In Jim C. Hines's sassy and adventurous contemporary paranormal fantasy Slayers of Old, a middle-aged slayer, a demon working at becoming a more involved grandmother, and an elderly wizard who share a magical house-cum-bookstore must team up against the arcane, the evil, and the dangers of overindulging in dairy.
Jenny was fated to life as a monster-slaying Hunter of Artemis by a millennia-old council of elders who "bound young girls to a life of power and violence, never realizing just how creepy and messed-up that was." Now 56 years old and estranged from the council and her goddess, she heals the less-harmful creatures she once hunted and runs a bookstore with her housemates Annette, a retired half-human, half-succubus private eye whose career left her with strained family ties, and Temple, a once-mighty wizard who at 99 is showing signs of flagging strength. Their fragile peace shatters when a shadowy figure tries to raise an ancient, malevolent force. They must band together to save their town and the world, and maybe, finally, defeat their personal demons.
Hines (the Magic Ex Libris series) riffs on tropes and characters from the paranormal urban fantasy trends of the 1990s and early 2000s in this wisecracking, endearing speculation on how versions of a few favorite characters might have approached navigating their later years. The butt-kicking action scenes, dark atmosphere, and world-building and lore that made the subgenre a hit are very much in evidence in this story of found family and fighting for what matters. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads