I love urban fantasy. Love, love, love. It’s all about adding magic to the world that already exists. In urban fantasy, places have power, music has power, and there is something new and exciting peeking around the corner. Unlike paranormals, which focus on the “monsters” of the fantasy world, urban fantasy often focuses on the…
In the small town of Flint, Ohio, the townsfolk have many secrets. Most recently, it’s the truth behind a string of serial murders, with Flint being only the most recent destination for the killer. The victims are paired off, one vampire and one human, and it looks more like a murder-suicide than anything else. But…
There’s something for everyone, right? What one person thinks is trash may be a DIK on another’s bookshelf. And that is fine. To be perfectly honest, this will not be a DIK on my shelf. Actually, I’m not planning on letting it stay on my shelf. I spent a large part of this book rage-reading,…
As a reviewer, one runs out of ways to say “this book wasn’t bad”. Offer too little praise and you’re shortchanging an author who did a decent job, too much and you’re building unrealistic expectations. So, hey readers, this book was OK/not bad/nice/readable/alright/(any other phrase meaning pleasant but not earth shattering). Lady Yelena’s father arranges…
Edge of Oblivion is the second book in J.T. Geissinger’s Night Prowler series, which continues the story of the Ikati, a race of fierce shape-shifters. I read the introduction and the story sounded interesting. Then I actually read the first couple of chapters with its hokey cattle prod and Furiant torture device, and I resigned…
When it comes to YA fiction, I make snap judgements. 99% of the time, I read the first chapter and I’ll know whether I’ll like the book or drop it. So after hearing so much about Ms. Stiefvater’s 2011 YA fantasy, I decided to give it a try. And, indeed, the first chapter test didn’t…
In the world of YA novels there are two kinds of books: Those meant strictly for the YA audience and those that appeal to all ages. It’s hard to define what separates the two but I definitely know it when I see it. This novel falls into the YA audience only category. Wendy…
This book explores one of my favorite themes – that of a formerly lovely man, scarred by past events into becoming a selfish, amoral piece of work, who finds reluctant redemption through love. That the hero and heroine are characters who met as children in a previous book in the series, and that the setting…
Most of the present crop of steampunk romances can be divided into two subgroups: Steampunk set in a pseudo-Victorian England and steampunk using the American frontier experience as a backdrop. Badlands belongs to the second group, and the novella’s world-building is clearly one of its strengths. The second is a delectable hero. In this version…
Reviewing Paranormals, Fantasy, Steampunk, and, well, anything with a lot of world building is getting to be a somewhat dicey proposition. When I first started reviewing, there were a handful of authors that we insisted reviewers be completely up to date on before reviewing the latest. That number is growing progressively larger, and certainly includes…