Supernatural Book Club

GONE by Michael Grant

2012-01-09T22:15:00.005-06:00

Summary: In the blink of an eye. Everyone disappears. GONE. Except for the young. Teens. Middle schoolers. Toddlers. But not one single adult. No teachers, no cops, no doctors, no parents. Just as suddenly, there are no phones, no internet, no television. No way to get help. And no way to figure out what's happened. Hunger threatens. Bullies rule. A sinister creature lurks. Animals are mutating. And the teens themselves are changing, developing new talents--unimaginable, dangerous, deadly powers--that grow stronger by the day. It's a terrifying new world. Sides are being chosen, a fight is shaping up. Townies against rich kids. Bullies against the weak. Powerful against powerless. And time is running out: On your birthday, you disappear just like everyone else... – From PaperBackSwap.com

Review: As a fan of the dystopian genre, I had high expectations for Michael Grant’s GONE, the titular novel in his current 6-book series. However, if you’ve already read a stellar dystopian series like Hunger Games, it’s hard not to draw comparisons and determine where Mr. Grant has fallen short: a dragging plot, poor character development, unauthentic dialogue and – most annoying - key thematic elements that are left unaddressed . In general, reactions to this book in our group ranged from absolutely boring to mildly entertained, but proof’s in the pudding when most of our members didn’t bother to finish the book (or even get past the halfway mark).

As outlined in the summary above, the story follows what happens when everyone above the age of 15 disappears and the kids of Perdido Beach are left to fend for themselves. Surrounded by an impenetrable force-field, the older kids - comprised of main characters Sam, Astrid, Quinn and Edilio - do their best to ration food and maintain order in the post-Phase world, struggling against animals that have developed advanced predatory mutations while some of the kids themselves have evolved newly-developed superpowers. Add to the mix a climactic power struggle when the super-powered and morally-flawed prep-schoolers of Coates Academy –led by Caine, their equally charismatic and masochistic leader - descend on the survivors at Perdido Beach, and you’ve got a pretty interesting story (at least on the surface). But then again….

*Spoilers Ahead*

Perhaps my biggest disappointment is the author’s negligence to address two of the most prevalent questions posed throughout the book: 1) Why do kids disappear when they turn 15? What’s so special about that particular age? & 2) What is the sinister creature that lives in the cave and what are its motives? If Mr. Grant had given more development to those two subjects, especially in the last few chapters to build up some semblance of suspense, then maybe I’d have some interest in the following books. In fact, it’s as if the last few chapters lose all the steam the book has worked to build. Mr. Grant has the perfect opportunity to set up a classic cliffhanger ending, one that ideally SHOULD make you want to go and devour the next book (aptly named “Hunger”) immediately; instead, the final scene of the book shows Caine, tired and beaten, shuffling off into the desert with the retreating coyote pack. Bad guys defeated. A decidedly tired and predictable ending.

Whether it was the lack of plot resolution, uninteresting characters, terribly-written dialogue – or a combination of all three - I had only *just* enough interest to finish the book and no particular craving to continue the series.

Bottom Line: Having finished the book three weeks prior to writing this review, I can only say it’ll keep your attention long enough (for most readers) to reach the last page, but there won’t be many moments worth remembering when you’re done. Grade: Solid “C”.

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

2012-01-04T00:09:00.009-06:00

~Happy New Year everyone! My apologies for the late review. I was graciously allowed to write the review, then didn't get around to it for a month with all of the holiday tasks and festivities. But, ah, it's a new year, time for a fresh start, and all that wonderful goodness. If you are looking for a new year's resolution Goodreads has a great suggestion: http://www.goodreads.com/challenges/207-2012-reading-challenge. I know I will be joining the challenge!~

Summary: "Quentin Coldwater is brillant but miserable. He's a senior in high school, and a certifiable genius, but he's still secretly obsessed with a series of fantasy novels he read as a kid, about the adventures of five children in a magical land called Fillory. Compared to that, anything in his real life just seems gray and colorless.

Everything changes when Quentin finds himself unexpectedly admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college of magic in upstate New York, where he receives a thorough and rigorous education in the practice of modern sorcery. He also discovers all the other things people learn in college: friendship, love, sex, booze, and boredom. But something is still missing. Magic doesn't bring Quentin the happiness and adventure he though it would.

Then, after graduation, he and his friends make a stunning discovery: Fillory is real. "

-Goodreads

Review: Many sources called this book the "Harry Potter for grown-ups." Well. I'm a grown- up (most days). And I completely disagree. Grossman uses many fantasy motifs that are familiar to everyone, creating the magical Brakebills School from Harry Potter's Hogwarts, Fillory from C.S. Lewis' Narnia, and even copying the idea that 4 human children are needed to rule as Kings and Queens of this mysterious fantasy land. But Grossman's treatment of this material is different from anything I can remember, and certainly a far cry from what I would have expected from a book catalogued as "fantasy." Grossman in a way pokes fun of himself for doing this. It's seems like he's laughing at the material, maybe he's laughing at the whole genre. If he was trying to write a true fantasy book, the type where the underdog struggles against (often mystical) odds to succeed, and the reader cheers him on all the way to the finish, where we are left happy and satisfied that the [fantasy] world is a better place, then Grossman failed. But I don't think Grossman was trying to write the typical fantasy.

The main character, Quentin, slouched and crawled through the book without managing to be called even a "reluctant" hero. He and most of the other characters were portrayed as selfish and bored. It was the kind of entitled malaise that I have seen all over the northeast. Perhaps Grossman was just trying to make the characters flawed humans, like we all are, but it was hard for me to cheer for such unlikable people. The action wasn't much to keep the story going, either. The author told us in a nice, sequential way how the characters progressed through 4 years of school and a period of post-collegiate drinking and orgy binges... but hardly anything happened. Today Quentin went to class and practiced magic. Tomorrow he will practice magic in complete silence. And the next day he will study some more.... I found myself excited to keep reading actually (I confess I couldn't put it down), but I think it's because I kept waiting for the action to happen. The migrating geese storyline was very fresh and interesting. But then the kids turned into foxes and did what any fox in heat would do. Oh yea, that's right, they're not kids. The characters are supposed to be college-aged, but they are often written like whiny teenagers.

It's almost 2/3 of the way through the book before the characters get to enter this mysterious world of Fillory. When they arrive we get more lovely character development, such as, "Jesus! That was a naiad, people! We just saw a river nymph! How cool is that? How cool are we? Huh? F*in Fillory, people!" And then the boys bump chests.

We quickly learn that this magical land is not such a cool place, after all. The characters (sort-of) fight through the bad talking animals, eventually eliminating the main villain. But it's all pretty gray. Right and wrong is not clearly spelled out. And surprise, surprise, the emo kids are not happy at the end. Turns out Grossman's main message is that you can't escape to a fantasy land to find happiness, and doing so may even be dangerous. Quentin didn't even find happiness back in the normal world, poor kid (er, young adult).

Bottom Line: As long as you are not expecting the traditional fairytale, and enjoy modern morality tales that don't need a happy ending, then this is a good pick. Do not put this on your new year's reading list just because it says "Harry Potter for adults." My rating: C+

Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith

2011-11-08T23:45:00.003-06:00

Summary
"Quincie Morris has never felt more alone. Her parents are dead, and her hybrid-werewolf first love is threatening to embark on a rite of passage that will separate them forever. Then, as she and her uncle are about to unveil their hot vampire-themed restaurant, a brutal murder leaves them scrambling for a chef. Can Quincie transform their new hire into a culinary Dark Lord before opening night? Can he wow the crowd in his fake fangs, cheap cape, and red contact lenses — or is there more to this earnest face than meets the eye? As human and preternatural forces clash, a deadly love triangle forms, and the line between predator and prey begins to blur. Who’s playing whom? And how long can Quincie play along before she loses everything? "-GoodReads

No one recommended this book to me, I found it at the library. I read on the back it took place in Austin and was about a vampire themed restaurant. I though, "eh, how bad can it be?". Oh. I had no idea. There's a damned good reason no recommended this book. First off, it's about a teenage girl named Quincie Morris, yup, like the one from Dracula, but a 17 year old girl. Who, at 17 is left in charge of her families restaurant following the death of her parents, even though she has an older late 20-something uncle who helps her and who SHOULD be in charge. But really, that's no reason to complain. And this book has many.

Quincie hires this new chef for her restaurant and spends most of the book sitting around with this really boring guy talking about boring stuff and drinking wine. LOTS of wine. Now I'm not a prude, I'm not going to hate a book because there's some underage drinking in it, BUT this was excessive. It was very much highlighted every time it happened. There was an eventual explanation, but it was just stupid.

Throughout the book Quincie talks about her BFF Kieren, the back of the book calls him her "first love", that's not true. Quincie is in love with him, he treats her like one of the guys, until the very end where everything is SUDDENLY different. Which brings me to the end...

The end tumbles out quickly and messily, like ripping a bag of potato chips down the middle, though I'd rather clean that up then read another sentence of this book. The "villain" is revealed in the last 20 pages, then the whole "big bad situation" we've been reading about for 300 pages is defused and the villain voluntarily leaves town in 2 sentences and the book is over. The "romance" resolved in a sentence. Seriously. It is literally the worst ending I have ever read. This book makes "Dead Witch Walking" look complex (remember the rodent fighting ring? More interesting than this). The only thing that prevents this book from getting an F rating is the fact that I could finish it, and it wasn't offensive (unless extreme ridiculousness is considered an offense...).

Bottom Line: Started out less the average and devolved into terrible and ridiculous. Don't waste your time. Grade: D-.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

2011-11-04T00:35:00.000-05:00

Summary: Beatrice "Tris" Prior has reached the fateful age of sixteen, the stage at which teenagers in Veronica Roth's dystopian Chicago must select which of five factions to join for life. Each faction represents a virtue: Candor, Abnegation, Dauntless, Amity, and Erudite. To the surprise of herself and her selfless Abnegation family, she chooses Dauntless, the path of courage. Her choice exposes her to the demanding, violent initiation rites of this group, but it also threatens to expose a personal secret that could place in mortal danger. Veronica Roth's young adult Divergent trilogy launches with a captivating adventure about love and loyalty playing out under most extreme circumstances. -From GoodReads

Review: Though I very much enjoyed it, Divergent did remind me of a couple of other book I've read in the past few years, the first is, of course, The Hunger Games, the second, to my surprise was Vampire Academy. Similarities between Vampire Academy and Divergent kept coming up as I was reading this. The young prodigy falling in love with her instructor, the mother who holds a mysterious secret, the young couple going on the run to avoid authority. It's not exactly the same, but it's certainly similar, though in the case of Divergent, it's better. I found Tris to be a far more likable character than Rose from Vampire Academy, and thankfully the supporting characters were better as well, no weak characters to protect, no one holding Tris back.
The comparison between Divergent and the Hunger Games are far more obvious, but the details are certainly different. They're both young adult, dystopian novels, they're both about 17 year-old girls training to be strong and fight. Katniss is however, nothing like Tris as a character. Tris is more relate-able and for me and therefore, easier to like. Their upbringing and families are totally different as well, which leads to the difference in their characters.
Saying that either Vampire Academy or The Hunger Games is the same as Divergent, however is like saying Harry Potter is like Harry Dresden because they're both wizards, named Harry, who do magic. They aren't the same, and in the case of Divergent, it's a better spin on the similar ideas.

The book is not perfect, there are a few scenes and situations that could have been better. As with any dytopian novel, if you think too hard about the "world" they live in, it's easy to poke holes and find unanswered questions. It's told through the eyes of a teenager, who doesn't question the way the world works, or how it got that way, therefore as the reader, we're left wondering how our world devolved into theirs. Another complaint was the description of the "test" that determines the factions. It was the determining factor for the rest of the book, and an event much referenced. It was far too simple. As a reader I found it hard to believe that this test could determine anything much less how these teenagers will spend the rest of their lives. That being said, it was easy to overlook these things and as you get caught up in the action and adventure of rest of the story.

Bottom Line: A blend between Vampire Academy and The Hunger Games, but easier to read and better. Grade: A-.

Giveaway WINNER

2011-10-31T00:01:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to

Tim Shirk

You've won a signed copy of M.E. Patterson's book Devil's Hand!

Thanks for participating in Supernatural Book Club's first ever giveaway.

Email us at the address on the right (under "contact the club") with your mailing address to claim your prize!

A Conversation with M.E. Patterson, and a GIVEAWAY!

2011-10-22T02:35:00.002-05:00

M.E. Patterson is a brave man. Not only was he brave enough to write and self-publish a novel, he was also brave enough to meet with a group of eight strangers from The Supernatural Book Club to discuss it with them. He could have been walking into a blood-bath, as many of us are pretty tough critics, but fortunately for Patterson, his novel is actually good.

During the almost three hour conversation we had, Patterson (who goes by Matt in real life) was charismatic and charming as he described the journey that he went through in bring Devil's Hand to the general public. Patterson began writing Devil's Hand in 2004, finished it in 2005, and went the more traditional route of shopping it around to publishing houses to try and get it published. Over the course of the next five years he revised his work many times, and during the process, received some promising yet discouraging feedback from the industry. While some of the publishers liked the book, none of them had a place for it in their shrinking portfolio of professionally published novels.

In August 2011, Patterson took Devil's Hand directly to the people through the Barnes & Noble eBook, Amazon eBook and Amazon (self-published) paperback store. It's a decision he doesn’t regret, as he’d sold more than 700 copies of Devil’s Hand by the time The Club met with him in mid-October 2011. (Patterson explains more about his experiences with self-publishing here and here).

Luckily for us, Patterson shared that Devil's Hand will be at least a trilogy (something you’d already know if you followed @mepatterson on Twitter). The next installment in the "Drawing Thin" series is on its way, and although no release date is scheduled yet, Patterson has already finished the first draft. During our Q&A on plot points from Devil's Hand, "Just wait 'til you read the next book" or "If you liked that, you'll love the next book" were common answers. We can hardly wait.

As we dug down into the details of Devil's Hand with Patterson, we learned that lots of research went into Trent, Celia, and the monstrous and heavenly creatures that populate their world. In creating that world Patterson turned to many sources: the first being Judeo-Christian texts, like the Bible and the apocryphal texts. He also shared with us that he spent time reading Dante's Inferno and Paradise Lost by John Milton. When it came to inspiration, Patterson looked to modern greats like Neil Gaiman and China Mielville, stating " [they] construct fabulous worlds with deep, mythic stories. I wanted Devil's Hand to have that same sort of feel hiding beneath the realistic, believable modern-day Las Vegas." And for the record, Patterson's Cherubim had one blue eye and one green eye as an homage to David Bowie (awesome)!

The evening The Supernatural Book Club spent with Matt Patterson was great fun. We learned a lot about Matt, his process, his struggles, his inspirations and his plans for the future. We were excited by the news that "Drawing Thin" will likely be at least a trilogy, and that many of our questions from Devil's Hand will be answered in the follow-up. Reading a book that you really enjoy is rare, and getting to meet the author of that book and have him turn out to be a cool guy is even more rare. M.E. Patterson is an exciting new author in the Supernatural Thriller genera, and the Supernatural Book Club is glad to have met him, and proud to recommend his debut novel Devil's Hand.

Patterson brought with him an signed copy of Devil's Hand for one lucky blog reader to win! Simply leave a comment below to be entered. Deadline to enter is Saturday October 30th at 11:59PM. The winner will be chosen at random from the list of commenters, and the name of the winner will be posted on Halloween (October 31st).

Devil's Hand by M.E. Patterson

2011-10-16T23:49:00.005-05:00

Summary: "A Las Vegas poker ace with supernatural luck is swept into a world-ending conflict between fallen angels and otherworldly shades, in a thrilling debut novel for readers who enjoy Dean Koontz, Jim Butcher, and Tim Powers.

The lone survivor of a tragic plane crash, Trent Hawkins inherited a mysterious lucky streak that made him famous, and hated, in the poker circles of the City of Sin. It wasn't long before the eyes in the sky threw him on the blacklist and chased him out of town. Now, after years away, Trent returns to Las Vegas, and walks right back into trouble.

As a serial kidnapper terrorizes the city, Trent and his wife, Susan, rescue a strange, thirteen year-old girl, only to find themselves caught in a fallen angel's plot to cleanse Las Vegas with an unholy blizzard.

As the neon dims and the city freezes, Trent is forced to make terrible sacrifices in order to protect his new charge, and learns dark truths about himself and the creatures plotting against mankind. Poker-playing demons, fallen angels, and otherworldly shades all vie to enlist his strange luck, and Trent must choose his role in the coming War, or watch our world fall to ruin beneath a blanket of shadow and ice" (from Goodreads)

Review:
M.E. Patterson's debut novel, Devil's Hand, is a gritty supernatural thriller set against the dark and treacherous backdrop of a snow-covered Las Vegas; a place where angels and demons roam the streets and the things of nightmares lurk in the shadows. Patterson artfully brings these creatures--and the city they terrorize--to life through a quickly unfolding plot that dives head-long towards its apocalyptic finale.

Devil's Hand grabbed me early on and drew me in with a rousing mixture of action, horror, and mystery. The vividly described action sequences are fast paced and compelling. The supernatural creatures that Trent, Susan and Celia encounter are awesome, particularly the Render. The horrific situations are frightening and realistic without being overly gory or distasteful. Elements of mystery are intricately woven throughout the book and are well thought out and intriguing. It's obvious Patterson did his homework, adding a fresh take on some familiar ideas about angels, demons and the creatures in between. It’s the balanced combination of all three of these elements that kept me turning the pages.

The only struggle I had with Devil’s Hand was that I felt there could have been more character development of the protagonist, Trent. I liked Trent and found him relatable, but wanted to know more about who he was, how he was feeling and what he was thinking. The root of this criticism can likely be traced to the novel’s third person narrative. That said, given the pacing and level of action in the novel, the fact that the reader is able to relate to Trent at all is a testament to Patterson’s storytelling ability. And without the third person narrative we wouldn’t have been treated to the darker chapters focused on Salvatore and Celia, nor the enthralling action sequences with Zamagiel or the Render.

Bottom line: Devil’s Hand, the self-published debut novel by M.E. Patterson, earns a well-deserved A-. Definitely recommended for fans of Butcher and Koontz, or anyone interested in a gritty, fast-paced, action-packed, supernatural thriller. Also worth noting is that digital copies of Devil’s Hand can be purchased on Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com for the very affordable price of $2.99.

The Secret Circle: The Initiation

2011-09-26T11:31:00.000-05:00

This is book one of the Secret Circle books by L.J. Smith, an author you might know for writing The Vampire Diaries. If you've read my reviews for that series you know that I found the books left something to be desired, so why would I pick up another series by Smith. Simply, I love The Vampire Diaries television show and saw that Kevin Williamson was also making a television version of The Secret Circle.

Summary:
"Sixteen year old Cassie Blake leaves her home in California to vacation in Massachusetts with her mother. While there she falls in love with a mysterious boy she meets on the beach. As the Summer vacation draws to an end, Cassie's mother decides instead of going home they were going move to the town of New Salem so her mother can care for her own estranged mother.

Shorty after starting high school in her new town, Cassie finds out that an elite group of students, called The Club, are the most popular and powerful students in the school. Leading the group is the beautiful and popular Diana, who takes Cassie under her wing, but not before Cassie is tormented by the equally powerful and popular Faye.

After becoming friends with Diana the other members of the Club start to accept Cassie, eventually asking her to join them, after it is revealed that the members of this Club are witches and that have been ruling New Salem for three-hundred years. Cassie gets initiated into the Circle, and soon discovers that her mystery man is Adam, another member of the coven and Diana's boyfriend."

Review:
I can't help comparing The Secret Circle to Smiths other, more popular series, the Vampire Diaries. I have spent many hours reading those books, and comparison is unavoidable. That being said, the main character in the secret circle, Cassie is far more like-able than Elena of the Vampire Diaries, where Elena is the stunningly beautiful queen of the school, Cassie is the shy new girl just looking to get by. I found myself actually caring for Cassie and getting invested in the story.

Ive noticed something about the love story both in this book as well as in the vampire diaries, it almost as if smith isn't giving her intended audience enough credit. The teen-aged "romance" is so rushed, boy meets girl, once for about 10 minutes, barely any conversation occurs. The next time they speak they're confessing their undying love. Really?? I understand the concept of "love at first sight" and all that but it's seeming like Smith thinks teenagers are either incapable of a realistic relationship, or she's incapable of writing one. That being said, I can get past that for a compelling enough story. And this one was just interesting enough for me to forgive the insult to teens everywhere. And really, there are plenty of young adult novels where the falling in love part of the story is rushed. I guess it's part of that "Love at first sight" fairytale we've been deluding girls about for generations, but don't get me started on that.

On a more positive note, unlike The Vampire Diaries, the love story really isn't the focus of the story. It's more about friendship and a young girl adjusting to a new town and new friends and a lineage she didn't know she had. This is all interesting and kept me turning the pages. The characters all seemed to have definite "life" to them.

Bottom Line: It's not perfect. It's a simple, young adult novel, and it's interesting. And I wanted to read the second book after I finished this one. That warrants a B.

Hounded by Kevin Hearne

2011-09-10T21:36:00.005-05:00

As the only member of the Supernatural Book Club born with a penis, I have been nominated to write the review for this month's book: Hounded. Now, you're probably asking yourself, "Self, what does being born with a penis have to do with writing a review for Hounded?" The answer is simple; Hounded is an urban fantasy book written by a man for men, so it only makes sense that the man of the Club writes the review.

Yes, Hounded is an urban fantasy book for men; an oxymoron by today's literary standards. You won't find any blubbering vaginas named Edward, nor any dimwitted snobs named Bella in this book, there's also a marked lack of brooding, moaning, groaning, whining, pouting, pondering and bitching. I'll wait right here until you're done jumping up and down and cheering with unbridled joy...

Hounded tells the story of a two thousand year old Celtic Druid named Atticus O’Sullivan, the usurper of your run-of-the-mill tall, dark, teary-eyed and handsome supernatural male protagonist. Atticus, the red-headed, pasty-white, heavily-tattooed, bicycle-riding, bookstore-owning, tea-brewing, dog-whispering, earth-communing, mythical sword-wielding, giant-slaying, witch-slapping, goddess-sexing, bad-ass, “Iron Druid” breaks a fleet of urban fantasy norms by simply being a MAN. Atticus doesn’t sit around pondering which shade of eye-liner to wear on his next date; no, he spends his time decapitating ageless Celtic gods on suburban Arizona streets for sport and honor.

I really liked Atticus for is straightforward, no nonsense approach to stressful and dangerous situations. When Atticus is faced with a problem, he briskly assesses his options, formulates a plan, and executes it; with 2,100 years of life-experience at his disposal, there’s no need for pontification. However, several members of the Club felt that there wasn’t enough internal dialogue and self-reflection to really get to know Atticus, especially given the books first person narrative. They felt that Atticus’s quick action and decisiveness detracted from his character, and created a void between him and the reader.

Whether or not we individually connected with Atticus, there was one thing the Club all agree on, Hounded was action packed. From the first otherworldly skirmish on page 4, to the culminating confrontation 250 pages later, Hearne lays out a fast-paced tale that charges forward and never lets up. What propels the plot forward is the onslaught of Aenghus Og’s minions (giants and faeries and witches…oh my!) which Atticus must dispatch with the help of his trusty Irish wolfhound Oberon. The pacing and sense of urgency is further aided by the fact that Hearne’s prose is tight, clean, and easily consumable; he doesn’t burden the reader with a heavy-handed writing style.

To keep things light, Hearne throws in a few laughs as well. The catalyst for most of the humor in Hounded is found Atticus’s allies. From his team of lawyers which is comprised of a vampire and a pack of werewolves, to his crass neighbor the widow MacDonagh, the supporting cast of characters does a keen job of lightening the mood even in the face of murder and mayhem.

All in all I enjoyed Hounded and will likely read the follow-ups Hexed and Hammered. I felt that Hounded created a strong foundation for a compelling urban fantasy series based on a lead character that separates himself from the crowd by being a supernatural man’s man. Although the world-building was admittedly thin in the debut novel, I think Hearne has the pieces in place to take the Iron Druid Chronicles to the next level in books two and three. It’s rare to find a supernatural book that keeps my interest like Hounded did, and for that reason and all those detailed above, I give Hounded a solid B+.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

2011-08-08T13:45:00.007-05:00

Summary:
"The central premise of the novel is that gods and mythological creatures exist because people believe in them. Immigrants to the United States, brought with them their beliefs in leprechauns, dwarves, and other spirits and gods. Over time, Americans' beliefs and allegiances have changed. Devotion to older gods have given way to devotion to newer more materialistic gods, reflecting America's obsession with the Internet, technology, and media. The power of the older gods has diminished as people's beliefs wane, and there is only so much belief to go around, which leads to a battle between the old gods and the new ones.

Leading us on this journey is Shadow, who upon his release from prison learns that his wife has just died in a car accident, leaving him without a job or anyone to come home to. On the plane ride home for her funeral, Shadow meets "Mr. Wednesday", who wants to hire Shadow to be his chauffeur, errand boy, and body guard. Being an ex-con without a job, Shadow reluctantly takes him up on the offer. The two depart on a road trip across America to assemble the old gods and prepare for the upcoming battle. "

Review:
There's definitely an epic feel to this book, it's a fantasy classic everyone should read, but like many classics, it's not an easy or fast read. There are some times where it drags a bit and the reader is struggling to figure out how all the pieces fit into the plot of the story. I think it's during this struggle that we realize what this book is really about. The gods and their desire to gain power is all there, but as Mr. Wednesday would say, that's just misdirection. While we're focused on the gods and their aforementioned battle, it's Shadow's journey that's the real point of the story.

Shadow is a guy whp sort of drifts through life. Life happens to him more than he makes things happen. Through the tasks and work he must do for Mr. Wednesday, Shadow learns about himself, and must examine who he really is and who he wants to become. It's about who he meets along the way and how they change him. By the end, we see Shadow's journey has just begun.

Gaiman is a master storyteller who brilliantly distracts us with one thing while surprising us with something totally different; a story we didn't even know we were looking for. Though I have unanswered questions, and am left wishing more explanation was given, I still feel satisfied because the book was so well written and the characters were so interesting.

The carousel at "House on the Rock" in Wisconsin, an attraction featured in the book.

Warning Spoilers:
Here is a list of a few unanswered questions that I and my fellow book club members had:

-Why do the gods want to fight? Wednesday needs deaths in his name, so his motivation is understandable, (as is Loki's) but why do the other gods want to fight? Is it for sport? Why is it a benefit to the gods themselves, it doesn't gain them followers or "belief", which is how they get power.

-Shadow "discovers" Wednesday's plot in the end, he just suddenly "knows" the truth. How?

-And after discovering the master plan, Shadow defuses the fight in 1/2 a page, and everyone is so uninvested in fighting in general that some dude saying "you know you shouldn't be fighting" is enough to make an army of age old gods stop without any questions or objections. It's just done.

-There's no epic battle at the end. It's sort of like the end of "Good Omens" where you have this build up and expectation of some action, but then nothing. The difference between the end of American Gods and Good Omens is that in American Gods you realize that the value of the story was all about getting to the battle.

-It would have been nice in this "battle" between the gods if it was explained how the gods "die". If the reason why the gods exist is because people believe in them, than how can Loki kill the god of the Internet? People still "believe" in the internet; killing "Internet" does nothing to solve the problem of belief, and seemingly has no impact on the old gods, or on the actual Internet.

Bottom Line: A story about a road trip through America and the strange beings met along the way. A unique study in humanity through the eyes of an ex-con, as he realizes that he merely drifts through life as a spectator, never going after what he wants. While not perfect, still an amazing book. Grade: B+.

Top 6 Supernatural and Fantasy Television shows V.3

2011-08-03T02:44:00.001-05:00

While we all love reading, occasionally we have to give our eyes and minds a break and watch some television! What paranormal shows are the members of the Supernatural Book Club watching? We did a recent poll to find out.
Here are the last 3 in our top 6 supernatural and fantasy television shows*, as voted on by the Supernatural Book Club.

*Disclaimer: This list does not include strictly sci/fi shows, so you won't find shows like "Star Trek" or "The X-Files" here, we're talking strictly supernatural and fantasy shows.

3. Lost: This show brought fantasy into the mainstream, even those who didn't set out to watch a fantasy show were eased in with "Lost". Before we all realized it, we were in the middle of one of the most elaborate fantastical mythologies ever seen on television. It was so complex that a room full of people could watch it and everyone would get something different from it. Whether you loved it or hated it, there's no denying that "Lost" will be a show that people will still be discussing and hypothesizing about for many years to come.

2. Supernatural: Demons, ghosts, vampires, shapeshifters, and angels, this show is a cornucopia of the paranormal. Two cool, good-looking brothers driving around in a classic car with a 70s rock soundtrack, battling demons and supernatural beings with some majorly amazing artillery make this show totally awesome. The witty banter and sarcastic dialogue offer a welcome relief from the serious struggle of good vs evil. This is the only show I've seen that can be deadly serious in one episode and totally make fun of it's self in the next and be able to pull it off without being campy or cheesy.

1. The Vampire Diaries: One of the few times the live-action version is better than the book and to say it's better is a serious understatement. Vampire Diaries is a show for anyone who loves vampires, but wants less graphic sex and violence than True Blood, but doesn't want Twilight-esque teen romance. It's a vampire show for those of us who want ongoing compelling story lines, shocking twists, and a bit of romance and betrayal.

Here's the list of shows we chose from:

Angel
Being Human
Being Human (US)
Beauty and the Beast
Brimstone
Bewitched
Blood Ties
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Carnivàle
Charmed
Conan the Adventurer
Dark Shadows
Dead Like Me
Demons
The Dead Zone
The Dresden Files
Drop Dead Diva
Doctor Who
Early Edition
Faerie Tale Theatre
Fantasy Island
Heroes
Highway to Heaven
The Gates
Ghost Whisperer
Highlander
I Dream of Jeannie
Joan of Arcadia
Kolchak: The Night Stalker
Kindred: The Embraced
Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Lost
Legend of the Seeker
Life on Mars
Merlin
Medium
Millennium
Moonlight
Neverwhere
Pushing Daisies
Reaper
Sanctuary
Sabrina The Teenage Witch
Smallville
Supernatural
The Twilight Zone
Torchwood
Tru Calling
True Blood
The Vampire Diaries
The Walking Dead
Wilfred
Wilfred (US)
Witchblade
Wonder Woman
Xena: Warrior Princess

Top 6 Supernatural and Fantasy Television shows V.2

2011-08-02T00:25:00.002-05:00

While we all love reading, occasionally we have to give our eyes and minds a break and watch some television! What paranormal shows are the members of the Supernatural Book Club watching? We did a recent poll to find out.

There was SO MUCH debate about about our number 4 show that I had to give it it's own post, just to have enough space!

4. True Blood- This show was really a mixed bag for us. There are several members who LOVE this show, as in "best show on television", and there are others who HATE it, as in find it horrid and disgusting. I thought it would be great to have a couple of member give their side, in their own words:

Why I love TrueBlood, by Anna:
I love vampires, so that's a given, but TB has the unique quality of being both action-packed, fantasy-driven with a healthy amount of traditional soap opera drama thrown in for good measure. The over-the-top sex doesn't hurt either, and though some might find it sensational or vulgar, that's exactly what it's meant to be. The True Fans of True Blood understand that when it comes to vampires, sex and intimacy isn't all puppies, kittens and cuddling like Stephenie Meyer would want us to believe. I find her portrayal of vampire intimacy to be, well, underwhelming and stupid. Alan Ball shows vampires how they truly are : hedonistic extremists who no longer live by the moral and cultural barriers that govern the human race. And yes, there are some resulting plot elements and sex/violence scenes that therefore make us, the viewer, uncomfortable - or excited - or shocked - or simply entertained. Because at the end of the day, all TV shows are about 1 thing - entertainment & ratings. And it's a testament to True Blood that it occupies the #1 spot on Sunday prime-time TV with 5.5 million viewers on a PAY channel.

TrueBlood is horrible. By TornSack:
As a connoisseur of supernatural television, I have to say, True Blood is horrible. Rather than rant and rave (as I usually do) about the myriad of things that make True Blood absolute trash, I'm going to conduct a little television critique experiment with you. What I need from you is simple; all you have to do is put True Blood out of your mind while you read the rest of this review, and honestly answer the questions I pose with either a yes or a no. Ready? Great, here we go.

I saw this new show, it's really cool, in this one episode, this guy takes some drugs, and he get's a raging hard-on. It's pretty awesome, he's got a boner, and it won't go away. He beats-off 3 or 4 times, but only succeeds at the beating part, nothing goes "off," if you catch my drift ;). Feeling like a boner for abusing his boner, the guy cries to some of his friends about how he punched himself in the dick so much that his crotch turned all black and blue. Then he shows his one-eyed monster to this chick who wants to bang him; she nearly pukes at the sight (and smell?) of the thing and convinces him to go to the ER where a doctor drains the blood from the guy's dick to relieve his awesome drug-dong of it's RAGE!!! Is this a show you'd like to watch?

Oh my goodness, I love this show sooo much, you HAVE to check it out! In this one episode, these awesome people, they trick these other people into having an orgy, but then one set of people totally torture and brutally murder the other people. First they molest and bite the throat out of the female (and make her husband watch), then they taunt the man over his dying wife's body before they break his neck. But that's not even the best part! As the woman lies bleeding to death, the two murders, they totally make the sexy time right in the middle of the pool of blood and on top of the dead bodies! It's sooooo awesome! Is this a show you'd like to watch?

This show is off-the-chain! You gotta watch it! It's got this fresh and original plot line in season 3. It starts out with this crazy-eyed guy rescuing this chick from a couple cracked out hillbillies who are trying to rape and kill her. To repay the knight in shining armor for saving her, the damsel in distress makes freaky-deaky-squeel-like-a-pig "love" to him. The next day, ol' crazy-eyes brainwashes the damsel and kidnaps her to Mississippi where they rent a room in Castle Gay Skull (the gaudy residence of the King of Mississippi). There, the knight ties his damsel to the bed, and proceeds to beat and rape her for several episodes. Finally the damsel escapes, smacks the knight upside the head with a mace, and his HEAD A SPLODE! But he's not dead, so it's cool. Is this a show you'd like to watch?

If you answered "yes" to any of the questions above, you should be ashamed of yourself (at least a little). True Blood is not good TV, it's just blood, guts, and porn. For some reason people think that because it's on HBO, or because they talk about it on E!, that it's not porn. Well sorry to burst your bubble, but True Blood is PORN, and as porn goes, it's not even good porn, and worse than that, it's on the more gruesome and disturbing end of the porn spectrum.

So keep this in mind the next time you come to my house and ask to watch True Blood on my HBO, it's no different than asking to watch some porn on my pay-per-view.

Top 6 Supernatural and Fantasy Television shows, V.1

2011-08-01T01:07:00.000-05:00

While we all love reading, occasionally we have to give our eyes and minds a break and watch some television! What paranormal shows are the members of the Supernatural Book Club watching? We did a recent poll to find out.
Here are the first 2 in our top 6 supernatural and fantasy television shows*, as voted on by the Supernatural Book Club.

*Disclaimer: This list does not include strictly sci/fi shows, so you won't find shows like "Star Trek" or "The X-Files" here, we're talking strictly supernatural and fantasy shows.

6. Being Human: A vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost sharing a house, trying desperately to fit into a human society that no longer accepts them, a community they're no longer a part of, struggling to remember what it's like to be human. It's a premise so good they remade it in America, but it's the original British version that best captures the humanity behind the "monsters". It asks the questions, "What would it really be like to be a vampire? How would you live your life?".

5. Pushing Daisies: Ned has the unique ability to bring the dead back to life with a single touch, but if he touches that person again, they die forever. Now Ned must resist the desire to touch his childhood love, whom he's revived after her death and doesn't want to lose again. When he's not pining over his love, Ned is helping solve murders and settle will disputes, by simply asking the recently deceased. Charming, whimsical and romantic, this show was a cheery and sunny take on death, and a unique viewing experience.

Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison

2011-07-07T13:14:00.006-05:00

Summary:
Rachel Morgan is a witch and bounty hunter with the Inderland Services, or IS. She's either great at her job or terrible, depending on who's talking. She doesn't follow rules and is trying to get fired. When she is unsuccessful at this, she finally quits, unfortunately for her, the Inderland Service's best bounty hunter, or "runner", living vampire Ivy Tamwood decides to leave with her, thus causing the entire IS to put out a death warrant out on Rachel. Yup, Rachel must die because this vampire quit with her, why does Ivy choose right then to quit? Who cares? Everyone are after this witch, and that's what's important. Danger is around every corner, and after moving in with Ivy, no where is safe for Rachel. Now she must fight to pay off her contract with the IS, survive life with Ivy, and catch a mob boss who deals in illegal goods.

Review: Where to start... The protagonist and narrator of this book, Rachel. Rachel is the stupidest protagonist I've ever read about. She's wrong about almost everything, she's so sure no one will care when she leaves her job, after all she's terrible at it and they hate her, everyone she knows and even a random cab driver tell her the IS will put a death warrant out on her, she is convinced they won't and guess what? She's wrong. She's so convinced her brilliant "plans" are fool-proof, and almost every time she's caught. Rachel is described as being a good witch and yet even her simple "disguise potions" fool no one, she walks in in her "old lady disguise" and people are like "oh, hi Rachel". Rachel is flabbergasted, how can this be happening?? The fact that she is shocked is in and of it's self proof she's daft, it's what happens every time.

Then there's Ivy, living vampire and described as a frightening badass. You wouldn't know this of course because after the first couple of chapters she seldom leaves the house and never does anything remotely "badass". She does however, come on to her new roommate Rachel and act super creepy almost all the time. She tells Rachel that, she (Rachel) has to stop feeling any type of emotion (sadness, stress, anger, etc.) because it makes Ivy almost unable to control the urge to bite her (how Ivy managed to live in the world without biting anyone for 3 years is unexplained). Rachel must live with Ivy to be protected from the creatures hired to kill her, but we never see Ivy protecting her, in fact Ivy makes other dangerous vampires come around who want to kill Rachel, and Ivy is constantly tempted to kill Rachel. This makes no sense.

I can suspend disbelief as much as the next person, but this book was over the edge. Repeatedly we're told how pixies are the lowest on the pay roll and unimportant and people see them as a nuisance, when Rachel and her band of misfits are constantly being saved by a couple of pixies. The pixies are the smartest and most powerful over and over despite the author's attempts to tell you otherwise, but that inconsistency is far from the worst. Not only did I have to believe the world's stupidest person is an all powerful witch, but I'm supposed to believe that the rich and powerful in Cincinnati go to an underground RAT FIGHTING RING! Yes, that's exactly what it sounds like. A warehouse where rats and other rodents are brought to fight to the death, like dog fighting or cock fighting, but with RATS! And the circumstances surrounding this is even worse, but I don't want to ruin the um, surprise.

I'll give you one last complaint, though you know I could go on. This book was like Narcoleptic Kryptonite, I swear every time I'd start to read it I would fall asleep, even if I wasn't tired, even if I was sitting straight up in a wooden chair at my kitchen table. The only time I could get through more then a couple of pages without nodding off I was at the doctor's office. I seriously considered just going there so I could actually get this damned thing read.

This cloud does have a "silver lining", the world that Rachel lives in, one in which 1/4 of the world's human population was killed off from bioengineering tomatoes, and supernatural creatures now outnumber the humans, is rich and full of possibilities. It's unique and interesting, sadly the main two characters were ridiculous and stupid. It's sad, really to see the bit of potential being wasted.

Bottom Line: Boring and stupid. I wouldn't waste my time if I were you. Rating: D.

On the move...

2011-06-28T12:08:00.002-05:00

Megan over at The Book Addicted Girl was kind enough to have me over for a visit! Check out my book review for Glass Houses on her website and bookmark her page for the latest and greatest in Young Adult paranormal fiction!

Here's the link to my post!

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (Mortal Instruments book one)

2011-06-26T15:50:00.001-05:00

Summary: When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder - much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing - not even a smear of blood - to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know...." Summary from GoodReads

Anyone who's read more than a couple of my reviews can tell that I'm a tough critic, BUT I'm trying to be better about that. In keeping that in mind, I will tell you the plus and minus of this book (and try not to dwell on the minus).

The Plus: It truly is a young adult book. No sex, very little violence, no swearing. If you're going to label a book YA, I prefer it really be PG to PG-13 rated. In keeping in line with the YA label, the characters seem like authentic teenagers, especially the protagonist, Clary. She's unsure of her feelings, she's stubborn, she's kinda whinny, she's your typical 15 year old. It's easy to imagine being a teenager and going through what Clary does. The biggest plus? The ending, finally something original. Really made me want to read on in the series.

The Minus: Some of the characters are pretty two dimensional, I don't need a super amount of detain about every characters, but it might be nice to know something about the more prominent characters, like Isabel and Alec and their family, maybe that's coming in the other books in the series? But really, its not that big of a deal. The biggest deal was that I didn't really like Jace, and he's the main male character. He's arrogant, sarcastic, rebellious, and kind of a jerk. So, typical teenage boy, but it's not really like he's even nice to Clary (so why she likes him is a bit of a mystery, guess he must be cute). It was kinda funny at first, but got old really fast. It's hard to love a book when the one of the two main characters is annoying.

Bottom Line: It's a good book. It's age appropriate with an interesting story. The complains I had are minor and despite them I really enjoyed the book. Grade: B+.

I am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

2011-06-03T12:08:00.005-05:00

"Nine of us came here. We look like you. We talk like you, But we are not you. We can do things you can only dream of doing. We have powers you dream of having. We are stronger and faster then anyone you have ever seen. We are the superheros you worship in movies and comic books-but we are real.

Our plan was to grow, and train, and become strong, and become one, and to fight them. But they found us and started hunting us first. Now all of us are running. Spending our lives in shadows, in places no one would look, blending in. We have lived among you without you knowing.

But they know.

They caught Number One in Malaysia.
Number Two in England.
And Number Three in England.
They killed them all.

I am Number Four.
I am next. "
-Description from the book jacket

Number Four a.k.a "John Smith" is a 15-year old alien from the planet Lorien, he lives with his guardian (or Cêpan), Henri. They have spent the last 10 years here on Earth, on the run from the Mogadorians, another race of aliens that are hunting down the nine teenagers from Lorien that are part of a group called the Garde, who have special powers and abilities. The nine Garde are protected by a charm that protects them from the Mogadorians, long as they are apart, they can only be killed in numbered order. The book begins with the murder of Number Three, which signals to Number Four that he is next...

I'll tell it to you straight, this book is formulaic and typical. It's about a planet called "Lorien" for goodness sake (though I guess if you're going to blatantly steel stuff, do it from the best, and fantasy doesn't get much better than Tolkien). More specifically, the love interest is lacking in personality and is pretty generic. The school bully who makes trouble for the protagonist is also pretty generic and predictable.

However...

Let's face it, there aren't that many ideas out there, everything borrows from everything else. Sometimes it's nice to just sit back and be entertained, to not have to concentrate on advanced plot lines and just enjoy the ride. This is a great book for that. It's got a great protagonist who seems like a real teenage kid. The relationship he has with his father-like mentor is heart felt and moving, as is his relationship with his best friend. There is also a helpful and loyal dog, and I love dogs, so definite plus. There are a lot of young adult books out there, most are unoriginal, not all are entertaining, this one definitely is.

Bottom line: A fun, fast, and entertaining read. Good characters that the reader can root for and get behind. I'd give it a B+.

W.W.W. Wednesday

2011-06-01T17:39:00.005-05:00

Thanks to "Should be Reading", once again here's the W.W.W Wednesday update!

What are you currently reading?
What did you just finish?
What do you think you'll read next?

I am currently read "Obsidian Butterfly" by Lauren K. Hamilton, yeah I went back to Anita Blake. I couldn't help it. I like the character, and the stories are very well written, now if Hamilton just would stop venturing off into the "land of porn" I'd be really happy. So far this one has not had any of that, BUT I'm only on page 268 or 596. There's still time....

I just finished "One for the Money" by Janet Evanovich. It was good, very much like the Sue Grafton books I loved when I was in my early 20s. Not a supernatural book, so you'll see no review for it here, sorry.

I'll read whatever the book club chooses next, and of course another Jim Butcher book.

What about you? Answer the questions yourself in the comments!

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

2011-05-04T22:45:00.009-05:00

Summery: "There is a distinct hint of Armageddon in the air. According to The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch (recorded, thankfully, in 1655, before she blew up her entire village and all its inhabitants, who had gathered to watch her burn), the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. So the armies of Good and Evil are amassing, the Four Bikers of the Apocalypse are revving up their mighty hogs and hitting the road, and the world's last two remaining witch-finders are getting ready to fight the good fight, armed with awkwardly antiquated instructions and stick pins. Atlantis is rising, frogs are falling, tempers are flaring. . . . Right. Everything appears to be going according to Divine Plan. Except that a somewhat fussy angel and a fast-living demon -- each of whom has lived among Earth's mortals for many millennia and has grown rather fond of the lifestyle -- are not particularly looking forward to the coming Rapture. If Crowley and Aziraphale are going to stop it from happening, they've got to find and kill the Antichrist (which is a shame, as he's a really nice kid). There's just one glitch: someone seems to have misplaced him. . ." -From Gaiman's website.

Review: I feel bad writing a less then stellar review for this book. It seems like not loving this book will cost me my seat at the "cool kids table". This is the first satire I've read. And while it was funny I found myself so fixated on every line of the book, trying to tie together in my mind why every detail was included, that it took me three times as long to read as it should have. I was told I should "skim it", but I'm a terrible "skimmer". I read for detail and continued story, this book is full of digressions with a slow moving story weaved in. It feels almost like Gaiman and Pratchett got a little too clever for their own good. They took the wit and hilarity a couple steps too far, making the book way longer then it needed to be.

That being said, the book IS very clever. Gaiman and Pratchett obviously did their research and their take on the Apocalypse is original and funny. I particularly liked the interaction between Aziraphale and Crowley. And the hilarious take on the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. I really think this book would make a fantastic movie, that way some of the excess incidental stuff could be toned down and the basic story and humor could be seen.

Bottom line: If your looking for an action packed apocalypse, look somewhere else. If you're looking for a meandering, humorous story that takes it's time getting to the finish line, this is the book for you.

W.W.W Wednesdays

2011-04-20T22:29:00.015-05:00

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

(Special thanks to "Should Be Reading" for the idea)

What am I currently reading?:

-Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett (for the book club). Only read a small amount so far, but it's funny. Not as easy to read as the YA books I've been reading lately.

-Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar -Teen trash, sometimes I need a break from the wizards and demons. Like book candy, tastes good while you're eating it, but has little substance.

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote - A Classic I'd never read. It's good, really good.

Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher - I love Harry Dresden. I listen to the audio books of this series when I run. It's narrated by James Marsters. Best book narrator I've ever heard.

What did I just finish?:

Mockingj ay by Suzanne Collins -Someday I'll get round to reviewing this book...

Blue Bloods by Melissa De La Cruz - Sort of like "Pretty Little Liars" with more secrets, oh and vampires.

Watchers by Dean Koontz -Got to love Dean Koontz. This one was less violent and had more mainstream appeal then many of his others. I would recommend it.

Dead Beat by Jim Butcher - Harry Dresden is the one of the best literary characters ever written. Jim Butcher is a genius.

What do I think I'll read next?:

What ever the book club votes on.

The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis -Found this at the library, I had wanted to read it years ago, figured I'd give it a shot.

White Night by Jim Butcher -Of course.

There you have it. What about you? Answer the questions yourself in the comments.

The Vampire Diaries: The Return, Shadow Souls

2011-04-11T03:34:00.000-05:00

Description (from the back of the book):

Elena Gilbert's love, the vampire Stefan Salvatore, has been captured and imprisoned by demonic spirits who are wreaking havoc in Fell's Church. While her friends Bonnie and Meredith explore the evil that has taken over their town, Elena goes in search of Stefan.

In order to find him, she entrusts her life to Stefan's brother, Damon Salvatore, the handsome but deadly vampire who wants Elena, body and soul. Along with her childhood friend Matt, they set out for the slums of the Dark Dimension, where Stefan is being held captive. It is rumored to be a world where vampires and demons roam free, but humans must live enslaved to their supernatural masters. . . .

Elena will stop at nothing to free Stefan. Yet with each passing day the tension between Elena and Damon grows, and she is faced with a terrible decision: Which brother does she really want?

This review contains spoilers!!

Hmmm I wonder who Elena will chose? Each book promises this "love triangle", but really it's Stefan, always Stefan, there's never really any doubt. To be fair, this book comes the closest to Elena actually questioning her feelings for Damon, though it's only because Stefan is physically absent. As soon as Stefan is back, it's ALL about him. Which is fine, but don't lie to us about this complicated decision, from the first chapter of the first book, Elena's mind is made up.

The best:
-Stefan is gone, so there's far less super gooey "lovely love" baby talk between Elena and Stefan, there's still some, as Elena visits him in dreams and they attempt to nauseate us with their undying love.
-Damon has a lasting chance at redemption. Damon is better than in the last book, some of the sense of humor is back.
-Elena and Damon build a much stronger bond. It was interesting to see how their relationship would go, well "interesting" is probably too strong a word.
-I liked that Damon got turned into a human at the last second of the last book and Stefan gets super pissed (Damon does so much stuff and this mistake is what Stefan wants to kill him over?). Though the way it happens is stupid (plus, I had forgotten after watching too much of the television show how much Damon does NOT want to be human, glad they changed that in the show, makes it way more interesting).

The worst:
-The reiterating the SAME things over and over is really grating. "Elena is sweet, and kind, and pure and the most perfect being in existence". "Bonnie is fragile and delicate, emotional and weak". Yep, we got that the first 500 times, we do not need paragraph after paragraph of discussion about it.

-There's an exorbitant amount of time spent talking about clothes and jewelry, and what Elena is wearing, right down to her custom perfumes. This wouldn't be so bad (wait, yes it would be) if the characters hadn't JUST been talking about the urgency to save Stefan. Somehow everything they have to "get" to save him involves ANOTHER set of dresses and another 5 or 6 pages of descriptions of frivolous crap (seriously, there are descriptions of how the lighting at the various events will be, so they can accurately decide what colors to wear...). Even when "rushing" to visit Stefan, they must first waste a bunch of time making custom stuff for Elena (and others) to wear.

-The entire book is about a road trip to save Stefan from prison, and when they get to the actual rescue, it's over in half a page. The mere presence of a set of Elena's "wings" cause the plant-woman chasing them to crash into them and die (couldn't have whipped those babies out 10 pages ago when this creature started her pursuit?).

Bottom line: Better than Nightfall. About the same as the first four.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

2011-04-06T23:08:00.007-05:00

Summery: "In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on

live TV.
Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love."

Review: The Hunger Games is about a corrupt government punishing its citizens by sentencing their children to fight to death in an brutal, televised, staged environment. It's part "Survivor", part "Battle Royale", part "Lord of the Flies". By design the book is uncomfortable. There's no denying that everyday life for these people is terrible; the "Games" are just the horrific icing on the oppressive cake that is life under the control of the Capitol. Just reading it made me want to escape. It's stifling. In creating this environment Collins made the reader really feel what Katniss was going through. This is the book's greatest accomplishment.

The book is told in the first person and ordinarily this is my favorite type of narrative, but in this case I thought it limited the action in the story. Having only the ability to see Katniss's perspective left little to no pay off for the long tense scenes. I would have really enjoyed some actual combat.

There's a lot of praise for this book, and it certainly is a book that keeps you turning the page, is it worth all the hype? I suppose as much as any book. I liked it, I didn't LOVE it, but I'm pretty particular. I can say that it's better than most books I have read lately and the best book the "Supernatural Book Club" has read so far. Perhaps it was the subject matter that prevented me from loving it. I distrust the government and it stands to reason that I don't like any book that features citizens being oppressed by an all powerful governing body. That's probably it. Everyone else in the book club loved The Hunger Games.

Spoilers ahead:

Other than the subject matter in general, there were a couple other issues that prevented me from loving this book. First was the protagonist and narrator of the story, Katniss Everdeen. Katniss is difficult to like; she's hardened, stubborn, automatically distrustful and self involved. I understand that she's self involved because she HAS to be; she's had the task of caring completely for her mother and sister since she was was eleven years old. She's so self sufficient that it's easy to forget she's a sixteen year old girl.

Then there's the love story, which becomes as frustrating for the reader as it does for the characters. Katniss struggles to understand her feelings for Peeta, a boy who clearly is in love with her (and is so absolutely sure about his feelings), and her indecision is absolutely grating. Does she love him? Is she simply playing along to stay alive? The whole thing got really old fast. On the plus side, the love story did make me like Peeta more for being so faithful and loyal to Katniss, willing to do anything to protect her.

Bottom line: I give The Hunger Games a solid B. An easy read and an intriguing story; a great start to a series. The protagonist is a little tough to relate to, but I can see that changing as the series goes on. Collins' ability to make you feel what the characters are feeling partially makes up for the flaws in her main character.

Angel Time by Anne Rice

2011-03-13T23:35:00.006-05:00

Summary: Anne Rice returns to the mesmerizing storytelling that has captivated readers for more than three decades in a tale of unceasing suspense set in time past—a metaphysical thriller about angels and assassins.

The novel opens in the present. At its center: Toby O’Dare—a contract killer of underground fame on assignment to kill once again. A soulless soul, a dead man walking, he lives under a series of aliases—just now: Lucky the Fox—and takes his orders from “The Right Man.” Into O’Dare’s nightmarish world of lone and lethal missions comes a mysterious stranger, a seraph, who offers him a chance to save rather than destroy lives. O’Dare, who long ago dreamt of being a priest but instead came to embody danger and violence, seizes his chance. Now he is carried back through the ages to thirteenth-century England, to dark realms where accusations of ritual murder have been made against Jews, where children suddenly die or disappear . . . In this primitive setting, O’Dare begins his perilous quest for salvation, a journey of danger and flight, loyalty and betrayal, selflessness and love. --

This is the first Anne Rice book the book club has read and the first I myself have read, so I can't say how well it compares to her older books. I have heard the older books are WAY different due to Rice's recent conversion back to Christianity. Before I read "Angel Time" I had heard it was "preachy", and yeah, it is, but that's not really the issue.

Overall the book was sort of flat. I can tell that Rice is capable of telling a good story, I just don't think this is it. The story is about redemption of a professional assassin, an angel tells Toby that God needs him and his skill set specifically to help some people in thirteenth century England. I could accept that, though sadly there wasn't enough of a threat to require the "specific skills" of an assassin, or Toby personally. It's possible that the explanation is yet to come, as this book is the first in the "Song of the Seraphim" series, but the story wasn't engaging enough to make me care to read on and find out.

Spoilers ahead:
After traveling back in time Toby meets and instantly feels for the people he's helping, he would die for them, he loves them like family. I understand that we can't understand God's love and all that, but it just seemed rushed and I couldn't feel the sympathy that he did. The story was long and sort of unnecessarily complicated.
In the end Toby helps the family in an elaborate lie to deceive the Catholic church. This was really strange to me. This guy is brought to help the Jewish people and in turn receive his own redemption, but he must do this through lies and deceit? Not sure what to think about that. God and an angel help this guy lie to protect the Jewish people of England?

Bottom Line: It's clear that Rice is an excellent writer, her book was full of exquisite detail, I just really thought the story could have been stronger, and well, better.

Horror and Urban Fantasy reading Challenge 2011

2011-03-03T00:00:00.000-06:00

I'm finding all sorts of fun stuff to do! I saw this challenge and knew it was something I wanted to do. Click on the banner on the right side of this blog to join! Then all you have to do is read 24 horror or urban fantasy books before the end of December! (Since I didn't know, here is the definition of "urban fantasy": Urban fantasy is a sub-genre of fantasy defined by place; the fantastic narrative has an urban setting. Many urban fantasies are set in contemporary times and contain supernatural elements. However, the stories can take place in historical, modern, or futuristic periods. The prerequisite is that they must be primarily set in a city.) Most of the books we read here are probably considered urban fantasy.

W.W.W Wednesday

2011-03-02T00:05:00.003-06:00

Recently I started reading the blog "Should Be Reading" and in a recent post found these fun questions, that as an avid reader, I couldn't resist!

"To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

My answers:

-I'm currently reading 3 books (I have a short attention span, I have to change it up):

The first is The Vampire Diaries: The Return, Shadows Souls by L.J Smit h. After reading the previous installment, I have to say that this one IS an improvement. It is also really long and I wish the author would just get to the point already!

The second is Pr etty Little Liars by Sara Shepard. Shockingly enough, I don't just read supernatural books! This one won't have a review on this site, and I've not read enough of it to say whether or not it's good. Perhaps on the per sonal blog I'll review it...

The third is I am Number Four by Pitticus Lore. I know, I know everyone is ripping this book and movie apart, partially I think because James Frey is such a self-righteous jerk. BUT so far the book, while simple and definitely an YA novel, is engaging and entertaining. I like it.

-I just finished Angel Time by Anne Rice and Supernatural: Heart of the Dragon by Keith DeCandido. Both with be reviewed on this site shortly.

-What will I read next? There are SO many options! The next book I read will be the book the book club decides on, as perhaps the next Preacher comic that's been sitting on my bedside table for months...

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own WWW Wednesday post, or share your answers in the comment section here. Thanks!

The Vampire Diaries: The Return: Nightfall

2011-02-15T16:52:00.005-06:00

I have no excuse. After these reviews I thought I was done with these books. I think it was watching the television show that made me venture back into the preposterous town of Fell's Church.
Elena is back. She's no longer dead, she's no longer a vampire, but she's not quite a human either. What is she? Adult-baby-mythical-fairy would be an accurate description, with magical powers. She's unable to speak and only recognizes people by kissing them, Stefan, Bonnie, Meredith, Caroline, Matt, they all get some kissin' from Elena (prairie dogs do this, according to the author, yeah prairie dogs are always making out with each other, the sluts). She also floats in the air, at one point Stefan tethers her floating body to the back of his car as he drives through the forest. She then wakes up one day all better and able to speak, but of course she gets to keep the magic powers.
Smith also found it necessary to retell us repeatedly that Elena is beautiful with "golden hair and eyes as blue as "lapis lazuli". Mentioning once that she is an attractive blonde with blue eyes would have sufficed. She also tells us repeatedly how angelic and kind and wonderful Elena is, and how EVERYONE loves her. Guess what? We read the first four books, Elena's a self obsessed spoiled brat. We didn't forget. Oh, but now her blood makes her irresistible to all vampires (fans of Charlaine Harris find this sounds rather familiar). Yeah, we needed another reason all men love her, vampire or otherwise.
And on to Stefan and Damon. Stefan isn't really around much and when he is he's simply calling Elena his "lovely love" over and over and flying around in the trees with her (since when can he fly? Oh, that's right since L.J Smith saw "Twilight"). Yes he's more bland and boring then before, but it's not that noticeable. Now Damon however is another story. Remember how I said he turned into a suddenly helpful robot in the last book? That was better then whatever the hell he was here. All snarky comments and sense of humor gone.

Spoilers ahead:

To keep this review from getting way too long I'll just list of some of the more bizarre occurrences:

-Attacks by ambulatory trees, with poisonous sap, and some with exposed male genitalia.
-Elena sprouting different sets of wing or different occasions ("redemption" wings, "purity" wings, etc.)
-A set of Japanese incestuous twins. About as believable as a poorly written cartoon a 12 year old wrote.
-Teen girls, while possessed, strip off all their clothes and throw themselves at ANY male they see, even their fathers and brothers. One 15 year old girl superglues a homemade stripper outfit onto herself.
-Also while possessed (by a Japanese fox demon, I might add), Damon tries to get Matt and Elena to make a sex tape.
-Caroline becomes pregnant and accused Matt of raping her (it's not even his kid).

I can say that if the goal was to read nonsense just to see how bad it'll get, then this book was worth the drive to the library. I'm glad I didn't pay money for it, which was twice as long as the other four at around 600 pages.

As terrible as the first four books were, they were never boring, and weren't completely nonsensical (stupid, maybe). Towards the end, the book made so little sense that I was rereading parts to make sure I wasn't losing my mind. Nope, I've still got mine, can't say the same for L.J. Smith.

Bottom line: Read my previous reviews of the first four books, then think to yourself "do i like nonsense that's so ridiculous it literally sucks the intelligence right out of your brain? If the answer is "yes", this is the book for you.

And keep an eye out for my review of TVD The Return: Shadow Souls and we'll see just how far Smith will go in her obvious decent into madness.

*On a side note, doesn't the chick on the cover look like "Quinn" from "Glee"?

The Mothman Prophecies by John A. Keel

2011-02-09T14:12:00.006-06:00

Summary from the back of the book:
"West Virginia, 1966. For thirteen months the town of Point Pleasant is gripped by a real-life nightmare that culminates in a tragedy that makes headlines around the world. Strange occurrences and sightings, including a bizarre winged apparition that becomes known as the Mothman, trouble this ordinary American community. Mysterious lights are seen moving across the sky. Domestic animals are found slaughtered and mutilated. And journalist John Keel, arriving to investigate the freakish events, soon finds himself an integral part of an eerie and unfathomable mystery..."

"The Mothman Prophecies" is journalist and author John Keel's accounts of unidentified flying objects, "men in black", "ultraterrestrials", and a red eyed, gray winged creature called the "Mothman". Most in our book club chose not to read the book either out of lack of interest in a non-fiction book on the paranormal or the fear that the book would scare them, of the people who did read it, the general idea was that while it was difficult to believe, it was an interesting study, and interesting theories. It definitely gave us all something to think about. Below is my personal review:

As a life long fan of science fiction and fantasy, reading real people's accounts of strange beings and flying objects was fascinating. Keel does a great job of remaining objective and not inserting his opinion or interpretation into the accounts, he tells them as he heard them, as fact. Whether or not you as the reader believe everything in the book as fact is another story. Either way though, for anyone who likes this kind of stuff I'd highly recommend this book. Without it we wouldn't have "The X Files" or the "Men in Black" movies (a term Keel himself coined) or many other scifi books and movies. It's the foundation of many popular culture "norms" about UFOs and extraterrestrials. While at times the book can feel a bit disjointed and the names of the different "contactees" are difficult to keep straight, Keel really tells a compelling story and makes the reader want to know more. Plus, many of the accounts are so outlandish and absurd sounding that you can't stop reading. From stories of a red eyed, winged creature that may or may not eat dead dogs, to the "cosmic clap", to visitors knocking on the door in the middle of the night as asking for a bag of salt, the stories never get boring. I'll leave you all with one of my favorite quotes. When discussing how the mothman likes to visit couples while they're parked out on deserted roads, Keel writes:
"Young love has to run in to enough hazards without the fear of a hair weirdo hammering on the windshield."

Bottom Line: For anyone who has any interest in UFOs, MIBs, or EMFs this book is a must-read.

Darkfever By Karen Marie Moning

2011-01-05T23:44:00.006-06:00

Description from the back of the book:

""My philosophy is pretty simple-any day nobody’s
trying to kill me is a good day in my book.
I haven’t had many good days lately."

MacKayla Lane’s life is good. She has great friends, a decent job, and a car that breaks down only every other week or so. In other words, she’s your perfectly ordinary twenty-first-century woman.

Or so she thinks... until something extraordinary happens.

When her sister is murdered, leaving a single clue to her death–a cryptic message on Mac’s cell phone–Mac journeys to Ireland in search of answers. The quest to find her sister’s killer draws her into a shadowy realm where nothing is as it seems, where good and evil wear the same treacherously seductive mask. She is soon faced with an even greater challenge: staying alive long enough to learn how to handle a power she had no idea she possessed–a gift that allows her to see beyond the world of man, into the dangerous realm of the Fae..."

Overall the club liked this book and most of us will continue to read the books in the series. Moning does a great job building tension (both sexual and otherwise) between the various characters, and the story is so vivid and clear through the protagonist, Mac's eyes it's easy to imagine extraordinary evens actually taking place. There were also many comparisons between the main character and narrator of these books and Sookie Stackhouse from Charlaine Harris' "Southern Vampire Mysteries". Both women are southern, from small towns, very girlie, and work in a bar. Fans of Harris' series would likely enjoy this series.
The main complaint about the book is that in and of it's self it offers little, other than a slow, but interesting start to a much bigger story. As a stand alone book, it's terrible, giving the reader no answers or return on their invested time and money in the book. As part of a series, it's intriguing. When authors do this it really bothers me. I understand you've got a bigger story to tell, but at least give me SOME closure and answers to the questions that have come up over the 250 pages of the novel.

On the plus side, it does appear the author knows where she's going with the series and hopefully will have less inconsistencies than other series that perhaps were not as preplanned to be a series.

Bottom line: If you're ready fora new series, Darkfever and the rest of the "Fever series" are a fun and intriguing read. If you're not interested in investing that much time to get answers, don't read the first one, you'll just be frustrated.

Black Magic Woman by Justin Gustainis

2010-12-02T13:35:00.000-06:00

This is the second "official" book the real "Supernatural Book Club" has read.
Plot Summery (from the back of the book):"Occult investigator Quincey Morris and his partner, white witch Libby Chastain, are called in to help free a desperate family from a deadly curse that appears to date back to the Salem Witch Trials. To release the family from danger they must find the root of the curse, a black witch with a terrible grudge that holds the family in her power.

The pursuit takes them to the mysterious underworlds of Boston, San Francisco, New Orleans, and New York, stalking a prey that is determined to stay hidden. After surviving a series of terrifying attempts on their lives, the two find themselves drawn inexorably towards Salem itself—the very heart of darkness."

When I read the title of this book I had my doubts, several of us did. "Black Magic Woman"? That's a pretty poor title for the book, and that picture on the front? After reading the book we still couldn't figure out who that was supposed to be. The title and picture did not accurately portray what the book was about, BUT thankfully we were able to get past that. The one thing that gave me hope that the book might not be so bad was the endorsement on the front by Jim Butcher, and reading int eh acknowledgments section that Gustainis aspires to write books like Butcher's. Having read many of Butcher's books I'd say that this book is in a definitely similar style to Butcher's "The Dresden Files". And Mr. Gustainis is well on his way to his goal.

The general consensus of the book club is that "Black Magic Woman" was more enjoyable then the last book we read ("Undead and Unwed"), but really that isn't saying much. It offered mystery, intrigue, supernatural beings, all the things we love. There are also several different plot lines seen from the perspectives of several different characters in different settings. All the different plot lines are connected and tie together at the end. I think this element was what we all seemed to like best about the book, it was more complex in that regard then some of the books we've read before. The one thing missing was romance, this book is really a supernatural detective novel. Not having romance wasn't a bad thing, but if that's what you're looking for, you might be disappointed.

Bottom line: An entertaining read, plenty of action and adventure. I would recommend it for fans of Jim Butcher and The Dresden Files.

Undead and Unwed By MaryJanice Davidson

2010-10-27T21:03:00.006-05:00

This is the first book the real-life "Supernatural Book Club" decided to read.
Summery (from the back cover)
"It's been a hell of a week for Betsy Taylor. First she loses her job. Then she's killed in a freak accident only to wake up in a morgue to discover she's a vampire. On the plus side, being undead sure beats the alternative. She now has superhuman strength and an unnatural effect on the opposite sex. But what Betsy can't handle is her new liquid diet...And whilst her mother and best-friend are just relieved to find out that being dead doesn't mean Betsy's can't visit, her new 'night-time' friends have the ridiculous idea that Betsy is the prophesied vampire queen. The scrumptious Sinclair and his cohorts want her help in overthrowing the most obnoxious power-hungry vampire in five centuries. (A Bella Lugosi wannabe who's seen one to many B-movies.) Frankly Betsy couldn't care less about vamp politics. But Sinclair and his followers have a powerful weapon in their arsenal - unlimited access to Manolo Blahnik's Spring collection. Well, just because a girl's dead - er undead - doesn't mean she can't have great shoes... "

We had some slightly varying opinions, but for the most part we found the book to be silly, humorous, and utterly ridiculous. All of theses things the author intended. What she likely did not intent was the unrelatable, shallow, petty nature of the main character Betsy, as well as the plot holes and inconsistent storyline. The book club spend more than an hour going over the inconsistencies and trying to find answers, sadly their were none. Even the way "Betsy" becomes a vampire is unbelievable and difficult to comprehend, and don't even get me started on the "feeding" and the inconsistencies (and weirdly graphic scenes) regarding that... A couple of us were able to see the story on a more surface level and enjoy the book despite this fact.

Bottom line: It's meant to be ridiculous and fun. Unfortunately the inconsistencies in the plot and the vapid nature of the protagonist rained on the parade. Because of this we decided it wasn't worth reading the rest of the books in the series. There are many other "fun" reads out there, skip this one.

2010-09-02T00:06:00.002-05:00

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

2010-08-17T21:32:00.006-05:00

Vampire Academy is the first book in the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead.

Summery: Rose Hathaway is a dhampir, half human/half vampire and guardian of the Moroi, a race of peaceful and magical mortal vampires who can walk in the daylight, survive by feeding off willing blood donors, grow old and die. Lissa Dragomir is a Moroi princess, and Rose's best friend, the Moroi Rose hopes to be assigned guardian of after their graduation from St. Vladamir's Academy. There are another race of vampires out there, the Strigoi, who are undead, created, not born. They are evil, feeding on the innocent to survive. They hunt the Moroi, looking to kill or convert them. It is the Strigoi that the dhampirs guard the Moroi from.

Rose and Lissa have been on the run for 2 years when the book begins, hiding out from the Strigoi in the "real world", away from the supposed safety and structure of the Academy. Now they've been captured by the dhampir guardians and brought back to school. Gossip, peer pressure and forbidden romance are waiting for them upon their return. More than that, Lissa has secret powers that are growing and becoming difficult for her to control and for her and Rose to keep secret.

Review:
I enjoyed this book. It was interesting, entertaining and intriguing. The main character, Rose is unpredictable and kept me guessing as to what she'd do next. She is irrational and emotional, as you'd expect a 17 year old girl to be. I found this authentic and compelling. Rose very much reminded me of "Anita Blake", which is a good thing, since I really like Anita. Though Rose's decisions often frustrated me, I found myself really wanting hoping for her happiness and feeling her emotions with her.

Spoilers Ahead:
The one element of this book I didn't care so much for was the relationship Rose has with her best friend and Moroi charge, Lissa. It really almost bordered on lesbian. Rose is really jealous, in an unnatural way, of Lissa's relationship with Christian (speaking of Christian, why is it that Lissa saving Rose from death gave her a psychic bond, but Lissa saving Christian did not do the same with him?). She seems to love Lissa too much. The other thing I dislike about it is that Lissa is sort of a weak baby. She'd fragile and shy and soft spoken, and well, weak. Which is the opposite of Rose. I found myself wondering how much stronger Rose would be without Lissa weighing her down. On the plus side, Rose's relationship with her mentor, and possible love interest Dimitri was complex and intriguing.

Bottom Line: I'd give this book a B (for a YA novel). A great start to a series. Intriguing, really made me want to see what was going to happen next. An entertaining book for older teens, as well as adults.

Dead is the New Black by Marlene Perez

2010-08-02T18:56:00.003-05:00

This is the first book in Marlene Perez's "Dead is..." series.

In my never ending quest to find another engaging teen series like "Twilight" I found this book while shopping at Target last year. I liked the bright colored cover, and the description on the back sounded a little different, and like it could be cute, so why not, right? Read on the see exactly "why not".

I'm not sure if Marlene Perez is herself a teenager, or if she simply is not giving them, as her intended audience, enough credit, but this book is written as if the audience is stupid. There are "hints" to upcoming plot points and by "hints" I mean all but saying the exact words. I will give you an example. We are introduced to a man who is described as having hair the color of a dog the main character once had and eyes like a wolf, but "oh, it's probably nothing", until a chapter or two later it's revealed that he's a werewolf. Big shock. The book is FULL of these "twists and turns" and no one is shocked.

In addition to being very predictable, the book also lacks description and detail. Characters minds are changed with little to no discussion and the plot is rushed along. Not that the plot is that deep anyway, but it would have been nice to understand why the main character went from not liking cheerleading to wanting to be the "best cheerleader ever" in one paragraph.

I know people complain about Stephenie Meyer being a "bad writer", but she's hardly the worst and they all can't be Tolkien or even Stephen King. Perez is in a different league then even Meyer.

Bottom line: Much like the Morganville Vampire Series this series is very "vanilla". It's not violent, or sexual. It would be approved for jr. high age teens. Adults would likely find the writing terrible and the plot lacking. I give the book a C-, not the worst I've read, but far from being good.

Preacher: Gone to Texas By Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon

2010-05-13T13:56:00.005-05:00

"Preacher" is a series of comic books, and graphic novels, this is a review for the first graphic novel and comics 1-7, "Gone to Texas". "Preacher" is known for being offensive, extremely violent, and sacrilegious. I can see this as being a valid argument, but really if we spend all our time being outraged and offended, we miss a lot of good stuff. It's fiction, if we take it as such and not a direct attack on God Himself or on the Christian faith, we'll all enjoy a fun ride.

Reverend Jesse Custer has lost his faith and his congregation (in a hail of blinding light and flames), now he's on a search for God Himself. The reason? After the "incident" at his church Jesse becomes aware that he has been given the power to deliver commands that no one can resist. Armed with these new found attributes, he sets out on a quest to find God who is missing from heaven.

Joining Jesse on his quest are Tulip, Jesse's jilted ex girlfriend. Tulip is street smart and carries a 45 mm in her hand bag. Once she sees Jesse she is hell bent on finding out why he left her years ago. And Cassidy, a beer chugging drifter who is impervious to bullets and sleeps all day.

The three set out to find God and the reason behind Jesse's new found abilities. Along the way they meet the truly sick and depraved, both human and not so human...

Bottom line: If you like graphic novels and horror, you'll like this. It's got a little bit of everything, from demons and angels, to decapitations and severed limbs. I thought it was a fantastically good time.

The Laughing Corpse by Laurell K. Hamilton

2010-03-16T00:08:00.003-05:00

This is the second book in Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series. This book begins very soon after Guilty Pleasures ended, and like it's predecessor, this book begins with Anita talking to a perspective client. This time the client is a wheel chair bound billionaire named Harold Gaynor. Harold would like to hire Anita (who is a professional animator) to raise a 300 year old corpse, a task that Mr. Gaynor will pay a million dollars for, and that requires a human sacrifice. Anita refuses the offer, she doesn't do human sacrifice, no matter how good the money is.

Shortly after her meeting Anita receives a call from the police, there has been a murder, they need her supernatural expertise. She visits the murder scene, and it appears as if the murders were perpetrated by a zombie, and a zombie must have a master. Anita believes there are only two local people powerful enough to raise and command a flesh-eating zombie - herself and vaundun priestess Dominga Salvador...

This book like so many others is across several genres, it's part detective fiction, part fantasy (um, there are zombies, crazy zombies), and part horror. But really this book is mostly horror. It's graphically violent. From the descriptions of violent death to the decomposing zombie flesh, it's not for those with a weak stomach. That being said, I did enjoy the story and the action and there was plenty of both. With lots of suspense and twists and turns I found this book easy to read and tough to put down. Hamilton continues to make Anita a character we want to root for and fight along side.

Bottom line: If you like horror and detective fiction, you'd like this book. Just don't read it while eating.

Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton

2010-02-21T21:33:00.005-06:00

This is the first book in Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series. "Guilty Pleasures" is the name of a vampire strip club operated by Jean-Claude, a vampire the protagonist, Anita Blake becomes involved with.

Anita Blake is a 24 year old single woman living in St. Louis, Missouri. In Anita's world vampires, shape shifters, werewolves, ghouls, and even zombies are not only a reality, but known to the public. Anita is an "animator," which means she has the power to raise the dead. Why would someone do this? Many reasons, but Anita is usually hired to settle disputes, solve murders, give families closure. When not at her "day job" (which takes place mainly at night), Anita works as a "vampire executioner," killing vampires by order of the courts and advising the police on any crime with a supernatural twist.

In "Guilty Pleasures", Anita is blackmailed by the master vampire of St. Louis into investigating a series of vampire murders. During the course of this investigation, Anita begins a strange relationship with Jean-Claude (worst name EVER, I could not take him seriously), another master vampire, in order to save her life, but gaining two "marks", which push her close to being Jean-Claude's "human servant." This part of the book was sort of rushed to me and I was not entirely sure why these "marks" had to happen, it seemed as if I'd learn more about it in later books. It was also unclear as to why Jean-Claude would make what was obviously SUCH a big sacrifice for Anita. It seems to sort of just be something that happens and we move on. Luckily the story was engaging enough that this was not that difficult.

This book took a little bit of getting used to for me. Anita is a bit harsh and initially less relatable then other literary female protagonists I have read about. Once I got used to her personality though I felt that I could understand her decisions and while they might not be something I could do, I was able to equate them to her character and she became more real to me. And honestly that was the one thing that stood out for me about this book, how realistic it was. Now, let me better explain. What I mean is that despite a pretty far fetched story and some frankly ludicrous situations, Anita keeps the reader grounded in reality. This realism might be in stark contrast to the situations happening, what whatever it is, it works. I found this book very enjoyable.

Bottom Line: A good story with A LOT of supernatural goings-on. If you can get into a world where zombies and shape shifter and vampires are common place, then you'd probably enjoy this story.

The Historian By Elizabeth Kostova

2010-02-10T15:23:00.004-06:00

A review thanks to special guest blogger Rameau:

When a young girl finds a book embroidered with a picture of a dragon and a letter beginning with the words "My Dear and Unfortunate Successor" in her fathers library, she's unaware of the Pandora's box she's opened. She has stumbled on a legacy of evil, an obsession, which is handed down to selected few in each generation. It's a mystery that intrigues the historian within her and leads her on a journey following the footsteps of her parents. That journey starts with a story the girl's father tells her about the disappearance of Professor Rossi, about the expedition to find him together with Helen and about the terrifying figure behind it all: Dracula.

In "The Historian" there are several timelines told concurrently, each revealing a little more of the truth buried under the weight of the history. It's a great way to keep the reader guessing what will happen next, but it's also confusing and prevents any true character development. The history itself is the main point. The girl, her father, Professor Rossi and others are just empty templates for the reader to insert real people into and ask the question: "What if this happened to me?"

The book is also long for a condensed edition, but the short chapters make it easy to read the story gradually. This is also its weakness. If the reader isn't used to dry and factual text, they can feel tempted to abandon the story before it really starts. The slow introduction and the careful layering are essential to the culmination of the plot. When the author finally presents her first description of Dracula instead of a litany of facts, it's shockingly realistic.

Bottom line: If you like facts and history, and if you would like to read about vampires without overly sexual plots, this is the book for you. Just don't pick up any old books with dragon pictures in them.

Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris

2009-12-03T23:50:00.001-06:00

Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris is the fourth book in the "Southern Vampire Mysteries".
Sookie, on her way home after working at Merlotte’s New Year’s Eve party, finds Eric, half dress and not wearing shoes running for his life. Eric does not recognize her, he appears frightened and confused, two things that Sookie has never seen in the usually confident Viking. Eric knows he is a vampire, but he does not know who he is, or why he's running towards Sookie's house in the middle of the night. Though frightened, Eric seems to know he can trust Sookie and accepts a ride back to her house with her. Not knowing what to do, Sookie calls Fangtasia. Pam and Chow arrive shortly after and explain that several nights ago a group of witches arrived in Shreveport. This group seems to be more powerful than other witches and they either want to take over Eric's businesses or make Eric pay them money to leave him alone, Eric refuses their offer and Pam and Chow watched Eric vanish from his office in Shreveport. Pam and Chow then ask Sookie to keep Eric safe while they solve the problem with the witches. Though reluctant to keep Eric at her house for an indeterminate period of time, Sookie needs the money and soon finds her self very much enjoying having the "new" Eric around. Without his old personality, Eric has become attentive, kind, sweet, and completely devoted to Sookie. At first it seems like a great situation, but Sookie soon realizes that despite how wonderful this new Eric is, she misses the person he used to be...

Spoilers ahead:
For those of us who are big fans of Sookie and Eric this book is like a fantasy, or a big tease, probably a bit of both. It's great to have them finally together, though it isn't real and he's not the cocky, self involved, sarcastic vampire we've all come to love, which sort of takes the fun out of it. Don't get me wrong, I'll take what I can get, it's just not the same. And when he doesn't remember any of it when he gets his memory back is thoroughly annoying. All in all, the Eric/Sookie fans know that Eric would not have behaved that way had he not had real feelings for Sookie, it's just his pride and personality that stop him from showing it ordinarily.

Bottom Line: A great read, lots of fun, nothing that requires much thought. Not for young readers (or readers who don't want sexual situations).

Glass Houses by Rachel Caine

2009-11-29T19:10:00.001-06:00

This is the first book in Rachel Caine's "Morganville Vampire series". It tells the story of 16 year old Claire Danvers, college freshman and teenage prodigy. Claire has a tough time in college, being two years younger then the other college freshman dorm life is already a struggle, but when the dorm's most popular girl focuses her wrath on Claire, life becomes unbearable. After being pushed down the stairs, Claire realizing that dorm life is just too dangerous and goes looking for somewhere else to live. After answering an ad she finds sanctuary at the house of Michael Glass and his two roommates, Eve and Shane.

This book is different from the all too common young adult vampire novel in a few ways, one is that the vampires are feared, not revered, another is that the book takes place in college, not high school. The story being told through Claire's eyes makes it easy to relate to being a shy teenager (which I was, so maybe that's just me), which is different from so many stories in which the main character is well liked and popular (see Elena from the Vampire Diaries and Bella from the Twilight Saga for examples).
This book is truly a young adult novel in that it has very little sexual context or violence, as in, almost none. The book manages to be entertaining without those elements. There is still some romance and slight violence.

Bottom line: A very "PG" rated young adult book, safe for almost all ages, yet still entertaining. Id recommend it, especially for young readers.

Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause

2009-10-26T23:11:00.002-05:00

Blood and Chocolate tells the story of Vivian, a 16 year old girl who lives in a typical small town, but Vivian is anything but typical. Most atypically Vivian and her family are werewolves. This book is about Vivian's struggle to assimilate into her high school society, while still maintaining her identity and place in the werewolf pack. Life is difficult enough for her when she meets a human boy (or "meat boy" as the book calls it) who seems to understand her and love her more then even the members of her pack. The choice to date a human is further complicated when Vivian unintentionally becomes "betrothed" to a highly sought after and powerful member of the pack. Vivian is then forced to chose between the human world and the werewolf life, which is why the book is called "Blood or Chocolate".

Even in human form Vivian, her mother and the rest of her "pack", are very different then any human family. The most notable difference is that everyone is very sexual. From their language to each other and the way they interact is very sexual. Another huge difference is that everyone is very aggressive, Vivian's mother gets in bar fights for example, with other women from the pack. The reader gets the picture that this is just the way life is for werewolves, that this is normal, but I found that it just made me unable to relate to their lives. It seemed every thought Vivian had was laced with sexual content. She is also kind of mean and didn't seem to care about anyone but herself, which made me unable to care about her, even when bad things happened to her.

Bottom line: This is a young adult novel that has no place being read by teenagers, and adults will likely find it unsatisfying. I would have skipped it if I was given the chance.

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

2009-10-05T14:59:00.008-05:00

The Host, a novel by the beloved American novelist, Stephenie Meyer (author of the Twilight series), is a highly entertaining work that needs not be overlooked. Remember the chemistry Meyer created between our fictional vampire and human characters in Twilight? And the effect they left as they lingered in your thoughts all day? Stephenie Meyer does not disappoint, and once again she has brought to life a scenario and characters that you just cant get out of your head.
Published in April of 2008, The Host is classified as a science fiction novel, however it is also classified as a romance. The basis of the novel consists of an alien human race referred to as "souls" who forcefully inhabit earth and embody the humans who live there. Our main character "Wanderer," or "Wanda" as she is later called for short, is a soul that has inhabited a human's body - a beautiful, smart and strong young woman named Melanie. Before Melanie was captured and embodied by this soul, she survived in hiding with her young brother Jamie and boyfriend, the love of her life, Jared.

When the "souls" embody humans, the human mind within is supposed to become erased, non-existent, so that the "soul" can take over complete mental control of this new body and life as their own. Wanderer finds out all too soon that the human inside this new body of hers, Melanie, is a fighter and is very resistant to the takeover. That said, Wanderer and Melanie live simultaneously inside their head, tormenting each other on some levels. However what was once torment eventually evolves into a deep sisterhood love. Because of Melanie's undying presence in her head, Wanderer experiences all the same memories that Melanie has, human emotions, memories and the powerful determination to get back to Jared and Jamie.

The book is a journey of Wanderer and Melanie's search for the two people most important to Melanie, and the events and adventures thereof, eventually finding them along with the secret human colony living with them in underground caverns. Wanderer, although alien to the human race she embodies, becomes a part of them, interwoven by choice into their daily fabric, and their means of survival. Wanderer and one of the humans, a heart-throbbing young man named Ian, find an attraction but cant get past how to deal with love between two different races - human and alien. Love and companionship are tested, and in the end Wanderer finds herself left with a choice she needs to make - whether or not to bring Melanie back to existence and sacrifice herself, for the sake of both of her brother and Jared, who is still so much in love with Melanie. What she decides in the end is shocking, and completely throws a twist into the story.

The end leaves you grasping for more, to be honest I was so disappointed. But only selfishly. I wanted so badly for the story to continue, to find out how life goes after her decision had been made. Meyer definitely severed the novel at a perfect place for a sequel. Let's hope!

I don't have too many spoilers, but I will say that the familiar love triangle that Meyer created in Twilight is present in The Host too. The dynamics of the love and attraction battle between Wanderer, Jared and Ian is addicting, to say the least. It is the kind of story that keeps you up at night reading for hours. Although the book is amazing, the beginning is very confusing and can be hard to get though. Everything makes sense eventually though; it all comes full circle.

My bottom line is that I would recommend The Host, just as much as I would recommend Twilight. Happy reading!

Club Dead by Charlaine Harris

2009-09-11T12:59:00.004-05:00

The third installment of Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Mysteries, and my personal favorite. I think with this book Harris really hit her stride and fixed some pacing issues with the previous book. Another change was the maturing of the books protagonist, Sookie Stackhouse. When this series begins Sookie is an naive 25 year old woman who has never dated, lives with her grandmother, and certainly has never dealt with the supernatural. How her life has changed. With these changes Sookie is forced to grow up. While she is still the same person, she's more educated about the world and at same time, jaded because of all the things she has been forced to deal with. This book starts out with Sookie and Bill hitting yet another rocky point in their relationship. Bill is preoccupied with a secret project, and soon leaves on a "business trip" leaving Sookie alone with some cryptic instructions, should he not return. Sookie is soon visited by Eric, Pam, and Chow, who inform her that Bill is not where he said he'd be and that he planned to leave her. They also mention that Bill has been kidnapped and they need Sookies help to have any hope of being him home safely. Reluctantly, she agrees and is plunged deeper into a whole other world. A world full of werewolves, shifters, evil vampires, and a club called Josephine's, otherwise known as "Club Dead".

Spoilers ahead:
I love this book, it's my favorite in the series so far. One of the best things about this book is the introduction of Alcide Herveaux. Alcide serves as a reminder to Sookie of what else is out there. The interaction between Alcide and Sookie provides so much hope at this point in the story, and the idea that Bill is not the only one out there for her. Yes, Alcide has baggage (some seriously homicidal baggage), but he's such a great character, and as the reader I really felt how much he wanted to just fall in love with Sookie and have them both forget all the drama and live a normal life, well as normal a life as a werewolf and a telepath can have.

Another great element is the continued development of Eric's character. He shows actual compassion for the first time with he must tell Sookie the bad news of Bill's betrayal. Though he has every reason to be happy that Bill have done this to Sookie, after all, it has the potential to move Eric closer to Sookie as Bill is pushed further away. Instead he is concerned about her feelings, and how this will effect her. I think for the first time she starts to see him as more "human" and less vampire.

Bottom Line: This is where the book series really hits it's stride. A great book, full of interesting new characters and lots of excitement. Definitely recommend it.

Carrie By Stephen King

2009-09-03T13:17:00.004-05:00

I read this book the first time when I was in high school. It was the first Stephen King book I read. I had seen that scene from the movie with Sissy Spacek covered in blood, all wide eyed and creepy looking. And considering the length of most of King's books, this one was comparatively short.

Carrie is a story of an awkward, unpopular 17 year old girl who, because of being raised by her fanatical Christian mother, has not been taught about puberty, or about any socially normal behavior. The story opens with Carrie getting her first menstrual period in the shower of the high school gym locker room. Unaware of what is really happening Carrie is convinced she is bleeding to death. Of course all the girl take the opportunity to mock and degrade her, some even throwing tampons and sanitary napkins at her. Even the gym teacher joins in the yelling, until she realizes that Carrie really is frightened because she has no idea what is happening.

After this incident, Carrie slowly begins to discover she has telekinetic powers, powers she has always had (as the book states incidents from childhood), but is just now beginning to control. Meanwhile the "ring leader" of the locker room incident Chris, escapes punishment because her father is a prominent local figure. She begins to plot her revenge on Carrie, who she blames for "causing her problems".

The book is written as a series of documents, rather then in the first person. This provides great intrigue and a desire to have more information. It also, however causes a disconnect between the reader and the title character, who truly lives a horrifically tragic life. This disconnect though feels intentional, for without it the reader would not see this as a horror novel. If it were written from Carrie's point of view it would be too easy to get caught up in grieving for her situation. And that's just not what the book is about, that is a small part of it, but let's face it, it's really about Carrie getting some revenge, right? And who better to be born with these powers, then a girl who has lived a torturous life at the hands of her mother and classmates?

Spoilers Ahead:

Another saving grace is Sue Snell, a girl who does participate with the crowd in belittling Carrie in the locker room, but soon comes to regret this and begins to see Carrie for what she is, a trapped scared girl with no friends. Sue convinces her popular boyfriend to ask Carrie to the prom. The scene at the prom is so much worse in the book then in the movie. The electrocution of the kids on stage, the death of Tommy Ross, who was beginning to actually be attracted to Carrie. The amazing way King makes it sad for the kids burning to death in the gym after Carrie sets it on fire, though the reader knows most of them had made Carrie's life miserable.

The death of Carries mother was another intense moment. The description of her heart slowly slowing down was something that creeped me out for years after I read this.

Bottom Line: An intriguing read, if you like Stephen King, I think you'll like Carrie.

Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

2009-08-23T14:11:00.004-05:00

In "Bitten" Kelley Armstrong brings us the story of a woman named Elena Michaels who is young, beautiful and successful. She is also a werewolf. In this world all born werewolves are male, as only men can carry the gene, it is only in being bitten that a woman can become a werewolf, and prior to Elena, no woman had survived the change (as many do not, werewolves don't usually leave their victims alive after biting them). This leaves Elena in an interesting situation, being the only female werewolf. Having not chosen the lifestyle that was thrust upon her when she was bitten, Elena leaves her werewolf pack to have a "normal" human life in Toronto Canada. She has a human fiance, a normal job, and despite the necessity to change into a wolf once a week, she lives a normal life. Elena tries hard to fit into the mold of normal human, until she gets a phone call from someone from her past, someone she can't say "no" to...

This book is an intriguing read and has some great characters who are relatable and seem very real, unfortunately I found it a bit difficult to relate to the main character. The story is good enough and the ending made the other issues I had with the book worth reading it.

Spoilers:
Character development for Jeremy and Clay makes them far more interesting characters. While Clay has plenty of flaws and seems almost inhuman at times, the emotion and sacrifices he makes for those he loves makes him relatable and in the end, an unlikely hero. Jeremy is the ultimate parental figure, always with Elena's best interests at heart, he loves and cares for the members of his pack more then he cares for himself. This proves that Armstrong is talented in developing characters and making you love them, and feel what they are feeling. It's just in her portrayal of Elena that I felt there was much to be desired.

Elena is off putting in her grumpy attitude about everything. She often comes off as a whinny child not getting her way. I found myself thinking"a terrible thing happened and now you're a werewolf, it's been 11 years, get over it". No one has ever been anything but kind and accepting of her. She takes out her bad mood and sulky attitude on everyone. As far as Clay goes, it's more deserved, but Jeremy and the other characters hardly deserve it. They are nothing but kind and inviting to a woman in a place where no woman has been before, and it could be argued that no woman ever belongs. Honestly, it made me wonder if she is worth the trouble at all. Elena really only provides one unique quality, sex. Being the only female werewolf on the planet, her gender grants her a license to be a total jerk. The pack certainly would not put up with the same behavior from a male.

I was ready to not like this book, but the ending really saved it for me. While all I said in the above paragraph was definitely true, I came out of this book liking it. By the end of the book Elena had grown up and seemingly accepted her fate, and there was hope of a better attitude from what could be a strong female character that I wanted so badly to root for.

Bottom Line: A decent read. While the main character was sort of off putting initially, the supporting characters and charter development is good. I'd recommend giving it a try. Plus, there are so many books about vampires, it's nice to read something that is a bit different!

The vampire Diaries: Dark Reunion

2009-08-18T16:33:00.002-05:00

Somehow Smith found it necessary to impart a fourth book on the reading public (remember that tag line on the cover of the last book? Guess that was a lie). I read online that this series was originally supposed to be a trilogy, and with the death of the protagonist from the first 3 books (final death, not "transformation into vampire" death) at the end of the last book, I could see how it would seen pretty definite that that was the end. Apparently L.J. Smith could not leave well enough alone and made a fourth book, and yes, I read it though none of the first three were any good. This time I had no expectation that the book would be good, I can be taught. I understand that based on the previous data that statistics say this book will be bad too. I was still shocked as to how bad it was. It just goes to show that nothing is ever so bad that it can't get worse.

This book picks up six months after the final death of Elena and is told from Bonnie's point of view. While at a slumber party the girls contact Elena using a Ouija board (as she is dead). Elena warns them there is evil in Fell's Church, and that they are all in danger (seems like evil just loves this place, why do people live here? Sounds like a gateway to hell to me). She tells them they need to summon someone to help them, but is interrupted before she can tell them who). With Matt's help, Bonnie and Meredith perform a spell to summon Stefan, who arrives back in town with Damon. The five work to find the source of evil in the town.

Spoilers Ahead
If you read "The Fury" you know that Katherine supposedly killed her maker Klause, at least she told a story that she did. Then what the heck was he doing back, without explanation, or even question from anyone? That was some of the worst story telling I have ever read. And what about the werewolves? Did that seem like an afterthought to anyone else? It was as if Smith needed a reason to make Tyler join up with Klause, an unexplained, slap-dash, ridiculous reason, or perhaps she just thought "people who like vampires probably like werewolves, oh I'll just through one in".

Of all the vampire books to make into a television show, why would anyone pick this one? Perhaps they only read the back of the cover of the book and thought (like me and so many others) "this seems promising". This is probably the only time I'm pretty sure the show will be BETTER then the book. I can't imagine it being worse.

Can you believe L.J Smith is making a new trilogy?!?! The first book came out earlier this year. No, I'm not reading it. I have been tortured enough. I did read the back of the new book, it said something about Stefan having to leave because he couldn't resist turning Elene into a vampire AGAIN! After she was miraculously brought back to life after dying, coming back as a vampire then dying again, she comes back as human (with no real explanation I might add). If any of you out there read the new one, let me know what happens, I still have a morbid curiosity...

Bottom Line: Don't even ask.

The Vampire Diaries: The Fury

2009-08-05T01:24:00.003-05:00

Book Three of the Vampire Diaries. Yes, I kept reading it. If you've read either of my previous reviews of these books I'm sure you think I'm crazy for subjecting myself to more of this torture and wasting more of my time. I think you might be right, perhaps I am crazy. There have been plenty of series that I never read past the first book, so it isn't an undying desire to finish what I've started, I quit stuff all the time, perhaps it's that as ridiculous as this book was, it was not boring.

This book starts out right after Elena has "died" and woke up a vampire (a side effect of having unknowingly ingested too much of both Stefan and Damon's blood over a long period of time). Somehow during this transformation Elena has forgotten that she loves Stefan and is convinced she instead loves Damon, whether this phenomenon is a result of having more of Damon's blood then of Stefan's or if it's just a fluke, it's not really explained. Surprisingly, Damon does not take this as fact and instead shows the first bit of chivalry and kindness and stops Elena from killing Stefan (as Stefan is trying to harm Damon), and tells Stefan we have to get to the cause of her change in behavior before they take anything she says seriously. This is a total un-Damon like thing to do, all things point to him being overjoyed by this turn of events and not caring what caused it, just wanting the "win" against his brother.
From this point Damon becomes a different character, I suppose it could be seen as a more "likeable" character, as he is far more helpful and no longer, above all else, desires to destroy his brother. To me it just seemed bland and fake. I almost prefer the total jerk, at least he seemed somewhat interesting. This new version is like a robot.
Spoilers ahead:
It is revealed at the end of the book that the town founder's wife Honoria Fell was a witch and since her death has been protecting the town. One would think that if that were the case she's obviously doing a terrible job, as a teacher is killed and vampires have come and settle in "her" town. Plus, the whole "mystery presence" in this book. So when she tells the gang "I'm done now, the coming battle is yours", they should be thinking, well great, as you were providing so much help to begin with. Whatever.

It is finally revealed that the cause of all the terrible occurrences is Katherine (not Damon as Stefan and Elena thought), who actually is not dead but faked her own death to make Damon and Stefan "sorry" all those years ago when she "turned" them both. Katherine is also responsible for Elena's "death", but did not count on her having had Damon and Stefan's blood and therefore becoming a vampire.

In the end Elena (without her "magic" ring that protects vampires from sunlight in these books) leaps at Katherine, removing her pendant that is protecting her, and they both burn in the sunlight. Elena's dying words to Damon and Stefan are to take care of each other. The book ends with Elena having sacrificed herself to save Stefan, Damon, and the town. Seems simple enough. A definite ending to a trilogy, it even says "The final conflict" right on the cover of the book, seems pretty definitive to me...

Bottom Line: This book does provide closure, and if you've read the first 2 books, the 3rd seems like a definite end...

Untamed by PC & Kristin Cast

2009-08-01T14:29:00.004-05:00

The fourth book in the House of Night series sees Zoey abandoned by her friends and her loves. After Damian and the twins found out about Zoey’s secret relationship with Loren and her keeping Stevie Rae’s being alive away from them; they pulled away from her. Erik dumped her for cheating on him and left the House of Night as a newly changed vampyre. Her blood bond with Heath was broken through her imprint with Loren and he, too, is out of her life.

Fortunately for Zoey, she still has the unlikeliest of friends in Aphrodite. She returns to the House of Night, appearing to be the same fledgling she’s always been but there’s been a change. She’s no longer a fledgling at all. She gave up her earth affinity and her vampyre characteristics when Stevie Rae bit her. She’s now a human, albeit a human with the gift of premonition and the love of Nyx on her side. She and Stevie Rae meet with Zoey and tell her about a terrible vision that Aphrodite has. She’s had two visions of Zoey’s death; one at the hands of Neferet and the other by a strange raven-like creature. Zoey’s death will plunge the world into war, humans vs. vampyres, and it must be stopped at all costs.

Neferet is intent on said war, she’s called in The Sons of Erebus, skilled vampyre warriors, to protect the school from the humans she claims murdered two professors. She’s also arranged for a new student to transfer to the school from the Chicago branch of the House of Night. His name is James Stark and he’s the most skilled archer in all of the world. Whatever he aims at, he hits. Zoey & James are introduced and seem to have a bit of chemistry before he is consumed by fits of coughing and he succumbs to death. But death is not ever permanent at this House of Night and Zoey knows that she needs to be there when Stark awakens. If Neferet gets her hands on him, who knows what would happen?

In order to face Neferet, Zoey is going to need all of her friends. Fortunately Aphrodite is on her side and she’s more than willing to tell Damian, Erin and Shaunee why Zoey had to keep secrets from them. Once they understand the threat to Zoey, they all band back together to try face the worst darkness yet. Aphrodite foresees a new prophecy about an evil queen and the rise of a fallen angel, Kolona. With the help of Stevie Rae and the red fledglings, Zoey’s grandmother and even a Catholic nun, can Zoey and her friends keep a powerful evil from being unleashed on the world? Read and find out!

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

2009-07-30T15:40:00.009-05:00

Fantasy + romance + historical + sci fi. Outlander (or Cross Stitch as it was published in it's UK homeland in 1991) is the first of a series of (currently) six novels by Diana Gabaldon. This first novel starts during the 1940's in Inverness, Scotland, but quickly transports you (and of course the main Character Claire) to eighteenth century Scotland. Claire, who is a nurse in the British Army during WWII, and her husband Frank, reunite after the war by way of a second honeymoon in Scotland. After an errie stormy evening, Claire ventures alone to a cluster of large standing stones and finds herself suddenly transported through time to eighteenth century Scotland, where things - and people are very very different. Clueless to what just happened, Claire struggles to find her way back and to make sense of her surroundings when she is detained by a highly notorious and brutal British captain named Jack "Black Jack" Randall, who unbeknownst, is the six times great-grandfather of her husband, Frank. On the brink of attack she is saved by a Scotsmen and transported through the old rural countryside where she finally delivered to the clan and shortly thereafter introduced to our main hunk of a hero, Scots warrior James Frasier. Jamie is young and built like an ox with fiery long red hair and muscles like steel. His clan dubs her "Sassenach"- an outsider to Scottish Highland culture. Through a series of events, "already married in the year 1940 Claire" and 20-something Jamie find themselves bound to each other in an arranged marriage, partly to keep Claire out of the hands of "Black Jack Randall." It's a horrible thing for both of them... or is it?

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Oh you thought I was going to give you spoilers did you? How could I possibly spoil one of the most romantic and blood bubbling love stories of the eighteenth century? It may cause my cheeks to turn pink trying to explain it. I will say that the care, companionship and eventually deep love that ensues the couple, cannot be spoiled by my review. If anything it will make you want to read the book!

The Vampire Diaries: The Struggle

2009-07-29T14:50:00.002-05:00

This book is the second in the Vampire Diaries series. If you purchased this book after 2007 you received "The Awakening" and "The Struggle" as a packaged deal. If you suffered through the first, you probably read the second, and know from experience what a "Struggle" reading it was. The second book starts up right where the first left off, as a result "The Awakening" and "The Struggle" feel more like one really long story rather than two separate novels. In the opening pages Elena is screaming for Damon to answer her and demands to know what has happened to her boyfriend, and Damon's brother, Stefan. Damon tries to use his vampire "influence" on Elena to get her to forget about Stefan and come away with him. Of course, she refuses, Damon parts with some ridiculous line about her being "his before the fall of winter" or something similar. Elena calls on her friends for help and they are able to locate Stefan, who is badly hurt. Elena offers him her blood to help him heal.

Unlike many other vampire novels the exchange of blood between humans and vampires is not a prominent part of this book. It only occurs in dyer straights (ie serious injury), or by force (though this is sort of glossed over and treated as if it isn't a big deal, when all characteristic of the characters involved indicate it should be).

There is more action in this book than in the last, so that is an improvement. There is also less of Elena being "Queen of High School", and more of her hanging out with her friends and caring for them and her boyfriend, which is also an improvement as well.

Spoilers Ahead

As I mentioned before, this book is better then the last one, but really that's like saying eating cardboard is better then eating wood, neither is actual food, one is just slightly less painful to chew. It is an improvement that there is more of Damon in this story. I really wanted to like Damon, and he had such promise. If Smith could have just made him a bit more likable and been more convincing in his feelings for Elena, but all of that fell short. I suppose it's telling about the character developments that the one "likable" character is the one who stalks the heroine and forces her to drink his blood, causing her to become a vampire upon her death. Which brings me to the next issue. Why would Stefan not be upset when he finds out that his brother ha been drinking his girlfriends blood against her will? Also, why is it suddenly a "love triangle"? Elena never gave any indication that she had feels for Damon, nor did he give her any reason to care about him at all.

Bottom Line: More of the same "Struggle" as getting through the first book, only with slightly more action (but no romantic action, so look elsewhere if that's what you're after). I still recommend reading something else.

Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris

2009-07-27T00:35:00.004-05:00

We get two mysteries for the price of one in the second installment of Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Mysteries. After a night of drinking in Merlotte's Bar, Detective Andy Bellefleur leaves his car in the parking lot and gets a ride home from his sister. When Sookie arrives for work the next day she sees an unexpected surprise in his back seat, the body of one of her friends.

A few days later Sookie is summoned to Shreveport at the request of Eric, the vampire sheriff of the area, as well as owner of the popular vampire bar "Fangtasia". As part of her agreement with Eric to spare the lives of the humans she questioned about the theft of money from the bar in Dead Until Dark, she must agree to come when ever he calls and use her telepathic gift at his request. Sookie honors her agreement and she and Bill drive to Shreveport. On the way Sookie encounters a strange creature in the woods, this creature uses Sookie to send a "message" to Eric, a very painful and bloody message.

At Eric's request Sookie and Bill travel to Dallas, Texas to investigate the disappearance of a "brother" of the vampire sheriff of the Dallas area. Once there, the job proves to be much more work then she anticipated when she finds out the reason for the disappearance of Farrel and who is behind it.

Spoilers Ahead

Living Dead in Dallas is the first book in which Harris takes her Southern heroine and her vampire entourage on the road. After arriving in Dallas, Sookie and Bill realize that Eric has traveled to Dallas as well to check up on Sookie. This is the first time we really get to know Eric and more of his personality is revealed to Sookie. Eric is shown to be straight forward and refreshingly honest about his intentions in various situations, a stark contrast to the controlled and secretive Bill. Eric is also charming and witty, but also always out for himself, which is the way he has always lived his life.

The relationship between Sookie and Bill that was such a huge part of Dead Until Dark begins to unravel a bit in this book. Sookie sees more and more of Bill's "vampire side" and further evidence that he is not, in fact human like she is. While I am obviously not a big fan of Bill in general, I do think it's hypocritical for Sookie to fault Bill for being what he is. Isn't the same type of discrimination that has plagued her most of her life? Bill can help the fact that he's a vampire about as much as Sookie can help that she's a telepath. I think it's a growing experience for Sookie in the end. She must learn to accept that vampires are what they are or stop hanging out with them.

Bottom line: Between the two mysteries to solve there is plenty going on in Living Dead in Dallas, the mysteries are pretty good. The characters outside of the principle characters are just average, making this book less interesting then many of the others in the series. I know, that's similar to what I said about Dead Until Dark, but keep reading, I promise it'll get better.

Chosen by PC & Kristin Cast

2009-07-24T12:00:00.002-05:00

Book three in the House of Night series sees enemies become friends and friends become possible enemies. Zoey Redbird continues to struggle, torn between two boys and a man who intrigues her. Secrets threaten to tear apart her friendships and the only person she can trust fully is the one who was once her enemy.

Zoey finds that Aphrodite has been chosen by Nyx to represent the earth, in absence of Steve Rae. Aphrodite is also the only other fledgling whose mind High Priestess Neferet can’t read, which makes her the only one she can tell about Stevie Rae. Everybody thinks Stevie Rae died, but she’s back, along with all of the other fledglings that had passed away. These fledglings are more of the stereotypical vampyres of lore; have to drink blood and kill to do it, can’t go into the sunlight, and truly soulless. Aphrodite reluctantly helps Zoey with Stevie Rae, getting her blood and shelter and ultimately trying to help restore her soul. They are the only two who know that Neferet is not what she seems.

To complicate matters even more, one of their professors is murdered and left outside the school walls with a note about repenting. All signs point to the People of the Faith, the church that Zoey’s stepfather belongs to. The death of the vampyre causes the Sons of Erebus, great vampyre protectors, to be called in; complicating Zoey’s ability to sneak in and out of the school to help Stevie Rae.

If that weren’t enough, Zoey is still torn between her human imprinted boyfriend, Heath, and her fledgling boyfriend, Erik. Loren Blake, professor and Poet Laureate, is also drawing closer to her. She has no idea who to choose and failing to do so brings complications with all three.

This whole book you can truly feel Zoey’s conflicts all coming to a head. Then men, the secrets, the pressure; all of those are weighing down on her. I spent the entire book just begging her to confide in Damian and the Twins, knowing that the longer she waited the worse things would be. Zoey may be a powerful future high priestess but she’s still a kid and she makes big mistakes. Being so powerful often means going it alone. Will Zoey have to do that? The next book will shed some light!

Betrayed by PC & Kristin Cast

2009-07-21T12:18:00.004-05:00

Darkness does not always equate to evil, just as light does not always bring good. These are the words that the Goddess Nyx whispers to High Priestess in training Zoey Redbird several times throughout the second novel in the House of Night Series. As the title of the second novel makes clear, not all is as it seems at the House of Night.

A month has gone by and Zoey has settled into life at the House of Night with her friends and her sort-of boyfriend, Erik Night. She's also imprinted her former boyfriend, a human named Heath. If that wasn't enough, she seems to have caught the eye of teacher Loren Blake. Zoey's angsting over her man issues takes a back burner to the news that a human boy she knew is missing. When his body turns up drained of blood, eyes turn to the House of Night. Another teenager she knew also ends up missing and suspicions start to turn to Zoey herself.

As if that wasn't enough, Zoey keeps seeing the possible ghosts of fledglings who had passed away recently. Dead is dead, isn't it? Or is it? They don't look like ghosts or like any vampyre that Zoey's ever seen before. Solving the mystery of the missing youths and the ghost fledglings is something Zoey takes upon herself, not including her friends in the matter. In fact, she turns to her enemy to help her find out what is real and what is really happening at The House of Night.

Zoey has observed several tense interactions between her mentor, High Priestess Neferet, and Aphrodite, the girl she displaced to become head of the Dark Daughters that have her questioning whether or not she truly knows her mentor. Is Neferet as good as she seems or is she the darkness in the light that Nyx is warning her about?

While the first book in the series emphasized the importance of acceptance, I think this novel highlights the importance of opening oneself up to others. By keeping secrets from her friends, Zoey is setting herself up for some heartbreak down the road. If you can't trust your friends, who can you trust? When something truly heartbreaking occurs, who will she have to turn to?

Betrayed is a good second novel in this series, advancing the plot greatly and bringing some real emotion into the fray. The many "loves" of Zoey can be overly taxing at times but Zoey maintains a sense of humor about it that makes it less grating than in some other series. I recommend this, as I do the whole series.

Many Bloody Returns By various authors

2009-07-20T14:05:00.005-05:00

This book is an anthology of short stories from various authors in the fantasy genre. All the stories involve vampires and birthdays. I've reviewed a few of the 13 stories individually, with a general statement overall at the end.

"Dracula Night" By Charlaine Harris:
This is a short story involving some of the characters from the "Southern Vampire Mysteries". Much to her delight telepathic barmaid Sookie Stackhouse finds herself invited to a birthday party for the most famous vampire ever, Dracula. The party is being thrown at the vampire bar "Fangtasia" by it's owner and drop dead gorgeous vampire Eric. Chaos ensues when Dracula shows up for his party... This short story was better then any of the other short stories I have read of Harris'. It's cute and entertaining. No where near as good as Harris' novels.

"It's My Birthday Too" By Jim Butcher:
This is a short story from Butcher's "The Dresden Files". Wizard-for-hire Harry Dresden is looking for a missing vampire on his birthday, naturally he come across some trouble when he visits a local shopping mall. Trouble that is complicated by the fact that Harry has left his wizarding "tools" at home.
This story is good, though I have yet to read any of the Dresden novels, this story was enough to make me want to.

"The Mournful Cry of Owls" by Christopher Golden:
A mysterious coming of age story about a teenage girl who's always felt a bit different. On her 16th birthday she learns about her unique heritage, and the explanation behind her always feeling different and struggling to fit in. This story was perhaps the best of the book, though it didn't really pertain to vampires. It was strange and intriguing with an ending I would not have been able to anticipate. It was also written in a beautiful almost poetic way.

"The First Day of the Rest of Your Life" by Rachel Caine:
This story is part of Rachel Caine's "Morganville Vampire Series". Morganville, Texas is a small town run by vampires, but inhabited by humans, the humans belong to clans protected by certain vampires. In return for protections these humans are under the rule of the vampire protecting them. Eve is turning 18 and with that comes a choice. She must chose to sign with the vampire with "protects" her family, or become a free agent. I have never read any of the "Morganville Vampire series", but like the "Dresden Files" story, this story made me want to check out the series.

Other authors include:
"I Was a Teenage Vampire" by Bill Crider
"Twilight" by Kelley Armstrong
"Grave-Robbed" by P.N. Elrod
"The Witch and the Wicked" by Jeanne C. Stein
"Blood Wrapped" by Tanya Huff
"The Wish" by Carolyn Haines
"Fire and Ice and Linguini for Two" by Tate Hallaway
"Vampire Hours" by Elaine Viets
"How Stella Got her Grave Back" by Toni L.P. Kelner

I have read several anthologies about vampires and this one was one of the best, overall. Not all of the stories were great, but it was an easy read and entertaining.

Bottom Line: If you like short stories and you like vampires, this one is worth a read.

The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening, by L.J. Smith

2009-07-18T18:47:00.000-05:00

This is the first book in the Vampire Diaries series. The series tells the story of popular high school student Elena Gilbert. Elena has it all, good looks, long blond hair, the attention of all the boys in school. On the first day back at school after Summer vacation, Elena notices a new student, Stefan Salvatore, a handsome and mysterious new student from Italy. Elena immediately sets her sights on Stefan as her new romantic conquest. She will stop at nothing to make him notice her, but everything she does he completely ignores. This has never happened to Elena, what boy at school wouldn't want to date her?

After a school dance Elena finds herself in a dangerous situation while partying with drunken fellow student, Tyler Smallwood. At a frightening moment in which Elena is fighting Tyler off, Stefan appears to rescue her. He takes her back to the room he rents, and tells her why he has been ignoring her. Stefan explains that Elena reminds him of his first love, Katherine, who has since died. Elena feels terrible for doubting him, and so sad at his loss. From that night on they are in love (yes, it happens that fast). Elena begins to feel that Stefan is keeping secrets from her, and soon learns he is a vampire. Shortly after learning this, Elena is visited by a beautiful stranger who seems hell bent on seducing her, a stranger that Stefan is all too familiar with.

Spoilers Ahead.

The premise of this books sounds intriguing. Beautiful young girl caught between a handsome vampire and his dark and mysterious vampire brother. Sounds great, unfortunately this book was nothing like it sounded. First issue was that Elena was not relatable as a character. It's difficult to root for the beautiful popular girl who is used to having the attention of all the guys around her, when she finally finds one who isn't instantly enthralled with her. Very few people had that experience in high school. She feel rejected, but of course, it isn't her cocky attitude that is keeping Stefan away, it's the fact that she looks like his old vampire lover from hundreds of years ago.
I was hoping that once we met Damon, Stefan's vampire brother he'd be the breath of fresh air and fun that this stories so badly needed to counteract the overwhelming teen angst. Sadly, Elena never connects with him, she is still so devoted to Stefan, though the reader never sees why either loves the other. It's literally something that seems to just happen, without explanation or any sort of courtship. It just IS.

Bottom line: There are so many good vampire books, young adult and otherwise, DO NOT waste your time on this one.

Marked by PC Cast

2009-07-16T09:48:00.006-05:00

What do you get when you cross Harry Potter with The Sookie Stackhouse Novels & Twilight? You get the House of Night Series from PC & Kristin Cast. There’s more to it than that but that’s the easiest way to boil it down for the uninitiated. The first book in the series, Marked, starts out in a typical high school. Zoey Montgomery is walking the halls with her best friend when she notices a vampyre at her locker. He points to her and tells her that Night has chosen her, her death will be her birth. Night calls to her and she must find her destiny which awaits her at the House of Night. Her head explodes in pain when he points to her and she passes out. When she awakens, she finds that she now bears the blue crescent mark that all fledgling vampyres wear.

Vampyres are clearly recognized in the real world in this series, they’re not hidden and in fact many of our top celebrities, including Nicole Kidman and Leonardo DiCaprio are known vamps. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the people in Zoey’s life are thrilled or accepting of her fate; her best friend cringes away from her and her mother and step father refuse to let her head to the House of Night, choosing instead to activate a prayer tree and call a psychiatrist. Zoey goes to the one person who always supports her, her grandmother, and while there she is overcome by fits of coughing. If a person is marked and fails to show up at the House of Night in a timely fashion, they will die. She falls and hits her head on a rock and meets up in her mind with the Goddess Nyx, Goddess of Night and goddess of the vampyres. Nyx tells her that she is special and that she has a great and important future ahead of her. Upon awakening, Zoey finds herself at the House of Night; her grandmother had taken her when she found her marked. Since she met with Nyx, though, Zoey’s mark has changed. Her mark is now filled in like a full-fledged vampyre’s instead of open like a fledgling.

This is where the Harry Potter comparison comes in; the House of Night is a school for fledgling vampyres. They go for 4 years and during that time learn about how to be a vampyre; for being marked does not necessarily mean one will achieve full vampyre status. Some of them reject the change and die; just not cut out for the life.

Zoey’s mark catches the eye of the High Priestess, Neferet, and she decides to become her mentor. Zoey has an inner voice, Nyx’s, warn her not to let anybody know what happened and why her mark is different from the other students. Zoey is taken to her dorm where she meets Stevie Ray, her roommate who quickly becomes her best friend. Through her, Zoey is introduced to Damian, Erin and Shaunee and they all become tight. Zoey quickly runs afoul of the queen of the school though, Aphrodite, leader of the Dark Daughters. Aphrodite is jealous of Zoey’s mark, her closeness with Neferet and her attraction to Erik Knight, Aphrodite’s ex.

Zoey decides that Aphrodite and her crew need to be taken down a peg and she and her new friends set out to do it. The majority of the rest of the book is about Zoey discovering and embracing her powers and her destiny as a future High Priestess.

I don’t want to spoil the whole book by giving away the big things, but I will say that there’s an interesting mix of vampyre lore, American Indian beliefs and witchcraft. It’s a fascinating mix that kept me interested. Blood lust for humans, the calling of the elements, purifying the soul; all of them come in to play. But that was not the only thing that I found appealing. The main theme running through all 5 books thus far seems to be one of acceptance. Zoey hates being different from the other fledglings but she finds people who genuinely like her for her, not for her potential power. Damian is gay. Erin and Shaunee are such best friends that they’re referred to as The Twins, despite the fact that one is black and one is white. For books written for the young adult genre, I think that’s a wonderful message to spread. I highly recommend the series for that alone. Plus it’s an easy read with some likable characters and a good storyline. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Dragon Tears by Dean Koontz

2009-07-11T00:33:00.003-05:00

Harry Lyon is an officer for the Multi-Agency Law Enforcement Special Projects Center in the city of Laguna Niguel, California (in other words he's a police detective handling difficult cases, like serial killers and gang violence). He is compulsively neat, overly organized, always follows every run and regulation to the letter and has never been late to work a day in his life. His partner, Connie Gulliver, is the opposite, she's lives her life minute to minute, she's disorganized, leaves messes to be cleaned up, has piles of papers all over her half of the office they share, and is often late for work. The two could not be more different, but they're about to go through an experience that will bond them forever.

It's a typical California day and Connie and Harry are having lunch at a restaurant when a man with a gun enters and begins shooting. The event in it's self is not unheard of in the line of duty, but a vagrant Harry encounters after the shooting says something strange to him. "Ticktock Ticktock, you'll be dead in sixteen hours" the vagrant says, and repeats "Dead by dawn". Harry is confused but thinks nothing of it, until other strange events begin to make Harry question his own sanity.

Spoilers Ahead:
If you're a Dean Koontz fan you'll recognize some of the themes in this book, small group of people bond why trying to overcome unimaginable evil, with an abundance of description and detail of there trials and tribulations. These themes have obviously worked well for Koontz, you can't enter a grocery store of even a gas station without finding at least one of his novels for sale (he has more the 100 of them), but this time the description and tedious detail proves to be too much. The book is a bit slow and it's sometimes hard to stay engaged with the switching back and forth between the different characters.That's not to say that the book is not entertaining, it is. There are some great scenes in which the evil entity stalks and toys with Harry and company.
Another common theme in Dean Koontz books is a helpful and lovable dog (usually a lab, this time a medium sized mut), I really love dogs so I always welcome the help of "man's best friend", but it becomes a little bit redundant as well.
After the long descriptions and the switching of narratives and story lines, the reader really wants a big show down at the end, what we get instead just seems to fall short.

Bottom line: The book is decent, if you're a fan of Dean Koontz it's worth a try, if not, there are certainly other books out there (and certainly some by Dean Koontz) that are more worth your time.

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

2009-07-10T00:11:00.004-05:00

This is the first book in Charlaine Harris' "Southern Vampire Mysteries", which inspires the television show "True Blood". The book begins the tale of a fictional small Louisiana town called "Bon Temps", a town in a world where not only do vampires exist, they don't live in secret. Upon the Japanese developing a synthetic blood for medical purposes, the vampires "came out of the coffin" as they say, and began to integrate into mainstream society. Humans react in very different ways to the realization that a stronger, faster, and more attractive race of beings have shared their place at the "top of the food chain almost as long as humans have existed. One human who can't wait to meet a vampire is small town waitress Sookie Stackhouse. Sookie is anything but average, and she understands a thing or two about being different from the "norm". Sookie is telepathic, that is, she can read the minds of others. While it sounds like an interesting and useful ability, the reality of the constant noise of the human mind is an exhausting reality for Sookie. This "talent" makes her first encounter with a vampire all the more alluring, for the first time she meets Vampire Bill, Sookie hears the one thing she's always wanted to hear from the minds of her companions, silence.
Romance, humor, suspense, and lots of Southern charm, if you like vampires and supernatural beings, I highly recommend "Dead Until Dark".

Spoilers ahead!
If you've not read this book, do not read the second part of this article!
The casual way Harris brings the reader in after all the "logistics" of the vampire realization makes the story move quickly and avoids the slow start many books have while the author gets the reader acquainted with the situation and characters.
The main character and narrator of this story, Sookie, is not the sharpest tool in the tray and she doesn't always make the right decisions or say the right things, but she's funny and charming therefore gets away with theses faults, plus it makes her seem more relatable.
The romance between Sookie and Vampire Bill is a big part of this story, and Harris tries hard to make the reader root for this love match. Vampire Bill is Sookie's first boyfriend, her first love, her first sexual relationship. She falls head over heals for him like a teenager. The problem is that there really doesn't seem to be anything interesting about Vampire Bill. Sure, he saves her from being killed by a drug dealing, vampire killing, couple (after she saves him, I might add). He makes her feel safe and protected, he devotes all his time and energy to her, much like "Twilight's" Edward. This would all seem far more intriguing and romantic if Harris could manage to make us care about Bill. The real saving grace is the world that Harris creates and the other characters that live there, from Sookie's shapeshifting boss Sam, to her dumb but beautiful older brother Jason, to the mysterious vampire sheriff and bar owner Eric.

Bottom line: This book is good and a good start to the series, but the best reason to read "Dead Until Dark" is to get to the later books!

Suggestions

2009-07-01T13:50:00.001-05:00

Please post your suggestions for book reviews in the comment section. We will do our best to read them and review them. Just make sure the books have a supernatural element! Thanks!