Tag Archives: urban fantasy

Greywalker

Book Review of Greywalker, by Kat Richardson

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I bought a second-hand copy of Greywalker , by Kat Richardson at a bricks and mortar store.

Description from Goodreads:
When Harper comes to in the hospital, she begins to feel a bit …strange. She sees things that can only be described as weird-shapes emerging from a foggy grey mist, snarling teeth, creatures roaring.But Harper’s not crazy. Her “death” has made her a Greywalker-able to move between our world and the mysterious, cross-over zone where things that go bump in the night exist. And her new gift (or curse) is about to drag her into that world of vampires and ghosts, magic and witches, necromancers and sinister artifacts. Whether she likes it or not.

Review:
This book was dated. Which I really can’t blame it for. It was written when it was written, and if pagers, Hansen and Brosnan as Bond were the markers of the time, so be it. What I can fault it for is being boring and feeling too scattered.

The action starts without allowing the reader time to get to know Harper and then doesn’t really provide further opportunity as the plot progresses. Thus, I never felt connected or invested in her. I simply didn’t care all that much. Plus, she’s whinging and denying her abilities through the whole book, while simultaneously accepting vampires and witches and ghosts as blasé. And as soon as she has abilities, those vampires, ghosts and such start showing up all over the place. The day she returns to work she gets two (and only two) cases and both happen to be paranormal. One is explained, the other I’m supposed to believe is coincidence?

By the end she’d come to terms with her abilities, so maybe future books in the series wouldn’t seem so annoying. But unless I find a copy as a freebie, I don’t think I’ll continue with it.

Cold Burn of Magic

Book Review of Cold Burn of Magic (Black Blade #1), by Jennifer Estep

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I bought a paperback copy of Jennifer Estep’s Cold Burn of Magic out in the real world.

Description from Goodreads:
It’s not as great as you’d think, living in a tourist town that’s known as “the most magical place in America.” Same boring high school, just twice as many monsters under the bridges and rival Families killing each other for power.

I try to keep out of it. I’ve got my mom’s bloodiron sword and my slightly illegal home in the basement of the municipal library. And a couple of Talents I try to keep quiet, including very light fingers and a way with a lock pick.

But then some nasty characters bring their Family feud into my friend’s pawn shop, and I have to make a call–get involved, or watch a cute guy die because I didn’t. I guess I made the wrong choice, because now I’m stuck putting everything on the line for Devon Sinclair. My mom was murdered because of the Families, and it looks like I’m going to end up just like her. . .

Review:
I didn’t love this. It’s told in first person, past tense and just felt very flatly told. Imagine a three-year-old who has a story to tell you and it’s full of “and then I” and “then the monster” and “I thought,” etc. I wasn’t hugely engaged in the story. I thought………[I’ve literally finished this book not 10 minutes ago and I can’t remember her name]….the main character was exceptionally shallow. I mean, she only seemed to have anger and sarcasm where her personality should have been. There’s some huge plot holes, not the least of which is that the town is full of monsters, that will literally eat you if you cross their bridge, for example, but somehow some people don’t believe in them. The villains (both sub-plots’ worth) are evil just for the sake of being evil. And they are all VERY OBVIOUS. I won’t be pursuing this series.

Strange Practice

Book Vivian ShawReview of Strange Practice (Dr. Greta Helsing, #1), by Vivian Shaw

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I borrowed a copy of Strange Practice, by Vivian Shaw, from my local library.

Description from Goodreads:
Greta Helsing inherited the family’s highly specialized, and highly peculiar, medical practice. In her consulting rooms, Dr. Helsing treats the undead for a host of ills – vocal strain in banshees, arthritis in barrow-wights, and entropy in mummies. Although barely making ends meet, this is just the quiet, supernatural-adjacent life Greta’s been groomed for since childhood.

Until a sect of murderous monks emerges, killing human and undead Londoners alike. As terror takes hold of the city, Greta must use her unusual skills to stop the cult if she hopes to save her practice, and her life.

Review:
This was one of those books I generally enjoyed, then say back and thought about and decided I had a problem with it. I’ll start with what I enjoyed. I thought the vampire mythos was interesting, as was the idea of a supernatural doctor (that’s a doctor to the supernatural, she’s not herself supernatural). There was quite a lot of humor and the writing is pretty good. All in all, enjoyable.

But…BUT it’s just so classically and problematically male. It’s a Greta Helsing novel, granted, but why is she essentially the only female? The gang was comprised of Greta, two vampires, a demon and a research fellow. There just isn’t any reason at least one of those couldn’t be a woman. But no, Greta is surrounded by, taken care of by and takes advice from only men. At least one of which (the one she’s attracted to) thinks it’s not really appropriate for a woman to be a doctor. She’s constantly wishing for her father and his advice, her mother wholly absent. (I can’t remember if it even said how she, presumably, died.) Even the villain’s henchmen are all male. Why do authors (especially female authors) keep leaving women out of their worlds? Here, I noticed it and as the book went on it just got more and more noticeable and more and more irritating. Because the series may be named after Greta, but it’s a book about the men around Greta. Bah! Forget that.