Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've been hearing about this series on or off for months and decided to give it a good college try.

I haven't read any of this duo's work, but since the raves kept coming regularly, I thought, "Why not?"

So HOW COME no one told me this was a heavy SF title? I mean, sure, it has story elements that are all Urban Fantasy complete with werewolves and vampires and the requisite love triangle, and I already knew enough by the clever title that the MC is couched in a clever Innkeeper's role throughout, but NO ONE told me that all of this was firmly set in a universe full of interesting variant aliens and Inns were way-stations and ports of call across the galaxy, featuring it's own wormhole system, a fully realized high-tech system that even refers to itself as following Clarke's Third Law.

Coolness. Utter Coolness. I was first amazed by all the quick and dirty world-building that dropped hints of epic-spanning cultures like little doggie presents on the lawn, and then I enjoyed even more quick and dirty descriptions of races that turned all our familiar tropes into fresh and wonderful alien races with their own histories. :)

Don't get me wrong. This is still a light and fun UF that is as familiar as it is an easy read. :)

But if you're tired of the same ole and want good Science Fiction AND a well-written and fast UF, you can't really go wrong here. :)

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