The Reaper Society Omnibus, Vol. 1, by Francesca Vance. This book is a roller-coaster ride through Reaper Society. For those of you who have read the blurb introducing the book I don't need to tell you that the Reapers are a race of supernatural Guardians, a gift to the human race from the female Creator to protect and safeguard humans in this life and the next. Their role is to preserve the balance between life and death, and they are neutral entities charged with keeping that balance.
This volume contains four novellas, and some bonus short stories that have never before been in print. I won't attempt to describe the stories--that would spoil it for new readers--but the interaction between Reapers Ash, Cole, and the newly created Jessica (who is bonded to Cole because of his concern for her in a previous life) is truly marvelous. Jessica, in particular, has a major role in this volume as she truly learns what it means to be a Reaper, and a balancer of life and death.
Vance's novellas and stories never fail to move me. She always manages to make Reaper society seem real and meaningful, and never allows her characters to forget their role as "balances". She has a unique understanding of death, and the characters--both human and supernatural who populate her stories--are varied and unusual. They range from shape shifters, fae, elves, vampires, and demons, but the worst monsters of her imagination are always human. Nothing she can conjure of supernatural beings can act as cruelly or as horribly as the human monsters she creates for her Reapers to control.
Vance almost makes me a believer in her supernatural spirit world, and when I suspend my disbelief I can become part of her remarkable imagination with effortless ease. Like the Reapers, I can begin to read her mind as she creates her imaginary world. A wonderful, and often very thought-provoking read.