aprillee

• Rated 4 stars

“Zane, the urchin boy who served the beautiful Smoke Thief of the first book has now grown into a sleek and dangerous master thief, one of the few humans allowed to know about and work with the drakons, dragon shape-shifters who live hidden amongst 18th. century English society. He is bidden to search for the legendary diamond, the Draumr, by the drakon lord, for a reward that will make him wealthy. He sets off for the Carpathian Mountains, where the diamond was rumored to be hidden.

Lia is the young daughter of the Lord and Lady of the drakons, but has always felt unimportant since she cannot change nor seem to exhibit any powers. However, she may have precognition and a special sense for the diamond, although no one believes in her. She feels Zane is important to her future and that of the drakon, and she has always secretly had feelings for him. Against all the harsh rules of the drakon, she is determined to aid him in finding the diamond, a jewel that is also crucial to the survival of her people.

Again, the best thing about the tale is the beautiful language Abe uses. But Zane and Lia are also fascinating characters. I think I like this tale the best of the Drakon books.”

aprillee wrote this review Wednesday, May 20 2009. ( reply | permalink )

1 of 1 members found this review helpful.

• Rated 4 stars

“In this paranormal romance (it seems to be marketed as a fantasy, but to me it falls squarely in the romance genre), a race of dragon shape-shifters try to exist hidden among ordinary humans in 18thC. Europe. They have settled at Darkfrith in the North of England and have developed rather draconian rules for their society. It is forbidden to leave Darkfrith without permission. All "runners" will be hunted down and either brought back, if they are a precious breeding female, or killed if they are male.

Clarissa, as a half-human drakon, has never fit in. She risks everything to begin a daring new life in London, using her unusual skills, such as being able to turn into smoke, to become a master thief. Unfortunately her exploits bring her to the attention of Christoff, Marquess of Langford and Alpha leader of the drakon, who is charged with hunting her down.

There have been fantasy-romances before, and plenty of alpha-heroes, but the best thing about this tale is the rich, magical, fairy-tale quality of the writing. Many of the descriptions are enchantingly beautiful. But the fairy-tale feeling also creates a bit of a distance between the reader and the characters. I found the main characters both interesting and sympathetic, but sometimes their thoughts and motivations were obscure. It was still a pretty little tale that is worth at least a quick read.”

aprillee wrote this review Wednesday, May 20 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“In this third book in the series, U.S. Navy Lt. Matty graves is recovering from a brain fever on Saint-Domingue in the aftermath of Toussaint's slave rebellion. He's called back to the newly-built Washington when politics have led to inquiries about certain past events and finds himself landed, no longer a lieutenant and vying for the heart of the sister of his friend and shipmate, Dick Towson. Finally, he's back at sea with a mission to discretely deal with a U.S. Navy officer who has turned pirate.

The dialogue and language give a strong sense of the period, as do the descriptions--particularly of the nascent Washington. It was interesting to see the dearth of any berths or positions during times between wars, and the workings of influence. Back on the sea there is plenty of action, as well as out-thinking and out-maneuvering, and the complications of questioning personal ethics and loyalty.

I jumped into this series with this book, and it is possible to read this as a stand-alone, although I think it all might have more impact if a reader begins with the first book and reads them in order.”

aprillee wrote this review Wednesday, May 20 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“In the last book, Merry was kidnapped and raped by her uncle Taranis. She's already pregnant with twins, but he hopes to claim they are his heirs. And one of Merry's body-guard-harem, Killer Frost, had chosen to sacrifice himself (being turned into a stag) in order to save her. Now she has been saved from Taranis and is back in human hands, in the hospital where the doctors and police are super-protective of her. That doesn't keep enemies from continuing their attacks upon her and her men, however. Much of the book is concerned with saving people--her men and others--from death and destruction, bouncing from the Seelie Court to the dwelling of the Slough and back to the US.

Lots of breathless action with odd breaks for dialogue and exposition... and sex, of course, which is as usual. The story arc was more complete than in the last book. This could almost have been the end of the series, only there are certainly more to come in this series. I'm not a huge fan of LKH's books, but occasionally I'll pick one up from the library just to see what all the fuss is about. This one was readable, and the characters weren't unsympathetic (although I'm not a fan of blatant Mary Sues), but that's about all that can be said about it. If you're a hard-core fan, it's worth picking up, of course. Not so much if you're not.”

aprillee wrote this review Wednesday, May 20 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“Sealey Head is a quiet and seemingly ordinary village, save for the mysterious Bell that tolls at sunset. The townsfolk have made up tales to explain it (a lost ship beneath the waves), but truly no one knows what it is.

Judd Cauley runs an Inn overlooking the sea. He has a love of books and is happy when his often vacant Inn gains a visitor, Ridley Dow, who is a scholar with many books who is interested in the mystery of the Bell. Ridley is stylish for a bookish researcher, having come all the way from the great and bustling city of Landringham.

The mystery seems to involve Aislin House, where the elderly Lady Eglatyne lies abed, waiting to die. There is a hesitancy to call the heir living the high life in Landringham. There are rooms that sometimes open to another place that only some of the House's inhabitants can see. One of these is the maid, Emma, whose mother is the village's wise-woman who lives in the woods in a house made from a living tree. Emma can see the Princess Ysabo, from that other world, who seems caught in a strange enchantment.

There is a nice mix of Austenian drawing-room romance and classic fairy tales with beautiful Princesses and handsome Knights, along with an evil sorcerer and dark enchantment. The characters are sympathetic and well-drawn, even if we don't really become intensely involved with them due to lack of on-stage time. McKillip is an old hand at creating fantasy with a magical, fairy-tale feeling, and this certainly shows well here.
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aprillee wrote this review Wednesday, May 20 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“Well-known antiquities dealer, Alex Benedict, gets a mysterious message from popular horror writer, Vicki Greene, a woman he has never met before. She asks for his help, but by the time Alex and his assistant, Chase Kolpath, track her down, they find she has undergone a mind-wipe and is no longer the person she was. Before the mind-wipe, she had transferred a large amount of money into Alex's account.

He feels an obligation to find out what happened to Vicki Greene. They trace her footsteps on a distant planet she had recently visited. Salud Afar is so far beyond the galaxy the night sky is devoid of stars, save for one vastly distant star that is sometimes called The Devil's Eye.

The travelogue of the sites and history and people of Salud Afar is interesting and not without adventure and excitement between the sight-seeing. The mystery is solved around two-thirds through the book and what remains is a planet-shattering secret that, when revealed, will affect the human Confederacy as well as the worlds of the insectoid, mind-reading Mutes, as the two space-faring civilizations inch closer and closer to war.

The last part is full of missions and diplomacy and politics and PR, with huge stakes, as well as action and suspense. It seemed like a very different kind of story than the first part, but it ultimately all hung together and had a satisfying conclusion.”

aprillee wrote this review Wednesday, May 20 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“Young Ren lives a somewhat Dickensian life in New England during what seems to be the nineteenth century, at first in an orphanage run by Catholic brothers who will line up their charges now and then whenever someone wishes to pay enough to take a boy away (the girl orphans disappear somewhere into the hands of Sisters who live elsewhere). Otherwise the boys are fated to a hard life, sold into the army if they are not claimed by the age of fourteen or so. Ren remains unchosen primarily because he is mysteriously missing a hand, until a man arrives, claiming to be his long-lost brother.

Benjamin Nab may or may not be related to Ren and may or may not know why Ren is missing a hand, but he's certainly no more on the up and up than Ren, who has become a good thief, practicing nicking things while at the orphanage. Benjamin is a teller of tall tales and immediately uses Ren as a way to worm his way into the sympathies of various people he can fleece or steal or beg from. Benjamin meets up with his friend Tom, a former teacher who is frequently drunk in taverns. Ren's new life involves fake (or not so fake) Elixirs, Resurrection Men, an all-powerful factory owner and his thugs, more orphans and much more.

The adventures seem bizarre and picaresque, difficult to fathom where they are going or what it all adds up to until the very end. The characters are interestingly drawn but not terribly sympathetic. This was somewhat like reading _Oliver Twist_ without most of the romanticism or an ending with a wealthy family and comfort to relieve all the depictions of the dark and dangerous life in the underworld. It perhaps is a tale more suited to our times with moral ambiguity, dysfunctional societies and families and lives, and a focus more on surviving than reflection.”

aprillee wrote this review Wednesday, May 20 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“Zoe Cyprienne Lane is a simple daughter of a seamstress in hidden Darkfrith, in 18th. century England, the home of the magical Drakon. The Drakon look like ordinary humans but the males can turn invisible and take dragon form and some of the women can turn to dragons or have other powers. Zoe discovers she has some powers which would cause her to be married off to a member of the ruling family, something she objects to. Instead she keeps her powers hidden and eventually becomes engaged to Hayden. When Hayden disappears on a mission to the Continent, Zoe breaks with all the rules of the English Drakon and runs away to try and find him.

The book opens with the first chapter in diary form, written by a young Zoe. Young Lord Rhys is obviously infatuated with her, but young Zoe rebuffs him. The second chapter onward is in more typical third-person form. A big problem is that Zoe is not all that sympathetic. Sure, she's flaunting tradition and is gutsy about going off on her own, but it's not easy to fathom her motivations. For one thing--why was she so intent on keeping Rhys at a distance? Why was she engaged to Hayden, who seemed as cool to her as she was to seemingly everyone else? Why is she so intent on breaking Drakon law and going into danger to find Hayden when she never seemed to be that in love with him (until he disappears, anyway)? The good thing about her is that in her coolness, she seems totally unafraid and amazingly competent out in the real world, despite having lived a very sheltered life. (This was somewhat unbelieveable, but still kind of neat.)

The good thing is that once Zoe is out in the world she bumps into Rhys's ghost. Rhys was always in love with Zoe, even though he definitely played the field as young and relatively indulged lordling (he was taken during an attack on Darkfrith and was thought to be a captive or killed). His personality was always lively and fun and remained so even as a ghost. He hangs about Zoe, helping her whether she wants it or not. It is this part of the book that is the most fun, and there is an interesting sweet pathos to him being in his unsubstantial form, still longing for his childhood sweetheart.

While the plot of this paranormal romance/romantic fantasy is somewhat thin and most of the secondary characters remain mere sketches, there was still something here that appealed enough for me to want more, which is why it's getting 4 stars when it probably should get 3...”

aprillee wrote this review Wednesday, May 20 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“Six months before, history professor Max Corbett had left his position at Tulane and left New Orleans. Now, only ten weeks after the devastation of Katrina, he reluctantly returns for the funeral of Gabrielle, his former lover, who perished in the flooding. That most haunted of cities is even more dark and tragic and full of horror than ever, post-Katrina, with its vacant buildings, darkened streets, untamed lawlessness and the new ghosts of the storm victims, witnessed by spray-painted legends on the houses indicating where bodies were found.

Max has not got over Gabrielle, death or no, so when a mysterious old man named Ray tells him there is a way he may be able to contact Gabrielle once more, he listens. All he has to do is drink a "harmless" potion and follow a map to various historic sites to gather the city's magic to him, then find the Conjure-man Matrisse who will get a message to Gabrielle in exchange for the magic. Max does not believe in this madness, of course, but it doesn't help that he drinks after the funeral and also is curious about hints of aspects of Gabrielle he never knew. He ends up on a trek through New Orleans, the Katrina-blasted present and also to points in the past, following the Map of Moments and also strange clues to Gabrielle's past--both of which lead him into dark magic and extreme danger.

Max is an immediately sympathetic protagonist, a simple professor who is thrown into a world of magic and death and violence. The plot is fast-paced and full of action. The historic moments create a new mythology which actually blends well with and seems right for the city's grim and exotic past. The descriptions of New Orleans right after the hurricane are very convincing and add to the darkness and the horror Max finds himself confronting while chasing his own ghosts--and being chased by others who seek his violent death. It was a quick, exciting and absorbing read.”

aprillee wrote this review Wednesday, May 20 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“In _Bone Song_, we were introduced to a world where it was always night and wraiths served as elevators and to animate cars and the primary energy source of the city of Tristopolis was derived from the bones of the dead. Donal Riordan used to be an ordinary human police lieutenant until he's shot and his human life is ended at the end of the book. Now he's a zombie, kept alive by the black, artificial heart of his love, Laura, whose zombie life was ended by a bullet to the head at the same time he was shot, in the first book.

Donal now 'lives' to wreak revenge against those responsible for Laura's death, chasing down members of the Black Circle, powerful intriguers and sorcerers who are involved in various conspiracies aimed at toppling governments and gaining power. They may be behind the sudden growth of the Unity Party that is threatening to strip away all rights from zombies and others no longer quite human.

This is full of action and suspense against a background of gothic horror and dark urban fantasy. Readers should probably start with the first book, since this is a sequel that starts when the first book ends and many of the characters return. The plot is fast-paced and intricate. The characters are interesting. But above all, it's the bizarre inventiveness of this world of darkness that is part futuristic dystopia and part dark fantasy and horror where the tech is something out of nightmares that supplies a large part of the fun.”

aprillee wrote this review Wednesday, May 20 2009. ( reply | permalink )