Review - Deadtown by Nancy Holzner (3/5 stars)

Reading level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 326 pages
Publisher: Ace
Release Date: December 29, 2009
ISBN-13: 978-0441018130
Stand Alone or Series: 1st in Deadtown series
Source: Bought from Half Price Books
Rating: 3/5 stars


This is the first book in Holzner's Deadtown series.  Last I heard Holzner had two books on contract for this series, the second one Hellforged is due out the end of this month.  I was super excited to read this book; it sounded right up my alley.  Zombies, demons, and a kick-butt heroine!  Well I was a little disappointed; this was an okay book but not great.  Some of the story line is really interesting, but the majority of characters are annoying and hard to love.

Vicki is a shapeshifter and makes a living fighting and slaying people's demons.  She lives in Deadtown, which is where all of the paranormals were forced to live after a big plague hit the downtown area and left a big portion of the city population zombified.  Vicki is dating a werewolf politician named Kane who is fighting for paranormal rights.  When a Hellion from Vicki's childhood makes an appearance in her life, she will have to figure out how to defeat it.  In addition to dealing with that there is a lab that is studying genetics of paranormals that keeps trying to kidnap Vicky for research.

There were some good things about this book: I enjoy the way demons are dealt with and how Vicki can journey into people's dreams to face them.  I love how Vicki has a detailed history and good explanation for how she was trained to fight demons...I hate it when characters suddenly know how to kick butt without any training.  The idea of Deadtown and the politics behind paranormal rights was interesting, but has been dealt with by other authors. 

There were also a lot of things I didn't like about the book.  I did not enjoy Vicki much as a character or enjoy any of the side characters all that much.  They are all kind of jerks.  Vicki just doesn't generate the kick-buttness of some of her female counterparts in urban fantasy;for example Kate from the Kate Daniels series, Gin from the Elemental Assassin series or Jane from the Jane Yellowrock series are much tougher, easier to love, and just all around more interesting.  I even think that Lucy Snyder's Spellbent has a more interesting heroine...although she's not an easy character to love at least she is proud of that.  Vicki is kind of neither here nor there. 

Kane as a love interest fizzles, the human guy Vicki is hot for isn't much better.  Both of them are kind of annoying.  If you are going to throw a little romance into the mix the characters should at least have some chemistry and I just don't get that here...  For those who are wondering this is definitely more of an urban fantasy than a paranormal romance; which I like.  In addition to this Vicki's girly zombie sidekick, Tina, makes you want to slap her all of the time.  Tina is seriously unlikable....I think she is supposed to provide comic relief but with all the stealing and disappearing she does she mostly just annoys.

The pace of the book is good and the writing is very easy to read.  The story is interesting enough and wraps up well.

So overall this is an okay book, but urban fantasy has a ton of great books out there right now that are a lot more engaging and creative than this book was.  This is something to pick up if you have read through all of the really awesome stuff and need something to hold you for a bit.  I recommend the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews, the Elemental Assassin series by Jennifer Estep, the Dorina Basarab series by Karen Chance, the Spellbent series Lucy Snyder, and the Jane Yellowrock series by Faith Hunter over this one.

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

 

Graphic Novel Review - The Stonekeeper (Amulet, Book 1) by Kazu Kibuishi (4/5 stars)

Reading level: Children's/Middle Grade
Genre: Graphic Novel/Fantasy
Size: 192 pages
Publisher: GRAPHIX
Release Date: January 1, 2008
ISBN-13: 978-0439846813
Stand Alone or Series: 1st in Amulet series
Source: Borrowed from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars


I picked this up at the library as I was perusing through graphic novels appropriate for kids.  This one looked neat, had great artwork, and didn't seem too complicated for a young child.  We ended up not reading it together because it got a bit too scary for my son, but I read it on my own and really enjoyed it!

Emily and Navin are moving into their mother's old childhood house; after the death of their father in a car accident their mother can't afford their old house and they are being forced to move.  In this house Emily finds a mysterious Amulet.  There are also dark things in this house and Emily, Navin, and their mom accidentally find themselves thrust into a paralell world.  When their mother is captured by a monster it is up to Emily and Navin to save her; the Amulet proves itself to be a great tool...but it also seems to have motives of its own.

I tried reading this graphic novel with my four year old son and he was enchanted by the drawings and the story; unfortunately with parents getting hurt/killed and monsters creeping through dark house it just got too scary for him.  He is very into some of the Leap Frog Tag books that are graphic novels and so I thought this would be a neat book for him; but I would recommend this to kids in the 7 or older age range.  It's just a bit too scary for younger kids and some of the concepts underlying the story flew right over my son's head.

The art in this graphic novel is well done; the characters are a bit sketchier than I am used to seeing but the color is done really well and the environments are beautiful.  The story is definitely of the dark fantasy variety.  You have creepy houses, mysterious monsters, and kids fighting to survive.

I enjoyed the fantasy and adventure elements; kids journeying to another world and questing to save their mother.  I also enjoyed the added complexity of the Amulet and how it seemed to have a personality of its own.  Emily and Nevin are great characters; they each have their own strengths and bring good things to the story.  Emily has a lot of adolescent issues she is working through; she feels displaced and abandoned because of the move and her father dying.  The story gets increasingly complex and has enough subtle undertones to keep me interested as an adult.  The pace was wonderful, there were no slow parts here.

This book ties up the main story but starts up another story that will continue on in the next book.  I thought the drawing of the characters could have been a bit better but was very impressed by the backgrounds.  There are some creative ideas here and some we have seen before.

Overall I really enjoyed this graphic novel.  I will definitely be reading the next one.  I think this would be appropriate for ages 7 and up; it is a bit too scary for younger kids.  Reading this book has made me take a look at other of Kibuishi's works; I would like to read his Flight series at some point too.  Fans of adventure and fantasy will find a lot here to love.  This book had a dark fairy tale quality to it that keeps the reader engaged and wondering.

 

The Book Blogger Hop: December 3-6th

The Book Blogger Hop is a weekly event hosted by Jennifer at Crazy for Books and runs from Friday to Sunday. The Hop is a fantastic way to get your blog noticed more and visit some other cool blogs that you didn't know about before. Head over and sign up and see what you can find!

Each week a different twist will be added to the hop so that everyone gets to know each other better so here's my little bit of information this week.

"What very popular and hyped book in the blogosphere did you NOT enjoy and how did you feel about posting your review?"

This has happened to me a couple of times.  Usually it is with the young adult paranormal genre.  I don't know if it because I am older and the genre isn't aimed completely at my demographic, or because I have read a ton and have higher standards for books.  Two YA books that were totally hyped that I did not like were Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely and PC Cast/Kirsten Cast's first House of Night book Marked.

I went ahead and posted my reviews for them anyway; it made me feel a bit awkward (especially since I knew with the rabid fans out there my amazon review would get negged).  But I posted it anyway because I figure it is good for readers to get another perspective on the novel.  I tried to be very specific about what I did and didn't like and why the books didn't appeal to me.  All I can hope is that it helped someone else decided whether or not they wanted to read the book.  If the things that didn't appeal to me don't bother them than they will probably like it, if not then maybe I saved them some time reading a book that would be unpleasant for them.

Epic Review - The Well of Ascension (Mistborn Trilogy, Book 2) by Brandon Sanderson (4.5/5 stars)

Reading level: Adult/Young Adult
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Size: 816 pages
Publisher: Tor Fantasy
Release Date: June 3, 2008
ISBN-13: 978-0765356130
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in Mistborn Trilogy
Source: Swapped through Paperbackswap.com
Rating: 4.5/5 stars


I have read a number of books by Sanderson and loved them all.  I loved Warbreaker, Elantris, and the first Mistborn book.  I was excited to read more about Vin and Elend, and find out about the bigger disasters that happened after they took over the city.  This was a great book and a great addition to the series.

This book starts shortly after Mistborn ended.  Vin is spending time trying to keep Elend safe from assassins and Elend is trying to set up government in the city of Luthadel.  Unfortunately two armies have camped outside of Luthadel and they both want Luthadel for its Atium.  Elend is trying to figure out how to stave off envasion when he finds out about the threat of a third armed force.  Vin is pushing herself trying to guard the city full time when she runs into another mysterious Mistborn, to add to the mystery she thinks things are changing with the Mists and that Luthadel may be facing a danger much bigger than any invading armies.

This was a really wonderful book.  Sanderson has such a way with characters; they are all so lovable and human.  He balances out politics, action, and characterization so well.  I was really attached to the characters in this book...and there are a lot of them.  I never felt like it was hard to keep them all straight and I never found the magic system and politics too confusing.  It takes a great writer to craft a story this complex and still make it easy for the reader to follow.

This book was politics heavy, especially for the first two-thirds.  I am not a big fan of complex prolonged politics, so I didn't like this book quite as much as the first one.  That being said it is a testament to Sanderson's skill that I was still completely engaged in this story despite the fact that the first part focused almost solely on the politics surrounding Luthandel.  The end of the book races by twice as fast as the first part and is packed with battle and action.

This book touches on a lot of deep issues as well such as good vs evil, democracy vs. dictatorship, morality and ethics.  These are all well balanced with the other elements of the book.  Sanderson makes epic fantasy more personable and I love the fact that women play large roles in his books.  When I was younger I always got sick of epic fantasies that either ignored women or featured them in weak, less desirable roles.  This book is about Elend and Vin in equal parts and it is wonderful to see that.

We learn a lot more about the history of some of the different races and also a lot more about Allomancy.  The story ends in a great spot, tying up many of the issues presented early on while starting a big story for the third book.

Overall an absolutely excellent book.  Sanderson is just such a fabulous writer; his writing is complex, easy to read, engaging, creative and absolutely engrossing.  I am very excited to read the final book in the trilogy, The Hero of Ages, to see how it all plays out.  If you are a fan of epic fantasy this book is for you.

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

 

Review - Celia and the Fairies by Karen McQuestion (4/5 stars)

Reading level: Children's/Middle Grade
Genre: Fantasy
Size: 190 pages
Publisher: AmazonEncore
Release Date: November 2, 2010
ISBN-13: 978-1935597285
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Bought for Kindle
Rating: 4/5 stars



I actually got this for my Kindle some time ago.  It was one of those impulsive initial purchases I made right when I got my Kindle; for 0.99 cents it was a great deal.  This ended up being a fantastic book.  A great fairy tale for the middle grade or younger set that touches on issues of responsibility, greed, environment and friendship.  I enjoyed this book a lot.

Celia lives in her parents' house, a house which has been in the family for ages.  Celia's grandma is going to be moving in with them; Celia loves her grandma and the stories she tells about fairies in the woods behind the house.  Celia's dad is a toy maker with his own business.  Things start to take a turn for the worse when an evil president of a corporate toy company wants to buy out her dad's business and he refuses.  Then suddenly they are being forced out of their house because of a new highway being put in.  Somehow everything is tied together and Celia has to figure out how; she also finds that she made need assistance from the supposed fairies that live in the wood's behind her house to set things right.

This was a well-written book and was easy to read.  Celia is a lovable and realistic character; who tries her best but sometimes isn't as nice as she should be.  I loved how subtly the magic in this story was woven into a lot of real life problems.  I think kids will enjoy this because it really makes magic in everyday life seem possible.

I was most impressed with how McQuestion integrated a lot of important issues into such a simple fairy tale.  In the course of the story Celia learns about corporate greed, a bit about environmentalism, how to accept people for who they are, and how to look past the evil in people and try to bring out the good in them.  There were a lot of wordly and important issues addressed and they were addressed subtly enough that I think kids will learn from this but not realize they are learning from it :-)

Overall I really enjoyed this story.  It was well written, the characters were believable, and the story was magical.  A great story for all ages.  I recently saw this availably through the Amazon Vine program and I am happy that Amazon is bringing this story to print so that it will be more widely available.  I definitely recommend picking it up if you like fairy tales that deal with real world issues.  I think young girls will enjoy it a lot; It is magical, insightful, and intriguing.

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

 

November 2010 - In Review

This month I read 23 books!  It was a wonderful month for reading; I gave a ton of books 5 stars and felt a bit guilty about that...but I just really loved a lot of the books I read this month :-) You can see details on what I read, what series I caught up on, my favorites, and reading challenges status below.

I caught up on the following series:
Thursday Next: Book 2, Lost in a Good Book and Book 3, The Well of Lost Plots , by Jasper Fforde
Frost: Book 2, Forever Frost by Kailin Gow
Jaz Parks: Book 7, Bitten in Two by Jennifer Rardin
The Iron Fey: Book 3, The Iron Queen by Julie Kagawa
Blue Bloods: Book 5, Misguided Angel by Melissa De La Cruz
Sandman Slim: Book 2, Kill the Dead by Richard Kadrey

I started the following series:
Jolie Wilkins: Book 1, Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble by H.P. Mallory
The Iron Seas: Book 1, The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook
The Dark Brethern: Book 1, Night's Cold Kiss by Tracey O'Hara
The Invisible Order: Book 1, Rise of the Darklings by Paul Crilley
Bone: Book 1, Out from Boneville by Jeff Smith
The Disillusionist Trilogy: Book 1, Mind Games by Carolyn Crane 

I finished the following series:
None!

My Favorite Books of the Month Were:
Lost in a Good Book (Thursday Next, Book 2) by Jasper Fforde (5/5 stars)
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan (5/5 stars)
The Well of Lost Plots (Thursday Next, Book 3) by Jasper Fforde (5/5 stars)
Bitten in Two (Jaz Parks, Book 7) by Jennifer Rardin (5/5 stars)
Rise of the Darklings (The Invisible Order, Book 1) by Paul Crilley (5/5 stars)
The Iron Queen (The Iron Fey, Book 3) by Julie Kagawa (5/5 stars)
Out from Boneville (Bone, Book 1) by Jeff Smith (5/5 stars)
Kill the Dead (Sandman Slim, Book 2) by Richard Kadrey (5/5 stars)

Books that disappointed me this month were:
Misguided Angel (Blue Bloods, Book 5) by Melissa De La Cruz(3/5 stars)
The Healer's Apprentice by Melanie Dickerson (2.5 stars)

Here are the stats on the reading challenges I am participating in:
- Summer Romance Challenge: Complete!
- Thriller and Suspense Reading Challenge: Complete!
- Debut Author Reading Challenge: Complete!
- Young Adult Reading Challenge: Complete!
- Support Your Local Library Reading Challenge: Complete!
- GLBT Reading Challenge: 6/8 read
- 100+ Book Reading Challenge: 233 read
- 1st in a Series Challenge: Complete!
- Speculative Fiction Reading Challenge Book List: Complete!

The full list of books that I read this month are shown below. 
1.   Flush by Carl Hiaasen (4/5 stars)
2.   Lost in a Good Book (Thursday Next, Book 2) by Jasper Fforde (5/5 stars)
3.   Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble (Jolie Wilkins, Book 1) by H.P. Mallory (4.5/5 stars)
4.   The Witches' Kitchen by Allen Williams (4/5 stars)
5.   The Year Money Grew on Trees by Aaron Hawkins (4/5 stars)
6.   Dracula, My Love by Syrie James (4/5 stars)
7.   Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan (5/5 stars)
8.   The Autumn Castle by Kim Wilkins (4/5 stars)
9.   Between a Roc and a Hard Place by Danny Birt and Richard Svensson (4/5 stars)
10. Forever Frost (Bitter Frost, Book 2) by Kailin Gow (3/5 stars)
11. The Iron Duke (The Iron Seas, Book 1) by Meljean Brook (4.5/5 stars)
12. Night's Cold Kiss (The Dark Brethern, Book 1) by Tracey O'Hara (3.5/5 stars)
13. Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton (4/5 stars)
14. The Well of Lost Plots (Thursday Next, Book 3) by Jasper Fforde (5/5 stars)
15. Bitten in Two (Jaz Parks, Book 7) by Jennifer Rardin (5/5 stars)
16. Death's Sweet Embrace (Dark Brethren, Book 2) by Tracey O'Hara (4/5 stars)
17. Rise of the Darklings (The Invisible Order, Book 1) by Paul Crilley (5/5 stars)
18. The Iron Queen (The Iron Fey, Book 3) by Julie Kagawa (5/5 stars)
19. Misguided Angel (Blue Bloods, Book 5) by Melissa De La Cruz (3/5 stars)
20. Out from Boneville (Bone, Book 1) by Jeff Smith (5/5 stars)
21. Mind Games (The Disillusionist Trilogy, Book 1) by Carolyn Crane (4/5 stars)
22. The Healer's Apprentice by Melanie Dickerson (2.5 stars)
23. Kill the Dead (Sandman Slim, Book 2) by Richard Kadrey (5/5 stars)

Waiting on Wednesday - 12/1

Okay "Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking The Spine.

This week my waiting on wednesday book is The Neon Graveyard by Vicki Pettersson.  This is the final book in the Signs of the Zodiac series and I can't wait to see how the remainder of the series plays out.

The Neon Graveyard (Sign of the Zodiac, Book 6) by Vicki Pettersson

Length: 384 pages

Publisher: Eos

Release Date:May 31st, 2011

ISBN: 978-0061456794