Review - Written in Red (The Others, Book 1) by Anne Bishop (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 448 pages
Publisher: Roc Hardcover
Date: March 5, 2013
ISBN: 978-0451464965
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Others series
Source: ARC through Amazon Vine
Rating: 5/5 stars


This is the first book in the new Others series by Bishop. Previously I have read The Black Jewels series by Bishop and absolutely loved it. I got this book to review through the Amazon Vine program, so thank you to Roc and Amazon for providing it for review. This was a spectacular read, the characters were fascinating, the world building was spectacular I just really really loved this book. The second book in this series, Murder of Crows, is scheduled for a March 2014 release date.

Meg Corbyn is a blood prophet, she has fled the facility where she was kept and sold cut by cut for prophecy. Meg ends up in a Courtyard of the Others and applies for a job there as a Human Liaison for the Others. Simon Wolfgard, who leads this group of others, hires her on. What follows is an interesting story where Meg is trying to make a living among the Others while eluding the evil people who want her back as property.

This was a spectacular urban fantasy read. The world building was wonderful and complex, the characters were incredibly interesting, and the plot was solid and well done. I loved, loved, loved this book.

Every character in this book is fascinating. There are quite a few characters here, but Bishop does such a wonderful job introducing them that it’s not hard to keep track of them all. You have ponies that are Elementals, young women who are Seasons, werewolves, vampires, Crow girls, and even creatures that the Others don’t completely understand. All of them have mysterious pasts and are just a treat to read about.

Meg is also a wonderful character. She has gone through a lot but still has an innocence about her. She’s never lived out in the real world before, so there are funny things that she just doesn’t understand. This ends up being a benefit to her in dealing with all the strangeness that defines the Others, she doesn’t know what normal is so she just takes it all in stride and tries to be kind to everyone. There is a lot of humor throughout the book as well, which only adds to its awesomeness.

The world is fantastic. This is a world where the Others used to rule until humans started inhabiting the lands. Now the Others live in small communities, but God forbid that humans ever do anything to upset the Others. The Others can wipe out humanity in the blink of an eye. It makes for a very interesting balance. The humans fear the Others and the Others are ready to pounce on the humans whenever they feel slighted. It’s a super creative world and one that is well put together and very engaging.

The plot is also very well done. The plot is mainly about Meg trying to escape her captors, but there are a lot of other small storylines going on at the same time. The main story wraps up well, but there are still things to be resolved in future books.

Overall I absolutely loved this book. It was a wonderful read. The characters are all very creative and engaging, the world is spectacular, and I just loved the whole story. I highly recommend this series to urban fantasy fans who are looking for something new and fresh and spectacular. This is a very creative book and an absolutely wonderful start to a great new series. I will definitely be reading more books in this series.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- 150+ Reading Challenge
- Debut Author Reading Challenge
- Paranormal Reading Challenge
- Color Coded Reading Challenge

Review - House Rules (Chicagoland Vampires, Book 7) by Chloe Neill (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 352 pages
Publisher: NAL Trade
Release Date: February 5, 2013
ISBN: 978-0451237101
Stand Alone or Series: 7th book in the Chicagoland Vampires series
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 3/5 stars

This is the seventh book in the Chicagoland Vampires series. The eighth book will be titled Biting Bad and is scheduled for an August 2013 release. This book was a bit of a transition book again and not as engaging as previous books.

Cadogan House is finally, formally breaking away from the GP. This will make them the first House to claim Rogue vampire status. Things are uncomfortable to say the least. Then a rash of vampire murders start happening and Merit is called to help figure out who is killing these vamps. To add to the complexity Merit is finally called in to formally join the Red Guard.

This was an okay installment in this series. Basically this is the book about Cadogan House breaking away from the GP. A lot of time is spent trying to find legal loop-holes and in the original contract with the GP in order to ensure that Cadogan can break away from the house cleanly. Things get complicated when Dorian tries to make a grab for the house in a power play. Additional complications arise when Ethan invites his ex, Lacey, over to smooth things out with Dorian.

I did like that Merit was finally inducted into the Red Guard. I also liked that she ended up coming clean with all her secrets to Ethan. Having Lacey there to throw Merit and Ethan’s relationship into turmoil was obnoxious and made me roll my eyes a bit. Still I was impressed with how much Ethan and Merit have grown as characters and how reasonable they were about everything.

The vampire murders added a heavy investigative bent to the story. It seemed like a very interesting plot line, but I felt the way it was all resolved felt a bit anti-climatic and contrived.

Mallory was in the story a bit, she is making progress in dealing with her addiction to black magic. Still she is far from the entertaining and bubbly person we meet early in the series. She isn’t in the story much but when she is the tone is tentatively hopeful.

While this book was an okay read, but I felt like nothing all that interesting happened. This felt like another transition novel for me and I am beginning to wonder exactly where this series is going. I feel like after the whole Mallory/Tate storylines were resolved this series lost a lot of momentum that it has yet to pick up.

Overall an okay addition to the series. The whole plot around Cadogan House leaving the GP felt like something that had to be done, but wasn’t all that interesting to read about. It was nice to see Ethan and Merit acting like mature adults, but I felt like a lot of the heat between them was missing. I did enjoy that Merit was finally and formally inducted to the Red Guard. I am curious to see what will happen to Cadogan house as it tries to stand on its own.

The last couple books in this series have been somewhat disappointing to me. I will probably read one more book in this series before I decide whether or not to stop reading it completely. I tentatively recommend this series to fans of urban fantasy featuring vampires...the first four or five books in the series are very good.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
- 150+ Reading Challenge
- Paranormal Reading Challenge

Audiobook Review - Biting Cold (Chicagoland Vampires, Book 6) by Chloe Neill (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 352 pages
Publisher: NAL Trade
Release Date: August 7, 2012
ISBN: 978-0451237019
Stand Alone or Series: 6th book in the Chicagoland Vampires series
Source: Audiobook from Audible.com
Rating: 4/5 stars

I listened to this book on audiobook and have a lot to say about the new narrator (not positive). Anyway this is the sixth book in the Chicagoland Vampires series and it was a solid continuation of the series.

I need to comment on the narrator change in this audiobook first. The narrator change was horrible; all the characters fail to sound like themselves and all the voices for male characters sound the same. Merit sounds much drier and less emotional than in previous books; like a pale ghost of her fiery self. Why did they have to switch narrators? If they keep this narrator for future books I will no longer be listening to these on audiobooks. Such a disappointment; these were such great audiobooks....

This book follows up on a lot of issues that started in the last book. Ethan is dealing with Mal being stuck in his head and Ethan and Merit are trying to cobble together a new relationship. Things get even worse when Tate consumes all the evil in the world and goes rogue. Ethan's house is also under investigation by the vampire GP and they are threatening to kick the house out of the GP. So a lot is going on and it is up to Merit to deal with it all.

Merit and Ethan continue to have an on again, off again type of relationship and this drove me crazy. I wish they would just decide what they want and get on with the story. That being said there are some very good scenes between the two.

Mal is trying to kick her addiction to black magic. I am not sure how I feel about the whole Mal storyline; it is so sad to see her degraded from the sparkly and happy person she was earlier in the series. She makes some progress in this book to kicking her black magic addiction, but not a ton. It will be interesting to see how this storyline goes.

It was incredibly interesting to finally have the Tate storyline expanded on. We learn a ton about what Tate is and his history and that was fascinating.

We also finally get some incredibly interesting resolution around Cadogan’s status as a House. I am hoping that we can finally move past this whole political issue and get on to a different storyline.

These books are a bit hard to review because they are so connected to each other. You definitely need to read previous books in the series or you will be totally lost. There are a lot of little storylines going on here and because of that the story progresses, but slowly.

I still enjoyed the story and hope that the Ethan/Merit drama can be set aside for a while in the next book. The ending was exciting and I am eager to see how some of Cadogan Houses’s decisions play out in the next book. The book ends on a very positive note; which was nice to finally have happen in this series.

Overall I enjoyed this addition to the series. We get some resolution around the Mallory issue and around Ethan/Merit. This book ties up a lot of things and sets up some interesting new storylines. The ending is spectacular and I am eager to see where the series goes next. This was a bit of a transition novel and it tidies up a lot of the loose ends from the last couple books. I definitely recommend this series to fans of vampire urban fantasy.

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

Review - The Golden Lily (Bloodlines, Book 2) by Richelle Mead (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Paranormal
Size: 417 pages
Publisher: Razorbill
Release Date: June 12, 2012
ISBN-13: 978-1595143181
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in the Bloodlines series
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars

This is the second book in the Bloodlines series by Richelle Mead. Right now there are six books planned for this series; the third book (The Indigo Spell) is scheduled for a Feb 2013 release. This was a decent continuation of this series. We get to see Sydney learn more about magic and watch as she copes with all of the vamps surrounding her.

Sydney is still at school trying to manage Jill’s safety. The vamps in the story are conducting some testing on Dimitri to see how his blood is different from other vamps. There is a lot of high school drama going on about who loves who and Sydney goes on her first date with a guy who seems to be the perfect match for her. The stakes are upped when one of the vamps is kidnapped by a group of Vampire Hunters and only the Alchmist’s ages old connection with the group allows Sydney to help out.

I enjoyed this book but when I sit down to think about what actually happened in this book, well not much happens. The first two-thirds of the book deals with Sydney trying to get through her day to day life. She finds a boy just like her (really smart and socially inept) and starts dating. She has a lot of tense scenes between her and Adrian. She tries to comfort Eddie as Jill continues to date a human. She tries to protect Eddie from Angeline’s unwanted advances. As I said lots of teenage high school drama stuff.

This book really start to get interesting when the Vampire Hunters enter the story. We got hints of this in the first book, Clarence the old vamp who everyone thinks is crazy has been paranoid about Vampire hunters from day one. The history behind this group and the way it ties into the Alchemists history is really interesting.

As the situation gets more dire Sydney has to face up to the fact that she is just never going to be a real physical fighter. In light of this she starts to investigate the magical abilities that first showed up in Bloodlines. This was another incredibly interesting part of the story and I can’t wait to see where this goes.

I enjoy Sydney as a character she is sooo different from Rose; she is smart, socially awkward, and just a bit blind when it comes to Adrian’s feelings. The tension between Sydney and Adrian definitely goes up a notch in this book. The scenes between these two were wonderful; but the way Sydney struggles between the Alchemists’ beliefs and her love for her friends is heartbreaking at times.

The book ties up nicely and adds a lot of interesting elements to the world. Mead is a very good writer; her writing is easy to read and in general very well done.

Overall a pretty darn good book. Not much happens in the beginning, we just follow Sydney around as she tries to cope with everything she needs to do; it was fun to read but didn’t advance the story a ton. The last third of the book though was incredible; lots more about vampire hunters, about Sydney’s magic, and some wonderful scenes between Adrian and Sydney. Highly recommended for fans of the Vampire Academy series and for fans of paranormal YA books. I can’t wait to see what happens in The Indigo Spell.

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

Review: A Gathering of Gargoyles (Darkangel, Book 2) by Meredith Ann Pierce (4/5 stars)

This is the second book in the DarkAngel trilogy.   If you liked the first book you will like this book.  More happens in this book and it is just as creative as the first one. You definitely need to read the first book before reading this book though.

In this book Aeriel is living in the palace with her Prince, Irrylath and his family; the problem is Irrylath cannot stand to be around Aeriel because he is forced to be in love with the evil water witch.  When the second part of the rime/prophecy is revealed to Ariel she is forced to go on a journey to make sure the prophecy will be fulfilled and to save Irrylath from the water witch.

The tone of this book is similar to the first book.  Aeriel very much goes with the flow.  She is an interesting character in that she does not seek out action, the action comes to her.  Yet, she shows admirable strength in dealing with whatever hand is dealt to her.  This book is a bit more of an adventure/quest than the first one was.  Aeriel does a bit less waiting around; but there is some inconsistent pacing.  Again Pierce has Aeriel go through a lot of action, then times passes as Aeriel waits, then action, then more waiting.

The storyline is very fairy-tale-like and very creative.  The writing is beautiful and descriptive; at times you feel as if you are floating through the story.  It was a beautiful book and a great continuation of this story.  While the main story point was resolved, the major storyline remains to be resolved in the third book.  I am looking forward to reading the third book as soon as I can.

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

 

Review - The Darkangel (Darkangel Trilogy, Book 1) by Meredith Ann Pierce (4/5 stars)

This is the first book in the Darkangel Trilogy by Meredith Ann Pierce.  This was an excellent book, very fairy tale like in the telling and an interesting, somewhat traditional, take on vampirism.

Aeriel's friend is taken away by a vampire to become his bride.  Aeriel is determined to find her friend and take her back home.  When the vampire comes to take her she finds herself in a castle where only a gnome-like mage, gargoyles, and the wraiths of the vamp's wives are her company.   Aeriel must find what she needs to do to free the wraiths from the vampire's clutches.  Her quest will take her on a magical and fantastical journey.

The writing for this book is a bit dated but good.  At times the writing is incredibly descriptive.  The story is very fairy tale like, slow-moving at times with lots of deliberate description.  There isn't a ton of action here.  The pacing is variable; at times the story moves forward at a very deliberate pace then all of the sudden months have gone by.  This story is not for people who are really into high action or fighting scenes.  If you are into fairy tales then this is the story for you; that is the best description for this book....classic fairy tale style.

Overall this is a beautiful story and very gothic.  It is also a fairly short book; takes maybe a couple hours to read.  Appropriate for young adult readers or maybe even younger readers who don't scare easily.  I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series :-)

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