Category: Urban Fantasy
Shadows by J. Dorothy
(Cover picture courtesy of Authors to Watch.)
An intimate, gripping Fantasy Romance you will want to savor even as you race through the pages to find out what is really going on.
Jo is about to marry James.
He is standing outside, waiting for her to come down for the ceremony to begin. She can see him through the window. Jo’s brother, Spencer, is there too, talking and joking with James to calm his nerves.
Then Jo’s sorceress aunt, Rowellyn, appears and informs Jo she will never marry James. She must go back in time and undo everything that has happened between them.
Whatever Jo does, her life will be unbearable, but if she does exactly as Rowellyn asks, the lives of her friends and family will be spared. If, however, she refuses to go back, or tells anyone what is happening, James will die.
Jo has no choice. She takes one last longing look at James through the window. She will now have to arrange for James to fall in love with someone else – the vengeful Rowellyn demands it.
But, as Jo will soon discover, in the land of illusion, nothing is certain.
If you enjoy ‘Shadows’, you might also enjoy the prequel, ‘Reflections’, the story of how Jo and James fell in love and of Jo’s first encounters with Rowellyn’s dark magic.
[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook from J. Dorothy in exchange for an honest review.]
Sorcery? Time travel? A realistic romance? Shadows had pretty much everything going for it in terms of what I like to see in fantasy, but it fell flat in some respects.
That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy it overall. I loved how even though Jo was broken-hearted at being sent back to the past to break up her relationship with James, the man she was going to marry, she stayed pretty strong. Jo was a great character in that despite her best efforts, she could not let go of the man she loved. That’s loyalty right there! And her desperate attempts to defeat Rowellyn definitely made me cheer for her every single step of the way. Along with other three dimensional characters like James, Spencer and Beth, Jo really gave it her all and it was such an enjoyable story for that reason alone.
I liked the whole time travel aspect, but I felt it wasn’t adequately explained at all. How did Rowellyn come by these powers? What on Earth does the curse do to make someone a sorceress and why does it always isolate the other sister? What’s the history behind making sorceresses? Is there some sort of reason the other sister has to suffer as well? These were all touched on, but definitely were not explained to my satisfaction. I felt that there was so much more potential for world-building and giving Rowellyn depth here that J. Dorothy missed out on. At the same time, the things that were explained like sorceress’ time travel powers were fascinating and felt like a glimpse of the potential of the novel.
For the most part, the pacing was awesome. We still got to see Jo suffer and develop as a character but the plot did move on fairly constantly. There was enough action to keep me interested, but not so much that the character development suffered. However, when it came to the climax J. Dorothy seemed to be rushed to finish the book because after the reasonable pace of the rest of the book the frantic pace of the end was a let-down. Of course the climax should be faster, but I still don’t fully understand the ending. I would have loved for a little more explanation of well, everything.
Overall, Shadows was good but maybe it would have been a good idea for me to read Reflections (the prequel) first or for J. Dorothy to explain a little more.
I give this book 3/5 stars.
*Only available as a Kindle ebook
Black Crow White Lie by Candi Sary
(Cover picture courtesy of Luxury Reading.)
Carson Calley grew up living in Hollywood motels with his fortune-telling mother, who is full of stories about their former lives together and prophesies about his future.
We were Indians—Californian Indians. This pale skin was once native brown. And these legs of yours were once big and strong so that you could run after deer and shoot them with your arrows, and then bring the meat back to me. You were destined to be the great medicine man, the great healer who would take away all the pain and disease and suffering of our people.
Believing his mother’s yarns, Carson becomes a healer, with the people of Hollywood waiting in long lines to see him, but a purpose built on lies and exaggerations can’t last…or can it?
[Full disclosure: I received a free print copy from Candi Sary in exchange for an honest review.]
I wasn’t really sure what I expected from Black Crow White Lie. Maybe I expected your typical coming-of-age story or maybe I thought Candi Sary would go much deeper into Native American spirituality and explore it in the modern world. But her book is neither and it really turns some genre tropes on their heads.
Carson is a fascinating character. In the beginning he’s quite naive about his mother and her obvious drinking problem, but what makes him different from other protagonists in the same genre is that he slowly realizes his mother isn’t perfect. It’s not a sudden proverbial dropped ton of bricks, but rather a gradual realization as he’s exposed more to the world outside his mother’s fantasies. I don’t want to give too much away, but his friends like Casper and Faris eventually help him come to a startling conclusion. Part of why I enjoyed Candi Sary’s writing so much is that she really took the time to flesh out all of her characters, but really focused in on Carson as the protagonist. He’s imperfect, but I love him as a character anyway.
The plot is pretty fast-paced, all things considered. Black Crow White Lie packs quite a bit of story into 159 pages but it never does really feel rushed. No, instead there’s a perfect balance between characters and plot because of how the plot is moved forward by Carson’s actions and realizations. As he grows, the plot moves along and that’s what makes this one of my favourite coming-of-age novels: it’s most definitely character-based but not at the expense of the plot.
Really, what more is there to say? Carson, Faris, Casper and Juliette are all fascinating characters that are so well-developed you feel that you’re there in the story with them. Carson is an amazing protagonist for such an amazing coming-of-age novel and is definitely one of the most memorable characters I’ve read about in a long time. Not only that, there were some interesting plot twists that I didn’t see at the time but when I look back make sense. Candi Sary knows just how much information to give to her readers at certain points in the novel so there’s never really a huge info-dump but we still know what’s going on. Overall, Black Crow White Lie is an awesome novel that I’d recommend to readers of all ages.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
The Genesis by K. L. Kerr
(Cover picture courtesy of Love YA Books.)
An Uncontrollable Power. An Unstoppable Corporation. A Vampire God.
The vampires of Dayson city are preparing for war. Having lived in constant fear of the Archway Corporation for decades, desperation has forced them into action. Their solution is to bring the First vampire, Alistair, back from the dead, a warrior famed for eradicating entire armies in the name of his kind.
For fledgling vampire Catrina Malinka, the fabled return of some unknown deity falls low on her list of concerns. Between fending off strangers trying to kill her in her dreams and trying to rein in an uncontrollable power that no one else even understands let alone shares, Catrina is forced to fight her assumed role in the war against Archway, which threatens to send her down a path she doesn’t want to travel.
The first book in The Blood of Ages series, “The Genesis” is an urban fantasy about the inescapable nature of Fate and the corruption of power.
[Full disclosure: I received a free ARC ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]
First off, you need to read this book right now. Yes, The Genesis by K. L. Kerr is so good that I’m starting my review with my recommendation. But I know what you’re thinking: “Vampires again? You’re kidding me, right?”
No, imaginary reader, I’m not. Why would I give such a blanket recommendation of a vampire book when vampires are so over-used in mainstream fiction? Because these are real vampires: they are bloodthirsty killing machines with very little or no remorse when they take human lives. They die in the sunlight rather than sparkle and romance certainly isn’t the main focus of The Genesis. The main focus is Catrina’s change into a vampire and her slow journey to find out why the Clan wants her to be the Vessel to return the mysterious Alistair.
Catrina is an awesome protagonist with an occasionally mysterious backstory that is one of the very few narrators that doesn’t go into complete and utter denial when she becomes a vampire. No, she learns a bit about being a vampire and actually believes Fox when he tells her he turned her into a vampire because of the clues she notices around her and the changes to her own body. A logical narrator? Heaven forbid! If her being extremely logical isn’t a satisfactory explanation, there’s more of an explanation later on but it’s a spoiler.
The lack of information given to Catrina by Fox is a little frustrating as a reader at times, but considering Fox’s personality it makes sense. The only thing I didn’t like was that we knew so little about Catrina’s own backstory and there’s really no excuse for this. However, with the fascinating vampire mythology and the slow, suspenseful reveal of the real conflict I guess I can forgive that. Coupled with the fact that there were quite a few unexpected plot twists, I really can’t complain about the lack of backstory. I’m sure K. L. Kerr will explore Catrina’s and Fox’s pasts in the next book in her Blood of Ages series.
I give this book 4.5/5 stars.
Abandon by Meg Cabot
(Cover picture courtesy of Manda’s Movements.)
Now Death wants her back
Pierce knows what it’s like to die, because she’s done it before. Though she tried returning to the life she knew before the accident, Pierce can’t help but feel at once a part of this world, and apart from it. yet she’s never alone…because someone is always watching her.
Now she’s moved to a new town, but even here, he finds her. Pierce knows he’s no guardian angel, and his dark world isn’t exactly heaven, yet she can’t stay away…especially since he always appears when she least expects it, but exactly when she needs him most.
If she lets herself fall any further, Pierce may just find herself back in the one place she most fears: the Underworld.
The myth of Persephone…darkly reimagined.
Could there possibly be a more confusing way to tell what should be a straightforward story? What happened to a linear narrative? Or at least one that makes sense?
Meg Cabot is a great author, no doubt about that. I loved her Airhead trilogy and Abandon is still well-written. However, I had a very hard time figuring out what the heck was going on as Pierce described three different points in her past all at once. We jump around from her grandpa’s death to the incident at her old school after her death to her first death and it’s just terribly confusing. If you’re going to give your readers some backstory, at least give it in a logical order! (And yes, I’m actually quite mad about this because this could have been a great story with a little logic added to how the backstory was presented.)
Okay, so once I actually figured out what was going on, I sort of did enjoy the story. Pierce is a decent enough character and you can actually feel her emotional struggles as she tries to cope with life after coming back from the dead. Her confused feelings about John, her loneliness, etc. were all very real and made her an interesting character. Her altruistic side came through often, which makes her much more sympathetic than a lot of YA heroines. John himself seems like kind of a jerk to me, but unlike some love interests there’s potential for him to change in the next book. And he also has a legitimate reason for being a jerk, again unlike a lot of love interests.
If you can figure out the plot, it’s quite fast-paced and there are some pretty interesting twists. There are parallels to the Persephone myth for those of you that like Greek mythology, but Abandon doesn’t stick strictly to it. That way it’s close enough to add another dimension to the story without making it completely predictable. And now that Pierce’s backstory has been established, I will be reading the next book, Underworld in the hope that without so much plot confusion it will be a decent book. However, I will be borrowing the next book from the library, not buying it. I’m still kind of wary.
I give this book 3/5 stars.
Thirst No. 2 by Christopher Pike
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
What Alisa has desired for five thousand years has finally come true: She is once again human. But now she is defenseless, vulnerable, and, for the first time in centuries, emotional. As she attempts to reconcile her actions as a vampire with her new connection to humanity, she begins to understand the weight of life-and-death decisions. Can Alisa resolve her past and build a new identity, or is she doomed to repeat her fatal mistakes?
With the cliffhanger at the end of Thirst No.1 I just had to read the second volume of stories. Alisa/Sita becoming human? This I had to see: a ruthless, conscience-less 5000 year old vampire being human. As it turns out it doesn’t work out really well, as much as Sita keeps wishing it does.
Without giving too much away, I have to say that both the mythology mixed in to Christopher Pike’s series and his new emphasis on the characters makes Thirst No. 2 even better than the first volume. The focus of the first set seemed to be more on Sita’s past and her present situation, with a much broader focus on plot, but I love how Christopher Pike turned to exploring Sita’s character more here. There is so much potential for a character like Sita and some of the things she encounters in this book really change her outlook on life. The other characters that I can’t mention because of spoilers are amazing too and are definitely not what they seem to be.
If you loved the first volume in Christopher Pike’s series, you’ll love the second one even more. A fast paced plot, a bit of interesting mythology and Christian theology and even better character development make Thirst No. 2 one of the better books I’ve read lately.
I give this book 5/5 stars.