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Posted by Grete, on October 30th, 2009  About Karen Chance
Growing up in Orlando Florida, the bestselling novelist has lived in several countries before returning to Florida and settling in DeLand. With books translated into several languages and a nomination for Readers Choice for best Urban Fantasy Novel in 2008 she is a force to be reckoned with. A bit like her characters!
http://www.karenchance.com/
My Comments
I was introduced to these books by a friend and I’m glad I heeded her advice. Karen Chance creates an often dizzying world of vampires, clairvoyants, mages and the ultimate headspin of time travel. Her main character Cassandra Palmer is a gutsy heroine that got dropped in the deep end by becoming the world’s chief clairvoyant with no formal training or preparation. The charm of the books is how she deals with it and interacts with those around her, even those who would see her dead. My favourite secondary characters have to be Pritkin, the mad mage and Mircea, one hot vampire, both who have a vested interest in her and seeing her stay alive. The books are well written, the stories engaging and above all, you care about what happens to the characters. Well worth reading.
Bibliography
Cassandra Palmer
Dorina Basarab
Short stories
Posted by Grete, on April 17th, 2009  Harry Dresden is used to being in over his head where the supernatural community is concerned, even used to it turning up on his doorstep. When a severely wounded Morgan, Warden and Executioner for the White Council (and regular pain in Harry’s ass) turns up at his door asking for help, Harry is of the mind to refuse. Morgan is accused of murder and the penalty for the crime is death, along with anyone who helps him. In spite of overwhelming evidence Harry knows Morgan is innocent and there is something much larger happening. Can he let an innocent man (even if it is Morgan) die for a crime he didn’t commit and can he stop the plot that threatens to bring the entire White Council down? Most sane men would turn Morgan in but hey, this is Harry.
Wow. That’s the first word that sprang to mind when I finished Turn Coat and I even had to sit and reflect for a while. You get answers to some questions that have been running through several books, new questions needing answers and some truly emotional scenes. Harry as usual is in over his head and the highly entertaining part is how he gets out of it, with mind, skin and bone mostly intact. I feel that Harry has become just that bit more mature as well, while the usual supporting cast are there, by and large, he figures things out on his own.
Jim Butcher has such an entertaining writing style that lets you get up close and personal with his characters and this latest and 11th book in the Dresden Files certainly has that, in spades. Many a long running series can suffer with the reuse of plot, phrases and same old descriptions of characters but I can honestly say there is nothing like that here. The only downside I can think of is that it will be another year til the next one is released.
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Posted by Grete, on February 24th, 2009  About Kelley Armstrong
Kelley Armstrong lives with her husband and three children in Ontario, Canada. She is a full time writer and is not afraid to have a photo taken by her youngest child as her author picture!
http://www.kelleyarmstrong.com/index.html
My comments
Dime Store Magic was the first book I picked up, thinking it was the first of the series and I fell in love instantly. The vibrancy and humour of the characters was very attractive, their world so different yet so similar to our own. It was a complete surprise when I picked up Bitten believing it to be the next book and found it was from the perspective of a completely different character. I realised then that Kelley Armstrong had a unique way of writing. She created the ‘Otherworld’ universe and then chose key characters from within it to narrate their stories, sometimes crossing paths with the others, often fighting their battles alone. She has a few stories published in anthologies which fit in with the series, along with the treat of several original stories on her website – which is well worth having a look at.
Bibliography
Otherworld Series (in chronological order)
Anthologies/Contributions
Darkest Powers (Young Adult Otherworld Series)
Nadia Stafford (Crime)
Posted by tony, on July 18th, 2008  It’s been a long time since I read and subsequently reviewed a book. That’s mainly because it’s been a long time since I read (or at least, finished) a book. I asked Grete specifically for something that was easy to read and entertaining, and she had no problem recommending the Jim Butcher books, of which Storm Front is the first.
The first thing that struck me about the book is the similarity to the Dirk Gently stuff by Douglas Adams. This isn’t a bad thing, I loved the Dirk Gently books and the Dresden Files (the name of the series for which Storm Front is the first one) felt comfortable almost from the first chapter.
Jim’s writing is clean, tidy and easy to read. The books are detective novels in the classic style with the current popular added theme of the supernatural / magical / mythical world playing a great role. Our hero is Harry Dresden, the only wizard in the phone book. The first person style makes it very easy to get into Harry’s head early and within a few pages we’re already empathising with him and feeling his pain. The pace is good, carrying us through the introduction of the world (modern America) and the principal characters, and into the story all in a fairly short time. We meet pretty archetypical police staff, paranormal magazine reporters, bad guys and people who need the services of magical private investigators.
The story arc is pretty simple, I can’t decide if I was pleased or upset at the lack of major twists. I certainly felt that there was going to be a huge twist at the end, and it never arrived. Having said that I don’t think the story suffered for it, it was unpretentious, and delivered exactly what it set out to do at the start. There was plenty of action, humour and good character interaction. In any first person style work, you spend a lot of time in the head of the main protagonist and so you have to feel something for them, otherwise the story just isn’t going to be worth reading. Harry Dresden is interesting, witty and worth spending time with, so it was no chore to listen to his thoughts and follow the story through his eyes.
It was a fun book, worth reading, and although I don’t think it made me laugh as hard as it could have done, it certainly kept me interested all the way through, and it’s a long while since I actually finished a book as quickly as this one. Worth getting, worth reading, and easily worth the price.
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Posted by Grete, on June 25th, 2008  Rachel is again being sought after by Al the demon, her family and friends being threatened to try and make her capitulate. Struggling to deal with her grief and find some balance with Ivy amongst it all, she is begged for help from someone she wishes she could refuse. Can she evade Algaliarept, Newt and Minias, the three demons who have an interest in her while she helps Trent and achieve the desired result of keeping all she loves free from their persecution. A family secret finally comes to light and with it, a new horrifying fear for Rachel.
The first couple of books in this series were fairly light-hearted, even when dealing with the emotional side of each character. As the series has progressed, they have gotten less so – emotions have gotten deeper and the moral lines of good and evil blurring as they do what they need to, to survive. The characters have matured, had their view of the world changed time and time again and they roll with the punches because they have to. The books reflect that very well, maturing along with the main characters which, I think, is something that makes them very good. Another facet is that they can and do make mistakes like the rest of us, Rachel in particular realising that she can’t carry on as she has been, after a particular event happens.
They are so well written you can’t help but empathise with Rachel, Ivy and Jenks and caring about them deepens with each book as you learn more of their history. The pace of the plot is again good and consistent, and as always, I finish itching to read the next. Unfortunately that won’t happen until the next book is published.
Dammit!
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Posted by Grete, on June 18th, 2008  Rachel doesn’t like dealing with demons. Unfortunately, they seem to like dealing with her. Having two demons interested in her, one after her soul, would be enough for any Witch but as usual Life gut-punches Rachel when she’s called to the morgue where several unknown Were suicides have turned up. The item she fought to keep secret is threatening to come to the surface again and with it, the threat of an Inderland power struggle.
I found this book much more emotional than the previous four, the latter half engaging me on a deeper level. What had been fairly lighthearted up til now, turned more serious and at times, heart-rending. It showed that while you can struggle to keep things the same, inevitably life changes and often in a direction you don’t want. The characterisations are as strong as ever and I was hit harder than I expected to be, by the death of a loved character. This was the last book I owned and had to order the next one (Where Demons Dare – Book 6) and while I also have that same eagerness to read it that I’ve enjoyed all through this series, I also feel sad that one of them won’t be there anymore.
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Posted by Grete, on June 16th, 2008  The fourth installment in this series opens three or so months on from the last book, and true to form, opens straight in to the action. Rachel is in deeper trouble with the Demons and due to her decision to keep a secret from Jenks, she and Ivy are without the little pixie and his family. Her ex-love Nick comes back into the scene and she feels obligated to help him out, along with Jenks’ son who went with Nick when he left. They have to travel beyond The Hollows and deal with the mundane world along with everything else and Rachel has to make some hard decisions.
I love the titles of this series, I really do! As I’ve read each book in the series, I keep expecting the quality of writing and plot to start dropping and it just hasn’t, if anything it has gotten better. Jenks’ absence in the beginning is like a huge void and you realise just how well the three main characters work together, as dysfunctional as they can be. The plot runs very smoothly, each event happening in good time rather than feeling overly rushed or too slow and again you get tidbits of history about each of the main cast that rounds them out even more. One of the things I’ve liked about Rachel’s character is how she started looking at things very black and white – white is good and black is evil. To survive, she’s slowly learned that things just aren’t as cut and dried as she thought and that some of the choices she’s had to make may not be ‘good’ but don’t make her ‘evil’.
I know I’ve said it before but I couldn’t help but pick up the fifth book straight away once I was finished with this one. I’m not sure what I will do afterwards as it is the last one I own and there is only one more that has been published at the moment!
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Posted by Grete, on June 16th, 2008  Picking up right where The Good, The Bad, and the Undead finished, book three gets off to a promising start, and never lets up. In between Rachel’s problems with a demon, Ivy resuming her blood drinking ways but still trying to stay on the right side of everyone and Jenks being his usual endearingly grumpy self, you would think they had enough problems. If only! Dealing with the outfall of their actions in Book two, the three partners in Vampiric Charms (NOT an escort agency!), try to do their ‘day’ jobs, diffuse the war that is threatening The Hollows after Rachel put away the former head of the Vampire faction and try to stay true to themselves.
The characters develop further still, it seems a little piece of important history of each character is released in each book which is something that keeps you reading to find out. The main characters are very ‘human’ in their actions and it’s something you can identify with – you don’t always agree with their actions but you can understand how they came to make them. Rachel, Ivy and Jenks are so fundamentally different as well, their interactions are always amusing or heartfelt and I enjoy them a lot. The secondary characters are just as entertaining and I was pleased to see some of the less known characters becoming stronger and more integral to the plot. Again I was eager to pick up book four as soon as I’d finished book three which is a real treat!
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Posted by Grete, on June 16th, 2008  I sometimes find that when I’ve really enjoyed a first book in a series, the second can be a bit lacking. I’m happy to say that wasn’t the case here!
The book picks up a couple of months after the end of the first, bursting back into action right from the first page. You learn more history about the characters, making them more rounded and easier to empathise with. The main characters can be a little irritating at times but in all honesty it is part of their charm. They can make bad decisions in moments of stress and do what they think is right, even if it is at odds with their ‘good’ natures. The interactions between Rachel, Ivy and Jenks often produce laugh out loud moments which is always nice.
The plot moves along nicely, with entertaining new characters being introduced of which a few of them you hope will become regulars. I enjoyed this second book as much as the first (Dead Witch Walking) and when I finished, I was eager, again, to dive right back in to number 3.
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Posted by Grete, on June 13th, 2008  Rachel Morgan is a witch. A witch who is under a death threat for daring to leave her employer, rooms with a still living vampire, shares her garden with a pixie family and is a bounty hunter of the supernatural, keeping the normal world safe from the creatures that would prey on them. Welcome to The Hollows in Cincinnati.
I actually picked up the third book first and when I found it hard to follow what had happened before, I put it away again until I could get this first book. I’m glad I did as so much became clear. I liked the history about how the world came to be what it is today, humans and the supernatural Inderlanders co-existing in a world that is vastly different yet so similar to our own. The main characters are flawed yet eminently likeable and you very quickly come to care about what happens to them.
The story centres around Rachel and her desire to be her own boss which becomes her struggle to stay alive. Her friend and room-mate Ivy is a still living vampire, who refuses to give in to the desire for blood. As she is still living, it’s a craving rather than the necessity it would be if she had died. Then there is Jenks, the six inch high Pixie, who helps Rachel and Ivy in their bounty hunting. He and his wife and fifty four kids live in a tree stump in the garden.
The story flows very well, even when filling in history and the action is fast paced, often leaving you tense along with it. It’s written in first person which is good as there are a lot of characters coming in and out and I think third would have been too chaotic. I liked being in Rachel’s head.
By the end I was eager to pick up the second book straight away and plunge right back into it and I was very happy to find there were five books so far!
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Very young children eat their books, literally devouring their contents. This is one reason for the scarcity of first editions of Alice in Wonderland and other favorites of the nursery.
Rosenbach, A. S. W.
About BookThing! BookThing! is a website where Grete can indulge her passion for books. There are reviews covering a range of genres (paranormal romance, crime, fantasy, romantic comedy), bibliographies for selected authors, features and sometimes the odd free book giveaway!
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