Tag Archives: fantasy

Blood Brothers

Book Review of Blood Brothers, by M.F. Soriano

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Blood Brothers

Author, M.F. Soriano sent me a Smashwords coupon for a copy of his first full-length novel, Blood Brothers. I’ve also seen it on the Amazon free list.

Description from Goodreads:

Ostracized by society because of the birthmark that mars his face, Grillis Bloodborn has lived all of his short life in a cottage in the forest, cutting wood and tending pigs. Upon the death of his grandmother, the only family he has ever known, he sets out on a quest to find favor with the Gods for her soul. Grillis’s travels bring him to a city where a young trash-picker named Athemon has just begun to discover the power to punish the men who have made his life a hell. As fate draws the two youths together, they learn that payback comes with a price of its own. Meanwhile, in the depths of the unconquered wilderness a young mystic named Verlvik begins to experience a series of miracles and visions… and the visions lead toward Athemon.

Review:

This book was a pleasure to read. Soriano’s writing has a beautifully lyrical aspect to it. It occasionally borders on ‘purple prose’, but far more often simply engenders powerful and evocative imagery in the reader (or at least this reader). There are passages in this book that I would have loved even if completely disassociated from the strong story they were encompassed in.

As wonderful as the writing is, it was the characters that really drew me in. Grillis, Athemon and Verlvik are each marvellous in their own way. Each possesses an immense personal strength, while also displaying notable weaknesses. They balance each other in a truly meaningful way, even as they themselves are largely unaware of it. They each also managed to retain a certain childlike innocence even as they were forced to make decisions and act as adults.

Though the characters were human, pictsee and caprine there was a definite ‘we’re all the same, really’ theme to the book that could easily be read as an anti-rascism allegory. This is always nice to see when not so heavy-handed as to overshadow the story. It wasn’t here. It was just pleasant background noise.

Though it worked here, I always have a hard time engaging the flow of a story told from multiple POVs, even when consistently contained within their own chapters. I find it stutters a bit in my mind. (I’m not sure how else to describe it.) I also thought that the enemy to be overcome was a little flat. Sure, it was evil incarnate and all, but there was no sense of grey to give it any depth. While I had no trouble understanding why they needed to be defeated, I was given no real understanding of why they did what they did or how they’d become as evil as they were. They were a fairly cliché opponent. Lastly, the book is really quite violent and fairly gory. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but is worth noting, especially since I think it will work well as an upper YA book.

Be that as it may, I still really quite enjoyed the book and will happily pick up more of Soriano’s work in the future.

Blue Moon Rising

Book Review of Natalie Herzer’s Blue Moon Rising (The Patroness, #1)

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Blue Moon RisingI downloaded a copy of Natalie Herzer‘s Blue Moon Rising (The Patroness, #1) from the Amazon KDP list. At the time of posting, it was still free.

Description from Goodreads:
Maiwenn Cadic doesn’t have a quiet and normal life. 
This week won’t be any different.

Being the Patroness of Paris and protecting its inhabitants is a full time job but unfortunately it doesn’t pay the bills and so Maiwenn tries her best to make a living as a down-on-her luck private eye for odd cases.

When five shapeshifters end up dead, she knows it’s bad news and has to call in The Council. They immediately send their assassin Kylian ‘The Killer’ Tremaine, a typical shapeshifter who doesn’t take ‘no’ for an answer and seems to see everything female as a damsel in distress – which Maiwenn is really not. 

Together they will not only have to overcome their prejudices and obstacles in the form of a trigger-happy bounty hunter and a hungry rogue, but they will also have to trust each other in order to solve the murder before more bodies pile up.

Review:

The Patroness - Mini Series Banner

Blue Moon Rising is a fun, clean read that reminded me a little bit of Kim Harrison‘s The Hollows series. The plot is fairly basic. Maiwenn has inherited the task of protecting the people of Paris from all paranormal threats. So, she basically patrols the city, looking for trouble. This provided a lot of opportunities for the reader to be told interesting titbits about Paris, its history, and tourist attractions. It also allowed for a number of otherwise unconnected adventures. And while I enjoyed some of this, I also found myself increasingly irritated on two fronts.

First, I thought some of the history lessons felt forced and caused the narrative to drag a bit. Secondly, and more importantly, I had a real issue with the obvious question of language. Maiwenn was born and raised in Paris. She’s a native Parisian and would therefore, obviously, speak French. As would almost everyone else in the city that she would encounter. However, she’s very obviously meant to be speaking English…to everyone, even the other French people. What’s worse, the American who had never been to Paris has no linguistic challenge to overcome, but there is no indication that he is speaking French either, even to the French.

This is all highlighted by the fact that greetings are often said in French, and then the conversation continues in English. “Bonjour monsieur, bla bla bla in English.” Or when surprised, Maiwen rattles off a French sentence or two, and on one to two occasions, someone needed a translation. If not for the times that French is used, thereby indicating that it isn’t used at the other times, I might have been able to just assume all conversation was in the appropriate language. I could stretch my suspension of belief far enough for that. But that obviously wasn’t the case. So, I’m left asking when France adopted English as its national language.

I did enjoy the romantic tension, though I might have appreciated a little closure on that front, and Maiwenn is an admirably strong female character with a whole slew of interesting sidekicks. She did seem to consistently overcome adversity with ease, and more than one baddie is dispatched with almost no trouble at all.  There were also some editing issues, but for the most part, I really quite enjoyed the book.

shadow Heart: Slayer

Review Claudy Conn’s ShadowHeart Slayer (Shadow Vampires, #2)

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ShadowHeart SlayerSeveral months ago I reviewed Shadow Love: Stalkers, book one of Claudy Conn‘s Shadow Vampires series. I later found the sequel, ShadowHeart Slayer, on the free amazon list.

Descriptions:
Her name is Nikki Walker, and she is a vampire slayer. She never thought she would have to use her slayer powers…but she does.

She is on the trail of an ancient and secretive vampire called Deadly Moon, and Nikki wants to destroy her. She has her reasons.

His name is Damon Drummond who some of you have met before, and already know that he is a hunk of an unusual vampire. He is bent on keeping Nikki away from Deadly Moon.

The sociopath vampire, WB, who had been Pentim Rawley’s right hand man has taken over the Pentim clan, and is turning out to be even more of a problem than his predecessor had been. In fact, if someone doesn’t do something soon…Dublin will go dark under his power, and other cities will follow.

Damon and Nikki are on opposite sides. He is a potent vampire–she is a skilled and powerful vampire slayer. Problem right there…but, when they look at each other, sparks of all kinds fly. Too much stands between them. He will live forever…she will not…and yet…

Review:
Hmmm…From the blurb and the precedent set in book one (Shadow Love: Stalkers) I expected this book to have (or at least aim for) a deep, brooding vampire and a kick-ass slayer/heroine. Certainly Damon was just so in the last book. For a little while, in the beginning, that’s what I got too.

Then everything took a turn for the Twilight Zone. Suddenly there were, not only vampires, but demons, hybrids, and inter-dimensional monsters in an enchanted wood, which just happened to surround a magical castle. It was, however, when I reached the kindly, white bearded wizard a la Fantasia, in the blue, sparkly, conical hat, silken robes and Harry-Potter-like wand that I had a fairly serious WTF moment. I only became more confused as witches, warlocks and fae were later thrown into the fray.

It was like the book completely lost focus for a little while, drifted and then simply picked up in some quixotic fairytale instead of a PNR vampire novel when it reestablished itself. I was left dazed and confused, until I shifted into irritated and disappointed. I didn’t set out to read a fairytale and there was no warning that it was what I was getting into.

What’s more, Nikki went from the hard-nosed, independent slayer of the first couple chapters to a sweet, polite, girl next door with a propensity to hug people and kiss the cheeks of affable old men. Talk about a personality 180°. I wanted to drop the book right there at 50%, but I forced myself on so I wouldn’t have to DNF.

I try really hard to find at least a few good things to say about a book and I see from other reviews that people like it. So, I’ll happily admit that this was perhaps a mismatch of reader and book. But I was seriously disappointed. Both because the story I ended up reading in no way resembled the one I set out for and because I thought it wasn’t particularly well put together. *cringe*sorry**

The narrative was repetitive. For example, WB’s feelings and thoughts about Clara were related just about every time they were in the same room. The same kind of thing can be said for both Nikki and Damon. We’re told what they think of the other again and again and again without it changing much until the end. Then it just becomes rather staid, rushed sex scenes. 

The narrative felt quite stiff, with characters too often using names and endearments in conversation and even frequently using full names where one would suffice. At first I thought this was a certain character’s habit, but then others did it too. There were also periods where people seemed to stop using contractions, leaving everyone sounding oddly formal all of the time. 

Plus, I just found myself cringing over some things. For example, I found the whole “shifted into vampire speed” or “put on the slayer speed” cheesy beyond imagination. Maybe because it was used so often, but mostly because I imagined them shifting gears, like in a car.

My main complaint, however, was that like in the previous book, the author set up one primary plot (in this case hunting down the killer of her brother) and then completely ignored it for most of the book, while unrelated distractions were thrown at the main character and reader. This left the whole thing feeling fragmented. 

I don’t want to be mean here. I truly appreciate how hard writing a book is and for a different reader maybe this one will be a winner. It was, after all, very creative and imaginative, but I’ve finished it now and am still kinda reeling in a state of perpetual WTF. I had such high hopes for the dark and mysterious Damon too. They didn’t pan out.