched in, unfinished. But I'm so happy to see MacAvoy back and still doing what she does so well that I'm feeling pretty forgiving about the weak fourth.

Here's hoping this is the start of much more from a writer I respect and enjoy! show less

First up, yes it is another version of The Go Between/In Between, BUT it then continues on with 3 more stories or novellas about Ewen Young. So, if you buy this one you don't need to track down the other two, limited-release books (unless you're a completist, in which case do go ahead!), but if you have and liked either of the others you'll certainly get your money's worth from this one. :)

Very gentle character-based storytelling (despite all the murders). All of R.A.MacAvoy's stories are written in quite different styles, but this one is probably most like her first - Tea with the Black Dragon - but with the meditation, martial arts and general body awareness of the Lens series.

Ewen Young is a Chinese American painter and martial artist. A brush with death gives him the ability to enter the spirit world. His life gets more complicated from there.

Although plenty of stuff happens, this is more about characters than plot. It is really four closely linked stories than a coherent novel.

Four interconnected novellas. With simple lenguage, likeable characters and short brush strokes of insght and humor from the cast, it makes a wonderful book. The magic has a system, but it isn't explained, so to make it closer to mysticism, form the chinese zen theme of the book.
The first story is about the capable but humble protagonist getting a visit from chinese thugs that want to use him to send a message to his uncle who has a gambling bet. He beats them up, and the next day finds his uncle shot death on the floor, and then he gets a bullet into his heart. He discovers that he can go in-between worlds, instead of dying.
The second one is about a indian american woman that's trying to find out what happened to her granfather who is show more a priest who dissapeared. She knows Ewen (the main protagonist) has magical powers she could use to find him, with her dog "resurrection."
The third story is about a sixteen year old problem child who isn't in the hospital for recovery for his addiction (Ewen tried to help him in a previous story by sending him into a peaceful mental state), so Ewen tries to find him. The child is lying on the floor somewhere outside the hospital and when Ewen tries to help him out they change minds, shenaningans ensue.
The fourth one is about bones of children being found, one of the children was a patient of Ewen's sister. The mystery is unfolding while our protagonist are trying to live their daily lives.
I really recommend this book, the summaries don't make justice to this writer. She's very smart at what she does. show less

Three and a half. I enjoyed reading but it's not up with my favorite books of hers. Loved the wolf dog and Ewen's moving between planes.

I loved her earlier books and this new work by RA MacAvoy did not disappoint.

I'm very happy that her health has improved enough for her to write again (see the interview at http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/nonfiction/feature-interview-r-a-macavoy/ ) I hope that she continues to stay well and am looking forward to reading her next contribution.