Tag Archives: fantasy

Book Review of Colt Harper: Esteemed Vampire Cat, by Tyrolin Puxty

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I received a copy of Colt Harper: Esteemed Vampire Cat, by Tyrolin Puxty, through Netgalley.

Description from Goodreads:
Colt Harper hates it when you pat a cat the wrong way, or when you upload their faux pas to YouTube. In fact, he’ll probably kill you for it.

As a self-proclaimed master vampire cat, Colt never imagined he’d be sent to community service at a revolting community theater. And for what? Killing humans who don’t buy the expensive brand of cat food? Talk about unfair.

Still, working with a nervous werewolf and a monster addicted to tickling wasn’t on his to-do list.

What’s worse, is he’s falling for a human. Sure, she has green eyes. Sure, she fosters stray cats. But she’s still a disgusting human.

So why is he risking his own life to save her from the chasers?

Review:
I think it will take a certain reader to love this book. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t particularly like it either. Look, it was funny and all, but the joke got old long before the book ended. Plus, I found Colt really unlikable. Yes, I understood he had the characteristics of a cat, and that’s clever, but I couldn’t enjoy him. I found his narrative style annoying and a lot of the comedy slap-stick and weak. I’ll still give it three stars though, because I think this is a poor reader to book match rather than poor quality. But I only enjoyed it two stars worth.

Oversight

Book Review of Oversight (The Community #2), by Santino Hassell

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I received an ARC of Oversight, by Santino Hassell. I read it while traveling from Florida to South Carolina, during my summer vacation.

Description from Goodreads:
Holden Payne has it all . . . or so he thinks. As heir to the founder of the Community—an organization that finds, protects, and manages psychics—he’s rich, powerful, and treated like royalty. But after a series of disappearances and murders rock the Community, he’s branded the fall guy for the scandal and saddled with a babysitter.

Sixtus Rossi is a broad-shouldered, tattooed lumbersexual with a man-bun and a steely gaze. He’s also an Invulnerable—supposedly impervious to both psychic abilities and Holden’s charms. It’s a claim Holden takes as a challenge. Especially if sleeping with Six may help him learn whether the Community had more to do with the disappearances than they claimed.

As Holden uncovers the truth, he also finds himself getting in deep with the man sent to watch him. His plan to seduce Six for information leads to a connection so intense that some of Six’s shields come crashing down. And with that comes a frightening realization: Holden has to either stand by the Community that has given him everything, or abandon his old life to protect the people he loves.

Review:
This will be a brief review, as I’m on vacation and my internet connection is sketchy, at best. I enjoyed this new Hassell book, as usual. The magic system (for lack of a more accurate, but equally concise description) is interesting. I liked the characters, both old and new, and the writing is engaging. Admittedly, I never felt especially I connected with Sixtus and I don’t know that I would have with Holden if it weren’t for book one, and it was a bit too much of an insta-lust/insta-love for my taste. Plus, the darned thing ended on a cliffhanger. But overall, I liked the book and will look forward to book three in The Community series.

Dragonhunters

Book Review of Dragonhunters, by Garon Whited

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I received a copy of Dragonhunters, by Garon Whited, from Netgalley. I read it on vacation, as I traveled from Tennessee to Florida.

Description from Goodreads:
You don’t become a hero for the money. The money’s nice, sure, but you become a hero because something inside compels you, drives you to it. Defending people from monsters simply doesn’t pay well enough to make it a good career move. 

As for hunting dragons… well, the money is usually good, but the job really bites. 

A group of five professional heroes goes into the lair of the dragon. Who will win? 

Spoiler: The dragon. 

But it turns out killing a hero sometimes does nothing more than make him even more determined. 

Sometimes, heroes are never more dangerous than when they’re dead!

Review:
Man, what an interesting set-up that failed almost completely for me. Look, there are a ton of really fun ideas in this book. But the writing is so flat, the dialogue so formal and fantasy-quest-like (you know what I mean) that it distances the reader so far that I didn’t connect with anyone. I finished the book feeling like I hadn’t gotten to know anyone, nor did I care about any of them or their endeavor to kill a random dragon. No one had a believable emotion. No one seemed to react at all to, you know, dying and being resurrected, or becoming the locus of four ghosts. And the traveler that caused the whole mess is never explained at all. He pops up in the beginning and then disappears, never to be seen again.

For a while, in the beginning, I thought this might be a parody of a fantasy quest story. And it might have worked in that vein, but it isn’t. It’s an attempt at a real thing, as far as I can tell, and I was just really glad to see the end of it. Perhaps there will be readers that love it. I’m not making a blanket, “It’s bad,” statement. But it sure didn’t work for me.