Tales From The Half Continent is book #4 in the Monster Blood Tattoo series by D. M. Cornish. With the saga of Rossamund Bookchild either complete or moving in a different direction, Cornish has turned his attention to other inhabitants of the half continent. There are two tales, each about 100 pages, so shortened from the longer narratives from before.

The Corsers’ Hinge tells of a corpse collector who happens upon a rescue in progress and gets pulled into the action. The Fuller and the Bogle recounts the adventure of a young woman who leaves the countryside after the death of her father to be a servant in the city.

The first of these switched perspectives a couple of times, and while I found the corser interesting, he was not a character I could cheer on. By contrast, Virtue Bland in the second story has a more traditional arc as a heroine in the making. I enjoyed watching her transform from someone afraid to act into a person who decided to confront evil.

Fans of the series will appreciate the way Cornish continues to build out the inhabitants of this world.

The publisher provided a copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.