Jinx by Jennifer Estep

Posted on September 6, 2008 by janicu

Jennifer Estep

Jinx is the third book in this series which is a tongue-in-cheek take on comic books. If you've read the previous books: Karma Girl and Hot Mama, you know that Bigtime is a city full of superheroes and ubervillians, secret identities are sort of obvious, and yards of spandex and sequins are required.

My reviews of the previous books:

Karma Girl – livejournal | vox

Hot Mama – livejournal | vox

Cover: They swtiched over from a more comic cover, where the characters are drawn, to real people against a sort of comic-looking background. Not sure the reason for this – maybe to make the books look less chick-lit and more like it's a romance/paranormal?

Story: As with the previous books, the story is written in the first person point of view. This time it's Bella Bulluci, who was introduced in Hot Mama as the sister of the male love interest, and a fashion designer with muted tastes. Bella's family has a superhero tradition, her grandfather, father and brother have taken turns being Johnny Angel, a character who rides a motorcycle and fights crime. Bella's dad was killed earlier in the year because of this activity, and Bella has a very hard time forgiving him for choosing to put himself in danger rather than staying safe for his family. She remembers wanting to be a superhero when she was young, but soon was jaded by the worry and fear about her father night after night.

Her past experiences have caused Bella to hate superheroes – she thinks they are ridiculous and can't understand why people choose to have a secret identity. Her rule is to never get involved with a superhero – despite being in a family of them, and despite being closely connected with the Fearless Five, Bigtime's most powerful superhero group. AND despite Bella having her own powers. She has a "supercharged telekinesis" which gives her luck – both bad and good, and which annoys her a lot. It increases with her emotions and discharges with often embarrassing results, but Bella is usually not harmed very much.

I found this contrariness despite who she has surrounding her very stubborn on Bella's part. Her anger at her father's death colors her decisions. I still I found her feelings believable at first. Her practical and worrywort nature explains a about how she reacts towards the danger of being a superhero. Then Bella gets caught in the crossfire between the Fearless Five and some ubervillians after a fund-raiser at the Bigtime Museum of Modern Art. Bella is taken away from danger by Debonair and soon becomes involved with him despite her rule. This is where I found her back and forth annoying – she would really firmly (and sometimes a little meanly) push him away, and then the next time she sees him, they're getting it on. Then she'd remember her rule and tell him to leave after a long evening together, or say it was nice but nothing can come out of it. Once or twice – fine, but this happened a few times. The only explanation of why Debonair is OK with her waffling is that he's been secretly in love with her for months, but how easily he forgives her for hurting him was surprising. Their relationship was really the focus of the book, with the action against ubervillians Hangman and Prism as a secondary story.

Overall – I read this book in practically one sitting. It was fun, and doesn't take itself seriously, so worth reading when you're in the mood for something light. I think I liked it as much as I liked Karma Girl, and I thought it was better than Hot Mama. Bella was a more interesting protagonist and had a less dramatic and flamboyant personality than Fiona, Hot Mama's protagonist. I also liked Debonair and his shy alter ego – he was very sweet towards Bella throughout the story. And as usual the over the top and silly background of the Bigtime world makes things lighthearted and an easy read. Most readers will pick up on the secret identities of some of the superheroes and ubervillians (first name and last name have the same letter, not nice people = ubervillian, nice people = superhero, real job sometimes related to superhero power…), and it's amusing how oblivious the main characters are about the clues.

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Shades of Dark by Linnea Sinclair

Posted on September 5, 2008 by janicu

Shades of Dark

Linnea Sinclair

This cover continues the "couple in the middle of space" theme that all Sinclair's books have now. I noticed that there is nothing on the cover to let the reader know that this is the continuation of the story that started in Gabriel's Ghost. That information is inside in the acknowledgements, and not everyone reads those. I know this isn't the author's fault, so why is this, publishers? I don't see how this can help but antagonize people who don't know and buy a book to find that it's book 2.

This review may have spoilers for Gabriel's Ghost.

My review of that is here – livejournal | vox.

Shades of Dark does pick up right after Gabriel's Ghost leaves off - Chasidah Bergren, ex-Fleet officer and her lover Gabriel Ross Sullivan are fugitives trying to clear their name and fight a corrupt Empire. There is some backstory explained at the beginning, but I hadn't read Gabriel's Ghost in a while so even I had problems remembering who was who just from the names. It took me a little bit to get back into the world, but throughout the book I still couldn't remember all the enemy factions – Darius Tage and Hayden Burke, Sheldon Blaine and the Farosians.. so it's worth making a little chart:

Enemies:

1. Darius Tage – bigwig in the Empire, xenophobe who is willing to breed jukors (mindless killing beasts) to have a weapon against the Ragkiril (usually Stolorths with telepathic powers, but Gabriel is a human one). In cahoots with Burke, has Emperor Prew's ear, and has been manipulating him to his own ends and destabilize the Admiral's Council (which controls the Fleet).

2. Hayden Burke – Sully's cousin. Playboy, in cahoots with Tage. Interested in discounting anything Sully does for their family's sizeable inheritances, wants power, also involved in breeding jukors.

3. Sheldon Blaine – claims he is the rightful heir to the emperor's throne (currently held by Emperor Prew). Is imprisoned in the planet Moabar, where Chaz was sent to at the beginning of Gabriel's Ghost. He is supported by a small group of Farosians.

4. The Farosians – Terrorists. A small faction on the side of Blaine, who want to free him from capitivity and take over the Empire. Call themselves Sheldon Blaine's Justice Wardens.

5. The Emperor/The Fleet – Because of the mechanisms of Tage and Burke, Sully and Chaz are considered terrorists and are on the run. Anyone on their side is on the wrong side of the law, dispite the powers being corrupt.

6. Purity Englarians – fanactical faction of Englarians who follow Abbot Eng's teachings and believe Takas are to be "guided" by humans and Stoloroths hated – and all Ragkiril's should be killed. A big problem for Sully and Chaz in the first book.

7. Mutunious crewmembers – Certain members of Sully's crew are not happy that there is a Stoloroth on board (Ren), who they think is a Ragkiril. A possible enemy within.

Do you see? How this is complicated? There's a lot of things going on despite much of the story taking place on Sully's spacecruiser, the Boru Karn. The book isn't short – 410 pages because of all the things going on. And besides all the intruige and incidents that happen in space because of their enemies and because they are wanted people, Sully and Chaz are also dealing with Sully's gifts as a Ragkiril. This is a darker story due to this. Sully has so much power, a power he feels is growing and which could corrupt him. Actually, it made the love story more complicated and interesting because of what Sully is going through. Now he and Chaz are ky'sara and ky'sal, they have to learn about it as they go along. Pushing matters further along, they meet Del, an exiled Stoloroth prince who wants to teach Sully, but who makes Chaz uncomfortable (I found him really creepy and sexual harassment sprang to mind).

Anyway, overall, I think this is a darker toned book that Sinclair's previous ones. I prefer the lighter stories, but this was more realistic because of the dark parts. There are a couple of shockers in here regarding some decisions Chaz makes in order to do the right thing. No spoilers, but things got really interesting in the last 30 or so pages. I didn't find the book as uncomfortable a read as some reviewers did, but I was disturbed by some things. The more I think about that, the more I liked this being part of the story.

It also felt like there were two distinct parts of the book that both focus on problems that are related to Sully's gift, like there were two big plots revolving around certain enemies, and because of them Sully is forced to deal with his Ragkiril nature. Once one major plotline was done with, the other one started, but both involved the darkness that comes with Sully's power. The only problem I had was that this book was pretty long, and there were lulls in the action. It that had to happen, but those parts felt slow to me. From the other reviews I see, I'm the only one who noticed though.

ETA: ALSO I noticed a lot more sex scenes in this book than any prior Sinclair novel. FYI.

This story continues in Hope's Folly, which is out in February 2009. It will focus on Chaz's ex-husband Admiral Philip Guthrie as he heads ex-Fleet, now-rebel forces in combat against the current Fleet. There's a teaser for this at the end of Shades of Dark, and it looks good.

Other reviews:

Ramblings on Romance

The Book Smugglers

Jace Scribbles

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Insatiable Desire by Rita Herron

Posted on August 31, 2008 by janicu

Insatiable Desire (The Demonborn)

Rita Herron

This is the first book of the Demonborn series by Rita Herron. I have to say this isn't something I would pick up for myself – I'd never read anything by this author although she has apparently written over 50 books, but I was offered a copy by the author so I gave it a try.

This is billed as a "paranormal romance" but I thought it was a lot darker than I would have expected from a paranormal. There is a lot of violence and torture described in the story besides the other paranormal elements – I'd say it definitely has horror elements.

Clarissa King is a psychic who lives by the Black Forest in Eerie, Tennessee, and she believes that the recent deaths of young women are related, and that they were murdered by the same person. Brought in to investigate is Vincent Valtrez of the FBI, who used to know Clarissa when they were younger. He used to live in Eerie before his abusive father killed his mother in a demonic rite, and Vincent, then 10 years old, was found outside the Black Forest with no memory of what happened. Let's just say that his guy is messed up in the head because of it. Sparks fly when the two meet again, but Vincent is not interested in having a relationship.

Vincent has a lot of darkness inside him which he attributes to his father's "bad blood" and because of this, he's very abrasive to women. He fears hurting someone the way his father hurt his mother. Clarissa on the other hand has her own issues – her mother and grandmother had her same pyschic ability, an ability to see restless spirits, but her mom went mad because of it and killed herself. Clarissa's greatest fear is following in her mother's footsteps.

The paranormal aspect of this book is demons. The burn in hell, minions of Satan, evil, scary, trying to steal your soul kind. The kind of demons they talk about in church. In the Black Forest they say that there is a black cave that is the palace of Satan on Earth, and every eclipse something bad happens because of it. In Insatiable Desire, the eclipse is coming and with it a new demon lord. One demon is trying to impress the new leader with souls, using his talent of touching a person and knowing their greatest fear.

An excerpt of the book is here.

My thoughts: First the characters – Vincent was really a big jerk, I mean huge, to Clarissa for about most of the book. Even after they have sex, he pushes her away again and again, but Clarissa actually keeps trying, and says that she knows he's like this because he was abused by his father as a kid. I had a hard time really agreeing with that, so I found Clarissa too forgiving. Every time it's Clarissa who reaches out and is the vunerable one first: saying she wants him, saying she loves him, and every time, he turns her down in a not nice way. Yet she tries again. Vincent also had a rule to only have sex with a woman once, and they had to face away from him. This wasn't really knight in shining armor material there. I think a lot of this is explained away by the face that Vincent is "demonborn" – half demon, which means he has tendencies towards evil as well as towards good, but it made me not like him much. It's hard to like someone who has fantasies of strangling women to death, and has blackouts where he wakes up with blood on his hands. Disturbing. Then the violence and the evil in the Black Forest – I just am not that into horror, and after a while it was too much. Not that I was seriously creeped out – more like it's just a lot. And it started to make me wonder – why is it that people called Clarissa "Crazy Clarissa" when they lived right next to the Forest where all this bad stuff often happened? Why didn't people believe in the supernatural there, but believed the Forest was full of evil? It was confusing.

The premise is interesting – half demon, half angel men who are really seriously fighting for their souls. I think there are people who will like this series, but I'm not quite the target audience for it.

The demonborn website with more information about this series, the world, it's characters, and a book trailer, is here.

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Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs

Posted on August 29, 2008 by janicu

Cry Wolf (Anna and Charles, Book 1)

Patricia Briggs

I've been meaning to review this book and just holding off for no particular reason for a while now. Here goes.

Cry Wolf is the first book in the start of a new urban fantasy series by Patricia Briggs, which is set in the same world as her Mercy Thompson series and runs in parallel with it. Although I say urban fantasy, this series does have a greater focus on romance than the Mercy series, which is something the author points out herself in interviews I've seen online. Fans of Mercy looking into reading this series should expect to see a lot about the relationship developing between Anna and Charles along with any action.

I strongly recommend reading "Alpha and Omega" in the On the Prowl anthology before reading Cry Wolf (reading the Mercy series isn't necessary though). In that short story we learn how our protagonists met – Anna called Bran for help with the Chicago pack, and he sent his enforcer and son, Charles. Charles realizes two things – one is that that Anna is a rare Omega wolf – someone sort of out of the pack structure – who can resist an Alpha's commands and who also soothes Alpha wolves. The other is that his wolf recognizes her as his mate. Cry Wolf takes up the story right after this. Things are still new with them so although they are sort of a pair now, it isn't set in stone. Both feel awkward and unsure of the other, and Cry Wolf tells the story from both their points of view (in the third person) so the reader can understand where each is coming from.

The story starts out with Charles still wounded after Chicago but after returning to Montana, another problem surfaces which needs his attention as his father's trusted right hand. There is evidence of a rogue wolf nearby, which is rare considering that this is the Pack headquarters. Bran has just killed a wolf and friend (his job if he sees madness taking over), and is wary of killing another so soon because of the possible backlash from his pack. So Charles, (and Anna with him) are sent to check it out.

I noticed more worldbuilding in terms of the pack and some of the backstory regarding it in this book. For instance the reader learns a bit more about what happens when two wolves decide to mate and what an Omega wolf can do. We also see some history for certain older wolves, including Bran and Samuel. I don't remember reading about this part of Bran's life from Mercy's series, so I thought that was very interesting and shed more light into why Bran is the Marrok.

My thoughts: I still love the Mercy series more, but it sure doesn't suck to get a book every six months from Briggs as she puts out Anna and Charles books between each Mercy offering. I enjoyed reading this book, and found myself slowly savoring it, not running through it in a day. Well, I was busy getting married too. I like Anna and I like Charles, but I'm not 100% sure about Anna yet. She doesn't seem as strong a character as Mercy. I'm kind of waiting to see about that – Anna seems so fragile and timid sometimes, although she does stand up for herself and does some things that put herself in danger, I am not seeing independence yet. Should be interesting to see how she develops. A good start to a series, looking forward to the rest!

P.S. There is an excerpt of Bone Crossed (book 4 of the Mercy Thompson series) at the end of this book. Ahhh.. salivating.

Other reviews (I see Bs and above pretty much):

The Good, The Bad, and the Unread: One Two

Urban Fantasy

Dear Author

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Ironside by Holly Black

Posted on August 27, 2008 by janicu

Ironside: A Modern Faery's Tale

Holly Black

Ironside is the third (and final?) installment in the Faery Tale series by Holly Black.

The first one, Tithe follows Kaye who is "not human and doesn't know it" as she discovers the faerie world and gets caught up in their politics. The second one; Valiant follows Val as she is homeless in New York City. Val runs into problems with the faerie drug "Never" – used by the exiled fae to lessen the issues caused by the iron in the city, but addictive and bad for humans. Ironside returns the focus to Kaye and finishes up the story.

The protagonists in this series are teens in the New Jersey, New York area who are independent outcasts, with friends of a similar ilk. There is a familiarity and ease in their conversations that feels real and reminds me of teenagers, except these teenagers are a little bit less innocent than others. They do a lot of adult things like smoke, drink, have sex, take drugs, get themselves in trouble..its all part of the dark edge to these books. The faery side of things is not light and fluffy - they're beautiful but disturbingly dangerous creatures. Humans are of little value and often toyed with because fae have powers and like to have some fun, even if it means death to an innocent that stumbled onto their path. Despite the dark side to the books, there are some happy endings to be expected out of them – each has a bit of romance thrown in, usually between a human and someone they thought was out of their league. It's sweet if you aren't a cynic about that stuff. Underlying that all three books are tied together by the same thread – unrest between the Seelie and Unseelie courts - first there is the unraveling of a peace agreement, then there are changes to who rules the Unseelie court.

******* From this point on there are spoilers for the first books ***********

In Ironside, Kaye is still in love with Roiben, who is the newly crowned Unseelie king. Kaye lives with humans still, but visits the faerie world whenever she can. Unsure of her place in faerie society, Kaye gets tricked into declaring her love for him publicly, and Roiben responds by giving her an impossible task: find a faerie who can tell an untruth. Kaye can't see Roiben again until she fulfills this task, and if she can't see him, she questions if she belongs with the faerie – there is no one to belong to. This is mirrored with her life as a human girl – her mother doesn't know that Faye is a changeling that replaced her real daughter, and Kaye feels very guilty about this.

My thoughts: I liked this book and it does tie up the story very nicely, though I think I preferred the first two books over this one. The beginning dragged a little for me, but I was really into the story in the second half of the book – I wasn't sure how it was going to end and I liked that. A couple of minor things I guessed, but for the most part I was an on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen to everyone. There was also a couple of cameos from characters in Valiant here too (brief appearances from them with the exception of Luis, who plays a bigger part in Ironside). As usual I really liked the descriptions of the faerie world and how they continue to secretly survive amongst humans (who can't see them as they really are).

There are some minor moments of disbelief – like I have a problem with Kaye being a blond asian (I'm half chinese so I pay attention to mixed race characters, and this little detail bugged me). Being blond is pretty much an impossibility if she is half Japanese. I would believe brown, but not blond (recessive gene yo)! Anyway, this wasn't brought up much in Ironside as much as it was in Tithe.

This book also shifted focus a bit more onto other characters besides the main one (Kaye). We see some of the thoughts of Roiben, who is usually distant and hard to understand from Kaye's point of view, and we also see what's going on in Corny's head. Corny is an interesting character because he's become fragile and fearful after his experiences in Tithe. In Ironside, Corny goes very far to try to protect himself. Actually the theme of doing something that's not quite right because you want to protect something else is a reoccurring one in this book. Right and wrong gets murky, like life, and this is especially true in Roiben's case, who is responsible for his people and wants to protect those he loves, even when they think he doesn't care about them.

P.S. This is a book I waited to read because it wasn't in softcover. The paperback edition came out July 08, but the hardcover was out April 07. Sigh. Not sure why there was such a long wait there.

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Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder

Posted on August 23, 2008 by janicu

Fire Study (Study, Book 3)

Maria V. Snyder

Fire Study is the final book in the Study trilogy which follows Yelena Zaltana, a prisoner turned food-taster in Ixia, then magic student and ambassador in Sitia.

I reviewed Magic Study (the second book) last month here – vox | livejournal . Poison Study is the first book.

When I read Magic Study I was comparing it to Poison Study (which I loved), and noticing the differences in the books. They felt like very different reads despite being in the same series. Besides a different "feel" they are also not set in the same location and we see an almost completely new cast of characters. Magic Study moves away from the people Yelena knew in Ixia. Instead we start to learn about Yelena's family and Sitia and about Yelena's problems with coming back home where she isn't exactly welcomed or trusted.

In comparison, Fire Study fits very well with Magic Study. The plot of Magic Study seems written with Fire Study in mind, so there are strings left in Magic Study that directly relate to much of what goes on in Fire Study. These two books have the same feel – mostly set in Sita, with a lot of Yelena's rushing into things and hoping things will work out. Her modus operandi. We have the same villians in Fire Study as with Magic Study, and the her brother Leif along for the ride in both books. The story continues where Magic Study left off with Yelena trying to pursue the villians, and she travels throughout Sitia to do so. In the meantime she is also trying to understand her magic and what it means because she's discovered that she's a Soulfinder – which isn't taken well by some people.

The main thing in Fire Study is Yelena finally finding her place in the world. I think that's probably why this time we see more Ixians – the Commander makes a couple of appearances, Valek is around a bit more, and so are Ari and Janco. The point seems to be so the reader sees Yelena someone who bridges both Sitia and Ixia. Before I read this I saw reviews that it was worth the read also to see what it meant for Yelena to be a Soulfinder - her real role gets revealed. This is true, though I sort of figured out the point a long time ago and was a bit surprised that it wasn't obvious to many people. Maybe I've just seen a lot of shinigami anime. Anyway, here too Yelena finds her place.

Good bits and nits:

Good:

I liked all the parts where Valek was around. I think the chemistry between the two is well written, and you feel that despite the long-distance relationship, they still feel strongly about each other.
As I said above, It did feel more cohesive with Magic Study.
I've commented on this in other reviews: usually Synder's villian's aren't black and white, we see why they are motivated to do what they do and they kind of make sense in a twisted way.

Nitty:

There was a complete wild goose chase in half of this book. It seemed like a lot of effort was put into getting Yelena to go off somewhere running around in Sitia, but why? I wasn't completely sure. Maybe it was the villians' diabolical plan, muhahahaha? but still rather… well, it's strange and I'm confused about it.
I didn't buy into the parts of the book where everyone was angry at Yelena. The reasons were silly, and then I just saw that everyone is annoyed at her, but I didn't see her as being particularly worthy of all the snits everyone was in. The only argument I bought was the one with Valek. And when these issues got resolved it was really quickly without much discussion.
So many villians. Making things too complicated – as in I"'m not sure I believe that there could be so many villians all up in here! Why, another one! Where'd you come from!". I think because of this, the villians started becoming more caricature-ish than in past books.

Overall: worth reading to finish the series. I'd say a decent read and nice to see how the people in Poison Study turned out. However Poison Study remains my favorite book in the series by far. Loved that book when I first read it, probably should reread it.

Did you know there is a Study livejournal community? I did not until today.

Also cool thing – Maria Snyder has short stories online to read: Assassin Study (starring Valek), and Power Study (with Janco and Ari).

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Wanderlust by Ann Aguirre

Posted on July 31, 2008 by janicu

Wanderlust

Ann Aguirre

This is book 2 of the Sirantha Jax series, book 1 is Grimspace, which I reviewed here.

In this series, our flawed heroine Jax is a jumper, someone with a special j-gene that allows her to navigate ships through grimspace. As with all jumpers she's addicted to the thrill of grimspace but knows that her life expenctancy is low - her next jump could fry her mind and be her last. This has made her rather devil-may-care and self-serving until she is the sole survivor in a horrific crash, and March finds her under arrest by the Corp.

In Wanderlust, Jax is past much of the problems she dealt with in Grimspace, but, as her luck would have it, she runs into another set. Now she discovers that because she was briefly declared dead, this lead to her accounts being frozen and right now she's broke. This means she needs a job, and what's being offered is an ambassadorship to Ithiss-Tor. That's the planet Vel, her would-be assassin-turned-friend came from – where the inhabitants are human-sized insects that can produce a camoflage layer of skin to blend into other societies. Jax and her motley group of friends decide to take the job, but there are other groups around them with hidden agendas. Some want Jax to go and do a good job, some want her to go and fail spectacularly, and some just want to kill her. Action and space opera ensues!

I found a good review of this book, which I agreed with (that also has more detail about the plot, so don't click if you don't want to know) , here at LJ's genrereviews community.

Overall, I found that this book was slower-paced than Grimspace in a good way. Things feel like they take the right amount of time. I don't think the story needs to have constant action, and it was good to have some lulls (resting between battles, a non-eventful space trip once in a while, more planning, more quiet moments). There is still plenty going on of course, lots of suspense and action, its just not all of the book. This was a good thing.

Besides Vel, March, and Dina who were introduced in Grimspace , a couple new people join their crew – Hit, a skilled fighter and pilot, and Jael, an ex-mercenary. Both with complicated pasts, as with everyone in Jax's circle. Hit and Dina get along very well, and there are hints at a blossoming relationship between the two women – I really liked how this was written – like they fit together easily, without much fuss or fanfare, but still it seems like something special. Meanwhile March and Jax's relationship continues to evolve, and it's not easy for them. Aguirre throws an interesting wrench into things, and I'm waiting to see how it gets resolved in later books. I've been quite pleased with the writing in terms of the snappy dialog between people, and the growing friendships in the crew. The characters in the book all intruiged me, not just Jax and March. Even Jax's personal assistant 245 interested me! So - I felt totally satisfied after reading this book because – I still want to know what happens next, which is what you want to have when you know there's another book coming along. And I think my interest will probably last until the next book comes out. Plus, it felt like a great escape to read the book. Good space opera fun.

Wanderlust comes out on August 26th, 2008.

Here's an excerpt.

Book 3 and 4 are contracted and tentatively (?) will be called Doubleblind and Killbox. I believe there is going to be a book 5, but that has no title yet.

Aguirre also has an urban fantasy series in the works, about a woman who finds missing people with her ability to touch things and know what it's history is. The first book is Blue Diablo and is out April 7th, 2009, and book 2 is Hell Fire, which comes out sometime at the end of 2009.

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I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d have to Kill you/Cross My Heart And Hope to Spy by Ally Carter

Posted on July 24, 2008 by janicu

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You (Gallagher Girls)

Ally Carter

Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy (Gallagher Girls)

Ally Carter

There was a big flea market sale in the Catholic girls school a block away from us so I ended up picking through the books there and getting these. I've heard the titles before - they're long, but memorable titles. These two are the first in a series about a girl who is going to what everyone thinks is a rich girls boarding school for geniuses, but is really a school for spies. I'd Tell You I love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You is book 1, and Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy is book 2. Book 3 is not out yet and scheduled to come out next year (June 9th, 2009).

Cammie Morgan is the daughter of the school headmistress (a former spy naturally), who has grown up at the Gallagher academy and with spying as a family tradition. Her father was also a spy – who left on a mission and never came home – this is a source of internal grief for Cammie. Since she's the headmistress' daughter, Cam knows many of the secret passages and hideaways within the academy, and she's a master at blending in (her nickname is Cameleon).

These were fast, enjoyable reads. I read them at the end of my day and had to stop and make myself sleep, but I could have easily read them in one 2 or 3 hour sitting. There's a lot of fun in reading about the unique school - all the students that may go to it, and the classes that they need to take. So that part is entertaining, but here are some realistic teenage problems that occur in the unusual setting, which made the books are surprisingly more relatable than I first expected them to be. Mostly because in between learning how to be a good agent, Cammie Morgan is learning about boys. That's a universal subject – and something girls in the Gallagher academy have no experience on. I think all girls in this world have once felt like boys were speaking a foreign language with one word answers and cryptic sentences that need dissecting later to figure out what he really means. It was sort of funny that even the talented Gallagher girls, who know several languages, have genius IQs and secret agent training, can't figure out out the mystery of the opposite sex. They even talked about a writing a translator. Nothing is really easy or pat in terms of relationships, so I felt like the story was a bit above the usual young adult "girl gets boy" novel. The book was light reading for the most part, and the spy school is fantasy, but there is some depth in the growing pains I read in here. Cammie's reactions felt believable – she takes her time and is more cautious after certain experiences – a bit less trusting, more wary, which seems more realistic, especially with her life. I also liked how the author made a point for the school to really want to teach the girls that what they're learning isn't just fun and games- it's often a dangerous job and people die. The adults do not take what they put the girls through lightly.

Fun way to pass the time – probably a hit with it's target audience. I can see this as being a good book for 12-14 year olds.

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Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder

Posted on June 30, 2008 by janicu

Magic Study (Study, Book 2)

Maria V. Snyder

Magic Study is a fantasy novel and the second book in the Study trilogy.

In book 1, Yelena, our protagonist and narrator, is a woman imprisoned for murder who was given the choice between death or being the poison taster for the Commander of Ixia. Yelena chooses to become a poison taster, learns a lot about poison, and soon becomes involved with the political intriuge around her. The story was gripping because to keep Yelena in check, Valek, the Commander's assassin and spy-master has poisoned her. Yelena and must take a daily dose of the antidote to stay alive. In Magic Study Yelena has been freed and sent to Sitia to meet her family and to learn to control her magic.

I found Poison Study so compelling because of Yelena being on the edge of death every day while dealing with the intruige and the growing romance with Valek. It was difficult not to compare Magic Study to the previous book, and while it was still well written and compelling, it didn't seem to be on the same level as Poison Study (I'm not sure it COULD be, because the same situations that made Poison Study such a page-turner can't really be repeated again in a second book). On the other hand there were relationships which were interesting (when she meets her brother for the first time, he hates her on sight and is sure she is a spy), and a magical serial killer on the loose, and Yelena is still learning her magic so there are enough things going on to keep me reading. It just didn't feel the same. Maybe because I wanted there to be more of Yelena learning her magic than running headlong into trouble and trying to save people, and there sure was a lot of disastrous situations happening one after another – it started to feel manufactured that as soon as one thing is dealt with, something else happens. The plot felt like a string of Yelena solving everyone's problems, and that made the story as a whole suffer, despite it being well written. I think taking out one or two "Yelena runs into trouble and figures out some new thing with her magic to save herself/someone else" scenes and adding some more character depth scenes (like the resolution with her problems with her brother needed more than what it got), I would have been happier with the story. In any case, the fact that there are grey characters that had competing views they had of the same situation and their attitudes change as they grow is something I liked. This still is a keeper for me.

Side note – Opal, Cowen a glassmaker who has a small part in this book is getting her own series starting with Storm Glass which comes out in 2009.

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paperback to hardcover

Posted on June 27, 2008 by janicu

Bone Crossed – potential cover

Zeek from the blog The Way I See It posted that book 4 of the Mercy Thompson series, Bone Crossed, is going to be hardcover!

Uggg.

You know, I'm a big fan of this series, but I don't like hardcover. I think the last fiction book I bought new in hardcover was back in 1996. If an author I really like comes out in hardcover I will wait a whole year or more to get the paperback. I will choose trade paperback over hardcover. I am not a fan of waiting, but I'll wait. If the series started out hardcover, i feel ok, it's my choice to wait till paperback since I prefer paperback. But when the series started out paperback and then went hardcover – so now I have all these paperbacks, and you want me to buy a hardcover mid-series? I can see how this benefits the writer and the publisher, like it's a big deal to get a hardcover rather than a paperback, and I think the author makes more royalties on hardcover and so if the author can keep writing it helps the reader. All good in theory, but on a personal level it doesn't really make me happy. I don't like buying hardcover.

I might have bought it if it was trade paperback. I might have bought it if it was the first book in a new series. But hardcover mid-series when I already own all the books in paperback …I'm probably going to have to get it at the library and buy it when it comes out in paperback. But I feel disappointed I have to wait.

Other people complaining about this hardback issue.

The flip side of the coin. And a debate.

Sigh.

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