Magic Bleeds

I've really liked this series of urban fantasy, it's the fourth one I think. The world is set in a future where the earth's slipping into a part of the galaxy where magic begins to work again. There are waves where magic is on, and technology doesn't work, and then it flips off again. This created enough havoc that it's sorta Apocalypse Lite, but makes for an interesting backdrop to the story (you're fighting, then wham, the magic wave hits and your car dies and your ammo doesn't work).

Female character kicks serious ass... sort of a boon time for ass kicking females, and I'm not complaining. Strolling the scifi ailse most covers show ladies toting big swords or guns... or both. What I like about this story is the incredible tension she's got with the male interest. He's so arrogant he'll say things like "You'll beg me to sleep with you and you'll say thank you when I'm done." (flashbacks to college... why didn't I have a sword?!)

Her first person writing is nice, too, and has a kind of mental shorthand and commentary that's spot on and entertaining. So, I categorize it somewhere in the controlled substance area of my reading preference... meaning, I'm checking the date of the next book months in advance, but I'm not smuggling it into restaurants to read before my food comes out.

Sookie still aint Suckin, atta girl!

Didn't disappoint, and in a series this long, plus the show, that's the highest praise I can give it.

Though, the ending was a lot like the end of a rollercoaster where you're still out of breath and there's a big jerking stop and you're like, "Whoa. It's over?"

But, can't complain other than that. Thank God Sookie hasn't gone the Anita route and 'ho-ed it up with everything going bump in the night... sorry, I have LKH issues.

Directive 51

Holy shit!

Excuse my French, but that's what I utter every 3 pages in this new sci fi release. It's a story, told in a "24"-like play by play manner of a group called Daybreak, a mostly online kind of "meme," that launches a huge diabolical plan to take down the "Big System" aka civilization basically.

And my friend Jeff would be proud, the main manner it's done is with Nano technology (story's set 30 years in the future). The nanoswarm eats plastic and corrodes fossil fuels and metal. The interesting thing is that this Daybreak movement includes so many different factions: evangelicals, hippies, neo cons, environmentalists, even what they called "dissatisfied success" - people that made it but it wasn't really what they thought it'd be. But the movement is comprised of so many smaller groups, no one really knows who runs it, if in fact there is anyone running it. The only thing all these people have in common is they think things would be better without the Big System.

But then things go all sideways for everyone.

A vice president's plane is hijacked the very same morning Daybreak is launched (coincident?). One christian guy who was planting plastic eating bio weapons was enraged and had a great line "Only Americans can attack America." -that kind of sums up a lot about what I like about the book.

It's a revolving cast of characters, the main one probably being Heather who's a Washington analyst and former FBI agent. You feel like you're looking right over her shoulder, seeing IM's that pop up on her window while she's in a conference call. You kind of put the intel together yourself as you read along. Pretty cool

And, even though it's Apocalyptic, it hasn't been preachy at all. Even the zealot's arguments are countered by the next one's arguments as the story shifts from player to player. Done in a even handed way, so far.

Only in hardback, don't think an ebook exists yet. So far worth it though, can't put it down.

The Entire and the Rose series keeps getting better...

Scroll down to see review of the first book... I've finished book 2 and on book 3.

A seriously awesome series (and I'm using awesome in the intended sense!).

The characters are so absorbing, even the non human ones. This is a story that thrives in a series, cause there's too much to cram in one book. There's ongoing suspense and it never seems to lag or drift off point. A real achievement, I hope it keeps going.

Sandman Slim... oh, yeah... get some....

Ok... take Harry Potter or, say, a Hogwarts miscreant right out of school.

Then drop his ass in Hell after being betrayed by his "friends," where he'll be tortured and forced to fight horrible monsters and then trained to become a demon assassin since he won't die. Then after 11 years, have him break out of hell after killing his Demon General keeper only to learn his girlfriend had been murdered by the same a-holes who double crossed him, and what do you have?

A seriously pissed of Magician who's deathproof.

Fun!

I really liked the book. At times, I wish he'd kicked more ass, the motivation was there, but it wasn't all mindless violence. There's a puzzle/who-dunnit story going on, too. The angel/demon/chaos interplay was really interesting. I think a nun racked the author's knuckles once too often!

It's a paperback, totally worth a read.

Blood Oath... shamefully great...

Ok... if you can't get past the cover and title, think this: Jason Bourne and Hellboy have a love child.


I seriously am embarrassed I liked this book as much as I did... but I did.

I had the ARC (advance reader copy) and for a laugh, I picked it up over the weekend to see how long it took me to chuck it across the room. I read it in 3 days. It's balls to the wall awesome! Couldn't be more surprised. And I think it's worth the hardback price, too (though that doesn't always effect me... the ONE perk of my day job).

So... yeah, Andrew Johnson caught a vampire and bound it to serve the office of president for the rest of his immortal life. Now, put that in today's "West Wing" type government with all the bureaucracy and it gets more interesting. Then, throw in a rookie who just got saddled as his handler (he'd been caught with the President's daughter) and it's Hellboy-esque, but not in a derivative way. Then add a great villain, who, keep your eyes from rolling, is Frankenstein, yes, folks, it's Vampire vs. Mad German Scientist, but in a completely new way (at least he's not called Frankenstein - that was just the name of the castle).

Oh, and Cade, the vampire, doesn't sparkle... he's shit your pants scary, and he's supposed to be the GOOD guy. He's dropped into situations like Jason Bourne and then boxed away (coffin) for the next emergency. Oddly, the only complaint I have was that in the "love scene" the author drops the "c" word, as in a description of the body, not as dialogue and I was like "Whaaaaaaat." Maybe I've read too many women written sex scenes. Anyhoo...

Fast paced. Hard hitting.... screw "hope," give Obama a vampire :D

Changeless, sequal to Soulless...

These are the beginning of a beautiful relationship...

Soulless is the first book, set in very Victorian England and a spinster who happens to be missing a soul is like the kryptonite to supernaturals - werewolves loose their hair and vampire fangs go dull. A very unique spin on the fantasy world, plus the quaint quirks of society at that time add a lot of humor, too.

The second book Changeless is even more fun, I think, with new characters and a surprise ending that made me bite the book I was so peeved (but mostly in a good way). Have to wait till Sept to see what happens.

I've never read any "Gaslight" type fiction, and these may have set the bar sort of high for that genre. The author's done her homework on dress and custom, too. I also like series with strong feminine roles (that parasol is silver tipped and she'll whack it at any deserving head).

Real Readers

Bookpeople at the Half-Blood Prince midnight sale

At the bookstore, I was labeled a "book snob," but that is simply not true as the following quote explains. I have posited that real readers (as opposed to dilettantes/non-readers) read a wider variety of books both good and bad. Real readers feel compelled to read. Most of my close friends aren't simply compelled, but are compulsive about the pursuit. I have often heard from my non-reading acquaintances that during school or other stressful times in their lives they "don't have time to read." For us Real Readers reading is NOT a option, we are helpless but obey the allure of novel novels.

What distinguishes a Real Reader from a Dilettante? Anyone who reads at least one book a week can grudgingly be called a real reader. Otherwise, you are just a dilettante. I actually read more than that (verging on three books a week), but realize that this sort of dedication is obsessive and antisocial. Though it does make me happy.

"A lot of the people who read a bestselling novel, for example, do not read much other fiction. By contrast, the audience for an obscure novel is largely composed of people who read a lot. That means the least popular books are judged by people who have the highest standards, while the most popular are judged by people who literally do not know any better. An American who read just one book this year was disproportionately likely to have read 'The Lost Symbol', by Dan Brown. He almost certainly liked it." The Economist

I am much more cheerful when I am actively reading than when I am stuck in the morass of my daily existence. What do you think? Do you value the book suggestions of your non-reading brethren and sistren?