Jack of Ravens
Mark Chadbourn
PYR, Mar 27 2012, $17.95
ISBN: 9781616146078
London based archeologist Jack “Church” Churchill walks out of the fog with one objective: to get back to his beloved Ruth. He is confused as he has no idea where he is, why he carries an ancient sword, and where all this blood came from as if he murdered someone with his weapon. His instincts tell him to keep moving, but he ignores this inner warning to focus on his situation when a giant at least twenty-five feet grabs Church. Six men speaking Gaulish Celtic attack the giant. Church kills him with his sword. Even more bewildering is the language his rescuers speak is only used in a university. They take the “giantkiller” to Etain the healer even as he notices no roads or planes.
Church realizes somehow he is in Celtic Britain. He wants to go home. Soon Church reaches the Otherworld home of the gods where he plans to relax over the centuries until he is back with Ruth. However, Church is unaware why he was exiled back in time; a malevolence needs him to never to return in order to complete the End-Times plan.
The first Kingdom of the Serpent is an action-packed epic thriller that races through time at rapid speed with chapters dedicated to different eras like the Romans, Elizabethan, and the Nazis air Blitz (and even Civil Rights movement twentieth century America). Spinning his own Brother and Sister of Dragons epic sword and sorcery saga, Mark Chadbourn provides a great thriller as evil does not want the return of Church to his biological era, but will soon learn they don’t know Jack. Harriet Klausner
A Clash of Kings
George R. R. Martin
Bantam, Mar 6 2012, $8.99
ISBN: 9780345535429
The comet streaks across the sky of the fractured Seven Kingdoms. A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. The six prime rivals for the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms interpret the bloody fiery trail to fit their needs.
Once the heir apparent, Stannis believes the comet means the time to attack Westros with sorcery and an army is now. In King's Landing, teenage King Joffery proves a poor abusive monatch leaving his uncle Tyrion the King’s Hand to protect their subjects. In the north Tyrion’s father Tywin battles against Stark and her militia while another son Jaime is a prisoner of war. From the South, Renly needs to eliminate his brother Stannis before he begins his assault on King's Landing. Finally in the distant east, resolute Daenerys leads her Khalhaser dragon horde towards Westros. The various hostilities by rulers against each other turn the Seven Kingdoms into a chaotic lawless land
The second A Game of Thrones fantasy (see A Song of Ice and Fire) is a superb entry in which political and military alliances mean little as ambition to sit on the Iron Throne remains everything for most of the competitors. The innocent are collateral damage as their plight from marauding soldiers and vicious outlaws are meaningless to most of the pretenders. Loaded with action while rotating effortlessly perspectives, the aptly titled A Clash of Kings is a powerful tale.
Harriet Klausner
Soul Bound
Mari Mancusi
Berkley, Mar 6 2012, $9.99
ISBN: 9780425245477
Identical twins Sunny and Rayne McDonald have totally opposite desires as one is all sun and the other is all rain. Rayne desperately wants to become a vampire; while Sunny wants to live a normal life. Due to Magnus the vampire biting Sunny instead of Rayne, the “wrong’ twin is changed. Drinking from the Holy Grail returns Sunny to normal. Sunny and Magnus are on the run because they disobeyed a direct order from Pyrus, who plots to control the Vampire Consortium and then the world.
Pyrus hires Slayer Inc. to bring him the treasonous duet. Slayer Inc. assigns Rayne and her boyfriend Jareth to capture Sunny and Magnus to deliver them to the Vampire Consortium. Rayne is distraught as she would do just anything for her sister, but failure to complete the mission means the deaths of all the Blood Coven vampires as well as herself and her boyfriend. Complicating matters for Rayne is when she learns another slayer with a grudge is on the hunt too. Her life turns even more hellish when a god orders her to choose between Sunny and Jareth.
The latest A Blood Coven Vampire urban fantasy (see Blood Ties) continues the bloody darker spin that started when the twins attended Night School in Switzerland. Rayne tells the tale as she faces increasingly impossible dilemmas that shake her inner soul. Her growing maturity (she has come a long way since Boys That Bite and Stake That) shines through the darkness as she struggles with choosing the lesser of two evils. This is a character driven, fast-paced exciting teen urban fantasy. Harriet Klausner
Chrysanthe
Yves Meynard
Tor, Mar 13 2012, $15.99
ISBN: 9780765330260
Her Uncle told Christine when she was little that her Father was gone. Because of her violent tendencies she began seeing Dr. Almand. He persuaded her into believing her Father was abusive. At seventeen, Christine sees a young man hitting his brakes abruptly seemingly upon noticing her. Quentin of Lydia sends her note to meet him at Telzer Park. She knows who the author is and decides to confront him. Quentin says he searched for her for nine years as the lost Princess and heir to the throne of Chrysanthe. He explains she was kidnapped.
Quentin escorts Christine home. However, she loathes her sire King Edisthen, as she has the thoughts planted in her brain by Almand of her father sexually abusing and abandoning her. Christine also has an enemy lurking nearby; as Evered, who abducted her years ago, plots to take the throne that he believes is rightfully his. He refuses to accept the Law that deposed his father from the throne.
This is a complicated fantasy that philosophically questions what reality is. The fascinating storyline leisurely (and too poetical with so much darkness) peels away the false from the truth. Though none of the cast comes across fully developed as even the protagonist is limited to her flawed “memories”, fans who appreciate a metaphysical psychological thriller will ponder whether the truth is Christine’s implanted recollection since she believes them as being her own. Harriet Klausner
Showing posts with label Harriet's reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harriet's reviews. Show all posts
Friday, April 20, 2012
Monday, April 16, 2012
Werewolves and Magic
Werewolf In Seattle
Vicki Lewis Thompson
Signet, Apr 3 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780451237323
In Scotland, Trevelyan Alpha pack leader Colin McDowell is disheartened to learn his Aunt Geraldine died in the States as he was fond of her. However, he also learns he inherited her estate in the San Juan Islands off Washington State. He prefers to stay home, but will travel to the American Pacific Northwest to take care of legal matters.
Colin meets Geraldine’s secretary Luna Reynaud, who the late woman hired as a secretary shortly before she died. Luna explains her proposed plan to convert the estate into a resort, which Colin thinks has merit. Additionally he is attracted to her as she is to him; but she is a half-breed tainted with some human DNA and he knows Alpha pack leaders don’t mate with hybrids.
The third Wild About You werewolf romance (see A Werewolf in Manhattan and Werewolf In The North Woods) is a fun frolic starring two likable protagonists. The witty storyline mostly focuses on the lead couple’s relationship as Colin must overcome his species prejudice that human blood taints his soul mate. Harriet Klausner
Savage Awakening
J.D. Tyler
Signet, Apr 3 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780451236449
Following an attack in Afghanistan changed them and after leaving the Navy, these shape-shifting former SEALs formed the Alpha Pack; their mission to battle the most dangerous deviants in the world (see Primal law). During their current assignment, the enemy captures member Aric Savage.
More dead than alive, he learns his pack mate Micah Chase is also a prisoner. Their Alpha Team never leaves anyone behind so they begin a rescue mission that Micah’s LAPD Psy Dreamwalker Rowan plans to join. She wants her brother home safe, but while on the quest, she and Aric realize that they are mates. However, Rowan is not ready for this relationship so Aric goes slow while his wolf goes crazy. All changes when she finds out his life is threatened.
Savage Awakening is a totally enthralling Alpha Pack romantic suspense urban fantasy in which the wolf knows who he wants to bite as the means to make her his mate, but she is not ready for such a biting commitment. Sub-genre fans will enjoy the action-packed storyline while appreciating the bonding between the cop and the savage soldier. Harriet Klausner
Magic Unchained
Jessica Andersen
Signet, Apr 3 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780451236425
Once a party animal adrenaline junkie, Sven the coyote mage Nightkeeper tracker has only one “friend” his coyote familiar Mac. As a teenager, her father bound Cara Liu to Sven as his winikin. She ended that unwanted relationship though she fell in love with Sven, who she knows always walks alone.
Under four months to go, Cara returns to lead the winikin as the Doomsday Clock is counting down. She knows how difficult her assignment is as the group is divided between the old and new. Additionally the fears and unpredictability of the end of days has devastated the bond between the winikin and Nightkeepers. Cara and Sven begin a tryst that could end the alliance between their respective groups. Worse they fail to realize the current threat comes from a betrayal within the ranks.
Magic Unchained is a great Nightkeepers urban fantasy (see Storm Kissed, Demonkeepers and Blood Spells) as time has nearly run out, yet the power struggle continues. The fast-paced storyline grips readers from the moment Cara comes to New Mexico and never slows down as the loner and the leader know they belong together while on the underground side of the barrier demons prepare for the inevitable. This series remains one of the sub-genre’s best. Harriet Klausner
Angelmaker
Nick Harkaway
Knopf, Mar 20 2012, $26.95
ISBN: 9780307595959
His father was infamous felon Mathew “Tommy Gun” Spork; his grandfather repaired clocks. Joe Spork admires his dad but fixes antique clocks. His current client, Edie Banister is a gentle elderly woman. When he repairs her clock, Joe inadvertently activates a Post WWII early Cold War era doomsday clock as Edie is a retired secret agent.
Joe becomes the target of the British government, John Ruskin’s warrior-monks and a psychopath Asian dictator with robotic bees. On his side he has geriatric Edie, Frankie and most important his receptionist Polly. Though he prefers flight, he knows there is no place to hide. Thus he must fight in order to survive. Joe assists Edie complete her 1950s mission.
This is an engaging steampunk thriller in three parts as Joe becomes embroiled in the doomsday clock countdown, followed by a side trip (by the audience) into Edie’s past (that never fully meshes with the rest), and brought back together by the fight or flight finish. Fast-paced but over the top of Big Ben, fans who appreciate something different will want to read Angelmaker. Harriet Klausner
Vicki Lewis Thompson
Signet, Apr 3 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780451237323
In Scotland, Trevelyan Alpha pack leader Colin McDowell is disheartened to learn his Aunt Geraldine died in the States as he was fond of her. However, he also learns he inherited her estate in the San Juan Islands off Washington State. He prefers to stay home, but will travel to the American Pacific Northwest to take care of legal matters.
Colin meets Geraldine’s secretary Luna Reynaud, who the late woman hired as a secretary shortly before she died. Luna explains her proposed plan to convert the estate into a resort, which Colin thinks has merit. Additionally he is attracted to her as she is to him; but she is a half-breed tainted with some human DNA and he knows Alpha pack leaders don’t mate with hybrids.
The third Wild About You werewolf romance (see A Werewolf in Manhattan and Werewolf In The North Woods) is a fun frolic starring two likable protagonists. The witty storyline mostly focuses on the lead couple’s relationship as Colin must overcome his species prejudice that human blood taints his soul mate. Harriet Klausner
Savage Awakening
J.D. Tyler
Signet, Apr 3 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780451236449
Following an attack in Afghanistan changed them and after leaving the Navy, these shape-shifting former SEALs formed the Alpha Pack; their mission to battle the most dangerous deviants in the world (see Primal law). During their current assignment, the enemy captures member Aric Savage.
More dead than alive, he learns his pack mate Micah Chase is also a prisoner. Their Alpha Team never leaves anyone behind so they begin a rescue mission that Micah’s LAPD Psy Dreamwalker Rowan plans to join. She wants her brother home safe, but while on the quest, she and Aric realize that they are mates. However, Rowan is not ready for this relationship so Aric goes slow while his wolf goes crazy. All changes when she finds out his life is threatened.
Savage Awakening is a totally enthralling Alpha Pack romantic suspense urban fantasy in which the wolf knows who he wants to bite as the means to make her his mate, but she is not ready for such a biting commitment. Sub-genre fans will enjoy the action-packed storyline while appreciating the bonding between the cop and the savage soldier. Harriet Klausner
Magic Unchained
Jessica Andersen
Signet, Apr 3 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780451236425
Once a party animal adrenaline junkie, Sven the coyote mage Nightkeeper tracker has only one “friend” his coyote familiar Mac. As a teenager, her father bound Cara Liu to Sven as his winikin. She ended that unwanted relationship though she fell in love with Sven, who she knows always walks alone.
Under four months to go, Cara returns to lead the winikin as the Doomsday Clock is counting down. She knows how difficult her assignment is as the group is divided between the old and new. Additionally the fears and unpredictability of the end of days has devastated the bond between the winikin and Nightkeepers. Cara and Sven begin a tryst that could end the alliance between their respective groups. Worse they fail to realize the current threat comes from a betrayal within the ranks.
Magic Unchained is a great Nightkeepers urban fantasy (see Storm Kissed, Demonkeepers and Blood Spells) as time has nearly run out, yet the power struggle continues. The fast-paced storyline grips readers from the moment Cara comes to New Mexico and never slows down as the loner and the leader know they belong together while on the underground side of the barrier demons prepare for the inevitable. This series remains one of the sub-genre’s best. Harriet Klausner
Angelmaker
Nick Harkaway
Knopf, Mar 20 2012, $26.95
ISBN: 9780307595959
His father was infamous felon Mathew “Tommy Gun” Spork; his grandfather repaired clocks. Joe Spork admires his dad but fixes antique clocks. His current client, Edie Banister is a gentle elderly woman. When he repairs her clock, Joe inadvertently activates a Post WWII early Cold War era doomsday clock as Edie is a retired secret agent.
Joe becomes the target of the British government, John Ruskin’s warrior-monks and a psychopath Asian dictator with robotic bees. On his side he has geriatric Edie, Frankie and most important his receptionist Polly. Though he prefers flight, he knows there is no place to hide. Thus he must fight in order to survive. Joe assists Edie complete her 1950s mission.
This is an engaging steampunk thriller in three parts as Joe becomes embroiled in the doomsday clock countdown, followed by a side trip (by the audience) into Edie’s past (that never fully meshes with the rest), and brought back together by the fight or flight finish. Fast-paced but over the top of Big Ben, fans who appreciate something different will want to read Angelmaker. Harriet Klausner
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Vampires and Urban Fantasies
Black Dawn
Rachel Caine
NAL, May 1 2012, $17.99
ISBN: 9780451236715
Like much of Texas, Morganville suffers from a severe drought. The town is run by vampires with Amalie the final authority at the top of the food chain. However the arid conditions have led to the draug water vampires searching for water and other vampires to snack on. Morganville due to a deluge of storms is a place for the draug to stay and take over.
A Draug bit Amalie who is turning into a land-Draug. Her second in command, loyal Oliver refuses to let her go while his side also is losing the inter-species war. Most of the residents of Glass House (Michael, Eve, Shane and Claire) and a few allies take a last stand against the draug. Claire uniquely is the only one who can see the head Draug, which is why he needs her dead. Her friends (human and vampire) guard her while trying to figure out how to take the battle to the seemingly invisible enemy. Their only hope is to dangle Claire as bait to draw out the powerful leader of the foe.
The latest Morganville Vampires (see Last Breath) is a great entry in which a common enemy forces the humans and vampires to unite; failure to team up will mean death for all. The storyline provides a bit of vampire background as we learn how the draug came to be, insight into their hive-like culture and why they became cannibals. Saving Morganville appears unlikely but the Glass House quartet feels they must make the Son Quixote effort. Harriet Klausner
Hunter’s Rise
Shiloh Walker
Berkley, Apr 3 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780425248379
A century ago, Sylvia James was forcibly changed into a vampire. That predatory violence has become a rallying cry for her as she travels as a mostly hired assassin taking down evil. However, she has a code of ethics when accepting a client; including no lying; as Faith Dwyer learns when she tried to employ Sylvia to kill her husband. She also does personal not for profit jobs to kill the psychopaths hunting others.
Hired by the parents of a victim Toby, Sylvia travels to Memphis to kill Alan Pulaski, pedophile. A local enclave of Hunters is also after the same thug. The difference is in the outcome as Sylvia will assassinate the predator while the Hunters will turn him over to the cops; with one exception enigmatic two century at least old Toronto the renegade werewolf Hunter who will first beat the crap out of Pulaski. When Sylvia and Toronto meet, each is shocked by their attraction as both thought their respective hearts died over a century ago. After getting in each other’s way, they team up to hunt a predator.
The latest Hunter romantic urban fantasy (see Hunter's Salvation, and Hunters: Heart and Soul) is a superb entry due to the lead characters, who share in common desire, outcast status and a disgust with falling in love. As they fall in love, they struggle to keep their eye on the mission but remain diligent to end a reign of terror. Sub-genre fans will enjoy this exciting fast-paced thriller with a fabulous late twist. Harriet Klausner
Silence
Michelle Sagara
DAW, May 1 2012, $17.99
ISBN: 9780756407421
Anyone in Toronto seeing Emma in daylight would believe she is contented with her life; however at night she, accompanied by her dog, goes to the cemetery to visit her late boyfriend Nathan who died in a car accident. On one particular evening while visiting his grave, Emma notices two other people on the bench; an elderly woman seemingly made up of rags and Eric from school. They turn towards her and the woman touches her which leaves Emma scared and cold.
Eric receives a call asking if he found the necromancer. He says yes, but has not kill her yet as he has a week to complete the mission. However, Eric knows if he falters, Chase is nearby to complete the assassination assignment. The pair quickly like and admire kind Emma and realize she is not a necromancer, but something else. Instead of taking power from the dead for dark spells, she helps ghosts who for whatever reason walk the city streets. She tries to rescue the lost little boy who is enflamed in fire for eternity unless they get his mother to rescue him. Aware of Emma and her power, the Necromancer wants her power to use for his dark deeds.
Michelle Sagara writes an enthralling Canadian urban fantasy tale filled with action inside of an allegorical good and evil storyline while readers anticipate the confrontation. The first book of the Queen of the Dead contains a dark eerie atmosphere, which should surprise no one who ever visited a cemetery at night. However, it is Emma who holds the storyline together as Eric and Chase know first-hand she makes loyal friends (including the deceased) wherever she goes, which is fortunate for her as she will need them to survive the ordeal. Harriet Klausner
Darkest Knight
Karen Duvall
Luna, Mar 20 2012, $14.95
ISBN: 9780373803446
One month ago, Aydin the warrior, bonded to a gargoyle, sacrificed his humanity to free his beloved Chalice from her master Shui the homicidal gargoyle before the psychopath dined on Chalice tartare. To fight Shui, he had to accept the curse. Now Aydin is a gargoyle and Chalice plans to bring her lover back to human form by facing her nightmares in the Vyantara Fatherhouse on the other side of the Veil.
Chalice has become a knight in The Order of the Hatchet. When something murders her sister knights while they sleep, Chalice investigates alone. At the same time, Aydin visits Chalice in her dreams. Soon she will be caught in a choice of competing loyalties no person should have to make.
The latest Chalice urban fantasy is an entertaining thriller as the heroine, filled with guilt and plenty of heart, struggles to adjust to her changed circumstances and what her beloved mentor did for her. Although newcomers will struggle with comprehending the Duvall realm (it behooves fans to have read A Knight’s Curse in which the mythos is established), the beleaguered protagonist remains a confused adult who is unsure what to do now that her teacher is no longer there for her and her guardian angel Rafe refuses to coddle her. Filled with sorcerers, angels and the fallen, fans will enjoy this complex thriller as the heroine continues to learn good and evil tend to somewhat overlap. Harriet Klausner
Rachel Caine
NAL, May 1 2012, $17.99
ISBN: 9780451236715
Like much of Texas, Morganville suffers from a severe drought. The town is run by vampires with Amalie the final authority at the top of the food chain. However the arid conditions have led to the draug water vampires searching for water and other vampires to snack on. Morganville due to a deluge of storms is a place for the draug to stay and take over.
A Draug bit Amalie who is turning into a land-Draug. Her second in command, loyal Oliver refuses to let her go while his side also is losing the inter-species war. Most of the residents of Glass House (Michael, Eve, Shane and Claire) and a few allies take a last stand against the draug. Claire uniquely is the only one who can see the head Draug, which is why he needs her dead. Her friends (human and vampire) guard her while trying to figure out how to take the battle to the seemingly invisible enemy. Their only hope is to dangle Claire as bait to draw out the powerful leader of the foe.
The latest Morganville Vampires (see Last Breath) is a great entry in which a common enemy forces the humans and vampires to unite; failure to team up will mean death for all. The storyline provides a bit of vampire background as we learn how the draug came to be, insight into their hive-like culture and why they became cannibals. Saving Morganville appears unlikely but the Glass House quartet feels they must make the Son Quixote effort. Harriet Klausner
Hunter’s Rise
Shiloh Walker
Berkley, Apr 3 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780425248379
A century ago, Sylvia James was forcibly changed into a vampire. That predatory violence has become a rallying cry for her as she travels as a mostly hired assassin taking down evil. However, she has a code of ethics when accepting a client; including no lying; as Faith Dwyer learns when she tried to employ Sylvia to kill her husband. She also does personal not for profit jobs to kill the psychopaths hunting others.
Hired by the parents of a victim Toby, Sylvia travels to Memphis to kill Alan Pulaski, pedophile. A local enclave of Hunters is also after the same thug. The difference is in the outcome as Sylvia will assassinate the predator while the Hunters will turn him over to the cops; with one exception enigmatic two century at least old Toronto the renegade werewolf Hunter who will first beat the crap out of Pulaski. When Sylvia and Toronto meet, each is shocked by their attraction as both thought their respective hearts died over a century ago. After getting in each other’s way, they team up to hunt a predator.
The latest Hunter romantic urban fantasy (see Hunter's Salvation, and Hunters: Heart and Soul) is a superb entry due to the lead characters, who share in common desire, outcast status and a disgust with falling in love. As they fall in love, they struggle to keep their eye on the mission but remain diligent to end a reign of terror. Sub-genre fans will enjoy this exciting fast-paced thriller with a fabulous late twist. Harriet Klausner
Silence
Michelle Sagara
DAW, May 1 2012, $17.99
ISBN: 9780756407421
Anyone in Toronto seeing Emma in daylight would believe she is contented with her life; however at night she, accompanied by her dog, goes to the cemetery to visit her late boyfriend Nathan who died in a car accident. On one particular evening while visiting his grave, Emma notices two other people on the bench; an elderly woman seemingly made up of rags and Eric from school. They turn towards her and the woman touches her which leaves Emma scared and cold.
Eric receives a call asking if he found the necromancer. He says yes, but has not kill her yet as he has a week to complete the mission. However, Eric knows if he falters, Chase is nearby to complete the assassination assignment. The pair quickly like and admire kind Emma and realize she is not a necromancer, but something else. Instead of taking power from the dead for dark spells, she helps ghosts who for whatever reason walk the city streets. She tries to rescue the lost little boy who is enflamed in fire for eternity unless they get his mother to rescue him. Aware of Emma and her power, the Necromancer wants her power to use for his dark deeds.
Michelle Sagara writes an enthralling Canadian urban fantasy tale filled with action inside of an allegorical good and evil storyline while readers anticipate the confrontation. The first book of the Queen of the Dead contains a dark eerie atmosphere, which should surprise no one who ever visited a cemetery at night. However, it is Emma who holds the storyline together as Eric and Chase know first-hand she makes loyal friends (including the deceased) wherever she goes, which is fortunate for her as she will need them to survive the ordeal. Harriet Klausner
Darkest Knight
Karen Duvall
Luna, Mar 20 2012, $14.95
ISBN: 9780373803446
One month ago, Aydin the warrior, bonded to a gargoyle, sacrificed his humanity to free his beloved Chalice from her master Shui the homicidal gargoyle before the psychopath dined on Chalice tartare. To fight Shui, he had to accept the curse. Now Aydin is a gargoyle and Chalice plans to bring her lover back to human form by facing her nightmares in the Vyantara Fatherhouse on the other side of the Veil.
Chalice has become a knight in The Order of the Hatchet. When something murders her sister knights while they sleep, Chalice investigates alone. At the same time, Aydin visits Chalice in her dreams. Soon she will be caught in a choice of competing loyalties no person should have to make.
The latest Chalice urban fantasy is an entertaining thriller as the heroine, filled with guilt and plenty of heart, struggles to adjust to her changed circumstances and what her beloved mentor did for her. Although newcomers will struggle with comprehending the Duvall realm (it behooves fans to have read A Knight’s Curse in which the mythos is established), the beleaguered protagonist remains a confused adult who is unsure what to do now that her teacher is no longer there for her and her guardian angel Rafe refuses to coddle her. Filled with sorcerers, angels and the fallen, fans will enjoy this complex thriller as the heroine continues to learn good and evil tend to somewhat overlap. Harriet Klausner
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Magical Reviews
Night Games
Crystal Jordan
Kensington Aphrodisia, Feb 28 2012, $14.00
ISBN: 9780758261564
Dedicated Seattle Police Department’s Magickal Task Force officer Selina Grayson is a centuries old elf who remains haunted with the death of her cousin by a still out there serial killing bloodsucker. Her superior assigns Selina the investigation into a serial killer drinking blood from the Magickal and from the Normal aware of the Magickal. The FBI Magickal Crimes Unit assigns human agent Jack Laramie to work with Selina.
The elf and the human are attracted to one another immediately. They begin a heated tryst while working the case. As they fall in love, he wants more, but she chooses less. However, both agree that ending the blood-draining reign of terror comes first, but Selina and Jack fail to realize they fit the profile of a diabolical malevolence.
The second Night urban fantasy police procedural (see Embrace The Night) is an exciting serial killer thriller that deftly blends a tense investigation with heated multispecies sex. The storyline starts slow as Crystal Jordon goes over the ground rules of her mythos, but that also enables fans to believe in witches, vampires, werewolves and Normals (who mostly unaware of the paranormal). Once completed, the plot accelerates into a fast-paced arousing whodunit. Harriet Klausner
Wanted: Undead Or Alive
Kerrelyn Sparks
Avon, Mar 27 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780061958069
Celebrity Vampire Phineas “Love Doctor” McKinney has become famous for his TV commercial on the Digital Vampire Network selling Blardonnay, a blood and Chardonnay concoction. Since good vampires saved his life, Phin has adjusted well to being a blood diner after the initial shock of being converted by having his throat ripped open by an evil Malcontent. While his stunned human brother Freemont takes him to the Brooklyn studio of DVN, MacKay S and I works on capturing Corky Courrant, the de facto new leader of the Malcontents following the death of Casimir whose head was cut off.
Not long afterward, Phin goes undercover in Wyoming to help catch Corky. The city slicker feels out of place in the mountainous state except that he shares a cabin with his obsession Brynley Jones the werewolf who to his chagrin loathes all vampires. She is his day bodyguard while her father Caddoc demands she marry one of their kind.
The latest Love At Stake romantic urban fantasy continues the post Casmir Malcontent era (see Vampire Mine and Sexiest Vampire Alive) with Phin’s tale. The plot focuses mostly on the dysfunctional love story between the only known female alpha and Dr. Phang the Love Doctor though a second subplot involves the Malcontents. Although the Love Doctor is persona is somewhat muted and a late twist abates some of the tension, fans will appreciate this entertaining entry.
Harriet Klausner
Soul Bound
Mari Mancusi
Berkley, Mar 6 2012, $9.99
ISBN: 9780425245477
Identical twins Sunny and Rayne McDonald have totally opposite desires as one is all sun and the other is all rain. Rayne desperately wants to become a vampire; while Sunny wants to live a normal life. Due to Magnus the vampire biting Sunny instead of Rayne, the “wrong’ twin is changed. Drinking from the Holy Grail returns Sunny to normal. Sunny and Magnus are on the run because they disobeyed a direct order from Pyrus, who plots to control the Vampire Consortium and then the world.
Pyrus hires Slayer Inc. to bring him the treasonous duet. Slayer Inc. assigns Rayne and her boyfriend Jareth to capture Sunny and Magnus to deliver them to the Vampire Consortium. Rayne is distraught as she would do just anything for her sister, but failure to complete the mission means the deaths of all the Blood Coven vampires as well as herself and her boyfriend. Complicating matters for Rayne is when she learns another slayer with a grudge is on the hunt too. Her life turns even more hellish when a god orders her to choose between Sunny and Jareth.
The latest A Blood Coven Vampire urban fantasy (see Blood Ties) continues the bloody darker spin that started when the twins attended Night School in Switzerland. Rayne tells the tale as she faces increasingly impossible dilemmas that shake her inner soul. Her growing maturity (she has come a long way since Boys That Bite and Stake That) shines through the darkness as she struggles with choosing the lesser of two evils. This is a character driven, fast-paced exciting teen urban fantasy. Harriet Klausner
Chrysanthe
Yves Meynard
Tor, Mar 13 2012, $15.99
ISBN: 9780765330260
Her Uncle told Christine when she was little that her Father was gone. Because of her violent tendencies she began seeing Dr. Almand. He persuaded her into believing her Father was abusive. At seventeen, Christine sees a young man hitting his brakes abruptly seemingly upon noticing her. Quentin of Lydia sends her note to meet him at Telzer Park. She knows who the author is and decides to confront him. Quentin says he searched for her for nine years as the lost Princess and heir to the throne of Chrysanthe. He explains she was kidnapped.
Quentin escorts Christine home. However, she loathes her sire King Edisthen, as she has the thoughts planted in her brain by Almand of her father sexually abusing and abandoning her. Christine also has an enemy lurking nearby; as Evered, who abducted her years ago, plots to take the throne that he believes is rightfully his. He refuses to accept the Law that deposed his father from the throne.
This is a complicated fantasy that philosophically questions what reality is. The fascinating storyline leisurely (and too poetical with so much darkness) peels away the false from the truth. Though none of the cast comes across fully developed as even the protagonist is limited to her flawed “memories”, fans who appreciate a metaphysical psychological thriller will ponder whether the truth is Christine’s implanted recollection since she believes them as being her own. Harriet Klausner
Crystal Jordan
Kensington Aphrodisia, Feb 28 2012, $14.00
ISBN: 9780758261564
Dedicated Seattle Police Department’s Magickal Task Force officer Selina Grayson is a centuries old elf who remains haunted with the death of her cousin by a still out there serial killing bloodsucker. Her superior assigns Selina the investigation into a serial killer drinking blood from the Magickal and from the Normal aware of the Magickal. The FBI Magickal Crimes Unit assigns human agent Jack Laramie to work with Selina.
The elf and the human are attracted to one another immediately. They begin a heated tryst while working the case. As they fall in love, he wants more, but she chooses less. However, both agree that ending the blood-draining reign of terror comes first, but Selina and Jack fail to realize they fit the profile of a diabolical malevolence.
The second Night urban fantasy police procedural (see Embrace The Night) is an exciting serial killer thriller that deftly blends a tense investigation with heated multispecies sex. The storyline starts slow as Crystal Jordon goes over the ground rules of her mythos, but that also enables fans to believe in witches, vampires, werewolves and Normals (who mostly unaware of the paranormal). Once completed, the plot accelerates into a fast-paced arousing whodunit. Harriet Klausner
Wanted: Undead Or Alive
Kerrelyn Sparks
Avon, Mar 27 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780061958069
Celebrity Vampire Phineas “Love Doctor” McKinney has become famous for his TV commercial on the Digital Vampire Network selling Blardonnay, a blood and Chardonnay concoction. Since good vampires saved his life, Phin has adjusted well to being a blood diner after the initial shock of being converted by having his throat ripped open by an evil Malcontent. While his stunned human brother Freemont takes him to the Brooklyn studio of DVN, MacKay S and I works on capturing Corky Courrant, the de facto new leader of the Malcontents following the death of Casimir whose head was cut off.
Not long afterward, Phin goes undercover in Wyoming to help catch Corky. The city slicker feels out of place in the mountainous state except that he shares a cabin with his obsession Brynley Jones the werewolf who to his chagrin loathes all vampires. She is his day bodyguard while her father Caddoc demands she marry one of their kind.
The latest Love At Stake romantic urban fantasy continues the post Casmir Malcontent era (see Vampire Mine and Sexiest Vampire Alive) with Phin’s tale. The plot focuses mostly on the dysfunctional love story between the only known female alpha and Dr. Phang the Love Doctor though a second subplot involves the Malcontents. Although the Love Doctor is persona is somewhat muted and a late twist abates some of the tension, fans will appreciate this entertaining entry.
Harriet Klausner
Soul Bound
Mari Mancusi
Berkley, Mar 6 2012, $9.99
ISBN: 9780425245477
Identical twins Sunny and Rayne McDonald have totally opposite desires as one is all sun and the other is all rain. Rayne desperately wants to become a vampire; while Sunny wants to live a normal life. Due to Magnus the vampire biting Sunny instead of Rayne, the “wrong’ twin is changed. Drinking from the Holy Grail returns Sunny to normal. Sunny and Magnus are on the run because they disobeyed a direct order from Pyrus, who plots to control the Vampire Consortium and then the world.
Pyrus hires Slayer Inc. to bring him the treasonous duet. Slayer Inc. assigns Rayne and her boyfriend Jareth to capture Sunny and Magnus to deliver them to the Vampire Consortium. Rayne is distraught as she would do just anything for her sister, but failure to complete the mission means the deaths of all the Blood Coven vampires as well as herself and her boyfriend. Complicating matters for Rayne is when she learns another slayer with a grudge is on the hunt too. Her life turns even more hellish when a god orders her to choose between Sunny and Jareth.
The latest A Blood Coven Vampire urban fantasy (see Blood Ties) continues the bloody darker spin that started when the twins attended Night School in Switzerland. Rayne tells the tale as she faces increasingly impossible dilemmas that shake her inner soul. Her growing maturity (she has come a long way since Boys That Bite and Stake That) shines through the darkness as she struggles with choosing the lesser of two evils. This is a character driven, fast-paced exciting teen urban fantasy. Harriet Klausner
Chrysanthe
Yves Meynard
Tor, Mar 13 2012, $15.99
ISBN: 9780765330260
Her Uncle told Christine when she was little that her Father was gone. Because of her violent tendencies she began seeing Dr. Almand. He persuaded her into believing her Father was abusive. At seventeen, Christine sees a young man hitting his brakes abruptly seemingly upon noticing her. Quentin of Lydia sends her note to meet him at Telzer Park. She knows who the author is and decides to confront him. Quentin says he searched for her for nine years as the lost Princess and heir to the throne of Chrysanthe. He explains she was kidnapped.
Quentin escorts Christine home. However, she loathes her sire King Edisthen, as she has the thoughts planted in her brain by Almand of her father sexually abusing and abandoning her. Christine also has an enemy lurking nearby; as Evered, who abducted her years ago, plots to take the throne that he believes is rightfully his. He refuses to accept the Law that deposed his father from the throne.
This is a complicated fantasy that philosophically questions what reality is. The fascinating storyline leisurely (and too poetical with so much darkness) peels away the false from the truth. Though none of the cast comes across fully developed as even the protagonist is limited to her flawed “memories”, fans who appreciate a metaphysical psychological thriller will ponder whether the truth is Christine’s implanted recollection since she believes them as being her own. Harriet Klausner
Monday, April 9, 2012
Paranormals
The Iron Daughter
Julie Kagawa
Harlequin Teen, $9.99
ISBN: 9780373210138
Sixteen-year-old hybrid Meghan Chase is the daughter of the Summer Fairy King Oberon. She recently proved her mettle when she defeated the Iron Fey (see The Iron King). However, as an honored “guest” of the Winter Fairies Unseelie Court, Meghan is stunned when the Iron Fey steals the Scepter of the Seasons, but leaves incriminating evidence that point to Meghan as the thief.
Deciding to leave though her hosts will try to prevent her escape, Meghan follows the trail to recover the Scepter in order to lessen the tension between the Summer and Winter clans. As war seems imminent, Winter Prince Ash, who ignored her while at court, accompanies Meghan on her quest that leads to her maternal realm as well as their travels in the land of Fairy.
Although the second Iron Fey fantasy (see The Iron King) starts slow at court, once the theft is done, the storyline accelerates into an action-packed fast-paced thriller. The half-breed princess, who has feet in two worlds but belongs in neither, shows her fortitude. Ash provides fascinating support as he is attentive once again now that they’re away from his family. The Iron Daughter is a terrific tale. Harriet Klausner
Tempted by Blood
Laurie London
Harlequin HQN, $7.99
ISBN: 9780373776450
In the Seattle area, the Guardians feel good after defeating the Darkblood Alliance when they rescued humans containing the Sweetblood during their enemies’ Night of the Wilding gala on a San Juan Island. While his side is festive following the bust but they also remain wary as they expect another attack by their deadly foes, Guardian Jackson Foss fears his craving for blood is becoming out of control, which he bitterly knows will turn him into what he loathes, a Darkblood abomination.
Software expert Arianna Wells writes as Icy Shadows the blog, Paranormalish. Her mission is to find the truth about the strange and inexplicable. She meets Jackson in his shadow form when he rescues her Sweetblood cousin Krystal from the Darkblood. However, Jackson is stunned when his attempt to delete certain inconvenient truths from Arianna’s brain fails; while the Darkblood stalk the cousins and his cravings stalk him.
The third Sweetblood romantic urban fantasy (see Bonded by Blood and Embraced by Blood) is a superb vampire tale. The hostilities between the two vampire groups remains heated as the paranormal war in the Pacific Northwest makes the London mythos seem real. However, it is the hero’s struggles to remain faithful as increasingly he and no one else trusts him to do the right thing; with one exception the incredible Arianna who believes in her beloved personal Guardian to protect her and Krystal. Harriet Klausner
On A Dark Wing
Jordan Dane
Harlequin Teen, $9.99
ISBN: 9780373210411
Five years ago, Abbey Chandler missed the school bus that takes her home. Her mom picked her up, but died in a car crash in which her daughter escaped death thanks to an ephemeral boy of the clouds taking her hand. She remains haunted by survivor guilt compounding her belief she caused her mother’s demise.
Unable to move on pass the tragedy, Abbey has only one friend, Tanner Lange, paralyzed from the waist down since a childhood accident. Abbey is attracted to Nate Holden, who does not know she exists though she knows everything about him. He is joining his father and others on a climb of Denali. However, when Abbey begins seeing the Angel of Death’s ravens, she knows the grim reaper is back in her life; her fear is Nate is the target. She wants to go to her crush but her dad insists they go on their annual pilgrimage to her mom.
This is an exciting teen paranormal thriller that rotates perspective between Abbey and on Denali. The storyline focuses on death, guilt and redemption. Abbey is a wonderful protagonist who keeps the stirring tale focused though her actions with Nate seem off kilter; first as a stalker and later when he arrives at the remote cabin where she and her dad retreated to pay homage to their late loved one. In some ways Tanner steals the show with his freshness while the heroine’s first kiss is a stunner. Fans will enjoy Abbey’s efforts to come to grips with death. Harriet Klausner
Soul Screamers
Rachel Vincent
Harlequin Teen, $8.99
ISBN: 9780373210602
My Soul To Lose. Dallas high school students Kaylee and Emma are at the mall shopping Suddenly Kaylee suffers a panic attack. Emma helps her calm down until Kaylee sees the shadows engulf a wheelchair bound boy. Hours later Kaylee awakens in a psychiatric ward where she cringes at the shadows surrounding another patient. Kaylee begins to recover until the scream surfaces; however Lydia of the green eyes calms her down.
My Soul To Take. Underage Kaylee sneaks into the Taboo Club where she dances with Eastlake High School hottie Nash. She senses someone is about to die and when that happens she has a deep need to scream. Nash calms her and explains that banshees like her must scream when someone is about to die. They begin dating but the pair has to stop a serial killer focused on Eastlake High School.
My Soul To Save. Teen pop star Eden dies on stage, but Kaylee, who was at the concert with Nash, fails to wail at death, she knows the idol traded her soul for fame. In spite of the fact her dad will kill her for cutting class and violating curfew, Kaylee risks her life and soul to prevent other teens from bartering theirs for a short life span of fame in exchange for eternity in the Netherworld.
This entertaining reprint of the prequel novella and the first two novels in the Soul Screamer teenage fantasy is a fine collection. The opening act introduces Kaylee with her instinctively need to wail; the other entries follow her struggling adjustment to control the urge with mentoring help by Nash’s mom while history and trig wait for no student even a banshee. Harriet Klausner
Julie Kagawa
Harlequin Teen, $9.99
ISBN: 9780373210138
Sixteen-year-old hybrid Meghan Chase is the daughter of the Summer Fairy King Oberon. She recently proved her mettle when she defeated the Iron Fey (see The Iron King). However, as an honored “guest” of the Winter Fairies Unseelie Court, Meghan is stunned when the Iron Fey steals the Scepter of the Seasons, but leaves incriminating evidence that point to Meghan as the thief.
Deciding to leave though her hosts will try to prevent her escape, Meghan follows the trail to recover the Scepter in order to lessen the tension between the Summer and Winter clans. As war seems imminent, Winter Prince Ash, who ignored her while at court, accompanies Meghan on her quest that leads to her maternal realm as well as their travels in the land of Fairy.
Although the second Iron Fey fantasy (see The Iron King) starts slow at court, once the theft is done, the storyline accelerates into an action-packed fast-paced thriller. The half-breed princess, who has feet in two worlds but belongs in neither, shows her fortitude. Ash provides fascinating support as he is attentive once again now that they’re away from his family. The Iron Daughter is a terrific tale. Harriet Klausner
Tempted by Blood
Laurie London
Harlequin HQN, $7.99
ISBN: 9780373776450
In the Seattle area, the Guardians feel good after defeating the Darkblood Alliance when they rescued humans containing the Sweetblood during their enemies’ Night of the Wilding gala on a San Juan Island. While his side is festive following the bust but they also remain wary as they expect another attack by their deadly foes, Guardian Jackson Foss fears his craving for blood is becoming out of control, which he bitterly knows will turn him into what he loathes, a Darkblood abomination.
Software expert Arianna Wells writes as Icy Shadows the blog, Paranormalish. Her mission is to find the truth about the strange and inexplicable. She meets Jackson in his shadow form when he rescues her Sweetblood cousin Krystal from the Darkblood. However, Jackson is stunned when his attempt to delete certain inconvenient truths from Arianna’s brain fails; while the Darkblood stalk the cousins and his cravings stalk him.
The third Sweetblood romantic urban fantasy (see Bonded by Blood and Embraced by Blood) is a superb vampire tale. The hostilities between the two vampire groups remains heated as the paranormal war in the Pacific Northwest makes the London mythos seem real. However, it is the hero’s struggles to remain faithful as increasingly he and no one else trusts him to do the right thing; with one exception the incredible Arianna who believes in her beloved personal Guardian to protect her and Krystal. Harriet Klausner
On A Dark Wing
Jordan Dane
Harlequin Teen, $9.99
ISBN: 9780373210411
Five years ago, Abbey Chandler missed the school bus that takes her home. Her mom picked her up, but died in a car crash in which her daughter escaped death thanks to an ephemeral boy of the clouds taking her hand. She remains haunted by survivor guilt compounding her belief she caused her mother’s demise.
Unable to move on pass the tragedy, Abbey has only one friend, Tanner Lange, paralyzed from the waist down since a childhood accident. Abbey is attracted to Nate Holden, who does not know she exists though she knows everything about him. He is joining his father and others on a climb of Denali. However, when Abbey begins seeing the Angel of Death’s ravens, she knows the grim reaper is back in her life; her fear is Nate is the target. She wants to go to her crush but her dad insists they go on their annual pilgrimage to her mom.
This is an exciting teen paranormal thriller that rotates perspective between Abbey and on Denali. The storyline focuses on death, guilt and redemption. Abbey is a wonderful protagonist who keeps the stirring tale focused though her actions with Nate seem off kilter; first as a stalker and later when he arrives at the remote cabin where she and her dad retreated to pay homage to their late loved one. In some ways Tanner steals the show with his freshness while the heroine’s first kiss is a stunner. Fans will enjoy Abbey’s efforts to come to grips with death. Harriet Klausner
Soul Screamers
Rachel Vincent
Harlequin Teen, $8.99
ISBN: 9780373210602
My Soul To Lose. Dallas high school students Kaylee and Emma are at the mall shopping Suddenly Kaylee suffers a panic attack. Emma helps her calm down until Kaylee sees the shadows engulf a wheelchair bound boy. Hours later Kaylee awakens in a psychiatric ward where she cringes at the shadows surrounding another patient. Kaylee begins to recover until the scream surfaces; however Lydia of the green eyes calms her down.
My Soul To Take. Underage Kaylee sneaks into the Taboo Club where she dances with Eastlake High School hottie Nash. She senses someone is about to die and when that happens she has a deep need to scream. Nash calms her and explains that banshees like her must scream when someone is about to die. They begin dating but the pair has to stop a serial killer focused on Eastlake High School.
My Soul To Save. Teen pop star Eden dies on stage, but Kaylee, who was at the concert with Nash, fails to wail at death, she knows the idol traded her soul for fame. In spite of the fact her dad will kill her for cutting class and violating curfew, Kaylee risks her life and soul to prevent other teens from bartering theirs for a short life span of fame in exchange for eternity in the Netherworld.
This entertaining reprint of the prequel novella and the first two novels in the Soul Screamer teenage fantasy is a fine collection. The opening act introduces Kaylee with her instinctively need to wail; the other entries follow her struggling adjustment to control the urge with mentoring help by Nash’s mom while history and trig wait for no student even a banshee. Harriet Klausner
Friday, April 6, 2012
Vampires, Ghosts and Venusians
Let Them Eat Stake
Sarah Zettel
Obsidian, Apr 3 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780451236456
When the vampires came out in public, humans reacted overall with equanimity. They granted all rights to vampires and the other paranormal species (weres, witches and warlocks) who followed except they must register. Just like humans have restrictions the paranormal do too. For instance, vampires can drink human blood that is given freely but cannot be sold as a commodity. The paranormal species are not a monolithic block as vampires and witches have been enemies for centuries. Clubs and restaurants cater to the paranormal. For instance, Nightlife, owned by Chef Charlotte Caine and her vampire brother Chet, serve "Noir Cuisine" to Nightbloods and Daybloods.
When celeb chef Oscar Simmons quits working a marriage gala, event planner Felicity Garnett begs Charlotte to cater the multispecies wedding of the decade between witch Deanna Alden and Gabriel Renault the Nightblood allegedly from Paris (not Hoboken). Charlotte accepts the job that could make the restaurant a success. Soon afterward, Oscar is dead from what appears to be a heart attack and the groom’s side has begun to disappear. Charlotte realizes her boyfriend Brendan Maddox is related to the Alden family and everything turns sour when someone steals the anti- vampire weapon the Arall. Charlotte seeks the purloined object before she serves rations to the combatants.
The second "Vampire Chef" mystery is a delightful amateur sleuth fantasy that is much darker than its predecessor (A Taste of the Nightlife). The paranormal comes across as normal; especially enhancing that sense of “reality” is the heroine’s egalitarian attitude as she believes all species are equal with each having the good, the bad and the ugly. Readers who want something different will enjoy stopping for something red served up by Sarah Zettel at Nightlife. Harriet Klausner
Back From The Undead
D D Barant
St. Martin’s, Mar 27 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780312545062
Human FBI profiler Jace Valchek and her vampire boss National Security Agency chief David Cassius share one “lousy” night together when work intrudes on their office romance. David disappears on a top secret mission while NSA Intel Analysis Unit head Gretchen Petra the Pire mom with a teething fanged baby informs Jace that Aristotle “Impaler” Stoker wants to meet with her. The Impaler who has spent a lifetime avenging the slaughter of humans by the paranormal, is in crime ridden Vancouver where he swears to her he has found a Pire child trafficking ring.
Jace needs to capture the Impaler to fulfill the terms of her legal evil agreement and return to her earth. Accompanied by her golem field partner Charlie and Damon Eisfanger, Jace heads to Vancouver to meet Aristotle. In British Columbia, the evidence points to the Yakuza running the illegal child black market. Jace, with her former lover Tanaka the samurai and Charlie prepare to invade heaven for the heavenly cause of saving the children at the risk of losing her soul.
The latest Bloodhound Files investigative fantasy (see Death Blows) is a great entry as friends and foes do not know how to deal with the heroine’s amusing alien shtick while facing danger. Fast-paced, fans will relish D D Barant’s entertaining thriller as Jace’s graveyard humorous asides enhance an exciting quest. Harriet Klausner
Sacrificial Magic
Stacia Kane
Del Rey, Mar 27 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780345527509
Mob boss Sloberg arranged the fire in a locale that he should not have known about unless someone told him. Chess Putnam the Church of Real Truth is a ghost hunting witch who knows by just one look her boyfriend Terrible that he believes she is the stoolie as she and Sloberg’s son Lex were recent bed mates even after she fell in love with Terrible; though now she is a one man woman.
The Church assigns Chess to look into a reported ghost haunting at a Downside school where she meets Lex’s sister Beulah. Chess realizes an unknown adversary is using dark magic at the school. Meanwhile Lex sees this as an opportunity as he wants to help solve the case and offers the addicted Chess free drugs like he did before. Terrible’s boss Bump who is Chess’ dealer directs her to investigate a nasty homicide in which dark magic was the murder weapon.
The latest Downside Ghosts fantasy (see City of Ghosts and Unholy Magic) is a fresh exciting thriller as the heroine struggles to uncover the identity of a rogue practitioner while her relationship with Terrible turns terrible sending her back to drug dependency. Sacrificial Magic is a great entry in a special one of a kind saga as the ghost hunter becomes the haunted hunted. Harriet Klausner
Emperor Mollusk Vs. The Sinister Brain
A. Lee Martinez
Orbit, Mar 5 2012, $19.99
ISBN: 9780316093521
Throughout the solar system and beyond, Emperor Mollusk is perhaps the most hated creature ever with one exception; that inane third planet’s so called sentient species worship the retired former Warlord of Terra. However, the evil genius cannot relax in his retirement due boredom that rivaled his ennui when he ruled Earth.
Meanwhile assassins want to kill him and Venusian Intelligence sends Commander Zala and his guard to arrest Mollusk for crimes against Venusians when he invaded their planet. Realizing the Venusians provide a fascinating scenario, Mollusk cooperates with the arrest, but soon leads his captorrs on a bloody romp as he, his pet Snarg, and his new “allies” follow a trail set up by a brainy sinister enemy who takes no prisoners.
This is an amusing satirical spin on the save the universe science fiction thrillers. The storyline has a 1950s pulp fiction feel, but done so with a humorous wink. Fast-paced and entertaining even with knowing the twisted ending relatively early, fans will enjoy touring the solar system with the obnoxiously superior evil Neptunian emperor and the dedicated Venusian Commander. Harriet Klausner
Sarah Zettel
Obsidian, Apr 3 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780451236456
When the vampires came out in public, humans reacted overall with equanimity. They granted all rights to vampires and the other paranormal species (weres, witches and warlocks) who followed except they must register. Just like humans have restrictions the paranormal do too. For instance, vampires can drink human blood that is given freely but cannot be sold as a commodity. The paranormal species are not a monolithic block as vampires and witches have been enemies for centuries. Clubs and restaurants cater to the paranormal. For instance, Nightlife, owned by Chef Charlotte Caine and her vampire brother Chet, serve "Noir Cuisine" to Nightbloods and Daybloods.
When celeb chef Oscar Simmons quits working a marriage gala, event planner Felicity Garnett begs Charlotte to cater the multispecies wedding of the decade between witch Deanna Alden and Gabriel Renault the Nightblood allegedly from Paris (not Hoboken). Charlotte accepts the job that could make the restaurant a success. Soon afterward, Oscar is dead from what appears to be a heart attack and the groom’s side has begun to disappear. Charlotte realizes her boyfriend Brendan Maddox is related to the Alden family and everything turns sour when someone steals the anti- vampire weapon the Arall. Charlotte seeks the purloined object before she serves rations to the combatants.
The second "Vampire Chef" mystery is a delightful amateur sleuth fantasy that is much darker than its predecessor (A Taste of the Nightlife). The paranormal comes across as normal; especially enhancing that sense of “reality” is the heroine’s egalitarian attitude as she believes all species are equal with each having the good, the bad and the ugly. Readers who want something different will enjoy stopping for something red served up by Sarah Zettel at Nightlife. Harriet Klausner
Back From The Undead
D D Barant
St. Martin’s, Mar 27 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780312545062
Human FBI profiler Jace Valchek and her vampire boss National Security Agency chief David Cassius share one “lousy” night together when work intrudes on their office romance. David disappears on a top secret mission while NSA Intel Analysis Unit head Gretchen Petra the Pire mom with a teething fanged baby informs Jace that Aristotle “Impaler” Stoker wants to meet with her. The Impaler who has spent a lifetime avenging the slaughter of humans by the paranormal, is in crime ridden Vancouver where he swears to her he has found a Pire child trafficking ring.
Jace needs to capture the Impaler to fulfill the terms of her legal evil agreement and return to her earth. Accompanied by her golem field partner Charlie and Damon Eisfanger, Jace heads to Vancouver to meet Aristotle. In British Columbia, the evidence points to the Yakuza running the illegal child black market. Jace, with her former lover Tanaka the samurai and Charlie prepare to invade heaven for the heavenly cause of saving the children at the risk of losing her soul.
The latest Bloodhound Files investigative fantasy (see Death Blows) is a great entry as friends and foes do not know how to deal with the heroine’s amusing alien shtick while facing danger. Fast-paced, fans will relish D D Barant’s entertaining thriller as Jace’s graveyard humorous asides enhance an exciting quest. Harriet Klausner
Sacrificial Magic
Stacia Kane
Del Rey, Mar 27 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780345527509
Mob boss Sloberg arranged the fire in a locale that he should not have known about unless someone told him. Chess Putnam the Church of Real Truth is a ghost hunting witch who knows by just one look her boyfriend Terrible that he believes she is the stoolie as she and Sloberg’s son Lex were recent bed mates even after she fell in love with Terrible; though now she is a one man woman.
The Church assigns Chess to look into a reported ghost haunting at a Downside school where she meets Lex’s sister Beulah. Chess realizes an unknown adversary is using dark magic at the school. Meanwhile Lex sees this as an opportunity as he wants to help solve the case and offers the addicted Chess free drugs like he did before. Terrible’s boss Bump who is Chess’ dealer directs her to investigate a nasty homicide in which dark magic was the murder weapon.
The latest Downside Ghosts fantasy (see City of Ghosts and Unholy Magic) is a fresh exciting thriller as the heroine struggles to uncover the identity of a rogue practitioner while her relationship with Terrible turns terrible sending her back to drug dependency. Sacrificial Magic is a great entry in a special one of a kind saga as the ghost hunter becomes the haunted hunted. Harriet Klausner
Emperor Mollusk Vs. The Sinister Brain
A. Lee Martinez
Orbit, Mar 5 2012, $19.99
ISBN: 9780316093521
Throughout the solar system and beyond, Emperor Mollusk is perhaps the most hated creature ever with one exception; that inane third planet’s so called sentient species worship the retired former Warlord of Terra. However, the evil genius cannot relax in his retirement due boredom that rivaled his ennui when he ruled Earth.
Meanwhile assassins want to kill him and Venusian Intelligence sends Commander Zala and his guard to arrest Mollusk for crimes against Venusians when he invaded their planet. Realizing the Venusians provide a fascinating scenario, Mollusk cooperates with the arrest, but soon leads his captorrs on a bloody romp as he, his pet Snarg, and his new “allies” follow a trail set up by a brainy sinister enemy who takes no prisoners.
This is an amusing satirical spin on the save the universe science fiction thrillers. The storyline has a 1950s pulp fiction feel, but done so with a humorous wink. Fast-paced and entertaining even with knowing the twisted ending relatively early, fans will enjoy touring the solar system with the obnoxiously superior evil Neptunian emperor and the dedicated Venusian Commander. Harriet Klausner
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Unusual tales
Emperor Mollusk Vs. The Sinister Brain
A. Lee Martinez
Orbit, Mar 5 2012, $19.99
ISBN: 9780316093521
Throughout the solar system and beyond, Emperor Mollusk is perhaps the most hated creature ever with one exception; that inane third planet’s so called sentient species worship the retired former Warlord of Terra. However, the evil genius cannot relax in his retirement due boredom that rivaled his ennui when he ruled Earth.
Meanwhile assassins want to kill him and Venusian Intelligence sends Commander Zala and his guard to arrest Mollusk for crimes against Venusians when he invaded their planet. Realizing the Venusians provide a fascinating scenario, Mollusk cooperates with the arrest, but soon leads his captorrs on a bloody romp as he, his pet Snarg, and his new “allies” follow a trail set up by a brainy sinister enemy who takes no prisoners.
This is an amusing satirical spin on the save the universe science fiction thrillers. The storyline has a 1950s pulp fiction feel, but done so with a humorous wink. Fast-paced and entertaining even with knowing the twisted ending relatively early, fans will enjoy touring the solar system with the obnoxiously superior evil Neptunian emperor and the dedicated Venusian Commander. Harriet Klausner
Night Games
Crystal Jordan
Kensington Aphrodisia, Feb 28 2012, $14.00
ISBN: 9780758261564
Dedicated Seattle Police Department’s Magickal Task Force officer Selina Grayson is a centuries old elf who remains haunted with the death of her cousin by a still out there serial killing bloodsucker. Her superior assigns Selina the investigation into a serial killer drinking blood from the Magickal and from the Normal aware of the Magickal. The FBI Magickal Crimes Unit assigns human agent Jack Laramie to work with Selina.
The elf and the human are attracted to one another immediately. They begin a heated tryst while working the case. As they fall in love, he wants more, but she chooses less. However, both agree that ending the blood-draining reign of terror comes first, but Selina and Jack fail to realize they fit the profile of a diabolical malevolence.
The second Night urban fantasy police procedural (see Embrace The Night) is an exciting serial killer thriller that deftly blends a tense investigation with heated multispecies sex. The storyline starts slow as Crystal Jordon goes over the ground rules of her mythos, but that also enables fans to believe in witches, vampires, werewolves and Normals (who mostly unaware of the paranormal). Once completed, the plot accelerates into a fast-paced arousing whodunit. Harriet Klausner
Wanted: Undead Or Alive
Kerrelyn Sparks
Avon, Mar 27 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780061958069
Celebrity Vampire Phineas “Love Doctor” McKinney has become famous for his TV commercial on the Digital Vampire Network selling Blardonnay, a blood and Chardonnay concoction. Since good vampires saved his life, Phin has adjusted well to being a blood diner after the initial shock of being converted by having his throat ripped open by an evil Malcontent. While his stunned human brother Freemont takes him to the Brooklyn studio of DVN, MacKay S and I works on capturing Corky Courrant, the de facto new leader of the Malcontents following the death of Casimir whose head was cut off.
Not long afterward, Phin goes undercover in Wyoming to help catch Corky. The city slicker feels out of place in the mountainous state except that he shares a cabin with his obsession Brynley Jones the werewolf who to his chagrin loathes all vampires. She is his day bodyguard while her father Caddoc demands she marry one of their kind.
The latest Love At Stake romantic urban fantasy continues the post Casmir Malcontent era (see Vampire Mine and Sexiest Vampire Alive) with Phin’s tale. The plot focuses mostly on the dysfunctional love story between the only known female alpha and Dr. Phang the Love Doctor though a second subplot involves the Malcontents. Although the Love Doctor is persona is somewhat muted and a late twist abates some of the tension, fans will appreciate this entertaining entry.
Harriet Klausner
A. Lee Martinez
Orbit, Mar 5 2012, $19.99
ISBN: 9780316093521
Throughout the solar system and beyond, Emperor Mollusk is perhaps the most hated creature ever with one exception; that inane third planet’s so called sentient species worship the retired former Warlord of Terra. However, the evil genius cannot relax in his retirement due boredom that rivaled his ennui when he ruled Earth.
Meanwhile assassins want to kill him and Venusian Intelligence sends Commander Zala and his guard to arrest Mollusk for crimes against Venusians when he invaded their planet. Realizing the Venusians provide a fascinating scenario, Mollusk cooperates with the arrest, but soon leads his captorrs on a bloody romp as he, his pet Snarg, and his new “allies” follow a trail set up by a brainy sinister enemy who takes no prisoners.
This is an amusing satirical spin on the save the universe science fiction thrillers. The storyline has a 1950s pulp fiction feel, but done so with a humorous wink. Fast-paced and entertaining even with knowing the twisted ending relatively early, fans will enjoy touring the solar system with the obnoxiously superior evil Neptunian emperor and the dedicated Venusian Commander. Harriet Klausner
Night Games
Crystal Jordan
Kensington Aphrodisia, Feb 28 2012, $14.00
ISBN: 9780758261564
Dedicated Seattle Police Department’s Magickal Task Force officer Selina Grayson is a centuries old elf who remains haunted with the death of her cousin by a still out there serial killing bloodsucker. Her superior assigns Selina the investigation into a serial killer drinking blood from the Magickal and from the Normal aware of the Magickal. The FBI Magickal Crimes Unit assigns human agent Jack Laramie to work with Selina.
The elf and the human are attracted to one another immediately. They begin a heated tryst while working the case. As they fall in love, he wants more, but she chooses less. However, both agree that ending the blood-draining reign of terror comes first, but Selina and Jack fail to realize they fit the profile of a diabolical malevolence.
The second Night urban fantasy police procedural (see Embrace The Night) is an exciting serial killer thriller that deftly blends a tense investigation with heated multispecies sex. The storyline starts slow as Crystal Jordon goes over the ground rules of her mythos, but that also enables fans to believe in witches, vampires, werewolves and Normals (who mostly unaware of the paranormal). Once completed, the plot accelerates into a fast-paced arousing whodunit. Harriet Klausner
Wanted: Undead Or Alive
Kerrelyn Sparks
Avon, Mar 27 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780061958069
Celebrity Vampire Phineas “Love Doctor” McKinney has become famous for his TV commercial on the Digital Vampire Network selling Blardonnay, a blood and Chardonnay concoction. Since good vampires saved his life, Phin has adjusted well to being a blood diner after the initial shock of being converted by having his throat ripped open by an evil Malcontent. While his stunned human brother Freemont takes him to the Brooklyn studio of DVN, MacKay S and I works on capturing Corky Courrant, the de facto new leader of the Malcontents following the death of Casimir whose head was cut off.
Not long afterward, Phin goes undercover in Wyoming to help catch Corky. The city slicker feels out of place in the mountainous state except that he shares a cabin with his obsession Brynley Jones the werewolf who to his chagrin loathes all vampires. She is his day bodyguard while her father Caddoc demands she marry one of their kind.
The latest Love At Stake romantic urban fantasy continues the post Casmir Malcontent era (see Vampire Mine and Sexiest Vampire Alive) with Phin’s tale. The plot focuses mostly on the dysfunctional love story between the only known female alpha and Dr. Phang the Love Doctor though a second subplot involves the Malcontents. Although the Love Doctor is persona is somewhat muted and a late twist abates some of the tension, fans will appreciate this entertaining entry.
Harriet Klausner
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Reviews
Born Wicked
Jessica Spotswood
Putnam, Feb 7 2012, $17.99
ISBN: 9780399257452
By 1896, The Brotherhood established a harsh Christian theocracy in which the prosecution of witches is a major endeavor. Practitioners are condemned to death or worse: the prisons ships and the asylums. Additionally when a female turns seventeen, they must marry or join the Sisterhood.
Cate Cahill’s mom died trying to produce a male offspring. Her mother made her make a death bed pledge to care for her two younger sisters, but Cate is running out of time as in six months she must choose. Adding to her dilemma is the three Cahill siblings are closet witches, which makes her courtship by Paul McLeod a going nowhere relationship and her dalliance with Finn Belastra possessing even less staying power. As Cate reads her mother’s missing diary, she realizes her time problem worsened with a terrible fate that dooms the trio; forcing her to peruse banned books in an attempt to keep her and her sisters safe while townsfolk suspect them of wickedness. Then Sister Elena arrives to help them.
Born Wicked is an exhilarating alternative New England historical fantasy starring a courageous but increasingly desperate heroine. Her sisters and Elena are top notch characters while their late mom comes across as full blooded also through her diaries and her daughters’ observations. Although the males seem thin, fans will enjoy Jessica Spotwood’s engaging witch hunt. Harriet Klausner
Chasing Midnight
Randy Wayne White
Putnam, Mar 6 2012, $25.95
ISBN: 9780399158315
Marine biologist Doc Ford seems like a mild amiable person who enjoys studying sea life and providing fresh or preserved specimens to schools and labs nationwide from his Sanibel Island base. In his other life, Doc is a brutal agent working for the American government by cleaning up dire ugly situations.
He and his friend Tomlinson attend an eastern waters caviar productivity improvement conference hosted by vicious Russian black marketer Victor Kaslov on Vanderbilt Island. Attendees come from China, Iran and Turkmenia etc., but Doc diligently focuses on Kaslov in order to obtain some Intel. While Ford goes underwater to inspect the Russian’s yacht, six eco-terrorists crash the conference. Just after their assault, an explosion knocks out the electricity and jamming electronic communication on the island. The party crashers demands must be met or one hostage every hour will die until at the stroke of midnight, everyone still breathing will die in an explosion. Doc realizes how precarious the situation is; his goal is simple to get his friends and himself off island, but the execution is impossible as this group acts more like the Russian’s deadliest “capitalist” rivals than environmental extremists.
This is an exhilarating Doc Ford thriller as the meek marine biologist and the ruthless agent makes him seem like a sea version of Clark Kent-Superman. Tomlinson is his usual Zen-self driving Doc crazy, but who though not brave turns competently hyper with ideas when facing danger. He actually is the one who provides the twists to another fabulous Doc Ford tale as he battles to keep alive his friends from cut throat competitors with no business ethics. Harriet Klausner
Force of Nature
C.J. Box
Putnam, Mar 20 2012, $25.95
ISBN: 9780399158261
In the Saddlestring, Wyoming area Joe Pickett and Nate Romanowski are friends though the former knows the latter has concealed something from him. In 1991, Nate was assigned to a Special Forces unit when the “Five” led by Lieutenant John Nemecek did something terrible. He walked away, but knew one day they would come for him. That day of reckoning arrives when a gutted Large Merle tells Nate in his last breath: “The Five. They’ve deployed.”
Nate understands no one stands in the way of Nemecek’s rising political career especially those who witnessed the atrocity. He knows the tactic Nemecek uses to kills those on that infamous patrol. His goons will get at him but won’t go directly; instead they terrorize friends and family. The Five will assault the Pickett family. Upset for what has come to his friends and concluding there is Nowhere to Run, Nate believes that the only way to defeat the enemy is outside the law, but doubts his game warden friend can walk the crooked path. Joe has his friend’s back though he prefers not going “rogue” but a High Noon confrontation with Nemecek’s minion is imminent and he must choose between life and the law.
With a nod to the movie Red, bestselling author C.J. Box has written a fresh fantastic Pickett thriller (see Cold Wind) as fans of the series finally learn what recurring support character Nate has hidden though numerous books. The villain has a powerful network in Wyoming and Idaho that informs him who is where and identifying their loved ones so he can arrange their deaths. It is Nate’s turn through the Pickett clan is a Force of Nature that is not to be trifled with. Each book in the series is better than the one before. Harriet Klausner
Fall from Grace
Richard North Patterson
Scribner, Mar 20 2012, $26.00
ISBN 9781451617054
On Martha’s Vineyard, internationally famous writer Benjamin Blaine is found dead at the bottom of a cliff overlooking the sea. Ben’s estranged son Adam returns home for the first time in a decade to attend his dad’s funeral. Others expected at the burial are the deceased’s widow Clarice, their other son gay Teddy, his mistress movie star Carla Pacelli and Ben former girlfriend Jenny Leigh.
Ben thinks someone pushed his larger than life father off the edge. He knows the revised will is a powerful motive for those who gained wealth and for those who lost wealth. Carla receives $10 million; Jenny gets $1 million; Adam inherits $100,000; and Clarice and Teddy were left out of the new will with each obtaining nothing. Using what he learned as an agricultural envoy in Afghanistan, Ben investigates.
This is a great thriller filled with stunning but plausible twists as Ben’s training and experience in duplicity comes in handy when dealing with the extended Blaine clan. As the protagonist uncovers secrets he wished he never knew, readers will relish his exhilarating investigation. Fall from Grace will be on most short lists for mystery of the year. Harriet Klausner
Jessica Spotswood
Putnam, Feb 7 2012, $17.99
ISBN: 9780399257452
By 1896, The Brotherhood established a harsh Christian theocracy in which the prosecution of witches is a major endeavor. Practitioners are condemned to death or worse: the prisons ships and the asylums. Additionally when a female turns seventeen, they must marry or join the Sisterhood.
Cate Cahill’s mom died trying to produce a male offspring. Her mother made her make a death bed pledge to care for her two younger sisters, but Cate is running out of time as in six months she must choose. Adding to her dilemma is the three Cahill siblings are closet witches, which makes her courtship by Paul McLeod a going nowhere relationship and her dalliance with Finn Belastra possessing even less staying power. As Cate reads her mother’s missing diary, she realizes her time problem worsened with a terrible fate that dooms the trio; forcing her to peruse banned books in an attempt to keep her and her sisters safe while townsfolk suspect them of wickedness. Then Sister Elena arrives to help them.
Born Wicked is an exhilarating alternative New England historical fantasy starring a courageous but increasingly desperate heroine. Her sisters and Elena are top notch characters while their late mom comes across as full blooded also through her diaries and her daughters’ observations. Although the males seem thin, fans will enjoy Jessica Spotwood’s engaging witch hunt. Harriet Klausner
Chasing Midnight
Randy Wayne White
Putnam, Mar 6 2012, $25.95
ISBN: 9780399158315
Marine biologist Doc Ford seems like a mild amiable person who enjoys studying sea life and providing fresh or preserved specimens to schools and labs nationwide from his Sanibel Island base. In his other life, Doc is a brutal agent working for the American government by cleaning up dire ugly situations.
He and his friend Tomlinson attend an eastern waters caviar productivity improvement conference hosted by vicious Russian black marketer Victor Kaslov on Vanderbilt Island. Attendees come from China, Iran and Turkmenia etc., but Doc diligently focuses on Kaslov in order to obtain some Intel. While Ford goes underwater to inspect the Russian’s yacht, six eco-terrorists crash the conference. Just after their assault, an explosion knocks out the electricity and jamming electronic communication on the island. The party crashers demands must be met or one hostage every hour will die until at the stroke of midnight, everyone still breathing will die in an explosion. Doc realizes how precarious the situation is; his goal is simple to get his friends and himself off island, but the execution is impossible as this group acts more like the Russian’s deadliest “capitalist” rivals than environmental extremists.
This is an exhilarating Doc Ford thriller as the meek marine biologist and the ruthless agent makes him seem like a sea version of Clark Kent-Superman. Tomlinson is his usual Zen-self driving Doc crazy, but who though not brave turns competently hyper with ideas when facing danger. He actually is the one who provides the twists to another fabulous Doc Ford tale as he battles to keep alive his friends from cut throat competitors with no business ethics. Harriet Klausner
Force of Nature
C.J. Box
Putnam, Mar 20 2012, $25.95
ISBN: 9780399158261
In the Saddlestring, Wyoming area Joe Pickett and Nate Romanowski are friends though the former knows the latter has concealed something from him. In 1991, Nate was assigned to a Special Forces unit when the “Five” led by Lieutenant John Nemecek did something terrible. He walked away, but knew one day they would come for him. That day of reckoning arrives when a gutted Large Merle tells Nate in his last breath: “The Five. They’ve deployed.”
Nate understands no one stands in the way of Nemecek’s rising political career especially those who witnessed the atrocity. He knows the tactic Nemecek uses to kills those on that infamous patrol. His goons will get at him but won’t go directly; instead they terrorize friends and family. The Five will assault the Pickett family. Upset for what has come to his friends and concluding there is Nowhere to Run, Nate believes that the only way to defeat the enemy is outside the law, but doubts his game warden friend can walk the crooked path. Joe has his friend’s back though he prefers not going “rogue” but a High Noon confrontation with Nemecek’s minion is imminent and he must choose between life and the law.
With a nod to the movie Red, bestselling author C.J. Box has written a fresh fantastic Pickett thriller (see Cold Wind) as fans of the series finally learn what recurring support character Nate has hidden though numerous books. The villain has a powerful network in Wyoming and Idaho that informs him who is where and identifying their loved ones so he can arrange their deaths. It is Nate’s turn through the Pickett clan is a Force of Nature that is not to be trifled with. Each book in the series is better than the one before. Harriet Klausner
Fall from Grace
Richard North Patterson
Scribner, Mar 20 2012, $26.00
ISBN 9781451617054
On Martha’s Vineyard, internationally famous writer Benjamin Blaine is found dead at the bottom of a cliff overlooking the sea. Ben’s estranged son Adam returns home for the first time in a decade to attend his dad’s funeral. Others expected at the burial are the deceased’s widow Clarice, their other son gay Teddy, his mistress movie star Carla Pacelli and Ben former girlfriend Jenny Leigh.
Ben thinks someone pushed his larger than life father off the edge. He knows the revised will is a powerful motive for those who gained wealth and for those who lost wealth. Carla receives $10 million; Jenny gets $1 million; Adam inherits $100,000; and Clarice and Teddy were left out of the new will with each obtaining nothing. Using what he learned as an agricultural envoy in Afghanistan, Ben investigates.
This is a great thriller filled with stunning but plausible twists as Ben’s training and experience in duplicity comes in handy when dealing with the extended Blaine clan. As the protagonist uncovers secrets he wished he never knew, readers will relish his exhilarating investigation. Fall from Grace will be on most short lists for mystery of the year. Harriet Klausner
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Fantasies
Darkness Bound
Stella Cameron
Forever, Feb 28 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9781455500154
After two years as a couple and a few days married, Chris died. Fourteen months later, his grieving widow Leigh Kelly decides she cannot live in their home filled with too many memories. She moves to Chimney Rock on Whidbey Island.
Former Special Ops soldier Niles Latimer and his werehound Team are diligently watching the newcomer to keep her safe from rogues assaulting women. However, he also senses Leigh possesses something unique that could prove her compatible as life mate for a werehound. Nile realizes she knows nothing about her DNA or the existence of werehounds as he and his Team vow to protect her while the evil enemy senses who she is too and pledges to take her.
The first Chimney Rock romantic urban fantasy is a superb dark thriller in which Stella Cameron creates a deep mythos that feels genuine; inside of a fast-paced good and evil battle for Leigh. Loaded with chilling action, a strong lead couple and two camps of werehounds and other ilk, sub-genre readers will enjoy a visit to mysterious Whidbey Island where the paranormal is the normal. Harriet Klausner
Lenobia's Vow
P. C. Cast & Kristin Cast
St. Martin's Griffin, Jan 31 2012, $12.99
ISBN: 9781250000248
Today Lenobia is the horse mistress of the House of Night in St. Louis and Zoey Redbird’s favorite teacher. She and her mother were servants in 1788 at the Chateau de Naverre in Evreux, France. Her father the baron seduced her mother, impregnated her and cast her and their offspring aside. That child Lenobia looks identical to her spoiled half-sister Cecile.
When Lenobia is sixteen years old, the legitimate daughter dies from ague. Leonia’s mother arranges for her daughter to masquerade as Cecile in order for her to marry an affluent aristocrat. The plot works perfectly as Lenobia and other unmarried young ladies travel by ship to New Orleans to marry rich French aristocrats. While traversing the Atlantic, evil sorcerer Bishop Charles recognizes and announces the fraud as he coveted her back in France and plans to make her his mistress. A nun protects her and she decides to go to the cargo hold on the last level of the ship where she meets Quadroon Martin in the stables. She falls in love with him and the Percheron horse that his employer bought. He sent Martin to go to France so that he could take care of them over the long sea voyage. n The Bishop soon makes his move to rape Lenobia using all means available to him while Martin vows to keep his beloved safe.
The latest House of Night Novella (see Dragon’s Oath) focuses on the teen years of a secondary but popular character. Readers learn what shaped Lenobia’s present mysterious life as the child is the adult even if two centuries have passed. At sixteen, Lenobia displays the same traits she shows as a teacher: courage, honesty and inner strength. She wanted to be happy, but her choices were limited to be or not to be until a third option was offered. This is an engaging biographical fiction as the Cast crew entertains their fans. Harriet Klausner
Legend
Marie Lu
Putnam, Nov 29 2011, $17.99
ISBN: 9780399256752
The Republic of America has twenty million citizens and seems to be at constant cold and hot war with its neighbors the Colonies. The laws are strictly enforced regardless of economic and social placement though the elite have all the special advantages and privileges.
From a highly prominent affluent family, fifteen year old June is mentored to become a member of the inner most military leadership. However, her fast track to the top is derailed when her brother Captain Metias is murdered while officially hunting for criminal teenager Day, the number one most wanted person in the Republic, who, in spite of security video cameras all over Los Angeles, his face remains a mystery. Commander Jameson claims Day killed June’s sibling. She vows to avenge her brother’s murder.
Although the High Noon encounter goes the way one would expect even with a fascinating twist, this is a superb futuristic dystopian police procedural. The storyline is fast-paced as readers will appreciate the teenage chess match between the elusive felon and the obsessed soldier; as checkmate is an intriguing spin. Marie Lu provides a fabulously exciting thriller starring two teens from polar opposite sides of the track. Harriet Klausner
Forbidden
Syrie James and Ryan M. James
Harper Teen, Jan 24 2012, $8.99
ISBN: 9780062027894
In Southern California, sixteen years old Claire hopes this time she and her mom stay in one spot so she can makes friends at the Emerson Academy that she attends on a scholarship. Her nomadic mom has them relocating seemingly even before they can open their bags. At the school Claire meets new student Alec, an angel attending school for a bit of R&R though if caught by the Elders he will be executed for desertion. He explains to her why her mother constantly is on the run; as Claire is a half-angel, a hybrid species considered an abomination by the angel Elders.
Alec and Claire fall in love while Helena begins sending visions to Claire with a warning to tell no one, not even her beloved, of her psychic powers. Unable to resist Claire reveals all to her friends. When her life is threatened, Alec risks his to keep her safe.
Although angels are a large population in the paranormal romance subgenre (see His Dark Bond By Anne Marsh), team James provide an entertaining teenage romantic urban fantasy. The storyline is fast-paced while the antics of the heroine are fun to follow as her hormones war with her brain. Although the support characters are out of the genre’s typical casting mold, Alec is a unique individual who is wary and in love. Readers will enjoy Claire’s coming of age not so angelic Los Angeles joy ride. Harriet Klausner
Stella Cameron
Forever, Feb 28 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9781455500154
After two years as a couple and a few days married, Chris died. Fourteen months later, his grieving widow Leigh Kelly decides she cannot live in their home filled with too many memories. She moves to Chimney Rock on Whidbey Island.
Former Special Ops soldier Niles Latimer and his werehound Team are diligently watching the newcomer to keep her safe from rogues assaulting women. However, he also senses Leigh possesses something unique that could prove her compatible as life mate for a werehound. Nile realizes she knows nothing about her DNA or the existence of werehounds as he and his Team vow to protect her while the evil enemy senses who she is too and pledges to take her.
The first Chimney Rock romantic urban fantasy is a superb dark thriller in which Stella Cameron creates a deep mythos that feels genuine; inside of a fast-paced good and evil battle for Leigh. Loaded with chilling action, a strong lead couple and two camps of werehounds and other ilk, sub-genre readers will enjoy a visit to mysterious Whidbey Island where the paranormal is the normal. Harriet Klausner
Lenobia's Vow
P. C. Cast & Kristin Cast
St. Martin's Griffin, Jan 31 2012, $12.99
ISBN: 9781250000248
Today Lenobia is the horse mistress of the House of Night in St. Louis and Zoey Redbird’s favorite teacher. She and her mother were servants in 1788 at the Chateau de Naverre in Evreux, France. Her father the baron seduced her mother, impregnated her and cast her and their offspring aside. That child Lenobia looks identical to her spoiled half-sister Cecile.
When Lenobia is sixteen years old, the legitimate daughter dies from ague. Leonia’s mother arranges for her daughter to masquerade as Cecile in order for her to marry an affluent aristocrat. The plot works perfectly as Lenobia and other unmarried young ladies travel by ship to New Orleans to marry rich French aristocrats. While traversing the Atlantic, evil sorcerer Bishop Charles recognizes and announces the fraud as he coveted her back in France and plans to make her his mistress. A nun protects her and she decides to go to the cargo hold on the last level of the ship where she meets Quadroon Martin in the stables. She falls in love with him and the Percheron horse that his employer bought. He sent Martin to go to France so that he could take care of them over the long sea voyage. n The Bishop soon makes his move to rape Lenobia using all means available to him while Martin vows to keep his beloved safe.
The latest House of Night Novella (see Dragon’s Oath) focuses on the teen years of a secondary but popular character. Readers learn what shaped Lenobia’s present mysterious life as the child is the adult even if two centuries have passed. At sixteen, Lenobia displays the same traits she shows as a teacher: courage, honesty and inner strength. She wanted to be happy, but her choices were limited to be or not to be until a third option was offered. This is an engaging biographical fiction as the Cast crew entertains their fans. Harriet Klausner
Legend
Marie Lu
Putnam, Nov 29 2011, $17.99
ISBN: 9780399256752
The Republic of America has twenty million citizens and seems to be at constant cold and hot war with its neighbors the Colonies. The laws are strictly enforced regardless of economic and social placement though the elite have all the special advantages and privileges.
From a highly prominent affluent family, fifteen year old June is mentored to become a member of the inner most military leadership. However, her fast track to the top is derailed when her brother Captain Metias is murdered while officially hunting for criminal teenager Day, the number one most wanted person in the Republic, who, in spite of security video cameras all over Los Angeles, his face remains a mystery. Commander Jameson claims Day killed June’s sibling. She vows to avenge her brother’s murder.
Although the High Noon encounter goes the way one would expect even with a fascinating twist, this is a superb futuristic dystopian police procedural. The storyline is fast-paced as readers will appreciate the teenage chess match between the elusive felon and the obsessed soldier; as checkmate is an intriguing spin. Marie Lu provides a fabulously exciting thriller starring two teens from polar opposite sides of the track. Harriet Klausner
Forbidden
Syrie James and Ryan M. James
Harper Teen, Jan 24 2012, $8.99
ISBN: 9780062027894
In Southern California, sixteen years old Claire hopes this time she and her mom stay in one spot so she can makes friends at the Emerson Academy that she attends on a scholarship. Her nomadic mom has them relocating seemingly even before they can open their bags. At the school Claire meets new student Alec, an angel attending school for a bit of R&R though if caught by the Elders he will be executed for desertion. He explains to her why her mother constantly is on the run; as Claire is a half-angel, a hybrid species considered an abomination by the angel Elders.
Alec and Claire fall in love while Helena begins sending visions to Claire with a warning to tell no one, not even her beloved, of her psychic powers. Unable to resist Claire reveals all to her friends. When her life is threatened, Alec risks his to keep her safe.
Although angels are a large population in the paranormal romance subgenre (see His Dark Bond By Anne Marsh), team James provide an entertaining teenage romantic urban fantasy. The storyline is fast-paced while the antics of the heroine are fun to follow as her hormones war with her brain. Although the support characters are out of the genre’s typical casting mold, Alec is a unique individual who is wary and in love. Readers will enjoy Claire’s coming of age not so angelic Los Angeles joy ride. Harriet Klausner
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Reviews
Born to Darkness
Suzanne Brockmann
Ballantine, Mar 20 2012, $26.00
ISBN 9780345521279
The United States is spiraling into third world status as the Great Depression II wreaks havoc on most people due to policies that legalized unfair practices leading to the wealthiest doing great while everyone paid the price. For much of the increasing poor there is only one commodity they can sell: their preteen daughters. The Organization has created Destiny from the hormones of pre-puberty females; the affluent love the elixir that allows those with money to buy the perfect physical specimen at the cost of their mind.
The Obermeyer Institute opposes the sale of girls as a commodity and by extrapolation are against the use of Destiny. However, groups like the Organization own the media and the politicians so Obermeyer is considered by most a place for crackpots. With nowhere to turn, banished former Navy SEAL Shane Laughlin joins OI though he believes the media portrayal of lunatics especially the “Greater-Thans” philosophy to deploy otherworldly powers for the common good. He changes his mind when female Greater Than scientists half his size kicks his butt in. Shane and Greater Than Michelle “Mac” Mackenzie had shared a one night stand before he joined OI as a test subject. In Boston, they attempt to rescue a young girl sold for her hormones who appears to be a Greater Than.
Noted for Breaking the Rules of romantic suspense with her Troubleshooters saga, Suzanne Brockmann provides a powerful enthralling and dark paranormal thriller as the extraction of young female hormones is a capitalist commodity exchange item. The gripping premise extrapolates trends in economics, politics, journalism and pharmaceutical to paint a dark soulless future. The prime romance between the protagonists and a gay relationship enhance an exciting fast-paced rescue mission.
Harriet Klausner
Darkness Undone
Jessa Slade
Signet, Mar 6 2012, $7.99
ISBN 9780451236265
To earn his wings as a League of Talyan Bookkeeper, Sidney Westerbrook leaves London to study why Chicago contains an exorbitant level of otherworldly combat. Though he preferred research from a distance, he knows field work is an inconvenient truth of his mission. However, the Chicago League Chief Liam Niall refuses to allow him to join their night patrol on his first evening in the city; suggesting he adapt to the time change first.
Thus Sidney goes out on the town alone. However, Westerbrook realizes the stupidity of his actions when two feralis attack him. His shoulder injured, he expects to be a mangled corpse only a female talya warrior intercedes as Alyce Carver is not bound by strict League rules as a rogue battling evil ferales solo. They are attracted to one another, but Sid is a London based Bookkeeper, and Alyce is a rogue unaffiliated talyan and is expected to mate with one of her kind.
The fourth Marked Souls romantic urban fantasy (see Seduced by the Shadows, Forged in Shadows and Vowed in Shadows) is an exciting paranormal with a fascinating unexpected but plausible twist. The story line is fast-paced with the well done gender spin of the heroine saving the helpless male in distress. Although Alyce garners much respect for her dedication and empathy for her loneliness, Sid fails to do likewise as understanding him comes late. Still this is another dynamic thriller in the super Slade mythos. Harriet Klausner
Wicked Edge
Nina Bangs
Berkley, Mar 6 2012, $15.00
ISBN 9780425245491
The Council of Justice finds Passion the angel guilty of too much impish behavior as her appeal is that she just wanted to bring life to their tedious existence fails to move the judgment board. Passion can deal with her punishment to wander the Earth as a mortal in order to save human souls; however, she feels the Council was cruel and non-angelic when they made Hope the whiner her heavenly contact as once a day having this irritant in her mind can make anyone consider evil thoughts.
Her assignment takes the “human” Passion to the Castle of Dark Dreams where any form of sexual fantasy occurs. However, the virginal temporarily fallen angel meets Edge playing the role of a demon. She realizes how wicked he truly is by his aura, but rationalizes even a demon can be redeemed while Edge insists he just wants to bang the virgin demonic style.
The fifth erotic Castle of Dark Dreams romantic fantasy (Wicked Edge, Wicked Fantasy Wicked Pleasure and My Wicked Vampire) is an enticing wicked tale starring an interesting pair; as she is a virginal angel and he is the sinful demon. Their forbidden romance makes for a terrific paranormal star-crossed lovers’ thriller.
Harriet Klausner
Bridge of Dreams
Anne Bishop
Roc, Mar 6 2012, $26.95
ISBN: 9780451463814
Siblings Lee and Glorianna Belladonna along with Michael the Musician and others removed the darkness of The Eater of the World from Ephemera (see Belladonna). However, though Ephemera is balanced now, the world remains a perilous place as affirmed when bellicose wizards arrive. Lee stops their threat to disrupt the balance, but ends up in an asylum in Vision, a city also facing dark peril.
The Vision Shamans fail to prevent the dark plague from spreading. Lee understands what they face and offers his assistance and those of his family in Ephemera, Glorianna and their cousin Sebastian. However, the proud protectors of Vision eventually may acquiesce to his offer, but time is running out.
The third Ephemera fantasy is an entertaining tale with an incredible vivid description of the Bishop mythos and a wonderful self-sacrificing hero who risks his life again to save a city of strangers. The storyline starts slow with an inordinate amount of time on what happened in the previous entries (see Sebastian). However, once the protagonist jumps into the frying pan to save Ephemera and then into the fire to save Vision, Bridge of Dreams accelerates into a super-fast-paced exciting thriller. Harriet Klausner
Suzanne Brockmann
Ballantine, Mar 20 2012, $26.00
ISBN 9780345521279
The United States is spiraling into third world status as the Great Depression II wreaks havoc on most people due to policies that legalized unfair practices leading to the wealthiest doing great while everyone paid the price. For much of the increasing poor there is only one commodity they can sell: their preteen daughters. The Organization has created Destiny from the hormones of pre-puberty females; the affluent love the elixir that allows those with money to buy the perfect physical specimen at the cost of their mind.
The Obermeyer Institute opposes the sale of girls as a commodity and by extrapolation are against the use of Destiny. However, groups like the Organization own the media and the politicians so Obermeyer is considered by most a place for crackpots. With nowhere to turn, banished former Navy SEAL Shane Laughlin joins OI though he believes the media portrayal of lunatics especially the “Greater-Thans” philosophy to deploy otherworldly powers for the common good. He changes his mind when female Greater Than scientists half his size kicks his butt in. Shane and Greater Than Michelle “Mac” Mackenzie had shared a one night stand before he joined OI as a test subject. In Boston, they attempt to rescue a young girl sold for her hormones who appears to be a Greater Than.
Noted for Breaking the Rules of romantic suspense with her Troubleshooters saga, Suzanne Brockmann provides a powerful enthralling and dark paranormal thriller as the extraction of young female hormones is a capitalist commodity exchange item. The gripping premise extrapolates trends in economics, politics, journalism and pharmaceutical to paint a dark soulless future. The prime romance between the protagonists and a gay relationship enhance an exciting fast-paced rescue mission.
Harriet Klausner
Darkness Undone
Jessa Slade
Signet, Mar 6 2012, $7.99
ISBN 9780451236265
To earn his wings as a League of Talyan Bookkeeper, Sidney Westerbrook leaves London to study why Chicago contains an exorbitant level of otherworldly combat. Though he preferred research from a distance, he knows field work is an inconvenient truth of his mission. However, the Chicago League Chief Liam Niall refuses to allow him to join their night patrol on his first evening in the city; suggesting he adapt to the time change first.
Thus Sidney goes out on the town alone. However, Westerbrook realizes the stupidity of his actions when two feralis attack him. His shoulder injured, he expects to be a mangled corpse only a female talya warrior intercedes as Alyce Carver is not bound by strict League rules as a rogue battling evil ferales solo. They are attracted to one another, but Sid is a London based Bookkeeper, and Alyce is a rogue unaffiliated talyan and is expected to mate with one of her kind.
The fourth Marked Souls romantic urban fantasy (see Seduced by the Shadows, Forged in Shadows and Vowed in Shadows) is an exciting paranormal with a fascinating unexpected but plausible twist. The story line is fast-paced with the well done gender spin of the heroine saving the helpless male in distress. Although Alyce garners much respect for her dedication and empathy for her loneliness, Sid fails to do likewise as understanding him comes late. Still this is another dynamic thriller in the super Slade mythos. Harriet Klausner
Wicked Edge
Nina Bangs
Berkley, Mar 6 2012, $15.00
ISBN 9780425245491
The Council of Justice finds Passion the angel guilty of too much impish behavior as her appeal is that she just wanted to bring life to their tedious existence fails to move the judgment board. Passion can deal with her punishment to wander the Earth as a mortal in order to save human souls; however, she feels the Council was cruel and non-angelic when they made Hope the whiner her heavenly contact as once a day having this irritant in her mind can make anyone consider evil thoughts.
Her assignment takes the “human” Passion to the Castle of Dark Dreams where any form of sexual fantasy occurs. However, the virginal temporarily fallen angel meets Edge playing the role of a demon. She realizes how wicked he truly is by his aura, but rationalizes even a demon can be redeemed while Edge insists he just wants to bang the virgin demonic style.
The fifth erotic Castle of Dark Dreams romantic fantasy (Wicked Edge, Wicked Fantasy Wicked Pleasure and My Wicked Vampire) is an enticing wicked tale starring an interesting pair; as she is a virginal angel and he is the sinful demon. Their forbidden romance makes for a terrific paranormal star-crossed lovers’ thriller.
Harriet Klausner
Bridge of Dreams
Anne Bishop
Roc, Mar 6 2012, $26.95
ISBN: 9780451463814
Siblings Lee and Glorianna Belladonna along with Michael the Musician and others removed the darkness of The Eater of the World from Ephemera (see Belladonna). However, though Ephemera is balanced now, the world remains a perilous place as affirmed when bellicose wizards arrive. Lee stops their threat to disrupt the balance, but ends up in an asylum in Vision, a city also facing dark peril.
The Vision Shamans fail to prevent the dark plague from spreading. Lee understands what they face and offers his assistance and those of his family in Ephemera, Glorianna and their cousin Sebastian. However, the proud protectors of Vision eventually may acquiesce to his offer, but time is running out.
The third Ephemera fantasy is an entertaining tale with an incredible vivid description of the Bishop mythos and a wonderful self-sacrificing hero who risks his life again to save a city of strangers. The storyline starts slow with an inordinate amount of time on what happened in the previous entries (see Sebastian). However, once the protagonist jumps into the frying pan to save Ephemera and then into the fire to save Vision, Bridge of Dreams accelerates into a super-fast-paced exciting thriller. Harriet Klausner
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Interesting Reviews from Harriet
Vampire’s Kiss
Veronica Wolff
NAL, Mar 6 2012, $9.99
ISBN: 9780451235725
Off the Scottish coast lies the Isle of Night populated by vampires, tracers, watchers, acari and humans. Ronan the vampire tracer recruited from the University of Florida Annelise Drew (see Isle of Night). She is a second year acari student who understands that only the strong survive so she diligently works hard with one goal to get off the island; which means becoming a Watcher even though escape is doubtful.
Alcantara the vampire acts likes Drew enchants him when he accelerates her training so she can be placed on a mission with him. She is to act the part of a serving girl to seven vampires of whom her mentor states are evil. They seek Carden McCloud captured and most likely tortured by these malevolent bloodsuckers. Drew finds the rescue target and gives him her blood. When Alcantara and McCloud meet, Drew realizes they are enemies, which has her wondering why her mentor lied and who the wicked vampire is.
The latest Watchers urban fantasy is an enthralling, twisting thriller in which readers will appreciate the spellbinding in depth look at a vampire island community inside the wonderful world of the Wolff. Since escaping the Isle of Night is more difficult than getting off Alcatraz, Acari accept their role as gladiator students. Sanctioned fights between each other leave some dead; only the best live through the grueling ordeal their instructors call training. Drew is terrific as she completes the mission but learns a lesson to not trust anyone especially vampires as delineating the good, the bad and the ugly is impossible until it is too late. Harriet Klausner
Crucible of Empire
Eric Flint and K.D. Wentworth
Baen, Feb 7 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9781451638042
A few years ago years ago the Jao invaders conquered the Earth (see The Course of Empire). The two species began forging a united kochan clan. Former resistance fighter Gabriel Tully commands Baker Company whose prime mission is to negotiate a peace between his former resistance allies and the Jao. He attends a briefing concerning the NGC 7293 nebula where three Krant vessels investigated strange data; they encountered hostility with the giant arachnid Ekhat species which ended with the enemy destroyed but the Krant ships not in much better shape.
Terra Governor Aille and Preceptor Ronz assign the Lexington to take Jao and humans to the sector where the Ekhat has violently surfaced and a third race was involved in the recent battle. Jao Captain Danner krinnu ava Terra commands the ship; but she is not in charge of the mission. Instead Wrot krinnu ava Terra runs the mission with Caitlin Kralik as the diplomat to deal with the unknown race and Tully and his unit enhanced by the Krant survivors provide military support against the Ekhat. His team destroys four Ekhat ships with a surviving vessel crippled in orbit around a star; only to learn the Lleix who the Jao assaulted in a previous encounter are on board.
As with the first science fiction “Empire” thriller, the sequel focuses on the species with a deep look at the Jao (especially on board the Lexington) and somewhat the Ekhat. The storyline also introduces a fourth sentient race with its own shtick. Although there is some reiterative commentary that slows down the outer space encounters, fans will enjoy traveling on the Lexington as the combined Jao-human crew go into combat and diplomacy. Harriet Klausner
The Ritual
Adam Nevill
St. Martin’s Griffin, Feb 14 2012, $15.99
ISBN: 9780312641849
When they roomed in Birmingham while attending the university Luke, Phil, Dom and Hutch were the four musketeers as best buddies. After graduating they went their separate ways with three of the BFFs married as Luke is only one of them still single. The four agree to unite on a camping trip north of the Arctic Circle in Sweden to get away from their respective personal lives.
However, it didn’t take long to realize how out of shape Phil and Dom have become as the foursome trek on their three day hike though Luke and Hutch still smoke. The weather is cold and wet making the walk through the wilderness that much more difficult especially when they take a shortcut that fails to find the river, but instead the dead eerily hanging from a tree. The bickering and resentment become palatable as anger at each other and their miserable situation overtly explodes. They find shelter of sorts from the harsh environment in a cottage containing bizarre, frightening ancient-looking items. None of them yet comprehend the predator that stalks them may be just coming home.
Think of Deliverance and an adult coming of age Lord of the Flies in a stark setting to comprehend this exhilarating thriller. The storyline told by Luke captures the reader from opening line as Adam Nevill paints a harsh environment that sets the tone for what follows. The protagonists possess diverse personalities and different tsuris, but it is their reactions to the evil that hunts them which makes for a tense horror tale. Harriet Klausner
The Anatomy of Ghosts
Andrew Taylor
Hyperion, Jan 17 2012, $15.99
ISBN: 9781401310738
In 1786, Tim Turdman finds the body of young Georgie Holdsworth, who drowned in the Thames. His father John the bookseller is despondent but conceals his grief from his wife Maria whose depression frightens her spouse but is understandable as she helplessly watched her son drown in the river. She insists she speaks to her deceased offspring with the help of a medium. A fire destroys the bookstore that contains John’s investment leaving him broke. Angry and grieving John authors a book to prove to Maria that she cannot communicate with Georgie and her channel is a con artist. His effort leads to Maria committing suicide by jumping into the Thames near where she last saw her child.
Lady Anne Oldershaw hires a depressed John to catalog her late husband's library that she is bequeathing to Cambridge University. Her son Frank, a Jerusalem College student, has a nervous breakdown following his assertion that he saw the ghost of murdered Sylvia Whichcote. Lady Anne asks John, as a paranormal fraud expert, to help her son realize how inane his assertion is. John knows first he must learn what the lad saw as he struggles through the nasty Holy Ghost Club and their Master Dr. Carbury only to find his haunting mission changed.
This is a great late Georgian thriller that will keep the audience wondering whether to believe in ghosts or something more sinisterly human. The storyline starts melancholy in the opening chapters, but changes tone when the bookseller comes to Cambridge as he gets involved with a murder mystery that has him reconsidering his contention that ghosts are delusions of the parasitic relationship between the desperate and the amoral who take advantage of these depressed souls. Harriet Klausner
Veronica Wolff
NAL, Mar 6 2012, $9.99
ISBN: 9780451235725
Off the Scottish coast lies the Isle of Night populated by vampires, tracers, watchers, acari and humans. Ronan the vampire tracer recruited from the University of Florida Annelise Drew (see Isle of Night). She is a second year acari student who understands that only the strong survive so she diligently works hard with one goal to get off the island; which means becoming a Watcher even though escape is doubtful.
Alcantara the vampire acts likes Drew enchants him when he accelerates her training so she can be placed on a mission with him. She is to act the part of a serving girl to seven vampires of whom her mentor states are evil. They seek Carden McCloud captured and most likely tortured by these malevolent bloodsuckers. Drew finds the rescue target and gives him her blood. When Alcantara and McCloud meet, Drew realizes they are enemies, which has her wondering why her mentor lied and who the wicked vampire is.
The latest Watchers urban fantasy is an enthralling, twisting thriller in which readers will appreciate the spellbinding in depth look at a vampire island community inside the wonderful world of the Wolff. Since escaping the Isle of Night is more difficult than getting off Alcatraz, Acari accept their role as gladiator students. Sanctioned fights between each other leave some dead; only the best live through the grueling ordeal their instructors call training. Drew is terrific as she completes the mission but learns a lesson to not trust anyone especially vampires as delineating the good, the bad and the ugly is impossible until it is too late. Harriet Klausner
Crucible of Empire
Eric Flint and K.D. Wentworth
Baen, Feb 7 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9781451638042
A few years ago years ago the Jao invaders conquered the Earth (see The Course of Empire). The two species began forging a united kochan clan. Former resistance fighter Gabriel Tully commands Baker Company whose prime mission is to negotiate a peace between his former resistance allies and the Jao. He attends a briefing concerning the NGC 7293 nebula where three Krant vessels investigated strange data; they encountered hostility with the giant arachnid Ekhat species which ended with the enemy destroyed but the Krant ships not in much better shape.
Terra Governor Aille and Preceptor Ronz assign the Lexington to take Jao and humans to the sector where the Ekhat has violently surfaced and a third race was involved in the recent battle. Jao Captain Danner krinnu ava Terra commands the ship; but she is not in charge of the mission. Instead Wrot krinnu ava Terra runs the mission with Caitlin Kralik as the diplomat to deal with the unknown race and Tully and his unit enhanced by the Krant survivors provide military support against the Ekhat. His team destroys four Ekhat ships with a surviving vessel crippled in orbit around a star; only to learn the Lleix who the Jao assaulted in a previous encounter are on board.
As with the first science fiction “Empire” thriller, the sequel focuses on the species with a deep look at the Jao (especially on board the Lexington) and somewhat the Ekhat. The storyline also introduces a fourth sentient race with its own shtick. Although there is some reiterative commentary that slows down the outer space encounters, fans will enjoy traveling on the Lexington as the combined Jao-human crew go into combat and diplomacy. Harriet Klausner
The Ritual
Adam Nevill
St. Martin’s Griffin, Feb 14 2012, $15.99
ISBN: 9780312641849
When they roomed in Birmingham while attending the university Luke, Phil, Dom and Hutch were the four musketeers as best buddies. After graduating they went their separate ways with three of the BFFs married as Luke is only one of them still single. The four agree to unite on a camping trip north of the Arctic Circle in Sweden to get away from their respective personal lives.
However, it didn’t take long to realize how out of shape Phil and Dom have become as the foursome trek on their three day hike though Luke and Hutch still smoke. The weather is cold and wet making the walk through the wilderness that much more difficult especially when they take a shortcut that fails to find the river, but instead the dead eerily hanging from a tree. The bickering and resentment become palatable as anger at each other and their miserable situation overtly explodes. They find shelter of sorts from the harsh environment in a cottage containing bizarre, frightening ancient-looking items. None of them yet comprehend the predator that stalks them may be just coming home.
Think of Deliverance and an adult coming of age Lord of the Flies in a stark setting to comprehend this exhilarating thriller. The storyline told by Luke captures the reader from opening line as Adam Nevill paints a harsh environment that sets the tone for what follows. The protagonists possess diverse personalities and different tsuris, but it is their reactions to the evil that hunts them which makes for a tense horror tale. Harriet Klausner
The Anatomy of Ghosts
Andrew Taylor
Hyperion, Jan 17 2012, $15.99
ISBN: 9781401310738
In 1786, Tim Turdman finds the body of young Georgie Holdsworth, who drowned in the Thames. His father John the bookseller is despondent but conceals his grief from his wife Maria whose depression frightens her spouse but is understandable as she helplessly watched her son drown in the river. She insists she speaks to her deceased offspring with the help of a medium. A fire destroys the bookstore that contains John’s investment leaving him broke. Angry and grieving John authors a book to prove to Maria that she cannot communicate with Georgie and her channel is a con artist. His effort leads to Maria committing suicide by jumping into the Thames near where she last saw her child.
Lady Anne Oldershaw hires a depressed John to catalog her late husband's library that she is bequeathing to Cambridge University. Her son Frank, a Jerusalem College student, has a nervous breakdown following his assertion that he saw the ghost of murdered Sylvia Whichcote. Lady Anne asks John, as a paranormal fraud expert, to help her son realize how inane his assertion is. John knows first he must learn what the lad saw as he struggles through the nasty Holy Ghost Club and their Master Dr. Carbury only to find his haunting mission changed.
This is a great late Georgian thriller that will keep the audience wondering whether to believe in ghosts or something more sinisterly human. The storyline starts melancholy in the opening chapters, but changes tone when the bookseller comes to Cambridge as he gets involved with a murder mystery that has him reconsidering his contention that ghosts are delusions of the parasitic relationship between the desperate and the amoral who take advantage of these depressed souls. Harriet Klausner
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Star Wars and Fantasy Reviews
Star Wars: The Millennium Falcon Owner's Workshop Manual
Ryder Wyndham, Chris Reiff (illustrator) and Chris Trevas (illustrator)
Lucasbooks, Jan 31 2012, $20.00
ISBN: 9780345533043
The title is somewhat misleading as this owner’s manual focuses on the Corellian Engineering Corporation’s YT-1300 series with the legendary Millennium Falcon being the most famous (the Emperor says infamous) vessel having a major chapter. Besides the brief history of the corporation, the manual goes into depth with diagrams on the various YT-1300 models, a deep look at systems (piloting, propulsion, etc.), controls, weapons, crew facility and other floor plans, and other operations. There is also a section devoted to the modified Millennium Falcon operated by wanted preferably dead smugglers Han Solo a former Imperial pilot and Chewbacca the Wookie.
This is a great fun manual. Ryder Wyndham (see A New Hope: The Life of Luke Skywalker) provides a well written text filled with fascinating details about the model while the photographs and art are incredible as the two Chris’ show their talent and knowledge of Star Wars. Fans of the saga especially the original three New Hope movies will appreciate this entertaining entry as we will feel we are on board and even driving an YT-1300 vessel. Finally unlike politicians who insist ads by their attack Super PAC pals were not approved by them, this super packed manual is approved by Lucasbooks and a reader can see why. Harriet Klausner
How to Be Death
Amber Benson
Ace, Feb 28 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9781937007287
Since her dad’s untimely death thanks to his late oldest daughter (see Death’s Daughter), Calliope Reaper-Jones feels pressure she does not want; as the President and CEO of Death, Inc. with the Board and others making demands on her life. She knows she needs to read How to be Death (A Fully Annotated Guide), but has not gotten around to it. Instead she has depended on her younger brilliant sister Clio and a few of her dad’s best minions to help her as the girl who can make her deadly wishes come true.
Reaper attends the annual Death Dinner and masquerade ball at Haunted Hearts Castle. At the gala, she sees Daniel who she loves but assumes her feelings are unrequited; besides he is busy running Hell while his former boss receives heavenly punishment for his failed coup. Lying on the floor of Cal’s room is Daniel’s date Coy who is beheaded. Former Psychical Bureau of Investigation field agent Edgar Freezay leads the homicide investigation while Callie panics that the guide book she never opened has been stolen; if misused it could mean the extinction of humanity.
This is an entertaining locked castle murder mystery in which the homicide occurs about half way into the storyline. Callie has not matured since inheriting the position (see Serpent’s Storm and Cat’s Claw) as she remains unsure and shallow especially in the pre-murder chapters; in fact she would agree Clio is a better long term choice to become Ms. Death. Freezay takes over the novel with his inquiry. Still fans will enjoy Callie’s chick lit commentary as she struggles to learn How To Be Death; a job she does not want nor feel capable of performing.
Harriet Klausner
Enchanted Again
Robin D. Owens
Luna, Dec 20 2011, $14.95
ISBN: 9780373803415
In Denver, genealogist Amber Sarga understands the cost of using her gift as a curse-breaker; every time she deploys her skill she reduces her life span dramatically as she ages. Thus she is wary to deploy her talent.
Friends Conrad Tyne-Cymbler and Rafe Davail visit Amber at her place in Mystic Circle so she can help them break their respective curses though Rafe ridicules the concept of the paranormal. Conrad’s wife Marta left him with their son Dougie and vanished. Based on what his father told him on their only encounter when he next sees his child he will die. In Rafe’s family history, the first born son dies before turning thirty-three. Amber wants to help both, but can’t even use a mirror as she looks ten years older than she is chronologically. She agrees to look into their ancestry to identify the curse and what can be done to stop it. However, she feels sympathy for both cursed men and is attracted to Rafe.
The second book Mystic Circle romantic urban fantasy (see Enchanted No More) is an engaging tale based on the premise that magic costs to the practitioner. This concept is the conflict as Amber faces a moral conundrum with between to do and die young, and not to do and die lonely. Although the romantic relationship between the genealogist and the skeptic feels forced, readers, craving for chocolate brownies, will want to know the outcomes of the curse. Harriet Klausner
Raven Calls
C.E. Murphy
Luna, Feb 21 2012, $14.95
ISBN: 9780373803439
Seattle Urban Shaman Joanne Walker loved being a police detective, but balancing her two worlds ended when a werewolf bit her. She quits the force as she knows she cannot quit the mystic realm. Jo scratches a compelling itch that has her leaving behind her former police boss Mike Morrison who she only recently began seeing (see Spirit Dances) to fly to Ireland.
Mike sends Jo’s best friend septuagenarian Gary Muldoon to Dublin to keep her butt out of trouble. They head to the Hills of Tara in County Meah when a woman comes out of nowhere to identify Jo as Siobhan Walkingstick, Walker’s birth name. As the pair climbs the metaphysical Hill of Tara, Jo’s life spins full circle when she learns what the obsession that brought her to ancient magical Eire is all about; the deceased individual, who gave up everything for her, needs rescuing, but first the Shaman must escape the dark power of the MorrÃgan.
This is a great spin as the heroine has good cause to put on hold, perhaps permanently, her relationship with Mike in order to learn more about her ancestry and battle some nasty adversaries. Thus the spinning stunning storyline returns to its fantasy roots as Jo is in mortal combat with a nasty goddess in a long ago era (there is no Seattle coffee available) as the latest Walker Papers (see Demon Hunts) is a super smart shocker. Harriet Klausner
The Nosferatu Scroll
James Becker
Signet, Feb 7 2012, $9.99
ISBN: 9780451236197
In 1741 Bohemia, Father Bohdan Reznik performs the Last Rites to Princess Eleonora von Schwartzenberg. However these are not the normal Last Rites that the flock has seen. Instead, he has the coffin, which came from Vienna, opened so he can remove her head and sprinkle holy water on the rest of the body. The priest stoically completes the special Last Rites and insures no physical evidence remains that the princess ever existed.
In 2010 divorced couple, police detective Chris Bronson and Angela Lewis the museum conservator, vacation together in Vienna. They are at a tomb containing a badly interred corpse of a woman whose head was sliced off and her mouth containing a brick of sorts. Angela steals an eighteenth century journal written by apparently the victim that the British citizen found near the grave. The writings mention a scroll that the two visitors seek. Others observe and attack the cop and the conservator; while apparently a vampire cult kidnaps women including Angela.
The latest Bronson thriller (see The First Apostle, The Moses Stone and The Messiah Secret) once again deftly blends history with a modern day mystery. The fast-paced storyline focuses on vampires as the skeptical cop and the scientific conservator find themselves one bite away from joining that unmentionable beheaded Princess. Filled with action, a fantastic stunning late twist, and interwoven historical tidbits, fans will enjoy James Becker’s tour of Vienna as Along Comes Bronson hoping to rescue his former wife. Harriet Klausner
Ryder Wyndham, Chris Reiff (illustrator) and Chris Trevas (illustrator)
Lucasbooks, Jan 31 2012, $20.00
ISBN: 9780345533043
The title is somewhat misleading as this owner’s manual focuses on the Corellian Engineering Corporation’s YT-1300 series with the legendary Millennium Falcon being the most famous (the Emperor says infamous) vessel having a major chapter. Besides the brief history of the corporation, the manual goes into depth with diagrams on the various YT-1300 models, a deep look at systems (piloting, propulsion, etc.), controls, weapons, crew facility and other floor plans, and other operations. There is also a section devoted to the modified Millennium Falcon operated by wanted preferably dead smugglers Han Solo a former Imperial pilot and Chewbacca the Wookie.
This is a great fun manual. Ryder Wyndham (see A New Hope: The Life of Luke Skywalker) provides a well written text filled with fascinating details about the model while the photographs and art are incredible as the two Chris’ show their talent and knowledge of Star Wars. Fans of the saga especially the original three New Hope movies will appreciate this entertaining entry as we will feel we are on board and even driving an YT-1300 vessel. Finally unlike politicians who insist ads by their attack Super PAC pals were not approved by them, this super packed manual is approved by Lucasbooks and a reader can see why. Harriet Klausner
How to Be Death
Amber Benson
Ace, Feb 28 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9781937007287
Since her dad’s untimely death thanks to his late oldest daughter (see Death’s Daughter), Calliope Reaper-Jones feels pressure she does not want; as the President and CEO of Death, Inc. with the Board and others making demands on her life. She knows she needs to read How to be Death (A Fully Annotated Guide), but has not gotten around to it. Instead she has depended on her younger brilliant sister Clio and a few of her dad’s best minions to help her as the girl who can make her deadly wishes come true.
Reaper attends the annual Death Dinner and masquerade ball at Haunted Hearts Castle. At the gala, she sees Daniel who she loves but assumes her feelings are unrequited; besides he is busy running Hell while his former boss receives heavenly punishment for his failed coup. Lying on the floor of Cal’s room is Daniel’s date Coy who is beheaded. Former Psychical Bureau of Investigation field agent Edgar Freezay leads the homicide investigation while Callie panics that the guide book she never opened has been stolen; if misused it could mean the extinction of humanity.
This is an entertaining locked castle murder mystery in which the homicide occurs about half way into the storyline. Callie has not matured since inheriting the position (see Serpent’s Storm and Cat’s Claw) as she remains unsure and shallow especially in the pre-murder chapters; in fact she would agree Clio is a better long term choice to become Ms. Death. Freezay takes over the novel with his inquiry. Still fans will enjoy Callie’s chick lit commentary as she struggles to learn How To Be Death; a job she does not want nor feel capable of performing.
Harriet Klausner
Enchanted Again
Robin D. Owens
Luna, Dec 20 2011, $14.95
ISBN: 9780373803415
In Denver, genealogist Amber Sarga understands the cost of using her gift as a curse-breaker; every time she deploys her skill she reduces her life span dramatically as she ages. Thus she is wary to deploy her talent.
Friends Conrad Tyne-Cymbler and Rafe Davail visit Amber at her place in Mystic Circle so she can help them break their respective curses though Rafe ridicules the concept of the paranormal. Conrad’s wife Marta left him with their son Dougie and vanished. Based on what his father told him on their only encounter when he next sees his child he will die. In Rafe’s family history, the first born son dies before turning thirty-three. Amber wants to help both, but can’t even use a mirror as she looks ten years older than she is chronologically. She agrees to look into their ancestry to identify the curse and what can be done to stop it. However, she feels sympathy for both cursed men and is attracted to Rafe.
The second book Mystic Circle romantic urban fantasy (see Enchanted No More) is an engaging tale based on the premise that magic costs to the practitioner. This concept is the conflict as Amber faces a moral conundrum with between to do and die young, and not to do and die lonely. Although the romantic relationship between the genealogist and the skeptic feels forced, readers, craving for chocolate brownies, will want to know the outcomes of the curse. Harriet Klausner
Raven Calls
C.E. Murphy
Luna, Feb 21 2012, $14.95
ISBN: 9780373803439
Seattle Urban Shaman Joanne Walker loved being a police detective, but balancing her two worlds ended when a werewolf bit her. She quits the force as she knows she cannot quit the mystic realm. Jo scratches a compelling itch that has her leaving behind her former police boss Mike Morrison who she only recently began seeing (see Spirit Dances) to fly to Ireland.
Mike sends Jo’s best friend septuagenarian Gary Muldoon to Dublin to keep her butt out of trouble. They head to the Hills of Tara in County Meah when a woman comes out of nowhere to identify Jo as Siobhan Walkingstick, Walker’s birth name. As the pair climbs the metaphysical Hill of Tara, Jo’s life spins full circle when she learns what the obsession that brought her to ancient magical Eire is all about; the deceased individual, who gave up everything for her, needs rescuing, but first the Shaman must escape the dark power of the MorrÃgan.
This is a great spin as the heroine has good cause to put on hold, perhaps permanently, her relationship with Mike in order to learn more about her ancestry and battle some nasty adversaries. Thus the spinning stunning storyline returns to its fantasy roots as Jo is in mortal combat with a nasty goddess in a long ago era (there is no Seattle coffee available) as the latest Walker Papers (see Demon Hunts) is a super smart shocker. Harriet Klausner
The Nosferatu Scroll
James Becker
Signet, Feb 7 2012, $9.99
ISBN: 9780451236197
In 1741 Bohemia, Father Bohdan Reznik performs the Last Rites to Princess Eleonora von Schwartzenberg. However these are not the normal Last Rites that the flock has seen. Instead, he has the coffin, which came from Vienna, opened so he can remove her head and sprinkle holy water on the rest of the body. The priest stoically completes the special Last Rites and insures no physical evidence remains that the princess ever existed.
In 2010 divorced couple, police detective Chris Bronson and Angela Lewis the museum conservator, vacation together in Vienna. They are at a tomb containing a badly interred corpse of a woman whose head was sliced off and her mouth containing a brick of sorts. Angela steals an eighteenth century journal written by apparently the victim that the British citizen found near the grave. The writings mention a scroll that the two visitors seek. Others observe and attack the cop and the conservator; while apparently a vampire cult kidnaps women including Angela.
The latest Bronson thriller (see The First Apostle, The Moses Stone and The Messiah Secret) once again deftly blends history with a modern day mystery. The fast-paced storyline focuses on vampires as the skeptical cop and the scientific conservator find themselves one bite away from joining that unmentionable beheaded Princess. Filled with action, a fantastic stunning late twist, and interwoven historical tidbits, fans will enjoy James Becker’s tour of Vienna as Along Comes Bronson hoping to rescue his former wife. Harriet Klausner
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Fantasy, Swords, Witches and Ghosts
Autumn: Aftermath
David Moody
Dunne Griffin, Mar 12 2012, $14.99
ISBN: 9780312570026
One nanosecond ago everything was fine; a moment later 99% of the human race died; however over the next three months the dead failed to stay dead as they returned as the mindless indead with an innate instinct to kill the 1% of human survivors. Several of the 1% survivors reach the remote island of Cormansey; access exclusively by air ad boat, making this isolated rock zombie free for the fifty-one humans including a pregnant women. They helicopter to Chadwick to obtain needed supplies.
Another of the 1% made it to fortified Cheatham Castle. These twenty-one survivors go to Chadwick for supplies too. The two human groups collide as the castle dwellers believe the islanders are encroaching on their territory of Chadwick. The islanders invite the Chadwick crew to join them on the island as there is strength in numbers. Many want to go but their leaders refuse to give up their power. As tension mounts, the two small pockets of humans seem ready to war with each other instead of allying against the greater threat.
The final Autumn urban fantasy (see Autumn: Disintegration and Autumn: The City) is a great finish to a fabulous zombie thriller. The underlying premise is that those on power obsess with remaining in power at any cost even to their own group’s survival. With a deep look at the human need to dominate or subordinate, readers will relish this entry as only the strong survive by using the weaker as fodder.
Harriet Klausner
The Scar
Sergey Dyachenko and Marina Dyachenko; translated by Elinor Huntington
Tor, Feb 28 2012, $24.99
ISBN: 9780765329936
In Kavarren, being a member of the highly adulated elite guard, Lieutenant Egert gets whatever he desires. He wants Toria who is engaged to Dinar, but that lesser male is no impediment to arrogant Egert as he kills his rival in a duel. Observing the atrocity, the Wanderer defiantly “names” Egert as a bully and forces him into a duel. The Wanderer cuts Egert’s face leaving him with a painful scar; while his arrogance is drained into cowardice.
Fearful, he deserts his regiment, his family and his friends. Egert reaches the city where grieving Toria lives with her father Luayan the mage university dean. Whereas his daughter loathes Dinar’s killer, Luayan provides him shelter. Every time Egert looks at Toria, he feels shame. He needs her forgiveness before he can grant himself the same. Egert soon faces the Servants of Lash; though he prefers flight Toria’s visage makes him stay while a plague ravages the city. Finally Egert senses he will face the judgment of the Wanderer but feels that is easier than the judgment of Toria.
The Scar is a terrific allegorical second chance at redemption and life sword and sorcery thriller. Character driven by Egert and Toria, the deep storyline focuses on the pair’s lost zest for living following his atrocity. Although the enigmatic Wanderer never quite comes across as to who or what he is (perhaps because this is his second book of a four novel series in which the first entry has not been translated as far as I can tell). Still fans will relish this strong soul saving saga as the prime protagonists must find a way to forgive if they are to save a city under siege. Harriet Klausner
All Things Wicked
Karina Cooper
Avon, Jan 31 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780062046932
Juliet Carpenter the witch fell in love with Caleb Leigh but he betrayed her and killed her Coven of the Unbinding witches who treated him as family. Two obsessions keep Juliet going; she needs to know why but even stronger is a need to avenge what he did to her and her “kin”.
One year later Juliet finds Caleb in a seedy motel, just like the demons he runs from always do. Her compulsion to kill him supersedes her desire to know why so she goes after him with a knife, which she plunges into him. Caleb survives but feels overwhelmed by the guilt of the wicked thing he did though his motive was to protect his sibling Cordelia and himself from her coven’s power grabbing sacrifice of them. When adversaries arrive with dire intentions of abducting the girl and killing her ally, Caleb, who still loves his Jules, knows this is the beginning of his last stand to keep his pledge of insuring the witch who owns his wicked heart is safe as long as what is left of his declining brain stays rational.
The third Dark Mission romantic urban fantasy (see Lure of the Wicked and Blood of the Wicked) expands the incredible Cooper universe beyond the New Seattle environs in a stunning coming of age thriller. Fast-paced and filled with action, readers will relish the romance between two people struggling with an inconvenient truth of being in love at a time when both should be in hate (at him). Wickedly dark, Karina Cooper provides a powerful futuristic twisting tale. Harriet Klausner
The Haunting of Maddy Clare
Simone St. James
NAL, Mar 6 2012, $14.00
ISBN: 9780451235688
In 1922 London, ghost researcher Alistair Gelles hires Sarah Piper as his temporary assistant. He explains to her that his permanent assistant Matthew Ryder is visiting his pregnant sister and that the patron Mrs. Clare asks for a female to get the ghost of the late serving girl Maddy, who hung herself, to leave.
Sarah enters the barn alone. She finds the barn on fire. She escapes, but once outside the barn is fine. She tells Alistair and Matthew who arrives what happened. Later she sees the scars on Matthew’s back, but he misunderstands her reaction as he assumes his war injuries horrify her. Instead she thinks he is beautiful. The team learns Maddy arrived battered and mute at the Clare farm when she was twelve. Sarah asks Maddy about her suicide note in which she said “I will kill them.” Later Sarah and Matthew have sex, but afterward he apologizes, which hurts her. The trio enters the barn. Matthew sees Maddy; Sarah senses Maddy is near; and Alistair hears music. Maddy tells Sarah that three men violated her as a little girl and she wants revenge. She orders Sarah to find them and her gravesite. Mrs. Clare smashes an oil lamp causing a fire. Matthew rescues Alistair who thinks he is back in combat. Sarah and Matthew investigate when the first unexplained (except by an avenging ghost) murder occurs.
This is an entertaining Post WWI British haunted barn thriller in which the researchers are fully developed, the ghost seems real, and the townsfolk enhance the enjoyable story line. Although the prime romantic subplot between the two research assistants feels forced and unnecessary, fans will appreciate Simone St. James’s well written early twentieth century ghost story. Harriet Klausner
David Moody
Dunne Griffin, Mar 12 2012, $14.99
ISBN: 9780312570026
One nanosecond ago everything was fine; a moment later 99% of the human race died; however over the next three months the dead failed to stay dead as they returned as the mindless indead with an innate instinct to kill the 1% of human survivors. Several of the 1% survivors reach the remote island of Cormansey; access exclusively by air ad boat, making this isolated rock zombie free for the fifty-one humans including a pregnant women. They helicopter to Chadwick to obtain needed supplies.
Another of the 1% made it to fortified Cheatham Castle. These twenty-one survivors go to Chadwick for supplies too. The two human groups collide as the castle dwellers believe the islanders are encroaching on their territory of Chadwick. The islanders invite the Chadwick crew to join them on the island as there is strength in numbers. Many want to go but their leaders refuse to give up their power. As tension mounts, the two small pockets of humans seem ready to war with each other instead of allying against the greater threat.
The final Autumn urban fantasy (see Autumn: Disintegration and Autumn: The City) is a great finish to a fabulous zombie thriller. The underlying premise is that those on power obsess with remaining in power at any cost even to their own group’s survival. With a deep look at the human need to dominate or subordinate, readers will relish this entry as only the strong survive by using the weaker as fodder.
Harriet Klausner
The Scar
Sergey Dyachenko and Marina Dyachenko; translated by Elinor Huntington
Tor, Feb 28 2012, $24.99
ISBN: 9780765329936
In Kavarren, being a member of the highly adulated elite guard, Lieutenant Egert gets whatever he desires. He wants Toria who is engaged to Dinar, but that lesser male is no impediment to arrogant Egert as he kills his rival in a duel. Observing the atrocity, the Wanderer defiantly “names” Egert as a bully and forces him into a duel. The Wanderer cuts Egert’s face leaving him with a painful scar; while his arrogance is drained into cowardice.
Fearful, he deserts his regiment, his family and his friends. Egert reaches the city where grieving Toria lives with her father Luayan the mage university dean. Whereas his daughter loathes Dinar’s killer, Luayan provides him shelter. Every time Egert looks at Toria, he feels shame. He needs her forgiveness before he can grant himself the same. Egert soon faces the Servants of Lash; though he prefers flight Toria’s visage makes him stay while a plague ravages the city. Finally Egert senses he will face the judgment of the Wanderer but feels that is easier than the judgment of Toria.
The Scar is a terrific allegorical second chance at redemption and life sword and sorcery thriller. Character driven by Egert and Toria, the deep storyline focuses on the pair’s lost zest for living following his atrocity. Although the enigmatic Wanderer never quite comes across as to who or what he is (perhaps because this is his second book of a four novel series in which the first entry has not been translated as far as I can tell). Still fans will relish this strong soul saving saga as the prime protagonists must find a way to forgive if they are to save a city under siege. Harriet Klausner
All Things Wicked
Karina Cooper
Avon, Jan 31 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780062046932
Juliet Carpenter the witch fell in love with Caleb Leigh but he betrayed her and killed her Coven of the Unbinding witches who treated him as family. Two obsessions keep Juliet going; she needs to know why but even stronger is a need to avenge what he did to her and her “kin”.
One year later Juliet finds Caleb in a seedy motel, just like the demons he runs from always do. Her compulsion to kill him supersedes her desire to know why so she goes after him with a knife, which she plunges into him. Caleb survives but feels overwhelmed by the guilt of the wicked thing he did though his motive was to protect his sibling Cordelia and himself from her coven’s power grabbing sacrifice of them. When adversaries arrive with dire intentions of abducting the girl and killing her ally, Caleb, who still loves his Jules, knows this is the beginning of his last stand to keep his pledge of insuring the witch who owns his wicked heart is safe as long as what is left of his declining brain stays rational.
The third Dark Mission romantic urban fantasy (see Lure of the Wicked and Blood of the Wicked) expands the incredible Cooper universe beyond the New Seattle environs in a stunning coming of age thriller. Fast-paced and filled with action, readers will relish the romance between two people struggling with an inconvenient truth of being in love at a time when both should be in hate (at him). Wickedly dark, Karina Cooper provides a powerful futuristic twisting tale. Harriet Klausner
The Haunting of Maddy Clare
Simone St. James
NAL, Mar 6 2012, $14.00
ISBN: 9780451235688
In 1922 London, ghost researcher Alistair Gelles hires Sarah Piper as his temporary assistant. He explains to her that his permanent assistant Matthew Ryder is visiting his pregnant sister and that the patron Mrs. Clare asks for a female to get the ghost of the late serving girl Maddy, who hung herself, to leave.
Sarah enters the barn alone. She finds the barn on fire. She escapes, but once outside the barn is fine. She tells Alistair and Matthew who arrives what happened. Later she sees the scars on Matthew’s back, but he misunderstands her reaction as he assumes his war injuries horrify her. Instead she thinks he is beautiful. The team learns Maddy arrived battered and mute at the Clare farm when she was twelve. Sarah asks Maddy about her suicide note in which she said “I will kill them.” Later Sarah and Matthew have sex, but afterward he apologizes, which hurts her. The trio enters the barn. Matthew sees Maddy; Sarah senses Maddy is near; and Alistair hears music. Maddy tells Sarah that three men violated her as a little girl and she wants revenge. She orders Sarah to find them and her gravesite. Mrs. Clare smashes an oil lamp causing a fire. Matthew rescues Alistair who thinks he is back in combat. Sarah and Matthew investigate when the first unexplained (except by an avenging ghost) murder occurs.
This is an entertaining Post WWI British haunted barn thriller in which the researchers are fully developed, the ghost seems real, and the townsfolk enhance the enjoyable story line. Although the prime romantic subplot between the two research assistants feels forced and unnecessary, fans will appreciate Simone St. James’s well written early twentieth century ghost story. Harriet Klausner
Friday, March 16, 2012
A Clash of Kings and others
A Clash of Kings
George R. R. Martin
Bantam, Mar 6 2012, $8.99
ISBN: 9780345535429
The comet streaks across the sky of the fractured Seven Kingdoms. A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. The six prime rivals for the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms interpret the bloody fiery trail to fit their needs.
Once the heir apparent, Stannis believes the comet means the time to attack Westros with sorcery and an army is now. In King's Landing, teenage King Joffery proves a poor abusive monatch leaving his uncle Tyrion the King’s Hand to protect their subjects. In the north Tyrion’s father Tywin battles against Stark and her militia while another son Jaime is a prisoner of war. From the South, Renly needs to eliminate his brother Stannis before he begins his assault on King's Landing. Finally in the distant east, resolute Daenerys leads her Khalhaser dragon horde towards Westros. The various hostilities by rulers against each other turn the Seven Kingdoms into a chaotic lawless land
The second A Game of Thrones fantasy (see A Song of Ice and Fire) is a superb entry in which political and military alliances mean little as ambition to sit on the Iron Throne remains everything for most of the competitors. The innocent are collateral damage as their plight from marauding soldiers and vicious outlaws are meaningless to most of the pretenders. Loaded with action while rotating effortlessly perspectives, the aptly titled A Clash of Kings is a powerful tale. Harriet Klausner
Soul Bound
Mari Mancusi
Berkley, Mar 6 2012, $9.99
ISBN: 9780425245477
Identical twins Sunny and Rayne McDonald have totally opposite desires as one is all sun and the other is all rain. Rayne desperately wants to become a vampire; while Sunny wants to live a normal life. Due to Magnus the vampire biting Sunny instead of Rayne, the “wrong’ twin is changed. Drinking from the Holy Grail returns Sunny to normal. Sunny and Magnus are on the run because they disobeyed a direct order from Pyrus, who plots to control the Vampire Consortium and then the world.
Pyrus hires Slayer Inc. to bring him the treasonous duet. Slayer Inc. assigns Rayne and her boyfriend Jareth to capture Sunny and Magnus to deliver them to the Vampire Consortium. Rayne is distraught as she would do just anything for her sister, but failure to complete the mission means the deaths of all the Blood Coven vampires as well as herself and her boyfriend. Complicating matters for Rayne is when she learns another slayer with a grudge is on the hunt too. Her life turns even more hellish when a god orders her to choose between Sunny and Jareth.
The latest A Blood Coven Vampire urban fantasy (see Blood Ties) continues the bloody darker spin that started when the twins attended Night School in Switzerland. Rayne tells the tale as she faces increasingly impossible dilemmas that shake her inner soul. Her growing maturity (she has come a long way since Boys That Bite and Stake That) shines through the darkness as she struggles with choosing the lesser of two evils. This is a character driven, fast-paced exciting teen urban fantasy. Harriet Klausner
Chrysanthe
Yves Meynard
Tor, Mar 13 2012, $15.99
ISBN: 9780765330260
Her Uncle told Christine when she was little that her Father was gone. Because of her violent tendencies she began seeing Dr. Almand. He persuaded her into believing her Father was abusive. At seventeen, Christine sees a young man hitting his brakes abruptly seemingly upon noticing her. Quentin of Lydia sends her note to meet him at Telzer Park. She knows who the author is and decides to confront him. Quentin says he searched for her for nine years as the lost Princess and heir to the throne of Chrysanthe. He explains she was kidnapped.
Quentin escorts Christine home. However, she loathes her sire King Edisthen, as she has the thoughts planted in her brain by Almand of her father sexually abusing and abandoning her. Christine also has an enemy lurking nearby; as Evered, who abducted her years ago, plots to take the throne that he believes is rightfully his. He refuses to accept the Law that deposed his father from the throne.
This is a complicated fantasy that philosophically questions what reality is. The fascinating storyline leisurely (and too poetical with so much darkness) peels away the false from the truth. Though none of the cast comes across fully developed as even the protagonist is limited to her flawed “memories”, fans who appreciate a metaphysical psychological thriller will ponder whether the truth is Christine’s implanted recollection since she believes them as being her own. Harriet Klausner
George R. R. Martin
Bantam, Mar 6 2012, $8.99
ISBN: 9780345535429
The comet streaks across the sky of the fractured Seven Kingdoms. A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. The six prime rivals for the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms interpret the bloody fiery trail to fit their needs.
Once the heir apparent, Stannis believes the comet means the time to attack Westros with sorcery and an army is now. In King's Landing, teenage King Joffery proves a poor abusive monatch leaving his uncle Tyrion the King’s Hand to protect their subjects. In the north Tyrion’s father Tywin battles against Stark and her militia while another son Jaime is a prisoner of war. From the South, Renly needs to eliminate his brother Stannis before he begins his assault on King's Landing. Finally in the distant east, resolute Daenerys leads her Khalhaser dragon horde towards Westros. The various hostilities by rulers against each other turn the Seven Kingdoms into a chaotic lawless land
The second A Game of Thrones fantasy (see A Song of Ice and Fire) is a superb entry in which political and military alliances mean little as ambition to sit on the Iron Throne remains everything for most of the competitors. The innocent are collateral damage as their plight from marauding soldiers and vicious outlaws are meaningless to most of the pretenders. Loaded with action while rotating effortlessly perspectives, the aptly titled A Clash of Kings is a powerful tale. Harriet Klausner
Soul Bound
Mari Mancusi
Berkley, Mar 6 2012, $9.99
ISBN: 9780425245477
Identical twins Sunny and Rayne McDonald have totally opposite desires as one is all sun and the other is all rain. Rayne desperately wants to become a vampire; while Sunny wants to live a normal life. Due to Magnus the vampire biting Sunny instead of Rayne, the “wrong’ twin is changed. Drinking from the Holy Grail returns Sunny to normal. Sunny and Magnus are on the run because they disobeyed a direct order from Pyrus, who plots to control the Vampire Consortium and then the world.
Pyrus hires Slayer Inc. to bring him the treasonous duet. Slayer Inc. assigns Rayne and her boyfriend Jareth to capture Sunny and Magnus to deliver them to the Vampire Consortium. Rayne is distraught as she would do just anything for her sister, but failure to complete the mission means the deaths of all the Blood Coven vampires as well as herself and her boyfriend. Complicating matters for Rayne is when she learns another slayer with a grudge is on the hunt too. Her life turns even more hellish when a god orders her to choose between Sunny and Jareth.
The latest A Blood Coven Vampire urban fantasy (see Blood Ties) continues the bloody darker spin that started when the twins attended Night School in Switzerland. Rayne tells the tale as she faces increasingly impossible dilemmas that shake her inner soul. Her growing maturity (she has come a long way since Boys That Bite and Stake That) shines through the darkness as she struggles with choosing the lesser of two evils. This is a character driven, fast-paced exciting teen urban fantasy. Harriet Klausner
Chrysanthe
Yves Meynard
Tor, Mar 13 2012, $15.99
ISBN: 9780765330260
Her Uncle told Christine when she was little that her Father was gone. Because of her violent tendencies she began seeing Dr. Almand. He persuaded her into believing her Father was abusive. At seventeen, Christine sees a young man hitting his brakes abruptly seemingly upon noticing her. Quentin of Lydia sends her note to meet him at Telzer Park. She knows who the author is and decides to confront him. Quentin says he searched for her for nine years as the lost Princess and heir to the throne of Chrysanthe. He explains she was kidnapped.
Quentin escorts Christine home. However, she loathes her sire King Edisthen, as she has the thoughts planted in her brain by Almand of her father sexually abusing and abandoning her. Christine also has an enemy lurking nearby; as Evered, who abducted her years ago, plots to take the throne that he believes is rightfully his. He refuses to accept the Law that deposed his father from the throne.
This is a complicated fantasy that philosophically questions what reality is. The fascinating storyline leisurely (and too poetical with so much darkness) peels away the false from the truth. Though none of the cast comes across fully developed as even the protagonist is limited to her flawed “memories”, fans who appreciate a metaphysical psychological thriller will ponder whether the truth is Christine’s implanted recollection since she believes them as being her own. Harriet Klausner
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Urban and Paranormal Fantasies
Shaded Vision
Yasmine Galenorn
Jove, Feb 7 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780515150353
On Valentine’s Day, Iris the Finnish house sprite and Bruce the leprechaun prepare to marry as their friends look forward to rejoicing in their happiness. Even Camille D’Artigo is happy for her pal Iris though she still suffers from PTSD after one of her fathers-in-law Hyto the dragon abducted and sexually assaulted his prisoner in order to break her will (see Courting Darkness).
A bomb explodes at the Super Community Center. Camille’s half-sister werecat/werepanther Delilah the Death Maiden (see Harvest Hunting for her last lead) learns Newkirk and the Koyomi coyote shifters have teamed up with sorcerers; while Shadow Wing dispatches one of his most ferocious ruthless leaders. With her two half-sisters (see Camille the witch in Bone Magic for her last lead) family, friends and lovers; Delilah leads the counterattack as danger mounts to a critical state.
The Sisters of the Moon urban fantasy rotates lead between the three D’Artigo sisters with the latest focused predominantly on Delilah. The Otherworld entry is superb in what is one of the great on-going sub-genre sagas. As always the key is how deftly Yasmine Galenorn keeps the personalities of the lead trio and their mates diverse and fascinating. Shaded Vision is a terrific thriller as even in the darkest night a joyful wedding brings a brilliant shiny light. Harriet Klausner
Midnight Enchantment
Anya Bast
Berkley, Feb 7 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780425245033
In Piefferburg, dedicated Elizabeth Cely Saintjohn the asrai water fae takes her duty to her liege The Summer Queen seriously; ergo she maintains the barrier that contains the fae. Mage Niall Quinn the thief thinks Elizabeth is cruel for not allowing the fae freedom.
Sent by the Shadow Queen of the Black Tower to regain two stolen pieces of the bosca fadbh that the Summer Queen gave to Elizabeth, Niall hunts her, but so far she has frustrated him. He loathes how she toys with him rather than his usual playing with females. Elizabeth finds her persistent pursuer attractive while Niall knows he wants her like no other woman before. Both have missions as they work for rival queens.
The latest Dark Magick romantic urban fantasy (see Wicked Enchantment, Dark Enchantment and Cruel Enchantment) is an entertaining thriller that looks deeply at values, which can be negative as well as positive. The relationship between the protagonists is fun to follow as the duet shares many of the same values. Although the bosca fadbh dominates the storyline, which keep readers somewhat at a distance from the lead rivals, sub-genre fans will appreciate this exciting blast from Anya Bast. Harriet Klausner
Something About Witches
Joey W. Hill
Berkley, Feb 7 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780425246139
Three years ago witch trainer Ruby Night Divine gave up on Witches-R-Us as she knows how spells can go wrong while she fears the darkness growing inside her like a cancer though she uses a deception spell to conceal it. Instead she left behind Derek Stormwind the Guardian, her witch practice and vanished. Ruby opened up the Arcane Shot gun store.
When she sees the bane of her heart Derek arrive at her shop, she sends Theo the elderly mastiff to “kill” him. Theo obeys as he attacks Derek with his tongue licking the sorcerer’s face. Derek explains he needs her help to train a coven in their fight against a demon and his horde. She agrees to instruct the witches, but also believes Derek has a secret agenda to get back into her bed. He does have another person mission; to learn why she left without a word.
The first Arcane Shot romantic urban fantasy is an engaging second chance at love tale starring a sorcerer who wants his woman back and a witch who wants him too but knows her soul is damned and so will be his if she allowed him back in her life. The storyline is filled with action, but it is the super charged relationship that enchants readers as once again Joey W. Hill casts a spell on her audience. Harriet Klausner
Lair of the Lion
Christine Feehan
Avon, Jan 31 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780062021359
The goal seems simple enough: rescuing her brother. Finding anyone capable of aiding her in his enormous duchy like pelazzo in the Alps is so formidable that everyone tells Isabella Vernaducci to go home. She has heard tales about the Don that strike fear in the hearts of the bravest souls, yet aristocratic Isabella obstinately continues her quest to find the enigmatic, more myth than man, Nicolai DeMarco.
When Isabella locates Nicolai (or perhaps it is more the other way around), she does not see the Don who allegedly controls the beasts to do his dirty work. Instead she sees a man haunted by a curse that the intrepid Isabella is determined to free Nicolai from it. When Nicolai offers to save her sibling on the condition she marry him, Isabella readily agrees as she knows she needs no stipulation to wed the Don. Still as she risks her life to save her tortured beloved, she wonders if she will ever gain his love even if she eliminates the beast that holds his soul.
More than just Christine Feehan fans will enjoy this reprint of a delightful paranormal romance as the rarely used early nineteenth century Alps setting (almost Gothic in nature), the intrepid heroine, and the tortured male protagonist come together in exciting fashion. Though readers will admire and question Isabella's bravery at the same time, the audience will relish her efforts to emancipate the two men she cherishes from their respective "incarcerations". Lair of the Lion is a wonderful novel that readers will appreciate if they set aside the time to luxuriate in a one sitting read. Harriet Klausner
Yasmine Galenorn
Jove, Feb 7 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780515150353
On Valentine’s Day, Iris the Finnish house sprite and Bruce the leprechaun prepare to marry as their friends look forward to rejoicing in their happiness. Even Camille D’Artigo is happy for her pal Iris though she still suffers from PTSD after one of her fathers-in-law Hyto the dragon abducted and sexually assaulted his prisoner in order to break her will (see Courting Darkness).
A bomb explodes at the Super Community Center. Camille’s half-sister werecat/werepanther Delilah the Death Maiden (see Harvest Hunting for her last lead) learns Newkirk and the Koyomi coyote shifters have teamed up with sorcerers; while Shadow Wing dispatches one of his most ferocious ruthless leaders. With her two half-sisters (see Camille the witch in Bone Magic for her last lead) family, friends and lovers; Delilah leads the counterattack as danger mounts to a critical state.
The Sisters of the Moon urban fantasy rotates lead between the three D’Artigo sisters with the latest focused predominantly on Delilah. The Otherworld entry is superb in what is one of the great on-going sub-genre sagas. As always the key is how deftly Yasmine Galenorn keeps the personalities of the lead trio and their mates diverse and fascinating. Shaded Vision is a terrific thriller as even in the darkest night a joyful wedding brings a brilliant shiny light. Harriet Klausner
Midnight Enchantment
Anya Bast
Berkley, Feb 7 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780425245033
In Piefferburg, dedicated Elizabeth Cely Saintjohn the asrai water fae takes her duty to her liege The Summer Queen seriously; ergo she maintains the barrier that contains the fae. Mage Niall Quinn the thief thinks Elizabeth is cruel for not allowing the fae freedom.
Sent by the Shadow Queen of the Black Tower to regain two stolen pieces of the bosca fadbh that the Summer Queen gave to Elizabeth, Niall hunts her, but so far she has frustrated him. He loathes how she toys with him rather than his usual playing with females. Elizabeth finds her persistent pursuer attractive while Niall knows he wants her like no other woman before. Both have missions as they work for rival queens.
The latest Dark Magick romantic urban fantasy (see Wicked Enchantment, Dark Enchantment and Cruel Enchantment) is an entertaining thriller that looks deeply at values, which can be negative as well as positive. The relationship between the protagonists is fun to follow as the duet shares many of the same values. Although the bosca fadbh dominates the storyline, which keep readers somewhat at a distance from the lead rivals, sub-genre fans will appreciate this exciting blast from Anya Bast. Harriet Klausner
Something About Witches
Joey W. Hill
Berkley, Feb 7 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780425246139
Three years ago witch trainer Ruby Night Divine gave up on Witches-R-Us as she knows how spells can go wrong while she fears the darkness growing inside her like a cancer though she uses a deception spell to conceal it. Instead she left behind Derek Stormwind the Guardian, her witch practice and vanished. Ruby opened up the Arcane Shot gun store.
When she sees the bane of her heart Derek arrive at her shop, she sends Theo the elderly mastiff to “kill” him. Theo obeys as he attacks Derek with his tongue licking the sorcerer’s face. Derek explains he needs her help to train a coven in their fight against a demon and his horde. She agrees to instruct the witches, but also believes Derek has a secret agenda to get back into her bed. He does have another person mission; to learn why she left without a word.
The first Arcane Shot romantic urban fantasy is an engaging second chance at love tale starring a sorcerer who wants his woman back and a witch who wants him too but knows her soul is damned and so will be his if she allowed him back in her life. The storyline is filled with action, but it is the super charged relationship that enchants readers as once again Joey W. Hill casts a spell on her audience. Harriet Klausner
Lair of the Lion
Christine Feehan
Avon, Jan 31 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780062021359
The goal seems simple enough: rescuing her brother. Finding anyone capable of aiding her in his enormous duchy like pelazzo in the Alps is so formidable that everyone tells Isabella Vernaducci to go home. She has heard tales about the Don that strike fear in the hearts of the bravest souls, yet aristocratic Isabella obstinately continues her quest to find the enigmatic, more myth than man, Nicolai DeMarco.
When Isabella locates Nicolai (or perhaps it is more the other way around), she does not see the Don who allegedly controls the beasts to do his dirty work. Instead she sees a man haunted by a curse that the intrepid Isabella is determined to free Nicolai from it. When Nicolai offers to save her sibling on the condition she marry him, Isabella readily agrees as she knows she needs no stipulation to wed the Don. Still as she risks her life to save her tortured beloved, she wonders if she will ever gain his love even if she eliminates the beast that holds his soul.
More than just Christine Feehan fans will enjoy this reprint of a delightful paranormal romance as the rarely used early nineteenth century Alps setting (almost Gothic in nature), the intrepid heroine, and the tortured male protagonist come together in exciting fashion. Though readers will admire and question Isabella's bravery at the same time, the audience will relish her efforts to emancipate the two men she cherishes from their respective "incarcerations". Lair of the Lion is a wonderful novel that readers will appreciate if they set aside the time to luxuriate in a one sitting read. Harriet Klausner
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Fantasy Titles
The Drowning Girl
CaitlÃn R. Kiernan
Roc, Mar 6 2012, $16.00
ISBN: 9780451464163
India “Imp” Morgan Phelps would have been shocked if the shrink diagnosed her as an NT; instead labeling her as a schizophrenic which makes sense to her. Imp knows lunacy is like apple pie to her family as far back as she knows. Still meds and the shrink help her pretend she lives a normal life.
Imp is shocked when she sees the model in the 1898 The Drowning Girl painting. Meeting Eva Canning also brings about dreams and memories that cannot be true, but Imp wonders about their source as she fears her mental illness has worsened since meeting Eva. Deciding to learn who Eva is, Imp is further stunned when the woman vanishes. As reality becomes increasingly unstable, the voice amidst the chaos of her brain triggers an obsessive compulsive need to know what truly happened; ergo Imp ponders whether Eva is a ghost warning her but of what or a priestess whose flock died in 1991 in a mass drowning.
This excellent thriller grips the audience with a need to know whether the protagonist is mentally insane or dealing with regressed memories including perhaps generational. Impossible to put aside, The Drowning Girl is a fabulous psychological suspense or fantasy; CaitlÃn R. Kiernan keeps us guessing until the end. Harriet Klausner
By a Thread
Jennifer Estep
Pocket, Feb 28 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9781451651768
In Ashland, Pork Pit owner Gin “Spider” Blanco completed the magical hit she has trained for when she assassinated Mab Monroe, the Fire elemental who murdered her family when she was a teen (see Spider’s Revenge). With many of the punks seeking instant infamy by killing Spider, and with Gin wanting to spend quality with her long-lost baby sister Ashland police detective Bria Coolidge, she leaves on a vacation from her occupation.
The siblings travel to Blue Marsh beach resort where Bria introduces Gin to her best friend Callie Reyes of the Sea Breeze. Small time felon Pete Proctor and his giant partner Trent warn Callie to sell her establishment to their employer Randall Dekes the vampire before hurricane season causes damage. Pete also harasses Bria before breaking a mirror. When he gloats over hurting Bria before, Spider knocks out Trent and stabs Pete’s hand to the floor before knocking him out. With a sigh Gin knows the vacation is over. Gin’s former lover Blue Marsh police detective Donovan Caine who is also Bria’s fiancé arrives at the Sea Breeze. However, the power hungry vamp covets a new acquisition, Spider’s elemental ice and Stone magic.
The enjoyable sixth Elemental Assassin urban fantasy is the first in the post Mabs era and fans of the series will appreciate the still kick butt heroine flashing her knives though her opponent is much more clever and a more dangerous adversary than her previous opponent was. Action-packed from the moment the vacation ends, Jennifer Estep avoids the sub-genre stereotyping of the heroine and the villain By A Thread based on who has the sharper bite. Harriet Klausner
Oracle’s Moon
Thea Harrison
Berkley, Mar 6 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780425246597
Twenty year old college student Grace Andreas has no time to grieve the death of her sister and brother-in-law. With Petra’s demise comes overwhelming responsibility as guardian to her four-year old niece Chloe and nine-month-old nephew Max. if that is not enough, she inherits her sibling’s humongous debt. Finally there is Power of the Oracle of Louisville, which goes from the late Petra to the swamped Grace.
A dispute on her property leads Khalil the demonkind Djinn Prince of House Marid to enter the lives of Grace and her wards. Over her objection, he joins the grieving household. His shapeshifting amuses and distracts the children while his body distracts his hostess. As he calms down the irate Elder Races who loathe Grace’s sassy scorn while she fumbles at deploying her new power, the demonkind and the humankind fall in love.
The latest Elder Races paranormal is a delightful romantic urban fantasy starring an in shock heroine and her demon protector. The storyline is mindful of the first season of The Greatest American Hero as the protagonist struggles with using her new talent, raising her young relatives and with her feelings towards the demonkind. However, the key to this excellent entry and the fabulous predecessors (see Dragon Bound, Storm’s Heart and Serpent’s Kiss) is the Harrison mythos of humans living alongside seven otherworldly species comes across as real. Harriet Klausner
Dream Shadows
Ingrid Weaver
Berkley, Feb 7 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780425246122
For fifteen weeks millionaire Elizabeth Graye has lied in a coma. Mrs. Harrison directed caretakers to play Mozart and Beethoven as a stimulus. However, Norma also plays Country music for her comatose patient and reads extracts from her romance novels.
Thus Norma plays the sad sound of musician Rick Denning, which reaches through the fog of Elizabeth’s rewiring brain. They begin meeting in different time periods when he is asleep. When his Elizabeth appears in his daydreams, Rick obsessively decides to search for the woman he never met in person but has fallen in love with her. As he encourages her to come to him, however, someone else has other plans for the rich “bi*ch” and no country singer is going to stand in the way.
Dream Shadows is a fascinating romantic suspense with a paranormal element serving as a matchmaker. Because of the diverse eras, the storyline feels somewhat repetitive in an entertaining Ground Hog Day way. Mindful of Jack Finney’s classic Time And Again, fans will enjoy love on a different plane while the body lies comatose and a killer waits to finish the job. Harriet Klausner
CaitlÃn R. Kiernan
Roc, Mar 6 2012, $16.00
ISBN: 9780451464163
India “Imp” Morgan Phelps would have been shocked if the shrink diagnosed her as an NT; instead labeling her as a schizophrenic which makes sense to her. Imp knows lunacy is like apple pie to her family as far back as she knows. Still meds and the shrink help her pretend she lives a normal life.
Imp is shocked when she sees the model in the 1898 The Drowning Girl painting. Meeting Eva Canning also brings about dreams and memories that cannot be true, but Imp wonders about their source as she fears her mental illness has worsened since meeting Eva. Deciding to learn who Eva is, Imp is further stunned when the woman vanishes. As reality becomes increasingly unstable, the voice amidst the chaos of her brain triggers an obsessive compulsive need to know what truly happened; ergo Imp ponders whether Eva is a ghost warning her but of what or a priestess whose flock died in 1991 in a mass drowning.
This excellent thriller grips the audience with a need to know whether the protagonist is mentally insane or dealing with regressed memories including perhaps generational. Impossible to put aside, The Drowning Girl is a fabulous psychological suspense or fantasy; CaitlÃn R. Kiernan keeps us guessing until the end. Harriet Klausner
By a Thread
Jennifer Estep
Pocket, Feb 28 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9781451651768
In Ashland, Pork Pit owner Gin “Spider” Blanco completed the magical hit she has trained for when she assassinated Mab Monroe, the Fire elemental who murdered her family when she was a teen (see Spider’s Revenge). With many of the punks seeking instant infamy by killing Spider, and with Gin wanting to spend quality with her long-lost baby sister Ashland police detective Bria Coolidge, she leaves on a vacation from her occupation.
The siblings travel to Blue Marsh beach resort where Bria introduces Gin to her best friend Callie Reyes of the Sea Breeze. Small time felon Pete Proctor and his giant partner Trent warn Callie to sell her establishment to their employer Randall Dekes the vampire before hurricane season causes damage. Pete also harasses Bria before breaking a mirror. When he gloats over hurting Bria before, Spider knocks out Trent and stabs Pete’s hand to the floor before knocking him out. With a sigh Gin knows the vacation is over. Gin’s former lover Blue Marsh police detective Donovan Caine who is also Bria’s fiancé arrives at the Sea Breeze. However, the power hungry vamp covets a new acquisition, Spider’s elemental ice and Stone magic.
The enjoyable sixth Elemental Assassin urban fantasy is the first in the post Mabs era and fans of the series will appreciate the still kick butt heroine flashing her knives though her opponent is much more clever and a more dangerous adversary than her previous opponent was. Action-packed from the moment the vacation ends, Jennifer Estep avoids the sub-genre stereotyping of the heroine and the villain By A Thread based on who has the sharper bite. Harriet Klausner
Oracle’s Moon
Thea Harrison
Berkley, Mar 6 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780425246597
Twenty year old college student Grace Andreas has no time to grieve the death of her sister and brother-in-law. With Petra’s demise comes overwhelming responsibility as guardian to her four-year old niece Chloe and nine-month-old nephew Max. if that is not enough, she inherits her sibling’s humongous debt. Finally there is Power of the Oracle of Louisville, which goes from the late Petra to the swamped Grace.
A dispute on her property leads Khalil the demonkind Djinn Prince of House Marid to enter the lives of Grace and her wards. Over her objection, he joins the grieving household. His shapeshifting amuses and distracts the children while his body distracts his hostess. As he calms down the irate Elder Races who loathe Grace’s sassy scorn while she fumbles at deploying her new power, the demonkind and the humankind fall in love.
The latest Elder Races paranormal is a delightful romantic urban fantasy starring an in shock heroine and her demon protector. The storyline is mindful of the first season of The Greatest American Hero as the protagonist struggles with using her new talent, raising her young relatives and with her feelings towards the demonkind. However, the key to this excellent entry and the fabulous predecessors (see Dragon Bound, Storm’s Heart and Serpent’s Kiss) is the Harrison mythos of humans living alongside seven otherworldly species comes across as real. Harriet Klausner
Dream Shadows
Ingrid Weaver
Berkley, Feb 7 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9780425246122
For fifteen weeks millionaire Elizabeth Graye has lied in a coma. Mrs. Harrison directed caretakers to play Mozart and Beethoven as a stimulus. However, Norma also plays Country music for her comatose patient and reads extracts from her romance novels.
Thus Norma plays the sad sound of musician Rick Denning, which reaches through the fog of Elizabeth’s rewiring brain. They begin meeting in different time periods when he is asleep. When his Elizabeth appears in his daydreams, Rick obsessively decides to search for the woman he never met in person but has fallen in love with her. As he encourages her to come to him, however, someone else has other plans for the rich “bi*ch” and no country singer is going to stand in the way.
Dream Shadows is a fascinating romantic suspense with a paranormal element serving as a matchmaker. Because of the diverse eras, the storyline feels somewhat repetitive in an entertaining Ground Hog Day way. Mindful of Jack Finney’s classic Time And Again, fans will enjoy love on a different plane while the body lies comatose and a killer waits to finish the job. Harriet Klausner
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