Review - Head Rush (The Disillusionists, Book 3) by Carolyn Crane (5/5 stars)

Reading level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 475 KB
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd
Release Date: December 6, 2011
ASIN: B006BDKTBK
Stand Alone or Series: 3rd in Disillusionists Trilogy
Source: Bought for Kindle
Rating: 5/5 stars

This is the third book in the Disillusionists trilogy by Crane. The second book ended on a total cliffhanger and then when Crane's publisher dropped the series I almost died of suspense. I was so happy to see the third book finally published and what an awesome third book it is.

Justine is in nursing school now and working on her wedding plans to Otto. She doesn't remember most of what happened at the end of Book 2. She thinks Packard killed Avery. But there are inconsistencies. Where did her car go? Why does she flinch every time Otto reaches for his breast pocket? Why does she panic when she thinks about Packard in danger? Justine has to figure out what happened to her, she has to stop Otto from taking over the city, she has to deal with her debilitating hypochondria, and she has to do it all before she gets married. Otto has said that everything will change after their wedding and for some reason Justine thinks that it won't be a change for the better.

I pretty much love this series. It is just so darn interesting and creative; just the idea of using mental disorders as magical weapons is awesome. Otto and Justine appear to be a sweet couple to those outside but their relationship is revealed as quite disturbing to the reader. They are both totally co-dependent on each other and they both feed each others fear of Vein Star Syndrome. Basically they are both perfect for each other and absolutely horrible for each other.

Justine really grows as a character and overcomes some huge obstacles in this book. We also get to meet Justine's germ-fearing father, bringing more insight into how Justine got as crazy as she is. Packard is an absolutely wonderful character; his trust in Justine and certainty that she will figure out she's been revised is absolutely wonderful. I am not going to go into what happens in the story much because I don't want to reveal any surprises but the story takes a number of wonderful twists and turns.

I love how Crane changes the way the Disillusionists act based on how long ago they zinged someone. You can tell when Shelby is deep in despair or when she's zinged that despair into someone else, she's like a different person. The fact that these small changes in personality are consistently displayed so accurately says a ton about Crane's writing ability.

Everything wraps up beautifully and leaves the reader feeling good. This is just an absolutely perfect ending to this series.

Overall I pretty much adored this book. Everything is wrapped in a way that is surprising and interesting yet very satisfying. The characterization is awesome and plot is full of surprising twists and turns. I was absolutely drawn into this book and couldn't put it down. Now the next question is what will Crane be doing next? I recommend this for urban fantasy lovers who like some psychological thriller and mystery in their urban fantasy. This is a great urban fantasy series that is just completely different from anything else out there.

Review - Double Cross (The Disillusionists, Book 2) by Carolyn Crane (4/5 stars)

Reading level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 336 pages
Publisher: Spectra
Release Date: September 28, 2010
ISBN-13: 978-0553592627
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in Disillusionists Trilogy
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars

This was the second book in the Disillusionists trilogy.  I really enjoyed the first book, Mind Games, because of how creative it was.  This second book was also very enjoyable but it ends on a horrible negative cliffhanger that will have the most forgiving reader angrily pulling out their hair and cursing this book.

This book starts out basically where the last one left off.  Justine is dating Otto, Otto is mayor of the city, and Packard is running the Disillusionists to help Otto enforce order in the city.  Unfortunately another killer (or killers) are loose in Midcity; this time the group of killers (called the Dorks) are targeting highcaps.  Justine (as a non-highcap) is drawn into the investigation to track down the Dorks identity and find out how they are able to combat and weed-out the highcaps.  Justine is also using her power to work over a dream controlling highcap and, after a mistake, her and Packard are linked via their dreams.  So in midst of everything going on Justine is slowly finding out more about the history between Otto and Packard.

Unlike the first book this book focuses mainly on Justine, Otto, and Packard. It was great to finally learn about the history between Otto and Packard.  There are a lot of plot threads in this book and they come together nicely.  The pacing of the book is great, making it a hard book to put down and a fast read.  The writing is well done and easy to read.  This is more of a drama type urban fantasy (kind of like Kitty Norville series) and there isn't much action.

Again I liked the creative ideas behind this book (characters using their psychosis to fight crime) and enjoyed how the complicated plot was woven together so well.  I thought characterization was a bit inconsistent though.  Packard is a great character and his growth throughout the novel is wonderful, I wish he had been in the story even more than he was.  Otto as a character remains kind of stagnant throughout, he is predictable and doesn't change his view much.  Justine's character is kind of all over the place.  The other characters talk about how giving she is, yet she makes a lot of selfish decisions.  Then at one point she suddenly becomes all mature and realizes a bunch of things; which realistically should have been a more gradual and consistent process.

Despite enjoying the book overall I had a couple other quibbles.  The first is that this book is full of evilness, none of these characters are good.  They are all manipulative, confused, and only venture from the blackness to shades of grey...there really aren't any moments of real happiness in this book.  The whole thing is kind of bleak and depressing. 

My other big quibble is the predictability and the ending.  Half way through the book I figured out what was probably going to happen, but I really didn't want it to happen.  Guess what it happened.  The fact that I was able to predict this sad and disturbing ending just made me sadder.  The end of the book left me feeling angry, disturbed, and just let down.  I understand that Crane wants to keep her readers engaged, but this wasn't the way to do it.  If the book had ended two chapters earlier then the next book could have started off with this huge horrible twist.  As a reader I would have been left with a marginally upbeat and happy ending.  The twist would have surprised me in the beginning of the next book and then I would have had a chance to read its conclusion and not been left so...sad.

Overall this was a good installment in this series.   Some of the characterization is a bit inconsistent, but the plot is well done and it is very creative.  This is a bleak book and there is nothing here that leaves the reader feeling good.  My recommendation would be to hold off on reading this book until the third one is released; otherwise at the end of this book you will just be left feeling angry, depressed and downtrodden.  Fans of urban fantasy should enjoy this creative take on super heroes.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:

- Horror and Urban Fantasy Challenge
- 100+ Reading Challenge

 

Review - Mind Games (The Disillusionist Trilogy, Book 1) by Carolyn Crane (4/5 stars)

Reading level: Adult

Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 384 pages
Publisher: Spectra
Release Date: March 23, 2010

ISBN-13:  978-0553592610
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in a trilogy
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars

This is the first book in The Disillusionist Trilogy by Carolyn Crane.  The premise to this book just sounded so interesting I had to give it a read.  I am glad I did, there are some very creative and interesting things in this book and it is looking to be an interesting series.

Justine is a hypochondriac, and she has it bad.  She is constantly convinced she is dying, constantly in the emergency room, and constantly driving her loved ones away because of her fears.  She has a great boyfriend named Cubby and she is trying to make this work...the problem is that her hypochondria is getting worse and if it keeps getting worse then she may be institutionalized.  Enter Packard, he is a redcap that can detect people's psychic compatibility.  He can "see" Justine's problem and has a solution for her; she can get rid of her fears by using it as a weapon.  She can thrust her medical fears into criminals, causing them to destabilize and become disillusioned.  Packard's got a team of Disillusionists set up and he wants Justine to be part of it; after trying it out and being fear free Justine is tempted to take Packard up on the offer...the problem is there is a lot more going on with Packard and his Disllusionists than Justine is originally led to believe.

The big thing this book has going for it is creativity.  This is an absolutely unbelievably creative idea and the storyline is unlike anything I have ever read about before.  I mean the idea of using phobias, obsessions, etc as a weapon by thrusting them into criminals is interesting and clever.  Crane does an excellent job bringing this idea into play.  What is really masterful is that beyond the Disillusioning that the characters do to criminals, Justine finds herself wrapped up in a Mind game of a different type.  This book ends up with a plot that is layers over layers of mind games and it is very clever.

The characters are interesting too.  All of them have weird psychosis they are dealing with, so the conversations between the Disllusionists are pretty darn funny.  I mean when you get a hypochondriac, an obsessive gambler, a person cursed with ennui, someone convinced that world conspiracies are always in play, and someone chronically depressed together in a room...it sounds like a bad joke...and to be honest it is hilarious at times.  All of the characters have some depth and are in general interesting and pretty likable.

The book was easy to read and well-written.  There wasn't anything spectacular about the writing style, but it sounded natural and was a good, quick read.  The main story presented in this story is wrapped up well and some threads left open for the next installment.

There were a couple things that I didn't like about the book.  For one none of the characters really grabbed me as a reader, I had trouble relating with them and really getting involved with them.  Justine was a bit...well...skanky for my tastes.  She immediately thought every guy she meet was delicious and yummy and she wasn't shy about giving the guys a piece of the action.  Then she complained a lot about trying to be faithful to her boyfriend.  I personally like my heroines a bit more honest...I mean if they are skanks that's fine but at least don't make them complain about how they can't help being skanky all of the time. 

Overall this was a great new series.  It is incredibly interesting and creative, the plot was masterfully woven.  I thought the characters left something to be desired and had trouble relating to Justine's character.  Given that I will still definitely be reading the next book in the series because it was just too interesting of a book...I have to see what happens next.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge Book List
- The 100+ Book Reading Challenge