I have just updated a previous post for Sherrilyn Kenyon with a review of the fourth book in her CHRONICLES OF NICK SERIES: Inferno.
Click on either the author's name or the book title above to go directly to the updated review.
FINDING A SERIES OR AN AUTHOR:
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
UPDATE! Simon R. Green's SECRET HISTORIES SERIES
I have just updated a previous post for Simon R. Green with a review of the sixth book in his SECRET HISTORIES SERIES: Live and Let Drood.
Click on either the author's name or the book title above to go directly to the updated review.
Monday, May 20, 2013
UPDATE! Zoë Archer's HELLRAISERS TRILOGY
UPDATE!
I have just updated a previous post for Zoë Archer with a review of the FINAL two books in her HELLRAISERS TRILOGY: Demon's Bride and Sinner's Heart.
Click on either the author's name or the book titles above to go directly to the updated review.
Saturday, May 18, 2013
UPDATE! Michele Bardsley's BROKEN HEART SERIES
UPDATE!
I have just updated a previous post for Michele Bardsley with a review of the ninth book in her BROKEN HEART SERIES: Only Lycans Need Apply.
Click on either the author's name or the book title above to go directly to the updated review.
Friday, May 17, 2013
Thea Harrison's GAME OF SHADOWS SERIES
Author: Thea HarrisonSeries: GAME OF SHADOWS
Plot Type: SMR
Ratings: V4; S4; H1
Publisher and Titles: Berkley
Rising Darkness (4/2013)
Falling Light (2/2014)
WORLD-BUILDING
This mythology has its roots in both classical mythology and space operas. Thousands of years ago on another plane of existence, a man called the Deceiver betrayed his country/planet/realm. Seven people (including three soul-mate couples) are chosen to take a virulent poison that will allow them to follow him to Earth. There, they will be separated from their mates and then will eventually die and reincarnate until the time that they can get back together with their mates and capture and incapacitate the Deceiver.
BOOK 1: Rising Darkness
I always begin reading a new series with trepidation. Will the author be able to build the new mythology in an interesting manner, or will the first book be a slog rather than a page-turner? Unfortunately for the reader, book 1 of this new series unfolds its world-building at a glacial pace, and the book really doesn't pick up speed until nearly the end. We get the story in the third person point of view from four stereotypical characters: the aloof and emotionless alpha hero, the vulnerable and fragile heroine, the wise and ancient elder, and the one-dimensional, evil-to-the-core villain.
Much of the early narrative comes from Mary, the heroine, a small-town Michigan doctor who has been having weird and disturbing dreams since she was a child. In those dreams, she is a healer—one of seven exotic people who take poison and go off on a mysterious journey in search of a villainous traitor. These dreams are becoming more frequent and more powerful. When Mary begins hearing voices speaking to her in her head, she is afraid that she is losing her mind and drives back to her old alma mater (Notre Dame Univ.) to pray at the famous Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes for divine assistance. There, she has a vision of "Grandmother" (aka Astra, the elder—one of the original seven travelers), who tells her that she is in danger and must quickly travel North so that she can get help.
This kicks off both the romance plot and the action plot as the hero immediately realizes that Mary is in danger (and heads off to rescue her) and the villain immediately realizes that Mary is vulnerable (and heads off to capture her). The hero is Michael (who—based on an obscure clue deep in the story—may actually have been Achilles in one of his reincarnations). He is a warrior with magical powers who was mentored by Astra and who has been searching for his soul mate for 800 years. The Deceiver wants to rule the modern world as he once ruled the ancient world, and he needs a healer to keep him alive. For both Michael and the Deceiver, Mary is the key to their wants and needs.
The rest of the story follows the development of the romance between Mary and Michael as they try to reach Astra before the Deceiver and his forces catch up with them. All along the way, Mary's memories of her various incarnations keep coming back, and she remembers just what her relationship with Michael was those many centuries ago.
The author has salted the book with direct and indirect literary and historical allusions, including the Bible (quotations from Isaiah); Greek and Roman mythology (Castor and Pollux); French history (Joan of Arc); mass market Scottish literature (Dorothy Dunnett); and Christian theology (Uriel, Ariel, Michael) but these are mostly extraneous and don't contribute at all to the depth of the characters or the complexity of the plot.
I'm still not sure how this series is going to develop quality-wise. In this first book, the lead couple doesn't have much charisma. Mary spends most of the book in utter bewilderment, unsure of the meaning of her dreams and confused by her feelings for Michael. Until nearly the end of the book, Michael's words and actions are mostly unemotional and robotic. In the end, though, it's the classic story line of the two mutually attracted/connected strangers on a road trip facing life-threatening dangers. In a paranormal romance, that's always a formula for a good old HEA. I'll withhold judgment on this series until I read the next book.
Just one personal note: Michael and Mary spend their few happy hours in a cabin on Wolf Lake in the Manistee National Forest—the very same lake where my family spent many summer vacations back in the day. Who would have thought that my childhood summer destination would turn up in a paranormal novel!
Much of the early narrative comes from Mary, the heroine, a small-town Michigan doctor who has been having weird and disturbing dreams since she was a child. In those dreams, she is a healer—one of seven exotic people who take poison and go off on a mysterious journey in search of a villainous traitor. These dreams are becoming more frequent and more powerful. When Mary begins hearing voices speaking to her in her head, she is afraid that she is losing her mind and drives back to her old alma mater (Notre Dame Univ.) to pray at the famous Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes for divine assistance. There, she has a vision of "Grandmother" (aka Astra, the elder—one of the original seven travelers), who tells her that she is in danger and must quickly travel North so that she can get help.
This kicks off both the romance plot and the action plot as the hero immediately realizes that Mary is in danger (and heads off to rescue her) and the villain immediately realizes that Mary is vulnerable (and heads off to capture her). The hero is Michael (who—based on an obscure clue deep in the story—may actually have been Achilles in one of his reincarnations). He is a warrior with magical powers who was mentored by Astra and who has been searching for his soul mate for 800 years. The Deceiver wants to rule the modern world as he once ruled the ancient world, and he needs a healer to keep him alive. For both Michael and the Deceiver, Mary is the key to their wants and needs.
The rest of the story follows the development of the romance between Mary and Michael as they try to reach Astra before the Deceiver and his forces catch up with them. All along the way, Mary's memories of her various incarnations keep coming back, and she remembers just what her relationship with Michael was those many centuries ago.
The author has salted the book with direct and indirect literary and historical allusions, including the Bible (quotations from Isaiah); Greek and Roman mythology (Castor and Pollux); French history (Joan of Arc); mass market Scottish literature (Dorothy Dunnett); and Christian theology (Uriel, Ariel, Michael) but these are mostly extraneous and don't contribute at all to the depth of the characters or the complexity of the plot.
I'm still not sure how this series is going to develop quality-wise. In this first book, the lead couple doesn't have much charisma. Mary spends most of the book in utter bewilderment, unsure of the meaning of her dreams and confused by her feelings for Michael. Until nearly the end of the book, Michael's words and actions are mostly unemotional and robotic. In the end, though, it's the classic story line of the two mutually attracted/connected strangers on a road trip facing life-threatening dangers. In a paranormal romance, that's always a formula for a good old HEA. I'll withhold judgment on this series until I read the next book.
Just one personal note: Michael and Mary spend their few happy hours in a cabin on Wolf Lake in the Manistee National Forest—the very same lake where my family spent many summer vacations back in the day. Who would have thought that my childhood summer destination would turn up in a paranormal novel!
Thursday, May 16, 2013
UPDATE! Jeaniene Frost's NIGHT PRINCE TRILOGY
I have just updated a previous post for Jeaniene Frost with a review of the second book in her NIGHT PRINCE TRILOGY: Twice Tempted.
Click on either the author's name or the book title above to go directly to the updated review.
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Ashlyn Chase: FLIRTING WITH FANGS SERIES
Author: Ashlyn Chase Series: FLIRTING WITH FANGS
Plot Type: SMR with a touch of CH
Ratings: V3; S4; H3
Publisher and Titles: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Flirting Under a Full Moon (4/2013)
How to Date a Dragon (9/2013)
WORLD-BUILDING
This series takes place in the same world as Chase's STRANGE NEIGHBORS SERIES. In this mythology, humans are unaware of the existence of supernaturals, which in this series includes mostly vampires and werewolves, but also makes room for a few wizards and dragons. Set in an alternate Boston, the stories follow the romantic adventures of various couples, each made up of one harebrained human woman and one irresponsible supernatural man. Although the series is meant to be humorous paranormal romance, the humor generally falls flat and the romances are completely predictable and angst-free.
BOOK 1: Flirting Under a Full Moon
In the series opener, Nick Wolfensen is a Boston policeman and the twin brother of Konrad, the hero of one of the STRANGE NEIGHBORS books. Nick has just quit his job to become a private investigator. His first PI case is to find and rescue a young girl who happens to be a fire mage. The victim is the cousin of Brandee Hanson, a waitress at the Boston Uncommon, a bar catering to the supernatural community (even though—oddly—all of its staff are humans who know nothing about the supernatural world). When Brandee finds out about her cousin's misfortune, she insists on "helping" Nick with the case (although she has absolutely no investigative experience), and contributes a number of TSTL moments that result in various bad things happening to the couple. Despite Brandee's air-headed approach to life, Nick falls for her (and vice versa). The romance takes off quickly—too quickly—and they fall into true love almost immediately.
If Chase had spent some time developing this plot line and adding some interesting twists and turns, this might have been a better book, but instead, she allows Nick's case to be partially resolved without much drama and then starts another story line—and then another (e.g., irrelevant scenes involving such things as a jealous girlfriend of one of the vampires attacking Brandee, previously undetected Brownies showing up in the middle of the night to clean up the bar, Brandee's ex-boyfriend making a half-hearted attempt to get her back, a string of bank robberies by an enslaved supernatural, Brandee's seriously gross episode of lactose intolerance—the low point of the book). Then there's a new addition to the mythology: the unpleasantly rude, crude, and profane Mother Nature (aka "Gaia," which is the acronym for the Gods and Immortals Association, of which she is the head goddess). Chase handles plots in the STRANGE NEIGHBORS series in this same manner: too many story lines and too many distracting, non-essential scenes—all lacking complexity and depth. By the time the end finally arrives (and believe me, I was really looking forward to it), the characters have been involved in several more situations (mostly meant to be humorous, but failing) before the original case comes to its anti-climactic ending. One final problem: Each story line is full of holes (which is also a problem in STRANGE NEIGHBORS).
To sum it up: The lead characters are flat and lifeless; the dialogue is clumsy and stiff; and the plot lines are paper-thin and unexciting. If you're looking for really funny chick lit paranormal romance, you might want to try Michelle Bardsley's BROKEN HEART series, Nina Bangs' CASTLE OF DARK DREAMS series, Vivi Andrews' KARMIC CONSULTANT series, Teri Garey's DEVIL'S BARGAIN series, Molly Harper's NAKED WEREWOLF series (and others), Sandra Hill's DEADLY ANGELS series, Katie MacAlister's DRAGON series, and Vicki Lewis Thompson's WILD ABOUT YOU series. Click on any of the series titles above to go to my reviews.
If Chase had spent some time developing this plot line and adding some interesting twists and turns, this might have been a better book, but instead, she allows Nick's case to be partially resolved without much drama and then starts another story line—and then another (e.g., irrelevant scenes involving such things as a jealous girlfriend of one of the vampires attacking Brandee, previously undetected Brownies showing up in the middle of the night to clean up the bar, Brandee's ex-boyfriend making a half-hearted attempt to get her back, a string of bank robberies by an enslaved supernatural, Brandee's seriously gross episode of lactose intolerance—the low point of the book). Then there's a new addition to the mythology: the unpleasantly rude, crude, and profane Mother Nature (aka "Gaia," which is the acronym for the Gods and Immortals Association, of which she is the head goddess). Chase handles plots in the STRANGE NEIGHBORS series in this same manner: too many story lines and too many distracting, non-essential scenes—all lacking complexity and depth. By the time the end finally arrives (and believe me, I was really looking forward to it), the characters have been involved in several more situations (mostly meant to be humorous, but failing) before the original case comes to its anti-climactic ending. One final problem: Each story line is full of holes (which is also a problem in STRANGE NEIGHBORS).
To sum it up: The lead characters are flat and lifeless; the dialogue is clumsy and stiff; and the plot lines are paper-thin and unexciting. If you're looking for really funny chick lit paranormal romance, you might want to try Michelle Bardsley's BROKEN HEART series, Nina Bangs' CASTLE OF DARK DREAMS series, Vivi Andrews' KARMIC CONSULTANT series, Teri Garey's DEVIL'S BARGAIN series, Molly Harper's NAKED WEREWOLF series (and others), Sandra Hill's DEADLY ANGELS series, Katie MacAlister's DRAGON series, and Vicki Lewis Thompson's WILD ABOUT YOU series. Click on any of the series titles above to go to my reviews.
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