Coming Soon - Review of All Souls Trilogy

image made by me

In the spirit of Halloween I pulled out my copy of A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness and found myself, once again, lost in the world of witches and vampires, daemons and magic.  I marathoned the trilogy over three days, and today I am feeling a little bereft as I leave that world.  So to help me with my book hangover, I decided to do a review of the trilogy for anyone who has thought about picking it up.

I'll try to avoid any major spoilers - or at least warn you.

Oh, and an important bit of advice to anyone reading considering picking up this trilogy is the reading order.  This is definitely a trilogy where you must start at the beginning.  There will be no skipping ahead, ladies and gentlemen, as you will miss out on vital information that may leave your reading experience a little cattywampus.

So look out for each review as it goes up.  I can't wait to share my feelings and thoughts with you on a trilogy that I just adore.

Until next time,

Early Winter and craft

Winter has arrived early this year, and with the cold snap - winds straight off the Antarctic! - I've started nesting on the couch with my traditional winter crafts being pulled out of the mothballs ;-D  On Friday I started searching through my quilting projects for something small that could be hand made in front of the TV (Once Upon a Time Seasons 1 & 2), as well as leftover knitting or crochet from last year.   Since I couldn't help but buy some more quilting fabric I'll have a lot of projects to choose from, but I'm leaning more towards doing some quilt-as-you-go charm squares.  My green knitted jumper still isn't finished so I think that will go in the 'must do' pile as well.  I still have to dig out my chair-side storage basket so everything is within easy reach and then I can keep myself occupied through the cold winter months.  All I need to do now is raid my TBR pile for some good books and it'll be perfect!

My reading list for March

Finally had a meeting of the book club I belong to, and the three books chosen for March are:

Murder of Crows - Anne Bishop || Bitter Spirits - Jenn Bennett || A Study in Silks - Emma Jane Holloway

Can't wait to read them.  It's always nice to discover new authors, and I'm really looking forward to reading Ms. Holloway's titles.  Her cover art looks so interesting, and seriously, who can resist a little Steampunk ;-D

Recently finished Concealed in Death (ePub) and Oolong Dead (pbk), and will post reviews asap.  But until then,

Happy Reading

Book Review - When Demons Walk

When Demons Walk
Patricia Briggs

First published June 1998

ACE, Mass Market Paperback, 272 p.
ISBN: 978-0-441-00534-5

DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME

Sham had spent most of her young life as a sorceress and thief, stealing from Southwood's nobility to survive.  Now she must face the greatest test of her skills...

A killer has struck Southwood, claiming the lives of nobles.  Lord Kerim, Reeve of Southwood, turns to Sham for help.  Posing as his mistress, she delves behind castle walls to find the killer.  But this murderer is not mortal - and Sham must use all of her magical wisdom to send the demon away.  Because the city of Southwood has nowhere to hide - and no time to run...

I picked up this book after reading a Iron Kissed, and as much as I love the Mercy Thompson series I wasn't too sure about what to expect.  It wasn't Urban Fantasy, there were no werewolves or shapeshifters, etc.  Would I really like it?   The answer was YES!  I really did enjoy this book.  The world Ms. Briggs has built for Sham is so well done that you don't really even think about it being a different world/realm, whatever.  You just accept it as part of Sham's life.

Sham, or Shamera, is a wonderfully strong and driven character.  I do like a sassy heroine, and Sham fits that to a tee.  Living as a thief has given her the connections that see her moonlighting as the mistress of Kerim, aka The Leopard, as she tries to discover the identity of a killer.  It's great to have a lead female that has knowledge, or abilities, that makes her self sufficient in a world where women still rely on the men in their lives.  Now with a formidable heroine like Sham you'd assume that our hero would be muscled up the whazoo, but Kerim, comes into Sham's life in a physically compromised position.  Despite this, he is a strong leader who keeps his feeling to himself, but Shamera has no problems reading him.

Our secondary characters, Dickon, Elsic and Talbot, are very much a part of the story.  They each have a history of their own that helps to shape their responses to the action.  Scorch is another character to keep an eye on, too ;-D.  There are other notable characters, such as Shark and Lord Halvok and Lady Sky, but many of the others just drift out of your mind as soon as they leave the scene.

Potentially this is the start of a great series, but like Nightseer, it is likely that this will remain a one-off story.  There are quite a few dangling threads that need to be tied up, but it looks like they will stay that way.  Although not part of a series, it is a great book to read.  If you liked Nightseer, Masques (Briggs), or the Chronicle of Elantra, then you'll enjoy this.

Book Review - Nightseer

Nightseer

LKH

First printed, March 1992

ROC Fantasy, Mass Market Paperback, 303 p.

ISBN: 978-0-451-45143-9

Author of the New York Times bestselling Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series, Laurell K. Hamilton has brought the supernatural to light - and has given readers a vision of a world aflame with electrifying suspense and violent passions.  In this, her debut novel, her rich imagination spreads its wings to fly - in a tale of a woman known as sorcerer, prophet, and enchantress...

The mark of a demon can open the door to undreamed of powers and possibilities - or expose a soul to the darkest and most forbidden forces of sorcery.  Now Keleios wears the mark - and the time of avenging her mother's death is at hand...

This was a chance find for me about 10 years ago.  I wasn't in to the paranormal/fantasy genre then, but I loved the Anita Blake and Merry Gentry series, so I thought I'd give it a go.   Actually, it was the cover that caught my eye in the beginning.  There it sat on the bookshop shelf.  A medium sized book, surrounded by plain or boring looking covers, that stood apart with its image of a tattooed woman holding magical flames in her hands... beautiful.

The world LKH has created for Keleios is both beautiful and deadly.  Magic is a formidable weapon in the right hands, and the gods work in mysterious ways.  There are dragons, cats who can 'talk' in a fashion, and the elf and sidhe races aren't the beings from your childhood fairy tales.   Nightseer follows Keleios, a half-breed elf, on a quest of sorts.  Full of action, magic slinging, unrequited love (of a fashion) and good old fashioned revenge, it's a great introduction into the fanasty genre for someone who has read urban fantasy, but wants more.

Although it is one of the few stand alone books by LKH, Nightseer finished with so many unanswered storylines that it's just begging for a sequel.  I mean, what happens to Keleios and Lothor now that they are married?  Does Keleios get her revenge on Nesbit?  Who was the grey, green-eyed Black Healer that wanted a word with her?  So many questions and no answers!

New Kannon Dupree:Timestalker book

Heads up for all the Kannon Dupree: Timestalker fans.  The third book is due out later on in the year (yeah!) and it sounds like a good one...


Coyote - A Kannon Dupree: Timestalker Novel
Rhonda Roberts

Release Date: 01 September 2012


Synopsis

A fabulous new TimeStalker novel.

A missing diary holding dark secrets, a lost Spanish royal treasure and a serial killer operating in the Wild Wild West...

Kannon Dupree, the time travelling detective, is hired to go to New Mexico in 1867 to find the missing diary of a Wild West hero. Disguised as a bounty hunter, the chase takes Kannon from gunfights in Old Santa Fe, across hostile territory in the middle of an Indian War, via a mysterious convent of nuns banished to die in the desert and into an ancient pueblo city on a cursed mesa sacred to Coyote, the trickster god.

But what she doesn′t know is that the diary holds a spine-chilling secret that someone in the present may be willing to do anything to hide...

There's a new Horseman in town

I just received a copy of the Larissa Ione book Eternal Rider.  This is the first book in a new series, but continues on from the Demonica world we know and love. 

Meet the Lords of Deliverance.  Ares, Thanatos, Limos and Reseph.  Born of a union between Lilith and Yenrieth (a succubus and an angel), these four siblings have stood for more than 5,000 years as protectors between hell's minions and destuction.

This series begins after the conflict of the previous Demonica books, it is now the Lords of Deliverance's turn to face the evil within.  Eternal Rider is the story of Ares, the one who will become War if he falls.  In the beginning we see Reseph transormation from a Lord of Deliverance into Pestilience, on of the Horsemen of the Apocolypse. 

Now, the only thing stopping Pestilence from turning Ares to the dark side is a plucky, sassy mortal woman whose misfortune it was to heal a badly injured dog... that turned out to be a grateful Hellhound pup she'd named Hal, short for Halitosis (due to his god-awful breath!)

Thanks to Hal, Cara Thornhart is now on not only the Aegis' radar, but a fallen angel's as well.  This dark angel holds the key to Ares salvation or destruction, but knows that Pestilence is after him.  Seeing his chance, he imbues the mortal with Ares' seal.  Isn't that always the way?

Once Ares realises that this scrap of a mortal is his only hope, he not only fights his attraction towards her - Cara keeps telling him No, and challenging him... a first for Ares, and boy does that float his boat :-D - but she has now become the target of Pestilence and his minions who want War to join them.  As the siblings and their allies race to save the now dying Cara, they must keep in mind that if one more of them falls, the others are destined to follow.  And you don't want the Four Horsemen to unite as it would become hell on earth for everyone.

This is a great read.  I couldn't put it down and it took me about 4 hours to finish it.  There is a bit of sex in this book, no more or worse than that in the Demonica series, and the characters that revolve around Ares are just too cute!  Who wouldn't want some Ramreels around the place?  That being said, I did fall in love Hal.  Just wait until you meet Hal's grandfather!  Also Ares' steed was a cutie too.  There is also another betrayal by an Aegis operative, and you meet some familiar faces to boot.

Thanatos, and his sister Limos are believable as Ares siblings.  They fought, made up and carried on like any other siblings I've met - only these guys could have smited you real good :-P  Plus, the tension between Cara and Ares is a nice change of pace from romance books where the heroine jumps into the sack with her 'hero' within hours of meeting him.

Eternal Rider is a reasonable 402 pages long, and that doesn't include the 8 page excerpt from the next installment, Immortal Rider, and it is Limos' turn to avoid falling.  As the promised bride to the Devil himself, it is Runa's brother, Arik, who just happens to be the idiot that kick-start the Devil's jealousy (there are certain conditions that can cause Limos to fall).  Now, all this isn't a spoiler, this is all info you read in Eternal Rider and the excerpt.  Luckily for you, you don't have to wait too long for the next book as it is out now - and I can't wait to get it.

Steampunk... whuh?

Okay, I've never given much thought about Steampunk.  It always sounded too sci-fi for me, that is until I took the advice of one of the guys at my old bookshop.  Although I was still hesitant about trying it, the cover was so intriguing I thought "what the hell?"

I don't regret my decision.  The Parasol Protectorate series by Gail Carriger (love the logo) is truly wonderful.  It is full of the customary corsets and carriages, teapots and tiaras, that one expects from a period series, but don't let the Victorian setting put you off from reading this awesome series.  Our heroine kicks butt with her jumped up hi-tech parasol.

For those of us who adore a little supernatural spice, you will get your fill of werewolves, vampires and other things that go bump in the night - rest assured that they play a major part in the storyline.  The central story revolves around a bluestocking, Alexia Tarabotti.  A lady of Italian extraction, who just happens to be soulless.  Her curse, if that is how one wishes to view it, is that if she touches another supernatural being, they become human - and can be killed.

And if that didn't set her apart enough, then Alexia has the most superficial and gossip-mongering family.  If I was in Alexia's shoes I would have tried to do away with them long before now. . . hint hint




And yes, I know it's actually 'An Alexia Tarabotti Novel', but it doesn't have the same ring as the Parasol Protectorate does it :D



About the Books

So far there are four books available in the Parasol Protectorate series, with Timeless being released on 28 Feb 2012;

Soulless

Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations. First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.

Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire -- and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.

With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?

SOULLESS is a comedy of manners set in Victorian London: full of werewolves, vampires, dirigibles, and tea-drinking.

Changeless

Alexia Tarabotti, the Lady Woolsey, awakens in the wee hours of the mid-afternoon to find her husband, who should be decently asleep like any normal werewolf, yelling at the top of his lungs. Then he disappears - leaving her to deal with a regiment of supernatural soldiers encamped on her doorstep, a plethora of exorcised ghosts, and an angry Queen Victoria.

But Alexia is armed with her trusty parasol, the latest fashions, and an arsenal of biting civility. Even when her investigations take her to Scotland, the backwater of ugly waistcoats, she is prepared: upending werewolf pack dynamics as only the soulless can.

She might even find time to track down her wayward husband, if she feels like it.


Blameless

Quitting her husband's house and moving back in with her horrible family, Lady Maccon becomes the scandal of the London season.

Queen Victoria dismisses her from the Shadow Council, and the only person who can explain anything, Lord Akeldama, unexpectedly leaves town. To top it all off, Alexia is attacked by homicidal mechanical ladybugs, indicating, as only ladybugs can, the fact that all of London's vampires are now very much interested in seeing Alexia quite thoroughly dead.

While Lord Maccon elects to get progressively more inebriated and Professor Lyall desperately tries to hold the Woolsey werewolf pack together, Alexia flees England for Italy in search of the mysterious Templars. Only they know enough about the preternatural to explain her increasingly inconvenient condition, but they may be worse than the vampires -- and they're armed with pesto.


Heartless

Lady Alexia Maccon, soulless, is at it again, only this time the trouble is not her fault. When a mad ghost threatens the queen, Alexia is on the case, following a trail that leads her deep into her husband's past. Top that off with a sister who has joined the suffragette movement (shocking!), Madame Lefoux's latest mechanical invention, and a plague of zombie porcupines and Alexia barely has time to remember she happens to be eight months pregnant.

Will Alexia manage to determine who is trying to kill Queen Victoria before it is too late? Is it the vampires again or is there a traitor lurking about in wolf's clothing? And what, exactly, has taken up residence in Lord Akeldama's second best closet?


Timeless

Alexia Tarabotti, Lady Maccon, has settled into domestic bliss. Of course, being Alexia, such bliss involves integrating werewolves into London High society, living in a vampire's second best closet, and coping with a precocious toddler who is prone to turning supernatural willy-nilly. Even Ivy Tunstell's acting troupe's latest play, disastrous to say the least, cannot put a damper on Alexia's enjoyment of her new London lifestyle.

Until, that is, she receives a summons from Alexandria that cannot be ignored. With husband, child, and Tunstells in tow, Alexia boards a steamer to cross the Mediterranean. But Egypt may hold more mysteries than even the indomitable Lady Maccon can handle. What does the vampire Queen of the Alexandria Hive really want from her? Why is the God-Breaker Plague suddenly expanding? And how has Ivy Tunstell suddenly become the most popular actress in all the British Empire?

UPDATE - this does seem to be the last book in the series {searching for tissues to sniffle into} however Ms Carriger is planning another series set in the same funky Victorian period, only 25 years earlier, and at a Finishing School.

About the Author

Ms. Carriger began writing in order to cope with being raised in obscurity by an expatriate Brit and an incurable curmudgeon. She escaped small town life and inadvertently acquired several degrees in Higher Learning. Ms. Carriger then traveled the historic cities of Europe, subsisting entirely on biscuits secreted in her handbag. She now resides in the Colonies, surrounded by a harem of Armenian lovers, where she insists on tea imported directly from London and cats that pee into toilets. She is fond of teeny tiny hats and tropical fruit. Find out more about the author at gailcarriger.com


PS all book descriptions and author bio were taken from Amazon.  The bio is the same in the back of the books, but it just saved time to cut and paste.

Is Paranormal fiction the new Historical Romance?

Do you ever feel like just about every book you pick up these days has a supernatural flavour to it?  Have we, as a generation, just fallen out of love with the average Jo and Jane story?  I think we have.

I was trolling through my large bookshelves the other night and found, to my horror, that a huge percentage of space was devoted to romances of the paranormal kind.  It seems that Paranormal romance has become the new Historical Romance.  We are bombarded with covers of sexy vampires, witches, or werewolves.  If you walk into K-Mart, Big W, Target, or any other shop that sells books, all the romances are tucked away in a little corner while the Vampires, Witches and Werewolves are in your face up the front.  The extra tinge of dangerous love seems to have hit the spot with most women these days. 

Seriously, which of these books would you buy?

Think about what your local bookshop was selling 15-20 years ago.  Fabio was the hottest cover model out there, and if the blurb mentioned hunky knights, corsets and castles we bought it.  Fast foward 15 years and we are no longer drawn to a cover with Fabio manhandling his wench - face it, we cringe and put it down, nor does the windswept vista of a medieval castle high on a hill in the background have the power to woo us.  Have we just become too jaded? 

Now, feeling a little shamefaced, I went to one of the boxes where I store some of my older books, and sure enough there they were.  All my old favourites, slightly battered and looking extremely well read.  I felt like I'd just discovered old friends that I hadn't realised I'd missed.  There were my favourite romances that I'd discovered in high school (French was quite boring at times), and found my old Johanna Lindsey's.  The Mallory's and who could forget Warrior's Woman - my first Sci-fi/Fantasy romance.

I still have Nora Roberts' The Donovan trilogy (Captivated, Entranced and Charmed) and even some one-off historical romances that I'd managed to rescue from library book sales.  All of them, waiting patiently in this old brown box for the day when they'd be read again.  I don't have the heart to put them back in the box, and I don't want to get rid of them . . . I guess that means I'll be getting a bigger bookcase instead.

Finally!

Even though this is my first post on my site, I gotta keep it short. We're in the middle of a thunderstorm - at 10.30am! - and I don't want the computer to turn up it's toes in the middle of my rant.

Anyway, I've been raiding the local bookshops and library for any new books. Oh boy, I've found some of the best series recently. I used to avidly devour LKH's Anita Blake series, but like alot of you out there I've found the series has just degenerated into a printed porn session. I miss the zombie raising, Sigmund hugging and Edward teasing. So for all you 'I loved LKH until...' fans, I've found some good replacement heroines. For the moment I'll only put 2 here, otherwise I'll be here for hours!

Try Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson books. This is another shapeshifter based series with vampires and fae, but so far it's been more about the characters than bedroom sessions. The third book is due out in Jan 08 and I can't wait to get my copy.
1. Moon Called 2. Blood Bound • (s/s) in On the Prowl 3. Iron Kissed (out Jan 08)
There is also the wonderfully witty Kitty Norville. A smart mouthed radio announcer who also happens to be a werewolf. Carrie Vaughn has done a fantastic job bringing this fiesty wolf to life. There are 4 books in the series.
1. Kitty and the Midnight Hour 2. Kitty goes to Washington 3. Kitty takes a Holiday 4. Kitty and the Silver Bullet (out Jan 08)

I have a ton more books to recommend, so stick around and I'll post more as soon as I can read them all!