Review: Sleight of Hand (Bite Back series 01) by Mark Henwick

A copy of this novel for reviewing purposes was sent to me free of charge by the author via Blodeuedd - thank you very much !  That fact, of course,  didn't influence my review in any way. 

Book info:

Form: pdf
Genre: urban fantasy, paranormal fiction, crime mystery
Target audience: adults

Synopsis:

Amber Farrell is not your ordinary PI. She has been very well trained in one of the US Army super secret units. Unfortunately now the Army don’t want to have anything to do with her although they watch her carefully. She was a cop. Now most cops distrust her. All because of a bloody incident in the South American jungle. She was bitten by something strange and she survived against all odds; now she doesn’t know what to do with her life which is simply slipping out of her hands.

It is not a big secret what she is becoming: a vampire. However even as your average vampire aspirant she is still unusual. The whole process is taking her longer for one thing and she doesn’t seem to need a mentor. She can also identify other vampires by their coppery smell.

As a self-employed PI Amber is doing not very well, but soon she is given a very profitable job. Her new client is Jenniffer Kingslund, a rich local businesswoman with a bunch of problems of her own: normal and paranormal. All of them seem to revolve around one undeveloped location of Jennifer: Silver Hills. Will Amber be able to help her? What will it take?

What I liked:

You might say it is just another paranormal fiction series with a mixture of everyday life in a big American city (Denver) and different fantasy creatures like vamps and werewolves but it was highly readable.

The world building was interesting, especially concerning the Athanate or vampires. The author tried to outline their existence in a fresh way (if it is possible at all with vampires swamping popular literature) and I appreciated his efforts. The criminal mystery actually was overshadowed by that thread, at least for me.

Amber is a highly-trained woman but her proficiency in martial arts and using conventional weapons didn’t come from thin air. It is one of my pet peeves – a more or less ordinary chica is turned into a vampire and in the matter of seconds, practically as soon as she touches a sword, she becomes a warrior extraordinaire. Here at least the author gave his heroine a proper background, making her exploits far more believable.

Also I truly enjoyed the fact that this novel didn’t feature either insta-love between the main lead and, say, a devastatingly handsome vampire master (ugh!) or an ugly love triangle. Amber is a sensible girl who knows her priorities and keeps her desires in check, concerning both her male and female acquaintances. I hope the author will continue that course.

Finally some secondary characters like Bian, the Vietnamese vampiress who likes Goth girls, Tullah, Amber’s secretary and her mother were really nice to read about.

What I didn’t like:

The biggest problem I had concerned my relating or rather not relating to the main heroine, Amber Farrell. Don’t get me wrong – I like kick-ass women who never pull their punches and make a career on their own, without needing a strong man by their side, vampire or otherwise. Still…whenever I felt I finally knew what made her tick I was led astray by her actions again and again. Let me be more precise: Amber is not a badly-constructed character but she is neither here nor there, a work in progress.

Sometimes she acts like a straight adult woman, sometimes – like a young gung ho man from a Bond movie. She kisses both men and women. For some period of time she is a kind of live-in girlfriend of Jen but without fully realizing the implications of her status. She publicly dances with her for heavens’ sake and still she never bothers to ask herself what others might think of it. When her sister is angry at her she is simply surprised. Although she is half way into becoming a vampire she hates most of vampires and is afraid of her own future as one. Still she doesn’t look for the answers – not really, taking into account the fact that she is an investigator – and when it comes to werewolves she doesn’t have any trust issues or problems…

I understand that it is just the first part of a whole series. Perhaps with hindsight everything would have become perfectly reasonable but reading the first part I sometimes found myself wondering whether Amber is a she or a he or a person somewhere in between. I bet there might be several explanations of such a character construction. First: it was done deliberately by the author for reason or reasons unknown, to be revealed later. Second: male authors, even very good ones, sometimes have difficulties getting into a female mind and their heroines come across as tomboys at best, hermaphrodites in the middle, something misshapen a cat might drag in at worst. Creating a complex character is never easy. In my opinion the jury is out when it comes to Ms Farrell. Her background (a stint in special forces, another one as a cop) definitely would predestine her to be a bit less feminine than your ordinary vampire chick and it’s fine by me but I wish she found her inner core, spoke with herself and took a mature, informed decision about her preferences – rather sooner than later.

Cover art:

Nice but a bit misleading. I mean vampires are far more prominent than werewolves in this one so what is that doggy doing here?

Final verdict:

An interesting beginning of another urban fantasy series and a nice debut. I wish Amber and her author all the best!

Review: Drink Deep (Chicagoland Vampires 05) by Chloe Neill

Book info:
Format: e-book, Kindle edition
Genre: urban fantasy (I would add PNR but I am not sure)
Target audience: those unfortunate creatures who have read previous parts and got addictes e.g. me (adults)


Synopsis:


Drink Deep catches up two months after Hard Bitten ends. Malik Washington is now in charge of Cadogan House and, surprise, surprise, he faces many problems. Well, a problem-free life for a vampire Master in Chicago? You must be kidding, right?

So, firstly the new mayor believes vampires have received special treatment so far and has decided to put a stop to it; she is strongly influenced by a man with an unreasonable hatred for vampires, believing they must be evil. Next the water in Lake Michigan and the Chicago river has turned black and stopped moving. The public is quick to blame the vampires, but they have had nothing to do with it. Still their task is to get to the bottom of this mystery before lynches start. Merit, as Sentinel, turns to Jonah, the captain of the guards for Grey House, for help. Jonah is also secretly a member of the Red Guard - he has tried to persuade Merit to join them. With the offer still standing he agrees to help investigate this weird disturbance.

Meanwhile Franklin Cabot has been appointed receiver of Cadogan House. The GP has decided they didn't like the way the House was run by Ethan, so he was sent in to evaluate the damage and improve things. Frank is clearly a power-obsessed bureaucrat and soon he becomes a complete pain in the ass for everyone that lives at Cadogan House, limiting their blood consumption and making free speech illegal. Merit knows it can’t last long, especially as she is having vivid dreams or rather nightmares of Ethan. When the sky suddenly turns red, all supernatural creatures and humans realize they must solve this riddle before their city is destroyed by some evil forces.

What I liked:

The book was short. I didn't waste a lot of time.

What I didn’t like (highlight to read the spoilers):

It will be one of sadder reviews. It proves me wrong - sometimes I am simply too optimistic when it comes to such novels, hoping for the best, expecting some logic and reason...

In my very humble opinion the whole series lost all steam and sparkle. To me it felt like Ms. Neill had just a deadline to meet and a book to write – a task, not creative pleasure. She did what she was supposed to do and what she was paid for but, apparently, she lacked skills and/or courage to continue the series in a logical way. Basically her story seems more or less like a dull repetition of old tricks, known from previous parts. I am sure any fanfic writer could have written such a book – perhaps actually some of them would have done  a better job.

First of all Merit doesn’t seem to be developing as a character. It is a huge drawback in a character-driven plot. For example she doesn’t seem to be mourning for her ex-lover and master. Not really. Although she is sad, basically  she gets back to work and fighting. I think I expected to see her undergoing some intense depression, to be lost in a staggering state of grief; well, maybe vampires are more resilient than humans but she is more or less ok, continuously making the same decisions and having the same inner turmoil, just with different man. It seemed strange. True, she has those Ethan-themed nightmares but who doesn’t have nightmares from time to time…

The book narration circles around a mystery which was quite obvious to me even at the very beginning. Repeatedly throughout the book there are references made to sorcerers being the only ones who could have initiated the elemental magic yet Merit and Jonah, her heavily educated partner with four doctorates, need the entire book to reach that conclusion, ultimately discovering it was Mallory. Merit claims repeatedly Mallory is like a close sister to her but still she doesn't manage to put two and two together. It seems that Ethan took  a big chunk of of her intelligence to his urn.


By the way I would have liked to have seen at least some build up indicating Mallory had a dark side. From the beginning of the series, Mallory was always like a  level-headed and kind sidekick. Out of the blue, she is embracing evil ,becoming a power-crazy bitch and nearly destroying the city – why?

In the end a blow that left a really bad taste in my mouth. Ethan rises from the ashes. Like a phoenix. Just my luck – I never liked the guy and he is back. Honestly, I have read a lot of paranormal novels and I do understand that ordinary rules do not apply in that crazy world but this one seemed to be really too clumsily done and too far fetched, even for this genre. To be back, with the full sense of yourself from a pile of dust two months old? Yeah, yeah, sure, whatever…just why nobody had thought about it before? Mind you the spell that resurrected Ethan was interrupted, yet still he is here, fully formed with no apparent consequences…it was so sloppy, wrong and preposterous that almost anticlimactic. The deus ex machina gone way too far. Bad literature. Yawn.

I suppose I know what happened. I bet the author got cold feet about killing off one of her main characters. She must have spooked that so many fans were complaining and she took the most opportunistic decision - ok, here you have your Ethan back, enjoy, be happy and please, keep ordering the next installment. As if happiness was so easy to achieve…I suppose even the author herself doesn’t believe in the success of such a strategy – she has already started another series…guess why.

Final verdict:

Unfortunately for me, this book fell very flat, ruining what appeared to be a very promising series. Pity. Chicagoland Vampries – farewell! Flames to dust...I think I need a hug. Perhaps I don't deserve one for starting the series in the first place but if we got only what we deserve...

Review: Frostbite: A Werewolf Tale by David Wellington

Book info:

Book form: e-book mobi format

Genre: paranormal fiction, dystopia

Target audience: adults

I stumbled upon this book (but with slightly different title - Cursed) on Mel’sRandom Reviews blog, featured as her Throwback Thursday meme which proves that when you want to find new good books it’s worth visiting around. Thanks Mel!

Synopsis:

A young woman, Cheyenne Clark, is heli-hiking in an underpopulated area of the northern part of Canada, apparently looking for some traces of a strange animal. Although she is well prepared for such rough conditions still she gets lost, falls into a river and almost drowns. Half alive, with most of her possessions either destroyed or gone, she tries to find a shelter, not an easy thing in the Canadian wilderness. When the night falls the animal she was tracking finds her. And scratches her leg with its fangs.

From that point the life of Cheyenne changes dramatically – yes, she becomes a werewolf herself, no surprises here taking into account the title. Now she must face not only the werewolf who turned her against her will into a monster (well, he hasn’t planned that much either) and now wants to kill her for her own good but also her associates who hadn’t taken such a turn of events into account. Or perhaps they had. Anyway they are as dangerous to her as to her prey now, having some silver bullets at their disposal and a lot of experience under their belt...

What side will her boyfriend take – a man who has been actively hunting a werewolf half his life? What will Cheyenne do with her little furry problem- will she be able to accept her new, very limited life? Or maybe a silver bullet in the head will seem a far nicer solution?

What I liked:

Although I managed to cram the whole story into a very short synopsis it doesn’t mean that the book is short or simplistic. Quite the opposite in fact. And I enjoyed it immensely.

First of all the narration is full of surprises. Werewolf’s life was made a tad more difficult than usually in PNR books– here such a creature must change into a monster whenever the Moon rises, no matter what phase, so practically most of the nights. The characters’ stories are also a bit more complicated – no easy falling in love, plenty of problems, no slick solutions. As soon as you think you know everything there is to be known about the trio of main heroes: Cheyenne, her boyfriend, Bobby Fenech, and Montgomery Powell, the werewolf who turned Chey into a monster, the author adds some more info making you scratch your head and wonder. I did like it very much – scratching, thinking and reading :-).

The characters are well-rounded indeed and their actions – always psychologically viable and fully justified...of course when you get the whole picture. So no sooner than by the end of the book. I really sympathized with Cheyenne and Powell (but for different reasons) and even enjoyed a more rough, cruel and blood-dripping image of a werewolf. If you are (like yours truly) dead tired and bored stiff with those fluffy, pinky, cloying romances featuring unvaryingly handsome and well-muscled guys who just happen to have a bit more beast inside than an average human being but otherwise are simply loving and cuddly try this one. I am sure you will find it refreshingly scary.

I also liked the ending but I must mention there is a lot of violence in this one. Although the scenes are not overly graphic, they do sound real enough to make you cringe. It has a point, though, a very good point, showing that a monster is as monster does. Add to it some political background (like the real reason why the Canadian government were so interested in seeing all werewolves dead) and you get a surprisingly intricate and original story. One you would like to continue (yes, it is a series as far as I know).


Finally the cover - I find it very appropriate. Simple and scary.

What I didn’t like:

There was just one minor detail – I really couldn't figure out what the role of Dzo was. If you haven't read the book - Dzo is a magical entity, a musquash/muskrat spirit, looking like any human male (with some quirks but who doesn't have them, after all) but  being anything but human. First difference - he can hang out with shape-shifters without being considered by them a prey, even when they change their form. He follows Powell and helps him from time to time but we are not told why or to what end. Just because both are lonely? Secondly Dzo claims he has been living for not mere years or centuries but rather millenia - allegedly he saw Neandertals (yes, the author apparently believes in evolution) and Paleo-Indians, inhabiting Canada. Thirdly he is a vegetarian...but actually I am  surprised he has to eat anything. He also can appear and disappear at will, having strong affiliation with running water. Perhaps after reading the second installment this character will be made clearer to me.


Final verdict:

Definitely a kind of paranormal story I like and appreciate: honest, perhaps a bit closer to some classic fairy tales about werewolves ( I really sometimes saw Chey as the Little Red Ridding Hood of a kind) but also gritty and real. I am really looking forward to the second part, entitled Overwinter!

Summer review: Darkfever (Fever 01) by Karen Marie Moning

Book info:


Form: e-book, pdf format
Language: English
Target audience: adults


Synopsis (partially from Goodreads):

MacKayla Lane’s life as a 22-year old bartender/part time student is good. Why shouldn’t it be? She is a pretty girl who has loving, middle class parents, great friends, and a car that breaks down only every other week or so. She doesn't have to work very hard, she doesn't have to study very hard, she can pick up boys on the beach every day and her older sister is her best friend forever.

Or so she thinks…until something extraordinary happens.

When her sister, Alina, is murdered, leaving a single clue to her death–a cryptic message on Mac’s cell phone–Mac journeys to Ireland in search of answers. The quest to find her sister’s killer draws her into a shadowy realm where nothing is as it seems, where good and evil wear the same treacherously seductive mask. She is soon faced with an even greater challenge: staying alive long enough to learn how to handle a power she had no idea she possessed–a gift that allows her to see beyond the world of man, into the dangerous realm of the Fae….

As Mac delves deeper into the mystery of her sister’s death, her every move is shadowed by the dark, mysterious Jericho Barrons, a man with no past and only mockery for a future. As she begins to close in on the truth, the ruthless V’lane–an alpha Fae who makes sex an addiction for human women–closes in on her. And as the boundary between worlds begins to crumble, Mac’s true mission becomes clear: find the elusive Sinsar Dubh before someone else claims the all-powerful Dark Book–because whoever gets to it first holds nothing less than complete control of the very fabric of both worlds in their hands…

What I liked:

I did like a lot. It is definitely not your common-or-garden chicklit novel, let alone a YA fare, although at the beginning it might seem deceptively like one. The key word here is ‘deceptively’.

Mac starts off as a shallow, vapid girl who loves sunbathing, pink nail varnish and rainbow-coloured, pastel clothes but you can feel she’s got some steel in her. In the first installment she doesn’t even start to imagine how much. The death of her beloved older sister triggers  a visceral need to find out the truth about herself and the world. The problem is that finding out the truth is more often than not as difficult as keeping water in your closed fist. Nobody shares for free and in some cases Mac simply doesn’t have the right currency to buy the info she desperately needs. That's how she learns that great looks, youth and a pretty smile are not everything. In some situations they are close to nothing. In fact they can even get you killed. As the mystery is unraveling Mac is forced to break and enter, lie (or withhold information), steal and then make deals with dangerous shady types; deals which she most often doesn’t want or can’t keep. Definitely not a typical chicklit blonde, is she?

I liked other characters as well, most of them pretty shadowy if not even slightly reprehensive in their self-serving attitude– you can’t find any clear divide into white and black hats here. Jerricho Barrons helps our heroine out but he does it in a rough manner and apparently only for his own selfish reasons. Yes, he is dark and handsome but no, I wouldn’t like to chat with him in a pub and if he ever hit on me I would run like hell on first occasion. However, Mac’s and Barrons’s mutual attraction/repulsion was snappy – I think we deal here with a fine example of a quarreling couple.

V’lane, the golden Fae prince is sometimes even worse – he toys with Mac’s sex drive mercilessly but also, in order to draw her to him, he offers more information than any other party, and Mac knows she needs it to stay alive.

The pace of narration was neck-breaking and the book kept me interested to the very end. At the end I didn’t get answers I was made looking for and I am sure my curiosity will make me read the sequels. The place the novel was set in (Dublin) worked just fine.

Finally the use of Celtic mythology was intricate and logical – Tuatha Dé Danann, Spear of Destiny, Seelie (white) and Unseelie (dark) Fae: if these words make sense to you (or if you want to learn more and you like Celtic mythology), you will be charmed as well. The take on fairies and the world building reminded me slightly of “Lords and Ladies” by Terry Prattchett but this one is definitely aimed at more mature readers as it mentions sex often and without any inhibitions (Seelie Fae are also called death-by-sex fairies, just an example).

Oh and the blue-and-gold cover with a lamppost is simply great (I saw the other one, black and red, and this one is definitely better). I love the colours and the frame - very atmospheric!

Titillating factor:


Only innuendos (but rather adult ones) in this part but I've heard there are more steamy scenes in next installments.

What I didn’t like:

The descriptions of prom-like clothes, hair and make-up, stupid names, and Southern-fried chickenisms, which fill the first part of the book, can be annoying, especially if you are not sure whether they end at all. Fortunately they do end.

The origin of Fae people was a bit too slick and too easy to be fully acceptable but I think can live with it.

The main heroine tends to learn a bit too fast without a real effort for such a blonde, empty-headed, tanned Barbie she used to be. An example: the last scene in an empty warehouse when our brave Mac takes on all those ugly Fae monsters, knocking them off without any problem although she was simply to affraid to touch them previously. It was a bit far-fetched to say the least of it. Another example: Mac's weapon (no, I won't spoil you saying what it is). Who would let her walk around with something so precious without any training at all?

As I’ve already mentioned the ending…it is obvious that the author didn’t offer any denouement in order to make you read the next installment. Clever but a bit cruel. I warn you - there is simply no real attempt to tie things off so if you don’t like such tricks and you want to read this one, order at least two first books and save yourself the whole “what-will-happen-next” frustration.

Final verdict:

Overall I am very impressed with the way Ms Moning has crafted the world in this book, and I look forward to reading how it will grow and develop in the sequels. I am very glad Jen from In the Closet with a Bibliophile decided to post her sweet mini-review of the whole series and encouraged me to start it - thanks Jen!

Image via Wikipedia

Summer mini review: Heartless by Gail Carriger (The Parasol Protectorate series 04)

Book info:

• Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Orbit; Original edition (June 28, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316127191
• ISBN-13: 978-0316127196
• Genre: paranormal fiction, romance, steampunk, 
• Target audience: adults and not only...

Synopsis:

Alexia lady Maccon, nee Tarabotti, might be in her last months of  pregnancy but never indolent, inactive or bored. With a werewolf Alfa male for a husband and a single vampire extraordinaire for a best friend you can practically never have one  minute of peace. As if anybody would want one. 

An unknown ghost with short concentration span has just informed Alexia that somebody is plotting a regicide and certain vampires are still hell-bent on killing her unborn infant-inconvenience. To protect her unborn child she is going to do something unthinkable - let it be adopted even before it is born. And the happy foster parent will be... well, guess. :-)

One problem solved; now Alexia, still employed by Queen Victoria as a mujah, must do her utmost to prevent any regicide, especially that most likely a supernatural being is involved - more precisely a werewolf. The uncomfortable investigation will make her discover a lot about her husband's and her late father's past, always a dangerous thing when there are so many secrets to unveil...and so many sensitive toes to tread on. Prepare yourself for plenty of tea, treacle tart and some murderous teapots as well.

What I liked:

I don't try to conceal the fact that I am Gail Carriger's fan. Why I like her novels so much? Of course I might tell you that this book, like the previous ones, had very good plot with interesting twists and turns, a well-paced  narration which flows nicely, a strong, likeable heroine, a bevy of great secondary characters and so on. It would be all true but it wouldn’t make the whole series unique. So, what makes The Parasol Protectorate books really great and distinctly different from many other paranormal series? I tried to pinpoint some of the features in the list below:

• The heroine is married and pregnant for the second book and still there is some well-balanced romance between her and her werewolf husband - go figure ;). No love triangle, no teenage angst, no third party involved.
• The series is undoubtedly steampunk but without getting very violent or bloody or deadly serious. I would call it steampunk entertainment because it does entertain.
• As I've already mentioned entertainment...the paranormal aspect is seasoned with a healthy dose of humour, that's why even vampires, ghosts and werewolves are palatable.
• Generally Ms. Carriger's sense of humour appeals to me (which means I grin or even laugh like mad while reading her books)...forgive me if I repeat myself.
• Comestibles like tea, treacle tart, sponge cakes and finger sandwiches make the book so incredibly appetizing to read that I get instantly hungry. Normally I am a poor eater so it is an advantage, no?
• Secondary characters from previous parts are never forgotten; what’s more, they are also  given a chance to develop and become more and more three-dimensional with every part (I think here mainly but not only about Lord Akeldama, Madame Lefoux, Professor Lyall, Floote  and of course Alessandro Tarabotti, the long-deceased father of our dear Alexia; I can never get enough of him).
• Finally Victorian London and its society is really nicely rendered here.

Quite a list, isn't it? Would you wish for anything more? Well, perhaps you would but it would be also rather foolish...;)

What I didn’t like:

I do admit that Madame Lefoux disappointed me a bit in this part with her mad scheme (a sensible woman and a scientist should have known better than resort to brute force even in very dramatic circumstances) and zombie porcupines never seemed half as funny as mechanical ladybirds, presented in part three but perhaps it’s only the old grumpy me.

Final verdict:

A lovely series with great steampunk accents which gets better and better. Definitely worth discovering and reading. What else could I say...I am looking forward to the next part – I’ve already pre-ordered it!

A mechanical spider via Wikipedia - I want one!