From Barnes & Noble
The Barnes & Noble Review
Smoke and Shadows, the first novel in an exciting trilogy by Tanya Huff, features the main characters from the author's wildly popular Blood quintet (Blood Price, Blood Trail, etc.): Tony Foster, a gay reformed street punk, and Henry Fitzroy, a 450-year-old vampire prince.
Henry and Tony have relocated from Toronto to Vancouver to start a new life. Tony, now 24 years old, has landed a job working as a production assistant for a company that produces a popular syndicated television series about a vampire detective. But trouble seems to follow Tony wherever he goes, and he soon starts seeing strange shadows on the set -- shadows that appear where normal shadows shouldn't be and act as if they're sentient. When an actress mysteriously dies in her dressing room, Tony and his vampiric friend investigate. The trail leads them to Arra Pelindrake, the enigmatic head of special effects for the production company. But when Arra finally discloses who she really is -- a wizard from another realm who escaped annihilation through a rift in space -- Tony and Henry soon find out that the shadows are the least of their worries!
Fans of other popular genre-blending supernatural sagas, like Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series and Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire novels, will undoubtedly enjoy Smoke and Shadows. An appealing mix of fantasy, horror, romance, and mystery, Huff's story succeeds because it doesn't take itself too seriously and even revels in poking fun at contemporary supernatural icons as well as mainstream science fiction and fantasy. Huff's biting (no pun intended) sense of humor makes this a highly entertaining page-turner.
Paul Goat Allen
From the Publisher
Tony, a former street kid, is now a production assistant on a TV series about a vampire detective. But the special effects wizard is actually a real wizard who's come from another dimension-along with a dangerous foe. And Tony will definitely need the help of vampire Henry Fitzroy if he, his friend-and the world-are going to stand any chance of surviving this invasion.
Locus
If you enjoy contemporary fantasy, Tanya Huff has a distinctive knack.
Publishers Weekly
Lights, camera and action take a backseat to slippery shadows, snappy dialogue and an overwrought hybrid fantasy/SF plot in Canadian author Huff's alternately clever and annoying blend of farce, mystery and magic, the first in a trilogy. In this spinoff from the author's five-volume series (Blood Price, etc.) featuring vampire Henry Fitzroy, Fitzroy's streetwise ex-lover, Tony Foster, has moved with Fitzroy to Vancouver to study film. Now the set production assistant on CB Production's Darkest Night (think Angel), Foster pines for one of the hunky (alas, heterosexual) co-stars and dreams of being a director. When an actress is murdered under very "shadowy" circumstances, it turns out to have been done by a minion of a Shadowlord who slipped through a "gate" near the show's soundstage originally opened by Arra Pelindrake, a special effects wizard who also happens to be, well, a different sort of wizard on another world. Foster, Pelindrake and Fitzroy join forces to kill other minions sent to take over Earth and destroy Pelindrake, the Shadowlord's archenemy. The proceedings are enlivened with campy comments ("a world where Joss Whedon got canceled was exactly the kind of world where the Shadowlord could win"), but it's not enough to save an overextended plot light on substance and heavy with fang-in-cheek fun. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Leslie McCombs
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VOYA
This spinoff to Huff's enormously successful five-volume Blood series, which starred the team of private investigator Vicki Nelson and vampire Henry Fitzroy, picks up with Tony Foster, their often-unwilling partner in crime solving. Tony is off on his own, working in the Vancouver television industry as a production assistant on a show about, appropriately enough, a vampire detective. Things are going swimmingly until he begins to notice that the shadows on the set are behaving strangely. They are acting in ways that shadows should not behave. When an extra on the set is murdered, Tony finds himself thrust into a mystery that has its origins outside the known world. He calls on his friend and ex-lover Henry to help him stop the shadows before they take on lives of their own. This inventive adventure combines fantasy, horror, and mystery, making a unique stew of unexplainable events, detective work, and things spotted out of the corner of one's eye. The book stands alone, but it might be difficult for some readers to understand the relationships of the main characters without having read the prior series. Older teens who enjoy dark urban fantasy or mysteries with paranormal elements will enjoy this book. The persistent swearing and mature themes throughout the book might make it a better choice for less-conservative communities. VOYA CODES: 3Q 3P S A/YA (Readable without serious defects; Will appeal with pushing; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12; Adult-marketed book recommended for Young Adults). 2004, DAW, 375p., Ages 15 to Adult.
Library Journal
When an actress in a popular vampire TV series is found dead in her dressing room, production assistant Tony Foster suspects the presence of a supernatural foe and turns to his former mentor for advice-450-year-old Henry Fitzroy, vampire and bastard son of Henry VIII. In Huff's long-awaited addition to her popular Henry Fitzroy series, Henry once again takes part in the struggle between good and evil, fighting not only to save the humans upon which he depends for his existence but also the world from conquest by a being from another realm. The author's delightfully light touch lends a sense of timeliness to this effortlessly told fantasy mystery, the first title in a new trilogy. For most libraries. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
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