Audiobook Review - Seawitch (Greywalker, Book 7) by Kat Richardson (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 352 pages
Publisher: Roc Hardcover
Release Date: August 7, 2012
ISBN: 978-0451464552
Stand Alone or Series: 7th book in the Greywalker series
Source: Audiobook through Audible.com
Rating: 4/5 stars

This is the seventh book in the Greywalker series. It was a solid addition to the series but was pretty contained; there was no new big story-arc started.

I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook was very well done. The narrator does an excellent job and sounds exactly like I imagine Harper would. She also does an excellent job distinguishing between voices.

Harper and detective Solis have both been assigned with the investigation of a mysterious ghostly ship that has appeared in the harbor named the Seawitch. Of course the appearance of the Seawitch is linked with a number of disturbing paranormal things. It is up to Solis and Harper to unravel the mystery behind its reappearance before it is too late.

The story is written in a very detailed and analytical way, like all of the books in this series. These book are very heavy on the investigative aspect of the story. In this installment we are introduced to some new paranormal creatures; mainly mermaids and the Father of all Otters.

There isn’t a ton of character growth in this book. Harper spends some time trying to learn how to be a better friend to those around her, but she doesn’t really grow in power or learn to use her power as a Greywalker in new ways. More of the story is spent on Solis and him trying to deal with all of the paranormal things he runs in to. Solis is forced to face some uncomfortable truths and he does grow quite a bit. We learn a lot about Solis and his background.

This wasn't really the start of a new broad story arc, the investigation and the Seawitch mystery are fairly self-contained to this one book. There are some things going on with Quentin and his father that sound interesting and are set up to be dealt with in the next book. This set up leads to us learning more about Quentin’s background.

The plot was well woven and well put together. There are a lot of interesting mystery/paranormal elements that come together in fascinating ways.

Each of the books in this series has focused on something. In this case the book focused on the Father of Otters mythology and boating in general. The story was nicely tied up and there were some things left unresolved that will most likely be tied up in the next book.

Overall a solid addition to this series. The whole book is pretty self-contained and could probably be read just fine as a stand alone novel. It was fun to meet some new paranormal races and we get to learn a lot about Solis and his background. The book sets things up for an interesting storyline involving Quentin and his past in future installments of the series. This whole series is recommended to those who like detailed and analytical investigative urban fantasy.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- Horror and Urban Fantasy Challenge
- 150+ Books Reading Challenge

Audiobook Review - Downpour (Greywalker, Book 6) by Kat Richardson (3/5 stars)

Reading level: Adult

Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size:  368 pages

Publisher: Roc

Release Date: September 27, 2011
ISBN: 978-0451463982
Stand Alone or Series: 6th book in the Greywalker series
Source: Audiobook from Audible.com
Rating: 3/5 stars

This is the sixth book in the Greywalker series.  I was unable to find plans for book 7 right now, but I'll keep looking :-)  This was one of the weaker books in the series; it started out very slowly and Harper was apart from all the other characters we know and love for the majority of the book.  I listed to this on audiobook.  The audiobook was okay, I am still not totally sold on this narrator...sometimes the guy characters sound a lot alike.

Harper Blaine is out doing some pre-trial investigation in the Olympic Peninsula when she stumbles across a ghostly burning car and its murdered occupant.  This ghost wants Harper to find his murderer.  In investigating the case of this burned car Harper is drawn into some wicked evil magic involving the Sunset Lakes region.

I had a lot of trouble getting into this book.  In fact if I hadn't been listening to this on audiobook, while driving, I probably would have stopped reading it after the first half of the book.  The mystery setup is very tedious.  Harper is out in the middle of nowhere, and because of this, none of the characters or settings we know and love are part of the story.  Harper kind of wanders from site to site interrogating people and trying to piece together the mystery of the Sunset Lakes...I just found this tedious and boring.  In fact I started to fall asleep during my car ride a couple of times.

I know Richardson is always incredibly detailed in her description of character actions, but usually she focuses on something interesting in the story.  I believe the focus of this story was supposed to be Chinese magic and voodoo; but we don't get to learn much about it because the plot is constantly changing focus.

I also missed Quentin.  He is mysteriously absent for the first 3/4's of the book (this is explained later in the book) and without Quentin to banter with Harper the book was a lot less fun.  

Okay done with the complaining.  There were some things I liked about the book.  The last quarter of the book was really awesome.  Quentin is back in the story and crazy things really start happening and the storyline moves.  I loved some of the stuff that happens between Quentin and Harper and am excited to see where this takes the series in the future.

I also enjoyed the inclusion of Chinese mythology and voodoo; although I wish there had been more info and detail on both (would have been way more interesting than Harper running back and forth between different locations around the Lake).  The story ends well and is completed nicely.

Overall this was my least favorite book in this series.  The beginning really drags; so much intricate detail is put into what Harper does that I found it incredibly boring.  None of the characters I know and love are in the story.  I did enjoy the inclusion of Chinese mythology and voodoo; but we didn't get to learn enough interesting facts about it.  The last fourth of the book was very good and, once Quentin joined the story, I enjoyed it a lot more.  At the beginning of the book I was wondering why I am even reading this series, the ending reminded me why.  I will definitely read the next book in the series, but if the pacing is similar to this one I probably won't read any more after that.  

People who love ghost stories and investigative urban fantasy should check this series out.  I will also admit that the narrator wasn't my favorite so that may have colored my impression of the book as a whole; I think I will read future installments instead of listening to them.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:

- Horror and Urban Fantasy Challenge
- 100+ Reading Challenge
- Audio Book Challenge List 

Review - Labyrinth (Greywalker, Book 5) by Kat Richardson (4/5 stars)

This is the fifth book is the Greywalker series by Richardson.  Last I heard she was contracted for six books in this series.  This book was a great addition to the series.  I enjoyed how it tied up a lot of the loose threads presented in the previous novels.

In this book Harper returns to Seattle to find things a mess. Edward's been kidnapped, the serpent-like vampires are taking over the city and their leader Wygan has something horrible planned for Harper, if only she knew what.  So all she has to do is rescue her dad's ghost from Wygan, avoid getting killed (again), and figure out what Wygan's big plan is.  Easy right?  Luckily she has Quinton to back her up and will also get some help from the Danzigers.

To be honest I liked the last book "Vanished" a bit better than this one; that one had more action and just plain old more interesting things going on.  But, this book does an excellent job of tying up all the weird random stuff that has been going on throughout the series.  Quinton is in the story a lot more and I enjoyed that; him and Harper have such a nice normal relationship despite all the weird stuff going on around them.  Carlos also joins the story again and it was nice to learn a bit more history about him, he is a really interesting character.  Cameron also makes a reappearance and in a big way.

Not a ton more world-building is done, but we do get to see Harper learn how to do new very awesome things with the Grey, so that is a lot of fun.  As I said there isn't as much action in this book as in previous ones, there is a lot of planning.  Richardson usually focuses on an area of research for each book and that wasn't as apparent in this book.  The research that is presented deals more with the Egyptian vampires than anything else. 

Many things are wrapped up in this story and, given the somewhat cliffhanger ending, I am kind of wondering what will happen to the story after this book.  It seems like most things are resolved and given that there was only one more book on the contract for Richardson I am wondering if book six is going to just be a wrap-up book or if she has had more books added to her contract and we will see the start of another huge storyline with Harper.

Overall a great addition to the series and a must read for fans of this series.  Does a great job of tying up lots of little loose ends.  Not as much action or interesting research as in previous books, but still a fun read all the same.  I look forward to finding out what Richardson does in the next book.

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

 

Review - Vanished (Greywalker, Book 4) by Kat Richardson (4/5 stars)

This is the 4th book in the Greywalker series.  The 5th book Labyrinth was just released; last I heard there are 6 books planned for this series.  This book was a great addition to the series and it tied together a lot of the occasional random things that happened in the previous books.  I listened to this on audio book; which was okay.  The lady reading the audio book has a little trouble distinguishing male voice, but other than that it was well done.

Harper is having nightmares and receiving ghostly phone calls telling her she has to go back to her past if she is going to figure out what is happening to the supernatural world at large.  This takes her to California for a visit to her mother, here she finds out new information about her father.  She is forced to leave California in a hurry when vampire lord of Seattle, Edward, requests her help with something that is happening in London.  So off to London she goes.  What she finds there is creepy and wide-reaching.  She finds she is part of a plan that started before she was born and the results of it might destroy the supernatural world as she knows it.

This was a great book.  Some of the strange unexplained things that happened in previous books finally make sense.  In fact it was impressive how nicely Richardson tied everything together, you can tell she really thought this through and everything that happens in this series was planned from the beginning.  Richardson focuses on a specific area for each book, in this case that was the history of London and London as a city.  This was very cool since I had the pleasure of vacationing London earlier this year.

Harper approaches things a very practical attitude, plans out things meticulously and is smart; I always enjoy this compared to other series I have read where the heroine is scatter-brained and confused.  Will and Michael are back in the picture for a bit; Quentin is mostly absent.  We get the addition of some new characters that are fascinating; especially the fellow Greywalker Harper runs into.

We learn a ton about Harper's past and her powers as a Greywalker are further explored.  I enjoyed all of it.  The story does a great job of wrapping up the London storyline but leaves Seattle on the brink of disaster, as well as handing out additional questions about how Harper's father is involved with everything.

I did miss the inclusion of Quentin and Chaos, the ferret, as a result this book didn't have as much humor as previous ones.  I did think that the plot was wonderfully intricate and that the description and characters were awesome.  I really enjoy Richardson's writing style.

Overall another excellent addition to the series.  I can't wait to get my hands on Labyrinth.

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

 

Review - Underground (Greywalker, Book 3) by Kat Richardson (4/5 stars)

This is the third book in the Greywalker series by Kat Richardson.  The 4th book, Vanished, had already been released and the 5th book, Labyrinth, is due out August 2010.   There are six books under contract for this series last that I heard.  I enjoyed this book and thought it was a good addition to the series.  I listened to this on audio book.  The audio book was fairly well done, sometimes the narrator has trouble distinguishing the different male voices, but other than that it was easy to listen to.

In this book Quentin contacts Harper about some weirdness happening in Seattle's Underground.  Homeless people are going missing and are found dead.  Even creepier, body parts have been found in the Underground and the occasional zombie has been seen wandering around.   The weather has been strangely cold and wintery; Harper needs to figure out how this is all connected and find out if it is a threat to Seattle.  This time the vampires bow out of helping; but luckily Harper has the very resourceful Quentin at her side.

As mentioned in previous reviews for this series, these books are mysteries with a paranormal bent to them.  There isn't much romance, there is some action, but most of the book is focused on solving the case through investigative work.  I again enjoyed Harper's analytical mind and practicality in getting the case solved.  It was wonderful to learn some of Quentin's secrets too.  He is a great character and I enjoyed having him play such a big role in this story.

As with previous books Richardson really does her research and gives us extensive detail on both the Underground of Seattle and the history of the Native Americans of that area.  I enjoy this detail, but I could understand how some people might find it cumbersome.  So again, if you have read previous books you are familiar with this, Richardson goes into great detail on things and I really enjoyed learning about them.

Harper does a great job incorporating the skills she has learned as a Greywalker in previous books to help solve her current case.  It was nice to see Harper making use of all that she had learned.  Additionally she again learns some new things about her power as a Greywalker. 

The overall story is nicely summed up, as it has been with each book in this series.  I am really enjoying this series.  The books aren't incredibly exceptional but they are very well done and make for enjoyable reads.  I love trying to race Harper to the conclusion of the mystery.  Richardson does an excellent job summing things up and at the end of this book there is a little teaser to what the next book is going to be about.

Overall this has been an excellent series and this book was no exception to that.  I look forward to reading the 4th book, Vanished, in this series.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- The 100+ Book Reading Challenge
- Thiller and Suspense Challenge

 

Review - Poltergeist (Greywalker, Book 2) by Kat Richardson (4/5 stars)

This is the second book in the Greywalker series.  Book 3 "Underground" and book 4 "Vanished" are already out.  The fifth book "Labyrinth" is due out in August 2010.  Right now there are six books contracted for this series.  This book was a great addition to the series.  I listened to this on audio book and the audio book was very well done.

Harper Blaine is starting to get better at this Greywalker thing.  Then she gets a call from a psychologist who is running a study with a group of people who are supposed to be using their mental energy to create a Poltergeist.  Well the group has either created or summoned something and things are starting to get violent during their seances.  The psychologist is convinced that someone in the group is faking the effects and wants Harper to find out who it is. When one of the group members either dies or is murdered the stakes are increased and Harper has to figure out if the happenings are paranormal, normal, or a combination of both.

I really like Harper Blaine as a character.  She is definitely not a bad-ass but she is smart.   She approaches her cases with a very analytical mind, sets up great plans to solve her cases, and is very practical about it all.  Mira and Ben as the couple that assist Harper with paranormal knowledge are great, and their little two year old boy Brian had me chuckling at his antics a number of times (maybe this is because I have a three year old son).  I liked Brian's crazy two-year old stunts and thought they added some humor to the book.

This book is definitely more of a paranormal mystery than any other genre; Harper doesn't really have a love interest in this book and Harper assumes mundane causes before fantastical causes.  A lot of time in this book is spent going into technical details on how ghost phenomena can be faked.  Another large chunk of time is spend going into technical detail on how the Grey works.  I really enjoyed the technical discussions; Richardson has done her home work and I found a lot of the information around the faking of ghost phenomena to be very interesting.  This is a warning to people who don't like this kind of stuff though; if you aren't interested in hearing all the intricate details behind the workings of things then this book might not be for you.

I really loved how Richardson has expanded Harper's working with the Grey.  I still enjoy the creativity behind the idea of the Grey and the idea of Harper being able to travel through layers of ghostly time is really interesting and adds a whole additional layer to the story.  The story was very engaging, action packed and the writing very readable.

My only complaint with this book was that Harper only had the one case to work on and, at times, her foot work on that case got a bit boring.  It would have been nice to have Harper juggling a couple cases, as she did in the first book, to keep things interesting during the inevitable lulls in the one case. 

I enjoyed this book and look forward to listening to the next book of the series on audio book.  If you like paranormal mystery that pays special attention to detail when explaining the workings behind the paranormal phenomena then I think you will really love this book.

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

 

Review - Greywalker (Greywalker, Book 1) by Kat Richardson (4/5 stars)

This is the first book in the Greywalker series by Kat Richardson, so far there are 6 books sold in this series.  Book #5, Labyrinth, is due out August of 2010.  I listened to this book on audio book and it was very well done and very easy to listen to.  I originally read a short story by Richardson that Harper Blaine was in; I liked her writing style and the idea behind the Grey so I decided to give this series a try.  I am actually surprised it isn't rated higher on Amazon; I thought it was a very solid entry into the paranormal market.

Harper Blaine, a private investigator, gets whacked around by a pissed off client and ends up dead for a couple minutes.  When she comes back and tries to resume her normal life things have...changed.  She keeps seeing ghosts and getting sucked into a grey world.  Her doctor refers her to an interesting couple of people who make a living studying magic; ends up Harper is a Greywalker and can walk the planes between the natural and supernatural world.  This is all well and good but for some reason Harper's cases start getting more and more bizarre as things from the Grey are drawn to her for help.

There were a lot of things I liked about this story.  The idea of the Grey is very cool and, while Harper's full potential wasn't realized in this book, there are a lot of cool things that Richardson does with the Grey.  I think this whole idea of the Grey has great potential for even more creative use as the series continues.  I also really liked Harper's character.  She is practical and organized; she is not overly tough-girl but is willing to deal with whatever life throws at her.  I also liked that she still has to do normal things like eat and sleep and that isn't ignored in this book.  I also liked the side characters; all the side characters are intriguing and engaging.

I liked the writing style too.  It moved pretty fast, had good action scenes, Richardson makes some very funny analogies and gives her characters some great sarcastic wit that I enjoyed.  Richardson did an excellent job have having multiple plotlines going (with all of Harper's different clients) and the plotlines never got confused and they ended up coming together very neatly in the end.  I liked Harper's relationship with Will; it was just a normal, nice beginning relationship.  It was good to see Harper live her life as normal as she could with all the weird stuff going on around her.  That being said this was not a romance or even a paranormal romance; this was definitely more of an urban fantasy...which of course, is what I prefer.

The treatment of vampires was pretty traditional, nothing too surprising there.  So, I suppose that might disappoint some people.  The conclusion to the book wasn't all that surprising, but it was well done.  There are a number of other supernatural forces dealt with in this book...primarily necromancers, witches, and ghosts.  There was also brief mention of werewolves and the inclusion of the Guardian of the Grey.  I am hoping that in future books we learn more about the Grey and that the world isfurther expanded.

Overall this was a solid paranormal read that tended more towards urban fantasy and mystery.  I loved the creativity of the Grey and thought the characterization was very strong.  I also enjoyed the tight plot.  I am hoping we get to learn more about the Grey in future books and that Richardson expands upon the world she's created in this book.  I really enjoyed Harper's character.  I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- The 100+ Book Reading Challenge
- 1st in a Series Reading Challenge
- Thiller and Suspense Challenge

 

Mean Streets by Jim Butcher, Simon Green, Kat Richardson, and Thomas Sniegoski (4/5 stars)

This included four novellas by wonderful authors. I was very excited to read both Butcher's and Green's stories since I love those series. I also was interested in reading Richardson's and Sniegoski's series since I really want to read those series. Overall I found the stories I expected to like were nothing special; the best of the bunch was Sniegoski's "Noah's Orphans." I think I was a bit disappointed with this book because I expected it to be really awesome.

The Warrior by Jim Butcher
This story was about Michael and Harry trying to keep Michael's family safe from someone who wants to steal the two Holy Swords that Harry has been keeping hidden. Overall the story was okay, but seemed a bit tired to me. It was interesting to hear a bit more about why Harry has the holy swords. As a huge Dresden fan, I didn't think this was the best Dresden story I've read but it was kind of interesting. (4/5 stars)

The Difference a Day Makes by Simon Green
This novella was set in the Nightside. John Taylor and Dead Boy were the main characters and are approached by a woman who wants Taylor to find a days worth of memories that she's lost. I realize that not everyone reads the Nightside series so a lot of the back story stuff was necessary. Still, a lot of the general description of the Nightside was taken word for word from other books. John Taylor spent a lot of the story ranting about how dangerous the Nightside is. I also didn't think that the characters were very engaging. Even Dead Boy was kind of disengaged for most of the story. An okay Nightside story but nothing awesome here. (3/5 stars)

The Third Death of the Little Clay Dog by Kat Richardson
I have been interested in starting to read Richardson's Greywalker series. I was hoping this novella would give me some insight on how I would like her as a writer. This was another okay story but was nothing spectacular. Harper gets a black dog statue from an old woman's will; the old woman wants her to put the statue on a grave in Mexico and Harper doesn't know why. Of course there is more involved than Harper originally thinks. I thought Harper's ability to see into the Grey was kind of interesting, but not all that creative (reminded me of many other character abilities). The plot of the mystery got a bit confusing with a whole bunch of names involved where the reader never meets the people. Definitely not an action heavy series. Again an okay story, but didn't sell me on the Greywalker series as something I will love (3/5 stars)

Noah's Orphans by Thomas E. Sniegoski
I have also been interested in reading Sniegoski's first Remy Chandler book "A Kiss Before the Apocalypse". This story was a Remy Chandler story and gave me a great feeling for Sniegoski's writing style. In this story Remy is approached by a dark angel who tells him Noah (yes, the arc guy) has been murdered. There is more to the story though Noah was trying to save the race that existed before humans, the race that God sent flooding to wipe out. It looked like God may have not succeeded though. Remy has to embrace his angelic nature against his will to solve Noah's mystery and possibly save humanity.
This was a great story. I couldn't believe how complex and interesting all of the characters were. The plot line was mysterious, interesting, and intricate. Remy was a character that I wanted to know more about. In my opinion this was the best story in the book and saved this anthology from being mearly blah. Great story, may offend the zealously religious though. (4/5 stars)