The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber

Posted on May 3, 2010 by janicu

The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker

Leanna Renee Hieber

I liked The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker so much that I made sure to ask about the second book, and Dorchester sent me a copy for review. I also have an extra copy that I’m going to be giving away later.

My review of Strangely Beautiful can be found here:

The Premise: This is the second book in the series which begins with white haired and pale skinned orphan Persephone Parker, a strange girl who can talk to ghosts, arriving at Athens Academy and discovering that she’s an integral part to a long awaited Prophecy. The Guard of London, six remarkable people who protect the city from the forces of Darkness, take Persephone into their fold, but after a very brief respite, the war continues. This is the conclusion of the story.

Read an Excerpt of The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker

****** There are MINOR SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST BOOK from this point on *******

My Thoughts: As in the previous installment, The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker has a lovely but dense writing style. It’s definitely not a book I’d say you could pick up and read cover to cover without stopping. I had to read this book piece by piece. I’d call this a rich chocolate cake: to be enjoyed at a sedate pace with time to digest the material in between. Both books have a very Gothic, theatrical element to it, and when I found out Strangely Beautiful was optioned for a Broadway musical, it made sense – it’s a good fit because the people in the book do make grand gestures and seem larger than life. The exception would probably be Percy, but she has a presence too – with her stark albino coloring and her long white hair. I could see her dancing across the stage with her dark and broody partner, Professor Alexi Rychman.

The language is very Victorian and embellished, and the best way for me to show that is an excerpt:

“Their kiss was of such fusion that they felt the ground tremble. The slight sound of angels grew into bursting chorus. Rising from the candles and met by an aura of light from their bodies, white flame began to pool, merge and expand into a hazy, egglike form that grew as their kiss sustained. As it ended, the form burst into a great, bird-shaped sun. The avian form threw open expansive wings, and a wave of heat and deafening music blew…”

There is a lot of set up in the first 100 pages Strangely Beautiful, but while that was okay to me because it was the first book in a series, and the world had to be drawn and it’s characters introduced. In Darkly Luminous however, it slows down the pacing especially coupled with the Gothic and embellished language. While I thought that the language in the book was probably even better than the first one, the war between London and the Whisper World did not come to the forefront for a long time. This meant there was very little action until the last part of the book. Instead the book focuses on the romance of Alexi and Persephone, and the final battle is shrouded in mystery and talk of “fate”. The spirits of the old Guard know more about what’s going on that that of the new, and they withhold information for fear of jeopardizing the outcome. I’m never a fan of one character keeping information back from another character in books, and I wish this wasn’t a plot device used here.

In the meantime, lovers of romance will probably be happy with the way Alexi and Percy’s relationship is portrayed. We really get to see their intimate moments and it’s written in a very poetic way. Again, there is a sense of drama about their love and it does include a lot of sweeping gestures (Alexi actually does make them to light candles during their private getaways). While in the first book Alexi is a grumpy and aloof professor, his character is different in this one. Now that he has Percy, I found that Alexi’s previous self-confidence became more overbearing, and in contrast, Percy’s giggling and swooning made her look really young. Their age-difference and Alexi’s bossy, forceful personality, is saved only because Percy begins to show some backbone and corrects Alexi when he misdirects his anger towards her. The danger to Percy is ongoing (the Guard is fighting for her), and Alexi does not do well in those circumstances. There was one particular scene where the result of Alexi’s forcefulness is conveyed which made me dislike him quite a bit, despite his regret for his actions.

Other relationships within the Guard, which were hinted at in the first book are further cultivated here. Percy as the perceptive newcomer urges Elijah, Jane, Rebecca, Michael and Josephine to be open about their feelings before they either ruin the group dynamic or something happens in the battle with Darkness. I’ve been particularly interested in Rebecca, who has loved Alexi for years but that isn’t returned. She instead sees Alexi very happy with Percy and dispairs, oblivious to the fact that Michael has been in love with her. The story seems to concludes satisfactorily in this second volume, although it looks like there will be a short story that focuses on one pairing in the guard in A Midwinter Fantasy (October 2010). I am not sure if there will be a continuation after this book, although I’m sure there could be.

Overall: The lovely, dense language is why I like this series, although it’s Gothic tone and embellishments mean that the book is something to be slowly savored, and some readers may chafe at the pacing. I thought the language in this installment was even more lovely than the first book, but I had some minor reservations in this one compared to the first.

Buy: Amazon | Powells | The Book Depository

Other reviews:
Smokin Hot Books – 4 smooches
Lurv a la mode – 4 and a half scoops (out of 5)
Brooke Reviews – positive
Smexy Books – 4.5 out of 5
Babbling about Books – B
A Buckeye Girl Reads – positive
Anna’s Book Blog – 5 (out of 5)

Jane Bites Back by Michael Thomas Ford

Posted on April 30, 2010 by janicu

Jane Bites Back: A Novel

Michael Thomas Ford

I loved the premise of this book as soon as I heard it: Jane Austen, a vampire! Yes, OK. It does sounds like it would go against my dislike of the monster-mashes that are in vogue right now, but it’s not really. I don’t mind the idea of a historical figure as a character in a book, but I am not fond of remixes of original work. Is this distinction weird? Nah, I make perfect sense.

The Premise: Jane Austen is a vampire and the owner of a bookstore in the upstate town of Brakeston, New York. Of course she can’t tell anyone who she is so she goes by the name of Jane Fairfax, and she spends her time working at her store with her assistant Lucy, turning down a suitor named Walter Fletcher, and reading rejection letter after rejection letter for her manuscript, entitled Constance. Then one day, a publisher is interested, and Jane is pushed into the spotlight again. Suddenly, amidst the publicity of her new novel, the man who turned her shows up, and a crazy Brontëite accuses Jane of plagiarism.

Read an excerpt of Jane Bites Back – Chapter 1 | Chapter 2

My Thoughts: This was a pretty fun story. The humor isn’t overplayed, it just nudges you as you read. The obvious joke is that Jane can never reveal who she really is. She can’t really set people straight when they just don’t get it and think that Pride and Prejudice is all about waiting for a Mr. Darcy, or who see Austen as a cash cow. Jane’s vampire nature takes care of a more offensive author using her name, but Jane can’t do that to everyone (Jane let’s Pride and Prejudice and Zombies slide when she reads it and finds it funny). The worst part is seeing how much money people are making off of her work in related merchandising, spin-offs and modernizations, but no one wants her unpublished manuscript! There’s something amusing about Jane’s work being treated the same as any other poor schlub’s, and Jane’s depression over all her rejections.

Each chapter of Jane Bites Back begins with a small excerpt of Constance which ties in with the rest of the chapter, and I liked the excerpts themselves as they were written in Jane Austen’s style. Jane’s life seems to match that of her manuscript as she wants to be with good guy Walter, but the vampire who turned her has his draw, even though she knows she should not like him.

When Jane finally gets an offer for Constance, things turn around very suddenly. I that think in the spirit of fiction, her path from an offer to publication is preternaturally fast. Suddenly Jane is going to New York and meeting her editor (Kelly Littlejohn), her book has a cover and she’s off to a convention to sign copies. All within what seems like a couple of months. In the meantime, Jane’s past comes to her door in the form of the cad who made her what she is now. She wants to protect the people she cares about (Lucy, Kelly, and Walter) from this vampire’s bloodthirst so she’s got a big dilemma. More problems arise when Violet Grey, the world’s premiere Brontë scholar, says she has the original manuscript of Constance, and Jane plagiarized it.

The way things are resolved is entertaining to read, but not all the story threads have a conclusion. We’ll find out more in Jane Goes Batty, the next book in this series.

Overall: A quick, amusing read. Fans of English literature will appreciate the gentle humor as long as they don’t take the book too seriously. A couple of fun twists, and cameos from literary greats keep the book fresh and pleasurable. I liked it.

Buy: Amazon | Powells | The Book Depository

Other reviews:
Booking Mama – positive
Yankee Romance Reviews – positive
One Literature Nut – positive
Austenacious – positive
Giraffe Days – positive

Michael Thomas Ford’s website

Finding the Lost by Shannon K. Butcher

Posted on April 27, 2010 by janicu

Finding the Lost: The Sentinel Wars

Shannon K. Butcher

This is the second book of The Sentinel Wars by Shannon K. Butcher. I was sent these by the publisher, Penguin, for review. This series is about a race of warriors who protect the human race and the world from monsters called the Synestryn.

My review of Book 1, Burning Alive can be found here:

The Premise: When Andra Madison was a teenager, her family was attacked by monsters. Ever since then, Andra’s been caring for her sister Nika, the only surviving member of her family who has been so traumatized, she needs constant care in a mental institution. Now Andra makes her living by saving kids who are taken by these monsters. Paul is a Theronai, one of the Sentinel races, who has been searching for a woman that has the right bloodline to be his companion. The Theronai fight against the Synestryn, but it’s been a difficult battle because their race is getting older and their women are extremely rare. If Paul doesn’t find the right match, his soul will perish, and he will become a monster himself. Paul is looking for such a match with Logan, a Sanguinar (sort of vampire), and Madoc, another Theronai warrior, when they find Andra fighting the Synestryn. Somehow Andra has the right bloodline to be a possible match.

Read an Excerpt of Finding the Lost here

My Thoughts: This book has less set up than the first book, Burning Alive, because it’s assumed that the reader knows the world and what’s been happening. There’s references to the Theronai and the Synestryn monsters without having to go into detail about them. I thought this was a positive. In the first book there was a lot of explanation about what was going on which didn’t need to be delved into again here. Instead it gets straight into the action and more time is spent on some of the longer running story arcs which will be ongoing throughout the series. On the other hand, this means if you haven’t read book one, you will be lost, so I recommend that if you want to read this series, you start with the first book, Burning Alive.

The heroine in this book is a fighter since she’s been killing the Synestryn and saving children for many years. I liked that her focus was on her sister and helping Nika get better. It made her a sympathetic character and it made her motivations for going to the Theronai stronghold so that they could see what was wrong with Nika, believable. Andra already knows about the monsters, so compared the the heroine in the first book, she doesn’t need much convincing about the existence of inhuman races that fight the evil creatures. At times however, I thought she could be a little too accepting and hardly blinked an eye at some of the concepts that should have been new to and strange to her. For example – the idea of magic through the bond with Paul. She doesn’t question that it’s possible and tries it out for herself, easily mastering the concept. It pushed on the boundaries of my disbelief that although her first try exhausted her, only a day or so later she is doing so much more with it, based on a couple of sentences of instruction.

While Andra was a very different heroine from the first book, I thought that Paul was really similar to the first hero, Drake. Except for a lost love that makes Paul more careful in his relationship with Andra, the two warriors were practically interchangeable in my mind. There wasn’t as much character development for the men as there is for the women. As in the first book, there’s more over-the-top male protectiveness from all the Theronai men (“It kills me to see you suffer”) melded with a tragic hero image.

The heat level in this book is higher than what I normally read. There are a couple of marathon sex scenes in here which corresponds to what I’ve come to expect since reading the first book (two pages just on a kiss, so extrapolate that). For those who like a steamy sex scene, this book will deliver.

Again, I seem to like the secondary characters and story lines more than the primary ones. The secondary character of Madoc, a Theronai warrior who is hiding the fact that his soul really is withering away, was more interesting. Madoc’s romance is suggested but I don’t know if his story is sequel bait or not (there are a lot of Theronai men introduced that I suspected as sequel bait). Meanwhile the story of Sybil, who I found fascinating in the first book is expounded upon here and I liked where it went quite a bit.

While I liked this book a bit better than the first one, it suffers from some of the same flaws. The biggest issue I have is that the story can be overwrought and sometimes it feels like things are put in there for dramatic effect, but they don’t make much logical sense. I already went into the way Andra used magic, but here’s another example: the hero and heroine mutually thinking that they are not worthy of each other. Anara thinks she’s at fault that her mother and two sisters were attacked by monsters and she couldn’t save them. This doesn’t make sense, how was she supposed to save them from a bunch of monsters she knew nothing about? It makes even less sense that her failure at protecting the people she loves is the reason she pushes Paul away. Everyone she loves gets hurt, so she should push him away. She says this consistently, yet suddenly changes her mind in a very convenient moment. Meanwhile, Paul tries to make Andra stay with him with his power, until he stops himself. Andra forgives him immediately without even getting angry about it, yet anytime she says she can’t stay with him, he’s convinced it’s because he did this bad thing. It was just silly.

Overall: I liked this book better than the first one: Andra was a stronger character than the first heroine, and Paul was a more honest hero, but I have big reservations about the level of drama that’s injected into the story, which made things lack believability.

Buy: Amazon | Powells | The Book Depository

Other reviews:
The Book Lush (positive review)
(let me know if you’ve reviewed this book and I will link to it)

Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs

Posted on April 23, 2010 by janicu

Silver-borne

Patricia Briggs

Alright. I am a picky reader and I must have all my books in paperback if I started buying the series in paperback. So hooray for the book depository and the wonderful Has (from the bookpushers) who informed me that the UK edition of Silver Borne is a paperback. 🙂

The Premise: Silver Borne is the 5th in this series about Mercy Thompson, a coyote shapeshifter and mechanic in the Tri-Cities, Washington area. In this new installment trouble as usual finds Mercy, first in the form of weird occurrences related to a fae book she borrowed. In the meantime her roommate Samuel, already on the edge as a lone, unmated wolf, begins to unravel.

Read an excerpt of Silver Borne here

Here are my reviews of the previous books (these links are all on goodreads, vox or livejournal):
Book 1: Moon Called
Book 2: Blood Bound
Book 3: Iron Kissed
Book 4: Bone Crossed

**** Be warned: There will be spoilers for the previous books from this point forward! ****

My Thoughts: Whenever I read a new installment of the Mercy Thompson series I feel like I’m reminded all over again why I like the series so much. The writing just seems effortless. I like Briggs’ other work, but there’s something about Mercy’s voice that I love. It just flows. After reading Silver Borne, I had to take a break from reading urban fantasy for a week. I’ve just been spoiled for anything else in this genre for a little while.

When I was reading this one, ocelott from genrereviews commented that Briggs is great about consequences for everything, and particularly in Silver Borne, that is true. Things as innocent as borrowing a book get her into trouble, as well as things as serious as being the mate of the Tri-Cities Alpha. Mercy is just a magnet for trouble even though she’s a smart heroine and doesn’t go looking for it. In this book it’s a combination of humans, werewolves, and the fae that bring Mercy headaches. It’s not just people who want Mercy gone that are an issue too. It’s people that Mercy loves, like Samuel, who are hurting. Mercy, being who she is, tries to choose what she considers the best path for everyone despite the consequences for herself. There already are hints of ramifications, both good and bad that will likely carry on to the next books.

In the meantime, the strength of this book is I think that it focuses much more on the relationships that have built up over the course of the first four books. I think in Silver Borne we see how much Mercy has affected the people around her in her job, her home, and her dealings with the local pack. In Bone Crossed, the formal courtship with Adam begins, but there is still some lingering uncertainty because of it’s newness. In this book that’s explored further, and I think Mercy’s place in the pack begins to take more solid shape. I enjoyed the way the romance was brought into this one. It wasn’t center stage yet it had a strong part of the book. The other strong aspect was Mercy’s friendship with Samuel. The trust built on both sides was clear in this book. Despite feeling like the way Samuel’s problem was resolved was a little convenient, I was very pleased with how things turned out so I didn’t mind.

What more can I say? I don’t know if you’d be reading this review if you weren’t already reading this series, so I suspect I don’t have to explain how well done the world building is or why I like Mercy (she’s a smart heroine for starters).

Overall: If you are a fan of Mercy Thompson, I think you’ll like this one. There’s a reason why Briggs is so popular – if I had to recommend a series that is essential urban fantasy reading, this would be it. Silver Borne is my favorite installment so far. Its got plenty of action, but Briggs spends more time on Mercy’s relationship with Adam, and on Mercy’s effect on the people around her than she did in previous books.

Buy: Amazon | Powells | The Book Depository

Other Reviews:
Temping Persephone – positive
Fantasy & Sc-Fi Lovin’ News & Reviews – positive with some quibbles
Avidbookreader – B/B+ read
Angieville – positive
The Book Smugglers – 8 (Excellent)
Smexy Books – 4/5

Before the Storm by Marian Perera

Posted on April 18, 2010 by janicu

Before the Storm by Marian Perera

This is book that I finished off during the 24 hour readathon. It first came to my attention through moirarogersbree on twitter who said she was excited about it’s release because of the cover, the premise and the excerpt. I read the excerpt and really liked it, and I got even more excited because the author is Sri Lankan (I’m biased, I grew up there).

The Premise: Alexis Kayne (Alex) is a courtesan in the coronet city of Radiath, in the country called Dagre. She is known as the Black Mare and owned by a powerful man named Stephan Garnath. She hates Stephen and his treatment of her and waits for the day that she can escape, but before she does, Stephen suddenly gifts her to one of his enemies, Lord Robert Demeresna, baron of Dawnever. Neither Alex or Robert know why, but they both know that Stephen never does anything without a reason. Robert thinks that Alex could be a killer sent to his home, but he’d rather she travel with him than behind him. Alex believes that Robert is a despot because of his reputation as the Bloody Baron (a reputation Robert cultivated to dissuade attacks), but she can’t escape.

Read an excerpt of Chapter one of Before the Storm here

My Thoughts: The first thing I have to say is that I wish this cover was a little bit different. It does a very good job in that it conveys the small steampunk aspects, the romance, and the war. Even the lightening behind the couple is significant to the story. I just wish that the couple was wearing clothes. My first impression was this story was erotic or had high heat content because of the topless people. Steaminess that isn’t what I tend to gravitate towards (and reading that the main character was a “whore” being given away doesn’t help the impression). What this book really is, is a fantasy with romantic aspects which I do read, so that’s my one nitpick about the cover perhaps not being ideal for it’s audience.

So upfront: this is not erotica/erotic romance. This is a fantasy with a bit of romance. There’s one sex scene in the whole book and it isn’t something that happens early on. It also has some steampunk elements in the form of machines of war. They do have a significant part in the story, but the are not the focus so I’d call this steampunk influenced but not really steampunk.

In this world, there are two main groups that have the power. First there is Stephen Garnath. He rules everything but in name (the Governing Hand is supposed to have control but Stephen controls it). Stephen rules through force and fear. To me, he represented one extreme – that of depravity. He’s extremely cunning but takes pleasure in making people he has power over suffer. The second group in power is the Quorum. They are a religious group who serve The Benevolent Ones, and who have their own agenda. I felt like they represented the other extreme. They preach piousness and virtue but don’t take practical considerations or grey areas into account. And they were often hypocritical in their views compared to their actions.

Robert Demeresna is part of a small group who sits somewhere in the middle of these two opposing powers. His land is far from the main city and not that influenced by the Quorum. Robert just wants what’s best for his people, and his rule is has neither the extremes of the other two. Unfortunately for him, neither Stephen Garnath or the Quorumlords allow him to be a neutral party in the struggle for the country.

Alex and Robert are well suited for each other. Alex may be beautiful, but she’s also got a quick mind and she’s had an insider’s view of how Stephen thinks, so she becomes a very important asset (I really enjoyed her strong character). Robert is someone who can see the gray in the world so he’s more open minded than others in the story are. He was a leader but he was neither an alpha or beta male. I enjoyed the way their relationship progressed. It happens slowly so you see the beginnings of respect and attraction that turn into more. It was refreshing that Alex doesn’t find Robert attractive until she gets to know him. That’s not to say that this relationship didn’t have it’s missteps for me. Robert says some idiotic things when arguing with Alex that I never felt he really apologized fully for, and his realization of his feelings needed a kick-in-the-pants moment to happen rather than figuring it out himself.

I also liked the secondary characters in this story. There’s Robert’s right hand man, Mayerd, who was exiled from his own land, and his backstory was an interesting one. Then there’s Robert’s allies. Perera writes strong female characters, so there’s Robert’s cousin Susanna who has a pet maddog (two headed dog!), and Quorumlord Victoria who annoyed many but had depth. And there was the Word who was an ally in the Quorum who I despised even more than Stephen Garnath. I thought he was interesting in the way he highlighted the hypocrisy of the Quorum, but the author doesn’t really preach against religion, so much as it being misused by certain people I think.

Most of the story deals with the war that Stephen brings to Robert’s home. There are alliances and maneuvering, secret (steam!) weapons, betrayals, ambushes, and many weary days on the road. The battles are a large part of the book, and at times the details of the skirmishes dragged for me, but there were some interesting tricks that Robert’s smaller army used to even the odds, and interesting side battles fought in magic between Stephen’s pet sorcerer and Robert’s right hand man. The best part was the exciting culmination of the whole thing. I loved that Alex was an integral part of it all and didn’t just sit pretty while the fighting was happening.

This is the first in a planned trilogy.

Overall: I feel like I discovered a hidden gem in this new author. This was a lovely fantasy story with a slow moving romance amid battles and steam machines. The characters are strong minded and interesting, and it left me with things to ponder. My only reservation may be pacing because there are a lot of battle scenes, but your mileage may vary on that count.

Buy (it’s in ebook only as of this review): Samhain | Amazon
(if you buy through My Bookstore & more link through Samhain, there’s a 20% off deal now by entering “shinynew” at checkout)

WIN IT!! – Interview and contest with Marian Perera @ Moira Rogers’ blog (enter soon because I am not sure when the deadline is!)

Links:
Marian Perera’s website
Marian Perera’s blog

Blood of the Demon by Diana Rowland

Posted on April 16, 2010 by janicu

Blood of the Demon

Diana Rowland

I read and reviewed Mark of the Demon last year, and I enjoyed it so when the second book in the series came out I went out and bought a copy. The series is about a Louisiana detective who can summon demons, and her private abilities in the arcane begin to have application in her job investigating murders. My review of Mark of the Demon can be found here:

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The Premise: After the events of the Symbol Man murders, Kara Gillian returns to work and immediately runs into more murders with an otherworldly slant. First there is a dead cop, killed by what looks like suicide, but Kara sees that his Essence has been brutally torn from his body. Shortly thereafter, she sees the same thing in a seemingly unrelated case, in a death that looks like an accident. Kara knows that there’s some link between the deaths but she doesn’t know what it is.

Read an excerpt of Chapter One of Blood of the Demon

***There may be MINOR SPOILERS OF THE FIRST BOOK FROM THIS POINT ON ***

My Thoughts: This book continues with the same strength that I thought the first book had, which was the attention to the details involved in a police investigation. I think that the author’s background in law enforcement lends an authenticity to the story that I don’t always see. There’s a great balance between Kara’s legwork and her having to do mundane things like paperwork or laundry. That’s not to say that there is ever a dull moment, rather that, with murders piling up and Kara’s dealings with the demon world, the routine tasks served to keep the story grounded and stop the pace from being too breakneck to enjoy the story. Having a heroine with real life tasks is refreshing!

I also liked that Kara is slowly changing her life from book to book. The big thing is that she’s made friends over the course of the two books. In Mark of the Demon, Kara was a loner out of necessity, but she finds a kindred spirit in Ryan who has some sensitivity to the arcane. On top of that, there are some people are more open to the idea of what she does than first thought. She had friends in Blood of the Demon who she could trust in difficult situations, and they weren’t just love interests or people who serve to give her important information in her investigation. Kara actually relies on them emotionally and they are a good support system when she has things to worry about.

In both books there’s a love triangle which is not really a love triangle. In one corner is FBI agent Ryan Kristoff (who Kara isn’t ashamed to tell the reader she’s interested in). Ryan and Kara have a close friendship that’s developed quickly, and Kara likes him, but there’s more to Ryan than it appears. I’m rooting for the two of them to get together but I know it’s going to take a while. In the other corner is the Demon Lord Rhyzkhal. The demon lord is pretty much the ultimate sexy badboy, and there’s obvious sexual attraction, but Kara makes it clear there’s no possibility of a romantic relationship. Rhyzkhal’s a demon after all (He has his own agenda and Kara is a tool for him, not a partner). Instead he’s more like.. a great big cause of conflict between the two law enforcement agents (and reason why this book has a higher heat factor than your usual urban fantasy). I think he’s going to be a huge mistake for Kara, and it’s interesting how this whole thing is going to play out. I feel like it could be OK, it could be a trainwreck, and I can’t wait to see which it will be (the third book is tentatively titled Secrets of the Demon and is being published by DAW rather than Bantam. There’s 5 books contracted in total so far I believe).

Oh and one other thing. When I was reading this book, I had the weirdest feeling that I was misremembering parts of Mark of the Demon. Why? Well, I don’t really remember Kara being as self-aware in the first book as she is in this one. I don’t remember her admitting to wanting more than just friendship with Ryan. I mean, it’s great that she is now, but it seemed out of the blue. I went to look at the first book, and I couldn’t find anything besides her thinking he was cute, but perhaps I’m still missing it. I was also surprised by her explanation of what happened between her and Rhyzkhal. In the first book she has sex with him, and in this book she admits why. While I thought she was rash and her choices are going to bite her in the butt, I ended up respecting her character for being honest to herself about what she was doing. And I could understand the reasons why she made those rash choices.

Overall: I’m continuing to recommend this urban fantasy series for its mix of detective mystery and magic. The heroine was someone I could connect to, there’s a love interest to root for, and the true-to-life details about police investigations are a strong suit.

Buy: Amazon | Powells

Other reviews:
The Book Smugglers – 7 (Very good)
Lurv a la Mode – 4 and a half scoops (out of 5)
Scooper Speaks – positive review

The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia

Posted on April 14, 2010 by janicu

The Alchemy of Stone

Ekaterina Sedia

Every month at Calico reaction, there is a reading challenge and discussion of a single book. And every month I mean to join but never seem to plan things properly to read the book in time. Well, this month I resolved to read the selection which was The Alchemy of Stone, and with the 24-hour-readathon I even set the date to start it! This means for possibly the first time, I have read a book selection on time for a challenge. A personal victory over my own procrastination. Thank you, thank you.

The Premise: In the fantastic city of Ayona lives a mechanical girl named Mattie. Mattie lives her life preparing alchemical concoctions for her customers and contemplating how to become truly free from her maker, Loharri. Although Mattie is emancipated, she still needs Loharri to wind her up and he holds on to her key despite her requests for it. The story begins when Mattie is visited by the guardians of the city – the gargoyles. They ask her to work on saving them, because they are slowly turning into stone and every day their numbers dwindle further. In the meantime, change is coming to the city, as unrest under the ruling classes of Mechanics, Alchemists and Aristocrats begins to increase. As a machine, Mattie is overlooked so she has a unique perspective of the events on the streets and in the meetings of those in power.

Read an excerpt of Alchemy of Stone at Fantasy Magazine

My Thoughts: I just finished The Alchemy of Stone and I don’t really know how to put what this book makes me think about into words. My mind is a big jumble of thoughts. First of all, the prose is lovely. The world in The Alchemy of Stone would be perfect set in a stop-motion animation directed by the Quay brothers. There’s a dark loveliness to everything. Most of the story is told in the third person as we follow Mattie around the city, and although she’s intelligent, I thought that her viewpoint had a sort of innocence to it, because she’s still learning how to be a human and gaining her experience in life. The other perspective is from the gargoyles who speak with one mind as they watch over Mattie. They brought a sense of wistful sadness – watching over the people they’ve seen born into the city they created, sworn to protect them, but never really being able to affect much of what goes on.

I thought that Power was one of the big themes in this book. Power of individuals over each other and power struggles between classes. Everyone seems to hold a little something back from whoever they want to control and everyone wants something. For Mattie the automaton, her master, Lohari, has power over her. Initially I wondered at Mattie’s resentment of him, because at the surface they seem to have a cordial relationship. She comes by and visits him, makes sure he’s alright and cleans up or makes him something to eat, but at other times, Mattie recalls hating being at his beck and call. I saw some of her resentment of him but his treatment of her at first glance was kind and patient. Then I started to see a little more beyond the surface. Even though she’s emancipated, she still has to go see him in order to get wound up and continue running. He holds her life in his hands, and through this and other small ways, you discover how insidious his control is. When I finally realized Loharri’s manipulations, it became a creepy, abusive relationship in my mind. Mattie’s feelings gyrate between love and hate, and I don’t think she even understands them completely or knows what parts are programmed into her. Mattie becoming an Alchemist was her way of trying to get back some of the control by doing something that Loharri didn’t understand and thus feared. But how do you really get control if someone has the key to your life or death?

I didn’t find many of the other characters to be much better towards Mattie as an automaton. I thought that this was another theme within the book – the treatment of the majority towards the minority, or the treatment of those in power toward those who were not. I felt that we’re reading a lot of things through Mattie’s eyes and she is a forgiving character, and sometimes subtleties of the humans around her don’t register but maybe they do to the reader. Most people in power – the mechanics, ignore Mattie. The alchemists are better, but even then they seem to treat her a little lower class. When Mattie makes what seem like friends, I felt a little sad because it didn’t seem that their affections were that deep. Most seemed to need something out of her each time. The people most isolated, the gargoyles and the Soul Catcher were perhaps the closest Mattie comes to have people genuinely care about her.

This treatment of Mattie extrapolated to the bigger picture represents the clash between the upper class of aristocrats, alchemists and mechanics and the poor miners, farmers and laborers. It also represents the clash between the locals and the immigrant population who are immediately blamed for rebel attacks on the ruling class. It all explodes suddenly when the upper class, in the pursuit of progress, move labor around for more coal and the lower class has no choice in the matter. But I don’t think it’s as simple as the upper class is in the wrong. They believed in their progress and in improving the city, and when there’s rebellion, they just want to keep their lives as they are and fight to keep what they have. There aren’t really easy answers because everyone is trying to protect themselves. Mattie as well. In the course of defending their own interests without acknowledging others leads to betrayals and struggles for control.

Overall: A lovely steampunk fantasy that mixes magic and technology with revolution. The prose is simple and lyrical, but the messages are not. In the end I enjoyed the mental exercise, but it made me a little sad as well. I put it under “well, that took a little bit out of me”. It’s a little more serious fare than I’d usually choose for myself and has no easy conclusions.

Buy: Amazon | Powells

Other reviews/links:
Fantasy Book Critic
Ekaterina Sedia guest blog post @ Calico_reaction

Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols

Posted on April 9, 2010 by janicu

Going Too Far

Jennifer Echols

I think that every single reviewer that I tend to agree with has read and liked Going Too Far. I’ve been dying to read it but since my resolution is to keep the TBR down I’ve been holding off on buying books this year. Well I finally caved (and the TBR.. it isn’t shrinking).

The Premise: Meg is a teenage rebel who is bored with her town and looks forward to leaving for college after high school. Just before spring break she gets a little drunk and along with another couple, she and her sort-of boyfriend decide to hang out on the railroad bridge. Years ago a teen couple was killed there, so when Officer John After catches Meg and her friends, they’re in trouble. As part of their community service, the teens are made to ride with the fire truck, ambulance and police all through their spring break. Meg is not thrilled to find out that she got the shift with the cops, and has to ride around with Officer After. But first impressions aren’t always the right ones, and turns out that Officer After is almost as young (and screwed up) as Meg is and together they push each other to think about what their choosing in their lives.

Excerpt of Chapter 1 of Going Too Far

My Thoughts: You know that feeling you get when you hear that a book is good and then you read reviews and it sounds *perfect* for your tastes? And then you read it and it IS just as good as you thought it would be? Well this book gave me that particular high. I stayed up till 2 am reading this book. I woke up the next day thinking about this book. I think I dreamed about this book. It was just happy-sigh-making and I’m so glad I bought it because if I had borrowed it, I would have had to go out and buy it.

OK, so WHY was this so good? Well. If you read this blog you may sometimes see me say I couldn’t fully get into a romance because there wasn’t enough of an emotional connection. This book has emotional connection. I raise this book above my head and say PLEASE LOOK AT THIS AS AN EXAMPLE OF DOING EMOTIONAL CONNECTION RIGHT! In fact, this book also has the physical connection – and because the emotional connection is there? It is awesome. This is how you do a sex scene people.

But I digress. Emotional connection. This is told from the first person viewpoint of Meg, and as the book starts, you see the first layer that Meg wants the world to see. A blue-haired girl. A rebel. She says what she thinks and does what she wants. She doesn’t make commitments and she doesn’t like her town. And Officer After – he’s a stodgy cop who is obsessed with keeping people off the bridge and following the rules. Meg at first thinks he’s a forty year old and imagines he has a wife and kids. This alone makes the two of them interesting, but what makes the story better is that slowly, Meg and John peel off the layers from each other. John finds out why Meg has blue hair, and is a rebel. Why she doesn’t make commitments. Meg finds out why John wanted to be a cop. And add to that that in the process of the two discovering the layers of the other person, they have to look at themselves. They both push each other to change. And that’s probably why this book is titled Going Too Far. They both cross lines. Things get messy, but it goes somewhere good.

I loved that there were all these clues in discovering Meg and John’s pasts that were kind of out in the open, but only if you understood what they meant do they become significant. And I loved that while John After was responsible and driven about his job, he was also a nineteen year old guy. At times he acted very mature, but then his youth would bleed out. Meg too – she acts her age, but she’s definitely different because she doesn’t really have friends. I enjoyed seeing that as she started to let John in, she learned how to let other people in.

There are so many quotable bits to this book. I have several passages I could bookmark and reread them happily forever. For example:

I sat back in my seat and watched the men inside the store. Where was John’s backup? If I sat here waiting much longer, I would panic. And I couldn’t hear John breathing. It was so quiet in the car, my ears rang.
“Are you scared?” I whispered.
“I’m well trained.”
Yes, he was well trained to enter a robbery in progress with three guns pointed at him. Or well trained to hide that he was scared.
His death-hold on the steering wheel gave him away.
“Do you want me to kiss you for luck?” I asked
His eyes cut to me for a split second, then returned to the store. He waited so long that I thought he wasn’t going to answer. He would ignore my inappropriate question.
Then he said, “Yes.”

Overall: A fantastic, perfectly written love story. I loved it – easily in my top five favorite books this year if not the favorite. The emotional connection in this one was one of the best I’ve read. Ever.

I’m so glad I don’t have to wait long for her next book, Forget You (it comes out in July)
I think if you like Sarah Dessen (exception: Angie), or Megan McCafferty, you will also like this author.

Buy: Amazon | Powells

Other reviews:
The Book Smugglers – 9 (Damn near perfection)
Angieville – positive review
Lurv a la Mode – 5 Insanely Huge and Indulgent scoops
Book Crazy – 5 out of 5 stars
Giraffedays – 4 out of 5 stars
My Favourite Reads – Excellent
The Hiding Spot (and extra here) -20 out of 10 stars
Pop Culture Junkie – 5 stars
See Michelle Read – positive review
Ramblings of a Teenage Bookworm – 5 stars
Katiebabs – B+

They Call Me Death by Missy Jane

Posted on April 6, 2010 by janicu

They Call Me Death

Missy Jane

I won this over at Scooper Speaks.

The Premise: Alexia Williams was once a regular wife and mother when shifters suddenly made themselves known to the population and a horrifying war began. After it was over, Alexia’s family was dead and the shifters and humans have settled into separate territories in an uneasy state of relative peace. The Combine Human States (CHS) doesn’t allow any shifters in their lands and Alexia has become a female killing machine, manning the wall that separates the CHS and The Federal Nation of Therianthropes (FNT). Then Andor, a Golden Eagle shifter comes into her life, telling her that it’s not all as she thinks on the human side and he needs her help because shifters are going missing and they think that humans are responsible.

Read an excerpt of They Call me Death here

My Thoughts: I hadn’t really heard about this book until I got it. The cover sort of looks like an urban fantasy and when I started reading it, the story felt like it fell into that category, but as I continued it started to feel more like a paranormal romance. I just looked at the spine (duh, I should have looked before starting), and it says “urban fantasy romance”. It definitely feels like a blend of urban fantasy and paranormal romance to me. Also it is only 200 pages so it’s more like a novella than a novel and was a quick read.

It felt like an urban fantasy at first. The story is told from the first person viewpoint of Alexia, and we learn about her day to day job as a border guard for the Combined Human States Army and that she is a loner known for her uncompromising attitude towards shifters and her job responsibilities. As the book continues, and Andor Olavson is introduced, the book starts going into the paranormal romance territory. At first the relationship progresses slowly and I liked how the author showed the attraction through nervousness on Andor’s part and uncharacteristic trusting on Alexia’s, but then when Alexia fully comes to trust and like Andor, it still felt like it happened a little too quickly. It’s established early on that Alexia saw her husband and child torn apart in front of her by shifters who lived in her neighborhood, and that she had killed many shifters as part of her job. That did not mesh with the Alexia who let’s down her guard so completely in just a few days.

The world building was well done and I wanted to read more about the CHS and the FNT. There’s also a few scenes that illustrated what life was like in the CHS army as a woman surrounded by men that I really liked. Alexia held her own among pedophiles and perverts and men who just like violence. Once Alexia leaves her job to help Andor however, the world building veers towards Andor’s past and more emphasis is placed on their relationship in the story. I felt like there were a few big plot holes that are created because of the relationship. Andor’s explanation for choosing Alexia to help him didn’t make much sense to me – she was Death to shifters but it’s okay because her kills were in self-defense? I don’t know, I was confused. Also Alexia goes from being a confident killer to being very reliant on Andor during a fight – her personality seemed to have gone soft after Andor.

Personal nit: What is up with paranormal romance heroes having hair down to their waist/ass?

Overall: This was OK. A quick novella-length read, world building seems unique and shows promise, and I liked the heroine, but it isn’t quite an urban fantasy, or quite a paranormal romance and that identity crisis could be a problem for readers who prefer one genre over the other.

Buy: Samhain | Amazon | Powells

Links:
FNT blog
Missy Jane’s website

Other reviews:
The author has compiled reviews on her website here.
Please let me know if you have reviewed this and I’ll link to it!

Burning Alive (The Sentinel Wars, bk 1) by Shannon K. Butcher

Posted on April 3, 2010 by janicu

Burning Alive: The Sentinel Wars

Shannon K. Butcher

I received this book for review from the publisher so I could catch up on the series for the release of the newest book, Running Scared which comes out in May.

The Premise: Helen Day has a horrible fear of fire because she’s always had visions of being burned to death while a man watches on and smiles. One day she’s at the local diner with friends when sees the man in her vision sitting a nearby booth, and inadvertently gets his attention. The man Helen fears is Drake, a warrior and member of the Theronai race, one of the Sentinel races that are fighting a secret war against monsters called the Synestryn. The Theronai are slowly dying. They’re getting older, Theronai women are rare, and the race has become infertile, but Helen somehow lessens the constant pain Drake is under and Drake is desperate.

Read Chapter 1 of Burning Alive

My Thoughts: At the start of this book, there’s a lot information about the world of the Theronai and their battle against the Synestryn that the reader and Helen don’t know. It takes a while to get some of the information and in the meantime, Helen is confused and afraid. Of course it doesn’t help matters that Theronai blood draws the horrific Synestryn to them, and Drake and his friends have to protect Helen and her friends at the diner. Helen along with her friends, an elderly school teacher, and the waitress, Lexi fight them every step of the way. Helen believes her vision and so she’s terrified of Drake.

Helen’s fear of fire was understandable. She’s had her visions for a long time and they are very real to her. The story often brings up this fear as a stumbling block for her and she freezes up, unable to continue when she encounters it. I know I should feel for Helen, but most of the time I found myself wanting to sympathize, yet not being able to. Instead I felt exasperated, especially when her freezing up leads to harsh consequences for others. Helen’s low self-esteem in her looks didn’t help either. The combination of her constant fear and hang-ups disappointed me. I prefer reading about heroines who have more confidence than Helen does.

Drake was even harder to connect to than Helen. He’s a strong warrior who loves his brothers-in-arms and has the weight of decades of killing and of his body’s pain on his shoulders. He is desperate and willing to omit some truths to make Helen his (When I discovered this, he didn’t win any points from me), but I didn’t know much else about his personality.

Even though there are pages and pages of sex scenes which were detailed and explicit, I the relationship didn’t interest me. I felt like there was way too much telling over showing, and we’re in the heads of the hero and heroine a lot yet I wasn’t gleaning much besides the superficial from it. I was being told that Drake thinks Helen is so beautiful and told that Helen thinks Drake is so strong, but it didn’t mean as much to me as being shown why they had those qualities and why he and Helen were right for each other. All there seemed to be was the “soul-mate” concept that is used here – the concept of the Theronai and his mate. And that too bothered me (the soul-mate idea in romance often does). The story suggests Helen has free will and there are other options besides Drake, but the plot really gives her very little choice, so I ended up feeling like they got together because of physical and practical reasons, not emotional ones.

There are secondary characters who were on the page for small moments who had more impact than the main couple. I liked Sybil, who was a truly alien character, and Gilda, the powerful Gray Lady lived up to her title and was ambiguous character. I also liked Lexi a lot – she fought back and acted quickly during stress, unlike Helen, and Zach, the Theronai who desperately searches for Lexi suggests that there will be a sequel for the two of them (looks like the third book) which I’m more interested in reading.

I found the concept of the strapping warriors of the Theronai and their fight against monsters, their life trees on their chests with leaves that fall as they age, and the souls of who they kill in their swords, a little hokey, especially at the beginning of the book. The names – Theronai, Synestryn, Gerai, Sanguinar (a sort of vampire race), Athanasia, didn’t help either. That aside, the story became more complex as the book went along and the author probably has a bigger story arc planned that will span several books. Even the “good” guys aren’t what they seem.I think a few characters introduced here will reveal hidden agendas and we’ll also find out more about what the enemy Synestryn are up to. It could be an interesting story if I could warm up to the characters more. I hope that the next book has a couple I can connect to better because it’s waiting in my TBR.

Overall: This paranormal romance ended up being a miss for me. There is potential in the underlying story arc over the course of the next few books, and there are a couple of intriguing characters, but in Burning Alive I wasn’t invested in the primary relationship and had to push myself to keep reading. I hope I connect better to the hero and heroine in the next book.

Buy:
Amazon | Powells

Other reviews:
The Good, The Bad, and the Unread – C
Babbling about Books and More – C
Book Binge – 4 out of 5