Tag Archives: fantasy

The Automaton's Wife

Book Review of The Automaton’s Wife (Society for Paranormals #2), by Vered Ehsani

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I received an Audible code for the purchase of a copy of Vered Ehsani‘s The Automaton’s Wife. I read and reviewed book one in the series, Ghost of Tsavo, here.

Description from Goodreads:
Beatrice Knight has enough to contend with: a zebra is dead on her lawn, her horse is possessed and a gentleman has arrived with the temerity to propose to her. To top it off, her dead husband Gideon has absconded with an automaton, threatening to return for his wife. The wife in question however soon has other issues, for a killer has moved into town with a nasty habit of carving up the victims. As luck should dictate, who should be the next target but Mrs Knight herself? 

Review: 
I do believe I enjoyed this more than the first. I’m not entirely sure if it was because it was a better book or because the addition of a truly wonderful narrator (Alison Larkin) made the audio experience more fulfilling than reading it. I liked book one, but I really liked this one.

As before, I found Beatrice witty and self-reliant. I liked the tension between her and My. Timmons, though it’s much downplayed here and the mystery held its own. I did think it wrapped up a little too quickly and Larkin’s insistence on saying Zeebra (American), instead of zebra, in the English style irked me. But all in all, I look forward to continuing the series.

The Black Wolves of Boston

Book Review of The Black Wolves of Boston, by Wen Spencer

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I borrowed a copy of The Black Wolves of Boston, by Wen Spencer, from my local library.

Description from Goodreads:
Silas Decker had his world destroyed when he was attacked by vampires outside of New Amsterdam. He rebuilt his life a dozen times in the last three hundred years—each time less and less successfully. Now he lives alone, buried under a hoarding habit, struggling to find some reason to wake up with the setting of the sun.

Eloise is a Virtue, pledged to hunting evil.  What she doesn’t know is how to live alone in a city full of strangers who know nothing about monsters.

Seth is the sixteen-year old Prince of Boston, ward of the Wolf King.  Now he is left in a city that desperately needs his protection with enemies gathering all around. 

Joshua believes he is a normal, college-bound high school senior.  His life is shattered when he wakes up in a field, covered with blood, and the prom committee scattered in pieces about him like broken dolls.  

These four must now come together to unravel a plot by Wickers, witches who gain power from human sacrifices and have the power to turn any human into their puppet. Four people who lost everything struggle to save Boston by saving each other.

Review:
This was utterly adorable. Seriously, it was one of the cutest books I’ve read in a while! I’ve been pretty burned out on YA lately, so I went into this with a bit of trepidation, but I sure am glad to have read it. Watching Decker, the 300-year-old vampire try and make his “puppy” happy so he’ll stay with him was too endearing for words. Similarly, seeing Seth, the “puppy,” settle and make a home was just as lovely.

I only have two complaints here. One is that the editing is a bit of a mess. I kept rereading sentences to verify, yep, a word really is missing or repeated. Lots of missing particles and things like, being able being to, instead of being able to. Second is that I felt the horror and trauma of watching 10 classmates being slaughtered and turning into a werewolf were seriously glossed over in lieu of the happier part of the storyline.

But for anyone looking for a cute book this summer, pick this one up.

There is also a little short story online, set in the same universe. You can find it here. It has the same editing habits. As an example, I pulled this from it: “His muzzleloader lay the dead leaves fifty feet back. He’d have to abandon it for now. ” But it’s still cute.

Book Review: The Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman

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I borrowed a copy of Neil Gaiman‘s The Ocean at the End of the Lane from my local library. It was my book club book this month.

Description from Goodreads:
Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn’t thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she’d claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy.

Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie—magical, comforting, wise beyond her years—promised to protect him, no matter what.

Review:
I appreciate the way this wrapped around into something satisfyingly circular. I thought it was well written, with a good voice and thoughtful perspective. Seeing a seven-year-old’s perspective on things reconsidered with adult eyes was interesting. For the most part I really enjoyed it. It just felt a little too fantastical and weird at times. Like maybe Gaimen needed to reign himself in a little.