toscas_kiss | Entries tagged with 50 books

Book #3:
Night Life by Rob Thurman
I Rate it: 9/10
Category: Modern Urban Fantasy

"There are monsters among us. There always have been and there always will be. I've known that ever since I can remember, just like I've always known I was one . . . Well, half of one, anyway."

Welcome to the Big Apple. There's a troll under the Brooklyn Bridge, a boggle in Central Park, and a beautiful vampire in a penthouse on the Upper East Side-and that's only the beginning. Of course, most humans are oblivious to the preternatural nightlife around them, but Cal Leandros is only half-human.
His father's dark lineage is the stuff of nightmares - and he and his entire otherworldly race are after Cal. Why? Cal hasn't exactly wanted to stick around long enough to find out. He and his half-brother Niko have managed to stay a step ahead for three years, but now Cal's dad has found them again. And Cal is about to learn why they want him, why they've always wanted him...for he is the key to unleashing their hell on earth. The fate of the human world will be decided in the fight of Cal's life . . .

Another first person POV book - this seems to be my lot for the year so far. This time I didn't feel like I was reading a Mary-Sue (or Marty-Stu, as the case may be) however. Cal's voice and attitude are distinctive; he has a dark and dry sense of humour, and an underlying sense of fatalism which occasionally makes you want to kick him. I found it possible to detach from Cal and see where his personality quirks and failures were (unlike the former case where the oilslick of self-satisfaction over what a wonderul and righteous human being they are clogs you up). One of the other characters calls Cal a whiny little shit and Mr Morose, and to a certain extent, he is. But as the character also adds, he's brave, focused and stubborn, especially when it comes to his brother. If you enjoy Supernatural (I still have seen it myself), I imagine you'll enjoy this book - the pivotal and most interesting relationship is that between Cal and his big brother and protector, Niko.

This was an excellent story - solid characters, solid plot and solid writing. The plot might not have been the world's most original, but there was a nice little twist in the middle of the book, one that had me grinning evilly for pages and pages. The other characters in the book are well-drawn and individualistic, and the background and mythos intelligently thought out. There are threads here and there used as background which very obviously lead into a future book, but in this era of Inability to Write One-offs, it's mildly irritating but seemingly inevitable. The good news is the story does finish in this book (cliffhangers really piss me off in books) and that a second book, Moonshine, is on the way in March.

My take: Buy this book! Support this author and he'll get to write some more. Definitely worth the moolah.

3 / 50
(6.0%)

So I decided to take the

50bookchallenge again this year. I started it a couple of years ago then ran out of steam mid-year. Maybe 2007 will be a good year for the nibblings of bookworms...

Book #1:
An Accidental Goddess by Linnea Sinclair
I Rate it: 5.5/10
Category: Romance/Science Fiction-Fantasy

Raheiran Special Forces captain Gillaine Davré has just woken up in some unknown space way station, wondering where the last three hundred years have gone. The last thing she remembers is her ship being attacked. Now it seems that while she was time-traveling, she was ordained a goddess…. Gillaine’s only hope of survival rests with dangerously seductive Admiral Mack Makarian, who suspects her of being a smuggler—or worse.

I was a bit disappointed by this book - I thought it would be a science fiction novel with lashings of romance. It turned out to be a romance novel with lashings of science fiction. That misconception aside, the worldbuilding was really interesting. The female characters were more believable than the men (then again this was a romance novel!) but the characters were all engaging and not too 'superhuman'. Sadly I felt the ending was predictable. Which, OK, is what you want in a romance novel, but overall the book could have been so, so much better. I felt the author went for the safe and formulaic when it was very obvious she was capable of much more.
I bought another of this author's books at the same time, so it will be interesting to see if she follows the same pattern.

My take: Enjoyable enough Mind Candy, readable once but I doubt I'd bother twice. Borrow from a library, a friend or a book exchange, or buy it second hand. The book equivalent of a cup of hot tea - pleasant, but not terribly challenging.

Book #2:
Deja Dead by Kathy Reichs
I Rate it: 8.5/10
Category: Crime thriller

Dr. Tempe Brennan, a trowel-packing forensic anthropologist from North Carolina, works in Montreal's Laboratoire de Medecine Legale examining recovered bodies to help police solve missing-persons cases and murders. It's clear to Tempe that the remains of several women killed and savagely mutilated point to a sadistic serial killer, but she can't convince the police. Determined to prevent more brutal deaths, she sleuths solo, tracking her quarry through Montreal's seedy underworld of hookers.

I've conceived a dislike of first person narrative, so have a few problems reading it. But despite being narrated this way, I enjoyed Deja Dead. The story seemed very internally focused but this was offset by the book's atmosphere and the clarity of the descriptions of the environment. I couldn't totally relate to the main protagonist, Dr. Tempe Brennan, but despite suspecting she's as big a Mary Sue as Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta, grew to like her over the course of the book. There isn't a great deal of in-depth or friendly interaction with secondary characters, although her occasional lusting after a cute male was amusing. There was enough scientific explanation in the book to be interesting without becoming too academic, and the grisly parts likewise were unpleasant without being overly gross. The action is fast paced however, and by the end of the book I was sitting on the edge of my seat. This is the start of the series and I'm looking forward to seeing how the character and her life develop.
I'm also very keen on the TV series "Bones", which is based on Kathy Reichs and her books. Despite the fact the main character in both is Dr. Tempe Brennan, so far there is little in common between the book and the TV series except her job, and a certain lack of social adeptness on Tempe's part. Both are worth viewing however.

My take: A solid thriller, worth a reread. Easily found second hand or borrow from a library, a friend or a book exchange. The book equivalent of a cup of good quality coffee - dark, stimulating and keeps you up all night.