The Complete Keeper Chronicles (The Keeper Chronicles, … (2024)

Summon the Keeper (4 out of 5 stars): This is my second foray into Tanya Huff's urban fantasy worlds (the first being her Enchanted Emporium). This series has the same flavor as the other, in the sense that it's set in our world but mixes in a fantastical element. I enjoyed this read as much as the other series.

The premise is that Claire is a Keeper, summoned to handle accidents of the supernatural, may-destroy-the-world nature. She summoned to the Elysian Fields Guesthouse and tricked into taking over the bed and breakfast before she knows what's going on. Now she has to figure out how to deal with the woman sleeping in Room 6, the rather amorous ghost in the attic, the hunky cook and handyman who's too young for her, and--oh, yes--the pit to Hell in the basem*nt. If she doesn't, she'll be stuck caretaking the B&B for the rest of her life.

Claire is a great character and she's the main reason that readers will keep reading here. Well, her and the cat. Not just any cat, but a rather talkative, outspoken cat. The two play off of each other well. Once you introduce the other elements--the ghost, the handyman, the imps, Hell--all of whom are great characters in their own right, the drama unfolds in their interplay. The plot itself is not that complicated, mostly Claire trying to deal with the occasional guest who stays at the B&B while she attempts to figure out how to handle the delicate balance between Hell and the sleeping, evil beauty in Room 6. These plot elements were a little episodic in nature, especially in the middle, where the Hell/Room 6 plot mostly stalls out and Claire deals with the parade of supernatural guests, but they were still interesting.

One aspect that was a little odd was the use of the same terminology (Aunties, Uncles, Cousins, etc) that the author has in Enchantment Emporium. I wasn't certain if the books were connected in any way. My initial reaction is no, although I can see how the author may link the two series up. There was no mention of Keepers (that I recall) in the other series, the aunties from that series didn't seem to have the same duties as the Aunties here. So reading another book with the same terms was a little weird. My writerly brain kept trying to make connections which weren't being made in the book.

In the end, the book was a nice, easy read, flowed well, and introduced me to some new characters that I'll certainly continue to follow in the sequels. I might have liked a slightly more tightened plot, something a little less episodic in the middle (with the guests mostly unrelated to the main plot), but it was still a great read.

The Second Summoning (4 out of 5 stars): This is the second book in Tanya Huff's Keeper Chronicles series (recently released as a omnibus) and I enjoyed it more than the first. It was a little lighter in content, meaning it was more humorous, but the plot was more focused and sped right along.

It begins with the Keeper Claire and her hunky handyman Dean from the guest house in the first book traveling to close off holes that negative actions and feelings have punched in the universe, allowing darkness into our world. The sexual tension between them still simmers, but after an initial fight, Claire comes to terms with her being a Keeper and Dean being a bystander, with her job putting him in danger, they consummate their relationship . . . with unforeseen consequences. That act, along with some unintentional meddling from her younger and more powerful sister, Diana, drags an unsuspecting angel into the world. But Keepers are all about balance, which means somewhere there's also a demon.

As I said, in some sense this has a lighter taste and feel than the first book. It's more humorous, especially playing off of the angel and demon manifesting in teenage bodies. There's also the embarrassment factor for Claire and Dean, since everyone knows how this all started in the first place (with Diana helping to spread the news). So this one has a lot more humor and a tongue-in-the-cheek attitude, which I thought worked rather well with these three characters and the angel and demon. And all of the characters are great. They're fun to be with and fun to follow. The writing is also great. It's fast-paced, easy to read, and the plot zips right along. I think the plot here had a lot more focus than the first book, which helps. I will say the ending felt slightly . . . abrupt, but perhaps this was just a sign that I didn't want the book to end.

So, another good book from Tanya Huff. I've liked her Emporium novels, her Quarter novels, and now the Keeper Chronicles. I'll certainly be reading the third book in this series, and catching up on all of her other books as well. I'm not certain why I never picked up one of her books before, but I'm glad I've found them now.

Long Hot Summoning (3 out of 5 stars): This is the third book of the Keeper Chronicles series, which can now be found in the omnibus edition appropriately called The Complete Keeper Chronicles. I've read the first two and obviously enjoyed them enough to continue with the series. Overall, the first book is the best in the series--the most interesting and compelling--probably because it presented a new idea, new characters, and a cool setting. This one was fun, and it was good to visit with known characters, but it didn't draw me in as much as that first one.

The basic premise is that the forces of darkness are attempting to take over the world by using a mall. Essentially, they're creating a mall on the Otherwide that mimics a mall in our world. The darkness is trying to sync up the two malls, thus creating a segue, a gateway between the two worlds. If you enter the mall in our world, you cross over to the Otherside, and vice versa. Diana, just graduated from high school and now an official Keeper, is Summoned on her first day of freedom, and of course Claire goes along to help. Can they stop the segue from being completed? And how is REALLY behind the segue in the first place?

This was most certainly an entertaining read, and the idea behind the segue and how the two malls are syncing up was a blast. Tanya Huff certainly played with "seepage," with pieces of the Otherside crossing over and being sold in our world, as well as people and objects slipping to the Otherside as well. Huff had fun poking at malls, shopping, teens, and pretty much everything else she could reasonably include in a fantasy novel set in a mall. One of the best aspects of this book in comparison to the other two is that the cats are used more here. We see Austin and Sam participating much more than in the previous books, and that was fun. We also see Dean doing more in this book by himself, with an entire subplot where he has to deal with a particular visitor to the bed and breakfast that started this series out in the first place.

Another aspect that I thought was good was that this book was most definitely centered on Diana, whereas the first two were focused more on Claire. The change of viewpoint character was smart on Huff's part, because there really isn't much more she can do with Claire and Dean that wasn't more or less covered in the first two books. Shifting to Diana gave us a fresh perspective and, while we dealt with Diana quite a bit in the second book, here we get an entire story arc that's centered on her. The change of pace was nice.

I also liked that on the Otherside, Diana and Claire were both restricted in their powers, unable to access the possibilities with breaking the Rules (thus allowing the Otherside to break the Rules as well). This made it much more difficult for them to solve their problems, and of course made the plot and final outcome more uncertain.

I have nothing negative to say about this book. It was a most enjoyable read, a little lighter in content than the first book, but definitely entertaining. A good series overall and one I'd recommend for those who like their modern world poked fun at with some good old fantasy thrown in.

I recently read The Keeper’s Chronicles by Tanya Huff which consists of three books: Summon the Keeper, The Second Summoning and Long, Hot Summoning. I would categorize the books as humor as I had more than a few laughs.

The series centers around Claire, who is a Keeper (think magical person i.e. witch or wizard, but not) and her talking cat, Austin. These two are summoned to repair holes in the fabric of the world in order to keep the balance between good and evil. If you’re not already going to read this book because I mentioned talking cat, then I have to ensure you that there is a host of other quirky characters to enjoy. Dean, an Adonis-esque ‘good guy’ with some OCD cleaning issues. Diana, Claire’s sister and junior by ten years that is too confident for her own good and don’t forget Hell. Yes, Hell has some very witty banter with itself.

My only criticism is that each book seemed to wander around then wrap up really quickly in the last chapter. I also was annoyed by the editing. There were a lot of instances that punctuation was missing or extra and occasionally words had missing letters. The humor was pretty consistent and paced well, but I felt by the last of the trilogy that most of the humor was heavily lowbrow. I enjoy a good dirty joke, but it started to feel like repeated material.
Did I mention talking cats?

I really liked some things about this book, which is three novels in one volume. The conceit that there are people empowered to keep the rest of us safe from Evil—the amorphous kind and the identifiable bits of it—is fantastic, and the worldbuilding around that idea was terrific and consistent. I enjoyed the characters and the wry humour a lot. I want a cat who talks. Or do I?

This book is set in Kingston, ON and contains all the Canadian references you expect—our love of hockey, and Tim Horton's coffee, the social glue that is community hockey, the speech patterns and social habits of Newfoundlanders, and of course our national inclination to politeness. But it has talking cats, magical doorways, and a haunted (kind of) hotel. It's a good place for a reading vacation.

A cute and enjoyable urban fantasy trilogy. Not my usual genre, but the author will be our guest of honor at Norwescon 39 in a few months, and I wanted to have an idea of her work. The full trilogy was fun; for me, the humor felt more natural (and thus funnier) by the third book...though, slightly unfortunately, the editing wasn't as good by the final book, and occasional typos would distract me. Still, that's a relatively minor complaint, though. In the end, very enjoyable fantasy fluff.