Mean Streets is another urban fantasy anthology that I bought because it has a Jim Butcher story about the wizard, Harry Dresden. That story, “The Warrior,” might be my all-time favorite Harry Dresden short story, with the possible exception of the story that is the precursor to book one.

“The Warrior” has some of my favorite elements in Harry's world – the human, Michael, who was entrusted with a sword from heaven, Michael's family, and a really interesting battle between good and evil. I love this story! (5 stars for this one)

“The Difference a Day Makes” by Simon R. Green is a pretty freaky story about a sort of underworld and some seriously strange characters. Parts of it I really liked, and parts of it were too much for my comfort level (some weird sex stuff). It was really good writing with some of the most unique characters and details I've read in urban fantasy.

“The Third Death of the Little Clay Dog” by Kat Richardson was weird from the beginning, but the kind of weird that keeps you turning pages when you're sleepy because you have no idea what is going on and you really want to know. 🙂 I liked the whole story, and it made me want to see more with this character.

“Noah's Orphans” by Thomas E. Sniegoski interested me from the beginning because it seemed to be about heavenly angels and fallen angels. But then I realized all the angel characters were fallen angels, so I had to readjust how I was reading and understanding the story. I mostly liked it except for one big, glaring problem for me. The presentation of the Almighty as described by the fallen angels were completely unlike the God I know. He was presented as capricious and untrustworthy. That put me off. But it was otherwise unusual and interesting and well-written.

Altogether, I was very happy with this anthology. I'd certainly recommend it to you.

4 stars, Liked It