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iZombie, Vol 1: Dead to the World by Chris Roberson, Mike Allred

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On January 22, 2015

In Comics, Fiction

iZombie, Vol. 1 iZombie, Vol. 1: Dead to the World

by Chris Roberson, Mike Allred

Paperback, 144 pg.
Vertigo, 2011
Read: January 20, 2015
Color me underwhelmed.

I love the concept. A non-mindless Zombie has to keep eating brains so she doesn’t become the shuffling, mindless kind. She’s got a friend who’s a ghost, and another who’s a were-terrier (possibly the idea I enjoyed most), and works as a grave digger so she has easy access to “fresh” food. I enjoyed her friends, and wish we’d spent a little more time with them.

But the execution didn’t live up to the potential. I thought the writing was slow and a little unclear a couple of times — but some of that was intentional, I realize, as Gwen’s supposed to be learning what’s going on, but some of the lack of clarity was just poor writing.

I don’t demand dazzling art, I get that not everyone is George Perez, Mark Bagley, or Ryan Ottley, but I’d like something more than competent. People seemed stiff, generic and lifeless. I could only differentiate between two characters because of their skin tone! Not confusing at all.

In the end, it was good enough that given the chance, I’d read the next collection, but I’m not exerting a lot of effort to do so. I’m mildly curious about a few things — and can understand why some would be attracted to this, but it left me feeling cold.

—–

2 Stars

Audio from The Severed Streets by Paul Cornell

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On January 21, 2015

In Fiction, News/Misc., Paul Cornell, Quotations, Urban Fantasy

Recently, I received an email from someone at Audible.com:

I saw your great review of THE SEVERED STREETS and I wanted to make sure that you are aware that the book is also available as an audiobook from Audible Studios. I’d love to offer you a clip from the audiobook to post on the website alongside the review as multimedia content for your readers.

Seems like a good idea to me! I wasn’t aware that they had the book — but if asked, I’d have guessed they did — what don’t they have? Still, it sounds like a good idea (and hey, she called my review “great”). I added it to my review, but thought I’d throw it up, here, too. Seems more likely that people would see it.

The Severed Streets was one of my favorite books last year (see my review, and my 2014 Honorable Mentions), and I’d strongly recommend you trying it.

Anyway, here’s the clip, sounds pretty good to me. If you’re an audiobook person, listen to the sample. If you’re not an audiobook person, you still might want to give it a try — maybe you’re an audiobook person but don’t know it.

Review Catch Up: Beautiful Redemption; Breach Zone; Chasing the Prophecy; Fiddlehead

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On January 21, 2015

In Authors, Fantasy, Fiction, P-U, Science Fiction, Steampunk, YA/MG/Children's Books

I’ve got a backlog of 40-plus reviews I’ve been meaning to write — some of them, I just have to admit aren’t going to get done. But I’m going to try my level best. The four books I’ve decided to tackle in one fell swoop are the concluding novels from series I enjoy, and yet I’ve had trouble reviewing them. On the whole, there’s no reason for it — I should’ve had at least a few paragraphs of material on these, but I can’t seem to muster it (especially given how much time has gone by).

But I do want to clear these off my to-do list, so, without further ado, a few words on these series finales:

Beautiful RedemptionBeautiful Redemption

by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Paperback, 451 pg.
Penguin Books, 2012
Read: November 19 – 20, 2013

On the one hand, this was not at all like the rest of the series — and yet it was a very fitting conclusion. Garcia and Stohl wrapped up everything that needed wrapped up, answered every lingering question (not always as I expected), and generally, did so in an emotionally satisfying way. I wouldn’t have thought that this book would lead to a spin-off series, but it fits.

If you’re into Paranormal YA, this was a very satisfying conclusion, and probably the best of that genre I’ve read.
4 Stars

Breach ZoneBreach Zone

by Myke Cole

eBook, 384 pg.
Ace, 2014
Read: January 31 – February 04, 2014

I really, really liked all of Myke Cole’s Shadow Ops series — a gritty, believable mix of Contemporary Military and Fantasy, and yet, I’ve never reviewed one of his books. Don’t ask me why.

This, the conclusion to the trilogy, is just outstanding. You know how at the end of (pretty much) every fantasy novel, there’s this big, epic battle that takes up most of the last ¼ – ⅓ of the novel? That’s pretty much this entire book. Okay, not really — there’s plenty of backstory, character development and wrapping up the trilogy. But while reading, it sure felt like it was an epic fantasy battle on the streets and in the waters of New York. Somewhere in there, Cole looks gain at questions of patriotism, duty, ethics and morality — and how people of integrity can try to harmonize them all (and, more often, how those with integrity can’t harmonize them all). Seriously, awesome stuff.
4 Stars

Chasing the ProphecyChasing the Prophecy

by Brandon Mull

Hardcover, 512 pg.
Aladdi, 2013
Read: December 2 – 5, 2013

Wow — Mull concluded his Beyonder’s trilogy in a fantastic fashion. Given the target audience, I couldn’t believe how many deaths there were in this book. But, not in a gory or exploitative way. Just a huge body count. But, the core of this book remained the same: these two Beyonders, Rachel and Jason, risking everything for the sake of Lyrian. There’s sacrifice, honor, loyalty, and courage — all the necessary elements of a tale full of heroes — natives and Beyonders, warriors and children, those with many lives and those with only one to lose. Which is not to say it’s not fun — there’s a lot of fun to be had by the characters and the readers. Great way to go out.
4 Stars

FiddleheadFiddlehead

by Cherie Priest

Paperback, 368 pg.
Tom Doherty Associates, 2013
Read: November 12 – 14, 2013

Nice looking book — love the cover, the layout and the graphics are great. I miss the brown ink — what gives, Tor? Sure, the content is the important thing, it’s just nice when the package it’s wrapped in is nice to look at. Speaking of content — this (like the rest of this group) is a fitting — and thrilling — conclusion to the series. Lincoln (wheelchair-bound following the unsuccessful assassination attempt at Ford’s Theater) and President Grant working together near the end of the Civil War to protect a freeman scientist who built an early computer — the eponymous Fiddlehead. Fiddlehead is the best chance to end the War without making everything worse. The presidents, with the assistance of Pinkerton agent Maria Boyd and intelligence from — well, everywhere else this series has focused — in order to begin to deal with the Rotters. I think it’s possible that Boyd is my favorite character in the series — in the Top 3, anyway.

I just didn’t want this series to end, I understand it needed to, but man…just didn’t want that.
4 1/2 Stars

Angel’s Tip by Alafair Burke

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On January 20, 2015

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Angel's Tip (Ellie Hatcher #2)Angel’s Tip

by Alafair Burke
Series: Ellie Hatcher, #2


Hardcover, 352 pages
Published August 19th 2008 by Harper
Read: November 28 – 29, 2014The way that Dead Connection ended, I figured this one would be Ellie going back home for a while, and was pleased to see I was wrong. I really appreciated the way that Burke fed us details on Ellie’s trip to Kansas to investigate her father’s death in bits and pieces rather than in one big dump of information somewhere along the way and/or a novel-length tale. I’m sure at some point we will get a lot more time and attention paid to that story, but for now, I’m satisfied keeping the focus on Ellie’s work with the NYPD.

Instead, we find our detective thrown into another high-profile murder case — this time, a pretty co-ed visiting the Big Apple from Indiana ends up murdered after a night out on the town. The evidence seems to point at the kind of guy you want it to be (especially if you’re a Law & Order viewer): some young Wall Street type with more money and good looks than sense. But Ellie, naturally, stumbles onto something else. Something big — that goes back years.

And well, things proceed from there as they do in this type of book. Again, Burke had me fooled, and I didn’t see the solution until she wanted me to — but once she did, everything fit just like it should. Nothing spectacular here, but very satisfactory.

There were a couple of characters who were clearly introduced as redshirts (to borrow from another genre), interestingly drawn — moreso than many authors would do. I genuinely felt bad for one of them towards the end of their life, like I would have a major character I’d spent a book or two getting to know.

I thought the characters of Ellie; her brother, Jess; and her boyfriend with the name I can’t remember, were essentially who they were last time — a little more fleshed out. The highlight for me was Ellie’s new partner, the oddly (but believably) well-to-do Detective J. J. Rogan. I enjoyed him as a character, as well as his interaction with Ellie and hope Burke doesn’t replace him too soon (not sure why after only two books I assume that the role of Ellie’s partner will be adjacent to a revolving door, but I do).

This book wasn’t a lean-forward, turn the pages as fast as you can thriller. But man, it was hard to put down, and was just so easy to go from chapter to chapter to “just one more…”. Between her ease of style and likability of characters, this is just one of those books that you don’t want to put down. Not the greatest mystery novel I read last year year, but it was one of the smoothest reads.

—–

3 Stars

Monday Mutterings

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On January 19, 2015

In Books, Currently Reading, News/Misc., Urban Fantasy

  • Was out of town this past weekend, so I wrote my Saturday Miscellany post a day early and then scheduled the posting. You’d have thought that I’d be clever enough to schedule something containing “1/17/2015” in the title on 1/17/2015, wouldn’t you? Well, you would be wrong.
  • While out of town, had some extra reading time — which means I’m even more behind on reviews now. Hope to chip away at that soon.
  • Part of that reading was Harry Connolly‘s A Key, an Egg, an Unfortunate Remark — I’ll spoil my review here: if you like Urban Fantasy, particularly a-typical Urban Fantasy, read this book. Releases on March 3. You can order it from Amazon or Kobo here.
  • I’ve noticed that I’m far less forgiving of typos/proofreading flubs in e-books (particularly those that are self-published) than I am of those in hardcover/paperback. Is it just me? (no, there’s no link between the last two items)

Saturday Miscellany – 1/17/15

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On January 18, 2015

In Books, News/Misc.

Odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye (a strangely short list compared to the last few weeks). You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

    This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:

  • Near Enemy by Adam Sternbergh — a worthy, and entertaining, successor to last year’s Shovel Ready
  • The Way Into Magic by Harry Connolly — Book 2 in Connolly’s Epic Fantasy series, hearing nothing but good about this series. Need to get to it, soon. It’s on my Kindle, but I’m no longer sure I should use it after reading that Bushak piece 😉

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to whatshesreadingnow, Crossroads Reviews, and Curlydaz for following the blog this week. Thanks especially to whatshesreadingnow for the very kind description of this blog that she gave to her readers.

Opening Lines – Near Enemy

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On January 15, 2015

In Blog Series, Currently Reading, News/Misc., Opening Lines, Quotations, Science Fiction

We all know we’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover (yet, publishing companies spend big bucks on cover design/art). But, the opening sentence(s)/paragraph(s) are fair game. Technically, I’m cheating here — I skipped the first eight lines (Chapter 1), this is from Chapter 2, but it’s my blog so I can ignore my own rules, right?

Dare you not to read the rest of the book

—–

This used to be a city of locks.
Every home, at least five, down the door, like a vault.
Chain lock.
Rim lock.
Fox lock.
Knob lock.
Deadbolt.
Funny name, that last one.
Dead. Bolt.
Neither word exactly conjures security.
But no one bothers with that many locks in New York anymore. City’s safer. Or at least emptier. No end of vacancies. And no one bothers to burgle anymore. Nothing left to burgle. Everything’s picked clean, and anyone who still lives in Manhattan and has something of real value to protect — family, dignity, vintage baseball-card collection — does it with a shotgun, not a deadbolt. So the real problem, for the burglar, isn’t getting in. It’s getting back out.
After all, if you apply enough force, deadbolts give.
Shotguns take.

from Near Enemy by Adam Sternbergh

Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch

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On January 15, 2015

In Authors, Ben Aaronovitch, Fiction, Rivers of London (Peter Grant), Urban Fantasy

Foxglove SummerFoxglove Summer

by Ben Aaronovitch
Series: The Rivers of London, #5


Mass Market Paperback, 323 pg.
Daw Books, 2015
Read: January 9 – 10, 2014

“Hail the conquering hero,” said Beverly and held up her bottle to clink.
“Sic transit Gloria mundi,” I said, because it was the first thing that came into my head — we clinked and drank. It could have been worse. I could have said, “Valar Morghulis” instead.

It’s always a pleasure to spend some time in the pages of a Peter Grant/The Rivers of London novel, but Foxglove Summer is probably the most pleasurable entry in the series since Midnight Riot (The Rivers of London for non-US types). I’m not sure I can put my finger on why that’s the case, but that’s not something I’m going to worry about. Unlike Peter’s mother, who

never saw a gift horse that she wouldn’t take down to the vet to have its mouth X-rayed — if only so she could establish its resale value.

Two young girls have vanished in a small village slightly north of London, and Peter’s sent to make sure that the (supposedly) no longer active wizard in the area had nothing to do with it. Having done so, he decides to stick around and see if he can help with some of the routine/mundane work needed.

Naturally — well, I should say, Supernaturally, it’s not long before The Powers That Be ask him to see if there’s an angle to the case that’s more up his alley than theirs. Peter finds some undeniable evidence of magic at work and things get going from there.

Nothing against London — but loved this breath of fresh air in this novel. For example, Peter’s dealing with different superior officers to not want to deal with magic/supernatural — these don’t have the antagonism that usually shows up in London, they just don’t want anything to do with it. The town is full of interesting types — including traveling fair ride owners, tavern keepers, farmers, and vacationing journalists.

As always with this series, the sheer amount of British Police acronyms and assumed knowledge of structure and procedures are a hurdle many US readers won’t want to try (I’ve been told this by a few who I’ve tried to get to read these books) — it’s a little effort, and easily worth it to overcome.

My major — only? — gripe is that Peter’s not making a lot of progress with his magic, he seems to be pretty much where he was three novels back. Yes, he’s more confident, yes, he’s able to apply his knowledge of magic with some good old-fashioned police ingenuity — but his abilities and skills are still rookie-level. Without Beverly as magic back-up, he’d be in trouble. The two of them — plus one local cop out of his depth, but committed to work — are able to handle things.

Yeah, it was nice not to focus on Lesley and the Faceless One (which isn’t to say their shadows don’t loom over a good chunk of the book), but it’s clear that they’ll be back in a really big way soon. Which I’m looking forward to, as nice as it was to have this mental palate cleanser here. Foxglove Summer was great mix of police procedural, Urban Fantasy and Folklore — both traditional and contemporary (the area’s obsession with UFOs is great) — with Aaronovitch’s deft humor, pop culture references and tight plotting. We’ve got ourselves a winner here.

—–

4 Stars

Low Midnight by Carrie Vaughn

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On January 13, 2015

In Carrie Vaughn, Fiction, Kitty Norville

Low MidnightLow Midnight

by Carrie Vaughn
Carrie Vaughn
Series: Kitty Norville, #13

Mass Market Paperback, 309 pg.
Tor Books, 2015
Read: January 7 – 8, 2015
Ahh, the fans (some of them, anyway) get what they’ve been wanting — a novel featuring everyone’s favorite retired monster hunter (and the deceased Victorian witch who’s living inside his brain). The thing Vaughn did that makes this stand out is that unlike most authors, rather than give Cormac some side story, she gives his solo adventure a central place in the overall storyline — what happens here will play a big part in what happens in future Kitty novels.

This is honestly not at all what I expected from a Cormac novel. I expected more violence — not necessarily a blood bath, but more guns, more offensive magic — and less discussion of meadows. But he’s grown — moreover, he’s doing what he can to live as a law-abiding ex-con (especially one with Ben looking over his shoulder all the time). So no guns. Brains over brawn, which seems to be stranger for Cormac than it is for readers.

The plot was meager, honestly. The story was mostly just an excuse to see Cormac in his element — get to know him better, get a fuller picture of his past and to watch the way that he and Amelia work together. And as such, the novel succeeded. As a story about Cormac and Amelia investigating a century-old death by magic, it was tolerable.

The strongest part of the book was their relationship, the way they’ve learned to work — and exist — together. There’s genuine affection between the two — a little mistrust (which makes sense, given their unusual situation), but genuine affection. Given how we’re introduced to Cormac, that’s pretty serious growth.

At the end of the day, this was a nice diversion — a good way to get a different look at things, to see the people who aren’t Kitty engaged in her crusade, and to get to know these characters better. I’d probably enjoy another book focused on Cormac and Amelia, but I’m looking forward to getting back to Kitty’s POV.

—–

3.5 Stars

Saturday Miscellany – 1/10/15

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On January 10, 2015

In Books, News/Misc.

Odds ‘n ends over the week about books and reading that caught my eye. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:

    After a few s-l-o-o-w weeks, I’m really looking forward to this batch of: This Week’s New Releases I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:

  • Golden Son by Pierce Brown — #2 in The Red Rising Trilogy. Cannot wait to get my grubby little hands on this one.
  • Firefight by Brandon Sanderson — The Reckoners #2 is also out — nowhere near as good as The Red Rising Trilogy, but this is a fun series.
  • Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch — I’m almost halfway done with this latest adventure of apprentice wizard/London Constable Peter Grant, and am digging it. Perfect change of pace after the game-changing events of the last book.
  • The Witches of Echo Park by Amber Benson — I’ve enjoyed Benson’s work in the past, and while I’m not convinced that I’m part of this book’s audience, I want to give it a shot.
  • As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust by Alan Bradley — Flavia de Luce gets up to more misadventure — and probably murder solving while she’s at it

Lastly, I’d like to say hi and welcome to 1 SIGFRIDSSON, emily kitta, Dioniso Punk, Maz Halima, and pmitsuing for following the blog this week. Thanks to theeditorsjournal for the interaction.

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