Rating: 
Summary: Not her best
Review: I'm a pretty big fan of Tanya Huff's work, including the Blood series. Tony, however, is not a particularly strong protagonist. He works on a cheesy TV show about vampires -- if you're interested in television production, perhaps you can get some mileage there. I didn't. It was fun watching Tony grow up in the background of the Blood books, but as a main character, he's pretty dull (especially for somebody with a supposedly colorful street-kid police-informant vampire-lover past).
On a bit of a tangent, it's never a good sign when somebody in a vampire novel comments that "Buffy" vampires are less scary than "the real thing." In the previous Blood books, the exact time (and its exact relationship to our reality) has been a little vague, and it worked well that way. The all-too-hip specificity is jarring and feels forced. Besides, Huff has done many intriguing things, but she's never really made scary vampires. Sure, we've been *told* that Vampires are Scary, but we've never been shown them doing anything truly frightening. We're told that when the "civlized mask" slips and "the Hunger" shows, people nearby will lose bladder control in terror -- but we never feel it.
The other emotion that doesn't seem to come through well in Huff's writing is lust, so Tony's crushes (and his relationship with Henry, his vampiric ex) aren't all that compelling either. The plot never had me all that worried about the fate of the earth, or even the fate of Tony. Without the lively characters and complex relationships of Huff's other books, there's not a lot left to enjoy. It's particularly unfortunate that this book is where Huff made the jump to hardcover; this story just is not worth hardcover prices. If the Vicki and Henry Show is over, Celluci would have made a more interesting new protagonist than Tony.
Rating: 
Summary: Fun read
Review: I'm glad Tanya Huff chose to switch to a different main character and I think Tony is a good choice. I loved the Blood series but it's nice to move on to something different. It's also refreshing to have a hero that's a little less super-human than the usual vampire novel fare.
Tony emerges from a history of powerlessness to play the hero and take on a powerful wizard. He's no longer Henry Fitzroy's "ward" and can stand on his own. That's not to say that Henry Fitzroy didn't play a significant role in this novel but his role was definitely secondary.
While I enjoyed the overall plot arch and especially enjoyed the characters in this novel, I thought the climax was a trite. Still, I'll give it a 4/5 and will buy the next book in hardback.
Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable light read
Review: Production Assistant Tony Foster has noticed the shadows--the ones that don't seem to quite reflect the movement of the solid objects around them. Because he's ex-lover and still friend of a vampire, Tony doesn't automatically dismiss the idea that there's somethings seriously wrong going on. Still, an invasion by a 'shadowlord' who has already destroyed one world and is intent on our own, seems a bit over the top. The sole survivor of that conquered world, a wizard in the guise of a middle-aged special effects guru, refuses to involve herself in the losing battle to defend earth against the shadowlord's new invasion. Which leaves Tony and his vampire-friend Henry to face the shadows themselves. Both Tony and, while it's dark out, at least, Henry can be persuasive and they manage to get some help from the reluctant solitaire-playing wizard, but the shadowlord is gathering power with each opening of the gate between their worlds, learning more about the people who live here and our ability to defend against his power--and about the ability of our technology to shed shadows in places even the shadowlord had never considered. Tony's attempt to prevent any shadows from returning to the shadowlord seems like a long-shot, but even the wizard doesn't guess the shadowlord's response. Setting an occult mystery on the set of a vampire-detective television show is a cute concept and Tony's clever use of light, pattern and darkness in his battle against the shadows adds a nice touch to this contemporary fantasy. Author Tanya Huff's craftman-like writing kept the story moving forward as Tony, with occasional assistance from the wizard and the vampire, tried to stay ahead of the shadows. Still, I found myself waiting for the twist--the ah-ha moment when Huff turned around the story and surprised me with something new. Instead, she seemed to settle for cute. SMOKE AND SHADOWS is an enjoyable light story. If you're a fan of vampires, gay fiction, and humor, the book makes a pleasant read.
Rating:
Summary: Good, But Not Great...
Review: Tanya Huff's Smoke And Shadows builds on her prior 'Blood' series, but requires no prior familiarity to prove immediately accessible by newcomers. Street kid Tony has a new career in Vancouver's TV industry as a production assistant: it all seems fairly straightforward until Tony begins sensing shadows on the set which seem to hold a life and destiny of their own. Add touches of humor to the fast-paced drama and you have a winning thriller.
Rating: 
Summary: Definitely Not Huff's Best...
Review: This book is just poor.. the writing is tedious and pedestrian and the storyline is not even B-movie material. There's so many mentions of shadows that you want to just smash the book before its over with. I was looking for a fun light read but this was so light it nearly put me to sleep with boredom. Also the story doesn't really go anywhere for the longest time. No flair at all and it seems like she was just moving through the motions on this one.
Stick with the Keeper books and Wizard of the Grove, these are much better.
Rating:
Summary: Sinister goings-on at the TV studio
Review: Tony Foster from the 'Blood' series is living in Vancouver and working as a Production Assistant on a TV show about a vampire detective. The star of the show, Mason Reed, isn't a very nice person, we know this because he SMOKES, shock horror, and even worse, he smokes INDOORS! (could anyone possibly get more depraved?)Tony has a crush on the show's co-star, the gorgeous Lee Nicholas, but unfortunately Lee likes girls, lots of them. A minor member of the cast dies in mysterious circumstances, and Tony is convinced something weird is going on, and that it has something to do with the show's special effects woman, Arra Pelindrake. It turns out Arra is a refugee wizard from another world, and is being persued by the evil Shadowlord, intent on destroying her and taking over this world as he took over Arra's.Arra is reluctant to fight the Shadowlord because she is convinced she will fail, as she did on her own world. Luckily Tony's old pal vampire novelist Henry Fitzroy is on hand to help out, but can he and Tony do anything to defeat the Shadowlord? Like all Tanya Huff's books, this is an exciting story, but I did not find it as gripping as some of her other books. The trouble is that, although Tony is a nice boy, as a central character he simply does not hold my attention the way Vicki, Henry and Mike did, and I found myself only really gripped when Henry Fitzroy comes on the scene. One of the things I've always liked best about Huff's novels are her memorable strong female characters, not just her great heroines like Crystal, Vicki, Claire and Torin, but supporting characters too. Arra, however, seems a shadowy character (sorry) and I just didn't warm to her.The head of the studio, CB, is a good character, but there isn't enough of him. This is a very good book, but in my personal opinion it is not one of her very best.
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