Kitty's Big Trouble

With all the trouble Kitty has gotten into since she was turned into a werewolf, it's hard to imagine that it could get any worse. But there's a reason why book #9 is named KITTY'S BIG TROUBLE--by the end you'll understand.

But, instead, let's go back to the beginning. In the last book, KITTY GOES TO WAR, she learned about the U.S. government's use of werewolves in combat, and she asked herself: how long have they been doing it, and who else in U.S. history could have been hiding their own supernatural origins?

These questions lead her on a strange chase across state lines and eventually points clues to Roman, a very old vampire she's crossed paths with before. So is it coincidence that vampire ally Anastasia calls Kitty the very next day asking to help stop Roman from acquiring an ancient and powerful artifact?

Vaughn does stretch the connections here a little thinly, as Kitty, her husband Ben, and friend Cormac, traipse through Kansas and then San Fransisco. But once they get to California, and Anastasia explains why she asked for their help, then things really get moving. And from there on out the pace moves quickly, and in a direction you won't expect.

Set in San Fransisco's Chinatown, most of the action actually happens underground, in a series of mazes that shouldn't exist. In rooms that shouldn't exist. That houses people who Kitty once thought of as myths.

But it's less the setting than the people who will keep you reading. I enjoy Kitty and Ben's relationship more and more. We get to learn more about Cormac and the sorceress spirit he houses in his body, and their unusual partnership. Anastasia and Roman, as vampires, are old and mysterious and rather self-absorbed, so it's hard to really enjoy them as characters. There are other, new characters who are fun to read about, but I don't want to spoil your fun.

Sure the title alludes to the movie Big Trouble in Little China, since they are both set in the same city/neighborhood. But it's more than that. Something happens, and Kitty is given a new responsibility that's bigger than ever. Sure KITTY'S BIG TROUBLE is a good, consistent addition to the series, but in a lot of ways it's really a segue of what Vaughn promises will follow. And Kitty doesn't disappoint.

Recommended Age: 14+
Language: A handful of instances
Violence: The usual smattering, but not particularly gory
Sex: Vaguely referenced by a married couple, otherwise just some cuddling

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Posted in Books for Chicks , Carrie Vaughn , Urban Fantasy

Black Swan Rising

Garet James is different, but she doesn't know it. She leads a pretty normal life for a mid-twenties New Yorker: runs her elderly father's gallery, has made a decent business for herself from making jewelry, hangs out with her friends.

Until she finds out that the debts on her father's gallery are suddenly due and she doesn't know how they'll ever repay them in the current economic crisis. On the way home from the lawyer's, she wanders into an antiques shop to ask for directions, and the mysterious owner asks her to help him open a sealed silver box using her talents. How could she refuse his generous monetary compensation?

But the box turns out to be important, a sort of gate to the supernatural, and when Garet opens it, demons are released to wreak havoc on New York.

Garet learns she's descended from a long line of women 'watchtowers'--those who stand as guardians on the border between humans and magic. And it will be up to her to stop John Dee from using the magic box and destroying New York and eventually the world.

As a result, Garet must learn the elemental magic from the Fae around the city: Ariel and wind, Melusine and water, Noam Eardmann and earth, Ddraik and fire. Her guide is Oberon. Do any of these names ring a bell? There's an assortment of supernatural creatures: fairies, gnomes, and of course a vampire love interest.

Garet has a lot to learn before she'll be ready to face John Dee. As a result Garet spends a lot of her time traipsing through New York and learning magic--so much time is spent on it, in fact, that there's little time for deeper characterization and explaining the magic. Garet spends half of the novel learning about the different elemental magics, so my logical conclusion was that this knowledge would be used in the climax. It wasn't. The over-saturation of magic throughout the book all dissipates during the last chapter, after the climax, as though it's not important anymore. Almost as though there weren't consequences to the demons unleashed, or her learning powerful magic, that it has no room in her mundane life. Which was rather a let-down.

Garet, as the main PoV character could have been better developed. I did like that she wasn't a kick butt brassy typical urban fantasy heroine, but having spent the whole novel building up for her confrontation with John Dee and have it fall so flat means that she doesn't really progress as a character. A problem I had with her was she would make random decisions, without really thinking about it, mostly for the sake of the plot's tension for her to have trouble to get out of. The other secondary characters, while interesting and important to Garet, were also shallowly drawn. The 'romance' between Garet and rich vampire Will Hughes, while starting out fine, progressed awkwardly and their interactions were disappointingly emotionless. By the end of the novel, there was left a big enough hole in their relationship to leave room for sequels.

The prose and plot are very straightforward; and while the pace is pretty consistent, the flow lurches in places making it hard to follow as Garet travels from place to place, mostly because she moves around a lot through New York. However, I did enjoy the glimpse at New York, without making me feel like an idiot for never having been there. I was able to follow Garet's movement through the city easily enough.

I read BLACK SWAN RISING pretty fast. It was fun, Lee Carroll obviously spent time researching in order to add the supernatural elements to the book, which made it fun to point out and look up later. But it's similar in depth to other urban fantasy books, and may even be a fresh departure from the other uber-powerful heroines out there.

Recommended Age: 16+, this will appeal to older YA readers, as well
Language: Infrequent, and not very strong at that
Violence: Some peril and blood, but nothing intense or graphic
Sex: A brief scene

Lee Carrol is the pseudonym for the collaboration between mystery novelist Carol Goodman and her poet husband Lee Slonimsky.

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Posted in Books for Chicks , Lee Carroll , Urban Fantasy

River Marked

Mercy's life changed when she moved to tri-cities Washington. Since then she's had run-ins with vampires and demons, lived next door to the a werewolf pack's Alpha, collected a fae artifact or two along the way--and has risked her life several times to help her friends. But now, in RIVER MARKED, we get to see something a little more personal about Mercy: her Native American heritage.

Mercy is engaged to marry Adam Hauptman, Alpha of the Columbia Basin werewolf back. She may not be a werewolf, herself, but Mercy can hold her own. She's a 'walker', a shape-shifter who can become a coyote--an ability she inherited from her Native American father, and which has served her well in the past when she's had to fight the vampires and fae she inevitably comes in contact with.

Early in the novel Mercy and Adam get married, and hope for a nice, private honeymoon. Of course, that's not what they get. Instead they get a river monster, straight out of American Indian mythology.

But they can't fight the monster alone: the local Indian shaman and friends lend a hand, as well as Coyote. Yes, the god Coyote from Native American mythology--the one who long ago didn't kill the river monster when he had the chance. Remember that Mercy can turn into a coyote? It turns out that Coyote may have had something to do with that...

If you enjoyed the other books in Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson series, then RIVER MARKED (book 6) will not only continue with the characters you love so much, but you get to see Mercy and Adam grow and change, and learn a little bit about Mercy's heritage. I enjoy Adam and Mercy's relationship, how they work as a team and trust each other, how they respect their limitations and allow flaws without letting it ruin the relationship. Unfortunately we don't get to see much of the regular gang; but that's not necessarily a bad thing since we actually get to see a lot of time with Adam and Mercy together.

Coyote in particular is a fun character--you can tell that Briggs has done her homework. Seeing his interactions, behaviors, and willingness to sacrifice made him engaging; I hope I get to see him again in the series. The other characters aren't more than shallow surfaces, but since it's a short book there really wasn't time for much else. And as usual, Briggs' world is multi-faceted. While she uses extant mythologies and locations, she weaves them deftly into her stories.

You've likely grown familiar with Briggs' prose and straightforward storytelling, and here it continues as easy-to-read as ever. The plot moves along at a good clip, revealing things at key points, all leading up to the exciting conclusion. Usually Briggs has a convoluted scene or explanation in her books; but not this time, everything was clear and engaging.

This series is a great palate cleanser--delightful and entertaining. You could read RIVER MARKED without having read the previous ones. But if you're an urban fantasy lover, you should read all the books, starting with MOON CALLED.

Recommended Age: 14+
Language: A mere handful of uses.
Violence: A fair amount, since people die, but it's on par with similar books.
Sex: Nothing graphic, but Adam and Mercy are on their honeymoon, so it's talked about.

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Posted in Books for Chicks , Books We Like , Patricia Briggs , Urban Fantasy

Kitty Goes to War

Carrie Vaughn's urban fantasy series about werewolf Kitty Norville who hosts a paranormal call-in radio show adds #8 to list with KITTY GOES TO WAR (there are two more slated to finish the series). Vaughn's series is the kind where you can read each book as a standalone, but they're that much more layered if you've read the others. The same applies to WAR, you can enjoy the story on its own.

In KITTY GOES TO WAR, Kitty is contacted by a doctor at the government's center for paranatural biology to help with a problem. Three Green Beret soldiers have been brought back from Afghanistan after their unit went haywire. Unfortunately, they're werewolves and incapable of reintegrating into a non-militarized setting, especially after the death of their alpha. Being cooped up in a government facility where the walls are coated in silver doesn't help their attitude, either.

Since this is Kitty, problems are never simple. At the same time she's trying to help three very violent werewolves, the CEO of the Speedy Mart franchise, Harold Franklin, is suing her for libel. You see, she spent one of her shows speculating with callers about mysterious events happening at Speedy Marts around the country. Franklin's overly quick reaction to mere speculation--and to a late-night spook show, even--makes Kitty reasonably suspicious that perhaps there is something unusual going on after all.

Kitty has changed a lot over the series, and in a good way. Here she continues to have doubts about whether she's doing the right thing, but she puts on a good front for the sake of those she's responsible for. She makes a great heroine, in that she's still completely female and soft-hearted, but she's got the courage to do what's difficult. She's been a werewolf long enough that she's accepted it, and feels compelled to help others cope, too. With her is her lawyer-werewolf-husband Ben, whose intelligence, voice of reason, and support makes them a great team. And finally there's Cormac, the third-wheel, former paranormal bounty hunter, who's finally out of prison, sporting secrets of his own.

Vaughn's prose is no-nonsense storytelling that's quick-paced, but flows easily. Kitty's first-person PoV is filled with humor and insight, making situations that should be ridiculous easier to swallow. Vaughn's a solid storyteller, consistent and polished, even if a little predictable; but, hey, that's what her readers like, and makes for great pool-side summer reading.

Complaints? Not a whole lot. It's hard to be sticky knowing what kind of genre it is going in. The secondary characters could have more depth. The climax could have been less contrived with Cormac's big reveal of what really went on in prison. These are, unfortunately, pitfalls of using first-person PoV. Compared to the early books in the series, there's more about how werewolf behavior stands out, how it's a culture within a culture that must be taken seriously. However, Vaughn could have done more with the werewolf culture, as WAR only shows its surface when there's a whole lot more to explore. There's also hints about what else is out there, such as wizards, faerie, and vampires, but while those will take the form of friends or enemies in the series, we don't get a lot of background detail. If Vaughn gave the setting more depth, this series could really have some meat on its bones.

Recommended Age: 16+
Language: Just a handful.
Violence: Mostly a lot of werewolf posturing, but the end does have fighting and blood that's moderately graphic.
Sex: With Kitty happily married it's toned down compared to previous novels.

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Posted in Books for Chicks , Carrie Vaughn , Urban Fantasy

Silver Borne

Mercedes Thompson, car mechanic and shape-shifter, leads a complicated and exciting life. Considering the vampires, werewolves, and fae that surround her, whether friend or enemy, there's usually something dangerous involved. But the great thing about Mercy is that her friends can always count on her when there's trouble.

Only this time, in SILVER BORNE, it's Mercy who needs help.

She's the unwitting owner of a fae item that someone would kill to get. Unfortunately, while Mercy is trying to discover the identity of her would-be assassin, her long-time werewolf friend Sam is in another kind of trouble: after hundreds of years he no longer has the will to live, but Mercy refuses to let him give up. Yet there just doesn't seem to be enough time to solve these problems before lives are at stake.

There's many reasons why I like to read Patricia Briggs' stuff over and beyond any other urban fantasy. Foremost is that she's excellent with setting. While others gloss over the intricacies of living in a werewolf pack or having a vampire as a friend, Briggs doesn't stop at the obvious--she goes deeper and it enriches her stories and the relationships between her characters. After two different series (if you also include Alpha and Omega, Charles' and Anna's story) to build onto the setting, there's only that much more to grab you. So while the books in the Mercy Thompson series are fine to read as stand-alones, it would be hard to believe any urban fantasy lover wouldn't want to read the entire series and get the full brunt of what Briggs has created. It's also kind of fun that it's set in the atypical location of Tri-Cities Washington.

Mercy is an enjoyable mixture of bold and thoughtful, loyal and independent, courageous and vulnerable. Her shape-shifting is inherited from her Blackfoot Indian father: she's a 'walker' who can become a coyote (not to be confused with weres), and as a result she's also able to see ghosts and has some resistance to magic. Adam is her werewolf alpha boyfriend, whose overprotectiveness is sometimes creepy, but oddly endearing because it doesn't stop him from letting Mercy be who she is. Sam, the son of the the North American Alpha of all Alphas, and a dominant in his own right, is a friend from Mercy's childhood. His story is a fascinating one, and it's interesting to see how his age and experience affects his behavior. He's been around since early in the series and needed a resolution, so I was glad that his story finally wrapped up in a satisfying way (ok, I admit the resolution was probably too easy, but I just went with it). Side characters, such as members of Adam's pack and Mercy's friends and co-workers, are all a diverse group without being too many to keep track of--and they're easy to care about because Mercy sees them for who they are and loves them for it anyway. Briggs has been consistent across the series with her characters and setting, yet is still true to Mercy's development as her story has unfolded from book to book.

Briggs' prose is unencumbered, and Mercy's first-person PoV is intelligent without being melodramatic or too flippant. That's one thing that drives me crazy with the current urban fantasy chit lit: authors think that the females have to be brash and kick-butt, or at the very least sassy, but it always comes off as annoying and unbelievable. That, or else they're so powerful or know-it-all that they have too easy a time coming up with solutions to problems. Mercy approaches her dilemmas in a realistic way, accepts her limitations and will work around them in order to get the job done (she's not so ultra modern female as to not ask for help), no matter how scary the situation is.

SILVER BORNE's plot is straightforward, although with a touch of Briggs' usual convolution to complicate things. There's a big scene about a quarter of the way in where lots of crazy stuff starts happening, and there's all these names, so I got lost--Briggs could have been more careful with how she handled the entire chapter. But there seems to be a complicated event like that in all of her books; for example, the entire end of book 1, MOON CALLED, was a confusing explanation of motives and actions that still doesn't make sense to me. You'd think she'd know better by now, especially considering how many books she's written, but I guess even experienced authors will overreach.

Briggs plans on writing two more books before finishing up Mercy's series. Fortunately, she's just starting her Alpha and Omega series, so it looks like she's not leaving that world anytime soon. In the meantime, if you haven't read any of Mercy's story, go find MOON CALLED and get to know her and her friends.

Recommended Age: 16+
Language: A few scattered here and there.
Violence: Yes. There are werewolves after all, and they are temperamental creatures.
Sex: Innuendo throughout, and one detailed scene.

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Posted in Books for Chicks , Patricia Briggs , Urban Fantasy

Discord's Apple

Carrie Vaughn writes books for the female demographic, no doubt about it. Her Kitty Norville series (review of her latest book in that series coming later) has scooped up quite a bit of popularity and recognition, so really it was only a matter of time before she started branching out more and more. DISCORD'S APPLE is her latest effort towards giving her readers something a little different from her normal releases.

Here is where we repeat the disclaimer: Carrie Vaughn writes for the female demographic. She doesn't write for guys. We are guys. Are you following our logical progression?

This doesn't mean we didn't like DISCORD'S APPLE. To be honest, we were surprised how much the ideas grabbed us. DISCORD'S APPLE is set in an alternate present day. The world is on the verge of an all-out Apocalypse, or perhaps even in the middle of one. Wars are all over the place. Nukes are being set off. Rationing is in full-effect. It's a fairly grim world. We really wish it had been even more detailed, and more described, because we seemingly only get a taste of how bad things are.

In the midst of this Apocalypse, the main character of the novel, Evie Walker, is going though a personal Apocalypse. Her father has cancer. Evie takes a break from her normal job in Los Angeles--she's a writer for a comic book--to go be with her father. The story has three different time periods. Evie's, which takes place in the small of Hope's Fort, Colorado; the end of the Trojan War (and the decades thereafter), following Sinon the Liar, the man who convinced Troy to bring the infamous Horse through the gates; we also get brief glimpses of Evie's ancestors, and the responsibility they have/were given.

The characters are all good, if a little too black-and-white for our taste (even the "Liar" character). The good guys are good. The bad guys are bad. The gods are fickle. No real surprises there. Really this novel is all about the the combination of these seemingly unrelated ideas. For the most part, Vaughn does a great job. There are times when the main PoV, Evie, gets a tad too whiny, but it's pretty easily forgivable due to what she is going through.

Being Urban Fantasy and all, of course there is a mystery, and the question of a passed along birthright. There is a basement room in the Walker home that Evie's father is the caretaker of. In this room are dozens of mysterious items that random people are showing up to ask for. What are the items? Who are the people? Read the book and find out. We aren't going to spoil it no matter how many times you ask.

If there is one thing in this book that bothered us, it was Evie's profession. There are numerous times in the novel where we get Evie writing for her comic. Now we get that she is putting her own fears and frustrations into her comic. It's a metaphor for her life. We just had a really hard time caring about her profession at all. We would rather have had more focus on the world, or on the things that are actually happening in Evie's life. What it felt like was Carrie Vaughn projecting herself into her Evie character, who was in turn projecting herself into her comic book character. It was just a bit much, and took away from the actual story that was being told. And really in the end, it didn't matter much at all, and felt like it was just there to take up space.

DISCORD'S APPLE is a short book. 300 quickly-read pages. The writing is on par with her other series, the characters good but simple, and the story decent. While it felt a little bare-bones, Vaughn's readers will find quite a bit they can enjoy here. If you are unfamiliar with Vaughn's work, but don't really want to jump into a full series at the moment, DISCORD'S APPLE will give you a good glimpse of her style and story-telling technique. Guys: This won't be your thing. Gals: You'll probably really dig this.

Recommended Age: 16 and up.
Language: There is none for about half the novel, then suddenly there is some pretty strong language.
Violence: Very little.
Sex: Yeah there is some.

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Posted in Books for Chicks , Carrie Vaughn , Urban Fantasy

Series: The Sharing Knife

Lois McMaster Bujold is easily one of my favorite authors, from her Hugo Award winning PALADIN OF SOULS to the immensely popular Miles Vorkosigan series. When she began The Sharing Knife series I was excited to see her writing new fantasy, and picked up BEGUILEMENT when it first came out in paperback in 2007. The fourth and final book, HORIZON, was released in paperback this past January.

If you liked PALADIN OF SOULS this new series may pique your interest: like PALADIN it has a love story, magic, fascinating characters, and a well-developed setting. However, if you're a fan of Miles and the excitement and high adventure he usually falls into, The Sharing Knife may be too leisurely to grab your attention.

That isn't to say the series isn't well written or interesting, because it is. Bujold's prose is among the best in speculative fiction today, and this series is no exception. She knows how to paint a picture that flows authentically from her PoV characters. The Earth-like world feels real, from the harsh climes of the north, to the expanses of farmland, to life along the river. And, as always, the magic is subtly woven into the story.

But since it's a story about two people who fall in love and get married, many male readers may never get past book one. Oh well, their loss.

Dag is a Lakewalker, a nomadic people with a purpose: to hunt down and rid the world of 'malices'. A malice is an immortal monster that appears at random to consume everything around it, and the only way to kill it is with a Lakewalker sharing knife, which is made using their magic 'groundsense'. Anyone not a Lakewalker is considered a farmer, and are treated as inferiors since they have no groundsense of their own. Dag has been patrolling for over thirty years and taken part in nearly as many malice kills, making him a legend among his own people. At the start of BEGUILEMENT, Dag is foundering, his tragic past weighing him down.

Fawn crosses paths with Dag during a routine patrol gone chaotic with the discovery of a new malice not far from her family's farm. She's almost killed by the malice, but Dag saves her, and for the first time in her life she's admired and taken seriously. So begins their unlikely romance, much to the dismay of their families--and not only because of the age difference, but because they come from two different worlds.

The story isn't all about the romance, equal time is spent on groundsense: the subtle magic that Lakewalkers rely on to tell them about the world and people around them. Groundsense is the natural manipulation of their environment, from healing to sensing surroundings to strengthening their handiwork. Dag takes an unconventional approach to his magic as he struggles to innovate in order to solve problems previously thought to be insurmountable. As a result of his magical discoveries, Dag realizes how he can begin to heal the rift of distrust between Lakewalker and farmer--recognizing that none of his progress is possible without his farmer bride Fawn at his side.

Each book builds on the previous ones, with new information about the setting and magic expanding our knowledge of the world and its inhabitants. BEGUILEMENT sets the tone for the series, as well as the foundation for the setting and its characters. LEGACY deals mostly with the problems associated with Dag and Fawn's Lakewalker-farmer relationship. PASSAGE is the weakest and slowest of the novels because it's even more character and setting driven as Dag tries to solve problems with his groundsense. The series momentum doesn't really get rolling until the last half of HORIZON, with its meaningful climax and tidy resolution.

Unfortunately, the series may disappoint Bujold fans, and her new fantasy readers would be better served to begin with the excellent THE CURSE OF CHALION. While I enjoyed the romance between the fascinating Dag and Fawn, as well as the details of how groundsense works, Bujold takes too long to tell the overarching story. The excitement potential with the malice troubles is spread too thin and the pacing may frustrate readers who want to see a quicker payoff. The four-part series breaks up awkwardly between the books (likely because it was originally planned as a duet) and would have been better if it had been written as a more streamlined trilogy.

If you like beautiful prose, world-building, complex characters, the nitty-gritty of what makes magic work, and you're patient enough for a satisfying conclusion, then this series is worth reading. If you prefer Miles-like action-packed craziness, then not so much.

Recommended Age: 16+
Language: Tame.
Violence: A few fights with monsters or bandits, but not particularly graphic.
Sex: In the first and second book there are a handful of detailed, but tasteful scenes. The later books mostly have innuendo.

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Posted in Books for Chicks , Books We Like , Fantasy , Lois McMaster Bujold

Dead and Gone

Yes, we have read the full Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris. Short stories included. Call it a not-so-secret guilty pleasure. The fact of the matter is that Harris makes us laugh, and we enjoy it when an author intentionally makes us laugh through comedy rather than the alternative...

DEAD AND GONE, is the latest entry into the Sookie Stackhouse series about a girl (Sookie) who can read minds, and vampires who have come out of the coffin (Harris' pun, not ours) and have announced themselves to the world. You may not have read the books, but we can almost be positive that you have at least heard of the HBO series, True Blood. It's the adaptation of the novels. Unlike our recent discussion about Dexter, True Blood has yet to come close to surpassing the novels in terms of quality. The comedy that makes Harris' novels so enjoyable is all but omitted from the TV show.

Anyways. The book. DEAD AND GONE.

If you've been following the series, you know that all manner of supernatural beings exist in the world Harris created (adapted). This particular novel deals with the announcement to the world from the bajillions of were-creatures that they exist. It's their own coming-out party, and it includes the apparent and immediate consequences. Consequences in Harris' novels usually means someone (or something) being murdered. In this case, it's a were-panther being crucified.

Look, this series is marketed to females. We probably wouldn't have read the series except we know her agent, and we were interested in what all the hoopla was with the TV series. This is what TWILIGHT ripped off and watered-down to a pathetically safe and sucky (you knew we were going to throw this pun in sometime...don't act so surprised) level. This series (and thus, this novel) has all sorts of violence, swearing and sex in it, though this novel had the least out of all the books in all three categories.

Harris tells her stories in 1st Person, and it really lets the readers focus in on what Sookie is going through that she keeps hidden from everyone else. This is DEAD AND GONE's strong point, and gets us back on track after last year's disappointing FROM DEAD TO WORSE. Without letting loose and spoilers, stuff actually happens in DEAD AND GONE, and we get some very interesting revelations on Sookie's past. Not to mention, the ending to this book is actually pretty grim. People die...and they stay dead...and un-vampired (We can make up any words we want! We are WRITERS!). If feels even more grim when compared to the comedic tone that saturates Harris' novels. The contrast was extremely well done.

When all is said and done, this feels like we are going back up in quality. It isn't the strongest of the series, but enjoyable and satisfying nonetheless.

Our major quip here has nothing to do with the storytelling, and more with the format of the novel. DEAD AND GONE, like Harris' other novels, is a one-night read. Considering the $25 price-tag on this novel, we just don't know if we feel justified in seeing a person buy this novel for a quick couple-of-hours read. We are going to suggest you wait for the paperback, but if you need it NOW, go to the library, or buy the novel off Amazon for $14 (still a bit rich of our...blood...har har).

Charlaine Harris' novels are quick, entertaining reads that a majority of females will enjoy. Parts of them read a lot like romance novels, which will be enough to turn most guys off to them. We read them for the comedy, and as a stick-out-our-tongues gesture to the Twilight novels that so blatantly ripped off Harris' hard work. But yeah. These are definitely 'Books for Chicks,' though now we are invested, so we kinda feel obligated to keep on reading. We'll survive. Harris' characters and comedy are solid (especially her dialogue), so we don't feel too guilty.

Recommended Age: 16 and up.
Language: Not anything close to what the TV series throws at you, but still a noticeable bit for a short novel.
Violence: Yeah. Harris' novels are thankfully (for us guys) high in violent content. Remember, these are actual vampires, so they rip out peoples throats and stuff.
Sex: Uh yeah. Harris' scenes are fairly graphic, though there was only one scene in this particular novel.


If you haven's started this series yet, you should definitely start from book one. In fact, check out this box set of the first seven novels:

Sookie Stackhouse Box Set

And also, go send Charlaine Harris some emails of love. She's a good author who thoroughly enjoys writing. The one time we met her in passing, she seemed like a genuinely nice person as well.

http://www.charlaineharris.com/

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Posted in Books for Chicks , Charlaine Harris , Urban Fantasy

Dark Time

Let us just start, right from the get go, by saying that DARK TIME: Mortal Path by Dakota Banks is NOT written for guys like us. In fact we would go so far as to say its not written for guys at all. So we feel an obligation for some leeway in the way we review it. Don't worry, we will still do it in style, as you have come to expect from us.

DARK TIME is an entry into the current trend of Urban Fantasy with a touch of eroticism and a strong female lead. It follows closely in the footsteps of the likes of Laurell K. Hamilton and Faith Hunter. Is this a bad thing? Well our feelings our mixed on that score. It doesn't stray from that tried and true formula very much, if at all, which is somewhat disappointing. However, that means that what content there is works (for the most part, as we will demonstrate later).

First of all, what did Banks do right?

Well our first thought is both a right and a wrong. She didn't take any risks here. But that's because what she did has already been established as a good story. Our protagonist, Maliha, is a former professional killer that hit her targets at the behest of a Sumerian demon/god, and wanted out of the life. In order to avoid eternal torment she must atone for the loss of life she created by saving lives for each that she took. Sound kind of familiar? It should. However, we like this plot device so we put this in the win column.

As mentioned above she used a more obscure set of cultural myths (Sumerian) which we applaud heartily. We are pretty tired of seeing Norse, Greek, Roman, blah blah blah myths used as a basis. It was incredibly refreshing to find a new set of names to get involved in. We don't know what these demons and gods are capable of and it is awesome to experience it. We wished she had explored the mythologies behind the Sumerian demons and gods involved much more. That was incredibly fascinating to us. We love that kind of stuff (In fact, Nick will sit and research a random cultures mythologies in depth, just to pass the time). We are sure that more will come in the later books of the series, so we can understand the skimping now. Our appetites are sufficiently whetted for more of the mythology.

There is plenty of action, whether it be fighting, sex (or the tension of it at least), and not to mention more high tech gadgets than a Bond movie.

That's a good enough spot to go the next section. The...less than stellar.

As far as that previously mentioned action goes, while there is plenty of it, it can be extremely ridiculous. Our favorite part (Nick literally laughed out loud and shook his head) is when our protagonist has a sharpened plastic throwing star flung at her. What does Maliha do? Well of course she throws her own metal throwing knife at the throwing star speeding towards her. Ok, she has some superhuman abilities that have been defined. We can believe this part so far even if it is kind of silly. But what happens next... Well... When the weapons meet in midair, the metal knife doesn't break the plastic star, it deflects it. OK Banks, we are still with you...if barely. It doesn't, however, send the star flying in a random direction. Instead it is sent straight back into the original attacker's throat. Oh, along with Maliha's knife. Seriously? This was stupid. How did this slip past revisions and editing? We also lost count of how many handsprings and cart wheels the main character does. Even Steve's wife, the gymnast, snickered a little when it was mentioned to her.

The other down side of all that action is that there is really very little plot since the book is pretty short. This brings us to our next big problem with the book. As we said before, the plot is centered around Maliha paying off her debt of killing people while she was the slave of a Demon. She does this by saving lives. Deal. We are with you Banks. Its not very original but, again tried and true is still fun. However, Maliha kills more people in this book than she saves. So...how does this paying of her debt work again? We don't know. Sounds to us like she is just digging her way further into Hell.

OK, technically the protagonist does an act that saves millions of lives in this book, but that somehow doesn't pay of her debt. We have a hard time believing, based on the examples shown of her assassinations while a slave, that she could have killed millions of people. So why isn't her debt paid off after this huge life saving act? We don't know.

As for the task of settling this debt, Maliha sure takes a relaxed stance towards it. She thinks about it, and the stress involved from time to time, but she takes time to lay on a beach and stare a speedo clad man's junk? She takes time to write lusty murder mysteries? She goes on dates? What the eff? C'mon lady, you have 300 years of killing to make up for! You don't have time for that silliness. Do you hear that banging sound? Yeah, that's us banging our heads against the wall in frustration.

At the end of the day, the book delivers, totally, on it's promise, which is a seductive, sensual action experience. Its the book equivalent of Charlie's Angels, but without the annoying Drew Barrymore.

Was this book what we were looking for? Not really, but it was fun enough to be worth the time spent reading it. If you're looking for a superficial, popcorn novel to entertain you for an evening this book fits the bill. Bottom line? There are a huge number of females that will love this novel (with certain members of the male population filing it under their "guilty pleasure reading"), and really, and in that sense, this book succeeds tremendously since females are the obvious target-audience.

Recommended Age: 16 and up.
Language: There is some cursing, but its not distracting.
Violence: Well yes, quite of a bit of actually. Thank you for asking.
Sex: A few acts, though with as much focus on the sensual aspects of the book as there is the scenes are remarkably vague. The talking and thinking about it permeates the book though.

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Posted in Books for Chicks , Dakota Banks , Urban Fantasy