No Humans Involved (Women of the Otherworld, Book 7) review

Posted : 6 months, 2 weeks ago on 27 March 2008 08:54 (A review of No Humans Involved (Women of the Otherworld, Book 7))

Some of us having been waiting for a Jaime story for a long so it's been great to see this one. As a bonus, long-time fans get the pleasure of Jeremy as well. It's about time he tried finding some happiness of his own!

Another great and entertaining novel by Armstrong, though I was irked by one scene. When Jaime is kidnapped, Jeremy finds her but never explain how.... Armstrong writes it that he just knew where to find her. I'm not a big fan of that reasoning and really find it to be just a cop out. I would have accepted even the most ludicrous explanation over that brush off.

All that aside, I love the touching way the story ended off and how the children appeared one by one, giving their names. Good story and nice to see all the characters from a unique point of view.

With that said, I do sort of feel as if we've seen all of Ms. Vegas that we need to see. I'm not sure that another novel could really reveal any more about her.

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Less Than Zero review

Posted : 6 months, 3 weeks ago on 20 March 2008 07:54 (A review of Less Than Zero)

What a ride! A pretty twisted story, but Ellis lets you know there's far more underneath the plot then a bunch of over privileged kids being naughty. If anything, it makes you thankful for parents who are around and anchors you a little more into "normal"

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The Night Watch review

Posted : 6 months, 4 weeks ago on 17 March 2008 08:38 (A review of The Night Watch)

I'm not sure whether it was the translation or occasional complexity of the story, but I sometimes found myself having difficulty following along.

The concept and story are actually quite interesting. The author has created a very engaging world of good vs evil. It's interesting to get the idea of how easy it is for evil to flourish and how hard it is for the overall good to succeed. Far too often all that has to be through manipulation or deception, allowing the reader to understand that nothing, not even good versus evil, can ever be black and white.

For me though, the disappointment sort of came in the coldness of the characters and storytelling. Again, I'm not sure if this is due to how the translation was written or if perhaps this was a cultural thing, but it all seemed far too formal. I felt a sort of reserve or distance between what was going on so I couldn't really get immersed in it all.

Overall, I did find it interesting, but I'm not sure if it was enough to encourage me to seek out the rest of the stories in the series.

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Another One Bites the Dust (Jaz Parks, Book 2) review

Posted : 7 months, 2 weeks ago on 29 February 2008 04:04 (A review of Another One Bites the Dust (Jaz Parks, Book 2))

Wonderful follow-up and Rardin really cranks up the comedy. It doesn't become tasteless or cheesy, but adds just the right amount of chuckles to lighten the sometimes dark thoughts for the characters. The gadget continue and become even more quirky, this time being mixed in with some of Cassandra's magic.

For those of use who don't like love triangles, it's comforting to know that the cliché doesn't continue in this novel. Jaz is clear (to the reader, at least) about her feelings, and seeing her surrounded by a good group of friends makes nice safety net for her sanity!

I love that the baddie is technically the same in both novels. In that respect it makes it seem kind of like a serial TV program; going after the ultimate bad guy in every episode, but taking care of smaller cases along the way. It's smart for Rardin to realize that not just the good guys have to be the recurring characters all the time.

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Invisible Monsters review

Posted : 7 months, 2 weeks ago on 27 February 2008 01:04 (A review of Invisible Monsters)

To be able to get into Palahniuk's novels, you really have to enjoy dark humour and take a step back to look at how ridiculous North Americans really are as a people. As graphic and sarcastic as he is in this novel, it's still a great ride. The layers of the story are peeled back bit by bit. While I though the back and forth of the protagonist's storytelling would get confusing, it really didn't. It becomes this little puzzle you're slowly putting together through bits and pieces.

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Heat Stroke (Weather Warden, Book 2) review

Posted : 7 months, 3 weeks ago on 23 February 2008 12:48 (A review of Heat Stroke (Weather Warden, Book 2))

I've never been crazy about books that leave things off as a cliffhanger. It seems to me that Rachel Caine enjoys this as she's done it the Morganville Vampires series as well. It certainly is a great feature to sell future novels!

I'd previously mentioned about the danger of Joanne becoming too powerful, so it was nice that becoming a "newbie" djinn, so-to-speak, changed that for her. It put her back at the bottom of the pile with a new learning curve.

Aside from that, I sort of felt lackluster about the whole story. It seems odd that everyone is so willing to save the life of someone they barely know... and that all of them seem so attracted to her. This of course always reminds me of Anita Blake and that's not such a good thing these days.

I liked the first novel enough though that I will definitely continue and see where it goes from here.

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Seeing Me Naked review

Posted : 7 months, 3 weeks ago on 19 February 2008 06:59 (A review of Seeing Me Naked)

A good read, though I found in the beginning it was a little hard to get into the story. The characters sort of seemed stiff, Daniel appeared to have no sense of humour, and it was almost oozing of "poor little rich girl"... But it's well written and still entertaining. I did enjoy Palmer's first novel much more though and would recommend "Conversations With the Fat Girl"

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Kitty and the Silver Bullet review

Posted : 8 months ago on 12 February 2008 06:44 (A review of Kitty and the Silver Bullet)

Finally! Some poor closure for Kitty.

The story starts off a bit slow, but I think that's mostly because we're not used to so little action. It doesn't become a bother, though, as it becomes interesting in terms of watching Kitty struggle between her human family, her wolf family, and her future in Denver.

It was nice to see some old characters return... some getting their just desserts while others sort of end up surprising us with their actions. It was definitely a great way to come full circle from the first book.

I have to say that the disagreements with Ben became slightly irritating, especially considering how the whole story ended! It seemed to me that Ben, who was generally laid back and sarcastic got rather whiny and needy in this story. I honestly didn't think that's how it would end, and I'm still not sure how I feel about it. I'm still wondering about Cormac and how/if Vaughn will work him back into all this.

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Iron Kissed (Mercy Thompson, Book 3) review

Posted : 8 months, 1 week ago on 5 February 2008 05:29 (A review of Iron Kissed (Mercy Thompson, Book 3))

Wow. I find that often, with urban fantasy series after the first two or three books it can be difficult for an author to come up with more creative stories, or allow her characters to grow without becoming omnipotent. It seems to me that Briggs is not having any trouble with this.

The story starts off great, and I thought it would really be just a plotline based on a sort of fae/preternatural bigotry. I was surprised that it was something that hadn't really been touched on up until this point, but it did feel right; as if we'd been given enough time through the first two books to get used to the idea of the supernatural that we would be 100% behind Mercy and friend against the hate groups. I also think it wasn't touched on so much that it actually became irritating or preachy which was also quite a relief.

But by the end? You're just completely slammed with this intense and emotional finish that you never saw coming. So much is revealed about Mercy, Adam, and even Ben. It was really quite powerful and I never would have thought that would be something I would come across in an urban fantasy novel; so refreshing!

I should also take a moment to say how hot Adam is! :P This genre is often populated by males who are strong, independent, yet extremely stoic (I think that can even be said for most romance novels). Having a character like Adam, who can be unpredictable, hot-tempered, and often without control on his aggression is something I've been hoping to see for a long time. Sure, he's scary and occasionally you wonder what sane woman would put up with it... but I'm with Mercy on this one, and I would definitely find ways to push some buttons because that controlled aggression is so much better than the silent and leads we often have to contend with.

With Iron Kissed, Briggs has made me a fan for life.

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Blood Bound (Mercy Thompson Series, Book 2) review

Posted : 8 months, 1 week ago on 4 February 2008 09:50 (A review of Blood Bound (Mercy Thompson Series, Book 2))

I was happy to say that I liked this book as much as the first. It's nice to have another series to get into and I look forward to more.

My only issue at the moment is the worry that it might be running into what I call "Laurell K. Hamilton Territory." Many of the male characters are becoming increasingly attracted to Mercy and it always strikes me as far too superficial. I sort of have the tendency to see this as the author projecting her own fantasies onto her characters. The tension in the love triangle also increases, but it seem the third book in the series will address this problem (and come to a conclusion!). That makes me happy and increases my excitement about "Iron Kissed."

I've also noticed that Mercy is very mortal. She gets hurt and damaged, but still continues to worry about bills and go to work amidst all the drama; That tends to make it feel much more real. Mercy is also not completely immune to magic, so we see the potential for conflict rather than a character that is almighty and who cannot be defeated.

I love that in this second novel, Briggs has continued to expand her characters and allowed us to see more of those secondary players. No one becomes stale and all of them reveal more about themselves, which increases my attachment to the stories.

Well done, and a great follow-up.

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