The Mage's Daughter

And we are back with the second book in the first trilogy of Lynn Kurland's The Nine Kingdoms series. As we return, this book focuses primarily on Morgan and Miach. Morgan is as stubborn and willful as ever, though a little unsure of herself given the evens of the previous book and with Miach's affections continuing to catch her off guard.

Finally, in this book the plot picks up. Morgan's true identity is realized, the danger to the kingdom is identified, and Morgan and Miach's relationship is eventually solidified. There's still magic and swordplay going on, though not as much as the previous novel. Primarily this book focuses on Morgan and Miach's relationship. And me, being a lover of romance, ate it up. Unlike the previous novel, this does seem to have a solid beginning and ending - mainly the relationship arc - and I feel like I could go back and read it on its own if I wanted, though reading the first book prior to is still required to give this one context.

I'm very excited to move on to the final book in the trilogy. I expect it to have plenty of action with magic and sword play, and danger and romance of course. I can't wait!

Dead Witch Walking

A witch working as law enforcement to round up criminals in the form of leprechauns, vampires, werewolves, and other otherworldly creatures as she dodges murderous charms from the her former work agency with her pixie sidekick and vampire roommate looking out for her? I was all over this. Seriously, what could be better?

And then things got weird and annoying. First there's the history of a bio-engendered virus escaping its lab and killing most of the human race to the point that all those otherworldly creatures find themselves at level numbers with the humans so they don't feel they needed to hide anymore. I was fully on board with suspending reality and believing this was a world where humans and otherworldly creatures co-exist with each other without needing any further explanation. Having the back story of every apocalypse movie ever didn't add anything for me. It just felt out of place. (And I have a hard time believing humanity would boycott pizza for all eternity just because the virus was transmitted by an infected tomato.)

The main character's interactions with Ivy drove me up the wall. They've worked together for 10 years. I was under the impression they were supposed to be good friends. And yet Rachel scrutinizes her every word, every move, and every look (and I mean every single one) like she's just waiting for her to attack. Why do you hang out with this woman if you don't trust her that badly? Even after Ivy goes all vampire and freaks Rachel out, the scrutinizing just got on my nerves. Ivy apologizes and Rachel just can't get over it. And after the two of them have a heart to heart, Rachel still scrutinizes her every move. Through the entirety of the book Ivy's just trying to help, and all Rachel can do is accuse her of wanting to drink her blood.

Rachel is annoying. Aside from the condescending way she treats Ivy, she is constantly running head long into things, never thinking them through. Through the whole beginning of the book, people are removing death charms off of her that she admits she should have seen but was too preoccupied to notice. She comes up with the idea of breaking into the office of the biggest drug dealer in the city (while in a disguise she knows most people can see through), gets caught, and makes a plan to go back the next day, knowing she's likely to get caught again, which she does.

The writing in this book is a little disjointed. There were several points where I had to go aback and re-read the last paragraph because I didn't understand how we had gone from one point to another. The main plot line also just seemed a little weird to me. Rachel is in law enforcement, not the mafia. Why would they kill people who decided to leave the agency? And if you have enough money to buy out of your contract, you're free to go with no strings attached? They aren't going to hound you for the rest of your life to get more money? There doesn't seem to be any reason to this. It just is.

I enjoyed the different creatures in this book. The vampires, the pixies, the weres. I liked the different forms of magic. I wanted to keep reading just to say I'd gotten through it all. But after skimming through the third quarter of the book, I just had to give up. I couldn't take it anymore.

Zel

I've been wondering lately if fairy tale retellings just aren't for me. As much as I liked this book, it didn't captivate me in the way I felt it should, and I can find no fault in the novel to suggest why. So I can only assume in some way this story just wasn't for me. And then I think of how much I love Ella Enchanted ... maybe I just need the right kind of retelling?

Zel is a retelling of the Rapunzel fairy tale and follows the dark Brother's Grimm version - the one where the prince sleeps with Rapunzel and when the Mother finds out she gouges out the prince's eyes and banishes Rapunzel to wonder the desert and birth her children alone, that version.

Some people aren't going to like this book because of the darker material, but I believe Napoli handles the material well. She doesn't shy away from the fact that someone locked up in a tower for years with no one for company would slowly go insane. She doesn't brush aside that having hair that long and having someone climb it would cause excruciating pain.

What this book does well is provide insight into each character - their thoughts, their emotions, their motivations for doing things. Why would anyone trade their child for handfuls of lettuce? Why is Rapunzel locked in the tower? Why doesn't she try to leave? And how does the prince become so infatuated with her? I appreciated these clarifications on the original tale, I enjoyed having such well-rounded characters, and liked that the darker elements of the story were given and explored and not sugar coated or brushed aside.

The novel switches back and forth between three points of view - the Mother, Zel, and the prince. Normally, I don't like novels that switch perspective between characters because it usually isn't done well and I end up confused. But I experienced no such confusion with this novel.

So, why three stars if I can point out so many good things? It's hard to explain ... I didn't feel absorbed into the story. I wasn't enchanted by it. I liked it. It's a good story. It just didn't seem to have whatever I need to say that I really like a story or that it was fantastic.

I would definitely recommend picking up Zel if you like the story of Rapunzel and are looking for retellings on it, especially if you don't mind the darker stuff. As a retelling, the novel does what it does well and is very good in that aspect. If you are not looking for a retelling specifically, and just want a good book to curl up with and get sucked into, this novel might not be what you are looking for.

Poison Study

Okay, so I'm throwing out the idea of reviewing series as sets unless I have reason to otherwise. Ha. Next up, we have Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder. I've been thinking lately about how a lot of books have pointless prologues or just have poor beginning chapters that don't offer much substance and their books take too long to get to the point. This book, however, is awesome in that we are dumped right into the action.

We meet Yelena as she is about to go to her execution for killing a general's son. The Comander's poison taster (this is a kingdom controlled by the military) has recently died, and as per the Code of Conduct, the position must be offered to those facing execution (I guess since no one but someone already facing their death would be crazy enough to take the job). Yelena accepts, and finds herself in a position where her life is threatened every bit as much as before.

This novel suffers from an identity crisis. Since the characters are in a castle and there's no electricity, I would think the setting is going for middle ages (and the cover helps with that). There's also mention of period appropriate clothing. But there are modern influences that pop up that shouldn't. For one, not even the most prestigious castle would have running hot water. Technology would not be advanced enough for switchblades or trampolines. I'm not sure "disinfectant" would have been a word. "Military district" would not have been shorted to "MD" in conversation or conscious thought. Yelena wouldn't bathe everyday. And even though this is a fantasy kingdom with it's own customs, animals, people, and countries, coffee somehow exists. This book doesn't know if it wants to be medieval, it's own fantasy realm, or modern.

There's some not so well constructed story elements. Yelena is given a poison that she needs a daily antidote to for the rest of her life or she'll die. I might be willing to believe Yelena doesn't realize poisons don't work like that, but you're telling me no one out of the multiple people Yelena goes to for help don't know poisons don't work like that? There's no possible way Valek could have switched out a poisoned bottle of wine with a clean one. He'd have to have the second bottle close by, for one. And since the wine is from a country they don't import with, it'd be impossible. And there's no way a master chief wouldn't have thought of roasting some mystery beans to change their flavor, especially not when Yelena asked if they were coffee beans, which he's been craving for years.

Transitions are severely lacking between paragraphs. For example: In one sentence Yelena is talking with Lisa, then paragraph break and Yelena is with the Camander. Yes, I know Yelena was on her way to the Camander and she caught Lisa on the way there. I can figure that out, but you need to tell me that Yelena moved from Lisa's side and continued on her way so I don't sit there and go "wait-wha?" in the moment. This kind of thing happens throughout the book.

The author needs to give more description in certain instances. At one point Yelena gets out a grappling hook and "climbs through the trees." How? How is this working with the grappling hook? How is she moving from tree to tree? You need to describe it to me. When Yelena and the love interest finally kiss, it's glossed over so quickly, the meaning that's supposed to be attached to it went right over my head. More description was needed here and in other places.

Yes, this novel has issues. It makes me sad to think these are all things a good editor could have caught and worked with the author to correct. When you look at it all written up, the damage would seem pretty major. Yet, I've always said that if a story is good, I can overlook almost any other issues. And this book proves to follow that rule. Despite everything, I got caught up in the story. I couldn't put the book down. And when I finished with it, I immediately wanted the next one.