Monthly Archives: August 2016

Book Review of Vespers (Hours of the Night #1), by Irene Preston & Liv Rancourt

I received an e-ARC of Vespers, by Irene Preston and Liv Rancourt, for review.

Description from Goodreads:
Thaddeus Dupont has had over eighty years to forget…

The vampire spends his nights chanting the Liturgy of the Hours and ruthlessly disciplines those unnatural urges he’s vowed never again to indulge. He is at the command of the White Monks, who summon him at will to destroy demons. In return, the monks provide for his sustenance and promise the return of his immortal soul.

Sarasija Mishra’s most compelling job qualification might be his type O blood…

The 22-year-old college grad just moved across the country to work for some recluse he can’t even find on the internet. Sounds sketchy, but the salary is awesome and he can’t afford to be picky. On arrival he discovers a few details his contract neglected to mention, like the alligator-infested swamp, the demon attacks, and the nature of his employer’s “special diet”. A smart guy would leave, but after one look into Dupont’s mesmerizing eyes, Sarasija can’t seem to walk away. Too bad his boss expected “Sara” to be a girl.

Falling in love is hard at any age…

The vampire can’t fight his hungers forever, especially since Sara’s brought him light, laughter and a very masculine heat. After yielding to temptation, Thaddeus must make a choice. Killing demons may save his soul, but keeping the faith will cost him his heart.

Review:
There is so much to appreciate about this book. I thought both the main characters were cute in their own subtle ways. I liked that Thaddeus was an incredibly unreliable narrator. His view of his situation was so colored by his religious beliefs that he couldn’t see himself clearly. I liked that one of the characters was Hindu, from an Indian family, and his outsider’s view of Catholicism was by far my favorite part of the book. I liked that his religion was presented as equally valid and that it was allowed to be so without him being strictly adherent to it. I liked the dual viewpoints. I liked the heroism and the action.

However, as much as I appreciated all that, I never truly felt I was enmeshed in the lives of these characters. I always felt a step removed from them and the events of the novel. I also thought a couple characters who popped up and then disappeared felt like loose ends, Sara had a couple TSTL moments and the book ended VERY ABRUPTLY. It’s not a cliffhanger, just sudden.

But for the most part, I enjoyed this and will be looking forward to book two.

Book Review of The One We Feed (The Apocalyptic Series #2), by Kristina Meister

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I won a copy of Kristina Meister‘s The One We Feed through Library Thing. I read/reviewed book one in the series, Craving, here.

Description from Goodreads:
After the bizarre suicide of her sister, Lilith Pierce discovered that the world was full of dangers and villains she could not have imagined, and that the history of human civilization was far from complete. Now, gifted with tremendous powers she barely understands, Lilith is determined to stop whatever plots and schemes her immortal cousins, the Sangha, can hatch. When a simple reconnaissance mission ends in tragedy; however, Lilith’s entire focus changes.

Attempting to save a child she’s never met from a fate worse than death will require every ounce of Lilith’s strength, forge new and treacherous alliances, and possibly change the world forever. Suddenly all eyes are on her, and the destiny of the human race is on her shoulders.

Review:
While I enjoyed the humor, the geekery and the actual writing, and I really do think it presents a thought provoking philosophy, I was generally disappointed in this book. The reason for this actually started in book one, with the too perfect heroine. It only gets worse here. Essentially, Lilith is indestructible and she knows it. So, there is no challenge to her from anyone, which means no challenge to the reader. This whole book is her wandering around making witty quips, teasing Jinx (who I adore), and almost lazily figuring a thing or two out. Oh sure, there are some fight scenes, but she’s faster, stronger, smarter, more invisible, more skilled, etc than any of her opponents, so the result is a foregone conclusion and comes far too quickly. It’s dull, no matter how much action is happening.

The book also falls into what I consider a tempting trap when dealing with immortality. All of a sudden, almost everyone Lilith meets is a famous historical character. All the billions of people who have lived throughout history and the immortals happen to be ones we’d have heard of?

The book is worth reading to engage the Buddhist (and such) arguments, but it doesn’t have quite the flare and appeal as the first book, in my opinion.

What I’m drinking: It’s a bit of a bastardized, homemade version of Turmeric Tea, sometimes called Golden Milk. Here is some information and a recipe from Health Ambition. It’s not exactly the one I used, as I didn’t actually use a recipe and, I didn’t have coconut milk, so I used unsweetened almond milk. But hey, it was still good and good for me, worth checking out.

Book Review of Craving (The Apocalyptic Series #1), by Kristina Meister

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I won a copy of the second book in Kristina Meister‘s Apocalyptic series, The One We Feed. So I ended up buying the first one, Craving. It took a year, mind you, to convince myself to spend my meager book budget on it. But I got to it eventually.

Description from Goodreads:
When Lilith Pierce’s younger sister commits suicide, Lilith consoles herself with cleaning up Eva’s final mess. But when she returns to the coroner’s office to collect the body, she finds that the last few days were all a bizarre waking dream that never actually happened.

Aided by the detective who witnesses her brush with the paranormal, she tears apart her sister’s shadowy new life. Yet after reading hundreds of Eva’s detailed journals Lilith still has no explanation and no suicide note. Her search becomes a maddening obsession uncovering tantalizing questions but no answers…until she meets a stranger at her sister’s funeral.

Drawn to the mysterious man in a way she cannot explain, Lilith seeks the help of his crew of equally bizarre friends, including an immortal, blue-haired hacker and a Desert Storm veteran. As her prophetic visions intensify and she begins to develop even stranger powers, she uncovers a culture woven into the fabric of history-a culture founded on an idea of peace gone horribly wrong.

From philosophy, to faith, to freakish genetic mutation, man’s deepest desires became his greatest flaws, turning all those who succumb into vicious monsters.

And very soon, Lilith will become one of them.

Review:
You know, when you read reviews of vampire book you often hear comments about the book being a new take on the myth. This one really is though. I’ve read hundreds of vampire books and never come across one that takes the origins of vamparisim in this direction. Granted, this isn’t just about vampires. In fact, they’re a small portion of the story. But it’s still fun to find something new.

The main character, Lilith, is not an immediately likable character. She has been a shite sister for one thing and doesn’t seem to grieve well. But she’s also an incredibly unreliable narrator. It just takes a little while to realize this. As the book progresses she becomes more likable, relatable and forgivable. All the other main characters, lets just call them good guys, are wonderful. I adored them all.

I also really liked that the Arhat seemed to be basically asexual by choice or inclination, not inability, but there was still recognizable love of various forms obvious between the characters. The fact that Lilith was 35 and Matthew even older was something to appreciate too. Sometimes I feel like characters over 27 never get to be heros.

Unfortunately, the book does suffer a little bit from too-perfect heroine syndrome. Lilith developed new abilities at an astounding rate and always just when she needed them. They felt very deus ex machina (several times). It also tended toward lecturing. All the philosophical discussions slowed the pacing down quite a bit. Even with all those philosophical explanations, I felt like the actual mechanics of the ‘change’ were left very vague. As a result it felt very…well, woo-woo—even occurring over the phone at one point. Lastly, there is a notable repetition of the word askance. It’s one of those words that stands out, especially when seen several times (sometimes as a noun, which I’m not sure it can be).

All in all, a fun ride and I’m looking forward to reading book 2.

What I’m drinking: Plain old Tetley’s black tea.