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 Bone Crossed is the fourth book in the Mercy Thompson series and this review may contain spoilers for the earlier books. To start at the beginning, check out Moon Called [my review, Amazon].
Even though Mercy is struggling from the fall-out of the last book’s events, trouble doesn’t leave her alone. She’s chosen to be alpha werewolf Adam’s mate, but before anything can be finalized, her vampire friend Stefan appears in her house at the edge of death. Turns out Marsilia, the mistress of the local vampire seethe, has discovered that Mercy killed two of her vampires and that Stefan helped to cover it up, and so she has declared Mercy’s life forfeit, and that of her friends. Just in time, an old friend appears asking for Mercy’s help; a ghost has taken over her home. Mercy takes the opportunity to leave her friends safe by removing herself from the area, but in the process attracts the attention of the crazed vampire in Spokane. How is she going to get out of this one?
While this was a little bit of a let down after Iron Kissed, which would have been hard to top, there is still a lot to like about this installment of the series. Mercy has a lot to recover from since she was raped and she finds that she doesn’t just get over it like often happens in fiction; no, she has panic attacks, she cowers, she has trouble even kissing Adam. Adam, of course, more than proved his worth with patience and understanding and I liked the way that their relationship developed.
These books wouldn’t stand alone very well, but that isn’t a criticism here. The events from previous books are still ongoing, while the book has its own plotline to keep the action going and provide new excitement. It’s a little like plotting for a TV show; there is a bigger conflict and then there is the driving force behind each individual episode. Everything has repercussions, but the ghost storyline allows Mercy to develop and heal a little by herself.
I’m definitely still recommending this series and eagerly awaiting the fifth book!
 Lizzie Brown discovered she was a demon slayer by accident, and now she’s discovered that she needs to take a test to get her license. The problem is that her Uncle Phil, the fairy godfather she never knew she had, has fallen in love with a succubus, and she needs to rescue him without incurring a huge fine. Getting her demon slaying license is the easiest of all of Lizzie’s problems once she learns that Las Vegas is now full of succubi and she is the only one who can kill them all. With her griffin boyfriend, crazy grandma, and a flock of witches in tow, Lizzie and her switch stars set off to save the world.
This is urban fantasy ultra light style, and in that respect, it works. The cast of characters is so varied and whacky that much of the book is hilarious. My personal favorite was Lizzie’s dog Pirate. When she became a demon slayer, she learned she could talk to dogs, and Pirate is almost too funny. He’s concerned with all specifically dog things, like sticking his head in the breeze on the motorcycle and smelling various objects on the ground. Lizzie and Dimitri, her boyfriend, also have a fairly nice dynamic going on; the main romance happened in the first book apparently and in this one they’re learning more about each other and how they feel. I wasn’t quite as fond of Lizzie’s grandma, who doesn’t seem particularly helpful most of the time, but I was intrigued by the mystery that is Max and I found myself cheering for Lizzie to succeed and vanquish the demons. I also liked the way Lizzie’s character developed over the novel, in that she took more responsibility for herself rather than relying on other people.
On the other hand, if it’s possible for a book to have too much humor, this one does. Even the more serious moments don’t take on all that much weight. There are some parts that are very moving, but for the majority of the book it’s hard to believe any of the characters are in danger. It was exactly what I needed at the time, but don’t expect any gravity from this one. As a comedy, though, it succeeds brilliantly, and I’ve heard that the first book in the series is even more entertaining. If you are looking for a light and fun read, look no further than The Dangerous Book for Demon Slayers.
 When a little boy’s family is murdered in a horrible raid, an Otori lord saves his life and gives him a new name, Takeo. For Takeo’s family was of the Hidden, a tribe which has been persecuted throughout their country, and Shigeru knows that Takeo’s identity will get him killed. As the story unfolds, Takeo realizes that he has somewhat extraordinary skills; he can hear unnaturally well, be in two places at once, and even draw better than a normal person. He is a born assassin and he is determined to wreak revenge on the man who killed his family. Meanwhile, Kaede is a helpless prisoner, forced into a marriage agreement with Shigeru after years of deprivation and unhappiness. Her marriage offers hope until Kaede realizes just what she’s getting into.
This YA fantasy was a total change of pace. It’s set in a fictional feudal Japan, a beautiful setting that evokes a much different feel than most fantasy set in fiction medieval Europe. It helps that the writing is beautiful; I would quote but unfortunately I had to return the book to the library, so you’ll have to take my word for it. The words of love spoken between the characters, especially Shigeru and his love, were heartbreaking and touching. Even the title, Across the Nightingale Floor, refers to a floor that most of us would refer to as just creaky, designed to alert the occupant to intruders. This is the real name for these floors, but it is still far more beautiful than using just plain English. The book has not only ninjas and samurais and swords, but a feel of history and scope that I loved. Since Kaede and Takeo are from different locations and both travel, we get a feel for this world that is quite breathtaking.
As far as characters are concerned, I liked these, although I do feel we could have gotten to know them a little better. They all have a massive sense of honor and it was fascinating to see how their personal thoughts played out against their real world actions. This is such a polite world even as many of the characters sneak behind each other’s backs and murder one another. If one’s honor is impugned, he or she decides to die. It’s a foreign world view but extremely well played; it doesn’t feel melodramatic, it fits. The special magical skills that Takeo had fit, too, especially given that he’s a scion of a special tribe with many of these skills themselves.
Across the Nightingale Floor was a wonderful read. It’s a different kind of fantasy than I normally prefer but I loved it. I could have done with feeling a bit more emotion towards the characters, but I’m hoping that will come as I continue the series.
 Rachel Morgan lives in a world populated by vampires, witches, werewolves, pixies, demons, and fairies. Forty years ago the supernatural creatures were exposed after a genetically engineered virus, hiding in an innocent tomato, killed half the world’s population of humans. Now they exist in an often uneasy truce. Rachel, a witch, is a runner with the Inderland Runner Services, policing supernatural crime throughout Cincinnati. Unfortunately, the calibre of Rachel’s assignments has vastly decreased recently, and she is fed up. She decides to break her contract with the I.S. and start her own runner agency, scoffing at the rumors of consequences. That’s until she discovers that she has been marked for death and she must find a way to save herself before it’s too late.
In case you haven’t noticed by the reviews which are popping up around here, the end of my dissertation was accompanied by some serious light reading. Urban fantasy is an awesome variant, and this book in particular was a pleasant surprise.
First of all, it’s fairly long and it has an excellent plot, at least I thought so. Once Rachel quits the I.S., it gets going and I really wanted to find out what would happen next. Since she’s in constant danger of her life, she’s often on the run and dealing with difficult situations. She only makes things worse for herself later on by entangling herself in another dangerous plot. It’s a little zany, but it works!
Rachel herself is a character I liked almost immediately. She’s stubborn and doesn’t back down, even when she should, but I felt her reasoning was good and her fears were very human. The secondary characters were also fairly well-rounded. Ivy is a dangerous vampire but with a strangely compassionate side. We never really figure out why she’s so interested in Rachel and determined to back her up, but that must be a story for one of the next installments. Jenks the pixie is a hilarious sidekick and adds just that much more to the book. The third character, who pops up around the middle, is also a welcome addition to this series.
It was also refreshing to find that there isn’t much romance in this installment. I can feel it coming, but I’m getting a little tired of romance at the moment and I’m looking for something else in my fantasy. This book fit the bill perfectly.
If you like urban fantasy, Dead Witch Walking would be a great addition to your library. I’m looking forward to the rest of the series.
 This is book two in The Hunger Games trilogy.
I’m going to follow everyone else’s lead and totally skip plot summary for Catching Fire. This is a thoughts post more than a review. I don’t want to give anything away, so we’ll just say that Katniss is back home but her troubles are greater than ever. She has a lot more riding on this than just her own survival. I had no idea where this book was going and I was thrilled about that. It’s another heartstopping, breathtaking ride. And no, the prose isn’t great, and to be honest the beginning is a little slow, but when I hit the middle nothing else really mattered. I had to know what happened. The book went in a direction I hadn’t even imagined, which makes it all a much better experience. Of course, the cliffhanger is just as intense as I’d expected. I normally hate cliffhangers, but there was no way I was missing out on this. I was sure I was going to be spoiled and I wasn’t, so I’m grateful for that. At least I knew the cliffhanger was coming and I’m glad that Suzanne Collins is hard at work on number three. I must know what happens!
While I’m here, I’ll go ahead and declare I’m on
I’m not sure I’d have even realized there was a Team Gale if not for twitter! I can see the case for him, but I’ve always had a thing for adoring beta males.
I’d totally recommend this series. It isn’t great literature but it is an incredible, suspenseful story. Well worth reading.
 In the future, Mexico has gone to war against the United States, necessitating the creation of buffer zones. Santa Olivia lies within this buffer zone, the inhabitants stripped of all rights, privileges, and luxuries, no longer citizens of the United States. Carmen Garron is one of those citizens, looking for love against the odds, and temporarily finding it twice. Her second love has been genetically engineered to have superhuman strength, speed, sight, but has a complete lack of fear. He is also infertile, or at least they think so until Carmen conceives a child, named Loup Garron for her fugitive father. As Loup grows to maturity in a church, she takes on the guise of Santa Olivia, providing justice to the town in a way no one else imagined, and taking huge risks to stand up for the rights she knows they deserve.
If this novel had not had Jacqueline Carey emblazoned on the cover, I would never have realized it was her. Her writing is still gorgeous, but in a totally different way from her Kushiel series. It’s rougher, to match this serious urban fantasy, but still retains a beauty and grace that is unmistakably Carey once it’s more carefully examined. When she uses a bird in Carmen’s heart to describe her youthful hope and love in an elegant, but not melodramatic way, I fell in love:
In between the fourth and fifth rounds, Carmen Garron slipped through the crowd, made her way to the outside of the soldier’s corner. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her.
“Hi there.” He slid one muscled, sweaty arm through the ropes, touched her hand with his gloved fist.
The bird in her heart warbled.
I could read Jacqueline Carey’s books all year and never get bored.
This is a completely different type of urban fantasy than most of what is found on the bookstore shelf. It is a gritty, hard reality, a world in which there is no hope. There are no vampires or witches, just genetically engineered humans who are ostacized from society. Somehow, Loup Garron shines in this world, an enigmatic main character that is different enough to make her special and human enough to make her real. Loup provides not only hope to the people of Santa Olivia, but to readers; she’s the embodiment of determination and spirit. The werewolf, without turning into a wolf, concept is cleverly done even if rarely mentioned. Loup’s strength sets her apart but her desire to be at least mostly normal brings her into a group of orphans who provide the backbone for her inspiring journey. She doesn’t quite fit in, but that just makes us love her all the more. Meanwhile, the town of Santa Olivia is a terrifying potential reality. It’s unlikely but just real enough to strike fear in our hearts and cause us to hope for Loup’s success.
To be honest, I don’t love this book as much as I love any of the Kushiel’s Legacy series. In some sense, though, that is like comparing apples to oranges, since they are so different in feel, setting, scope, and character development. Santa Olivia is a great read all on its own and that is how it should be judged. As such, I think Carey made a wise move in trying out a different kind of fantasy. A sequel has been proposed, but this book, while somewhat open-ended, ends satisfactorily and left me hopeful for the future.
 Description via Amazon:
Logen Ninefingers, infamous barbarian, has finally run out of luck. Caught in one feud too many, he’s on the verge of becoming a dead barbarian – leaving nothing behind him but bad songs, dead friends, and a lot of happy enemies.
Nobleman, dashing officer, and paragon of selfishness, Captain Jezal dan Luthar has nothing more dangerous in mind than fleecing his friends at cards and dreaming of glory in the fencing circle. But war is brewing, and on the battlefields of the frozen North they fight by altogether bloodier rules.
Inquisitor Glokta, cripple turned torturer, would like nothing better than to see Jezal come home in a box. But then Glokta hates everyone: cutting treason out of the Union one confession at a time leaves little room for friendship. His latest trail of corpses may lead him right to the rotten heart of government, if he can stay alive long enough to follow it.
I’ve heard amazing things about the First Law trilogy. It’s dark and gritty and there is very little magic in the world; what’s left is fading. There is an ineffectual monarch on the throne and a very threatening ruler uniting the North against them. The book alternates between these three men’s viewpoints as we both get to know them and things start to heat up in their world. I think this book could turn out to be as amazing as people say, but I will be continuing the trilogy before I can really decide that.
The Blade Itself is definitely an exciting read. It opens with one of the main characters hanging off a cliff and after that, it’s hard to turn away. The three characters are so different and full of flaws, but I think that’s part of their appeal. There are no spotless good guys here. A few other characters are introduced and at the end of the book, they’ve all finally drawn together, which is why I’ve reserved judgment for the next volume.
What is interesting and different about this world is the lack of magic in it. There is still a little bit, but the characters who can use it to their advantage are few and far between. Overall, though, the world-building is a little sparser than I’d have liked, but I think the author has sacrificed that in favor of a very active plot. It is a grim world, but it isn’t particularly detailed and could be a variety of other fantasy settings. Perhaps a bit more differentiation will come in the next volume.
Basically, I’m going to wait to pass judgment until I’ve read more from Joe Abercrombie. This book has enticed me enough to return to the series, but I haven’t fallen in love with it yet.
 This is book 3 of the Southern Vampire Mysteries. For the first of the series, check out my review of Dead Until Dark.
Sookie’s vampire boyfriend Bill has a secret. He’s been spending all his time hunched over the computer and lately doesn’t even pay Sookie attention when she gets home from work. Sookie is even more confused and upset when Bill tells her that he’s going away for a while, to Seattle, which she automatically knows is a lie. When Eric approaches her a few days later and tells her that Bill’s been kidnapped, Sookie doesn’t know what to think, but she goes along to save him, teaming up with a surprisingly attractive werewolf along the way, at a creepy club the likes of which she’d happily never see again.
It seems to be about the third book of an urban fantasy series that everything clicks for me and I just want more. That is definitely the case here. All of a sudden, I really just want more Sookie. I loved her voice in this novel; it felt very distinctive and southern and perfectly pitched to what was going on. I could completely sympathize with all of her money woes, her relationship woes, and even her physical pain (luckily I’ve never been beaten up, so I can’t empathize, but I felt so sorry for her). I felt like she was my friend and I wanted to make her happier.
Something I really like about this series is that the relationships are not infalliable. I could sense in the last book that Bill and Sookie weren’t necessarily going to stay together, and while she was certainly hurting for it, I think it takes the story in a much more interesting direction if she’s not tied to one particular person (or vampire). Bill has proved the dangers of falling in love with a vampire and part of me wonders where Sookie is going to go next. I hope she doesn’t go back to Bill. I think I know where she’ll go, but I can’t tell you how much I wish I had Dead to the World right now! Unfortunately my library’s copy is out, my new library doesn’t have a copy, and I don’t really have the money to spare to go buy the whole series, but when I do, I’m really looking forward to continuing.
Anyway, that is besides the point. I think that Club Dead is my favorite of the three I’ve read so far. It’s easy to love a book when you love the narrator. I hope that Sookie finds the confidence and love she needs and I will totally continue reading to find out.
 From the back of the book:
It is 1588, and as the Spanish Armada prepares to besiege England, Paris balances on the brink of revolution. To maintain her grip on the throne and on the dark magic that has become her obsession, Catherine de Medici turns to Louis Xavier, a ruthless corsair who was schooled in the dark arts and has mastered piracy along the Spanish main. But Louis’s basest instincts are held in check by the kindness of Lady Jane Danvers, a British exile whose innate sense of honor is but one facet of her complex and passionate nature.
On Faire Isle, Ariane Cheney, unaware of the escalating threat from the Dark Queen, struggles with the task of protecting the daughters of the earth and their vast story of ancient magical wisdom. Weak and desperate for an advantage, the ailing Catherine makes a devil’s bargain that will cast a shadow over all.
This is the fifth and final book in the Dark Queen series. I chose to provide the book’s summary because there are many plotlines here and I didn’t want to miss any! I intended to read the first four in the series before getting to this one, but then ran out of time, so I was worried I’d feel I’d missed something. To some extent I know I did, but this book stands alone extremely well. I understood everything that was going on without a problem and possibly wouldn’t even have noticed it was a series wrap-up if I hadn’t been told!
There are two threads to this story and they intertwine close to the end. The first is the Dark Queen Catherine de Medici’s search for Megeara, the former Silver Rose. Meg has memorized all the secrets from a dark book which Catherine believes is the cure for all of her ills. Catherine knows Meg is on Faire Isle, and tries to send Xavier there to get her. Xavier has no intention of doing so, until a storm blows his ship off course and sends him overboard, just in time for Lady Jane Danvers to find him nearly dead on the beach. Jane, a Catholic exile from England, is all but alone in the world, and Xavier proves to be just what she needs by way of a little romance and a lot of love.
This book proved to be a very enjoyable historical fantasy novel about how the late sixteenth century French court might have been with the addition of a little magic. Thanks to the various threads of the plot, there is a lot of action and the reader is often left wondering what is going to happen next, particularly thanks to Meg’s scrying abilities. We know the future, but not how the characters are going to get there nor what will happen afterwards. The love story is sweet and believable. I found myself attached to all of the characters, especially Meg, even though I had never “met” them before. I’m very much looking forward to reading the first four, which I have, and finding out just how they all got to this point.
In short, Twilight of a Queen comes very recommended, especially to those who like historical fiction with a touch of fantasy and romance.
 From the back cover:
Mechanic Mercy Thompson can shift her shape – but not her loyalty. When her former boss and mentor is arrested for murder and left to rot behind bars by his own kind, it’s up to Mercy to clear his name, whether he wants her to or not.
Mercy’s loyalty is under pressure from other directions, too. Werewolves are not known for their patience, and if Mercy can’t decide between the two she cares for, Sam and Adam may make the choice for her …
With this book, this series became my favorite in urban fantasy. I really enjoyed the first two, but I loved this one. To some extent, I can pinpoint the difference, but largely, it’s because I have grown to love these characters. Over the past two books, they’ve begun to develop, but here things start moving in a solid direction between them. The strength of a series is in how the characters grow and change over the course of it, not necessarily how they stand up on their own (for me at least) and Patricia Briggs has done everything right.
As always, Mercy is a fantastic heroine and remains that way. She knows what’s right and what she has to do to save her friends. She takes unnecessary risks, but she calls for backup when she needs it. She is a strong woman and deals with some incredibly difficult stuff in this novel, which is handled extremely well and in what I thought a realistic way (having never experienced it myself, thankfully, I can’t say for certain). She chooses between Sam and Adam, finally, and her choice makes perfect sense in context of what is revealed in the book and how those characters begin to develop. Nor is the romance heavy-handed, but just perfect and organic.
The plot is an exciting one and, for me, completely unpredictable. I had no idea who the villain was until the reveal, even though it all made sense. Some new details about the world, especially with regard to the fae, are revealed which fit in nicely with what happened in the previous two books. Tensions between the human world and the supernatural world are increasingly clarified. Eerily, this is an echo of what happens in history; people band together in protest groups and seek to persecute the Other, regardless of how similar they are to that Other. This makes Mercy’s world feel even more real and fleshes out the dangers she and her friends encounter.
If you enjoy urban fantasy and aren’t reading this series, you should by all means start ASAP. As soon as I finished Iron Kissed, I bought the fourth one, Bone Crossed, and I’m going to recommend this series to all who are interested in speculative fiction.
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