Beth Manz

"Closed Off" (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 12th March 2000

Season four, after The Waiting Room. This is one of those stories that one has to write to make things right. Moving, angsty stuff. Real good.

"The Comforts of Home" (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 12th January 2000

Nice, nice, and nice. Three little stories that start off the same. I particularly liked the last one, cuz Jim here is more like Jim, the taciturn short-tempered guy we actually saw on TV (grin).

Inevitable

(1) "Inevitable" (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 24th January 2000 (1)

A post-Sentinel Too AU story. It is really good. Some things are not mended with words. Moving.

(2) "Undoing" (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 24th January 2000 (2)

Second in the AU Inevitable series. Great! Crisis faced, gone through, and the next step on the path begun. Good characterisations. Blair: scared, talking, analysing, understanding, sacrificial. Jim: angry, brooding, guilty, tenacious, protective.

(3) "Unsuspecting" (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 24th January 2000 (3)

Third in the AU Inevitable series. This continues to be good. Why are they always targeted by psychos? Because light attracts darkness, for the darkness wants to put it out. Just one thing after another, ain't it?

(4) "Unrelenting" (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 24th January 2000 (4)

Fourth in the AU Inevitable series. Good, again. Like Tate's, the "psychic" stuff here is dangerous, not taken for granted. (Which is a plus.) Characterisation was good, not just Jim and Blair. I like what she did with Brackett - ambiguous but believable in the (temporary?) change of heart.

(5) "Undeniable" (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 25th January 2000 (1)

Fifth in the AU Inevitable series. Interesting questions of destiny. Affirmation is good.

(6) "Unavoidable" (Sentinel)

Reviewed by Kathryn A on 25th January 2000 (2)

Sixth in the AU Inevitable series. I hope this isn't the end, but it could well be, since the author is well caught up in the Progressions series with Shiloh, which I don't want her to stop either! Oh well.

I like this story. I like it very much. The reformation of Lee Brackett. So much more satisfying than the attempted revenge and death of Lee Brackett, or the sudden-turning-into-a-Sentinel of Lee Brackett. This was well done. A softening of the heart of stone. Go on much further and he'll be as attractive a character as Avon. (grin)

And Jim and Blair were well done as always. Their uncertainties, their sacrifices, their affirmations.

Addendum: this series was nominated in the 2000 Cascade Times Awards in the "Best Series" category.