Tag Archives: urban fantasy

Extreme Medical Services

Book Review of Extreme Medical Services, by Jamie Davis

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I borrowed an audio copy of Jamie Davis‘ Extreme Medical Services through Hoopla.

Description from Goodreads:

Monsters, Paramedics, and Street Medicine.
New paramedic Dean Flynn is fresh out of the academy. When he gets assigned to the unknown backwater ambulance Station U, he wonders what he did wrong. Then Dean learns that his patients aren’t your normal 911 callers. Dean and his partner Brynne Garvey serve the creatures of myth and legend living alongside their normal human neighbors in Elk City. With patients that are vampires, werewolves, fairies and more, will Dean survive his first days on the new job? Will his patients? Not all is well on the streets of Elk City either, and some humans are striking out at their mythical neighbors. Dean soon finds himself in the middle of a series of attacks on his patients, attacks that implicate a former member of Station U.

Review:

I’ll grant that this is well written. Mechanically it feels solid. However, it’s obvious that the author is (or has been) a paramedic, and probably a trainer. Listening to this book was more like sitting through a ‘How to be a proper, empathetic EMT’ than an urban fantasy. Unfortunately, I signed up for a fun fantasy ride, not a didactic sermon (or ten). You might think using all the correct words for things would be a good thing, but coming across things like capnography dropped in casually was a distraction. And there is A LOT of that sort of thing. Worse for the audio version, Scarlato (who did a great job otherwise) wasn’t quite able to make the strange words roll off his tongue. There was often a micro-pause before. So, they stood out even more.

Basically I was bored for most of the book. The vast majority of it is just descriptions of what the ambulance crew do on their runs, with no actual plot. Then, in the last 10% or so a plot finally developed. But apparently it was only being introduced for the next book, which I don’t think I’ll be reading.

Again, it’s not necessarily bad. It’d probably be a great way to get new emergency services students used to some of the ideas. But for the average reader………

Monster of the Week

Book Review of Monster of the Week (The Rules #2), by F.T. Lukens

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Cover of Monster of the Week.

I received an advanced copy of F. T. Lukens‘ Monster of the Week through Netgalley. As it happens, I’ve also pre-ordered a paperback copy. But I won’t have that in hand until October.

Description from Goodreads:

Spring semester of Bridger Whitt’s senior year of high school is looking great. He has the perfect boyfriend, a stellar best friend, and an acceptance letter to college. He also has this incredible job as an assistant to Pavel Chudinov, an intermediary tasked with helping cryptids navigate the modern world. His days are filled with kisses, laughs, pixies, and the occasional unicorn. Life is awesome. But as graduation draws near, Bridger’s perfect life begins to unravel. Uncertainties about his future surface, his estranged dad shows up out of nowhere, and, perhaps worst of all, a monster-hunting television show arrives in town to investigate the series of strange events from last fall. The show’s intrepid host will not be deterred, and Bridger finds himself trapped in a game of cat and mouse that could very well put the myth world at risk. Again.

Review (with spoiler):

I generally adore this series. I absolutely loved the first book. I can’t say I loved this second one quite as much, but I did really enjoy it. I’ll start with what I like. There is a lot of love here. Bridger has a wonderfully supportive crew and the theme of Found Family is a wonderful one. The cast of regular characters are quirky and fun and effortlessly diverse. And I really appreciated that Lukens allowed Bridger to cut the toxic family member from his life, rather than force an artificial reconciliation. 

Things I didn’t like as much was the plot dependance on the ambitious, ‘evil professional woman.’ It’s more nuanced than that here, but it’s still a pretty shitty trope that I hate. I thought things got a little didactic at times. And the focus of the book was less on the action and antics of the cryptic, here in Monster of the Week, and more on Bridger’s school life. I preferred the former. 

All in all, I can’t wait for more of Lukens’ work. 

hounded

Book Review of Hounded (The Iron Druid Chronicles #1), by Kevin Hearne

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cover image of Hounded, by Kevin Hearne

I borrowed a copy of Kevin Hearne‘s Hounded from the local library.

Description from Goodreads:

Atticus O’Sullivan, last of the Druids, lives peacefully in Arizona, running an occult bookshop and shape-shifting in his spare time to hunt with his Irish wolfhound. His neighbors and customers think that this handsome, tattooed Irish dude is about twenty-one years old—when in actuality, he’s twenty-one centuries old. Not to mention: He draws his power from the earth, possesses a sharp wit, and wields an even sharper magical sword known as Fragarach, the Answerer.

Unfortunately, a very angry Celtic god wants that sword, and he’s hounded Atticus for centuries. Now the determined deity has tracked him down, and Atticus will need all his power—plus the help of a seductive goddess of death, his vampire and werewolf team of attorneys, a bartender possessed by a Hindu witch, and some good old-fashioned luck of the Irish—to kick some Celtic arse and deliver himself from evil.

Review:

I’m in a Fans of Urban Fantasy Facebook group and this book has been raved about several times. So, I decided to give it a go. I must be an outlier of some sort, because I seriously did not like this book. 

The writing and editing is fine. But I thought the main character was an asshole—much of his humor striking me as arrogance—and I was constantly annoyed at the representation of women throughout. 

At page 110 I wrote a Goodreads update that said:

May I introduce the women of Hounded so far: 
Beautiful goddess who stands around naked and kisses Atticus. 
Beautiful goddess who sleeps with Atticus. 
Causally mentioned ex-lover. 
Neighbor, who if “50 years younger” would sleep with Atticus. 
Sexy bartender that flirts with Atticus. 
Sexy witch that wants a potion to make a man impotent & is a bitch.
That’s it. Anyone see a theme? I see a theme. blrg

By the end of the book my opinion hadn’t changed. But it isn’t just that all of the women are reduced to their hotness (or not)—their sexual availability (or not). Nor even that several of them try to seduce Atticus (because he’s apparently un-resistible). It was the constancy and the tone of it all. 

For example, in the mention of the ex-lover the only thing we’re told about her is that she had a ridiculous tattoo and that she stormed out after sex because of a stupid reason. Thus, the reader is to understand she was crazy and not see Atticus as callous because he was relieved she left after he was finished with her (except he kind of was). Every woman’s body was described, and even the dog was constantly talking about Genghis Khan’s harem and about getting some ‘French poodles.’ The freaking final joke of the book is that Atticus arranged for the house to be full of French poodles in heat and Oberon was disappointed that there were only five. Women were reduced to sexual objects (or those who weren’t sexually available, to villains) and jokes. Someone try and tell me old Mrs. MacDonagh was anything but a running gag!

Of course the representation of women isn’t all this book consists of. But the way they were constantly treated contaminated every other aspect of the story for me. Add that to a main character I found juvenile and inconsiderate (who give magical wedgies to EMTs who are trying to save their life?) and I had to finish this book by force of will alone. I won’t be continuing the series.