Broken

Jun 292011
 

Sara Linton returns home to spend Thanksgiving with her family.  What should have been a peaceful time is interrupted when the body of a student is discovered in the lake.  But was it suicide… or murder?  Will Trent from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is sent in to investigate and finds more than he bargained for with Lena Michaels, the local Police department and what appears to be a massive cover up of mistakes.

The Grant County series comes to a thrilling end!

As sad as I am to see the series come to an end, it was fitting and very well done.  A natural closure that was organic and left on a sombre but hopeful note.

I fell in love with the characters right from their dramatic entrance in Blindsighted, the first book in the series.  With Broken at the other end of it and with so much having happened over the course of ten books, this seems like the perfect place to leave it. I think Karin Slaughter hit it just right.

I can’t think of a better testament to a writer that a character can still be missed, three books on.  The character leaves a gap, not only because of the others that were left, but also because they were so well crafted, they became real to your mind.  It’s more poignant and true to life that the loss is still felt and the anger and sorrow almost tangible.

Broken is so much more than a crime novel.  It’s also a story about people who have been through hell and back and are still standing, even if at a slightly wonky angle.  It was wonderful to see both Sara and Lena again, but equally painful to see they are both still hurting.  Sara’s attitude towards Lena was totally understandable even if it felt wrong and Lena’s attitude towards herself was no surprise.  I did love how much she grew through this final book, to finally own up to herself.

Will Trent from the Atlanta GBI was a great addition to the cast and while it’s not the first time he and Sara have crossed paths, it was the first time for him in Grant County.  It amused me that his partner Faith Mitchell helped out from the end of the phone while she counted down the hours until she had a caesarian.  Will being so uncomfortable every time she talked about the procedure or gave too much information about her pregnancy was the much needed lighter counterpoint to the grimness of the crime.

The case itself was quite convoluted with a few things not adding up until later in the book, when there were a series of dawning realisations.  Again a testament to the way Slaughter writes.  She isn’t afraid to be gritty, realistic and shocking and in my opinion, that is what makes her so good.

The pace was good, the majority of the book taking place in only three days.  My only minor complaint is that it felt slightly unbalanced, as if the book focused more on the characters than the crime.  Having said that, I still feel as if it was the perfect way to end this series and lay the groundwork for the next.

Not reading this book, and in fact the entire series, would be a crime!

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

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Cover Reveal! – Bloodlines

Jun 282011
 

Having enjoyed Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy series so much, I can’t wait for the new book that will be the start of a new set. Due to be released in August, I’m excited to be able to reveal the cover of the UK edition, and I think it’s gorgeous!

Love and Loyalty run deeper than blood…

Sydney protects vampire secrets – and human lives.  As an Alchemist, she is part of a secret group who dabbles in magic and serves to bridge the world of humans and vampires.

But when Sydney is torn from her bed in the middle of the night, she fears she’s still being punished for her complicated alliance with dhampir Rose Hathaway.  What unfolds is far worse.  Jill Dragomir – the sister of the Moroi Queen Lissa Dragomir – is in mortal danger, and goes into hiding.  Now Sydney must act as Jill’s protector.

The last thing Sydney wants is to be accused of sympathising with vampires.  And now she has to live with one…

I have to mention since I am excited about this too – along with Bloodlines in August, the Vampire Academy Graphic Novel, Illustrated by Emma Vieceli and adapted by Leigh Dragoon will be published!

 

Halting State

Jun 122011
 

Halting State is a book that ticks all my “I’m interested” boxes.  Its has lots of technology, virtual reality, augmented reality, on-line gaming, intrigue, mystery, crime, tabletop roleplaying references and a protagonist who’s full of self doubt.  So I keep having to ask myself why I found it so hard to finish.  The story is set in the near future and augmented reality is an essential part of every day life, the best example in the book is a network used by the Police to drive heads-up displays and overlays on their goggles/glasses.  The result being they always know who they’re talking to, their past history and everything they do is recorded and analysed.  The whole thing is so pervasive that the author tells us people can’t even find their way around big cities any more without their augmented reality map overlays.  Massively Multi-player Online Games are huge business, telephones are insanely powerful and provide all your local computing needs, everything is highly-connected, pervasive computing is the norm, and taxis drive themselves to your destination.

Against this backdrop of near-future technology is the theft of a bunch of digital assets which drags our little band of protagonists into a deadly hunt for what’s really going on.  Mix in some spy-vs-spy style espionage, some politics and a little bit of big business and we have what seems to be an engaging and complex backdrop for what should be an excellent journey.

Sadly, Charles Stross manages make it hard going.  The book is written in the 2nd person, with chapters alternating between the main protagonists.  Sometimes there’s even some overlap, so the end of one chapter from Elaine’s point of view in the second person, is then covered by Jack in the start of the next chapter.  This is particularly frustrating when one chapter ends, “You squeeze his hand tightly”, and the next starts, “You feel her hand in yours” (those aren’t in the book, just my example).  The 2nd person structure might work in some circumstances, but here it just adds to the overall confusion.  The rest of that confusion is delivered via the plot which is straggly and badly connected, and the technical jargon.  In an interview, Stross suggests that when he wrote this in 2008, only one of the technologies mentioned in the book wasn’t actually commercially available.  That may be true, but the sheer amount of jargon and technology mentioned is overwhelming.

I kept reading because I liked Jack (the burned out games developer), and Elaine (a forensic accountant), I even liked Sue (a Scottish policewoman). However, thanks to the 2nd person delivery and the rest of the structure, the characters don’t grow and remain pretty shallow.  Sure, they have their moments, and there are some brief flashes of what they could have been, but every time I felt I was getting to know them the 2nd person style threw me back to the real world.

The pace is okay, there’s humour, some amusing revelations and some excellent examples of what technology might turn into – but it’s all wrapped in such a chaotic and confusing plot that it’s too well hidden to fully enjoy.  I was not at all surprised when the end turned out to be nothing that we expected and it had to be explained de-briefing style in the last chapter.

The actual conclusion was a real let down after the build up and it felt like Stross just didn’t know where to take the whole thing in the end.

Having said all of that, I read the whole thing, and I laughed out loud a few times.  I enjoyed the technology when I could get past the jargon and I think Stross has provided an interesting insight into how things could turn out.  This book is absolutely not average – but I’m going to give it a squarely average score.  It could have been so much better and it’s saved only by the touches of brilliance amidst the chaos.

Rating: ★★½☆☆ 

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Robopocalypse

Jun 092011
 

The story might sound familiar; sometime in the near future, a super-intelligent AI has co-opted all the machines in the world to wage war against humanity.  Humanity, of course, has lined itself up for this disaster by allowing more and more of the machines it takes for granted to be controlled by their own inbuilt computers.  It should be no surprise that eventually the machines stand up and rebel, and that premise has driven any number of books and movies in the past.  But dig just the tiniest bit deeper and you’ll find a far more complex story going on in Robopocalypse.

Along with the more subtle presentation of a familiar theme, this book presents the story in an unusual style.  It is presented as a number of reports or incidents viewed retrospectively by a third person, the narrator.  So while all books are a fusion of style and content, in this book the style is more than just a container for the words, it’s an actual part of the story.  Robopocalypse relies on this unusual structure to build a cohesive and moving story from a number of engaging vignettes.

Cormac Wallace narrates the story for us after a brief introduction, which actually starts just after the war is over.  In fact the first sentence in the book starts, “Twenty minutes after the war ends ….” so there are no spoilers in revealing this.  Cormac takes us back to before the war starts, through reports of a small groups of individuals who turn out to have pivotal roles in the upcoming struggle.  They include a US congresswoman, a lonely inventor, an American soldier and a London based hacker to name a few.  Each shows up over and over in different chapters focussed on them, and we eventually witness the rise of the artificial intelligence (Archos), and the terrible war which follows.

The vignettes are all excellently written and Wilson manages to present well rounded and engaging characters very quickly.  Which is good news, because this format could so easily have failed if the reader couldn’t empathise with or join the characters on their journeys.  It is the emotional engagement that drives the overall story arc, we mostly already know the end, so the only reason to read is to see how these people get there.

The individual chapters each cover very short periods of time, but together they take us from just before the war, to the moment where Archos takes control, through the actual fighting and right up to the end over three years later.  Each chapter has it’s own pace, some are frantic and filled with panic while others are more relaxed.  While we don’t get to see individual characters often or for very much time, the long time scale involved in the main story arc gives Wilson a chance to show us those characters have changed even if we don’t watch that process in action.

I did sometimes feel that pieces of the story were missing, or that I would have liked to have seen more of some of the characters, but that’s the nature of the format Wilson has chosen.  Perhaps less is more, and that desire to find out kept me turning the pages.  Either way the end result is an excellent, entertaining and emotional look at what might be if the Robots ever do rebel.  If my only complaint about a book is that it’s too short, then I think it’s a pretty good sign.  I thoroughly enjoyed Robopocalypse, and hope you do as well.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

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Lover Unleashed

Jun 082011
 

With Payne paralysed in a freak accident sparring with Wrath, only the best surgeon can give her the chance to walk again.  Dr Manuel ‘Manny’ Manello, is the best in his field and agrees to give Payne that chance.   Discovering a whole hidden world he never knew about he finds a bond he certainly wasn’t looking for, and an old friend he never thought he’d see again.

This book is a little odd in that it doesn’t just focus on Payne and Manny.  Vishous and Jane have their story continued as well which was good, as it was obvious that there were still issues left unresolved in previous books.  It could have ruined the story and been better being released as two books but there is such a close link between Vishous and Payne and the fact they are twins that it worked, and worked well.

I am always amazed at the quality of Ward’s writing, the emotional depths to which she goes for the much loved brotherhood, and Lover Unleashed is no different.  One facet that was different from previous books is that the Lessening Society were more of a footnote than a cause and we are introduced to another set of warriors that have their own agenda.  It was really interesting and opens up a whole new world of possibilities.

I didn’t expect to like Payne as much as I did.  When we first got to know her in Lover Mine, I found her a bit annoying, but here she really comes alive as a character in her own right.  She is a complex mix of the grace and sweetness of the Chosen but with the ability to fight with the best of the Brotherhood.  As the twin of Vishous but with a completely different and sheltered upbringing, she is nothing like him yet has a bond that is purely him.  I had been waiting for the story with Dr ‘Manny’ Manuel Manello since Lover Unbound and Vishous had the word ‘brother’ sound in his head.  I knew there would be something big for him and it was great to see that come to life.  He is very much like Butch, in attitude and personality but with the skills and abilities of  a top class surgeon.  Adding another human to the mix could have caused a lot of problems and weakened the group as a set, but I thought Ward worked him in beautifully.  As for the surprise at the end, that was just brilliant!

Vishous and Jane, oh how I love thee both.  The problems they experience in this book were both sad and sweet.  Vishous had never really dealt with his issues, he was just able to bury them when Jane came along.  Having his sister there and then Manny kicked up a lot of memories and the outfall could have been very bad.  It’s a testament to the couple and how well they are written that they affected me emotionally as well.

The hints with Blay and Qhuinn are so tantalising and Qhuinn’s realisation was agonising, knowing he still wasn’t going to do anything about it, even with a solution staring him in the face so to speak.  I’m really hoping they will have their own story because I love their characters a lot.

Lover unleashed is definitely a book about the characters and less about fighting, although it couldn’t be about the Brotherhood if there wasn’t at least a little combat.  It is a powerful story, emotionally engaging with some very hot scenes.  And it’s very, very good.

The Black Dagger Brotherhood is a firm favourite and J. R. Ward is simply a genius in the genre.

Rating: ★★★★★ 

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