Nightseer by Laurell K Hamilton

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Nightseer
Nightseer
Laurell K. Hamilton

A quickish review. I haven't been into Hamilton for a while, but I saw this at Goodwill and picked it up for 50 cents. It's a reissue of her first novel and I was interested in seeing Hamilton's earlier work. This book is very different for the paranormal/urban erotic fantasy she's famous for today – this is straight fantasy,

The story focuses on a young noble named Kelios with some unusual powers – she's a seer plus she has magic abilities. She lives somewhere that sounds like a special place of learning for magic. I got the impression that all magic users have to get an education and become a "master" in their particulay skill before they are allowed out in the world. In Kelios' case, she is a master in one ability but still a journeyman in the other.

A very big part of Kelios' life is a memory of her mother's death and a vendetta against her mother's murderer. But she has other enemies too. Who are they? Well – you have to figure that out as you read.  The writing is in an easy to read style, but this book feels like the second book of a trilogy rather than the standalone it is – there are a lot of references to an adventure the heroine Kelios had before that sounds like it deserves it's own novel. Along with this is seemingly established relationships that I felt dropped into as I read – friends, enemies.. not much detail why. There were also a lot of references to terms I had to guess at. For instance, I believe Kelios is both an Enchanter and a Sorcerer, but Hamilton doesn't explain the difference. It also felt like a third book could have come after this one because of left over plot strings, plus only towards the end do I feel that I am beginning to get into Kelios' character and a couple of other characters. Leaves me wanting. On top of that, there is a lot of battling and fighting in this book and very little explaining. I'd recommend this as light reading but with a warning that you may feel unsatisfied. I kept reading even though much of it was confusing just because there was this odd relationship between Kelios and a suitor who kept pursuing her and I was wondering where it was going. Otherwise.. I didn't really have a reason to keep reading.

Conclusion: Frustratingly sparse in plot information.

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Cool giveaways from Jeri Smith-Ready

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I got a newsletter from Jeri Smith Ready a couple of days ago and if anyone is interested in her books (I liked Eyes of Crow – it has a coming of age feel, and Voice of Crow should have a mature Rhia), they should sign up. She's giving away goodies to fans. And she randomly draws a name from ppl signed up on the newsletter to win a cool prize. Here are the highlights with offers she has:

"–FREE BOOK DRAWING

Read an excerpt of VOICE OF CROW at
www.jerismithready.com/books/voice-of-crow/excerpt.htm

and reply to this e-mail with the answer to this question:

***Which Ilion battalion attacked Kalindos?***

and -bam!- you’re entered in the drawing.

Prize: autographed copy of VOICE OF CROW, a few weeks before its
release
Deadline: Friday, August 24
Winner will be notified Saturday, August 25

–ANOTHER FREE BOOK DRAWING

Reply to this e-mail and tell me how you heard of EYES OF CROW. 

A bookseller or librarian?  Friend?  Website?  Review?  MySpace?  An
ad?  This newsletter?  You met me at a convention?  You were that guy in
the fender-bender at the intersection of Route One and Fairmount Street
(sorry!)?  Be as specific as your memory allows, and I’ll love ya
for it, plus enter you in the second drawing.

Prize: autographed copy of VOICE OF CROW, a few weeks before its
release
Deadline: Friday, August 24
Winner will be notified Saturday, August 25

–REVIEWER CONTEST

Okay, this isn’t so much a contest as it is a pact.  Everyone who
reviews VOICE OF CROW by October 31 gets an autographed ARC of my May 2008
vampire novel WICKED GAME.  Blog about it, post it on an online
bookseller site, send it to your local newspaper, talk about it on your
podcast, whatever.  Just do it by Halloween and let me know about it.

Again, this is not a drawing.  Everyone–that’s EV-REE-WON–who does
this will get an ARC.  Even if it’s a bad review, though in that case
“ARC” might stand for Angry Red Cobra.  Kidding, of course!  I
love animals.

–ANIMAL OF THE MONTH CONTEST

***Discover Your Spirit Animal!***

Take an interactive personality quiz at www.jerismithready.com/quiz/ to
find out which of twelve Animals from the book you would be.  E-mail
me your quiz results for automatic entry in a prize drawing during your
Animal’s month.  Prizes include totem stones, jewelry and artwork
featuring your Animal.

Monthly prize drawings have been extended for two years, through
October 2009.  So no matter which Animal you are, you still have at least two
more chances to win, and no need to enter more than once.

 

SNEAK PREVIEW OF VOICE OF CROW

Want your very own piece of VOICE OF CROW in your hands in less than a      <—– going fast. She had 10-15 left last night
 week?  The first 40 people who send me their mailing address will
receive a limited edition sneak preview, featuring two excerpted chapters
and a full-color cover.  Autographed and everything.

ORIGINAL COVER FLAT
The original artwork for VOICE OF CROW’s cover is quite different
from the final version.  I liked the first one just fine, but the reaction
from book buyers (i.e., the people who place orders for the
bookstores) was, “Hmm.  Try again.” 

Curious?  I won’t be posting it on my website ever, but I have about
twenty cover flats with the original artwork.  If you’d like a copy
of this collector’s item, all you have to do is buy any of my books
from Mysterious Galaxy, the awesome independent bookstore:

http://mg.booksense.com/NASApp/store/Product?s=showproduct&affiliateId=JSR&isbn=9780373802906

Just send me your proof of purchase (receipt, shipping confirmation,
packing slip), either by e-mail to jeri@jerismithready.com or snail mail
to P.O. Box 66, Westminster, MD, 21158, and I’ll send you the cover,
autographed.  This is a one-time offer, while supplies last, as they
say.

PERPETUAL FREEBIES

Bookplates: full-color autographed, personalized labels you can stick
inside your very own copies of EYES OF CROW, VOICE OF CROW, or REQUIEM
FOR THE DEVIL, thus getting a signed book without either of us ever
having to leave the house. 

Mini-bookmarks: trading-card size–collect all two!

Simply send your mailing address to jeri@jerismithready.com and tell me
for which book(s) you’d like a bookplate and/or bookmark.  I won’t
even make you send me an SASE—that’s how much I care.  I care
$0.41 worth about you.  If you’re Australian, I care about you $0.90
worth, because you’re really special.  And far away.
"

email her at info@jerismithready.com for the contests.. Meanwhile, sign up on the newsletter for interesting information about upcoming books, appearances and info. I didn't know she's donating some of her author royalties to 
the Wounded Warrior Project, "to assist severely injured veterans in their transition to civilian life." Or that the third book in the Aspect of the Crow trilogy is going to be called The Reawakened. Plus she has a new vampire novel coming out next year (I know people on my friendslist like vampires) called Wicked Game. OOoOo! Neat stuff I say!

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Stray by Rachel Vincent

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Stray
Stray
Rachel Vincent

Ah, butt shot cover. The only thing that really bugs me about this cover is that the scratch marks don't look right. I expect them to be parallel with one another. This is the type of thing I get distracted by.. other than the butt.

Anyway, this is the first of what looks to be a series about a female werecat named Faythe.  Her father is the leader of the pack, the Alpha, and oversees a territory south of the Missouri and east of the Rockies to the Mississippi. Faythe is one of only 8 unmarried female werecats in the U.S. so she feels overprotected and fights bitterly for her independence. She's the rebel in her household. She is the only female to insist on college, and although she's supposed to be left alone, she knows her father has her under guard. Unfortunately for Faythe, her "independence", such as it is, is coming to an end. Werecat females are being abducted, and she is made to go home for her protection.

There is an excerpt of the first chapter. I read it before I decided to get this book, but the excerpt actually made me worry a little bit that I wouldn't like Faythe. Why? Well.. if you read it, Faythe puts herself in a dangerous situation instead of asking anyone for help. She has options, but feels that she has to prove herself so is willing to get hurt to do so. Well.. this stubbornness is a reoccurring thing. I think one reviewer on Amazon called her "Too Stubborn To Live". I was worried this would drive me crazy, but I was pleasantly surprised that it did not. I can't say the same for everyone who reads this, but I could understand this flaw – she's still growing up, and she's blind to the position her parents have to take. I know someone like Faythe – my younger sister, so maybe I'm just naturally more patient with this. That and as the book progresses, I think we see some of the blinders removed from her eyes. She begins to see things differently and I think she finds out that her independence is really hiding from responsibility.  As a reader I also secretly called her spoiled. The only girl, the youngest, she calls her father "Daddy", and even when she's "independent"  at college, she bills her father without telling him that she's graduated and signed up for grad school.  I think that in book 2 (Rogue), we're going to see a more mature Faythe. That's the way I see the books going. If not.. I may find the stubbornness harder to deal with, but for now it makes her a very interesting heroine for me and I hope it continues.

Another trait that I felt that some of the werecat characters seem to have was – greater emotion closer to the surface. Maybe it's the animal nature, but Marc, Faythe's ex-fiance shows a lot of territorial jealousy, and Faythe has a lot of anger and lashes out at Marc often. I'm a bit baffled at their relationship. He's still unable to accept her breaking off of their engagement, and she can barely speak to him without wanting to hurt him. I want to know – what happened?! There's some backstory there.

Stray is a debut novel and its 600 pages long. Which I was surprised by. I thought the length was a little long, but it wasn't overly so, but I also enjoy movies that go longer than expected, so not sure how other readers feel about this.

Overall I really liked this one. I think the series will have a similar satisfying girl kicking-butt feel as Kelley Armstrong or Patricia Briggs. The only warning I have is there is brutal violence in this book. The bad guys are really nasty and like to toy with their victims, and both they and the good guys can turn into giant black panthers that kill.

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Butt shot covers unite!

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Someone mentioned this on fangs_fur_fey and I hadn't realized it till then - there is a subset of covers in urban fantasy with a nice rounded butt shot! Now.. I do have a place in my heart for these. And apparently I have been reading quite a few books with this type of cover lately (and looking forward to one in the case of Iron Kissed). I wonder what this means.. Now favorite butt of these four.. that's a tough one. What do you think? 

Stray
Stray
Rachel Vincent
On the Prowl
On the Prowl
Patricia Briggs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Iron Kissed cover
Iron Kissed cover
Claimed By Shadow (Cassandra Palmer Series, Book 2)
Claimed By Shadow (Cassandra Palmer Series, Book 2)
Karen Chance

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Cast In Secret by Michelle Sagara

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Cast In Secret (The Cast Series, Book 3)
Cast In Secret (The Cast Series, Book 3)
Michelle Sagara

Cast in Secret is the third book in the Chronicles of Elantra series so I am going to give an overview without giving spoilers for the first two books (Cast in Shadow and Cast in Courtlight).

The setting is a fantastical city by the sea – ruled by a dragon emperor. As with all cities, it is segmented into different neighborhoods, and it is full of people of all castes, races and beliefs. Living side by side are mortal humans, mages, winged people (the Aerians), lion people (the Leontines), Dragons, super-empaths (the Tha'alani), and elf-like immortals (the Barrani). Kaitlin grew up in the poorest part – in the fief, but now she is an adult, and belongs to one of the three arms of the law – the Hawks.  This is akin to the detective branch. The Swords are the beat cops, and the Wolves are the executioners. Kaitin is unusual – she has unexplainable magical ability and tattoos on her body which bring attention to her from powerful people.

Book 1 seemed to center on the story of Kaitlin and where she came from and introduces the main characters. Book 2 moves the plot forward while focusing on the Barrani. In book 3, the focus seems to be the Tha'alini.

This book is a magic-filled detective story. Kaitin is asked to investigate the theft of a locked box with no keyhole. Of course things are not that simple. In fact, things could get very bad if the box isn't found. On top of that, Kaitlin – who has a major soft spot for children, sees a girl in the reflection of a pool in the same room the box was stolen from. This girl calls out her name, and Kaitlin feels she must find and help this child.

This will be the 3rd book in what so far is a 5 book series. So while the story is almost standalone, when it comes progressing Kaitlin's relationships and powers and it does feel like a transition book. This is a Luna book, which usually means some romance, but there is very little in this series. There are two possible love interests, but the relationships are subtle.

As usual, the writing is very strong. There are interesting characters and magical happenings and I LOVE the worlds that Sagara creates. As I have said before – she's on my autobuy list.

But I have a couple of nits. In all books, Kaylin is considered ignorant and barely an adult that world – and I'm just as clueless as she is, so the reader learns as she does. I felt that this worked in book 1 and 2 but by the third book I'm beginning to feel irritated. This is because people pointing out her stupidity and offensiveness by not knowing their customs in book 3 was getting tired – she should have learned not to keep making this same mistake, or they should have learned to stop pointing this out, no? Another repeating theme was Kaitlin's exclusion from important secrets. If she is supposed to help everyone, shouldn't they tell her these things? This happening in every book means you have to read slowly and pay attention because Kaitlin (and the reader) are kept in the dark with only small hints about the big secret thrown in along the way. This is ok, and in fact enjoyable for a couple of books, because I like the way the story takes it's time to unfold, but by the third, I was feeling impatient with this ploy. I'm actually surprised that I found ANYTHING negative to say here, because I love love love Michelle Sagara.

OK even with this nit, I liked the book, but it does not topple my favorite – the second book – Cast In Courtlight. AHH, one more year for the next one!

Hmm. I just looked at Sagara's website and she says "The "Cast" Series (5 linked books – not a pentalogy)". What does not a pentalogy mean? So maybe this is why it feels like each book is semi-standalone. I hope that more progress is made in finding out what her powers mean and the relationships though..

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Procrastinating…

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I haven't posted in a bit – I've been reading. I have to post about:

Cast in Secret by Michelle Sagara

Stray by Rachel Vincent

On the Prowl by Patricia Briggs, Eileen Wilks, Karen Chance and Sunny

 

There were surprises in there – things I liked more than I expected and things I expected to like more than I did. Hmmm..

And I wanted to post pictures of author goodies from authors I'm a fan of.

My TBR is @ 97. Sigh.

 

Also there seem to be a lot of urban fantasy covers with butt-shots that I have been reading recently. I shall create a new tag – butt shot cover.

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The Accidental Virgin by Valerie Frankel

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The Accidental Virgin
The Accidental Virgin
Valerie Frankel

This was a Did Not Finish for me. The writing was good, the plot was ok, but I just did not relate to the protagonist at all. Basically Stacy works in NYC and has been celibate for almost a year. She barely notices until a friend points this out and then she decides she must fix it. I thought this could be amusing but Stacy doesn't even care about finding a relationship, she just wants to get laid and is willing to sleep with practically anyone just so she won't hit that year mark. She doesn't care much about the person she does it with, just about making that date. Using people – not on my list of positive traits. I thought trying to sleep with her boss's son who was still in college and over 10 years her junior who she just met 2 hours before was kind of skanky. This is one example of many embarrassed for her moments. Another time she tries to seduce some guy in shipping or something that she just met literally 30 seconds before. So I couldn't shake this image of Stacy as someone desperate, shallow and unlikeable. And I didn't like most of Stacy's possible lovers. I think it was supposed to be humorous but I couldn't see it that way – so perhaps it will work better for those less serious than I. I skimmed through all of the book and the ending was also one of the most unbelievable endings I've ever read. If I liked the rest of the book, I would still complain about it. Bah.

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Mona Lisa Awakening by Sunny

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Mona Lisa Awakening (Monere: Children of the Moon, Book 1)
Mona Lisa Awakening (Monere: Children of the Moon, Book 1)
Sunny

I do not recommend this book. Kind of too bad because an asian, female author (I have a soft spot), and pretty cover, plus it has been compared to Laurell Hamilton and Anne Bishop's books.

Unfortunately a little TOO similar to their books – seems to take a lot of things from each and not much feels unique when I compare them – I feel like I'm reading fanfiction. The writing is awkward – dialog sort of stilted (moves from casual speech to formal at odd times), characterization very one dimensional, romance unbelievable, and the protagonist is a Mary Sue who everyone falls in love with for no good reason. She has 1 magical ability at the beginning of the book and keeps gaining new ones until she has about 8 by the end – a little overboard and a little cliched, aspects I noticed a lot throughout the book.

I have a feeling you are either going to love this book if what you want is something trashy + erotic + pure fluff, otherwise you may not like this. You may dislike this more if you have read Anne Bishops Black Jewels trilogy or Hamilton's Meredith Gentry series before reading this and can compare it to them.

Here are the 1 star reviews of this book on amazon … Sadly I think I agree with the majority of them.

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Stardoc by S. L. Viehl

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Stardoc (Stardoc #1)
Stardoc (Stardoc #1)
S. L. Viehl

This is the second S. L. Viehl book I've read. The first one, Blade Dancer was reviewed here.

When I read Blade Dancer, I looked at the amazon reviews for it and noticed someone say that it was the same story as Stardoc. In a way they are very similar. In both stories there is a smart female heroine who isn't afraid to stand up for herself, that flees Earth (Terra), has a maniacal father who tries to control her, a dead mother with a last wish for her daughter, and spends a lot of time in the book working through trials to learn and prove herself in her chosen career. The general similarities are astonishing, but I still think these are very different stories and very different characters.

Cherijo Grey Veil is a brilliant Terran surgeon who discovers something about her father that causes her to run away and take an assignment at a free clinic light years away from his influence in Kevarzangia Two. Because of the racism of the Terrans and her sheltered life in Terra, Cherijo has never met many aliens before. Let alone treat them. So she endures many trials and tribulations learning about all the species of aliens that live in K2. She also endures hostility from coworkers and others. Meanwhile her father – a very rich, famous and extremely powerful man in Terra (with Machiavellian tendencies), wants her to come back home and is willing to use his influence to get her back any way he can.

Viehl has a very easy writing style, and the book is from the first person point of view of Cherijo, so the reader gets to learn about the alien species at the same time Cherijo does. I liked her character -  intelligent and professional, but also willing to argue her points and defend herself. Which is a good thing because she needs it. I thought this was just as enjoyable as Blade Dancer, though the excitement came in the form of Cherijo racing against time to save lives rather than fighting like Jory does. Slowly, patient by patient, through her own hard work she proves herself in the alien landscape and makes a lot of allies. Viehl does a good job in describing easy friendships and bonding. I think she just explains relationships well. Speaking of – there is some romance as Cherijo falls for an alien, but there is another possible love interest as well.

This is also the first book in a series, but the story felt self contained – no giant cliffhanger, thank goodness. And while this is a science fiction novel, it wasn't hard science fiction, which made it a fun, satisfying read for me. There were no difficult lessons, just a straight story about a young woman's fight for her independence. I think I've found an author who I can expect page-turning and fun science fiction from.

My general feeling - 8 (Really liked it) / Plot - 7.5 (Really liked it) / Writing style - 7 (Easy to get absorbed by)

By the way, if you liked this you will probably like Warchild by Karin Lowachee (OK that book was AMAZING, so if you DIDN'T like this book, but you like Ender's Game you will like Warchild).

TBR @ 99 (I stupidly keep getting books. Why do I even bother keeping count? Will it ever be at 50? I don't know).

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