Devil May Cry

I decided to read this after reading Acheron because it involves Acheron's daughter. I wanted to read about her and the moment when she and Acheron meet. And in that I was satisfied. In other ways ...

As I've said before, I love the mythology in these books and the interactions between the gods - learning about their mistakes, their loss of power, their family relations. I eat it up. The modern day vampire romance doesn't do much for me. And having the main characters throw themselves at each other after a few minutes of having met doesn't help. But, it comes with the territoriality. Honestly, I think the romance genre could be done well if an effort was made to form realistic relationships. But, I digress.

All in all, I wasn't very interested in the plot of this book. And I found myself reading it just so I could get to the end and be done. One of the things Kenyon usually does well in her novels is sass. Kat dishes out a lot of it and Sin dishes it back to her. For the first few chapters, I loved it, but then it started to get annoying. I don't know if it was too much or if I was just annoyed at everything else.

This book is basically one huge pity party. Through the entirety of it, Sin is constantly wondering and often out right asking Kat if she's going to betray him. Even after she confesses her love for him and risks her life on more than one occasion and bends over backwards to help him out, he's still wondering when she's going to put a knife in his back. And then Kat starts questioning if he's going to betray her, like Sin's issues have rubbed off on her or something. And then Acheron starts - it's a wonder I actually finished this book instead of throwing it against the wall and saying the heck with it!

As side from the story itself, there's a lot of information in here that deals with what is in Acheron, and some of it is near word for word scenes that go into the book. Why, as an author, if you knew you were going to write a book on a particular character, would you pack so much information into the previous novels? Part of my enjoyment of Acheron was that most of it was new to me. I'm not sure I would have enjoyed it that much if I had read the series in order and had had so much of it explained to me beforehand.

I won't be continuing with the rest of series, but that was pretty much a given. I only really wanted to read Acheron, which I've done. The rest of this series really isn't for me. But if you're interested in trying it out, my recommendation would be to pick up Dance with the Devil and go from there.

Magic to the Bone

I'm looking for a fantasy series that I can get into for a while - one longer than just a trilogy. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place by turning to the romance genre, but some of them just look so darn fascinating. I mean, look at that cover! Doesn't she just seem bad ass?

The world of Allie Backstrom is one is which you don't just use magic, magic uses you. Each use of magic has a price, and it can be anything from a headache to lost memories to death. Magic is a kind of power source, and like electricity it comes from certain sources within the earth that have to be channeled through pipes or wires to make it available for people to use if they are not near one of these direct sources.

I have mixed feelings about the magic in this world. It's definitely a new spin on things, but I tend to favor the idea of magic being an internal ability that not everyone has. That said, there were hints in this book of magic being more than is understood.

This novel had a few small things going against it that just added up to too much for me to continue with it. For one, in the first half of the novel, Allie travels back and forth between two exact same places a total of three times. It felt completely unnecessary and redundant and it annoyed me.

Second, Allie makes some seemingly irrational choices. She's poor and uses up her last $10 on the first cab ride. She continues to ride the cab after this and someone always pops up at the last minute to pay her fair. And then, at the very end, after traveling back and forth between these places repeatedly, she decides to forgo the cab and get on a bus because she has a pre-paid bus pass.

I about fell about of my seat. When you're poor and you don't have money, you don't spend your last $10 that you could use for food on a cab ride when you have freaking pre-paid bus pass! In addition, there's several points in the novel when she wants to contact the police, but instead of having the cab take her to the police station, she has it take her somewhere she can call the police ... and then inevitably gets distracted and fails to do so. *headdesk*

There's a scene in the middle of the night where there's some creepy guy who sees her looking at him out the window, and her response to this is to go outside where he is because she can't stand the thought of staying inside (where it's safer) when the creepy guy knows she's there. (what?!) She's doesn't even know the guy is coming after her. He just looked at her because she was looking at him from the window. There's six or seven dead bolts on the door, girl, you'll be fine. Chill.

Lastly, the romance annoyed the crap out of me. She's just met this guy. He's been hired by her super controlling father (who Allie suspects may also be partial to murder) to spy on her. And the minute they're alone together, she just can't help herself over his oh-so-hot body, and throws herself at him.

And then, after someone tries to kill her, spy-guy picks her up in his car to take her to safety. She's covered in blood and grime from walking through a garbage dump to escape her chasers and having found a near-dead body. Said body is lying unconscious in the seat next to her, and she and spy guy proceed to nearly have sex in the back of the car.

Allie, girl, you are on the run from someone trying to kill you. For all you know, they are right behind you. There's a kid possibly dying in the seat next to you. You stink to high heaven. And spy-guy's trust worthiness is still in question. You do not stop to have sex in the back of a car! You are not a bag of teenage hormones devoid of all rational thought!

There's some good elements to the story. Cody's story is really interesting and makes me want to continue. The magic element, how it is obtained and how it uses you back, is very intriguing. There's some very bad people doing some very bad things ... I wanted to like this, and I tried to keep reading. But at this point, I was half way through the book, and every time I opened it to continue I couldn't bring myself to do it. It just didn't seem worth dragging myself through. There's other books on my to re-read list, and I'd rather visit them.

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

This is an interesting novel. Each chapter begins with a short story that usually relates to the chapter. The characters talk about books or reference them in conversation. There's book clubs formed, books that are stolen, a baby that's left in the bookstore A.J. runs ... it's a book about books.

I would definitely say that I enjoyed this book. It's witty at times. Other times the references go over my head because they are talking about something I haven't read. But it was still a good read and I could find no major fault with it. That said, I have nothing particularly stirring about it to say either. It was what it was, and it was enjoyable.

Another fascinating three-star review, at your service.

Gwenhwyfar: The White Spirit

The synopsis of this book is extremely misleading. You'd think the Gwen in the novel is the Guinevere who becomes Arthur's wife, but she's not. In fact, the novel opens just before Arthur's wedding. The protagonist of the novel is a girl who shares Guinevere's name and who lives on the very outskirts of Arthur's kingdom. In fact, she mentions they are so far on the outskirts that anything Arthur does would barely cause a ripple for her and her family.

The book is interesting to a certain extent. You can tell Lackey really did her research on this one as she goes into great detail involving the goings on of the castle, the clothing, the decor, etc. The religious aspects are interesting to. Part of me wanted to continue with the story just so I could fully understand this world Lackey had put together.

Yet, the pacing of the book is slow. By chapter six, I still had no idea why we were following this not-Guinevere around. We learn about her sisters, none of which she is particularly attached to, and her desire to be a warrior, which is fulfilled as she undergoes training. And training itself is nothing particularly interesting either.

If I'd had this in book form instead of audio CD, I would have been skimming over the pages in the hopes to getting to something more substantial. As it was, I kept listening to the book for background noise, not because I had any further interest in it. A third of the way through the book is when the plot finally gets moving. And even then, it's in such a sinister way as to make me certain that not only would I not enjoy this book but I'd be frustrated and angry until the final pages.

I've read Mercedes Lackey before and enjoyed her work. I thought I was going to like this, and I really wanted to. The detail she puts into the world is admirable, and from what I've read from other reviews of this story, she goes into some of the less favorable tales of Arthur - the killing of all the May born babies in an effort to kill Mordred, the switching out of Guinevere for a fake one so that Mordred can have the real one...

I think it's clear that Lackey set out to do something specific with the book, and I applaud her efforts. It's possible she even succeeded at what she had hoped to do, but this book - with it's slow pacing and what I'm sure was to be an utterly depressing plot - isn't for me.

Star of the Morning

The Nine Kingdoms series by Lynn Kurland consist of three trilogies. We'll be looking at the first one, which follows the story of Morgan, a willful and stubborn sword hand, and her mage-love, Miach. Some readers encounter this series and are turned off my Morgan's attitude, finding her whiny. I liked her.

I'm always impressed when an author can write something that sounds boring - a long journey from one end of the country to the other - and make it exciting. Really, that's what this novel entails, just one long journey from the first few chapters to the last. And yet there's plenty of danger, swords, magic, and some flirtations to keep the reader entertained. The characters themselves are likable and enjoyable to read about.

And yet, in the form of a story ... there isn't much here. There's the beginnings of a romance. Morgan's identity has only begun to be understood. There's still no telling where exactly the dangers of the kingdom are coming from. And the novel just ends with the journey finished but no real resolution to anything. It's an enjoyable enough of a read, but on it's own it feels incomplete and leaves something to be desired. That said, I connected with the characters and the plot enough to want to continue the series.

Acheron

I had said I would review books in a series all at once. It seems I'm just finding more and more exceptions to that rule. I began the Dark Hunter series by Sherrilyn Kenyon with Dance with the Devil, which I found to be very charming and endearing and lovely. The series itself is some 23 books long currently, and I knew I wasn't interested in reading the entire list. But, the character of Acheron fascinated me, so I decided to just jump to his story.

In regards to the Dark Hunter series, think Greek myth meets vampires. Basically, the Dark Hunters are people who have died and are brought back from the dead without their souls, twisting them into vampires. Their purpose is to hunt the demons that hunt humanity ... or something like that. And they can only regain their soul if someone loves them enough to fight for it ... again, something like that. I'm a little rusty on the specifics.

I plowed through the first half of Acheron's book which deals with his life in ancient Greece. This is the aspect of this series that I just eat up - Greek mythology, ancient times - I just loved seeing that environment and seeing how Acheron met Artemis. I didn't want to put the book down.

The second half of the book is slower and deals with aspects I'm less interested - modern times and vampire romance. But there's still plenty going on to make it interesting, and I enjoyed reading through it. I just didn't find it as engaging as the first half. It was still a very enjoyable novel and I'm glad I picked it up. If you read the Dark Hunter series, Acheron's book is a must have (and you don't need me to tell you that). If you don't ... some of this stuff will go right over your head. But I think you could still enjoy it.

Princess of the Midnight Ball

This is another instance where I think it's appropriate not to review a series all together. For one, I don't know when I'll get access to the other books. For another, this seems like a series where the individual books stand on their own.

Princess of the Midnight Ball is a retelling of the fairy tale, The Twelve Dancing Princesses. Every night, the twelve princesses of the kingdom have ruined their slippers as though they had spent the whole night dancing. No one knows how, though, as the princesses never appear to leave their rooms.

I'm already noticing an odd trend with these three-star books. The story was entertaining. I have nothing bad to say about it, though also nothing relatively spectacular either. The plot and characters kept my attention, and that's all a book really needs to do to keep me interested from the first page to the last. And that's all this book did. Again, not to say that's bad - I liked it enough to want to pick up the rest of the series - but that's all I have to say about it.

Howl's Moving Castle

I've seen the movie, Howl's Moving Castle, a number of times. I found it enchanting, even if certain elements seemed a little unclear. I have to say that if you've seen the movie and liked it, even a little, then you should read the book. It's better.

Sophie is the eldest sister of three, and believes she will never amount to anything. She works as a hat maker in a shop run by her step mother. One day, the Witch of the Waste arrives and curses Sophie into an old woman. Unable to explain her curse, Sophie flees town. She finds herself on the doorstep of the evil wizard Howl's castle. Taking on as Howl's cleaning lady, Sophie uncovers the wizard's true nature and works to break his own curse as well as his contract with a fire demon.

The book is every bit, if not more so enchanting than the movie. The building of the world, the characters, and the magic is simply wonderful and immediately sucks you in. Things only started to slow down for me when the real world was introduced. I felt it broke some of the magic going on. And how Howl came from this ordinary world into this magical world to be one of the most powerful wizards isn't explained.

The ending of the novel also seems to happen very suddenly. It's not clear when exactly Howl turns his attentions to Sophie, nor is it clear when Sophie stops believing she can't achieve anything grand in life. The change happens subconsciously for Sophie and she mistakes it on Howl, making it easy for the reader to miss since the novel is told from Sophie's point of view. I think a re-read could fix this and might soften the blow I felt from the introduction of the real world as well.

All in all, I liked the novel very much. I don't feel I could call it one of my favorites without giving it a second read, but I'd pretty much recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy or has seen the movie to give it a try.

Once Upon a Marigold

Once Upon a Marigold is a cutesy, pun-filled, predictable book. For the right person, that's all you need to know to never pick it up. For the first two chapters, I wasn't sure where the book was going. Even once we got to the main plot, I wasn't sure this book was something I would continue with.

What did keep me going were the characters. They aren't cardboard cutouts and are surprisingly well rounded for a book of this nature. I really got to enjoy hanging out with them, and they carried me through the book. 

That said, this book is the first in a trilogy. And while I would say I liked this book, I can't say that I liked it enough to pick up the others. These just aren't the right kind of books for me.