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Review of Zaria & Zauran (Neuripra, #2), by Poppet

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Zaria and ZauranLast week, I reviewed Poppet‘s Phoebe & Seithe. Afterwards, I was left in indecision since I have a book that I thought might be next in the series, but wasn’t certain because they have recently been repackaged, retitled and republished. To my delight, the very next day, Zaria and Zauran came up on the KDP free list. I grabbed it, even if it might actually be the same as Zauran under the new cover & title. (Though I really do wish for some clarification on how the series relate. I know I can’t be the only one out there that has some of the old and new books and isn’t sure how they line up…or if they line up.)

Description from Goodreads:
In an ancient battle between the neuri of Belgrade and the Vampyre, Zaria is caught in the middle. 

She is hopelessly drawn to Darise but then the neuri Zauran kidnaps her, changing everything. It couldn’t be more complicated. Darise offers unconditional love, Zauran offers rabid passion, throw in the rest of the family and you have mayhem. Then betrayal catapults Zaria into Zauran’s life just when a king returns to cause anarchy. 

Božena is a poisoned thorn in Zaria’s side, and her world comes crashing down as violence, betrayal and death, threaten to rip her from love. A king’s key is the bridge between Zaria and happiness, but for some the intervention comes too late.

Review:
The actual writing here is good and I really appreciate the interesting locations chosen for the stories. This one was set in Belgrade, Serbia. (The previous one was set in Table Top Mountain, South Africa). I also occasionally liked some of the characters. (I’ll get to the ‘occasionally’ issue in a moment). Venix was awesome. Zauran finished up as wonderful. I eventually liked Ryan. Even Sveta had admirable moments. There were definitely parts of this book worthy of praise.

The book felt fractured, however, like it didn’t really know where it wanted to go when it set off on its journey so it ended up wondering aimlessly and then finishing at some previously undetermined location. One romantic arc was established and then discarded for another, for example. Actually, at times it felt like the story had been conceived and originally written as at least 3 different short stories, that were later stitched together into a book. I’m not claiming this to be the case. How would I know? But The way the book introduced new characters and took a fairly drastic left turn at 43%, then did it again at about 60%, combined with the tendency to randomly recap on occasion and the passage of large chunks of undocumented time between sections of the story gave the book that kind of feel. It felt like it would be easy to cleave it into 3 pieces without the loss of consistency. In fact, just the opposite is true. It felt like these three pieces didn’t belong in the same whole, despite containing some of the same characters.

Characters had drastic personality changes (thus my only occasionally liking some of them). One attempted rapist suddenly turned contrite and gentle. A previously loving man turned philandersous and eventually violent and so on. While these inconsistencies were annoying, they were also difficult to accept, as it meant the reader was left feeling betrayed by some characters and/or having to accept that previously despicable characters were suddenly the good guys. Whiplash anyone? Had these been separate stories it wouldn’t have felt so disruptive, but in one book they felt artificial. Especially since the impetus for change wasn’t always clear. I have no idea what happened to Darise, for example.

What’s more Zaria often came across as simply too stupid to live. She took everything said to her at face value and as absolute truth, with no further thought on the matter. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a likeable character and all, but she didn’t come across as too bright.

Lastly, and this paragraph contains a spoiler, some of the truths established in book one seemed to be discarded or contradicted here. For example, in Phoebe and Seithe it was clearly stated that only a person’s ‘chosen’ could redeem him, but Zaria manages to redeem Darius, despite not being his chosen. And Darise didn’t seem to have been condemned as a red eye, even though he killed someone.

All in all, I enjoyed the book but I spent a decent amount of the time confused by it. I’d be happy to finish the series out, but it’s not topping my favourites list.

So, here I am again, finished with Zaria & Zauran. I happen to have Sveta, #1 of the Neuri series (which is the follow-up series to Pravus, as I understand it). Is it the same as Bozena & Sveta (Neuripra #3)? I’m betting it is, but I’d hate to waste my time reading it if it isn’t. Arggg! Congratulations Poppet on being picked up by Thorstruck Press, but could you throw out a clarification for those of us struggling here? Please? I just want to know I’m reading the right books in the right order. I don’t actually care what the title/series is or what the covers look like.

You know what I’m gonna do? I’m gonna hold off on reading Sveta. Maybe like Zaria &  Zauran, Bozena & Sveta will pop up on the free list and then I’ll be certain I’m on the right book. Yeah, that makes sense. Right?

Chaos Bound

Book Review of Chaos Bound (Chronicles from the Applecross, #2), by Rebekah Turner

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Chaos Bound

I grabbed Rebekah Turner‘s Chaos Born from the Amazon free list, since I loved it I bought the sequel, Chaos Bound.

Description from Goodreads:
Lora Blackgoat — mercenary and smuggler — has only just recovered from the last threat on her life and hasn’t even begun to sort out the mess of having both a nephilim warrior and a reborn hellspawn as potential lovers. Work should be a refuge, but a job finding missing persons puts her in the crosshairs of a violent gang and a merchant with a taste for blood sport.

Reluctantly, Lora turns to the two men in her life for help. Roman — the nephilim — professes to be her soul mate and turns to her when he feels the darkness of nephilim madness descending. But though Lora is drawn to Roman, it is Seth, ex-lover and reborn hellspawn, who Lora must ultimately ask to protect those she loves. Can she trust Seth to save Roman and her adoptive family, or will this be a fatal mistake?

Review:
I really love Rebekah Turner’s sense of humour, which in turn means I enjoy Lora’s quips and comebacks. I simply enjoyed the experience of reading about Lora and her friends. I also liked that, while there is a little romance, it takes a major backseat, letting the adventure and Lora’s frustrations take the spotlight.

I’ll admit that I didn’t love Chaos Bound quite as much as Chaos Born, but that’s often the case with sequels. Lora just seemed to have more irons in the fire here and it left me feeling a little distracted, because nothing got much attention before skipping off to something else. This makes for a fast-paced novel, but little in-depth exploration of any single theme. However, it did all tie together in the end.

I also thought that we weren’t given enough interaction with Roman, considering how important his character was to Lora. I suppose I could say the same for Seth. This is, of course, just personal opinion though. As I said, I generally really enjoyed the book.

The writing and editing was good. Like book one, there were a number of missing words. Part of me wonders if some of this is because the author is Australian. I have a friend, for example, who always says I “I went to hospital” instead of “I went to the hospital.” This is a linguistic difference between where she grew up and were I grew up. Neither is necessarily long. So, hard to be certain, but I felt like there were the occasional missing words.

Also like book one, the world-building is still a little weak. It’s an interesting world, for sure, but it’s unclear how it relates to the real-world and I would really like to know more about this.

While the book isn’t a precipitous cliffhanger, as is so common these days, it isn’t a stand alone book either. Lora faces a couple challenges in this book and she deals with them. But there are a number of open threads left, so the reader is still left wanting at the end. I suppose what I’m saying is that the books in this series are each an episodes in a larger story, as opposed to their own, individual, self-contained stories. Don’t go in expecting to finish with all the answers. This isn’t a criticism, just a comment on the type of series it is.

All in all, I will definitely be looking for the next book in the series and any new works by Ms. Turner.

Chaos Born

Book Review of Chaos Born, by Rebekah Turner

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Chaos BornChaos Born, by Rebekah Turner is one of those books I grabbed from the KDP free list based almost exclusively on its cover. Come on, it’s awesome, right?

Description from Goodreads:
Lora Blackgoat, smuggler and mercenary, has been lying low after a job gone bad made her a laughing stock in the industry. When a childhood friend turns to her for help, Lora leaps to restore her reputation and starts hunting a killer who is stalking the gas-lit streets.

She never expects that her path will lead her to the Order of Guides, a sadistic militant religious organisation – or to Roman, a deadly and dangerously attractive half-angel warrior who also hunts the killer.

When Lora discovers that the killer has broken fundamental laws of magic to enter the city, she also uncovers a conspiracy that leads back into her own dark past.

Review:
Awesome, just awesome! I really liked almost everything about this book. Lora was a snarky, determined, tough badass who I enjoyed immensely. She managed to rush into danger without feeling suicidal, have adult relationships without coming across as easy, dispute with her friends and family without going overboard, and retain a sense of humour without it feeling forced. *Sigh* If only I could find more characters like her. 

My only real complaints are that the book could do with a little more editing to address the missing words and I never could get a firm handle on the world. The city names were real-world and there were cars, guns, etc., but there was also some magical, steampunk-like realm where modern technology wouldn’t work and mystical creatures lived among humans. This could have been a dystopian future, an alternative reality, alternate history, etc. It doesn’t define itself in any way and this left me perpetually confused on the matter. 

Despite that, I laughed a lot, rooted for Lora and her cohort, snickered at the mild romance, and generally just had a good time. At about 50%, I went ahead and bought the sequel, knowing I would want it as soon as I finished this one and I’ll be starting any minute now.