Dead Reign

Dead Reign by T.A. Pratt

Marla Mason series

ISBN# 978-0-553-59135-4

Available now

Published by Bantam Spectra/ Random House, Inc.

Format: mm pbk., 321 pages

Genres: fiction, urban fantasy

Somehow in all my scrambling for releases dates and typing up said release dates on various calendars I missed this book. The first book in the series, Blood Engines, took a little reading to get into because Marla is very much an original and unique main character. She isn't all good or all bad, she's somewhere in the middle like most of us, but because she's also a very powerful sorceress and doesn't always do the "right" thing it makes for a more interesting and believable series. Even though the Marla Mason books are a series with re-occurring characters each book can be read as a stand-alone since the only hint of story arcs seem to pop up in this third book.

Marla Mason is the rough around the edges, take no shit, head sorcerer of Felport. She didn't get to that position by sitting on her ass or giving into demands from up-and-comers and Death coming to town isn't about to change that. He's come looking for his sword which has been considered the head sorcerer's dagger of office since Felport was founded. The Walking Death is new to the job and cocky so he attacks Marla directly only to rebuffed by the knife itself. The new plan is to banish Marla from her own city and prove that the city can survive without her until she hands over the dagger willingly, if he only knew Marla. While Marla is putting her own plan of attack together her right hand man, Rondeau, is busy leading the secret revolution back home in Felport. Marla soon sets off on her own very ambitious plan of taking over the Underworld in order to trade it back for her city. She finds out just how ambitious her idea really is when she realizes that everyone's hell is different and her's just happens to revolve around every person she's killed, either purposely or by accident.

Personally, I love when Death makes an appearance in books so Dead Reign had me from the start. There's a lot to like about this series and this book in particular. A necromancer accidentally calls up John Wilkes Booth when all he wanted was a zombie helper. Instead of a quiet helper he gets a Shakespeare quoting, racist who thinks heavy lifting is beneath him. To annoy him the necromancer later glamours one of his zombies to look like a young Abe Lincoln. You also meet a lot of sorcerers throughout this series and they all specialize in a certain area whether it be with the dead, technology, chaos, or prophecies. I strongly suggest this series if you're looking for something a little different where heros doing heroic acts are mostly an accident and not the norm. I also think this series will strongly appeal to readers of The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher.

Zhye

One Silent Night

One Silent Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Dark-Hunters

ISBN# 978-0-312-94706-4
Available now
Published by St. Martin's Press
Format: mm pbk., 310 pages
Genres: fiction, urban fantasy, paranormal romance

This is entry number 13 in the series and this far in you really should be reading them in order since storylines are now being played out over three or four books.  Before you go out and buy this book I must also tell you that it is 310 pages long only because it's set in large print so if you don't feel like paying novel price for a novella I suggest getting it from the library or a used book store.  Besides the Dark-Hunter series Sherrilyn Kenyon also writes the Dream-Hunter series and, under the name Kinley MacGregor, the Lords of Avalon series.  The correct reading of the Dark-Hunter books including all the short stories and, the sometimes intersecting, Dream-Hunter books can be found here.  

Losing his sister (in Acheron) was the final straw for Stryker.  Once again he's out to kill Ash, and now Nick.  This time he's feeling a tad suicidal so he doesn't really care what kind of forces he has to invoke to get the job done.  He visits Tartarus to release something so powerful that it took all the gods banding together just to contain him.  He is War, the ultimate spirit of battle, and he's never been one to follow orders.  When news of War's release spreads to Olympus Artemis implements a plan of her to, at the very least, keep Stryker busy.  Artemis sends Stryker's first wife to kill him which she is more than happy to do since he left her and his unborn child high and dry to marry a priestess.  Zephyra loses the duel and is forced to give Stryker two weeks to win her back.  Stryker is now determined more than ever to win his soul mate back since he thought she was dead until she showed up in his throne room trying to kill him.  Zephyra quickly begins to discover that she may not have known the entire situation and that chemistry they had while married is still very much alive.  Will they be reunited only to lose their daughter or will Stryker swallow his pride long enough to ask for the help of some very unlikely allies?

The reviews I've seen are pretty evenly split for this book, but personally I liked it.  It seems that not many people like Zephyra because they think she's cold and they find the relationship unbelievable because of her personality.  I don't see it that way at all.  Of course she's pissed, before Stryker she was abused and after he left she was pregnant and still had to go back to being abused in order to raise her child.  She thought he was the one person that loved her while everyone else told her how worthless she was and then he left because his father told him to.  They do fit so well together because, although Stryker was a god's son, they were both physically and mentally abused by their own families.  This book also begins the rise of the daimons so definitely keep reading.

Zhye

Books Read in 2008

** Updated 12/26/08 I reached 100!**

I took the 50 Book Challenge this year, except I upped mine to 100 because 50 is just a little too easy. Anyway, these are the 99 books I've read as of 12/22/08. I think I can get the last one read before the year's up and I'll update the list then.

1 Captain's Fury (4th Codex Alera book) - Jim Butcher

2 Betrayed (2nd House of Night book) - P.C. & Kristin Cast

3 Wyvernhail - Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

4 Dancing With Werewolves - Carole Nelson Douglas

5 Serpent's Kiss (10th Rogue Angel book) - Alex Archer

6 Upon a Midnight Clear (2nd Dream-Hunter book) - Sherrilyn Kenyon

7 Thunder Moon (8th Nightcreature novel) - Lori Handeland

8 Dream Chaser (3rd Dream-Hunter book) - Sherrilyn Kenyon

9 Iron Kissed (3rd Mercedes Thompson book) - Patricia Briggs

10 The Fair Folk - various authors

11 Unquiet Dreams (2nd Conner Grey book) - Mark Del Franco

12 Ghost of a Chance (1st Karma Marx book) - Kate Marsh aka Katie MacAlister

13 Eclipse (3rd Bella Swan novel) - Stephenie Meyer

14 Black Magic Woman (1st Quincey Morris Supernatural Investigation novel) - Justin Gustainis

15 The Outlaw Demon Wails (6th Rachel Morgan book) - Kim Harrison

16 Faerie Lord (4th and final Faerie wars Chronicles book) - Herbie Brennan

17 Steward of Song (sequel to Singer of Souls) - Adam Stemple

18 Chosen (3rd House of Night book) - P.C. & Kristin Cast

19 Poison Sleep (2nd Marla Mason novel) - T.A. Pratt

20 Night Life (1st Nocturne City book) - Caitlin Kittredge

21 City of Ashes (2nd Mortal Instruments novel) - Cassandra Clare

22 Magic Burns (2nd Kate Daniels book) - Ilona Andrews

23 Provenance (11th Rogue Angel book) - Alex Archer

24 One Foot in the Grave (2nd Night Huntress novel) - Jeaniene Frost

25 Personal Demon (8th Women of the Otherworld book) - Kelley Armstrong

26 Small Favor (10th Dresden Files novel) - Jim Butcher

27 Kiss of Midnight (1st in The Breed series) - Lara Adrian

28 Key to Conspiracy (2nd ParaDoc book) - Talia Gryphon

29 Dingo - Charles de Lint

30 Frostbite (2nd Vampire Academy novel) - Richelle Mead

31 From Dead to Worse (8th Southern Vampire Mysteries book) - Charlaine Harris

32 Ink Exchange - Melissa Marr

33 Embrace the Night (3rd Cassandra Palmer book) - Karen Chance

34 Wicked Game - Jeri Smith-Ready

35 Blood Noir (16th Anita Blake Vampire Hunter book) - Laurell K. Hamilton

36 House of Cards (2nd Negotiator book) - C.E. Murphy

37 The Darkest Kiss (6th Riley Jensen, Guardian book) - Keri Arthur

38 Mind the Gap - Tim Lebbon & Christopher Golden

39 The Soul Stealer (12th Rogue Angel book) - Alex Archer

40 Playing With Fire (1st book of the Silver Dragons) - Katie MacAlister

41 Rogue (2nd Werecats novel) - Rachel Vincent

42 The Summoning (1st book in the Darkest Powers trilogy) - Kelley Armstrong

43 Romancing the Dead (3rd Garnet Lacey book) - Tate Hallaway

44 The Host - Stephenie Meyer

45 Scent of Darkness (Darkness Chosen, book 1) - Christina Dodd

46 Touch of Darkness (Darkness Chosen, book 2) - Christina Dodd

47 Night Child (1st OSI book) - Jes Battis

48 Merlin's Dragon (1st in the Merlin's Dragon trilogy) - T.A. Barron

49 Everlost - Neal Shusterman

50 Runaways Vol. 1 (the hardback collection) - Brian K. Vaughan

51 Into the Shadow (3rd Darkness Chosen book) - Christina Dodd

52 The Ruby Key (1st in the Moon & Sun trilogy) - Holly Lisle

53 Feast of Fools (4th Morganville Vampires book) - Rachel Caine

54 Full Tilt - Neal Shusterman

55 Runaways Vol.2 (hardback collection) - Brian K. Vaughan

56 Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt

57 The Cabinet of Wonders (Kronos Chronicles Book 1) - Marie Rutkoski

58 Runaways Vol. 3 (hardback collection) - Brian K. Vaughan

59 Lover Enshrined (Black Dagger Brotherhood, book 6) - J.R. Ward

60 Unwind - Neal Shusterman

61 Gabriel's Horn (Rogue Angel, book 13) - Alex Archer

62 Lament - Maggie Stiefvater

63 Twelve Kingdoms Vol. 1: Sea of Shadow - Fuyumi Ono

64 Dating daVinci - Malena Lott

65 Fairyville - Emma Holly

66 House of Many Ways - Diana Wynne Jones

67 Into the Flame (Darkness Chosen, book 4) - Christina Dodd

68 Acheron (Dark-Hunters, book 12) - Sherrilyn Kenyon

69 Superior Saturday (Keys to the Kingdom, book 6) - Garth Nix

70 Fables Vol. 10 The Good Prince - Bill Willingham

71The Devil You Know (Morgan Kingsley, Exorcist, book 2) - Jenna Black

72 Keeping It Real (Quantum Gravity, book 1) - Justina Robson *a re-read

73 V.B. Rose Vol. 1 - Banri Hidaka *manga

74 Cry Wolf (Alpha and Omega, book 1) - Patricia Briggs

75 The Twelve Kingdoms Vol. 2: Sea of Wind - Fuyumi Ono

76 The Vampire Shrink - Lynda Hilburn

77 The Runaways: Dead End Kids - Joss Whedon

78 Faefever (3rd Fever book) - Karen Marie Moning

79 Untamed (House of Night, book 4) - PC & Kristin Cast

80 Storm Born - Richelle Mead

81 The Golden Elephant (Rogue Angel, book 14) - Alex Archer

82 Up in Smoke (Silver Dragons, book 2) - Katie MacAlister

83 V.B. Rose Vol. 2 - Banri Hidaka *manga

84 V.B. Rose Vol. 3 - Banri Hidaka *manga

85 Going Under (Quantum Gravity, book 3) - Justina Robson

86 Foundation (Collegium Chronicles, book 1) - Mercedes Lackey

87 Cybele's Secret - Juliet Marillier

88 Living With the Dead (Women of the Otherworld, book 9) - Kelley Armstrong

89 Cast in Fury (Elantra, book 4) - Michelle Sagara

90 Vulnerable (little Goddess, book 1) - Amy Lane

91 Poison Ink - Christopher Golden

92 Wounded (Little Goddess, book 2) - Amy Lane

93 Any Given Doomsday (Phoenix Chronicles, book 1) - Lori Handeland

94 Jinx - Meg Cabot

95 Swallowing Darkness (Meredith Gentry, book 7) - Laurell K. Hamilton

96 Magic to the Bone - Devon Monk

97 Dark Harvest (Vampire Psychologist, book 2) - Lynda Hilburn

98 One Silent Night (Dark-Hunter, book 13) - Sherrilyn Kenyon

99 Dead Reign (Marla Mason, book 3) - T.A. Pratt

**100 Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy, book 3) - Richelle Mead

Dark Harvest

Dark Harvest by Lynda Hilburn

Kismet Knight, Vampire Psychologist

ISBN# 978-193383661-4

Available now

Published by Medallion Press, Inc.

Format: trade pbk., 383 pages

Genres: fiction, paranormal romance

Well, I've finally gotten a hold of and read the second Kismet Knight book.  A review of the first book, The Vampire Shrink, can be found among the older posts.  You can also catch the trailer for the first book on Ms. Hilburn's Myspace page.  

Kismet has pretty much come to terms with Devereux being a real vampire, even though she occasionally relapses into thinking she's crazy.  What she won't concede is that she's his fated mate or that he can order around like she has no mind of her own.  Enter into all these relationship growing pains one very crazy, old, and powerful vampire who's decided he wants Kismet for himself and you have a very volatile situation.  Hallow first contacts Kismet through a radio call-in show and tells her that he was sent to harvest (kill) someone close to her.  She doesn't want to believe he's a vampire or a real threat partly because the show was during the day, but Victoria (Devereux's building manager and witch extraordinaire) tells her that she's heard of him and even felt his power through the radio.  As Hollow gets more and more of a foothold in her mind she can't even tell Devereux she needs help.  Those around her worry more and more as she repeatedly acts completely out of character going so far as to even attack Devereux and then not remember a thing about it.  If she can't fight him and completely gives in she'll find out what real servitude is and Hallow's hold will be powerful enough to make her beg for more.

There is no real mystery to this book.  Once Hallow shows up and his powers are explained you know exactly what's going on with Kismet.  The only tiny mystery is, who the hell is Maxi?  That shouldn't really take you long either since she gives Kismet more than enough clues, if she was smart enough to put them together.  I really think the only reason Hallow is in this book is because Hilburn needed some kind of relationship test for Devereux and Kismet, something that after they overcome it will prove to them that they do indeed belong together.  Something Kismet said towards the end really bugged me.  She said something about being naturally suspicious of people, but apparently that only applies to people she knows.  All through this book she's suspicious of Devereux and Victoria.  Luna, Maxi, and Hallow get right past her radar.  The first book was better, but this one is still good.  There's also plenty of Devereux in this book, who I am becoming a big fan of.

Zhye

Site Updates and Where to Find Your Own

I was procrastinating this morning so I started looking for ways to add to and redesign the site. I've done a little and I'll probably do more since once I start something I just can't leave it alone til it's perfect, to me anyway.

I finally found a tag cloud widget that worked for me at phydeaux3. Now I'm going to have to re-label my posts and some authors won't show up since I set the cloud to include labels that had two entries or more. You'll still be able to find the books under their genre or main supernatural creature tag though.

I also found some code to make my two column set-up into three columns at Tips For New Bloggers. Just scroll down til you see the actual post, there's also links to setting up three columns using other blogger templates. Now I have room for all kinds of widgets I don't need!

That's all the news for now!

Magic to the Bone

Magic to the Bone by Devon Monk
ISBN# 978-0-451-46240-4
Available now
Published by ROC/Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
Format: mm pbk., 355 pages
Genres: fiction, urban fantasy

This is Devon Monk's first novel as well as being the first in an as-of-yet unnamed series. Her short stories, however have been published in magazines and books spanning five countries. You can find her newest short stories in the anthologies Better Off Undead and Crime Spells (out in February). You can find a much more complete list of her short stories on her website under the heading, "short fiction".

Allison Beckstrom left the influence of her very wealthy and important father seven years ago never to return. Now she makes her living as a Hound, tracking illegal magic Offloads back to the caster, which is how she winds up confronting her father about a hit on a five year old boy. The next day she finds out, by way of newspaper, that her father's dead and apparently he died right after their meeting. Now she's trying to figure out what the heck is going on while hiding from other Hounds and cops that think she's the murderer. Zayvion Jones seems to show up when she needs him whether she's on the run or not, but since he used to stalk her for her father he can't really be trusted even though Allie can't seem to keep her hands off of him. She also runs across half-dead Cody (and Kitten) who claims to have been there when her father was killed, but something has been done to him where he regularly reverts to a child-like state. The clock is ticking and if Allie can't solve this mystery neither her or Cody will have to worry about anything ever again.

I like the magical system in this book, you gotta pay to play, and the legality issues that pop up because of it. My favorite character is Zayvion Jones because he has a lot of secrets and for some reason I get the sense that he may not be 100% human. The cover of this book is also very nice, love the tattoo. This book shows some great series potential if I read the second book.

While this series may wind up being great later on this book had quite a few problems for me. First is that I don't particularly like Allie. She may change in later books, but right now Mrs. Monk has mistaken cranky, snarky bitch with strong female protagonist. Secondly, memory loss is one of the ways magic can make you pay up and Allie seems to experience quite a bit of it so, if she's going to be asking the same questions in each book that could get old really fast. Potential readers should also know before they start, after everything is worked out Allie forgets the entire contents of this book.

Zhye

Swallowing Darkness

Swallowing Darkness by Laurell K. Hamilton
Meredith Gentry series
ISBN# 978-0-345-49593-8
Available now
Published by Ballantine Books/Random House, Inc.
Format: hardcover, 365 pages
Genres: fiction, paranormal erotica, urban fantasy

This series is for mature readers only since most of the books have a lot in common with porn. This series should also be read in order since it is an on-going story about main character, Princess Meredith NicEssus. In this seventh entry in the series the sex to plot ratio is finally turned around which makes a nice change and the story finally gets moving. If reading about the Fae isn't your thing there's also her longer running, Anita Blake Vampire Hunter, series. In those books you'll find vampires, zombies, necromancers, and a whole menagerie of were-animals. The later books in that series are also only for mature readers since Anita Blake basically turns into a succubus. If you just can't get enough of the Anitaverse the books are currently being turned into a comic book series, although the artwork I've seen so far is pretty awful. It might be just me, but every image of Anita Blake I've seen from the comics make her look like Wonder Woman with a bad afro.

** This review may contain spoilers if you haven't read the first six books. **

This book picks up almost immediately where A Lick of Frost left off. Merry is now in the hospital recovering from her uncle's (King Taranis) attack, but he and the Seelie court aren't quite done with her yet. When Hettie, Merry's grandmother and the one person that's always been there for her, visits and ends up losing control of her powers trying to kill Sholto and Doyle they all know that she would never do such a thing on her own. Once they figure out it was a spell and who was behind it Merry and Sholto call on the Wild Hunt for revenge. Their hunt takes them to the Seelie mound where they learn of another plot already in action to kill another of Merry's men, Mistral. They get there in time to see Mistral fall and to maybe save his life if they can find help soon, but since it looks like both courts are in on this they go to Sholto's kingdom, the slaughs' mound. When they wake up from an enchanted, healing sleep it's to find that a temporary king has been put in place and the mound is besieged by the Seelie claiming that the slaugh have kidnapped Merry and they want her back. The Goddess makes several appearances and wants her will known, but with both courts in denial and fighting all the way Merry is a little more concerned with just surviving the night.

I've read the reviews that say this is the best book Laurell has written in quite a few years and I can only partially agree. It's thicker than her past few books, in both series, have been in the past two years or so. There's more action in this one book than there has been in the entire series so this one's definitely worth the money. The main problem I had is that there is so much action, involving so many people that towards the end I was action fatigued and couldn't even really care about what happened anymore. Personally, I think she should end the series here since this book had a perfect ending paragraph for a series and it would end on a high note. There are plans for at least two more though so don't send me your hate mail quite yet. So, if you like this series you will love this book because a lot of things are finally dealt with and if you're new to the series do not start with this book or you will have all your questions answered before they've even been asked in the other books.

Zhye

Any Given Doomsday

Any Given Doomsday by Lori Handeland
The Phoenix Chronicles
ISBN# 978-0-312-94919-8
Available now
Published by St. Martin's Press
Format: mm pbk., 343 pages
Genres: fiction, urban fantasy

Lori Handeland is well known for her paranormal romance series, the Nightcreatures novels. There is some great world-building in these books which is sometimes very hard to find in the paranormal romance genre which is why I was excited to see her start the urban fantasy series, The Phoenix Chronicles. Her fans will still get what they've come to expect from her books though, there's some very hot scenes in this book along with tons of sexual tension. If you loved the book and want more or need to read a little bit more before buying you can sign up to receive the free prequel short story, In the Beginning, here.

Elizabeth Phoenix has always wanted to be normal, but sometimes life isn't about getting what you want. When she finds her foster mother, Ruth, dead and the body savaged her life begins to change. She's always tried to suppress her psychic gift, but when she touched Ruth's body she saw images of monsters that can't possibly exist. Her former lover, Jimmy, pops back into her life to tell her of the nephilim and the war that Ruth lead against them. When he also tells her that she is to be the next leader of The Federation can she really afford to keep suppressing her talents? In order to begin this new life she must first face the person that scares her most. Sawyer is a powerful medicine man, but also so much more than Liz ever suspected. Even with Sawyer's help can she open up and accept who and what she is before it's too late or has evil already won?

You'll still find your shapeshifters and vampires in this book, but the mythos in this series is that all of these supernatural beings are actually part of one race called the nephilim. All of the nephilim are on the side of evil, but any children they had with a human are known as "the breeds" and can choose to be on the side of good. All of The Federation's demon hunters (DKs) are breeds since they did get some of their nephilim parent's strength and speed. Since Handeland's Nightcreatures novels were so good with that original twist on werewolves I was expecting this new series to be great and I wasn't disappointed a bit. Love it! You must go buy it. Why are you still reading this?

Zhye

Wounded

Wounded by Amy Lane
Little Goddess trilogy
ISBN# 978-0-595-37914-9
Available now
Published by iUniverse
Format: trade pbk., 362 pages
Genres: fiction, paranormal erotica, urban fantasy

This is the second book in Amy Lane's, self-published, Little Goddess trilogy. This book seemed to me to have a very different theme than the first and at times my little feminist heart didn't like it at all (it's also why I can't read bodice rippers). I still can't quite figure out why we've gone from "love whom thou wilt" to "learn to love whomsoever is thrust upon you", but there better be some kind of resolution in book three or we're going to end up with a male harem straight out of the Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series.

After the terrible events in "Vulnerable" Green thought that sending Cory to college, away from the hill, would give her the time she needed to heal. When he responds to a mental call for help in the middle of the night from Cory he begins to see how very wrong that decision was. Green and his people arrive in San Fransisco to find her beaten, sick, and missing some of her memories of Adrian. After all that he has done to make sure Remmy and Cory are safe it appears that now there is a new power that none of his allies were aware of and it thrives on the stolen memories of women. Finding this new power leads him to dealing with his past and finally confronting the elf lord that once he would have done anything for. While Green is busy with their allies Cory is learning to let people in and to accept help when it's offered, and clearly needed. She's also learning that some things are beyond even a goddess's control and the only choice left is how well she chooses to live with these changes.

There's still some minor editing problems, but nothing huge. Cory gets two new lovers in this book and neither is her choice, which I have a huge problem with. Then, to compound the problem, one of these lovers is bossy and wants her all to himself when he's known all along that she loves Green more than anyone. She's a burgeoning goddess and she still can't love who she wants to? Makes no sense to me. I really hope that Cory and Green end up happy in book three and that this other crap is finally resolved one way or another.