Tag Archives: fantasy

Hemovore

Book Review of Hemovore, by Jordan Castillo Price

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HemovoreI bought a copy of Hemovore, by Jordan Castillo Price.

Description from Goodreads:
Ten years ago, the Human Hemovore Virus blazed through the world, and left the few victims who survived unable to eat, allergic to sunlight and craving the taste of blood.

Mark Jensen used to think V-positives were incredibly sexy with their pale, flawless skin and taut, lean bodies. Not anymore. Not since he’s been stuck procuring under-the-counter feline blood for his control-freak boss, Jonathan Varga. Why cat blood? Mark has never dared to ask.

It’s not as if he’s usually at a loss for words. He can dish an insult and follow it with a snap as quick as you can say “Miss Thang”. But one look at Jonathan’s black-as-sin gypsy eyes, and Mark’s objections drain away.

So he endures their strange, endless routine: Jonathan hiding in his studio, painting solid black canvases. Mark hurling insults as he buffs the office to a shine with antiviral wipes and maps out the mysterious “routes” he’s required to drive.

Then a blurb in Art in America unleashes a chain of events neither of them saw coming. As secrets of Jonathan’s past come to light, it becomes clear all his precautions weren’t nearly enough.

Review:
This is an excellent new (or at least different) take on the vampire story. There is just so much to appreciate in this novel. It’s fast paced, though more so in the last half than the first and there is a little bit of a lull toward the middle. It’s tightly plotted with an interesting shift in emphasis between the beginning and the end.

The characters are engaging, though I never quite felt I knew Jonathan as well as Mark, the primary POV. Plus, Jonathan seemed to have a little character drift between him in the beginning and him at the end. But I very much liked them both. I also very much appreciated the sexual tension, but the fact that there is very little actual sex.

The idea of vampirism as a disease isn’t a new one, but I don’t know that I’ve ever read a book in which it is so clinically addressed. I liked it. However, for a disease with an 85% mortality rate it seemed an odd forgone conclusion that the character in question would survive. I felt very little angst around this.

All in all, I really quite enjoyed this. But I’ve yet to read a JCP that I didn’t, so no big surprise there.

Book Review of Lady Lazarus, by Michele Lang

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Lady LazarusI borrowed Lady Lazarus, by Michelle Lang, from my local library.

Description from Goodreads:
Descended from the legendary witch of Ein Dor, she alone holds the power to summon the angel Raziel and stop Hitler and his supernatural minions from unleashing total war in Europe. The Nazis have fighters more fearsome than soldiers, weapons more terrifying than missiles, and allies that even they are afraid of SS werewolves; the demon Asmodel who possesses a willing Adolf Hitler, and other supernatural creatures all are literally hell-bent on preventing Magda from possessing the Book of Raziel, a magical text with the power to turn the tide against Hitler’s vast war machine.

Magda, young and rebellious, grew up in the cosmopolitan city of Budapest, unaware of her family’s heritage. When her mother dies, Magda–ready or not–is the Lazarus, who must face the evil that holds Europe in an iron grip. Unready to assume the mantle of her ancient birthright, but knowing that she must fight, she sets out across Europe searching for the Book. Magda is desperate enough to endanger her soul by summoning the avenging angel Raziel.  When she sees him in the glory of his celestial presence, her heart is utterly, completely lost..

Review:
There was so much to like about this book, the Jewish heroine, the platonic love between Magda and her angel (at least in the period of the book), the difficulty of the angels’ task, the best friend who I decided was her lover, the cyclone-like battles between good and evil that feel like the centre of the world only until you remember the big bad is still lurking out there waiting to pounce (reminding the reader about the importance of perspective), some of the writing (all is pretty good, but some passages really wow), and Magda’s genuine and undeniable growth as a character. There is a lot to appreciate. But there was just as much that bothered me personally.

I got tired of Magda being clueless of everything. Why, oh why, are heroines always ignorant of themselves, their power, their ability, their strengths? I am just tire, TIRED of this being the kernel at the centre of just about every book I read that has a female lead. Why?

I thought the book dragged in places. The reader spends a lot of time in Magda’s head or traveling. After being clueless and not knowing what to do Magda always seemed to defeat her enemy with ease and I was never entirely sure how she managed it. This feeling of ho-hum another one done is only exasperated by the fact that the book ends on the eve of Hitler’s attack on Poland, so the whole thing kind of wraps up where I thought it was going to begin. And lastly, I thought there were an uncomfortable number of characters that showed up when needed and then just disappeared again.

So, I’m about balanced between those things I really liked and those things that annoyed me.

Trailer Park Fae

Book Review Trailer Park Fae (Gallow and Ragged #1), by Lilith Saintcrow

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Trailer Park FaeI borrowed Trailer Park Fae (by Lilith Saintcrow) from my library, mostly just because of the cover is so pretty.

Description from Goodreads:
Jeremy Gallow is just another construction worker, and that’s the way he likes it. He’s left his past behind, but some things cannot be erased. Like the tattoos on his arms that transform into a weapon, or that he was once closer to the Queen of Summer than any half-human should be. Now the half-sidhe all in Summer once feared is dragged back into the world of enchantment, danger, and fickle fae—by a woman who looks uncannily like his dead wife. Her name is Robin, and her secrets are more than enough to get them both killed. A plague has come, the fullborn-fae are dying, and the dark answer to Summer’s Court is breaking loose.

Review:
So, this was not what I expected. I was expecting a light urban fantasy. It was, instead, a fairly dark read, which to be fair is kind of the more traditional Sidhe kind of story.

I’d still have been cool with a dark tale, though. I like gritty things. But this was just so darned slow. I mean, things happened. People died. There was a whole coup even. But it was all narrated in such a plodding, overly verbose, flowery, ho-hum kind of way that it felt dull. Plus, I wasn’t really feeling the lack of pay-off in the end. I liked the characters and it’s an interesting plot, so I can’t say I didn’t like the book. But I’n not sad to be finished with it either.