‘Night Shift’ – Lilith Saintcrow (Orbit Books)

It has to be said that Lilith Saintcrow has the coolest name in Urban Fantasy. While others merely write about Urban Fantasy, Lilith’s name is all it takes to suggest that she actually lives it. I get this picture of her living in a sinister looking house by a cemetery and hanging out with werewolves and vampires, one day she decides to write about all their adventures… Enough of that! I haven’t read her ‘Dante Valentine’ series but when I saw that she had a new series starting I thought now would be a good time to give her work a go. It’s not bad either…

Jill Kismet is a Hunter, one of those charged with making sure that the Hellbreed (those living on Earth) keep the peace and don’t step over the line. Those that do cross the line are slapped down pretty quick… and permanently. Jill is new to the game having only just lost her mentor a few months previously, she also carries the mark of a Hellbreed who gave her enhanced physical abilities in return for a little of her time every month (he wants her soul). Life is tough but manageable until the day Jill is called out to the scene of a particularly brutal cop-killing. A rogue were-wolf was involved but it looks like a Hellbreed was in on it as well, two species that just don’t mix. Jill needs to get to the bottom of this case before the body count mounts even higher but this is a situation that will push her to her physical limits as well as endanger her very soul…

‘Night Shift’ is the opening shot in the ‘Jill Kismet’ series and (as such) a lot of time is devoted to introducing the main players, setting the scene and so on. I like what she is setting up; it’s very atmospheric (in a noir kind of way) and dark. Just the right kind of vibe for the story being told. The good news is that Saintcrow makes sure that her scene setting doesn’t get in the way of telling a fast paced and gritty tale. Life can be brutally short in the big city when the Hellbreed are after your soul and Jill constantly seeks to redress the balance through gratuitous use of the small arsenal of weaponry that she carries. This leads to some very exciting moments of all out combat between Jill and Hellbreed that just seem to get bigger and more deadly. The outcome is never in doubt (otherwise it would be a really short series!) but there’s enough uncertainty in these passages to keep you guessing.
As the main character, there’s a lot of time spent in Jill’s head and we get a really in depth look at what makes her tick. While you may have seen a lot of this kind of information in other characters, from completely different books, Jill springs off the page as a character in her own right with her own hopes and fears. You can tell that a lot of stuff is being laid in place for future episodes but enough of it is relevant to the plot at hand to be worth sticking with.

One thing that did bug me about ‘Night Shift’ was the sense that I got of too much homage being paid to the ‘Blade’ films (although maybe that’s just me). Half breed human fighting evil? Check. Cool looking black leather coat that makes just the right flapping noise at just the right moment? Check. Mentor that dies and leaves the apprentice on their own (not a spoiler by the way)? Check. While the story was entertaining enough to keep me interested there were points where I thought I may as well watch ‘Blade’ instead of read an imitation. I also wasn’t too sure about Jill’s ability to go ‘between’ to find out information. It wasn’t so much the power itself as the fact that she used it at just the right time to find out just what she needed to know, it felt like the author had hit a brick wall in the plot and needed something to smash her way through…

Quibbles aside though, ‘Night Shift’ remains an entertaining read that should please fans, of Lilith Saintcrow, as well as provide a great place to jump on for people who haven’t read her work yet. I’ll definitely be around for the next in the series at least.

Seven and a Half out of Ten.

‘Pandemonium’ – Daryl Gregory (Del Rey)

One of the big kicks that I get out of doing this blog is the chance I get to try out books that I wouldn’t normally look twice at, books that I wouldn’t normally even see on the bookshelves over here in the UK. Sometimes this backfires on me and I end up reading some complete and utter rubbish, not naming any names… (I don’t need to; it’s all in here if you want to have a look!) Sometimes though, I’ll end up finding a book that’s a real gem and a read that I’ll quite happily get lost in for hours at a time. Daryl Gregory’s debut novel is one of those finds, I loved it and if you’re a fan of urban fantasy that’s a little bit different then I think you’ll like it too.

‘Pandemonium’ is set in our world but with one crucial difference. Ever since the nineteen fifties, people have been randomly possessed by entities that some call demons (but psycho-analytic theory says have sprung from the collective unconscious). A kiss from the Little Angel brings death; the self sacrificing Captain appears when all hope is lost while The Truth has his own lethal methods of punishing falsehood. There are many others but the entity that possessed Del Pierce (while he was a child) was The Hellion, a mischief maker who’s full of tricks and has a devastating aim with a slingshot. With the help of Del’s family (and a psychiatrist) The Hellion was eventually exorcised. Or was it? Following a car crash, an adult Del realises that the Hellion never left his head at all, it was only asleep but now it’s awake and wants to pick up where it left off… Del’s quest for help will lead him into contact with a number of people including an entity possessing the writer formerly known as Philip K. Dick and the leader of a secret society pledged to the extermination of all demons. A cure is out there but Del will find out that it is worse than the disease…

‘Pandemonium’ is one of those books where, once I’ve finished it, I’m left thinking, ‘wow, did all of that really just happen?’ There is a lot going on and it’s a real credit to Daryl Gregory that he distinguishes between what needs to be tied up and what can be left vague. The result is a book where a complete story sits comfortably in a wider world that offers the reader tantalising glimpses of the bigger picture. I mentioned in another review that I really like to see the contrast between the normality of everyday life and the strange events that intrude upon it (makes the strange stuff appear even stranger). ‘Pandemonium’ doesn’t disappoint in this regard and the journey that Del takes (to various parts of America) reminded me, in a way, of the road trip plot device in ‘American Gods’. Not only does the reader get a picture of how people’s lives are affected by the possession phenomenon but they also get a compelling picture of how America might look as a result. This device creates a really eerie atmosphere that complements the story perfectly.
The characters, even (especially) the ‘demons’, are very accessible and easy to get to grips with. I felt a lot of sympathy for Del as he searches for a way to get rid of The Hellion only to find himself being knocked back at each step. While you don’t get much of a feel for the motives behind the demon’s behaviour (Gregory uses this gap to explore Jungian theory, something I know hardly anything about but laid out in fairly simple terms in the book) the ‘Demonology’ chapters show how random acts of possession have affected history. The OJ Simpson trial has a radically different ending while Eisenhower’s assassination sets the tone for early American policy towards the possessed. I have to admit to being left wondering whether Gregory’s opinion, on the outcome of the OJ Simpson case, was a little too prevalent in the outcome of the ‘book version’. It felt like a judgement was being made on real life events but, just as likely, it served to show very well what this particular ‘demon’ was all about… These chapters also offer an interesting contrast between the relative ‘honesty’ of the ‘demons’ (who are only doing what they’ve been ‘created’ to do) and the duplicity of humanity (the machinations of the ‘Human League’ in particular).

While the areas of the book concerning Jungian theory, and Del’s therapy, are relevant to the plot I sometimes felt as if maybe too much attention was being paid to this at the expense of moving the story forward. There were times when I wanted various characters to get off their feet and actually do something! On the whole though Gregory handles his plot extremely well, throwing some interesting twists into the mix and giving us a poignant ending that offers the prospect of more stories to come (although it would work just as well if this wasn’t the case).

I reckon ‘Pandemonium’ could well be my ‘surprise find’ of the year’; as well as being a thoroughly entertaining read it got me inside the heads of all the characters and really made me think about what I was reading. Like I said right at the start, fans of urban fantasy (that’s a little bit different) would do well to give this a go.

Nine out of Ten

‘Blood Bound’ – Patricia Briggs (Orbit Books)

After what felt like a manic Saturday, went to a Terry Pratchett signing amongst other things, yesterday was strictly for chilling out and watching the world go by with a good book and a glass of pear cider (very nice actually, try it!). Because of my extremely sleepy state of mind I was after a read with a plot that buzzed along, something that would wake me up a little. With this in mind (and because I enjoyed the previous book) I chose ‘Blood Bound’, the latest in the ‘Mercy Thompson’ series. It was a pretty good choice as well…
If you haven’t read any of these books, Mercy Thompson is a mechanic who lives in the Tri-City area in a time when Fae creatures are just starting to announce their presence and live openly amongst humans. Mercy isn’t Fae but not quite human either, she is a shapechanger whose animal form (coyote) leads her into confrontations, over pecking order, with the local were-wolf pack. Mercy also owes a favour to a vampire and it’s this that will lead her into more trouble. All he was after was a witness that wouldn’t be noticed, one bloodbath later and Mercy finds out that the one thing more dangerous than a vampire is a vampire possessed by a demon…
‘Blood Bound’ follows ‘Moon Called’ very closely in terms of plot structure, maybe a little bit too much. Mercy gets into trouble; Mercy gets herself out of trouble but still finds herself in the thick of things, Mercy has a score to settle, Mercy… well, you get the picture. Maybe this is to be expected if you’re setting up a series where the main protagonist is investigative by nature. While the characters may change (which they do) there’s only so many original situations that they can find themselves in before it starts to get ‘samey’. To be fair though, this is only the second book in the series so maybe I’m expecting too much too soon.
Although the plot was generally pretty cohesive there was one strand that left me wondering as to its relevance. It served to introduce an investigative journalist, who puts some useful information Mercy’s way, but it appeared to peter out with no resolution and left me wondering whether this was being left open ended (for another book) or if Briggs didn’t really know where to take it. I guess I’ll find out another time (as I do intend to continue reading this series) but it was a little infuriating to be left hanging like that.
All this sounds like I hated ‘Blood Bound’ but this couldn’t be any further from the truth. Despite the issues I had with it, ‘Blood Bound’ is still a very entertaining read. The plot flies along at a very fast pace and Briggs flits from ‘full on action’ to ‘scary and tense’ so smoothly you’ll hardly notice until something big happens and you’re jumping out of your skin (like I did when Mercy woke up to find the vampire/demon staring through her bedroom window!) I’m also enjoying the characterisation where, despite fae or preternatural origins, everyone seems to be ‘down to earth’ (even some of the vampires) in a way that accentuates their ‘otherworldliness’ and also makes them more accessible to the reader. Despite my earlier quibble about ‘plot strands left hanging’, it’s also good to see a world being gradually built up (i.e. the Fae slowly being accepted by humans) rather than just being dumped on the reader as a fait accompli.
I’d like to see this series start to explore different directions in the future, so it doesn’t end up repeating itself, but ‘Blood Bound’ was a fun read in the meantime. Another urban fantasy that I’ll be following for the foreseeable future!

Seven and a Half out of Ten

‘The Summoning’ – Kelley Armstrong (Orbit Books)

If I want to read some Urban Fantasy I’ve found that I can’t go too far wrong with anything by Kelley Armstrong. Her ‘Otherworld’ books occasionally veer into cheesy romance (for me anyway) but on the whole they’re entertaining tales of things that happen as a flicker at the corner of your eye. There are no vampires (at least none that I’ve seen) but plenty of werewolves, shamans, half demons and necromancers looking to make their way in the world. One of these ‘para-normal’ people is Chloe Saunders but she doesn’t realise it yet…
Fifteen year old Chloe’s only real aims, in life, are to make it through school in one piece and meet a boy. This all changes when she starts to see ghosts again, all she wants now is to know that she’s not going insane. A particularly violent encounter with a ghost results in Chloe being admitted to Lyle House, a home for disturbed children. Or is it? One of the children can make his basketball levitate whilst another has a ‘thing’ for fire and why does a disembodied voice keep telling Chloe to go into the basement? Chloe is about to discover that not only does she share something in common with the other residents but Lyle House is far from being a normal residential home…
‘The Summoning’ is the first of a trilogy aimed at the young adult market but I think there’s a lot in it that will appeal to fans of all ages. I’ve got say that, as someone who hasn’t been a ‘young adult’ for a long time, a lot of Chloe’s worries/issues etc didn’t do anything for me at all. I didn’t really care that she was shy, or had trouble with boys, but what I did care about (when it happened) was how she was going to negotiate the dangers of Lyle House. There were some particularly tense (and slightly scary) moments both with ghosts and the human staff who run the home, even when I knew something was going to happen I still felt myself tense up as certain characters walked blithely into danger. I should have seen the ending coming as well; it’s so obvious when you look back at it (especially when you take into account the way that Chloe compares everything to film plots) but I was left completely wrong footed by the way that the last few pages turned out…
If you’re expecting action then you may want to skip ahead to the last quarter of the book where things start to hot up. There isn’t an awful lot that can happen in a residential home governed by routine (except for a couple of scary moments) so what you get instead is a lot of character interaction building up to a climax. There were times when I felt this was being dragged out a bit (there’s only so much listening to teenagers talk about their problems that I really want to do) but there’s something about the way Armstrong directs her characters that not only kept me going but kept my interest as well. There’s a really interesting contrast where, despite all the supernatural stuff going on the characters still manage to come across as really down to earth and easy to identify with. I didn’t really care about what made them tick but I still found myself wanting to know what was going to happen to them.
‘The Summoning’ is a book that I had trouble engaging with but what redeemed it is that it’s full of what Kelley Armstrong does best. Definitely one for the fans, I’ve got a feeling that (despite my misgivings) I’ll be picking up the sequel…

Seven and a Half out of Ten

‘The Last Vampire’ – Patricia Rosemoor and Marc Paoletti (Del Rey)

After having read ‘The Company’ I fancied something that was a little lighter and easy going. A book where things actually happened but also a book that I could put down easily once I got to work. By one of those happy strokes of fate, ‘The Last Vampire’ had come through the door a couple of days ago and one look at the blurb told me that this was the book I should be reading…
First of all, ignore the cover. Actually; don’t ignore it, laugh your head off at the slightly romantic tone it is trying to project because (apart from the odd little bit here and there) this isn’t a romance at all.
See the rugged looking man holding the gun? He’s Captain Scott Boulder and he’s as hard as his name suggests. Boulder heads up a Black Ops team whose superhuman powers come from the DNA of a five hundred year old mummified vampire. The only problem is that the vampire has returned to life, butchered his team and escaped. The bad guy needs to be hunted down and Boulder is just the man for the job. He’s more than the man for the job but he doesn’t realise that just yet…
See the sultry looking redhead? That’s anthropologist Leah Maguire, not only has she had a run in with our bad guy vampire but she can do magic as well! Maguire is just the lady to help Boulder on this case (especially with the Voodoo priestess and her zombies) and she’s also just the kind of lady to fall in love with a hardened Black Ops soldier…
If you add some gunfights and a tiny bit of detective work then you have the plot in a nutshell. When I say ‘nutshell’ that’s precisely what I mean because not a lot else happens but to be fair, the authors do a great job at stretching this one out over three hundred pages with a liberal dose of gunfire and confrontation. It’s as cheesy as you like with tough men (who are all vulnerable inside) and vulnerable women who can rise to the occasion when needed. You’ve probably read this before, just with a different title in a different book but it still manages to be an entertaining read nevertheless. ‘The Last Vampire’ doesn’t claim to be anything other than it is and comes out the other end looking better for it. It’s basically James Bond with vampires and it also has a neat line in zombies (as a zombie fan this is great as far as I’m concerned). Like I said, the plot is minimal but things move so fast that I didn’t really care, especially when the zombies took on the marines…
The only thing that did bug (and it’s quite a big thing for me) was the way that the collaboration, between two authors, came across on the page. George RR Martin’s latest ‘Wild Cards’ collection was the work of nine authors and I was hard pressed to tell where one jumped in and another left. This wasn’t the case with ‘The Last Vampire’ which sometimes felt a little clunky when the authors ‘swapped shifts’. This was especially the case when a few pages of hardcore military action all of a sudden got… ‘sexy’. The change in tempo just didn’t work for me and I think the book could really have benefited from more work in this area.
A pretty big niggle to round things off with but still a great ‘commuter’ read or ‘beach book’. Worth a look if you fancy a fast paced, light read.

Seven and a Half out of Ten

‘The Edge of Reason’ – Melinda Snodgrass (Tor Books)

If there’s one thing that is better than urban fantasy it’s urban fantasy where the stakes are raised much higher than before. Tales about werewolf packs and what vampires get up to are all well and good (except, well… you know who I’m talking about) but what’s even better are tales of global conspiracies run by secret societies overseen by strange monsters from another dimension… Charles Stross did this in ‘The Atrocity Archives’ and ‘The Jennifer Morgue’ and this is also what Melinda Snodgrass has given us in ‘The Edge of Reason’. I really enjoyed this book and if you’re a fan of urban fantasy thrillers, which really get you thinking about what you’ve read, then I reckon you will enjoy it as well.
A secret war is being fought for the souls of humanity; on one side are the Old Ones, who feed on the energy generated by religious fanaticism and superstition, while the Lumina seek to liberate the human spirit through progress in science and technology. Richard Oort is not only an Albuquerque beat cop he also happens to be a genetic anomaly in that he is one of only a few humans with no magic in him at all. This makes him extremely valuable to both the old ones and the Lumina and a chance encounter will draw him into the fray. Caught up in the middle of the struggle, Richard will encounter truths contrary to everything he has learnt. As he struggles with this (and the lengths that the Old Ones will go to in order to subvert him) it becomes very clear that the decisions Richard makes will have grave consequences for the rest of the world…
At a first cursory glance ‘The Edge of Reason’ looks like another thriller that delights in bashing organised religion and holding up science as the way forward for humanity but when you get into what it’s all about you realise that although the battle lines have been drawn they’re actually really blurry. Nothing is as clear cut as it seems and the author uses the character of Richard to explore what this means. Both sides have their pitfalls making it difficult to pick a side, if you take the book at face value then the Lumina are headed up by the Devil himself but I don’t think it’s that simple especially if you dig out the story behind other similar characters. As the fight goes on, and more humans are drawn in to replace flawed Gods, the main message seems to be one of celebrating a multi-faceted humanity over and above religion or science. ‘The Edge of Reason’ is a book that is deceptively easy to accept at face value but there is a lot more to be had out of it if you go a bit deeper.
Of course, none of the above would be any good at all if there wasn’t a good plot to back things up and ‘The Edge of Reason’ delivers in style (although slightly dry at times which I didn’t like). The line ‘there is no chance, only convergence’ pops up from time to time and this element of predestination can sometimes rob the story of its urgency. The rest of the plot makes up for this, however, with plenty of twists and turns that kept me turning the pages. I found the characterisation more than a bit sparse to begin with but this is intentional as the author feeds us little morsels of information that gradually build up into fully rounded characters. Richard himself begins the tale as a stereotypical cop, no different from any other, but by the end had become so much more. I defy anyone to feel anything other than sympathy for Richard after you read what he has been through! Things are left open ended enough for a sequel (if not more) and I’d certainly pick future instalments.
Tiny niggles to one side, ‘The Edge of Reason’ was a book that completely engaged with me and really got me thinking about what I was reading as well as thoroughly enjoying it. Recommended to anyone who wants an engrossing read…

Nine and a Quarter out of Ten

‘Moon Called’ – Patricia Briggs (Orbit Books)

I haven’t read a great deal of urban fantasy but I’ve read enough to work out that if there was a party held for ‘urban fantasy lead characters’ then Harry Dresden and Felix Castor would probably be the only guys who turned up. While they were propping up the bar, the rest of the place would be full of feisty women (in their twenties or maybe early thirties) all talking about how hard they found it fitting into the local paranormal scene and the romantic tension between them and various ‘alpha’ werewolves, head vampires and other fey creatures. If ‘Moon Called’ is anything to go by then Mercedes Thompson would be one of these ladies, she’d certainly have plenty in common with them. Mercedes is a shape shifter (coyote) in an America where fey creatures are just starting to make themselves known to the general public. She’s a mechanic (working on a van belonging to a vampire) and her neighbour is the leader of the local werewolf pack. It’s hardly an ideal situation but it could be a lot worse. Things get a lot worse… Mercedes takes in a young werewolf stray which starts a series of events ending with a dead body on her doorstep and the alpha werewolf’s daughter being kidnapped. Mercedes generally manages to stay out of trouble but this time she has no choice but to face it head on…
On the face of things, ‘Moon Called’ is very much like most of the other urban fantasies that I’ve seen on the shelves, a strong female lead trying to get along in a male dominated world and having to deal with all the ‘tension’ that arises from her dealings with the local alpha werewolf. As a guy, I’m starting to feel a little under represented here! :o) Are there any urban fantasy series (other than the ‘Dresden Files’ and ‘Felix Castor’ books) where the main character is male? I’m starting to feel like I’ve heard all this before… Where Patricia Briggs wins through for me is that although it feels like she is rehashing a generic urban fantasy setting I loved the way she concentrated on the werewolves and really fleshed out the whole ‘pack thing’ (issues of domination in the pack and becoming a werewolf). Detail such as the vegetarian vet who became a werewolf (and then had to deal with craving for meat as well as having to quit his job) shows how much thought the author had put into her subject matter and felt like a really different take on stuff I’d read before.
The plot itself was interesting enough to make me want to keep reading and all questions were answered by the end of the book. However, the book is very obviously the first in a series in that there is a lot of introducing characters and scene setting. I felt that the balance sometimes went too far in favour of the scene setting etc and this got in the way of the actual story. Having said that though, at least I’ll know who everyone is when I read the next book! And that’s the thing, despite all my niggles I’ll still be reading ‘Blood Bound’ (the sequel) when it’s released, ‘Moon Called’ is an entertaining read and I’m interested to see what happens next to Mercedes. Another fast paced and fun read for the commute to work!

Seven out of Ten

Edited to Add: I forgot about Charlie Huston's 'Joe Pitt' books but even so...

‘Steward of Song’ – Adam Stemple (Tor Books)

Despite what you will sometimes find me saying, I’ve got a real soft spot for urban fantasy at the moment. Epic fantasy is still my favourite read and sci-fi often throws up some nice surprises but urban fantasy done well can really make you wonder what’s on the other side of a mirror or what might be taking a short cut through your garden in the middle of the night… Adam Stemple’s ‘Steward of Song’ is one of those books, not particularly original but definitely one that caught my imagination.
‘Steward of Song’ follows on from the events of ‘Singer of Souls’. I don’t really know what these events were as I haven’t read the first book but luckily the sequel appears to be fairly self-contained with only a few hints, used sparingly, of what has happened before. Douglas, the hero of the first book, is now the Lord of Faerie but it’s his brother and sister who take centre stage for this book. Scott (an ex-marine suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome and flashes of second sight) finds a baby left on his doorstep and must fight to protect it from the monsters in the forest. However, he’s about to find that the real threat is a lot closer to home. Ex-policewoman Bridie finds herself in Scotland helping the police investigate the brutal murder of her grandmother and the prime suspect is none other than Douglas…
On the face of things, ‘Steward of Song’ isn’t original at all. Whatever book you look in, the world of Faerie is run by a court where there’s lots of infighting/backstabbing and an icy cold (but beautiful) woman manipulates everyone for her own ends. ‘Steward of Song’ has this in abundance and it also has the almost obligatory ‘humans plunged into the world of Faerie’ theme as well. Having said that, I felt that what the book sets out to do is done very well and any fan of the genre should get a lot out of this read. The simple fact is that Stemple tells a really good story with enough twists and cliffhangers to keep me interested. There’s a ‘police procedural’ element where the uncertainty, over the outcome of the case, constantly wrestles with your assumption that a hero couldn’t possibly have murdered his own grandmother (could he?) I also think that Stemple does a great job introducing fey creatures into our world, an understated approach that somehow achieves a greater impact with its simplicity. Bridie’s confrontation with the Red Caps isn’t really embellished in any way but still feels tense and exciting. It’s not just the fey creatures that are handled well but also the world of Faerie itself. The little details, which characters encounter, are well drawn and Stemple doesn’t let Faerie merge with our world too much, ensuring that it retains its own unique sense of identity. I thought the characterisation was generally handled very well (I found Scott’s tale most engaging) although some characters were less well drawn than others. I’m not sure if this was because the reader is meant to know some characters already (i.e. Douglas) or if we will get to know them better in a future book…
As I’ve already mentioned, while ‘Steward of Song’ won’t any prizes for originality (and was a little vague in places) I found it to be an engaging read that has got me interested in where the story goes next. When I get a moment I’ll have to try and find the first book…

Seven and Three Quarters out of Ten

‘Blood Noir’ – Laurell K. Hamilton (Orbit Books)

I’ll own up to being more than a little naïve when I picked this book up. This is supposed to be a week about romance in Fantasy/Sci-fi and I thought to myself, “Anita Blake has loads of boyfriends; she has to love at least one of them…” Maybe she does and maybe she doesn’t; we will never find an answer in ‘Blood Noir’, a book that makes me want to go to the police and report a case of ‘Wilful abuse and neglect of plot’…
Let’s have a quick look at the plot first as I thought there was a lot of potential here for some cool stuff to happen. Anita and Jason (a were-wolf) take a trip out of town so Jason can say a final goodbye to his terminally ill father. Unfortunately for Jason he’s the spitting image of his cousin, the wayward son of a Governor running for President and target for vampire assassins. A clever plot about mistaken identity looks like it could be on the cards but Hamilton ignores this for nearly the whole book, preferring instead to concentrate on how much sex Anita can have in three hundred and forty pages. This is quite a lot of sex considering how often it is used as an answer to life’s little problems. For example, is your best friend having a crisis in his personal life? Simply agree to his plea for sex (because that’s going to sort everything out isn’t it?) and then let him watch you and your boyfriend play bondage games. Talking of which, unless you’re writing a pornographic novel then I really don’t see the need for the level of detail that Hamilton is prepared to go to. I’m in no way conceited enough to think that this review will come to her attention but if it does, “Ms. Hamilton, we get it! They’re having sex, sometimes they even enjoy it. You really don’t need to tell us how they do it and what they do it with…” I don’t even want to talk about the ‘almost rape’ scene, suffice it to say that there is such a scene and a little part of me died when I read it…
The rest of the book boils down to Anita either having sex with people or getting into situations where her ‘sex power’ attracts the wrong kind of people. It’s like a ‘Carry On’ film but without the humour, especially when security guards (from various agencies) decide that they all want in as well… In fact the only time that Anita doesn’t have sex is because a two day ‘sex bender’ has rendered her physically incapable of the act, she obviously needs to learn to pace herself…
The plot is given the barest acknowledgement throughout the book which makes things difficult if your aim to skim read the sex stuff and get to the story. Anita comes under attack from a very powerful vampire but this seems to have nothing to do with the story and is only there to set up something for a later book. What made me laugh though (a hollow laugh of despair) is that, around forty pages off the end of the book; Hamilton suddenly remembers the ‘mistaken identity’ thing and has to quickly come up with something to address this. It’s rushed and only serves to show the reader what Hamilton could have done with the story if her mind wasn’t on other stuff instead.
I’ve been asked why I put myself through this and all I can really say is that it seemed like a good idea at the time. It’s like watching the aftermath of a natural disaster on TV, painful on the eyes but you just can’t look away…
No more for me though, I’ve done my time and there is a lot more Urban Fantasy out there which is worth looking at. What really bugs me is that this series could be quite an entertaining read if it hadn’t gone in the direction it has.

Two out of Ten

Ten out of Ten if you’re into books where the heroine is so busy having sex that she forgets to take her contraceptive pill…

‘Small Favour’ – Jim Butcher (Orbit Books)

After having enjoyed ‘White Night’ I was pleased to see Jim Butcher’s latest ‘Harry Dresden’ tale come through the door. After a fairly dodgy start I’m really getting into what ‘urban fantasy’ has to offer and Jim Butcher is a name that I look out for. While ‘Small Favour’ wasn’t perfect it certainly didn’t disappoint either…
Things have been uncommonly quiet for Harry Dresden just recently. All the elements of the supernatural community seem to be getting on with each other and, more importantly, no-one has tried to kill Harry in almost a year. All that is about to change though. You see, Harry owes two favours to Mab (Queen of Air and Darkness and ruler of the Winter Court of the Sidhe) and she is about to call one of them in. It’s just a small favour but one that Harry cannot refuse, even if it brings the real risk of most of Chicago crashing down on his head…
As with ‘White Night’, you’ll get more out of ‘Small Favour’ if you’ve been reading the series since the first book. I got off a little more lightly this time, having read the previous book, but there is a lot of stuff happening that is the result of things that took place maybe two or three books ago. ‘Infodumps’ make up for this but only up to a point. I found myself wishing that I had read earlier books just so I could have more of a feel for the overall story. Maybe this is something I’ll get round to remedying some time… Another area where ‘Small Favour’ could prove problematic, for the first time reader is the complexity of the relationships both between characters and various factions. While there is a rich depth to the various interactions (that you could only really get from a long standing series such as this) it would have helped me as a reader if I’d had a little advance warning. Certain relationships appeared to be a little unlikely (to say the least) and the ongoing plot regarding the faerie hit men only looked as if it was there so that Dresden would have a way to bail out of the final confrontation. However, given that this is the tenth book in a series should Butcher be thinking of people who haven’t read all the other books first? I don’t think he should have to…
Difficulties aside, ‘Small Favour’ is an excellent read in terms of the plot itself. The story is convoluted but everything looks like it’s there for a good reason and the resolution of one plot line (in particular) really threw me! One thing that I have found myself looking for recently are ‘set piece battles’ that stories tend to build up to and wind down from. While Butcher prefers to concentrate more on the ‘pulp noir’ side of the story he doesn’t hold anything back when it’s time for a showdown. A pitched battle in Chicago train station, a house under siege or a final confrontation on Lake Michigan, it’s all good and some of the power on display was enough to make me gasp! This is tempered (and bought into perspective) by quieter moments where characters get a chance to kick back and relax and it’s here where Butcher’s ability to draw likeable and compelling characters comes to the fore.
‘Small Favour’ is really a book for the long term ‘Dresden fan’ but don’t let that put you off if you’re after a good slice of urban fantasy pulp noir (it’s pretty much persuaded me to find the rest of the series). I think it’s got pretty much everything you’re looking for.

Eight and a Half out of Ten

‘Happy Hour of the Damned’ – Mark Henry (Kensington Books)

I love zombies but have found the urban fantasy ‘sub-genre’ to be very hit and miss, in what I’ve read so far, so Mark Henry’s debut novel looked to be just what I was looking for. It’s urban fantasy but it’s got zombies in it! Hang on, how much character development and plot can you possibly get out of a shambling corpse? A fair bit actually, if you bend the ‘rules’ a little…
Amanda Feral is an advertising executive in Seattle, she’s also newly undead thanks to the random attentions of a zombie in a lift. This is where the comparisons with your typical ‘Romero’ zombies stop, in Henry’s Seattle there are two ways to become a zombie and Amanda’s route (being breathed on by a ‘zombie maker’) leaves her in full possession of her faculties but with an occasional yearning for human flesh… ‘Undead Seattle’ is a strange but welcoming place and Amanda manages to find herself friends and a social life, she also manages to find herself in a lot of trouble. Just because Amanda has already died once, it doesn’t mean that she wants to die again…
Once I got past the front cover (quite possibly one of the worst I have ever seen!) I found ‘Happy Hour of the Damned’ to be unlike any other ‘urban fantasy’ I’ve read and enjoyed the experience all the more for it. ‘Happy Hour’ doesn’t take itself too seriously and this is apparent in the little ‘footnote asides’ that pepper the text. These give a great insight into Amanda’s character as well as giving the reader an overview of life in ‘Undead Seattle’. Example…

‘Every now and then – and I’ve never done it – a bunch of zombies heads down to the welfare office and picks up some deadbeats for a feast. They set them loose in a fenced off field and have it. Hilarity ensues.’

Amanda isn’t your everyday heroine, not surprising for a zombie who has to be careful not to get hurt (the wounds won’t heal). She is sarcastic and self serving but is always there to help her friends. Much of the story focuses on Amanda’s interactions with her dysfunctional group of friends and it’s this ‘Friends’ vibe that adds a refreshing spin to the detective element of the plot. Imagine Philip Marlowe on the case but a Philip Marlowe who would much rather be drinking cocktails and going shopping. Add a gay vampire (always looking for love) and a zombie best friend (who really doesn’t want to be involved) and you get a good idea of the obstacles in the way of a mystery being solved!
With so much going on, Mark Henry shows real aplomb in keeping the plot quite tight and not going off on tangents. I thought that perhaps things were tied up a little too neatly but that didn’t stop the story itself being absorbing and fun at the same time. The only other thing that really got me was what looked like the author going for the world record for “number of times the word ‘bitch’ is used in a book”. It’s funny a few times but repeated use on practically every single page grew irksome very quickly. Don’t let that stop you reading ‘Happy Hour of the Damned’ though, it didn’t stop me and I’m glad of that. It’s an irreverent and fun read that has got me waiting impatiently for the sequel ‘Road Trip of the Living Dead’…

Eight and a Half out of Ten

Fantasy Book Critic has also read 'Happy Hour of the Damned'. Have a look over
Here for his review and links to a few others!

‘Personal Demon’ – Kelley Armstrong (Orbit Books)

I told you that it wouldn’t be too long before I picked this up! Kelley Armstrong’s ‘No Humans Involved’ was a flawed but fun read and certainly enough to make me bump ‘Personal Demon’ up the pile of books taking over my bedroom…
Hope Adams is a half-demon and a pretty special one at that; she is one of only a handful of demons in the world that can detect the flow of raw chaos and this makes her a pretty useful person to have on a murder scene or if something chaotic is about to happen. This talent has brought Hope to the attention of a Cabal (think Mafia but with sorcerers) in Miami and she is hired to infiltrate a gang of supernatural teenagers and report on their activities. However, the arrival of a killer on the scene forces everyone to re-evaluate their plans and Hope must seek help from unexpected quarters whilst trying not to give into her urge for chaos.
As with ‘No Humans Involved’, ‘Personal Demon’ is a detective story and one that is masterfully written. I’m really bad for skipping to the end of books (to see how they turn out) and there was no exception here. For me; it was a measure of how good the book was that I saw the ending (‘whodunnit’) and was still surprised by it after having gone back and picked up where I left off. There are many twists and turns to be found and this kept me guessing (and interested) the whole way through. A pretty big element of the plot is seemingly discarded halfway through the book, and I did find this confusing, but everything is more or less tied up by the end. The book is relatively fast paced as well which I found demanded my attention throughout, especially when Armstrong ramps up the action! It’s more of a ‘stand alone’ book, than its predecessor, and although some background knowledge is beneficial ‘Personal Demon’ is a book where you can just jump in and get going.
I did have a couple of issues with the book though… ‘Personal Demon’ is told through the perspective of Hope Adams and one other character and if you don’t keep an eye on the chapters (easily done) then things can get very confusing indeed! This is especially true when both characters appear in the same chapter; there were times when I had to re-read passages to see who was talking… Hope’s character can sometimes feel like a bit of a non-starter as well. While you get to learn a lot about her, Hope’s anxiety about losing control over her power means that she keeps a tight lid on things and we don’t get to see what happens when she really does lose control. Maybe this will be looked at in later books but I felt like an opportunity was missed now…
On the whole though ‘Personal Demon’ was a very entertaining read that really engaged me, a nice slice of ‘Urban Fantasy’ in a series that I may have to go back to and read more.

Eight out of Ten

‘No Humans Involved’ – Kelley Armstrong (Orbit Books)

It’s been years since I read anything by Kelley Armstrong, I can’t remember the name of the book but I know there were werewolves involved and I had fun reading it. Enough fun to make me pick up ‘No Humans Involved’ to see if I’d been missing anything while I’d been off reading other stuff. Had I been missing out? Well, yes and no…
Jaime Vegas is a renowned spiritualist taking part in a reality TV show where the highlight will be raising the ghost of Marilyn Monroe. The problem is, Jaime is actually able to talk to the dead (unlike her colleagues) and this can be a real issue when the house she is working in is full of ghosts and they all want her attention. If this wasn’t bad enough; Jaime finds herself drawn to the garden where something terrible took place not so long ago. Jaime has plenty of friends to help her solve this mystery but there are also plenty of people who would rather that the secret remains just that…
‘No Humans Involved’ takes place within the larger universe of Armstrong’s ‘Otherworld’ series and, although the story stands well enough on it’s own, I did feel slightly overwhelmed by the number of characters (from other books) who turned up to help Jaime. Each of these came with their own little slice of history and sometimes Armstrong’s need to introduce characters to new readers (like me!) got in the way of the story itself. Although the relationships between characters were handled pretty well (a clear line between women being independent but acknowledging their own needs) it also felt as if every single character of note was in a relationship or had designs on one with someone. I guess this can happen in a long running series but it felt a little contrived to me. I’m sure that even necromancers and werewolves have more things going on in their lives than just a desire to get together with the nearest available person… Which brings me to my dislike of ‘unnecessary sex scenes in urban fantasy’, you know the score so I’m not going to bore you with the details again. Suffice it to say that I was told there would be a ‘too much information scene’ in the book and there certainly was one. Different people read these books for different reasons, I was having fun with the plot and found certain scenes just derailed it…
The story itself is a good one, certainly good enough for me to want to finish the book off (instead of going back to sleep) when I woke up early this morning. As well as being urban fantasy, ‘No Humans Involved’ is also a neat little detective story that drew me along by carefully doling out as many questions as answers. The climax was almost an anti-climax though; things were tied up too neatly with an over-reliance on certain supernatural characters.
‘No Humans Involved’ is a flawed (as far as I could see) but ultimately entertaining read, good for both the daily commute and a quiet evening at home. I’ve got Kelley Armstrong’s ‘Personal Demon’ waiting to be read and probably won’t leave it too long before picking it up.

Seven out of Ten

‘Biting the Bullet’ – Jennifer Rardin (Orbit Books)

This is the third book in Jennifer Rardin’s ‘Jaz Parks’ series, an ongoing tale of the CIA’s war on a different kind of terrorism involving vampires, zombies and the like. The best way to fight fire is with fire so if you’re gunning for a master vampire then you want to have one on your side as well. Vayl is that vampire and he is the CIA’s top operative. Jaz Parks is his bodyguard as well as other things that she is only just starting to find out about. This time around, Jaz and Vayl head up a Special Ops teams assigned to take down a terrorist leader in Iran. Or are they? Nothing is quite what it seems on this mission…
‘Biting the Bullet’ is one of those books where the content really annoys me but the plot keeps me reading instead of putting it aside for something else instead. It’s a short book (just over three hundred pages) and one that I found myself reading over two commutes and an evening at home, despite it being full of everything that I dislike in urban fantasy. There’s a feisty heroine who’s emotionally vulnerable but handy in a fight. She’s in love with the brooding intense vampire who’s also emotionally vulnerable and wrestling with his feelings for her. (Please, stop this! Can’t we just have one book where professionalism in the workplace wins over ‘tacked on romance’?) If that’s not enough, the spirit world seems geared especially to help our heroine through any situation, up to and including keeping an eye on dead comrades and bringing them back to life. I’ve seen this kind of thing in more than one series (by different authors) and, to be honest, I’m starting to feel like I already know what’s going to happen so where’s the point in continuing…
However, all of this spleen venting is coming from someone who tore through the book in just over a day, what happened? It’s simple, despite the shortcomings I found myself really enjoying the story itself. ‘Biting the Bullet’ doesn’t take itself too seriously and this is evident in the relentless onslaught of car chases, gun fights and acerbic conversations with the undead. It doesn’t pretend to be anything other than it is, an entertaining read that isn’t too demanding of the reader. In keeping with the ‘spy feel’ of the story there’s also plenty of intrigue and questions that kept me guessing and interested in what happened next.
I think that ‘Biting the Bullet’ will please fans of the series that are in for the long haul and are happy with what they know they are going to get. For me it was an entertaining read for the train but I don’t see it being a lot more than that. Funnily enough though, I will be reading the next one.

Six and Three Quarters out of Ten

‘Snake Agent’ – Liz Williams (Nightshade Books)

When I first started with the blog, urban fantasy was a genre that I’d never really gone into in any depth (epic fantasy has always been where it’s at for me). I think the furthest I ever got into the genre was Mike Carey’s ‘Felix Castor’ books. Over the last year, my initial forays into urban fantasy have turned up real gems such as Charlie Huston, Mike Carey and Charles de Lint. It’s also brought Laurell K. Hamilton to my attention, the less said about that the better as far as I’m concerned… ;o) Next up is one Liz Williams with ‘Snake Agent’, the first novel in her ‘Inspector Chen’ series. While Williams is no Mike Carey or Charlie Huston, she still gets to go in the ‘good urban fantasy pile’ on the strength of this book. I think I’ve found another series to keep an eye open for…
Detective Inspector Chen, of the Singapore Three (a franchise city) police force, specialises in supernatural cases so when the ghost of a murdered girl fails to make it to Heaven as expected, Chen heads the investigation. At the same time Seneschal Zhu Irzh (a member of Hell’s own police force) is tasked with finding a dead prostitute, who has escaped one of Hell’s brothels, and it turns out that they are both after the same ghost. Before they can even decide who gets rightful custody of the ghost, Chen and Zhu must work together to find her. It’s not as simple as that though, this one ghost is just the start of a chain that will lead to a plot that could upset the carefully maintained balance between Heaven and Hell…
‘Snake Agent’ isn’t just a detective novel although it performs this function really well, giving me enough questions to keep me reading while spreading the answers across the book like little rewards for progress made (each answer resulting in more questions). I really appreciated the balance here as I personally hate having to wait until the end of a story to get the full picture of what is going on. I also liked that although this is the first book in a series, it felt like the beginning was actually page one hundred and I had some catching up to do. Gaps are filled in later on but the author assumes knowledge of the characters to begin with and this ups the tempo of the book straight away. Williams also paints a pretty good picture of the world that these people inhabit but sometimes I wanted a little more. I also got the feeling that Williams took advantage of the ever changing nature of Hell and dropped in a few ‘get out of jail free’ cards for certain characters in tricky situations.
‘Snake Agent’ is also a fascinating look at a near future world where Heaven and Hell are more tangible than they have ever been, if you have the right stamps on your passport then you can visit either of them whenever you want. The knock on effects of this are explored in a way that I haven’t seen before. You don’t get demons pouring out of a rift and killing everyone, these guys are trading their technology with humans but it all amounts to the same thing in the end… What’s also interesting is the exploration of human spirituality when a person is forced to live with their deities in physical form. It’s quite interesting to see Chen’s personal battle to do good while being forced to work with agents of evil.
‘Snake Agent’ is an assured beginning to what promises to be a fine series if it carries on in this vein. I’ll be looking out for more of these and I reckon anyone who wants urban fantasy that’s meatier than normal could do worse than pick this up.

Eight and a Half out of Ten

‘White Night’ – Jim Butcher (Orbit Books)

Conventional practice for reading a series of books clearly states that you start with the first book, then read the second and so on. Keep going until you’ve either finished or got bored and given up. However, at ‘Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review’ things are done a little differently. I read ‘Storm Front’ (the first of the Harry Dresden books) just over a year ago but never got round to picking the others up. After a long break I am starting again but with book nine…
You’ve probably heard of Harry Dresden already, he’s a private investigator/wizard for hire in Chicago and is the star of nine books, a TV series and (soon) a comic book as well. Life never runs smoothly for Harry, as is the way with private detectives everywhere, and he’s not afraid to sacrifice a lot to keep his city in one piece. ‘White Night’ sees Harry investigate a series of apparent suicides, which are anything but suicides, and before he knows it Harry is embroiled in a conflict between rival factions of the vampire community, an old enemy and Harry’s half brother…
‘White Night’ is initially difficult to get into but only if you’re like me and haven’t read the preceding books in the series. In Jim Butcher’s defence though, deft use of the flashback and ‘info-dump’ meant that I got up to speed fairly quickly. So, not a book to start the series on but it’s not a big problem if that’s what you end up doing. The story itself starts off brightly and works really well in a ‘supernatural detective’ kind of way. I’ve never been to Chicago but Butcher paints it as a pretty grim place, full of seedy bars and cheap motels, just the right setting for any kind of detective novel! Funnily enough though, I felt that the novel suffered when all the detective work was done and the big supernatural conflagration took place at the end. Harry Dresden seems (to me) to be a character better suited to detective work than ‘drawn out climactic’ battles and his choice of companions in the final pages rang a bit hollow for me (given what we already know about that particular relationship). Having said that though, it was great to see how all the individual plot lines came together (at the end) seeing as Harry had spent several chapters trying to figure it all out. I always think it’s a mark of real skill on the author’s part when they can make that happen.
The story is pretty good but (for me) the real positive points can be found in Butcher’s characterisation. Harry has a tendency for going off on long internal monologues (which I found off-putting but more or less expected based on the first person perspective) but once you get past this you really get to know him inside out which means you really feel for him when certain things happen. Supporting characters are more than just there to make up the numbers. It’s probably a mark of how long the series has been running but characters like Murphy and Marcone are well rounded and readable, certainly made the pages turn!
I think that if you’re already a fan then you will know what to expect from the latest Harry Dresden book and really enjoy it. While I enjoyed it the disjointed feel to it’s structure meant that I started to lose interest at the very point where I should have most interested! Still a good read but I’d probably choose Mike Carey’s ‘Felix Castor’ books over this one.

Seven and a Half out of Ten

‘Half the Blood of Brooklyn’ – Charlie Huston (Del Rey Books)

Like Pat, I’ve read a few books recently that were below par and I decided that I wanted to finish off the year on a high with something that I knew I’d enjoy. I wasn’t up for a ‘re-read’ though so I was a happy chap when Charlie Huston’s latest ‘Joe Pitt’ novel came through the door just after Christmas Day. The ‘Joe Pitt’ books have been a real find for me this year so what better way to round the year off?
The series is set in a Manhattan divided into areas owned by various Vampyre clans. There’s only so much room (and blood) to go round though so when Vampyres from the outer boroughs start arriving on the island there’s a big problem straight away. Enter Joe Pitt, former Vampyre private investigator and now security chief for the Society. A trip into Brooklyn, to meet up with a clan of freak show Vampyres, wouldn’t be such a big deal for Joe if the cause of the troubles weren’t waiting outside the carnival tent in an ambush. Even this kind of development is all in a night’s work for Joe but he has other troubles to take care of. Evie, his girlfriend, is seriously ill and this is forcing him to consider actions that he never wanted to take. Not only this but the clan structure in Manhattan is starting to crumble. It’s going to be another busy night for Joe…
Having read all of that you’d be excused for thinking that ‘Half the Blood of Brooklyn’ is one of those monster reads that weigh you down. Think again, this baby is a mere two hundred and twenty three pages long. Make that two hundred and twenty three pages of gangster Vampyres being very cool (in a New York way) while double crossing and kicking the crap out of each other. No-one can be trusted, even if you known them all your life, and it’s this uncertainty that kept me reading just to see how things panned out in the end. As well as this, the dilemma that Joe faces regarding Evie makes for compelling reading. He could cure her but then she would be a Vampyre too, does he even have the right to do this? This sub-plot does reach a conclusion of sorts but it was definitely anything that I’d seen coming, I really felt for Joe when he saw what went down in the Enclave warehouse…
When I reviewed ‘No Dominion’ (Book Two); I said that Huston didn’t really deliver anything new, not that he needed to… ‘Half the Blood of Brooklyn’ sees Huston shake everything up and take things to a new level, there’s a real sense of progression to the overall story and the final paragraphs suggest that the next instalment could be apocalyptic to say the least… One cautionary note though would be that even though Huston does fill in the gaps you'll get more out of this book if you've already read the first two.
Some people have mentioned excessive swearing in these books. Apart from one exception I never really noticed this as an issue, all part of the atmosphere as far as I was concerned.
Having finished ‘Half the Blood of Brooklyn’ all I can say is that (in my opinion) Charlie Huston has done it again and written a book that kept me hooked right from the opening line. It’s a real close call between Huston and Mike Carey as to who’s writing the best supernatural fiction right now.
I couldn’t fault this book but I have to say that I am a pretty big fan ;o) I will now start waiting for the next instalment…

Ten out of Ten


PS Larry beat me to it with his review, if you fancy another viewpoint then have a click Here

‘Another One Bites The Dust’ – Jennifer Rardin (Orbit Books)

Last month I read ‘Once Bitten, Twice Shy’, a fast paced and fun book about a vampire assassin (and his feisty assistant) working for the US government. It reminded me of a more light-hearted (yet more hard hitting at the same time) version of ‘Blade’ and it made a nice change to the ‘urban fantasy’ that I’ve read so far this year. When its sequel, ‘Another One Bites The Dust’, came through the door I was looking forward to some more of what I’d read before. I didn’t quite get what I was after but I had fun anyway.
After some time off (following the events of ‘Once Bitten’) Jaz and Vayl are hot on the trail of Chien-Lung, a dragon obsessed vampire clothed in invulnerable armour and looking to start a war with America. How do you kill a vampire whose armour makes him impervious to assault? Jaz and Vayl are about to find out and along the way will also get to grips with a new breed of monster and dreams that can kill…
Although ‘Another One Bites The Dust’ builds on some of what is learnt in ‘Once Bitten’ it doesn’t do a lot that is new. It’s very formulaic and I’m not sure if that’s such a good thing in a series that is only two books old. Having said that though this series is shaping up to be very much like a supernatural James Bond and ‘formula’ seems to work just fine there…. I think the best way to put it would be that Rardin’s books are very unpretentious and ‘up front’ about what they offer the reader. You definitely know what you’re getting for your money but, at the same time, you also know what you won’t be getting as well. I’m still up for reading more but these are very much a ‘commuter’ read rather than a ‘curl up in front of the fireplace for several hours’ read.
The story itself is just as entertaining as the last but there was a lack of intrigue (no treacherous moles here!) which made it feel as if there wasn’t that much actually happening. Don’t get me wrong, there were fights, car chases and plenty of explosions but very no moments where I thought, ‘oh, so that’s what’s going on!’ Sometimes I like to be told stuff and sometimes I like to puzzle things out for myself, maybe I was just in the wrong mood to read this book.
While some things about Jaz are made clearer, it felt that not enough was said. This meant that when she got ‘supernatural help’ from Raoul it just felt like Rardin was bailing Jaz out rather than things happening for a reason. However, enough hints are dropped to suggest that we’re going to get proper answers soon; hopefully things will make sense when placed in a wider context.
One thing that I’m still enjoying though is the gradual development of relationships between the people in Jaz’ new ‘crew’. Jaz’ character in particular shows depth in her struggle to accept new friends so soon after losing old ones. However, I’m a little bit wary of the ‘little bit more than just friends’ thing that is growing between Jaz and Vayl and I’m hoping this one doesn’t go down certain paths…
If you liked ‘Once Bitten’ then I reckon you’ll have just as much fun with ‘Another One Bites The Dust’ but it didn’t quite work for me this time round. Maybe I was after a little more this time, I don’t know. There’s still enough here to make me want to try the next book though so we’ll see how that goes…

Six and a Half out of Ten

'Hell's Belles' - Jackie Kessler (Kensington Books)

There once was a time when I read nothing but 'epic fantasy' and didn't really care much for what else was out there. Running the blog (and seeing what books come through the door) has really opened my eyes to what else is on the bookshelves and what is popular right now. The success of a certain blonde vampire killer, on the TV, has set off a similar trend in the world of books and it seems like every publishing house has at least one author (usually more) who can churn out the latest instalment of some teenager who has anger management issues where the undead are concerned. Laurell K. Hamilton is the prime suspect and Kelley Armstrong has a neat line in werewolves and witches, Jennifer Rardin and Lilith Saintcrow are also making inroads into the genre. I've read about vampires and werewolves but what I hadn't seen (until now) was a book where the protagonist was a female demon. Enter Jackie Kessler with her tales of Jezebel, a succubi on the run from Hell and working in a lap-dancing club to make ends meet. In a neat twist from the usual fare; it's the demon that falls in love with a human this time round, a man with a few secrets of his own…
That's about as much as I can tell you though because I got halfway through the book and put it down, probably won't pick it up again. It wasn't that it was badly written or lacking in originality, the story flowed well and it was interesting to see Jezebel adapting to life in a human body. Yet again, the problem I had with a book of this nature is the overabundance of sex. You could turn around and say; “well what were you expecting? This is a book about a succubi!” You’d be absolutely right in that respect, a book about a sex demon is (by it’s very nature) going to contain a lot of sex. It’s just I think there are a lot more ways to spice up a story like this than simply covering it in sex. We’re talking about demons here; creatures with enormous strength and many other magical gifts, plenty of scope to write an entertaining story. I don’t have a problem with sex in books generally, just when I think it’s overdone.
What I will say in Kessler’s favour is that if you’re a fan of this sub-genre then you could do a lot worse than check her books out. I reckon you’d like them, they’re just not for me.
In fact, if you’re a fan of paranormal romance/urban fantasy and you’d like to try this book out (and the sequel ‘The Road to Hell’) drop me a line and I will send you the two signed copies that I received. I probably won’t read them and it would be good if they could go to someone who would enjoy them. First come, first served with this one!

‘The Ivory and the Horn’ – Charles de Lint (Tor Books)

Just over a week ago I posted a short piece about urban fantasy and what I thought it was. Someone (can’t remember who) left a comment saying ‘how can you write about urban fantasy and not mention Charles de Lint?’ The answer was that I’d never read anything by Charles de Lint so didn’t really feel qualified to talk about his work. Funnily enough though, I had a copy of his latest collection of short stories lurking in the ‘to be read’ pile. It seemed like a good time to see what ‘The Ivory and the Horn’ was like so I picked it up and started reading. I’ve just finished it within the last couple of hours and it’s fair to say that I begrudged every moment that I had to put this book down and come back to the real world. I can usually suspend disbelief and get into whatever I’m reading, it’s not often though that a book has me feeling as many different emotions as this one did. I usually recommend (tell people to steer clear of) a book once I’ve finished the review itself but in this case I’ll make an exception. No matter what you’re into go and find yourself a copy of ‘The Ivory and the Horn’, I don’t think you’ll regret it.
‘The Ivory and the Horn’ is a collection of short stories set in the fictional city of Newford. Having said that, de Lint’s eye for detail and language will leave readers wondering if Newford is in fact a real place. It did with me. Strange things happen in Newford and in the dreams of its inhabitants. Wishes are granted but not in the way that the recipient originally wanted. Redemption can be obtained but in ways that are rarely expected and a dream is never merely a dream but a gateway into another city entirely.
Each of the stories are connected by recurring characters one of which appears to be pivotal to the strange events that occur in Newford. This interconnection between stories means you can either dip in and out (reading a story at a time) or just plunge in to the extent where the book seems less like a short story collection and more like a novel in it’s own right. The supernatural elements are treated differently in each story and the pitfalls of cliché and familiar plot devices are deftly avoided. In ‘Bird Bones and Wood Ash’ there is a strong supernatural theme right from the start but in ‘Pal O’Mine’ it’s only in the last couple of paragraphs that a sense of that ‘otherworld’ is felt. Because of the delicate way in which de Lint treats the ‘sense of the supernatural’, the magic of each tale isn’t overblown and sa