Dante Valentine Series, Lilith Saintcrow

As I've stated before, I love me some kick ass heroines.  Especially ones that carry swords.  AND do magic.  Because that is just the epitome of awesome.  Dante Valentine is a character I am still ambivalent about, especially as I got to know her through the five books in her series.

The first book, Working for the Devil, introduces Dante.  She's a necromancer bounty hunter with a death wish who ends up hunting a rogue demon for none other than Old Scratch himself.  Dante's world is a melting pot version of ours, except with a severely dysfunctional pot.  But, the reality of that doesn't really become clear until midway through the series.  Religion is now a mix of sorcery and witchcraft.  And the technical aspect that Dante gives her craft makes it quite realistic, which I loved.  Dante spends most of the novel investigating and arguing with her demon guardian, Japhrimel.  Saintcrow makes it obvious that Dante has a past, but again that is something we don't get much information about until we progress through the series.  I loved the first book.  I immediately went and snapped up the rest to read.

In Dead Man Rising, Dante's past is revealed and the reader gets a glimpse of why Dante is such a pill.  I'm not going to go in depth here, since it would ruin some plot points of both this book and the first one.  Suffice to say, I still really liked Dante at this point.  However, when I hit the third book in the series, I started to get annoyed with Dante.  She's beginning to get a bit whiny and petulant.  And at this point, I still had a hard time blaming her for that since Lucifer is giving her the run around and she's demon hunting again.  By book four, I considered quitting, but I already had it and book five in my possession, so I finished.

All in all, I liked the series.  I just had a hard time with Dante.  Granted, she often ended up with the short end of the stick, but I can think of other similar series where I see the main character continuing to grow and progress.  Dante merely seemed to deal with her issues and doubt herself regularly.  She really strikes me as a very flat character who just happens to have a ton of history that was quite interesting.  What saved the series was the great plot lines.  I'd definitely like to try the Jill Kismet series and see if Saintcrow has the same problem with developing her characters, which would be a shame because her story is so engaging.  If you do like urban fantasy, this would be a good one to read if it's at your library or you run across a copy.

Darkfever

Oh my word, I forgot about Rewind Wednesday!  My apologies, dear readers!!  This week at work has been a bit chaotic, not to mention Cavern of Black Ice is slow, slow going, though it is quite good.

So, tonight (let's all just pretend that I DIDN'T forget to post last night) I'm going to write about the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning.  These books are a great urban fantasy series that I thoroughly enjoyed.  I'm not sure how I came across them--might have been a freebie on the ol' Nook a couple years ago.  But, I read them and just couldn't stop.  There are five books total, the latest being released in January 2011. 

The series is about a young girl named MacKayla who goes to Dublin to investigate the death of her sister, who was studying abroad.  Well, MacKayla's world gets turned topsy turvey when she discovers that she is a sidhe-seer (a human who can see pass the glamour a Fae casts to appear human).  MacKayla gets caught up in a hunt for the Sinsar Dubh... and she gets to kick Fae ass while she's at it.  Nothing makes me happier than a kick butt heroine.

The one thing that kind of makes the books rub me a little wrong is the romance element, but it's not painful too bad.  All in all, it is a fun read--they go pretty quickly.  I missed the release of the last book and recently checked it out from the library, only to discover that I couldn't recall if I'd read the previous book.  So, I'll be rereading these when I get around to it.

Also, there has apparently been so much love for the books that there is talk of a movie, which would be fun (I'd rather see the Rachel Morgan books as a movie or a Buffy-esque type television series).  Now I'm thinking about who I'd like to see play MacKayla and Jericho Barrens.  Hmmmm....

Winter of Fire

I was wracking my brain again for another Rewind Wednesday book and asked Sarah what I could write about.  She suggested Winter of Fire by Sherryl Jordan.  This is another old favorite for me.  It is sadly out of print, but I'm going to have to look for a copy to add to my "reread library."  The story takes place in a very bleak and cold future--literally.  Society is distinctly divided into castes that never mix, the Chosen and the Quelled.  The Chosen are led by the Firelord who is able to divine where the coal that is the sole source of heat can be found.  The Quelled are the workers, some are lucky and work for the Chosen.  Others are not so lucky and work in the mines.  The Earth has been so damaged that the sun no longer shines and is stuck in a perpetual winter.

Winter of Fire spoke volumes to me when I read it many years ago.  I can still remember most of the story, and I haven't picked up the book since I was in junior high I think.  I'd put this on level (for me) with Swan Song.  There is just something about the book, beyond the obvious empowerment of a woman of a lower class, the overcoming of social hurdles, sexism and the feelings of defeat that fills her people.  I mean, what girl doesn't want to read that?

Rewind Wednesday

It's Wednesday!!  So, that means it's the day I get to tell you to go read a super awesome book that I haven't reviewed here (and possibly haven't read in quite some time). 

So... What to review?  Well, I'm sure I could go through my Excel spreadsheet of books I've read (yes, I am that much of a nerd), but I'll go with an old favorite: Swan Song by Robert R. McCammon.  This was the very first horror novel I ever read.  It was also the first book I read that was more than a couple hundred pages as well.  Swan Song, in paperback format I read, it is something along 950+ pages.  If you read my introduction a few weeks ago, you'll possibly remember that I read Swan Song in second grade.  I probably didn't finish it in my usual record time back then, but I pretty much devoured it.  I've read it several times since, and it is also my brother and mom's favorite book as well (they're responsible for my excellent taste in books).

Swan Song is about what happens to the world and to our society after a nuclear holocaust.  We blow up Russia, they blow us up in return and a nuclear winter occurs.  People are scrambling for shelter, and food--there ends up being several groups of people that join together.  And the main character, Swan ends up being the epitome of good, while the leader of a survivalist group. Colonel Macklin ends up being a personification of evil.  There are several other characters that are central to the plot, but I don't want to spoil anything for anyone.

It's similar to The Stand, but I think it is a great book in it's own right.  I would be the first to draw comparisons and admit that they are similar.  But, Swan Song is well written and worth the read, even if you've read The Stand. 

Rewind Wednesday (Shatter and Render - Elizabeth C. Mock)

I'm addicted to blogging and am unable to stay away.  Also, I have to fill the massive black hole that SARAH is leaving open.  So, Rewind Wednesday is born!

Today, I'm going to go over two books I read fairly recently, I just never reviewed them.  I have an e-reader (which I love almost as much as my boyfriend and my car).  When I had a Nook, there was usually a weekly freebie, and this is how I discovered Shatter: The Children of Man by Elizabeth C. Mock.  Firstly, it was FREE!!  How can I not love a free book?  Alas, it is no longer free, but is $2.99 in the Kindle store, which is a bargain.

I don't recall what I had been reading at the time, but I needed a serious change of pace, so I selected Shatter.  Let me tell you, it roped me in almost immediately.  I finished it the first time in just a few days (and have since reread it, as it has a sequel and I couldn't recall how the characters ended up where the sequel began).  The pacing is fantastic and the story moves along at a steady clip.  Also, something I love: her command of grammar and the English language in general is great (though in going through Amazon reviews to refresh myself on the book, as I read it months ago, someone disagrees with me about her grammatical prowess.  Then again, my own grammatical prowess is often not what it should be.  Perhaps I read a version that had been edited after initial publication?).  The writing is clear, descriptive without being over-flowery, and just generally great.  Mock really has a way with words.  I felt that for her first novel, she did a fantastic job.  I later found out she is apparently a Language Arts teacher.  Therefore, I applaud and envy her dip into novel writing.

As for genre, it is fantasy.  Mock does a good job introducing an unfamiliar world and unfamiliar terms.  All the characters have back stories that don't need immediate explanation, and when they are explained, tie in well with the rest of the story.  Now, I also read mention that the basis for Mock's magic system in the novel is the card game, Magic: The Gathering.  I've never played, nor have I looked up how the game works. 

Anyway, I certainly liked it enough to read the second book, and I thought it equally as good.  I'm looking forward to a third one and also discovered there is now a prequel I'll have to buy.