After the Golden Age

Celia West had it good growing up. At least that's what everyone thinks. She's the daughter of the wealthiest man in Commerce City, and heir to the West fortune. Dad and mom are also superheros. Everyone asks what it was like growing up with Captain Olympus for a dad and Spark for a mother. Celia avoids the question, but if she answered it straight up she'd say, "Not as awesome as you would think."

But Celia has since graduated from college, moved out of the luxury penthouse she grew up in and into her own place, and works as a forensic accountant at one of the city's biggest accounting firms. She only wants to be normal. And pretty much avoid her estranged father.

Then her boss assigns her to the city's district attorney as a consultant on the Case of the Century: prosecuting the notorious villain Destructor for tax evasion. Mom and Dad and the rest of their superhero team spent decades dealing with the Destructor's...well, destruction in his attempts to annihilate Commerce City and the people in it. Dad votes to 'visit' him in prison and end the trial hoopla before it even begins. Too bad he doesn't.

Carrie Vaughn could have made AFTER THE GOLDEN AGE into a comic book farce, poking fun at the genre as it seems others have done lately. Instead, even with the book's satire, on the whole it's a nod to superhero comics, with a feel-good story. But even if AFTER THE GOLDEN AGE can be a little sappy, it doesn't mean it's all squeaky clean. Celia overcomes a conflicted past, even the good guys have grey along the edges, and the villains are villains for a reason.

Told from Celia's straightforward PoV narration, the story moves forward at a steady clip, revealing along the way what life was really like being the child of supers—including her short stint as the villain's henchwoman just to tick off her father. As we learn more about Celia, it's easy to like her and appreciate her struggles, even if they weren't exactly the everyday variety. Well, except that she keeps getting kidnapped. You'd think she'd get smarter about that after a while.

It takes place in Commerce City, your typical Metropolis-type city. The superpowers of strength, fire, speed, water are typical. But then, they aren't the main characters of the story, so not a lot of time is spent explaining their powers or the how or why.

While the story is entertaining, and the characters interesting, there are relationships, characters, and plotlines that go nowhere, or end up meaning little by the end of the story. These are the things that kept this book from the 'like' category. While I enjoyed the main storyline, Celia's relationship with her parents, and the sweet love story involved, I couldn't get past the contrived climax and certain pointless plot elements.

In the end, even though AFTER THE GOLDEN AGE isn't perfect, I still I enjoyed it, and the novel's issues won't keep me from reading it again.

Recommended Age: 16+
Language: Fewer than five instances
Violence: A few characters die, but it's not overly graphic; most violence is off-screen
Sex: A couple of referenced scenes, but without detail

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Posted in Books that are Mediocre , Carrie Vaughn , Urban Fantasy

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

Monster Hunter Alpha

There comes a time in nearly every series where the side characters of the first two or three novels become so interesting that they take on a life of their own. The readers beg, plead and offer bribes to the author for more information or more "screen time" for their beloved side-character. A lot of times we see this in the form of some short stories or novellas. But if we are lucky (sometimes), we get a full novel with that chosen side character as the main focus.

This was the case with Larry Correia's Monster Hunter series. From the moment the character Earl Harbinger was introduced in MONSTER HUNTER INTERNATIONAL, fans pleaded for Larry to write more about the werewolf. Larry relented, and we have MONSTER HUNTER ALPHA to show for it.

This novel will easily please Correia's legions of fans. So often the danger in writing a full story focused on a side character is that it doesn't feel natural or full developed. More often than not the story feels like a money grab. MONSTER HUNTER ALPHA, fortunately for everyone, never falls prey to those problems. In fact, the novel succeeds at feeling very fresh and different from the previous Monster Hunter stories.

It starts following the events of MONSTER HUNTER VENDETTA with Harbinger deciding to write down his crazy past. So what we have is a series of journal entries describing how Harbinger became the werewolf he is today. The entries ride a fine line of almost overpowering the actual modern-day story without actually managing to do so--yeah, they are completely awesome. The current portion of the story deals with Harbinger being notified that his nemesis (an ex-KGB werewolf) is running around the woods of Michigan. The novel plays out a bit like the isolation horror tale of 30 Days of Night, but using werewolves instead of vampires.

The action of the novel is, of course, extremely well done. There aren't too many people that pull off action in Urban Fantasy as well as Correia does, and he doesn't disappoint here. From the accurate gun-play to the brutal claw-to-claw werewolf battles, it will have you grinning ear-to-ear.

It's mentioned in every review of Correia's novels on this blog, and it will continue to be mentioned until people wise up. Correia doesn't just write mindless action novels. His characters are what keep the readers interested. This side-character story succeeds because Harbinger is a great character with a detailed past. All the other characters of the novel are new, and they all manage to entertain. Deputy Heather Kerkonen is a fantastic new cast member. As usual there won't be any spoilers in this review, but it's worth mentioning that Kerkonen doesn't come off as a copy of the other female characters in the Monster Hunter series. And truthfully some short stories about her adventures would be awesome (probably not a full novel, but a series of connected short stories would totally be great). You'll understand once your read ALPHA.

So were there any issues? Of course. No novel is perfect. The thing is, most of the issues are kinda supposed to be in the novel. This isn't Cormac McCarthy. It's a B-movie monster killing novel with lots of guns. Expect a ton of silly one-liners. Expect over-the-top feats of strength and awesomeness. That's the way Larry Correia writes his novels, and they are more fun for it. Look, if you aren't having fun while reading MONSTER HUNTER ALPHA, you're taking it too seriously. MONSTER HUNTER ALPHA is pure, undiluted fun.

Now, whether or not you like this more or less than the previous Monster Hunter novels will be up to you. Some people really like the main-line Owen Pitt novels. Others will welcome this change of pace. Pretty much everyone is waiting for the Agent Franks novel (soooooooo excited!). To each his (or her) own. Just go buy the freaking book and decide for yourself.

Recommended Age: 17 and up.
Violence: Oh man. This book was brutal. There's a scene with a giant wood-chipper thing that is just messed up.
Language: There is more in this novel than previous ones due to the cast of characters.
Sex: Nope.

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Posted in Books We Love , Larry Correia , Urban Fantasy

Hounded

Atticus O'Sullivan is older than he looks. By about two millennia. But that hasn't stopped him from trying to lead a normal life in Tempe Arizona.

Unfortunately, when a human has lived for 2000+ years one is bound to make some enemies, and his archenemy is none other than the Celtic god of love, Aenghus Óg. For a god of love he's actually a pretty nasty guy.

A while back—a long while back—Attitus got his hands on the magical sword Fragarach from one of Aenghus' military generals. The god has been trying to get it back ever since; he's been sending his minions to do his dirty work, and Atticus has been doing a pretty good job avoiding trouble. But now Aenghus is finally coming to finish the job himself.

The first thing you'll notice in HOUNDED by Kevin Hearne is Atticus' first person narrative: it's quick-witted, clever, and (this is important) not cliché. Life can get a little crazy for Atticus, with gods trying to kill him, but fortunately he's got a sense of humor. His repartee with his Irish wolfhound Oberon was pretty hilarious, and it proves to be an interesting relationship beyond sidekick/comic relief. The humor was a little too nerdy sometimes, with all of its pop culture references mixed with mythology and old-fashioned colloquialisms, but that's a minor complaint.

The first couple of pages sets up our hero Atticus and the kind of guy he is—and then leaps right into the story. He's attacked outside his store by a group of Fae sent by Aenghus. We get to see what this Druid can do, what his brand of magic means, and how he uses it to preserve his life. From there on out the tightly written plot flows quickly, moving forward without hardly a hiccup. He uses his magic in realistic ways, with its own limits. Although, to be honest, it really didn't feel like Atticus wouldn't get out of his predicaments—Hearne needs to work on the story's sense of peril.

Hearne handles the world-building rather well, considering the short amount of time he has to explain it; he's done his homework and integrates the magic and mythology fluidly into a compelling story. This is present-day U.S., but where there are vampires, werewolves, and witches—and where gods of every pantheon exist (if I had to guess an influence, it would be Gaiman's AMERICAN GODS). Some of them still dabble in human affairs. Some of them even have a great deal of power at their disposal. Take for instance the Morrigan, the Celtic Chooser of the Slain and goddess of war, who's made a deal with Atticus to let him live as long as he continues to irk Aenghus, whom she doesn't much like. In order for Atticus to survive he has to know not only how to fight and use his magic, but also how to keep as many people on his side as possible, even if it means schmoozing. A guy doesn't get as old as he does by being stupid.

I finished the first page with a smile on my face. And I was a grinning fool clear until page 289 mere hours later. Sure it's fluffy stuff, but urban fantasy lovers will take great delight in Hearne's new world of magic, gods, and mayhem. Yep, Druids are cool.

Recommended Age: 15+
Language: Scattered profanity
Violence: Some blood and gore
Sex: References and innuendo, but minor compared to the genre as a whole

HOUNDED is the first book of The Iron Druid Chronicles; the sequels HEXED and HAMMERED were released this summer, as well.

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Posted in Books We Like , Kevin Hearne , Urban Fantasy

The Mage In Black

She's a "shoot first and ask questions later" half-vampire with assassin skills, trust issues, and who must learn the magic inherited from her mage father in order to unite the dark races.

/yawn

If you've read your share of chick urban fantasy, THE MAGE IN BLACK is more of the same. Unfortunately, it's not even average more of the same. Perhaps I should start with what it has going for it: straightforward storytelling and fast-paced action. What it doesn't have going for it? Everything else.

It starts off with Sabina, our kick-butt heroine, arriving in New York after leaving the good graces of her vampire queen grandmother in RED-HEADED STEPCHILD. She's on her way to meet her long-lost twin sister, she's unsure what's going to happen, how she's going to make a living, whether she should kiss Adam the mage again—and of course they're attacked en route. Gotta shake things up early! Cuz, you know, otherwise people might get bored with the predictable story. Also, make sure to keep it snappy and distracting enough so that readers won't catch on that there's little point to the opening violence to the plot as a whole.

For Sabina, once she arrives in New York, things don't seem to get any better. The mage council doesn't trust or approve of her. Maisie, her bubbly twin sister is too busy being the mage council figurehead and resident prophetess to bother getting to know her own sister. Adam the potential love interest spends most of the book MIA, absent on an important mission to the Fairy Queen—because the mage council has convened to decide whether they should go to war with the vampires and the mages are going to need all the help they can get.

Often a reader will be forgiving to predicable plots, mediocre prose, and simplistic world-building if the characters are worth caring about. Unfortunately, not even the main character escaped secondary-character syndrome: shallow stereotypes, without even much detail to add depth. Sabina's first-person PoV emotional baggage was clunky and hard to sympathize with, especially since her decisions were inconsistent. She's supposed to be a well-trained assassin, right? Yet she's always caught off-guard by attackers, will find herself without a weapon during a fight, and goes broke when her funds are frozen by her grandmother's organization...even though she had plenty of time to withdraw emergency cash. The secondary characters are, for the most part, flat and uninteresting. What are these peoples' motives? Where do they come from? Why are they here? What do they like to eat/drink/wear/drive? Anything beyond the existing sparse details would have helped.

Something that could have boosted character personality? Dialogue. However, there was nothing to differentiate one set of quotes from another, including the main character's. Even then, the dialogue had no personality, was cliche, and did little other than awkwardly propel the plot forward.

One thing that could have really been cool was Sabina's demon familiar Giguhl, but the demon wasn't anything more than a sidekick for comic relief, whose origins, magic, and abilities aren't given more than basic information. In fact, I had a hard time seeing him as anything other than a strange-looking, sex-obsessed guy who happened to be able to shapeshift into a cat, and who's got some nasty street-fighting skills (how convenient).

The mage magic was traditional and dull—can't they do more than "throw" a magic force to attack with? Anything? It wasn't much different than Giguhl's magic, now that I think of it... A more imaginative effort might have really added some punch. And speaking of fight scenes, they left me uninspired. Well, the opening sequence was pretty good, I'll grant that, but it appears that the author's imagination was used up for that scene, because the climax lacked a real sense of peril, purpose, and anything interesting. Then, we get stuck with no resolution and a cliffhanger. Yippee.

Recommended Age: 17+
Language: Scattered profanity, but not lots
Violence: Yes, there are vampires and werewolves and demons, so there's blood and pain
Sex: Lots and lots of innuendo, references, and one graphic scene

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Posted in Books We Don't Like , Jaye Wells , 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

The Neon Court

Matthew Swift is the epitome of the urban sorcerer. Proof: he takes the bus. But there are ways he's not your usual sorcerer, the least of which being that he serves as the Midnight Mayor of London. He also shares a body with the blue electric angels. And he's got a conscience.

But being the Midnight Mayor is not all roses and bon-bons. Sure he's got a fleet of aldermen to do his bidding...assuming they'd listen to him (it's hard to take a guy seriously when he wears grubby t-shirts). And sure he's powerful enough to have defeated the destroyer of cities in THE MIDNIGHT MAYOR. But now in THE NEON COURT, the underground Tribe and the fae Neon Court have declared war over a murder—with London as the battleground—unless Swift delivers the chosen one.

THE NEON COURT starts off chaotic, like the first two in the series, jumping right into the action. We're swiftly caught up in Swift's dilemma: Oda, the vigilante from the previous novels, has somehow magically summoned Swift into a burning building. He arrives to find Oda's blood all over the floor and a gaping hole in her heart. But what does Oda's rather fatal condition (strangely enough, she's not dead yet) and the war have to do with each other? Well, it takes the entire novel to figure it out.

If you enjoyed A MADNESS OF ANGELS and THE MIDNIGHT MAYOR, then THE NEON COURT is more of the same awesomeness. You could read NEON without having read the previous two, but there will be a few confusing spots as a result. Kate Griffin has kept a consistent momentum and voice across the series, even if the plots are somewhat similar: everyone in London is gonna die unless Swift saves them. And obviously he's the only one who can do it.

Swift is a complicated character. He's easy enough to like, and his first-person PoV is engaging. Well, there is, however, the odd use of 'we', when referring to himself and the angels that inhabit his body—and therein stems the complications of personality. The electric blue angels are pure energy, magical beings without thought of the future, who take action when they see the need. But they're forever bound to a mortal body who must deal with the consequences of those actions. It makes for an interesting dynamic. Fortunately, Swift isn't a wimp or else the angels would have killed him long ago from sheer negligence. He's clever and creative, as he moves around London, trying to help Oda, and stop the war between the Neon Court and the Tribe. Poor guy wants to do the right thing, but sometimes it's just impossible.

As a result of the events at the end of THE MIDNIGHT MAYOR, Swift now finds himself with an apprentice: Penny. One can't let a powerful sorceress loose on the city without proper training first. Like Swift, she's no wimp, but then again she's new to this whole magic business, and sees things for the first time that are mighty troubling. Their interactions are entertaining; the dialogue gets silly at times, but on the whole it's clever and snappy. Oda, whom we knew little about in previous novels other than she's a psycho, magic-hating, gun-toting, religious zealot, gets more back story. It's presented in clunky way, but is still important to the story.

Griffin must have decided to have a little fun with this plot, so she took the 'chosen one' trope and turned it on its head. What does it mean to be 'chosen'? Who does the choosing? She also explores themes of relationships—but not the romantic kind, her books don't have the sexuality found in the majority of urban fantasy. Here, it's the relationships between siblings, co-workers, the people you hardly know but who seem to affect you, nevertheless, and how these relationships shape events.

One of the best things about this series is the urban magic, how it's called up by the routines of life and environment that is the city. Griffin's prose brings out the details: the smells, the sights, the sounds that makes the city hum with the magic energy that people like Swift can tap. The prose will catch some readers off guard, even those who like reading urban fantasy, because it's less straightforward. The pace is consistent and quick, but is still slowed down by the more descriptive prose. These things didn't bother me, and are ultimately rewarding.

By the time I got to the climax, I was all wrung out. Swift seems like he's going to fall apart at any moment. I have no idea how he's going to possibly survive. Every imaginably horrible thing has happened. And it all leads up to a...climax that falls a tad short. It does all make sense, and if I'm being honest it did make me tear up, but it didn't quite match the rest of the story. It works. Mostly. But in THE NEON COURT it's the journey more than the destination.

Recommended Age: 16+
Language: Penny the wise-cracking apprentice has a serious potty mouth.
Violence: Yep. Poor Swift gets beat up a lot. There are quite a few fights and graphic imagery. The body count gets uncomfortably high.
Sex: Not even the least whiff of romance.

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Posted in Books We Like , Kate Griffin , Urban Fantasy

Black Blade Blues

Sarah Beuhall is pretty sure she needs therapy. Her personal demons of doubt and self-identity keep her from being happy with her life, even though at first it appears to be going well. She's got a job she loves (blacksmithing; props for a local B movie director), beautiful girlfriend who loves her (Katie), and a chosen family in her Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) reenactor friends--so why does everything still seem to go wrong?

But none of those problems are nearly as bad as the ones that revolve around her ownership of a black-bladed sword: these more immediate problems involve dwarves, Old Norse gods, and dragons. BLACK BLADE BLUES (no, I can't believe he named it that, either) by J.A. Pitts is your typical urban fantasy novel with some gettin-together by the main characters, the heroine learning that magic really exists, and swords--don't forget the swords.

The story takes places in modern-day Seattle, and even though Sarah likes fighting in skirmishes at the occasional Ren Fair, she's never believed that magic really exists. That is, until a movie extra claims he's a dwarf and that the black-bladed sword Sarah bought at an auction is magic. Then everything changes.

BLACK BLADE BLUES starts off slow. This is an urban fantasy novel, and UF is generally shorter, so a writer can't dilly dally with set-up and has got to start out at a dead run. He doesn't. Pitts probably thinks that the short chapters would solve the pace problems and choppy flow. They don't. Neither can they successfully hide awkward progression. You don't even really know what the "story" is until well past page 100.

Sarah is the first-person PoV, but we occasionally see third-person via Katie, or a dragon (in human form) and a witch who consider the Northwest their territory, the people in it as chattel. Sometimes these switches help to advance plot and they're often more interesting than Sarah's part of the story; Katie's PoV scenes are used to advance the romance. However, it's Sarah's voice that will hook readers long before the plot, or before even liking her as a protagonist: it's full of attitude, sarcasm, and opinions. But readers will have a hard time liking Sarah since she spends so much time questioning Katie's attraction to her, she's got a dismal self body image, and she ruminates on an unpleasant childhood with a religious nut father--all of this was ham-handed and gloomy. On the plus side, while the F/F protagonist's relationship is an important part of the story, it doesn't feel like it's there for diversity's sake, and was for the most part believable.

Pitts' prose does get cliché. The conversations are vapid. The storytelling style is engaging and easy enough to read, but the action scenes nothing to get too excited about. The climax is a SCAdian dream come true, and becomes over-the-top with trolls, dragons, and witches fighting reenactors on their horses and using homemade swords and mail. If you're looking for nerdy fun, then great, this is for you. Personally I thought it was a little silly.

What we end up with is a mixed bag, and a result I'm not really certain who the target audience is. Lesbian blacksmith protagonist who's uncomfortable with her sexual orientation, and becomes an important player in the fight against evil. Dragons and witches vying for control over humans, but we don't really understand why or how. SCAdian reenactors who on the outside seem really cool, but not much time is spent in that world other than the convenience of Sarah having friends who can call up an army to fight trolls. So, yeah, I'm going to have to say skip this one.

Recommended Age: 16+
Language: An infrequent smattering of various profanity and crude slang
Violence: Yes, the climax chapters get brutal, but the action could have been better done
Sex: Lots of innuendo, references same-sex encounters with some detail; however, there are no graphic 'on screen' scenes

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Posted in Books We Don't Like , J.A. Pitts , 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

Hard Magic

There are very few authors whose body of work makes us cackle with boyish glee. Chris Wooding is one. Jonathan Maberry another. Recently Sarah Pinborough has joined those ranks. For those of you keeping score, when Larry Correia writes something new we drop everything. You can then find us camped out with a flashlight in the living room under a tent made of sheets and blankets. Never mind we own our own homes.

We are just going to come out and say it: Larry Correia’s HARD MAGIC, book 1 of the Grimnoir Chronicles, is completely fun and awesome. Everyone knows how much we like his Monster Hunter series. We like this one more. Much more. Everything about HARD MAGIC is positively saturated with style…

…well, and explosions of course.

HARD MAGIC takes place during an alternate USA of the 20’s and 30’s (mostly 30's). Magic has been reintroduced into the world which has obviously changed it dramatically. There is some detective story stuff here and some magic. But apart from those automatic “win buttons” the main thing that Larry’s novel has going for it is its epic foundation. This is Epic Alternate Historical Urban Fantasy...with superheroes…kinda. Yeah. Tell us that doesn’t sound completely fun and awesome if executed right. And yes, Larry does it right.

You may be tempted to dismiss Larry as a pure action author. The style (and ‘splosions) over substance type. The explosions and violence are there, and they are GLORIOUS! But we’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again. Larry’s work is deceptive. No doubt we read his work for the gun-play (one of the best out there) and the B-movie feeling it all invokes. But if we are honest with ourselves—and you readers of course—we would have to admit we read Larry’s work for the characters. HARD MAGIC, in our opinion, has the best character work of all Larry’s novels so far.

To understand the characters, we should probably talk a bit about the main magic system of the novel. Rare individuals have the ability to perform a certain type of magic. Some can alter their own personal gravity. Some can teleport. Some use animals in a borderline possession way. Others can perform miraculous healing feats while their opposites can cause plagues. In the back of the novel you’ll find a list and description of them all. They sound a bit like superheroes, and there's nothing wrong with it. You readers of MISTBORN will feel very comfortable picking up the magic of this created world.

One of the main characters of the novel is Jake Sullivan. He is one of those individuals that can alter his personal gravity—a Heavy. He’s been in wars (we get some awesome history here), he’s been a P.I., and he’s been in prison. Now he’s on loan to the Feds. Simply put, Sullivan is terrific. He is very reminiscent of the Owen Pitt character from the Monster Hunter universe (some would say a tad too similar), but has enough differences to make him his own character. For starters, Sullivan is more intelligent. The sequences in the novel that show the research Sullivan is doing on magic are fantastic and are VERY character building.

While there are a ton of characters in the novel—none of with we can point at with dislike—the other main character we want to mention is Faye—a Traveler (aka teleporter). We want to mention this character specifically because Larry does such a great job of keeping her, well, female-ish. So many male authors have such a hard time writing female PoVs (just as female authors have trouble writing male PoVs). Faye goes through some traumatic events early in the novel, and there is a need to balance this “lost youth” and innocence with the incredible power he grows into as the novel progresses…not to mention all from a female’s PoV. Tough stuff, yet Larry pulls it off. We don’t mean to snub the female characters from his other novels, but Faye is not only the best female character Larry has put on paper, but she is one of his best overall characters, period.

We couldn’t wrap us this review without mentioning the world-building. It may seem hardly worth mentioning since this takes place in a familiar-ish 1930s USA, but Larry did an amazing job here. Information is never just dumped on you during the course of the story. Rather than killing the pacing, Larry puts all the historical changes and details in the chapter bumps. The chapter bumps (or leads, if you will) in HARD MAGIC are easily on the same level as those in Brandon Sanderson’s novels. We’ve mentioned before that we think Sanderson’s chapter leads are some of best in the business (if not THE best). Larry’s are THAT good. As you read through the novel, the attention to detail is noticeable. You can tell that a ton of research was done, and then effectively spun into the text.

When all is said and done, Larry Correia’s HARD MAGIC is one of them most entertaining novels we have read. What’s more is that it has all the qualities that make us love Epic Fantasy, only in a Raymond Chandler-esque, noir setting. No one type of reader will enjoy this novel more than another. This is one of the few novels that will capture every reader’s imagination and leave them—like us—begging for more.

Recommended Age: 16 and up.
Language: Yep. It can be strong, but never feels thrown in for shock-value.
Violence: It’s a Larry Correia novel, of course there is violence. The gun-play is perfect, and the set-piece action sequences are completely over-the-top and awesome.
Sex: Nope.

On a side note, we aren't too fond of the cover. We pictured something more along the lines of either of the Simon R Green Urban Fantasy series. But hey, whatever. We bought this book for the content, not the cover.

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Posted in Books We Love , Larry Correia , Urban Fantasy

The Midnight Mayor

Matthew Swift has already died once and isn't interested in doing so again. Unfortunately he has the knack of finding himself in the right place at the wrong time, and now London's Aldermen (the magical kind) believe Swift killed the Midnight Mayor. Kinda ironic considering he didn't even believe the guy existed in the first place...

To avoid punishment for a crime he didn't commit, Swift searches for the mayor's killer, but realizes there's more to this story than the death of one man: it involves the survival of London itself.

THE MIDNIGHT MAYOR continues where A MADNESS OF ANGELS leaves off, but don't think you have to read MADNESS to enjoy MIDNIGHT. Certainly Kate Griffin doesn't dawdle, and explains back story along the way, but it doesn't clutter the narrative, instead adding interest and insight. MIDNIGHT is a joyride through London's streets about the magic that makes the city and its inhabitants tick.

In MADNESS Swift became one with the blue electric angels--the magic of the phone lines made real from the words and desires that travel via the current. As a result, in MIDNIGHT Swift's PoV uses 'we' or 'I' because it's them merged together narrating the story; this threw me off at first and I worried it would be all gimmicky, but it really works and it's awesome. It's only the beginning, however, of Swift's progression as the lone sorcerer left in London, to a man burdened with a responsibility he didn't ask for. Swift's sense of humor keeps the story from being too serious, and his creative solutions to his problems are entertaining to read. He's fun to root for because even though he's not perfect, he's willing to fight for the innocent who can't protect themselves from mysterious things that go bump in the night--which also happens to be the responsibility of the mysterious Midnight Mayor.... There's a strange and varied assortment of secondary characters; particularly interesting is Oda, a kind of religious crusader against the evils of magic, who Swift finds as an unlikely ally against a bigger threat.

The story starts off with Swift in peril from a mysterious enemy, sucking you in right from the start, and carries you along clear up until the tidy resolution. There are some leaps in logic as Swift tries to solve the problems surrounding the mayor's death, but Swift/Griffin's storytelling is engaging enough that I didn't let myself get hung up on those details. I don't want to tell you too much more about the plot because I don't want to ruin it for you, but the connections throughout the novel keep you guessing.

The magic of London is created from ideas, words, meaning, symbols: "In the old days, a wizard would call on silver moonlight to guide them through a monster's lair. These days, we summon sodium light and a neon glow, and the monster's lair tends to have a trendy postcode and pay council tax." This adds to the taste and feel of London as Swift makes his way through the town and problem he has to solve. It made the magic real to me, like that's how it would really work in London.

Perhaps the best part of the book is Griffin's prose. This book is an ode to London, the descriptions saturated with the magic of history, life, and place--the very things that give power to sorcerers like Swift. It can get tedious when you want to get on with the story, and slows down the pace some. The dialogue is snappy and engaging, despite the occasional monologue by random characters. Of course, not all readers will like the narrator's voice, and it took some getting used to; those who prefer more straightforward storytelling may find themselves frutrated.

Kate Griffin may be Urban Fantasy's best kept secret. If you enjoy Butcher's Dresden files or Gaiman's NEVERWHERE, then this is the series for you. The next book, THE NEON COURT, just came out and I can't wait.

Recommended Age: 14+ for violence
Language: Occasional, some characters more than others
Violence: Yes, with some gruesome details
Sex: Referenced, but otherwise minimal

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Posted in Books We Like , Kate Griffin , Urban Fantasy

A Discovery of Witches

Debut author Deborah Harkness has been on my 'to read' list since her appearance at New York's ComicCon fantasy author panel with the likes of Peter V. Brett, Naomi Novik, Brandon Sanderson, Jim Butcher, and Joe Abercrombie. Yeah, a newb sitting amongst some of the most popular fantasy authors today. I had to know if she deserved being there.

In A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES Harkness takes all the urban fantasy romantic tropes and...uses them. Main PoV character Diana is smart, orphaned, stubborn, beautiful-though-she-doesn't-know-it, and a powerful witch. Her vampire love interest Matthew is almost perfectly thoughtful, impeccably dressed, brilliant, rich, and well connected. The antagonists resent their blossoming romance because vampires and witches 'just don't mix' (Really! It's never happened before!). There's the trendy locales (Oxford, France, upstate New York), the wine/books/artifacts only a centuries old vampire could have, the tension between the supernatural races. If you've read your share of urban fantasy, you've seen all this many times over.

The issue isn't that Harkness uses these tropes over again--they are tried and true for a reason--it's that it's her first novel and you can tell. Her foreshadowing lacks subtlety. Last-minute contrivances fix issues. Too much time is spent on the minutiae of eating/traveling/clothing. Expository conversations are used to forward the plot. And the plot itself is bogged down with irrelevant information. You know, the kinds of things any Writing Excuses episode would explain are problems because they affect flow and readability.

But do these problems ruin the story?

For most urban fantasy readers, those are issues that won't impede their enjoyment of the love story. However, while I enjoyed Harkness' blending of ideas and the magic, even if they aren't exactly groundbreaking, the execution made it hard for me to enjoy it on a level that would make me give an unhesitating endorsement.

The story starts off with a problem: Why does everyone want Ashmole 782? Diana is a Ph.D. in history, an expert on alchemical texts, and during her research at Oxford she finds a text that has been missing for 150 years. She can tell it's special because it fires off all her witch's senses. But she's here as a scholar and not a witch, so sends it back, where it disappears again. Now every vampire, witch, and daemon in Oxford wants to know how she got it to appear and if she's going to do it again. Because its hidden text supposedly explains the origin of paranormal creatures--and perhaps even how to destroy them forever.

During Diana's research, Matthew Clairmont appears. He's mysterious and attractive, but he's a vampire. He's a scientist at heart, who wants to not only know the how but also the why. He claims to want to help Diana, and is interested in Ashmole 782, but his altruistic intentions are suspect. Diana, against her better judgment, is drawn into Matthew's circle of protection. The other witches don't want anyone but another witch to ever obtain Ashmole 782, and see Diana's vampire-trusting behavior as a betrayal.

Then the dots start connecting: the death of her parents, the meaning of the text, the motives of witches and vampires who are trying to keep Diana and Matthew apart. Harkness blends history, magic, science and alchemy into a story that sucks you in despite its awkward pace--because, really, you don't know where Harkness is heading with all this and you are compelled to know.

Harkness's prose is easy enough to read, and she handles the magic well, including the separation of the supernatural races, and even the 'science' of their behaviors. Even though some of it seems to be for convenience's sake (i.e., vampires awake and walking around during the day; their meeting being 'fate'). My favorite part of the entire book is the sentient house where Diana's witch Aunt Sarah lives. It creates new rooms for guests, has temper tantrums, and hides/reveals things at the appropriate times.

The love story between the main characters is a strangely mixed bag of reality and contrivance. I wanted to want to see them together, and they seem to fit together as a couple personality-wise, but the execution made Matthew creepy and Diana wishy-washy. Matthew is an over-protective control freak and Diana is a 30-something Ph.D. who devolves into a lovestruck teen, which made me kind of embarrassed for my sex. It doesn't help, either, that it only takes them a few weeks to decide this is True Love Forever.

While I was eventually able to enjoy the main characters, and even the plethora of secondary characters that are important in Diana and Matthew's lives, I couldn't get around the meandering storyline. Certainly there's forward movement as they fall in love, travel, and unravel the mysteries of Ashmole 782, but I look back and there's just so much fluff. I spent 500+ pages reading to remember all these details (historical, alchemical, etc), only to have them mean nothing to the story. If you asked me, I don't think I could pinpoint the exact climax of the novel (I think it was around the 2/3 mark, which is an awkward spot); then the last third of the novel devolves into a meandering buildup for an event that leads into what's obviously going to be a sequel. I guess we'll have to see if she improves with subsequent novels.

Recommended Age: 16+ for sexuality
Language: Fewer than five instances
Violence: Not much beyond a hazy torture scene and some peril
Sex: One detailed scene and plenty of implied scenes and conversations

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Posted in Books that are Mediocre , Deborah Harkness , 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

Monster Hunter Vendetta

We like our books with thought put into them. Characters in shades of gray. Plots that are epic, yet deeply personal. We like novels where the author challenges our minds, and makes us ponder humanity.

And after we have read all that, we LOVE to read books that involve explosions. And zombies. And exploding zombies. And zombie elephants. Did we already mention explosions? How about heavy gunfire?

Thank you, Larry Correia, for giving us another novel full of exploding monsters, and incredibly detailed gun-play: MONSTER HUNTER VENDETTA.

You readers DO remember Larry Correia, right? It would be in your best interests to nod your head in agreement regardless of your actual answer. Larry has lots of guns. And he knows how to use them all. Apart from that, he is a good friend of ours, and a terrific storyteller. His first published novel, MONSTER HUNTER INTERNATIONAL (MHI), was completely awesome (read the review here). More importantly, it was FUN. Larry is the kind of writer that if his novel doesn't make you smile with giddiness while reading, he isn't satisfied with his work.

With Larry's latest novel, MONSTER HUNTER VENDETTA (MHV), we are happy to report that it is indeed full of win. Now, no one will ever say that Larry has written the Great American Novel. Why the heck would he want to? Guns and monsters are WAAAAAAY more better. (Yes, that bad grammar was intentional. Deal with it.) What Larry provides is lots of action, lots of guns, lots of explosions, and lots of fantastic characters. And we get it all at a lightening pace.

In other words: WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!111!!!

MHV is essentially the consequences of the events in MHI. You know, when our stud of a PoV, Owen Pitt, thwarted a Cthulhu-esque God. An evil death cult, known as the Church of the Temporary Mortal Condition, took exception to that whole thing, and they want the Old Ones to come back and take over. Owen seems like the ideal sacrifice.

Queue destruction and mayhem.

Look, we can go on about how fun MHV is for days. It really is completely awesome. But what people don't seem to think of when you read a book "like this" is that there will actually be some great character development. MHV's characters are much deeper than than they appear on the cliché surface. Really, seeing the growth these characters have forced upon them, and the heart-wrenching steps they willingly take is where the book's true pillars are found. From Owen, to Julie, to Earl...they all are distinct characters. You readers may think that Larry Correia is just blowing $%^* up, but that's just to hide that he is actually very, very good at crafting characters.

Are there flaws? Duh. But they are all so minor, that it would annoy us more to have to even write them down. Look, Larry cheats when he writes. He refers to it in the novel. If Larry isn't cheating, he isn't trying hard enough. If Larry wants something to happen, he will make it happen. If he is told, "Dude, you CAN'T put Deus Ex Machina into a novel!!" he will purposely put it into the novel just to spite you. Twice. And he will make it work. He is that awesome.

It still shocks us how BIG these novels are. MHV clocks in at over 600 pages of pure adrenaline. Instead of giving adrenaline injections to patients, doctors should just beat them with MHV. It would have the same effect, and is significantly cheaper.

MONSTER HUNTER VENDETTA, like MONSTER HUNTER INTERNATIONAL before it, is worth every monster-gore-soaked penny of its cover price. Larry has again brought extreme fun back to reading.

And if you don't like MHV, Larry will just shoot you. So there.

Recommended Age: 16 and up.
Language: Heck yeahs.
Violence: Seriously? There is literally a character NAMED Violence in the novel. What do you think?
Sex: None.


What's that you say? You want to know more about Larry Correia? Well, you are in luck. Tune in tomorrow for an interview with the author.

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Posted in Books We Love , Larry Correia , Urban Fantasy

From Hell with Love

James Bond meets Harry Dresden--except with a much bigger family--in Simon R. Green's newest urban fantasy mystery, FROM HELL WITH LOVE.

Our hero, Eddie Drood, is devoted to the family cause: keeping humanity safe from the real horrors that threaten it. He's spent his entire life saving the world from one danger after another, and the needs of the Drood family has always come first. Now he has to protect Earth from Hell itself, even at the expense of the life of the woman he loves.

Doctor Delirium, who usually isn't taken very seriously by the Drood family, has stolen the Apocalypse Door, and threatens to open it and let all Hell loose if his demands aren't met (these demands include rare postage stamps...). But not everything is as it appears. As Eddie works to track down the semi-evil mad scientist, he discovers that the real power behind this threat are the Immortals--a kind of anti-Drood family who think of humanity as their playground, rather like a mob of high-strung gradeschoolers set loose at Chuck E. Cheese.

Eddie and his complicated 'family' are an interesting bunch. Eddie himself is driven and determined, but also sentimental; he's got a history and it flavors the choices he makes. While he prefers being a field agent to a former role as head of the Drood family, he's known for leaving a path of destruction everywhere he goes, which rather ruins the 'secret' agent part. Another main player is his uncle the Armourer, whose inventions make it possible not only for Drood field agents to kill people in strange and unusual ways, but also makes their activities undetectable. He used to be a field agent, himself, and has plenty of tricks up his sleeve. Or there's the half-lucid librarian William. Or the ruthless rogue Drood, Tiger Tim. Or the Bride of Frankenstein. Yes, she happens to be an old friend of Eddie's. The characters in FROM HELL are more caricatures than people with depth; if anything, you could say that they all have too much personality.

If the characters are any indication that this novel is slapstick cheesy fun, then you should also be expecting it from the action. Eddie walks into fights with brazen disregard for subtlety, over and over again--he appears to be a fan of dramatic entrances and even more dramatic finishes. Witness: Eddie, as he fights a self-healing dragon, in order to defeat it because he can't hack it down fast enough to kill it, lets himself be intentionally swallowed and turns the dragon from the inside out. Yeah, and that's just in the first forty pages.

The plot is often random, as Eddie reacts to a varied and dazzling assortment of events, from half-crazed Droods, to an army invasion, to monsters at a convention. At times it's predictable, other times events don't at first appear to have any connection with each other. But Green sprinkles enough clues around that when the next curve ball shows up, the twist does make sense. Then something else random happens.

Eddie's PoV narration is entertaining and often silly; unfortunately it includes a liberal dose of cliches and emotionally prosaic musings when he's fighting or thinking about his enemies. When the story gets dark, it's the humor that keeps the themes from bogging down readers. The pacing moves pretty well, but the flow could have used some streamlining as well as the addition of better transitions. The wordy dialogue adds to the uneven pacing and makes the story feel over-padded with information because every character loves to talk. A lot. And it's not only verbose, it can get grandiose. I'm a sap for good dialogue, but this got annoying when I just wanted to get on with the story.

Technology and magic together are integrated into the Drood way of life. And like Q's inventions for James Bond, the Drood field agents have some nifty gadgets to make their job easier (my favorite is the Merlin Glass), like the golden torc they use to armor themselves while in battle. While this indestructible armor does have limitations, Green tries to create concern for Eddie's well being with questions about how much the armor can handle, only to have it always work out. That happens a lot actually, seeing questionable limitations not become limitations at all, which affects suspense and makes problems too easily resolved. But since this story is all about the ridiculous, Green gets a pass, otherwise it would have been a sticking point with me.

FROM HELL WITH LOVE is the fourth volume of The Secret Histories series, but Green explains the back story without confusing new readers, so this book is fine as a standalone. However, this book isn't for everyone. It's a popcorn-fun kind of read, so don't be expecting anything with depth...or logic for that matter.

Recommended Age: 18+ for themes and violence.
Language: Scattered here and there.
Violence: It's plenty gory and bloody...and it can get pretty wacky, but it's fun to see what Green comes up with.
Sex: It happens off camera and there's some innuendo.

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Posted in Books that are Mediocre , Simon R. Green , Urban Fantasy

Labyrinth

There are very few female Urban Fantasy authors who are able to draw in male readers as Kat Richardson is able to. You see, she writes more like a guy than her female counterparts. For us, this is a good thing. Because we are guys. LABYRINTH marks the fifth entry into Richardson's Urban Fantasy series following the adventures of Harper Blaine.

Here is the thing with this novel: you shouldn't be reading it unless you have read the rest of the series. Guys like Jim Butcher and Simon R Green tell stories that have more enclosed story arcs. We don't recommend it, but you could read them out of order and still have a pretty good idea about the landscape of the story and series. Not so with LABYRINTH. It picks up right after the events in London from book 4, VANISHED. There are terms you won't know. There are people you won't know. There are relationships you won't know. Get our meaning? Don't read this novel unless you are already a readers of the series.

The plot of this novel revolves mostly around Harper attempting to free the imprisoned ghost of her father. Really, that's about it. There are other sub-plots--mostly dealing with vampire politics--but the focus of the story is on Harper trying to free her father's ghost while she evolves more fully into a being of great power.

First of all, we didn't quite like this novel as much as the rest of the series. While the plot was narrower, it didn't feel as tight, and the pacing was up-and-down. While reading this novel, we should have been feeling a deep sense of dread, paranoia, and worry. There are moments where those came through, but we felt the pacing undermined it. We questioned why this was so apparent, and came to a conclusion. LABYRINTH feels like a great novella with lots of filler to give it the length of a novel. If a majority of the wandering around the characters do was cut out, the pacing would flow better, and we would have a pretty tight novella. But see, there's no real place for a novella as this stage of the series, so a novel was required. It bothered us, but we could see why it was done.

Additionally, the relationship between Harper and her "geeky" boyfriend Quinton was a bit flat here. It is mentioned several times how "geeky" Quinton is, and we keep being told that a "geek" like Quinton would normally never get a hottie like Harper...but Quinton just seems like a heroic gadget-whiz in this novel. No real geek this time around. We would have liked a tad more "show" here instead of "tell."

If you are a fan of Kat Richardson and this series (like we are), none of this is going to bother you too much. The supernatural P.I. type stuff isn't as prevalent in LABYRINTH as it was in the earlier novels, and whether you like that or not is a matter of opinion. Personally, we like less vampire, and more ghosties. You may be different.

You are reading this series for the unique premise, the well-described action, its humor, and its ability appeal to either the male or female audience equally. For the most part, that will all be here in this fifth novel. This novel is noticeably used to tie off some small threads from the earlier parts of the series, and also to set up the next novel. It's one of those books. That is neither good, nor bad. Richardson's writing is sharp, her execution of different ideas is well done as always. We liked the novel for the smaller idea that was there, and for what it promises us for future assignments. If you're already a reader of the series, this book should be on your reading list.

If you haven't already, you should give this series a try. It isn't for everyone, but Kat is a great person, and a great author. Go pick up GREYWALKER and see if it does you some good.

Recommended Age: 16 and up.
Language: Yeah, some. Usually Urban Fantasy has tons, but Richardson doesn't rely on profanity like other authors.
Violence: Not really. Lots of action, like usual, but hardly any bloody violence at all.
Sex: Nope.

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Posted in Books We Like , Kat Richardson , Urban Fantasy

A Taint in the Blood

Shadowspawn used to rule the Earth as gods. But you can get kind of lazy when you're immortal and nearly indestructible. After thousands of years of cross-breeding with humans, today's Shadowspawn posterity isn't as pureblooded, making for all kinds of problems. Even worse, humans have over-populated the Earth and kind of taken over things. By the time you get around to dealing with the issue, you have to do something drastic, say, another plague to wipe out all the extra humans so you can reestablish yourself as the one in charge.

Adrian Brézé may not be pureblood Shadowspawn, but he's got enough that his ability in the Power is stronger than most, and he's decided that the blood is no excuse to treat the human race as sheep. The only problem is that the other almost-purebloods not only outnumber him thousands to one, they would never agree with him to leave humans alone. After years of trying to help the Brotherhood, a group dedicated to the eradication of Shadowspawn, he retires from the civil war. Unfortunately, his sister Adrianne decides to yank him back into Shadowspawn politics by kidnapping his ex-girlfriend. As he works to save Ellen, Adrian discovers the dismaying plans the Council has for the human race.

I'm not sure why, but S.M. Stirling decided it was his turn at a vampire urban fantasy series starting with A TAINT IN THE BLOOD. His successful Change Series has garnered him a well-deserved following, the post-apocalyptic stories grim yet hopeful. Now, instead of a retro Dark Ages setting, he tries his hand at magic and demons. Most of us are getting tired of all the blood-sucking out there (Gaiman thinks so too), but if it's going to stick around, the writing might as well be decent--and fortunately Stirling will force those vampire wannabe writers to step it up a notch, especially in showing how much vampires really are monsters. It's about time.

Stirling's big strength in all his books is world building. Here he takes the traditional vampire lore and twists it into a shape that's more interesting than most urban fantasy. There's the history and origins of modern-day 'demon cannibals' who are born not made, mix in Shadowspawn proclivities and lifestyle, add a pinch of killing methods and details about warfare, and fold in the rules of the Power and how to work around it. Then you bake it into something that looks like a regular cake, but is actually a lava cake filled with chocolaty goodness (couldn't help myself, the novel is filled with all sorts of foodie details).

This book has all the clichés. There's the main character Adrian, the wealthy and brooding immortal who's trying to break away from his evil family and their 'humans are only good for food' attitudes. There's the grizzled mentor Harvey, thrice divorced, who carries around his sawed-off shotgun with silver bullets and used to work with Adrian for the Brotherhood. There's the plucky heroine Ellen with the body of a goddess (she's a dead ringer for Marilyn Monroe...), who endures torture at the hands of Adrian's sadistic sister while she awaits rescue. Have we read all this before? Sure, but not written with this much tongue-in-cheek and depth at the same time.

Yet, while TAINT is better than your average urban fantasy, it has its flaws. The most petty being that Stirling is italics happy--between all the telepathy and PoV character thoughts it got to be a little ridiculous. If you want me to get more serious, then I could complain about how poor Ellen must suffer Adrienne's sadist tendencies, and unfortunately we end up having to watch, including one incredibly unpleasant S&M scene. While Adrienne is a deliciously evil villain, the constant sexual abuse witnessed first hand and talked about among her blood herd of 'lucies' got redundant and overbearing.

One thing that starts out as a strength but ends up becoming a problem later is the pacing. Like his other novels, Stirling starts TAINT at a sprint, and blabs about back history along the way, hoping you can keep up. Sometimes you can, sometimes you can't, but the action is enough to keep you reading even if you don't 100% know what's going on. The action does get breakneck enough that readers will stumble and have to re-read when transitions are light on explanation; on the other end of the spectrum is a big gap of time that's glossed over, and even includes a hokey 'Rocky trains for the big fight montage' reference. It kind of felt like Stirling rattled off this book one weekend and had a lot of fun writing it, throwing together interesting concepts along the way, but didn't bother to go back and smooth it all out. What starts out as interesting world building by the end leaves some holes about how the magic works, which is pretty crucial to the plot. Add to that some contrivances, and you read the climax thinking, "What the..." or "That should not have worked."

I really wanted to like TAINT because I enjoyed Stirling's Change Series novels, but while it's well written and interesting, its over-the-top cruelty was difficult for me to read. The novel could give romantic vampire urban fantasy the jump start it needs, forcing realism and excellent writing into a usually fluffy and melodramatic sub-genre, and could attract readers who usually wouldn't pick up this kind of book.

Recommended Age: 18 and up, this book is for adults only.
Language: Yes, and it's relatively frequent.
Violence: Between the fighting, sexual abuse, and torture there's a lot and it's graphic.
Sex: There's quite a bit and the talk can get crass.

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Posted in Books We Like...and Hate , S.M. Stirling , 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

Procession of the Dead

PROCESSION OF THE DEAD, the premiere book in a new series, The City, is Darren Shan's first foray into adult novels. We knew his Cirque du Freak novels were dark and creepy (if for a younger audience) and therefore were pretty excited to see what the guy could do with more adult content, and we weren't disappointed at all.

PROCESSION OF THE DEAD follows one Capac Raimi, and is told from his point of view. He is an aspiring gangster with some mysterious past he can't really remember, except in very vague glimpses and flashes (yeah we know, it's cliché, but it is handled well). Capac comes to The City and gets in the "good graces" of the man who owns and runs it from the ground up; The Cardinal. The Cardinal's reputation is horrendous, though that description barely scratches the surface of his actual personality. Speaking of which, Capac's isn't exactly a role model either. As Capac rises through the ranks of the The Cardinal's empire, he comes across a variety of strange occurrences and people and the mystery of The Cardinal and The City builds.

PROCESSION is a very cool mix of mystery, urban fantasy, horror, crime/drama and a gangster story. The City has plenty of bizarre things going on, and Darren uses Incan mythology to create a unique setting. Many of the names are Incan in origin, or actual Incan words. The City has a lot of secrets (of course), many of which stem from ideas built from Incan society. Part of the allure of this novel resides in this fresh and creative use of a fascinating and under-used culture.

The characters of the story are all very intriguing, even if they are a bit one-dimensional. Each of them seems to embody one very strong characteristic or emotion, and really don't deviate much from their paths. Capac is ambitious. Really ambitious. Really scary ambitious. Paucar is a violent freak. A very scary violent freak. Leonara is motherly. Ama epitomizes desire and love. The way characters were designed and presented reminded us very strongly of David Eddings in a more horror-centric setting. In this case it worked, and we ended up liked every character.

Take it as a positive or a negative, but book is very short--only 278 pages--and moves very quickly. The pacing was pretty good, though the first hundred or so pages did make us wonder when things were going to get really interesting. Thankfully the last third of the book rewarded us and made us glad we stuck with it.

We did, however, want a little bit more depth. PROCESSION was really a novel that could have done with another hundred pages. Especially regarding the Blink Monks who seem to be such an integral part of The City, but are left largely untouched for most of the book. The ending also made us wonder how the book would become a series (a proposed trilogy).

The finale and epilogue were sufficiently twisted for us, but could have used another 10 or so pages to avoid feeling so cramped and rushed. The final paragraph had a very heavy "Dun-Dun-DUUUN!" feel to it. Woohoo! However, (you knew it was coming) the climax did feel somewhat muted by the fact that we had figured out exactly how it was all going to play out, and the fact that Capac wasn't really doing anything but riding on rails, like a train.

As you know, gangster-like stories should have well-done violence, so it was something we looked at with a critical eye. The action scenes are brutal and bloody, but never approach slasher-movie feel. They are very clear and detailed, but never cross into wordiness. Kudos Darren. This part was very well constructed, and fit the theme of the book extremely well.

We did have a few issues here and there, but perhaps our biggest was with that the main PoV character had such a strong sense of ambition and propensity for violence is was hard for us to identify with him, and care about him as much as we cared about other characters. Capac was largely an anti-hero, with a few scenes of humanity that didn't do much to hide the fact that he was a "bad dude". There just simply wasn't a lot to like about this guy, and what little there is quickly dissolves. Though...without spoiling anything there is a very cool reason for this, and was really the saving grace of that character.

All in all, PROCESSION OF THE DEAD was tons of fun to read. Darren Shan is an author we will be following now. Thumbs up for buying this book. It's very light, but it's very worth it.

Recommended Age: 18+
Language: Plenty of cursing. It is a book about gangsters. D'uh!
Violence: There wasn't a TON, but what was there was bloody, and quite visceral. Again, it seemed perfectly placed in this setting.
Sex: There aren't any actual events depicting it, but there is a lot of talk about it.

Go by Darren's website:

http://www.darrenshan.com/

Also, we would feel poorly if we didn't mention our like for the cover. Simplistic, yet extremely fitting.

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Posted in Books We Like , Darren Shan , Urban Fantasy