paranormal Archives - Page 3 of 9

Yzabel / September 21, 2015

Review: The Undying Legion

My rating: [rating=2]

Blurb:

With a flood of dark magic about to engulf Victorian London, can a handful of heroes vanquish a legion of the undead? When monster-hunter Malcolm MacFarlane comes across the gruesome aftermath of a ritual murder in a London church, he enlists the help of magician-scribe Simon Archer and alchemist extraordinaire Kate Anstruther. Studying the macabre scene, they struggle to understand obscure clues in the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics carved into the victim’s heart—as well as bizarre mystical allusions to the romantic poetry of William Blake. One thing is clear: Some very potent black magic is at work. But this human sacrifice is only the first in a series of ritualized slayings. Desperate to save lives while there is still time, Simon, Kate, and Malcolm—along with gadget geek Penny Carter and Charlotte, an adolescent werewolf—track down a necromancer who is reanimating the deceased. As the team battles an unrelenting army of undead, a powerful Egyptian mummy, and monstrous serpentine demons, the necromancer proves an elusive quarry. And when the true purpose of the ritual is revealed, the gifted allies must confront a destructive force that is positively apocalyptic.

Review:

[I received a copy of this novel through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.]

I’ve had the three novels of Crown & Key for quite a while, but only got to the second one now. Better late than never, I suppose.

I admit I still can’t reconcile the writing style in this trilogy with what I read a couple of years ago (The Vampire Empire series). Granted, I received Advanced Reader Copies, so there were likely changes in the published novels, but I’m not sure either there were that many between my copy and the final result. In general, the style felt more like a first draft’s: unedited, with a lot more telling than showing, including during fight scenes.

There are, again, good ideas and concepts here. Imogen’s need to accept her fate, even though her appearance shall ensure she cannot be easily accepted. Charlotte’s desire to find a home and be the little girl she is, to desperately use her “evil” nature to help her new “family” in spite of all the risks. Malcolm’s dilemma about her: can the hunter accept the beast? Penny’s inventions and the overall steampunk mood she brings to the story—she doesn’t get that much screen time, unfortunately, but her pistol and her bullets are fun. Necromancy (I’m always so partial to necromancy). Gruesome, bloody rituals, whose aim may be evil, or may not be: does the end justify such means?

But then, there are a lot of inconsistencies, too. Fight scenes made even weirder, as two characters do OK for instance against several werewolves, and it kind of makes you wonder what the fuss is about Charlotte (she can’t be so dangerous then, can she?). The use of necromancy: it’s cool in a creepy factor way, but doesn’t really seem to be that important when it comes to the rituals themselves, which in turns makes the use of a necromancer a little pointless (any “dark magician” can go about performing ritualistic murders). The uneven pace: a really strange combination of fast-paced action and lulls. A couple of decisions that didn’t make a lot of sense once you think about them, their only actual point being to drive the plot forward.

I’m not sure of what I should make of Kate’s and Simon’s budding relationship. The banter didn’t have as much appeal as I thought it would have; at times I just wanted them to go on with the plot and stop wasting their time. And yet, we don’t learn that much about the characters, and I would have liked said plot to focus on them in less trivial ways than it did. (So Malcolm has read Blake… Great, it still doesn’t make me feel a lot for him. What about more Malcolm & Jane, so that I could get more interested in that for the last book?)

Conclusion: 1.5 to 2 stars. Some fun scenes, fun inventions on Penny’s part, Charlotte is cute in her own ways, but I can’t bring myself to really care about the main characters. I’ll still read book 3, since I have it; I can’t promise I’ll enjoy it, though.

Yzabel / September 9, 2015

Review: The Secrets of Blood and Bone

The Secrets of Blood and Bone by Rebecca Alexander

My rating: [rating=2]

Blurb:

Venice, 16th Century.
Having undertaken a mission of the upmost discretion, occultist and scholar Edward Kelley finds the answers he seeks are more perilous than can be believed, and his ultimate salvation means confronting the darkest deeds of his past.

England, 21st Century.
Running from her past and hiding from her future, Jackdaw Hammond buys a new home in the middle of nowhere. But her fresh start is threatened by a wild magic similar to her own. The legacy of Edward Kelley remains, and with their fates inexorably entwined, the battle for Jackdaw’s soul has just begun.

Review:

[I received a copy of this novel through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.]

I had quite liked the first book in this series, but I didn’t enjoy this one as much. Perhaps because the pacing felt too slow, and the book to long for what it had to say? Either it would have worked better as a shorter read, or it would have deserved to be expanded on, developed more.

The format pretty much follows the same one as in the first book, interspersing the contemporary plot with one involving Edward Kelley again — this time in Venice, where he’s looking for information for the Dannick family, not realising he’s about to stumble upon another, dangerous family, as well as meet old acquaintances of the not-so-pleasant kind. The Dannicks in turn play a part in Jack’s and Sadie’s lives, too, as the two girls set into the cottage of a dead witch and gradually discover what really happened there.

There are very interesting ideas and questions raised here, all the more after reading The Secrets of Life and Death. Jack’s and Sadie’s fates as “borrowed timers” obviously tie into the whole matter of having to feed on blood to survive, and what it involves and implies: would Jack become a monster by doing so? Would she suffer side effects? Can she, Maggie and Felix afford to let Sadie try this too, even though her health is failing and she’s not likely to last as long as Jack has, even with the circles and potion?

However, while those points are indeed raised, not many answers are brought, and there’s only slight progress towards the end to explain what may be happening. Sure, this sets the backdrop for a third novel, but considering that not much happens in this one, all things considered, I think such developments could very well have occurred here instead. Not necessarily through Jack herself: more about Felix’s research, the people he met (Gina, Ivanova…), would have been nice as well.

The same is worth regarding Sadie. There’s something going on with her and the garden at the new cottage, and it was brushed upon rather than given the weight it deserved. It felt like Sadie was mostly meant to be the Damsel in Distress again, and this made her potential role and importance… somewhat less potent.

As for the two families, the one in Venice and the one in England, I didn’t find them so convincing as antagonists, and I think this is due to how little we actually see them “in action as villains”. There’s more telling than showing when it comes to the Dannicks — the other one seemed a little more convincing… although the bit about them at the end left me wondering how such a change came to be. Details were needed here as well in my opinion, after what the Kelley chapters allowed me to see.

Conclusion: a novel with interesting elements, but too shy in exploiting them.

Yzabel / September 1, 2015

Review: Demon Road

Demon Road by Derek Landy

My rating: [rating=2]

Blurb:

The mind-blowing new supernatural thriller from bestselling author DEREK LANDY, creator of international sensation Skulduggery Pleasant.

Full of Landy’s trademark wit, action and razor-sharp dialogue, DEMON ROAD kicks off with a shocking opener and never lets up the pace in an epic road-trip across the supernatural landscape of America. Killer cars, vampires, undead serial killers: they’re all here. And the demons? Well, that’s where Amber comes in… Sixteen years old, smart and spirited, she’s just a normal American teenager until the lies are torn away and the demons reveal themselves.

Forced to go on the run, she hurtles from one threat to another, revealing a tapestry of terror woven into the very fabric of her life. Her only chance rests with her fellow travellers, who are not at all what they appear to be…

Review:

[I received a copy of this novel through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

Mixed feelings here, as some things I definitely liked, and some others rather bored me.

(For the record: I have never read anything else by Derek Landy, so I cannot compare with his Skullduggery Pleasant series. I guess it’s for the best, as I can judge this book as standing on its own, then.)

There’s a fair share of good ideas in this novel. The strange bodyguard with an even stranger car that definitely sends bad vibes (and digests people). Deals with a Demon, a real one, that doesn’t like being cheated and will demand rather gruesome things in payment (not just souls: it’s also in how they’re harvested). Characters able to transform in demonic creatures. The Road itself, carrying them onto weird paths and into weirder encounters. Little towns that look so nice at first, yet quickly reveal their true colours. Serial killers and creepy doll houses. A wooden witch that has her own human quality in spite of all her wrongdoings. Blood and gore and fighting—and the author doesn’t shy away from those, nor from offing characters, I’m not saying which ones.

There’s dark humour, too, sometimes in dialogue, sometimes in situations or descriptions. It fitted well enough with the overall serious matter of Amber having to run from her parents, since they want to kill and eat her. Her parents. Who are great in their own ways, see the scene where they handle the school’s principal, and this is where, straight from the beginning, you realise that this family is definitely a screwed up one.

However, I couldn’t warm up more to this novel, for two main reasons.

The first was the plot itself, as it quickly assumed a repetitive form: get in the car, arrive in new place, look for information, get into dire straits, solve issue, get into car again, rinse and repeat. There were vampires (of the rather traditional type) and witches and killers, but… after a while, the pattern became monotonous, and I found myself sometimes skimming to get faster to the final confrontation.

The second was some of the characters. Milo was alright, and hilarious in his own deadpan ways, although there’s quite some room left for more development here. Amber… I couldn’t decide whether I liked her or not—I’m somewhat annoyed at the whole “dull, vaguely fat teenager that every other guy calls ugly, but who turns into a sexy demon” (what’s wrong with being just plain average, and why did she have to be called on it anyway?). As for Glen…. Uh, he’s the kind of character you will either find incredibly sweet and bubbly, or incredibly annoying from being too chatty—and also too stupid to live. After all, the guy ended up with a certain dark mark for basically just… nothing? Being an idiot? I just couldn’t stand him anymore after a while.

There’s no romance, though. No useless love triangle. If only for that, I am glad!

I’m still somewhat interested in this series, as the ending opens up on pretty gloomy and dangerous prospects, but this will be more the kind of novel I’ll borrow from the library, not buy. 2 to 2.5 stars.

Yzabel / August 11, 2015

Review: The Suffering

The Suffering by Rin Chupeco

My rating: [rating=3]

Blurb:

The darkness will find you.

Seventeen-year-old Tark knows what it is to be powerless. But Okiku changed that. A restless spirit who ended life as a victim and started death as an avenger, she’s groomed Tark to destroy the wicked. But when darkness pulls them deep into Aokigahara, known as Japan’s suicide forest, Okiku’s justice becomes blurred, and Tark is the one who will pay the price…

Review:

[I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

Like the first novel in this series, I find this one hard to rate, as I liked quite a few things in it, while sighing at others. Probably my main issue with it was that it introduced plot lines, but didn’t really follow them. All the while, the main story *was* a grabbing read nonetheless.

This time, the whole narrative is in Tark’s voice, which probably was for the best: I liked the weird prose in the first book, but I’m still not too convinced by 1st-to-3rd person shifts in general, so I tend to prefer when a story sticks to one or the other. Bonus point here. (I’ve written this in more than one review: having one narrator in 1st person and the others in 3rd seems to be The Trend these past years… and I still don’t get why.)

Tark was also much less annoying here. Two years have gone by, he’s matured, he’s been taking things into his own hands, and while aware of his inherent darkness (since he helps Okiku hunting down paedophile killers and rapists), he also accepts it as part of how their relationship has evolved. Of course, everything isn’t perfect, they have their disagreements, and Tark’s starting to wonder where the line is to be drawn—is punishing killers enough, or does one have to start killing them before they actually start killing, as a preventive move?

The thing is, I would’ve liked to see this explored more in the story, as it was a great moral theme. It wasn’t, or not more than just for a couple of scenes. Too bad.

Instead, “The Suffering” goes in another direction. Not necessarily a bad one, just… different. It had its share of darkness and scary scenes as well, playing more on abilities Tark developed over the past two years, exorcising ghosts through dolls. Creepy dolls in America. Wedding dolls in Japan, as he and one of the miko from “The Girl From The Well” find themselves trapped in a nightmarish village where a ritual is waiting to be completed. It doesn’t help that Tark gets swallowed by this place while there are dozens of people around him, and nobody even notices. That kind of scene tends to both creep me and grab my attention (must be my old addiction for anything Silent Hill-like). And the village didn’t lack on the horror side, full of rotting houses, skeletons, old Japanese magic, tragic love stories gone wrong, and murdered girls intent on making trespassers suffer the way they did.

In that regard, this theme was an interesting echo and reflection on what Okiku herself used to be, after her death and her coming back as a vengeful spirit. In this second book, she was calmer, more composed, more attuned to Tark and to what had once made her human. On the one hand, it was good. On the other, she somewhat felt like a side character, in spite of Tark’s longing for her presence even after they had fought (also, this time the dynamics was changed, and he had to be strong as well, because the spirits they faced were of an element against which water—Okiku’s—was weakest). However, again, what could’ve been a thematic mirror wasn’t explored enough to my taste.

And that’s why I can’t bring myself to give 4 full stars her: while reading, I kept balancing between “this is great” and “I wish this had been developed more”. Add to this secondary characters that were nice to look at, but nothing more, especially Callie, who came along to Japan yet wasn’t really involved in anything except for the search & rescue party in the forest. Kendele was an addition I can’t really decide about: a good person, genuinely interested in Tark, yet also a plot device for him to realise what Okiku truly meant to him.

Overall, as a ghost story full of old rituals and beliefs, evil ghosts that all had their reasons to be like that, strange forest with a somber reputation, and traipsing along caves in search of the foul source of all that evil, “The Suffering” was a good read. Nevertheless, I think it missed the mark on a few but important elements.

3 to 3.5 stars.

Yzabel / August 2, 2015

Review: Little Girls

Little Girls by Ronald Malfi

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Blurb:

When Laurie was a little girl, she was forbidden to enter the room at the top of the stairs. It was one of many rules imposed by her cold, distant father. Now, in a final act of desperation, her father has exorcised his demons. But when Laurie returns to claim the estate with her husband and ten-year-old daughter, it’s as if the past refuses to die. She feels it lurking in the broken moldings, sees it staring from an empty picture frame, hears it laughing in the moldy greenhouse deep in the woods…

At first, Laurie thinks she’s imagining things. But when she meets her daughter’s new playmate, Abigail, she can’t help but notice her uncanny resemblance to another little girl who used to live next door. Who died next door. With each passing day, Laurie’s uneasiness grows stronger, her thoughts more disturbing. Like her father, is she slowly losing her mind? Or is something truly unspeakable happening to those sweet little girls?

Review:

[I received a copy through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

An idea that seemed creepy and interesting, but that just fell flat for me.

The beginning was rather slow, with descriptions that quickly became too tedious to go through, and often the dialogues felt useless and too on the “daily conversation” side. It worked at first, to establish the normalcy of the situation (as normal as it could be considering the circumstances); however, after a while, breakfast banter and the likes didn’t bring anything to the story, and were tiring to go through. I skimmed some of those parts, hoping to get to the next creepy bit, since creepy is what I wanted.

Too many of the characters’ actions and thoughts were told, rather than shown. Although it’s never easy when dealing with psychological aspects, as obviously a lot is internalised and cannot necessarily be “shown”, here I never felt close to the characters, as if I was meant to stand remote, and watch them without “feeling” anything for them—especially when flashbacks were concerned. At times, they would come out of nowhere, at length, and then mentioned again later to other characters, almost in passing: maybe it would’ve worked better for me if I could have read them at those moments, when they were more relevant, and not at some random point in the first chapters. When Laurie’s secrets started surfacing (what Sadie did to her, for instance), I couldn’t bother caring anymore. I could muster neither much interest nor compassion for Laurie or Ted—who had a knack also for coming up with his own crap when it wasn’t needed. (Seriously? You really had to tell ease your guilt by telling your wife, when clearly she was going through her father’s death and potentially getting crazy?)

The ending was frustrating. It hinted at a specific event, but without spelling it, and echoed in this way the fact that no answer was given as to whether Laurie was actually crazy or not. I still don’t know now if she imagined everything, was just stressed out, was haunted by an actual ghost, was plain crazy… In this regard, a more definite ending would have been more satisfying for me. It seemed to me that there wasn’t that much of a plot, and that the “ghost” didn’t do much for most of the story except just be there. Not to mention the twist about Laurie’s father, coming when I didn’t care anymore. I admit I finished reading because I expected an answer… and I never really got one.

I liked the setting, though: the creepy house with its old furniture, the well and the dilapidated glass house that were clearly a catastrophe in the making, the photographs of little girls kept in an album, what Laurie discovered in the garage. Still, it wasn’t enough to sell me on this novel. 1.5 stars.

Yzabel / July 12, 2015

Review: Darkness Brutal

Darkness Brutal by Rachel A. Marks

My rating: [rating=2]

Blurb:

Aidan O’Linn’s childhood ended the night he saw a demon kill his mother and mark his sister, Ava, with Darkness. Since then, every three years the demons have returned to try to claim her. Living in the gritty, forgotten corners of Los Angeles, Aidan has managed to protect his sister, but he knows that even his powers to fight demons and speak dead languages won’t keep her safe for much longer.

In desperation, Aidan seeks out the help of Sid, the enigmatic leader of a group of teens who run LA Paranormal, an Internet reality show that fights demons and ghosts. In their company, Aidan believes he’s finally found a haven for Ava. But when he meets Kara, a broken girl who can spin a hypnotic web of passionate energy, he awakens powers he didn’t know he had―and unleashes a new era of war between the forces of Light and the forces of Darkness.

With the fate of humanity in his hands, can Aidan keep the Darkness at bay and accept his brilliant, terrifying destiny?

Review:

[I received a copy through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

The beginning of this novel was interesting and full of promises, combining Aidan and his sister Ava being targetted by demons to a mysterious man, Sid, gathering gifted youth with abilities to see and/or touch the supernatural. Yet a few things definitely rubbed me the wrong way after a while.

Aidan as a character was fairly enjoyable. He’s had a hard life, but doesn’t spend his time whining about it, instead doing what he can to ensure his little sister, at least, gets something better (not just a foster family: also avoiding the death of said family). He’s a decent person all around, the kind of guy who’ll help a girl in danger and not take advantage of her in any way, or who’ll recognise that someone alluring and sexy may not necessarily mean “I want to have sex with you”. He perceived the frailty within Rebecca and Kara, that what they were doing was not necessarily their choice or to their liking, and openly stated that he didn’t want Kara to do something she wasn’t convinced of, all the more after what she had been through.

Kara had a somewhat annoying, twitchy side—going from one reaction to the complete opposite. On the other hand, she also used what she had been dealt in order to try and make things better. Scarred and tough at the same time, in the spirit of survival and of refusing to let her former life crush her.

I still don’t know what to think about the “romance”. There was attraction and manipulation, and I didn’t really feel much chemistry, considering that one girl was basically attracted because of supernatural reasons, and the other… as well?

A more prominent issue for me was how the story suffered of regular cases of ain’t-telling-you-nothing-itis. It’s not the first nor the last time I notice that in novels. Sure, some information needs to be kept hidden, because disclosing everything at once is a) overwhelming and b) not really interesting. However, I don’t like it when it feels that the revealing of said information is artificially pushed back as far as possible in order to create confusion as a plot device. The “I’m not telling you in order to protect you” and “I’m keeping this secret, surely it won’t cause trouble for everyone later” kind. Aidan demanded information, while withdrawing important info of his own. Ava kept to herself and did things behind her brother’s back, instead of talking to him and maybe, just maybe, trying to find a third way to solve their issues. Sid was annoying as well in that regard, as he knew or at least suspected a lot of important stuff about Aidan, yet postponed its revealing, only to act later along the lines of “you have to listen to me because it’s absolutely crucial you act accordingly, wait, why don’t you want to listen to me now, is it maybe because you’ve become fed up with waiting?”

Granted, Aidan not wanting to tell the truth about Ava, nor about his reasons to bring her with him, was understandable. But other happenings could’ve been avoided if only the characters in general had been more open about some things. All those hidden agendas didn’t make for a good ground for budding trust, and in turn, it made things go the wrong way. A wrong way which was easy to foresee as a device.

I wasn’t sold either on the biblical/Babylonian/seers stuff. It seemed to pop out of nowhere, and not to be very well integrated within the general “mythology” of the urban fantasy world developed here. While reading, I had a feeling that its purpose was to make the usual angels/demons backdrop different, without really succeeding.

2.5 stars. Overall, there were good ideas in here, but all the beating around the bush was a little too much for me to stomach.

Yzabel / June 28, 2015

Review: Thirteen Days of Midnight

Thirteen Days of Midnight by Leo Hunt

My rating: [rating=4]

Blurb:

When Luke Manchett’s estranged father dies suddenly, he leaves his son a dark inheritance. Luke has been left in charge of his father’s ghost collection: eight restless spirits. They want revenge for their long enslavement, and in the absence of the father, they’re more than happy to take his son. It isn’t fair, but you try and reason with the vengeful dead.

Halloween, the night when the ghosts reach the height of their power, is fast approaching. With the help of school witchlet Elza Moss, and his cowardly dog Ham, Luke has just thirteen days to uncover the closely guarded secrets of black magic, and send the unquiet spirits to their eternal rest. The alternative doesn’t bear thinking about.

Review:

[I received a copy through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.]

3.5 stars. Entertaining and somewhat funny at times, while still conveying a sense of danger—alright, maybe not terribly frightening per se for me, as I don’t frighten easily when reading books, but I think it has the right potential nonetheless. Half the Host at least was creepy in more ways than one, from the Shepherd with his glasses to the Prisoner with his shears… and even the Innocent, for the questions he raised (who would leash a *baby* as their pet ghost, really?!). The Host wasn’t a bunch of good guys, apart from a couple, and even those remained on the fence and never said the whole truth, only intervening at a “right” moment that could’ve been just a tad bit sooner for good measure.

As I’m a sucker for necromancy in general, of course I couldn’t help but look for the questions it raised. And there were several. The baby I mentioned, for starters. Why Luke’s father turned to such a type of magic, and why he bound such a large Host, when nothing at first indicated he even needed one (this is explained later in the book). Whether Luke would accept this part of his inheritance and be lured towards a desire for power, or try to remain who he was and have a normal life. Choices to make, and forgiveness. This wasn’t just about getting rid of a bunch of ghosts, but also choosing to protect or to condemn other people.

I liked the dynamics between Luke and Elza—there’s a smidge of a budding romance in there, one that doesn’t detract from the plot, and develops slowly: good! Luke realised he couldn’t clutch forever to his little life as one of the “popular” crowd, in the face of something much biger and dangerous. Elza was resourceful, and overall a nice person, trying to help people who had been treating her like an outcast just because she didn’t want to fit their mould. Holiday, too, was a bit of an ambiguous person: picking her friends among the popular ones and discarding the others, but not to the extent of becoming a mean girl. She was barely more than a crush, yet at least she was a believable one. As for the lawyer, well… Even though you don’t get to see him much, he was perfectly cast in his role.

Oh, and Ham. Ham the deerhound. A very short part of the novel is actually from his point of view, and that was quite funny. It would’ve been annoying if it had been longer; kept to a few paragraphs, it wasn’t, and definitely made me smile.

Other characters were less defined, unfortunately: Mark, Kirk, even Luke’s mother, who remains ill/asleep for most of the novel. That last one was a bit of a letdown, as in turn, it was difficult to properly get to know her and to share Luke’s worries for her for any other reason than “she’s his mom”.

Sometimes Luke’s reactions made me cringe, as he seemed to switch from one to the other real quick. It didn’t happen that often, and it could be explained by panic and worry; only it made me wonder why he’d get such reactions. (For instance, when it’s been made clear that you’re haunted by ghosts and that those have put a certain person in a coma, dragging that person to a hospital won’t be very useful, especially not considering all the people who die in a hospital.) A couple of times, too, I picked some absolutely obvious clues that totally eluded the characters (re: the familiar); on the other hand, all things considered, maybe that’s a case of being too genre-savvy on my part, so I can’t very well hold it against characters who were either totally new to the supernatural, or barely fledglings (Elza admitted herself she was self-taught).

There was a slight lull in the middle while the characters were powerless and trying to figure out what to do—not that Luke’s father had been very helpful to begin with. They came up with an interesting idea in the end, so I forgave them.

The writing was OK, nothing exceptional, nothing blatantly annoying either. It should flow nicely enough for the intended audience. (Also, my Kindle copy was a bit oddly formatted; however, this is an ARC, so likely to change.)

Conclusion: 3.5 stars rounded to 4, because in spite of the points I mentioned, I pretty much enjoyed it. The story is also self-contained, yet open-ended enough to leave room for a sequel (someone’s bound to come back and collect their dues here, not to mention what may or may not happen between Luke and Elza, and how their fellow pupils would react to it).

Yzabel / June 23, 2015

Review: Grunge Gods and Graveyards

Grunge Gods and Graveyards by Kimberly G. Giarratano

My rating: [rating=4]

Blurb:

Parted by death. Tethered by love.

Lainey Bloom’s high school senior year is a complete disaster. The popular clique, led by mean girl Wynter Woods, bullies her constantly. The principal threatens not to let her graduate with the class of 1997 unless she completes a major research project. And everyone blames her for the death of Wynter’s boyfriend, Danny Obregon.

Danny, a gorgeous musician, stole Lainey’s heart when he stole a kiss at a concert. But a week later, he was run down on a dangerous stretch of road. When he dies in her arms, she fears she’ll never know if he really would have broken up with Wynter to be with her.

Then his ghost shows up, begging her to solve his murder. Horrified by the dismal fate that awaits him if he never crosses over, Lainey seeks the dark truth amidst small town secrets, family strife, and divided loyalties. But every step she takes toward discovering what really happened the night Danny died pulls her further away from the beautiful boy she can never touch again.

Review:

(I received a copy through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

The title is a bit misleading, as there are indeed ghosts and graveyards, but don’t expect literal gods to appear, and take those (as well their songs, linked to each chapter) for what they are: a tribute of an era gone by, as short as it was intense. I think this is the kind of story whose appeal will definitely vary *a lot* depending on the people: if you were a teenager in the 90s, it will resonate a lot differently than if you were born earlier or later, and didn’t approach that period the same way that we did, or didn’t live through it at all. (And I say “we” because the characters in this book, should they be alive in our world right now, would be a couple of years younger than I, not more. I will confess to being highly biased, due to my own memories of those years and the bands I used to listen to as well.)

In other words, amidst the teenage angst and drama, lies nostalgia, which fits very well with how Lainey will never get back what she had with Danny—just like the Lady in Blue will never get what other younger women had, stuck in time, doomed to become more and more transparent, then vanish.

There’s romance, but not too much, and it doesn’t trample the actual plot: good.
There’s music and a lot of name-dropping, but I thought it was well-integrated enough, and didn’t feel awkward: good.
The small town setting: stifling, difficult to hide anything for long, family secrets… Good.
Strong 90s vibes (no cell phones, bands and brands from that time…): check.
The law-related side of the story: I don’t know enough to US law to tell whether that part was true to actual laws or not. It seemed believable, so… good enough for me. Also, corrupt officials aren’t so often a theme in YA novels: nice change.

This novel had an intense side to it, sometimes too much, in that what happened to Lainey, the way she was treated, bordered on too unbelievable to be true. It’s hard to reconcile the idea of such a mean environment (not only the high school one) to what I knew when I was 17. We had cliques, and people who were more popular than others, but never did things stoop down to such a level. Maybe it does in some places, and I just happened to be in a normal enough high school? Maybe it’s the way schools are shown in novels and series, because otherwise it’d just be too boring to read about and watch. There were a few moments when all the angst and drama felt like too much to bear… yet it was precisely also what elicited my reactions, even though they kept going from notsalgic to annoyed, from glad to angry. Had this story left me indifferent, it would’ve been something else.

There were some stereotypes: the mean queen bee, rebellious teenagers, and Lainey came off as a little dull and too tempted to easily give up at times. However, she didn’t do it in the end, learnt to stick to her guns, went on when even the people closest to her seemed to have deserted her… and the clichés weren’t as annoying as they are in other stories, because several characters were actually deeper than they appeared at first, and had more to their personal stories than met the eye.

Conclusion: 3.5 to 4 stars. Not exactly the novel I expected, as there were less ghosts and a more complex plot anchored in very real matters. I think that was better, all in all: it avoided veering too much into paranormal romance-only territory, which wouldn’t have been as satifying for me.

Yzabel / May 24, 2015

Review: The Gateway Through Which They Came

The Gateway Through Which They Came by Heather Marie

My rating: [rating=2]

Blurb:

To seventeen-year-old Aiden Ortiz, letting the dead walk through his body to reach the other side comes with the territory. Being a Gateway isn’t an easy job, but someone’s gotta send Bleeders where they belong. Heaven. Salvation. Call it whatever you want. Dead is dead. But when his search for Koren Banks––the girl who went mysteriously missing seven months ago––leaves him with more questions than answers, he finds himself involved in something far more sinister and beyond his control.

With the threat of the Dark Priest’s resurrection, and his plan to summon his demon brothers from hell, Aiden is left to discover his identity before the Dark Priest’s curse infecting his blood consumes him, and before the world as he knows it succumbs to the darkness of hell on earth.

Review:

(I was given a copy through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

An enjoyable book, good for a leisurely day, though I would’ve wanted to learn more about Aiden’s abilities in general and how he had received support—as a reader, I too often felt left in the dark.

The writing style itself wasn’t the best I’ve ever seen, but it wasn’t anything unbearable either: I didn’t notice many blatant typos and mistakes, and it flowed well enough to carry the story. Aiden’s “voice” felt enough like a boy’s; it was easy to follow his struggles throughout the novel, how he realised something dark was growing inside him, how he was trying to battle it. There isn’t that much action, as it’s more internally-focused than translated into physical fights—there are a couple of exceptions to this, and they highlight the internal battles well.

At first I wasn’t sure about all the religious-themed surroundings (Catholic school and church, a priest as Aiden’s mentor, a religious mother…), but all in all, they remained surroundings only in my opinion: I didn’t feel they were used to shove anything down my throat, which was a good thing, as I wouldn’t have liked a preachy book. For instance, while there are talks about God, I never was under the impression that the souls going through the Gateway went to *either* Heaven *or* Hell, or that there weren’t any Gateways from other faiths than the Christian one. The religious part seemed like “one system of belief among others, that are just as valid”, so this was alright with me.

There’s a bit of romance, of the bittersweet kind, and one that plays a role throughout the story without being its main focus. That was good enough for me; I’m definitely tired of stories with high stakes where the characters are too busy pondering which girl or boy to choose, instead of focusing on the actual problem.

I wish there had been more information given to readers, though. The subplot behind Koren’s disappearance was introduced abruptly, and I would’ve liked to see more of her before that, even though this might have meant using more flashbacks. A lot of information was kept from Aiden, or presented in an “oh, read this book once you’re at home” way; wouldn’t it have been easier and faster if his mentor had explained things to him directly? It’d probably also given Aiden opportunities to talk about some of the people he had met, and realise sooner what was wrong. As it was, I felt like it was a method of keeping information from the reader too for as long as possible, and I’m not too keen on such a method. The villain’s identity was also easy to guess, and it was a wonder Aiden didn’t realise it sooner.

The other characters also weren’t too developed. They were supportive throughout, and I could feel their support, all the more after some of them witnessed Aiden changing yet still decided to forgive him and stay by his side (that’s friendship); however, I kept thinking they could’ve been brought into existence more efficiently.

2.5 stars. I’ll still read the next book, as I also have it, but I hope it’ll shed more light on the Gateways in general, on what exactly Aiden could become if he were to give in, on the other characters (especially Julie and Michael) and on the Brethren’s plans.

Yzabel / May 20, 2015

Review: Nine by Night

Nine by Night: A Multi-Author Urban Fantasy Bundle of Kickass Heroines, Adventure, & Magic by S.M. Reine

My rating: [rating=1]

Blurb:

Nine books. Nine bestselling authors. Nine heroines that take names—and chances—while confronting dark foes, whether by force of arms or magic, that threaten their entire world.

Over fifteen hundred pages of epic reading await! Let the adventures begin!

From NYT and USA Today Bestselling Author, SM REINE – WITCH HUNT –– Shaman on the run. Isobel Stonecrow speaks with the dead…for the right price. She brings closure to the bereaved and heals broken hearts. But when she resurrects someone for the wrong client, she ends up on the OPA’s most wanted list.

From NYT and USA Today Bestselling author, CJ ELLISSON – DEATH’S SERVANT –– Jonathan Winchester has clashed with his werewolf alpha one too many times. He returns to Virginia to find work and meets a young waitress, Raine. As their relationship progresses, Jon’s embroiled in more intrigue than he bargained for and a danger bigger than he can handle.

From bestselling author, LINDSAY BUROKER – TORRENT –– When Delia chose to major in archaeology, she imagined herself as the female Indiana Jones of the Southwest. She didn’t imagine herself stumbling across decapitated bodies in old mine shafts or learning that monsters are real…

From USA TODAY bestselling author, ANTHEA SHARP – SPARK –– What if a high-tech game was a gateway to the treacherous Realm of Faerie? Superstar gamer Spark Jaxley’s life might look easy, but she’s part of an elite few who guard a shocking secret; the Realm of Faerie exists, and its dark magic is desperate for a foothold in the mortal world.

From bestselling authors BOONE BRUX and CJ ELLISSON – DEATH TIMES TWO –– The V V Inn has a ghost problem. New grim reaper, Lisa Carron, accepts the job. She quickly learns the hotel is full of the dearly departed—and she’s working for vampires. Throw in Asa, a young vamp hot enough to melt the Arctic ice, and Lisa realizes she’s way out of her element.

From bestselling author, JC ANDRIJESKI – ROOK: ALLIE’S WAR EPISODES 1-4 –– Like most humans, Allie distanced herself from Seers, a race of human-like beings discovered on Earth. Yanked out of her life by the mysterious Revik, Allie finds out her blood may not be as “human” as she thought, the world is nothing like it appears to be…and she has more in common with Seers than she ever wanted to believe.

From bestselling author, ANNIE BELLET – JUSTICE CALLING –– Gamer. Nerd. Sorceress. Jade Crow lives a quiet life running her comic book and game store in Wylde, Idaho. After twenty-five years fleeing from a powerful sorcerer who wants to eat her heart and take her powers, quiet suits her just fine. Surrounded by friends who are even less human than she is, Jade figures she’s finally safe. As long as she doesn’t use her magic…

From bestselling author, JESI LEA RYAN – ARCADIA’S GIFT –– Teenager Arcadia (Cady) Day’s family tragedy unleashes a hidden power. After experiencing what can only be called a psychic episode, her home life crumbles. As her emotional control slips away, Cady begins to suspect that her first psychic episode was just the beginning…

From Urban Fantasy author, KARA LEGEND – WILD NIGHT ROAD –– One innocent hex sets off a chain reaction of trouble among the shifters of the Kinraven that threatens war between werewolves, seraphim and witches. Lilith Darke will do anything to be free of her seraphim master. All hell breaks loose when rival packs face off only to discover a new, deadly threat that will take all their magick to survive.

Review:

I got a copy through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

This collection of nine novels is, obviously, huge to read, so I tackled each book one by one. Which took me quite some time.

Overall, I was rather disappointed. Apart from one novel that made me feel like reading some of the author’s other works, mostly the stories ranged from “it’s OK” to “no” for me. I can think of two major explanations to this:
1) Mostly the stories were of the sex/romance-oriented kind, and this isn’t really what I’m looking for in urban fantasy—not because of the themes themselves, but because they too often take precedence over the plot. I want to read urban fantasy, possibly with a dash of romance, not romance with a dash of supernaturals thrown in.
2) I’m still feeling cheated by the “kickass heroines” line. I didn’t find many of them kickass. At all. Being a witch or a demon hunter doesn’t make a kickass heroine if she stil lturns to mush at the first sight of The Male.

If these are your things, good for you… They just aren’t mine.

Breaking down Nine by Night to individual short reviews, the way I had posted them over the months while reading it novel by novel:

WITCH HUNT

2*
A quick, easy read, with a lot of action and not many breaks, which fits the theme of “man on the run, trying to find the answers before his enemies catch up to him”. No problem with that, although it was rather short, and so the characters weren’t that well-developed. The world seems interesting, with a Men In Black feeling combined with department-to-department tensions and underhanded maneuvers.

In general, it’s César’s decisions I had a problem with: he didn’t strike me as particularly savvy, considering the job he’s had for the past two years. Sure, going back to the crime scene to start looking for answers is as good a beginning as any, but he didn’t do it in a clever way—and the same pattern repeated throughout the story. The ending was unsatisfying: César wasn’t the one who actually solved the problem, he was more of a spectator at times, and I didn’t like how a couple of key clues turned out to be just there by chance.

(Also, the NbN cover blurb spoke of “strong women protagonists”, but I’m still looking. The only two prominent women here either don’t appear that much, or are more like the must-protect-her type under a varnish of strength.)

DEATH’S SERVANT:

2*
I haven’t read the V V Inn series, so I feel like I’m missing something here—kind of as if some things weren’t developed, character-wise, because readers are supposed to already know Jon, Dria and Rafe from the actual series? This prequel will likely be of more interest to those who want to know more about Jon before V V Inn, since it seems to answer some questions, but maybe not so much otherwise.

TORRENT:

1*
I struggled to finish this one. Overall I found it rather boring, the plot was muddled with too much running in circles, and too much was left unsaid at the end for the reader (there was a monster, but I still have no idea what it was, what the main threat was, who/what the strangers were, etc.) As for the characters, they felt really childish and too stupid to live. Also, cracking a whip doesn’t an archaeologist make. Indiana Jones would weep.

SPARK:

3*
A light and enjoyable read, but one that felt a little confusing at times, in the beginning: I hadn’t realised it followed a previous trilogy. However, it made me feel like reading said trilogy (perhaps I’m even more interested in it than in the second one, actually). I have a soft spot for stories where gamers have to face real dangers in a virtual world, and video games combined to traditional faerie lore seemed like a good blend. Spark also deals with the gamers’ real life, showing sides of their lives that aren’t always terribly glamorous. I’ll probably pick the first volume in the Feyland trilogy at some point, to see what exactly led to the Feyguard being established (even though it’s easy to guess, it doesn’t mean there’s no point anymore, after all).

DEATH TIMES TWO:

1*
I couldn’t get into this one at all, never knowing if it was supposed to be humorous or serious. Lisa seemed a silly stereotype, and apart from Asa, the other characters were just brushed over, in a way that made me feel that the ghost-reaping plot had to be solved as fast as possible for the protagonists to finally have sex. Which might have worked, why not, only the almost slapstick-like side of the story didn’t mesh well with it in my opinion (I contemplated facepalming for real when it came to a point where Lisa asked Asa to put his hands in her pants while kissing her so that a ghost couldn’t enter her to possess her). It read more like an amateur fic (with typical vaguely porny vocabulary) than an actual novel.

ROOK: ALLIE’S WAR:

0.5*
DNFed at 56%. I tried, really, I did, but I just cannot push myself to go on. This book is so terribly confusing, adding present/preterit shifts to a 1st person/3rd person mix I already have problems with in general. I get the reasons behind this choice, but they don’t work for me, and it makes for a painful reading.

I don’t understand the characters, who suffer of chronic cases of ain’t-telling-you-nothingitis. A.k.a “All those things we know because we’re telepaths/empaths, and you don’t because you’re human? I can’t tell you because you’re supposed to ask that guy, there, who’re not telling you on his own becasue Reasons.” So what does the heroine do? Not ask. For weeks. Then everybody assumes she knows, but she doesn’t, which leads to stuff like “why did you agree to marry him”, and… wait, when did that happen, and what did she do to make everyone and their dog think the two characters are married? Also are they in love, attracted to each other, wanting to have sex with each other, not wanting to have sex…? This isn’t even angst or conflicted feelings anymore; it’s just one huge muddle. (Interspersed with regular diving into some structure of light, Pyramid and other psychic-powerish mumbo-jumbo that doesn’t make much sense, all the more when it’s thrown into action scenes.)

The premise looked interesting. The first couple of chapters drew me in. And then… nope, sorry.

JUSTICE CALLING:

1*
Too short to allow for much character development. The story goes fast, but remains very formulaic—down to the hardened guy showing up to provide a love interest that Jade immediately starts fantasising about for… no reason? I’d have much preferred getting to know the characters better, and see a couple of actual twists and turns. As it is, the “villain” was dispatched too quickly, the promising plot wasn’t exciting, and Jade was just… annoying.

I read it because I needed to do something while waiting at the airport. I don’t think I’ll be back.

ARCADIA’S GIFT:

2.5*
Mostly an OK story, but one that I wouldn’t really qualify of “urban fantasy” (see my above comment, though—if not considered as part of this bundle, then disregard it). More like YA paranormal romance. I liked that the romance part developed more naturally than in most novels pertaining this genre, although I admit I’m not a good target audience for that in general. I also liked how it took into accout the whole family after the tragedy, not only Cady and her feelings for a boy. However, I didn’t like the way she reacted in the end (I would’ve expected such an outburst sooner, but not after everything that happened). Overall, it was an alright story, yet one that won’t leave me with much of an impression, I’m afraid.

WILD NIGHT ROAD

1*
Terribly confusing, and looking more like chapters plucked from a larger story. There seemed to be complex dynamics behind the shifters, witches and seraphim, that weren’t really explained, so the characters’ predicament was never really tangible. I didn’t feel close to any of them, the whole weres/alpha male/bonding thing was strange (way to give the “kickass women” room to decide and fend for themselves, huh?), and everything moved too fast, without enough development in between.

1.5 stars overall. (Not rounding to 2 because of the misleading “strong female protagonists” angle that was everything but.)