Bastard Reaction: Gunmetal Magic by Ilona Andrews

It was some years ago that I came across Ilona Andrews' interest in writing some spin-off novels in their Kate Daniels urban fantasy universe, a favorite of mine. As much as I would've liked to explore more of Kate Daniels' world, I was quite hesitant about a spin-off since, even though they have a myriad of great characters, I thought they'd have a tough time writing about someone who could measure up to that of Kate or Curran. I also recall that they looked for fan input to see which character we'd be most interested in; my choice was Julie (who I thought had a lot of potential). The one I wanted the least was Andrea... go figure.

Along came the authors' decision to write Gunmetal Magic, an Andrea-centric novel who's also Kate Daniels' best friend. I wasn't really excited about the news, in part because I really dislike Andrea's love interest Raphael in addition to my trepidation I just explained. It took some time to make peace with the idea, but I really got excited about this project eventually. I'm glad to say that my worries were for naught because Ilona Andrews wrote one kickass spin-off worthy of being included in their Kate Daniels sequence. As it happens, one of my favorites urban fantasy novels of 2012; best read after Magic Slays, the 5th Kate Daniels novel.

Gunmetal Magic follows Andrea Nash who's an emotional wreck now that she's lost her support, the rock she leaned-on in the form of The Order of the Knights of Merciful Aid ever since they found out she's a shifter. On top of that she's also dealing with her break-up with Raphael, which wasn't all that clean. She's been kicked out of The Order, dealing with her break-up, and due the particular nature of her shifting, she hasn't joined The Pack. For all intents and purposes alone with few exceptions. For the time being Kate and Andrea are working on their own new independent investigation company, and as "luck" will have it, Andrea has been hired to investigate some deaths at a location which Raphael is overseeing. And the fun goes from there.

Andrea's narrative voice is not that dissimilar from Kate's, which makes sense since they're not that different when you get down to the basics. And I'm not complaining. From that regard it brought some good continuity to the narrative style already present in the series. Andrea is a bit more unstable and emotionally expressive though, and more trigger happy...if you'll excuse the pun, which is good in my book.

I don't recall as much as I'd like since I read this 4 years ago (the above written back then as well), but I'll just say that I loved this novel. I thought the first half was stronger though, as Andrea was unhinged, kicking ass and taking names, including some sequences that are right at the top of my favorites in the whole Kate Daniels series.

I'll say though that I hate Raphael with a passion, not only his personality and his actions, but the actual character. More than that I hated how he influenced Andrea and changed her. There's a big contrast, at least to me, of the coolness and badassness when Andrea is by herself doing her thing, and her lesser form she somehow transforms into when Raphael is around. This was a big part of why I preferred the first half of the novel, since the later part featured their dynamic in a much more pronounced manner. Even more so when you compare it to the relationship of Kate and Curran, who are awesome by themselves but just as good (if not better) when they share a scene.

Needless to say, Raphael has been on my list of characters that need to die since his introduction.

Andrea is a good enough character to surpass these perceived limitations, and I'll certainly welcome another story about her. It certainly surpassed my expectations, and if not her, another spin-off novel might be more than welcomed...*cough* *cough* non-YA Badass Julie #FreeJulieLennartDaniels *cough* *cough*.

We managed to witness this world through a different set of circumstances, through a different character's eyes with different wants, worries, and challenges. That alone was worth the ticket of admission, but the novel satisfied more than that while retaining the formula that has worked so well and made Kate Daniels the success it's been.

Well, that's all I have for you guys. Gunmetal Magic is a very strong entry in the Kate Daniels series, and easily one of the best urban fantasy novels of 2012; action packed, badass, with plenty of humor... what else do you want?

Well of course, how about a signed copy! Suck it!

You can buy Gunmetal Magic on Amazon.

Make sure to follow @ilona_andrews & @GordonSm3 on Twitter and their website for more information.

Bastard Reaction: Generation V by M. L. Brennan

This would've been an easy title to overlook; a seemingly by the numbers vampire story from a debut author with a cute guy (or so I've been told) on the cover and not much else. It screamed "Pass!" to me, a book intended for someone else. Thankfully I didn't after seeing a couple of positive reactions to it from like-minded readers, and the level of excitement editor Anne Sowards showed for the release of this novel. I can honestly say Generation V by M. L. Brennan is the most fun I've had reading an urban fantasy novel in the past year or more. Don't make the same mistake and judge the book by its cover, you'll thank me later. It's the first of the American Vampire urban fantasy series.

Fortitude is living an unfulfilling life, and even though he surely is aware of his circumstances, he doesn't seem to care much about improving his situation; content in living a life without confrontations and conflicts while remaining as willfully ignorant as possible. He has a "girlfriend" who's sleeping around, yet has him convinced that it's normal, he has dead-end job with ungrateful co-workers, and a roommate who refuses to pay the rent. If that wasn't enough he's a vampire, in the making, but hasn't manifested yet, something he's praying doesn't happen ever. His plan is to avoid becoming a full vampire like the rest of his family, cruel murderous vampires in his view responsible for a childhood tragedy that has left him traumatized for the rest of his life. This explains why he's now living the life as he is now, being as good and ethical as he possibly can, but with little ambition. What's a goody-two-shoe to do though when a maniac vampire comes to town, and no one is willing to stand against him? With the help of the kitsune Suzume, Fortitude looks to change the fortune of his life or die trying doing what's right.

Generation V is a multifaceted novel which took care to depict precisely what Fort's life is all about. It's fun and funny, as it's dark and tragic. We spend a few days with Fort in a story that is character focused, and are invited to experience all as he does from the dullest to the most exciting of moments. What follows is a well balanced novel which contains a mixture of slice-of-life, family drama, comedy, mystery, suspense, action, and horror. A combination that works and provides perfect contrast between the lighthearted moments and those that are surprisingly dark and horror filled.

The characters were a big plus, probably Brennan's biggest storytelling strength in my opinion. Not only did she create memorable characters, she also provided some terrific character interaction which is one of the elements I'm most interest in. That's not to say everything was smooth sailing. I mean, I spent the whole book wishing I could punch Fortitude in the balls to see if he finally grew a pair. He was living in denial and extremely naïve, to the point that is was unbelievable and frustrating. By the same token, in the end it becomes part of his charm, but still...fist meet Fort's testicles.

Besides him, we have an assortment of incredibly good secondary characters starting with Fort's siblings with similarly eccentric names: his brother Chivalry and sister Prudence. Both who are aptly named, which I'll leave at that. We also have Madeline, his mother and head vampire of the region and a character who's clearly playing the long game. Lastly we have the kitsune Suzume who easily stole the show in this book. Generation V was a pretty good read, but when Suzume was introduced the novel just went to a whole different level. She was awesome. Before I began reading, anime was my passion, so when anything concerning Japanese culture gets introduced I get quite excited. Bias aside, Suzume was simply amazing. She was fun and funny, as well as incredibly mischievous and quite badass. To that point, I say screw Generation V, when are we going to get Generation K? I kid I kid, but hey that's an idea... She really complemented Fort, and they made an incredible duo as the story progressed to say nothing of the fascinating banter between them. When Suzume was around, life didn't suck all that much, "even if you're a vampire".

World-building is still a work in progress, it's clear that the world being created here is quite expansive, but not much of an opportunity to get into just yet. There was a point where Brennan tried to expand by introducing a couple of minor characters as an attempt to show different supernatural beings that exist in this world, but the attempt felt a bit off to me. Like it didn't quite fit either the world that's being created, or the story that was being told in this particular book. But at the same time we met the full kitsune contingent, and that worked perfectly, so I hope that as Brennan expands on the world, things will get more interesting.

That aside, the vampire mythology was incredible and quite unique. I can honestly say I haven't seen something quite like this, so kudos to Brennan's creativeness. From the way vampires are created, to the way the have relationships, to the effects bloodsucking has, everything was well thought-out. And we can't forget how she reinvents the meaning of what it is to be a Renfield which was very intriguing.

The novel is not action packed, but there's plenty of energy and movement. And yes, it has action and it's well executed when there is. The story was quite funny at times, I think it actually made me laugh a couple of times, which the written word finds hard to do with me. It has an abundance of great confrontations though, usually in the form of Fort with his family members. Just the same, the story goes quite dark at times, disturbingly so on occasions and fascinatingly violent. This to say, that there's a little bit of everything here for all kinds of readers.

Generation V is a refreshingly unique novel that all urban fantasy enthusiast should read, and a book capable of encouraging even the most ardent critics of the genre. Very much a page turner, a story that has a lot of heart and much to offer. With an extremely fun novel full of charm, Brennan has written a winner. Very much looking forward to future adventures featuring Fort and Suzume. They can't come soon enough, Iron Night comes out next January.

Buy Generation V from The Book Depository.

For more information please visit M. L. Brennan's website or follow on Twitter @BrennanML.

Oh, and the cover for Iron Night, much better I say. Do you agree?

Bastard Reaction: Hot Blooded by Amanda Carlson

"Well I'm hot blooded, check it and see. I got a fever of a hundred and three..." sorry, couldn't help myself with a little bit of Foreigner, and I'm sure I'm not first one to lose control like this. I don't sing or dance, but I have a weak spot for 80s music. Much like a werewolf, I transform myself and this overwhelming urge just takes over. Which brings us to this novel, Jessica McClain is back and kicking ass as usual. Hot Blooded is the second novel in Amanda Carlson's urban fantasy series, and it doesn't disappoint.

The novel picks up right were Full Blooded left off. While Jessica's dad and Alpha goes to investigate the nature of a werewolf rebellion, she and a small group of old allies, new acquaintances, and one stubborn jackass go on a journey to save someone dear to her from the grasps of a powerful witch; a goddess. A female Lycan foreseen to create havoc in the supernatural world, her werewolf twin brother and a loyal werewolf friend, two not-so-friendly vampires, and the aforementioned jackass human detective...what can go wrong?

Hot Blooded was not what I was expecting. It's quite different in plot and structure to the first novel Full Blooded, which is good. I mean good because it conveys that Amanda Carlson is not afraid to do her own thing, and it alludes that she'll be keeping us on our toes on what to expect in future novels while keeping each installment unique and refreshing within her universe.

With a genre littered with mystery and thrillers, Hot Blooded was an invigorating Action-Adventure Urban Fantasy. It's the type of tale which we might find frequently in secondary world fantasies, the quest to save someone from the clutches of evil who is sequestered in a lair and the journey to surpass all the obstacles thrown in their way as they make progress to the destination. It had plenty of action, and as I've suggested previously, I really believe that Carlson has a knack to write good physical action sequences. It helps having a character that kicks ass and is not shy of meting a good dosage of extreme violence. And it worked.

It had a really straight-forward plot, and in this particular regard I liked the first novel better. That said, I enjoyed Hot Blooded more as a whole. I felt the characters came off as more comfortable in this world, the flow felt improved, and in all I thought it was better written. Plus there was a bigger focus on action this time around, so right up my alley. It helped set a brisk pace, but at the same time interposed with what I find to be long scenes.

The scenes are characterized by having an abundance of dialogue, something I always champion. I'm not entirely sure if the "correct" balance is there, but so far it's working for me, so I hesitate to encourage a different approach. I just can't help shake the feeling that if Carlson shortens some of these scenes a bit, particularly cutting a bit on some dialogue that can become a bit circuitous, that it'll  provide other, and hopefully better, opportunities.

The pace doesn't seem to be affected much by it, so who knows. There was only one particular scene which I recall where the forward momentum of the novel had going for it just stopped as they reached a certain trap with some beings behaving like flying piranhas. At the same time, it was during this portion that most of the important plot elements that would increase the intrigue and tension of the story occurred. It's also during this portion that most of the character development flourished, so it doesn't feel like a wasted opportunity at all. So the only conclusion I can come up with is that I'm a bit of a walking hypocritical contradiction. Just hope that something in this babble makes a semblance of sense.

Going back to the action, this time around there was a bigger focus on magic clashes. Depicted more as a battle of wills rather than physical and explosive type of spells, not that it was absent of the latter. I wouldn't go as far as say that it became too magic focused, but it became quite apparent that it took the spotlight in this novel. Considering the plot, it fit. We're dealing with a powerful witch after all, it is my hope though that it doesn't become as common place in the future as I think it takes away some of what makes the Jessica werewolf an awesome character to read about. I mean, there's just some quite awesome of seeing Jessica take care of some of her opponents with quiet violent efficiency; a broken neck here, an armed ripped-off there. There are some hints about Jessica's potential though that sounds promising, so will be looking forward to how the character adapts to each new circumstance.

The journey to the evil lair was defined by a few traps with "random monsters". Personally, I'm not a big fan of them, as they usually seem a bit impersonal to me, but I know plenty of people love them. But once again, for this novel it worked, in particular because it enhanced the world-building immensely, and the action was good too. I particularly like some creatures that were water based, and I hope we can see them in some fashion in future novels.

There really wasn't any romance in this one at all, to the delight of some (me) and the chagrin of others. Well, can't please everyone, but I'm not complaining. I was more excited about the fact that the author appeased some of my concerns about how Jessica would react to certain developments. It had the potential to become a very angsty story, which I thought would have really ruined Jessica as a character for me, but this wasn't the case at all. I don't know what the future will hold on this regard, but I think Amanda Carlson is doing a very good job so far on balancing all the different potential elements this series has. I know some are fond of the love interest in this one, but I'm not convinced I like the guy all that much yet, so we'll see.

The novel ends with another cliffhanger, in many ways quite similar to the one which ended Full Blooded. I'm a fan of cliffhangers in a series though I'm quite aware that some have a strong dislike for them. The good thing is that the next novel is coming out within a few months, so the wait won't be long.

Considering the cliffhanger, Amanda Carlson is keeping Jessica quite busy with no time to breathe; jumping from one thing to another, solving one crisis just to jump into the next one. I don't see that changing any time soon considering how the novel ended and other set-ups that have been made. At some point I hope we can slow down for a bit because there's a lot of Jessica's life that I'm eager to find out about, and I think that can only be accomplished if we slow the action down for a bit, which goes against all my instincts of what I enjoy reading. But I'm very interested in seeing Jessica, even if it's for a short while, in a normal daily routine, and seeing her surrounded by her dad's pack, and see the different interactions and interplays that could go on in that environment.

Hot Blooded was a great follow-up to Carlson's debut. It showed us a different side to the series, and together with the highly energetic narrating style from Jessica McClain to go with the reliable violent action, it just provides a winning combination that should be sustained for the rest of the series. Keep an eye out for Cold Blooded coming out soon, I know I'll be reading it as soon as I can get my hands on it.

Buy Hot Blooded from The Book Depository.

For more information visit Amanda Carlson's website, blog, or follow her on Twitter @AmandaCCarlson.

Bastard Reaction: Fair Game by Patricia Briggs

Patricia Briggs was one of the first authors I read in the urban fantasy sub-genre, her Mercy Thompson series still remains among my favorites within it. Alpha and Omega is the companion series set in the same universe as Mercy Thompson, even sharing some of the same characters. The Alpha and Omega series is different, so it's not for every urban fantasy fan, but it adds good value to the universe. It's been my understanding that Alpha and Omega has a bigger focus on romance than Mercy Thompson, so while I hesitated to give this series a try, I ended up reading it anyways and I'm glad I did.

Fair Game is the third novel in the series that feature Anna Latham, a rare Omega werewolf, and her husband Charles Cornick a native-american werewolf, shaman, enforcer, assassin, and executioner. Their marriage has hit a rough patch, Charles has become withdrawn because he's haunted by the ghosts of all the werewolves he's had to kill. He can't make peace with it, some of the kills are weighing heavily on him. Since the werewolves came out publicly, the tolerance for misbehavior is at an all-time low, which has meant non-stop work for Charles. The latest he had to kill a few werewolves because they lost a bit of control as they killed a pedophile, and Charles is having trouble justifying the need to kill those werewolves under these circumstances. The Marrock, who is also Charles' dad, is worried about his son's stability and assigns him and Anna a case in Boston were he'll be assisting several government agencies in hunting down a serial killer who's targeting supernatural beings, and the latest victim is a werewolf, in the hope that doing this good deed might help Charles cope and get his mental health righted.

Against all odds, I've quite enjoyed Alpha and Omega and I have to say that Fair Game is the best novel Patricia Briggs has written in a while. It had good character interaction, and it really pleased me that we had a very strong focus with the government agencies, which included the FBI and Homeland among others. I don't know how much of a role they'll have in future novels, but we got introduced to some good characters which I hope will become series regulars in the future.

There was one particular scene though that was ridiculous and terrible and took me out of the novel completely, until I managed to regroup later on and continue. And it will be to no surprise that it was a sex scene. One of the worst I've read. Keep in mind that I came into this novel with the full understanding that there'll be a romantic focus, and I had read the previous two novels too, so I wasn't going to come here and complain about the amount of romance this novel had. By the way, there romance in this novel was very well balanced, and quite welcomed, so I have no problem with that. In fact, I'd say it has less love drama than many of my latest urban fantasy reads.

Getting back to the sex scene, picture this. The serial killer has abducted a fey's daughter, and they have to find her and save her before she's killed. Oh, and considering the evidence from past victims, she's most probably currently being tortured in the worst of ways and raped repeatedly. After all the searching, they find the location and when they get to the vicinity of her location, for one reason or another the author concocted a scenario in which Anna and Charles just had to fuck right then and there. Not in a dark corner or in a car while alone, no they decided to fuck out in the open with the rest of the search party around. What the heck? It made no sense from a good storytelling perspective or from a romance perspective or from an erotic perspective, in all irrespective to any elements you like in your stories. This kind of scene is only welcomed in a porn movie, but was just a terrible decision and had no place in the story. Just didn't make any kind of sense, and I would think that even romance readers will agree with me. The sad thing of it was that everything else in the novel was going very well.

If I recall correctly, there was just this one sex scene, poorly executed as it was. Aside from it becoming a bit predictable in regards as to the identity of the mystery, the rest of the novel was pretty good and thoroughly enjoyed it. We had some good action, and Charles kicked major ass. Seriously, he was awesome. I lament though that Anna wasn't given much to do in this novel, particularly from an action perspective. I hope that she'll be more active in future novels. Not that she wasn't taking part of the action, but most of the action scenes we experienced via Charles' POV, so we didn't get to see much of Anna, so maybe it would be as simple as having Anna take some of that burden, even when they're sharing the same scene.

The supporting cast was a good one overall, particular the werewolves from the Boston pack, the FBI agents, a powerful witch, and an apparent fey noble. The thing I liked the most was the ending. There was a trial though that the outcome didn't feel right with me, but what ensued was worth it. One of the best endings I've encountered, and very excited to see where the story goes next as we see the repercussions of what occurred.

Fair Game is simply good read, I might even say great if it wasn't for the sex scene. As mentioned, one of the best urban fantasy stories Patricia Briggs has written, and a very welcomed addition to the Alpha and Omega series and to the Mercy Thompson universe. I'm sure fans of the series will love this one.

Buy Fair Game from The Book Depository

For more information, please visit Patricia Briggs website.

Bastard Reaction: Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan

Promise of Blood is the debut novel of Brian McClellan featuring a world brimming with creativity and sweet chaos. It is a damn cool novel full of action, energy, gods, special powers, magic, and old-school snipers with muskets. You can't go wrong with snipers with muskets, particularly of the gunpowder snorting kind. It's the first novel of what is currently known as The Powder Mage Trilogy.

"The age of kings is dead... and I have killed it.” After a coup the dethroned its monarch, we follow the attempted recovery of the Adro nation amid civil unrest, betrayals, an invading army, and the threat of gods returning to devastate the land. Tamas is the powder mage Field Marshal, and has become the de facto ruler attempting to restore order in Adro by any means necessary as he also prepares for war against the Kez nation. Taniel, his son and powder mage himself, has been tasked to hunt down a Privileged sorceress who gives the impression of being more powerful than the usual, while he tries to achieve an even more impossible task, earning his father's recognition. Adamat, who's concerned with his family's safety with the impending riots and his future role, is a retired investigator with a Knack for perfect memory and employed by Tamas for some special investigations that threaten his rule and the well-being of the Adro nation. Nila is a laundress for a duke and in the aftermath of the coup, as the nobility is being destroyed and executed, she rescues and flees with the duke's son, a possible heir to the throne.

The world McClellan has created has been well constructed. He took the time to build a proper support for it with religious, economic, social, military, and political considerations. Some better detailed than others, but it provided a good backbone for a well grounded universe that will pay dividends as the series continues. If you look hard enough you can draw parallels to modern concerns, whether intended or not. That said, the world-building is not expansive, quite controlled as demanded by the story and each plot thread. In a way, you might call it focused, but McClellan has provided enough seeds of information that will enable him to enrich the world in future installments in the stories he intends to tell.

The magic system was awesome and creative. Brian McClellan appears to give plenty of credit to Brandon Sanderson for his development as a writer, and it seems to me is that in the creation of this magic system is where the influence is most noticeable. Sanderson in my experience is partial to hard magic systems, and I found McClellan's quite softer, but I don't know if it'll remain so in future installments. But it's really of little consequence. In all, the magic was my favorite aspect of this series. We have people who have Knacks that provide them individualized abilities that could range from super hearing to the ability to eating without getting fat. Then we have the Privileged who are more like sorcerers who can access the Else and do a variety of magical phenomenons. Lastly we have the Marked, also known as the powder mages who can control gunpowder in a variety of ways, including ingesting and snorting the black powder in order to gain a myriad of physical enhancements. There are other considerations that aren't as developed yet, like the nature of gods and some magical powers that some of the savages seem to possess.

Along with the magic system, Promise of Blood featured some great characters further enhanced by an abundance of good dialogue. I thought them well characterized and McClellan did a good job of keeping each plot thread fresh, different, but interconnected. With Tamas we focused more on the political drama aspects, with Adamant a more of an investigative mystery thread is present, and Taniel is more action adventure oriented.

My favorite POV character was Taniel "Two Shot". For some reason I kept picturing Billy the Kid portrayed by Emilio Estevez in the Young Guns movies. Other than their awesomeness, they really didn't have much in common, but my mind works in mysterious ways and I let it run wild. The very nature of Taniel being a powder mage almost guaranteed that he'd be a favorite of mine, to go along with his gunpowder sniffing addiction and all the cool actions sequences he was part of. The author also did a good job with his side characters too, in particular with Tamas' Knacked bodyguard Olem and Taniel's savage mute girl Ka-poel. Not going to say much about Ka-poel other than she was awesome, and every fantasy novel should add a mysterious mute girl, it'll instantly make the story better. With Olem though is where the book really shone for me and his back-and-forth dialogue with Tamas. He was interesting, with a number of deadpanned wise-cracks that won me over since the very first time he appeared.

As one reflects on the impossible task to write the perfect novel, this novel wasn't without its flaws too despite it being an excellent debut. First and foremost you might have noticed my omission of Nila as I discussed the POVs above, and honestly she was the weakest link for me of the whole novel. Her story was uninteresting, and when compared with the multitude of good characters the story had, she just didn't measure up, despite giving us a perspective from the other side of the conflict. She instantly joined the characters authors need to kill off to make their stories better. Also, I lament how underused the character of Vlora was by the author. She was powder mage prodigy and Taniel's ex-fiancée. I felt there were some missed opportunities to include her in some scenes, and make her a more active participant in the ones where she was included.

I also felt the second half of the story wasn't as good as the first half, and not as tight. In part because it made me question some of the characters' inaction and motivations. For example, it made me question why a character from a neutral party didn't expose certain character's allegiance and identity when it served his/her interest to do so while being satisfied with a vague flimsy warning. Also, I question why Tamas was seemingly unconcerned with a great army invasion at one of Adro's borders, and when the situation was addressed at all some poor rationalization was used which was really inconsequential to the matter at hand. Further more, weeks passed since the confrontation started so there was ample time for a better military response.

Lastly, from a technical standpoint I thought McClellan could use better timing and transitions when he utilizes time jumps. Seems like a few of them were overall not necessary and also seemed to deprive the readers from some scenes that could have been of interest and served the flow of the story better. Also, a bit more care with the use of pronouns in certain situations were it confused me as to who the author was referring to considering that the sentences in question could have applied to any of the characters involved in the situation, even if one allows for the idea of him being distracted by other happenings.

I also respected how McClellan forced his characters, in particular our heroes, to make difficult decisions and didn't shy away from making them do monstrous and despicable acts that would surely alienate some of the readers. But the author stayed true to what the story demanded of its characters, and I think that's very important. Not everything is as it seems on first impressions, there are many characters who'd make wonderful actors if that were their calling, but in all I thought McClellan did his damndest to give his characters the opportunity to be perceived one way, while giving allowance of redemption in the eyes of readers through other means as it was with the character of Tamas.

Promise of Blood kept reminding me of the early efforts by Brent Weeks with his Night Angel novels. There was a rawness to them, but there simply was an overwhelming entertaining element and an abundance of great action and energy that made them very enjoyable reads. Then I compare it to his most recent series, and he's become a much better and skillful writer. Brian McClellan debut is more polished than an early Weeks, yet has that same combination of action, energy, and entertainment to make this a worthwhile read based on this factors alone, despite it having more to offer. I'm quite excited in seeing this author grow as a writer and I'm very much of the opinion that he'll be responsible for some of my favorite stories in the future. As it is, I'm practicing my gunpowder sniffing skills... people keep telling me I'm special, so who knows what might happen.

Brian McClellan has written an extremely good debut in Promise of Blood and easily one of my favorite novels so far this year. I was tempted to use "awesome" and "cool" in just about every sentence describing this novel, but I decided to control myself as best as I could. Promise of Blood is indeed an awesome and cool novel, highly recommended, and with the explosive ending it had, I'm very excited to see where McClellan takes us next in this world.

After all of this, let's just ignore everything I've said and focus on the awesome cover. A book with that cover deserves to be bought and read, everything else is of little importance.

Buy Promise of Blood from The Book Depository.

For more information please visit the author's website or follow him on Twitter @BrianTMcClellan.

Bastard Reaction: The Legend of Eli Monpress by Rachel Aaron

The Legend of Eli Monpress is an omnibus that collects the first three novels of the epic fantasy series bearing the same title by Rachel Aaron. It includes the debut effort of The Spirit Thief, The Spirit Rebellion, and The Spirit Eater, all of which were published back in 2010 in consecutive months one right after the other.

I was quite eager with my anticipation of The Spirit Thief. For some reason, it seemed to me to be heavily promoted in urban fantasy blogs, and I got the impression that many around thought it was going to be an urban fantasy novel, myself included. I wasn't a blogger back then, so don't think about pointing any fingers my way. There was a slight adjustment to be made to my expectations once I started reading, but after stumbling a bit, it was smooth sailing from there. But can you blame me? I mean they used a Paul Blackthorne look-a-like as a model for Eli Monpress in the cover, and we all know that he played Harry Dresden in the short lived tv-adaptation of The Dresden Files (can someone please do a new adaptation?), so it was obvious that this was going to be an urban fantasy. It's no wonder that they ended up changing the cover styles after the third book, and re-released them in an omnibus so that there would be no confusion that this is an epic fantasy. But truth be told, I liked those original covers, and my OCD hoarder side of me wishes the full series was released with the original style, my collection now feels a bit incomplete without them.

My first impression of this series was that it had a good mixture of both high fantasy and sword & sorcery plot threads, and it mixed attributes of some of my favorite reads in recent years, or it at least reminded me of some of them. If you'll excuse some of the name dropping I'm about to do, even when some would consider doing so bad form, but the character dynamic was excellent and fun resembling what is found in Tales of the Ketty Jay by Chris Wooding and The Riyria Revelations by Michael J. Sullivan, and also their sense of adventure. Some of the world building seemed to echo aspects found in The First Law by Joe Abercrombie, though even I can admit that I'm stretching it a bit. Also, considering the con-job aspect of some of the plot threads, Ocean's Eleven easily stood out, so by extension, The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. Lastly, we have one of my favorite anime/manga with One Piece with its combination of fun, funny, and serious portions to go with the adventure aspects as well as its main character's obsession with becoming the Pirate King and his bounty paralleling Eli Monpress's obsession with becoming the most wanted criminal with the highest bounty and be renown as the best thief in the world.

While I enjoyed The Spirit Thief, it wasn't as good as I was expecting it to be, ignoring the urban fantasy vs. epic fantasy shenanigans to the side. It was an extremely fun read and light-hearted, but it also bordered the line of silliness too close for my taste a few times, despite it being quite funny too. The plot in this book wasn't that strong either in my opinion. Also there were some moments of extreme deus ex machina, which I'm not fan of. Though keep in mind that much of these are impressions I got from my experience reading the first novel that first time around, and much of my perspective changed as I kept reading to the series, giving new insights to these events, in particular to some of the issues I found with the deus ex machina which had a hidden cost not apparent at the time, but I later came to appreciate it more as we learned more from Eli's circumstances.

Despite those issues, I was still anxious to continue reading the series, to the point that each book in the series was one of my more anticipated reads each time around because the novel was indeed fun and I loved the characters from Eli with his conning personality, to Josef's silent persona and deadly sword, to Nico's adolescent creepy demonic nature, to Miranda's overbearing self-righteous personality who wants to arrest all these three. The character dynamic was too good and the world full of possibilities for it not get better. I smelled the potential and Rachel Aaron made sure to reward me for hanging around.

The Spirit Rebellion began a pattern that continued on for the rest of the series of each book improving over its predecessor. It meant that each book added to the momentum of the series and that was a big plus. By the same token, each book became a bit darker, and I loved that aspect. It also introduced new plot threads, notably political intrigue and expanding the world and cast of characters. The book focused a bit more on Miranda, and through her we learned a bit more of what is a stake in their world and what they strive to protect concerning the spirits and other sorts of intrigues from a murderous and traitorous inclination. Of course, Eli and his band somehow find their way into the middle of it by pure chance and luck, or lack of it for that matter.

Finally we have The Spirit Eater with a higher focus on Nico and her demonic nature as we go about learning a bit more about how dangerous demons are and the threat they pose. There's also a higher focus on Nico's relationship with Eli, and more importantly on the nature of her relationship with Josef. We also start delving a bit into Eli's secrets, something Aaron has been careful not to reveal much of. Just like the previous novel, the world keeps expanding, new characters emerge, and adding new dimensions to the composition of the various powers of the world.

The Legend of Eli Monpress is a reminder of the very thing that makes me a fan of fantasy stories. Fun characters you don't mind spending the time with, a cool world full of possibilities, a sense of magic and wonder, and just like it's main character, the series has plenty of charm. But more importantly, it's a story that at its core doesn't pretend to be more than it is, and no matter what the mood I was in, reading The Legend of Eli Monpress was always a good idea. I could've been reading a novel that could be considered the best by a landslide for the year, and I probably would've put it down in favor of reading the newest installment of this series. Can't explain it much, it's not a perfect series, other than I really enjoyed spending time in Eli's universe.

Don't want to get ahead of myself, but the sequel to this omnibus was my favorite read of last year. The Legend of Eli Monpress is a series that is appealing to a wide variety of ages, which is why I highly recommend this omnibus to just about anyone despite it maturing and going darker after each book, and this omnibus should be a safe bet for those interested in buying a gift for someone who's an avid reader. Also be aware that this series has been finished and completely published, so it's the perfect time to sit down and marathon the full series. Not a hard thing to do as this is an easy book to read, and a page turner to go with it. This debut effort by Rachel Aaron is responsible for one of my favorite series of recent memory (truth be told, all series to me are of recent memory, but why spoil the fun?). Do yourself a favor, and just find some time to sit back, relax, forget about nitpicking for a few hours in your day, and just have fun with a fantasy series that is capable of reminding us about some of the good things of reading in this genre. Whatever Rachel Aaron's next project is, she can be comforted that this Bastard will surely be eager to give it a read.

Buy The Legend of Eli Monpress from The Book Depository
Buy The Spirit War from The Book Depository
Buy Spirit's End from The Book Depository

For more information on Rachel Aaron and this series, please visit her website, blog, and follow her on Twitter.

Bastard Reaction: Miserere by Teresa Frohock

Miserere: An Autumn Tale is the debut novel by Teresa Frohock, and it's beautifully written as promised in the very first paragraph. In the midst of the oldest and longest war in history, in a complex world and universe, a simple tale is told about a man who has loved, betrayed, and sacrificed much as he goes on a journey to save the life of the person he once abandoned. Crippled and broken, he'll risk it all once again for the one he once loved, and still loves, to protect the world from his sister's evil machinations. Highly recommended read, and it's the first of, what I understand, an intended trilogy.

I know some readers would be concerned about the religious aspects of the novel, with fears of a novel being preachy and such. Rest assured there's nothing of the sort. This is a fantasy through and through, and while Christianity plays a big part of the narrative, it's hardly the only religion represented in this world. The extent of the role of religion is merely as a means to access the magic, and even then not a necessity, and a means to build up the mythology. If there's any preaching going on is a simple call for tolerance and unity, as all the different religions represent bastions that work together to protect our world from threats of the enemies. It warns about the about the consequences of segregation and hostility. But this is a fantasy story like any other, so don't concern yourself with the role Christianity may have on the story. It's but one perspective, and it's not pushed onto the reader.

This is an interesting universe with various parallel dimensions and how they influence each other. We have Heaven, Hell, Earth, and Woerld, where the story takes place. Woerld is a dimension that stands between Hell and Earth, and it protects us from the influence of the Fallen Angels and the demonic realm. If the story is to be believed, many of Earth's worst atrocities have direct links to failures in Woerld from protecting the barriers that dampen this influence. And now a Fallen Angel named Mastema is posed to gain access to Woerld and force his influence and whatever consequences it will have on humanity.

Mastema was an interesting choice as a Fallen Angel chosen as the story's main threat. In some mythologies he's known as the Satan, as evil incarnate; a destroyer. In others, he's a demon that is in the service of God and serves a role of tempting humanity as a test. Sometimes a demon, in others a Fallen Angel, so there's a richness of mythology that one can use to speculate of the role of Mastema and his place in the hierarchy of the Fallen within the story in Miserere. Which makes me wonder, speculating that Mastema could potentially be considered Satan, what role would Lucifer have here, if any?

Speaking of Lucifer, I couldn't help but notice the resemblance of the name to that of Lucian, our main character. "Lucifer" means "bringer of light", while "Lucian" means "light" so it can't be a coincidence, and it exhorts the readers to parallel them. I mean, both are known as betrayers; they betrayed the person (or entity) they loved the most. They were both the favorites, in Lucian's case the favorite pupil (and of course had a lover), and both very beloved by those they betrayed and pretty much everyone. If some mythologies are to be believed, it could be said that both had great compassion, and probably it was that compassion that in some manner led to their eventual betrayals and downfall. Lucian also commands the Hell Gates, a very rare ability. Also, after his betrayal you can say Lucian was living a Hell of sorts in the hands of his sister, who broke him both physically and emotionally. For these reasons there could something more to this Lucian character than what meets the eye, or he's simply used a symbol. Maybe I'm just over-analyzing the issue, but regardless, it made the story more interesting for me as it gives it a different perspective through which to look at the events.

Miserere is well written by an author who shows great command of the English language. As mentioned previously, the first paragraph is a good one and is representative of some of the novel's best aspects. Frohock knows how to stage a scene, each chapter designed carefully with proper location details and how she goes about setting the mood and atmosphere with a combination of sounds, visual cues and character observations and inferences.

The novel features various point of views, but most at a limited capacity, keeping the focus on two or three through much of the novel. I personally like that balance, and I have to say that I liked all of them. I don't recall reading from any point of view that made me feel any type of agony of wanting to switch to a different one. They all had something to add to the story, and Frohock's deft characterization allowed for this success. It also helped that all the point of views had their stories interconnected with one another, so you never really felt like you were abandoning a plot thread to follow a new one. It was all relevant to all the characters involved. Personally I'm not a big fan of books that have many point of views, but the way it was handled in Miserere, and the potential to explore the world at a bigger capacity along with various interesting characters which really didn't get much time in the action, I think Frohock should really consider expanding the cast.

As much as I loved reading this novel, there were a couple of issues that prevented me from enjoying it even more. The superficial portion of the story, from an event perspective, was too simplistic in a some manner, too straightforward, which for me is usually not a problem, but as the story went along we kept getting reminders of some of the complexities of the events that occurred in the past, events that are the catalyst for much of the story Miserere is telling. As more of the past got revealed through the book, I just couldn't help feeling it outshone the story we were currently experiencing. The good thing is that Frohock has some good material to work with if she ever plans to write some sort of prequel, though I'm personally averse at reading these sorts of stories.

Another issue I encountered was a predictability that factored in as it regards to the role and alliance of a certain character, which wasn't as effective from a mystery perspective nor a thriller perspective, so when the supposed twist came it didn't pack the punch it could've. It was obvious to the reader what was going on with this character, and I didn't get the feeling from Frohock that she cared much to hide it from the readers, but it could've been handled better. Lastly, I felt the climax action portion was a bit prolonged when I thought that it should have been handled in a quicker and more economical manner. Other than these, I really don't have anything else to complain about, other than I wanted to read more of Catarina, but I can't blame the author from writing such an awesome, disturbing, and cruel character right?

That's the thing, I thought Frohock wrote good characters. All of them seemingly broken, and quite flawed and weak, yet juxtaposed with levels of strength and even perfection evident during other times, maybe even at the very same time. All of it exhibited best with the brother and sister combination of Lucian and Catarina. In Catarina we see a woman who's talented and beautiful, but at the same time is quite deranged and lives a life in denial. She's pretty much the most powerful character introduced in the novel, yet the most unstable of them and seems incapable of functioning without her brother, who's always been there for her to clean up her messes. Obsessed with the love for his brother, yet the most cruel of people. Lucian is both emotionally broken and physically crippled, yet has to live carrying the burden of his sister's and his own sins. In the past he was the best pupil, a very powerful person in his own right, but the love for his sister and his enabling ways put the lie to his strength. A broken man, who struggles to even walk, and now he has the burden of saving the world, and even more difficult, facing the sins of his past. The duality of strength and weakness found in these two characters, and these facets influence how they face their respective tribulations.

A myriad of themes were tackled in Miserere in an interesting fashion. Disabilities and over-coming them, even finding strength when times are most desperate. The importance of responsibility and teaching it, particularly taking responsibility for one's actions and facing the consequences of them. The dangers of over protection, of not allowing people to learn from their mistakes, and sheltering from reality and enabling that falseness of denial. The constant battle for your alliances for your love, loyalty, and trust at times forcing you to choose between family and friends and at times forcing you to make immoral and unethical decisions. The importance of tolerance. And we've barely begun to scratch the surface.

Additionally I liked how the novel was properly framed, it began with an idea and came full circle in the end. The story in part was at its essence the pursuit of an opportunity, and with that opportunity a shot at redemption, at a second chance. We use opportunity and second chance interchangeably, but I got the impression (even if I misinterpreted it) that Frohock went out of her way to make a distinction between the two. I gathered that opportunity was more of a journey, a position one has to earn, something you give yourself, while a second chance is merely something that is given (not necessarily earned) and part of the goal after one achieves the aforementioned opportunity. And it's Lucian's journey to give himself this opportunity, and from there come whatever it may.

Miserere: An Autumn Tale is simply a very good read from start to finish. A commendable effort from a debut author who I have no doubt will become even better. So give this novel a shot, heck you might even learn a thing or two about the multiple uses of owning a pet demon. I'm a big urban fantasy fan, and even though this isn't remotely close to it, in some ways it made me feel like I was reading events that happen behind the curtain of some of those urban fantasy I like to read, so it gave me that different perspective too. Good characters, well written, a good study of the human condition, good drama, good action, and an awesome antagonist; I don't think there's much more to ask, other than go and give this novel a try. And Mrs. Frohock, I'm eagerly waiting for the sequel, and I'm sure I'm not alone in this.

Buy Miserere: An Autumn Tale from The Book Depository.

For more information on this series and Teresa Frohock, please visit her website and follow her on twitter.

Bastard Reaction: Ashes of Honor by Seanan McGuire

A few months ago I reviewed One Salt Sea by Seanan McGuire, and I praised it plenty. In particular, I made it a point to distinguish and commend McGuire for her writing skills which I felt was among the top in the genre, making her novels standout from the pack. It was with that in mind that I eagerly anticipated the next in the October Day series, Ashes of Honor, but can't help but be disappointed about a few aspects that I perceived worsened this time around.

My main hindrance in the enjoyment of Ashes of Honor was the repetition, and it began with "coffee". I was hard pressed to go a few pages, maybe even a few paragraphs without "coffee" being mentioned on some regard. And just about every scene was framed by coffee-related topics, usually about going over and over about how much Toby loves coffee, and how her friends are the best of friends because they know to bring her coffee, and going on about how she likes her coffee served, etc. By the third of the novel, I was already coffee'd-out with no end to it in sight. I mean, was there really a need to mention coffee about 76 times in the novel? I really don't think so. We crossed the line between portraying a personality quirk and a distraction. Had a similar problem with the use of "pennyroyal and musk", used to describe Tybalt's scent, particularly when he uses his fae abilities. Though a far less egregious use than what's described above, there was one particular passage that it seemed like Tybalt couldn't take two steps without Toby using this descriptor once more, then again. The scene really called for Toby to find a more varied way to narrate and describe Tybalt's actions.

The attention to detail wasn't up to standards either. Those close to Toby determined that she was suicidal, but the evidence presented in the narrative just didn't add up. Given, we knew that Toby went through a traumatic experience in the last novel, but absent of that knowledge, nothing presented should've led to these characters claiming she was suicidal. In fact, if it wasn't for that knowledge I would've thought she was doing quite well for herself. She has a very nice home, she's living with a self-made family who she cares about and they love her in return, she has her friends, and she seemed more comfortable with who she is in this world. Then they use as evidence her "going into danger alone" to conclude that she wants to get herself killed, but it's a non-sequitur. In a vacuum yes that's a good reason to suspect Toby destructive intentions; problem is that it's no different than her actions in the past, that's who she has always been. All to say a better job should've been done to lay the groundwork for the portrayal of the apparent depression Toby was going through during the time between the previous events and the start of this novel.

On a similar regard, I also felt that the actions taken by the villain towards the ends were uncharacteristically convenient for our heroes. A villain who was shown to be very smart, clever, and paranoid, yet in the end this character was anything but. Some dumb unnecessary strategic mistakes were made, and it really didn't hold up well as the climax came to be.

Lastly, the last contrary facet I'll mention is that there was a plot convergence towards the end that I personally didn't like. Though not a problem in any shape or form, I thought the story would have been much stronger and more powerful had they remained separate. As it were, there was a slight cheapening of some of the events, and the twist that brought it forward didn't have the weight it probably intended. I'm not going to lose any sleep over this particular objection though, just a personal preference observation. Many probably loved this particular development.

Now that I've managed to get my venting out of the way, I'd like to take the opportunity to say that even with the above, I still enjoyed the book. Certainly not the best in the series, but not the worst either, and the story progression was quite favorable. In fact, quite a few interesting things are going on that I'll be interested in seeing them unfold in the coming installments.

One thing I loved about Ashes of Honor was the re-focus it gave to the human world, something that has been fairly neglected until now (though we saw a bit in the previous book). There was more interaction with human characters, the police got involved, and it added a certain dynamic that really enriched all that Toby has gone through, and the world she's living in. I hope we see more of this going forward. Apart from the human world, McGuire took us to new places in the fae world, places I didn't think we'd get to experience, so that was a very nice touch as she keeps expanding this universe.

Character interaction is still going strong, something that I constantly see improving with each new novel. Tybalt and Toby scenes were great, and some interesting progressions going here as well, so we'll see how McGuire handles it going forward. Though I very much am in favor of the current happenings, it's something that's quite fragile and needs to be handled with care. There's also a certain tension and maybe some animosity growing between Toby and Luna (more from the former towards the latter) which I'm finding quite curious and interesting. It's something subtle, nothing full blown, in fact, for all intents and purposes they love and care about each other, but it's a relationship I'll be paying a very close attention as the story goes along.

I think my favorite aspect of the novel was the focus given to the Court of Cats. It had an interesting plot thread, and through it we learned about Tybalt's past and also of how the succession of the King works, so that added a good dimension to the story.

Ashes of Honor was an overall good read, but it was overshadowed by the aforementioned problems for me. I suspect not many readers that are this far along in the series will care much for these observations, and will end up loving the novel as is. I still very much stand by the October Daye series, one of the current favorites in the genre, but can't shake the disappointment with the latest novel given that the previous two were great. That said, urban fantasy readers who have yet to give this series a try, don't be discouraged to give this series a look. I highly recommend it.

Buy Ashes of Honor at The Book Depository.

For more information on the series, please visit Seanan McGuire's website and blog.

Bastard Reaction: Full Blooded by Amanda Carlson

I don't envision this novel, which I enjoyed, will have many negative reviews around, and I'd hazard a guess that this one will be one of the more critical ones, and that's a good thing... I think. Full Blooded by Amanda Carlson is as close a sure thing debut as any I've read in the urban fantasy genre. It's appeal will make it a fan favorite right off the bat, and a novel that will surely charm its way to be among the favorites of the year for urban fantasy enthusiasts, particularly those that enjoy some kick-ass action accompanied by a small dose of the sexy.

It's just an ordinary night for Jessica McClain, waking up in the middle of a nightmare as she's turned into a werewolf. Completely normal, happens to everyone, wouldn't you say? Problem is that she's an impossibility, something that could never be; a female werewolf. Throughout all her life she's been subject of prophecies that indicate that she'll be the destruction of her race, which doesn't bode well for her now that she's turned. What follows is a story about how she, her family, and her friends will handle keeping her secret in the midst of traitors, of clan members that want her dead, and an overzealous detective that suspects her of being in league with the criminal underworld.

Full Blooded was an interesting novel, as far as plot structure and pace. As for plot, I felt it was a bit unfocused, something that I'd consider a big negative just about any read I'd stumble upon. In this case, I more than welcomed it. Will we be dealing with a traitor? Will we be focusing on the police that's out to get her? Will have to be concerned with keeping her new werewolf self a secret? Will we be dealing with the investigation aspects of her workplace? Will we be trying to figure out who's trying to kill Jessica? As the story went along I really didn't know where Carlson was heading with this story, until it clicked for me. It doesn't matter what the plot focuses on, when one considers it's really about Jessica's life and how she deals with the suddenness of her situation and adapting her life accordingly. And the answer is pretty much "yes" to all the above, which leads right into the interesting pace.

Pace was what I can only describe as patiently fast-paced. Patient because the scenes themselves took a bit to develop, and where at times lengthy. Fast paced, because not only does it have a lot of badass action, but because it deals with all the plot issues above in a timely and efficient manner. Some of the plot points could've easily been stretched and milked for all its worth in a span of several books, which is a tendency I find becoming more common as of late. Instead Amanda Carlson tackles all those situations without missing a beat, promising a fresh set of dilemmas for the sequel. I really enjoyed this aspect, no stringing the reader along with a lot of bullshit to avoid issues that can be dealt with in the present.

Jessica McClain was a fun character. Not only was she strong physically, she's had to live through a shit plate of a life, and she's faced her problems head on determined not to become a victim. She's constantly positioned herself to improve her quality of life. Now that's she has turned into a werewolf, you can tell that she might be enjoying how the tables might be turning a bit... of course, when she's not worrying about those that are trying to kill her or undo all the life she's built for herself. She's a fun character and an energetic narrator. If you've ever had the chance to interact with the author, you can tell that the enthusiasm she seems to have in real life has influenced Jessica's persona.

Jessica is accompanied by a decent cast of side characters. Still am unable to commit fully to them, but I see two of them that I'll be looking forward to seeing more of. The main overall problem for me were that about three of Jessica's closest confidants were hard to distinguish from one another, they had similar voices. By the end of it though, they started to stand-out a bit more, so will be looking forward how Carlson further develops them. That said, I really enjoyed how they all interacted and I think most will find Jessica's relationship with her She-Wolf quite amusing.

I won't lie though, Full Blooded was a tale of two halves for me. And I won't lie either about how it was the promise of kick-ass action which attracted me to this novel in the first place, so that perspective influenced majorly on how I perceived the novel. In all, loved the first half, but I encountered a few issues in the second half that prevented me from enjoying this novel as much as I could have. Some of it are issues that I think the author can address and improve on, other have more of a personal taste nature (though I still think it can be handled better).

Let's start with the most obvious one as it concerns me, how the sexy, erotica, lust scenes were handled. Just to be clear, there was only one sex scene here, and all that went down was appropriate as far as I'm concerned. In the first half, there really wasn't anything that I found problematic on this regard, some great banter among friends and some good humor flirting which I could identify with as it resembles just fun dialogue between friends. At times surprisingly refreshing. The aforementioned sex scene was a bit awkward as it came about, but fitting with the story, so even then not much of a problem for me. The problem came in the second half when Jessica became isolated with certain character, after avoiding an action scene that had the making of being awesome, in favor of 26 or so pages I didn't handle well. It was filled with a lot of ogling and descriptions of how sexy this dude was, how the sweat was dripping off him, description of his muscles, etc. There was an amusing side to all of this with Jessica interacting with the wolf inside her, but just too much for me during this span. What made it worse was that it all occurred during a long trek which really interrupted the great pace the story had to this point. And of course, we had to go through a body of water, so an excuse to get wet and partially undressed so the characters could leer at each other a bit more.

Then there was the action, which is the aspect where I hope Carlson can improve on in the future, which is certainly doable. The evidence is in the novel itself. By this I mean is that in the first half, the action was some of the best I've read this year, and probably ever in this subgenre. It had all the elements I look for: limited dialogue, fast, hard, and violently detailed. It became even better with the good energy and excitement of Jessica's narration in a setting that was blissfully silent, except for the screams from pain. Also, surprisingly graphic which was great.  So it came as a bit of a disappointment when some of these attributes were dropped in the second half. The major problem was the dialogue, it became quite obtrusive to the action and plagued with characters cursing at each other that came off as a bit immature shouting and uninspired. I had made this observation previously in my Blooded novella review, and was encouraged by how well the action was handled in the first half of Full Blooded, so it was a bit of a shame that these problems crept back into the narrative as the climax to this novel was unfolding. That's not to say that the action was bad, it was still hard and awesomely violent, but these other issues prevented me from enjoying them to its full capacity despite how action packed it was.

All this said, I really enjoyed the novel and the above shouldn't be used to discourage interested readers from trying it. They're merely some areas I think could be improved on and could have made this novel much better for me personally. As mentioned, the first half was really good for me, and the second half shouldn't have bothered me as much as it did. Regardless of all this, I'm of the opinion that this is a well balanced novel that the great majority of urban fantasy readers will get a kick out of. Full Blooded fulfilled it's promise with a main character that kicks major ass amid a fun and energetic narrative, and I invite others to give Amanda Carlson's debut a shot. I know I'm just about ready for the sequel Hot Blooded, but it comes out during Spring next year.

Buy Full Blooded from The Book Depository.

For more information about the author and this series, please visit Amanda Carlson's website. Also of interest is my interview with the author from earlier in the year.

Bastard Reaction: Blades of Winter by G. T. Almasi

Blades of Winter by G. T. Almasi is the most action-packed novel I've read, to say nothing of its fast pace. It starts at top speed, and doesn't let up until the very end. In fact, after some upgrades, the novel keeps accelerating beyond its limits at an unparalleled frantic pace. Set in an alternate-history universe, Almasi's debut jumps right into the Shadowstorm; the Cold War on steroids.

Alix Nico is an up-and-coming, yet still low level, super agent of ExOps (Extreme Operations Division) who conned her way into an operation way above her pay grade. In what seemed to be a routine surveillance mission, Alix Nico gets thrust into an operation with dire consequences filled with assassination attempts and a hunt for a traitor; an operation linked to a mission in which Alix's father died years ago.

Code named Scarlet, Alix is a petite redhead 19 year-old million dollar killing machine. ExOps is a government backed clandestine division which fights in what is known as the Shadowstorm, which basically is a Cold War involving the four remaining superpowers of the world after WWII: United States, Germany, Russia, and China. To serve their purposes, scientific advancements have enabled these superpowers and their respective secret agencies to create superhuman spies which will be integral to how the Shadowstorm will be played. Alix is one of these superhuman spies, who's undergone modifications totaling over the aforementioned million dollars. Not quite The Six Million Dollar Man, but close.

Alix is also the narrator of the novel from the first person perspective. She's one sassy character, very much an acquired taste, and a bit of a tomboy which really comes through the voice of her narration. I don't think there'll be much middle ground with her. Either you'll like her or hate her as a character because she's a bit of a brat. Still I found Alix quite amusing, particularly with her outlook on life and the fact that she's very much self-aware of what she is, which is part of her charm. I don't know if everyone will see her that way.

"I don’t know what I’d do if I lost my mother, but I do know she has the best daughter in the whole fucking world."

Damn right I say. I mean, seriously, how can you not like a character with such wisdom. Precisely what I keep reminding my mom of...except for the "daughter" part. In any case, Alix has an interesting way of viewing the world, and there's plenty of humor to it too. And of course, the action in pure violent bliss.

Blades of Winter features over-the-top violence amid action sequences that will require incredible suspension of disbelief. You can't help, but imagine how this story would look in a fully budgeted film with the combination of high octane fast action with characters interacting with a fusion of both bionic and chemical upgrades, which are further enhanced with advances in Information Technology. With the bluntness and descriptive carnage from Alix, it would surely look awesome in a hard R rated movie with all the bone snapping, entrails pulling, heart squeezing, spinal-cord breaking, brain exploding violence.

I'm usually not a fan of alternate history stories, for some reason my mind keeps telling me "it's all lies!" despite my awareness of it being a fictional story. With that in mind I have to commend the effort here as I very much enjoyed the world building and how Almasi has set-up the wold from WWII and on. Though I would have liked to see a bit more of the more mundane society at work, I liked the integration of social-political issues with diplomatic dilemmas adjusted to events of how WWII unfolded. Jews are enslaved in Germany, United States has conquered Cuba making it a state, while also occupying Japan and dropping the atom bomb on a Chinese army, all which set the stage for the Shadowstorm to develop thus avoiding the superpowers from destroying each other and the world. That said, it felt like for the most part, we're only aware of what happened from the Tropic of Cancer and above. So I kept asking myself, what happened to the rest of the world, given the new world stage and its superpowers?

Which became a bit of a problem for me, in part because the most important catalyst of the plot in this story is directly linked to an oil crisis which forced the US to take measures against Germany (who controlled much of the Middle-East, and thus strong oil positions). In turn, what about Venezuela? Now that the United States has a strategic position in Cuba, it seems like the next logical step to consider Venezuela's role and how the United States could've used it to its advantage. Maybe it would've been inconsequential, but I thought it should've played some part in it. Then Brazil certainly needed to be considered in some respect. All this seemed important to me particularly with the risk of starting a new full blown war against a superpower which threatened the status quo.

The plot itself was straight-forward and very predictable in some manners, particularly with figuring out who the bad guys were. I guess it wasn't of much consequence since there's really not much time to think on it anyways. The story too is consistent throughout, so much of what you get early on is what you'll get as the story progresses. It took me a bit to get into it, but once I found the rhythm I didn't look back. That said, what you find in the early chapters is representative of what you'll find later on, so do with that information what you will.

The relationships in Blades of Winter were interesting, partly because of their unique interaction with some good banter, and quite refreshing. At the same time, other than with her mother, I felt they were quite superficial so as events go along and bad shit happens the impact is not pronounced. Also, for all the death and violence, Almasi seemed a bit reluctant to do some real damage to our heroes. It remains to be seen if this will continue, particularly in light of the ending it had. Also seemed like every time Alix got messed up, it was just an excuse to give her some more upgrades and mods. Speaking of it, was a bit disappointed with the agency she's working in. Alix keeps messing up in some areas, yet there's no real ramification for her actions. In fact, she seems to get rewarded for her screw-ups be it by upgrades or promotions, and that just can't continue being in my opinion.

The Blades of Winter novel couldn't have come out at a better time, right after the London 2012 Olympics. I say this because Alix Nico used to be an Olympic gymnast prodigy. The year is 1980, and we get introduced to a younger pre-teen Alix in a newspaper article from 1972 as she dominated in Madison Square Garden in her age category, alluding to possibility of her winning gold in the next Olympics. All this to say that for some reason, for the rest of the novel, every time I thought of Alix Nico I kept visualizing a bad-ass weaponized gymnastic's legend, gold medalist Olga Korbut with a worse attitude and blowing shit up.

Blades of Winter begins a series that promises to deliver non-stop action that will without a doubt satisfy action enthusiast. There's plenty of room for Almasi to improve, but as it stands it's a series I'll surely continue reading whenever I get the itch for this particular type of story because I know what I'll be getting out of it: excitement, humor, and over the top violence.

Bastard Reaction: Royal Street by Suzanne Johnson

I've always been fascinated with the idea of fantasy stories including natural disasters as part of the narrative. Not the usual "storm is coming, I feel something terrible is about to happen" kind of event, but just a random tornado suddenly touching down in the middle of a scene, or maybe a hurricane comes to destroy a town and be just that, a natural storm without all the added plot-device baggage. It was with that in mind that I got interested in Royal Street by Suzanne Johnson with a story that takes place during the time of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. It's the first of the Sentinels of New Orleans series, and laid the foundation of what could become a very entertaining series.

DJ, a deputy sentinel, is a wizard apprentice under the guidance of Gerry the acting New Orleans sentinel. They protect the city from preternatural beings that have crossed over to our world. As Hurricane Katrina hits, Gerry goes missing. DJ, who had evacuated the city, is tasked to return to the city to find her missing teacher while partnering up with an FBI agent, who may have his own agenda and may have been sent to spy on her by organization that governs them. Once arrived in New Orleans they have to deal with the disastrous aftermath of the hurricane and a serial killer who's on the loose. If that wasn't enough, Katrina has weakened the boundaries between the planes that keep the preternatural beings at bay.

Tackling an event like Hurricane Katrina is tricky. There's no easy way to approach it. Some consideration has to be given to those that have suffered, and at the same time try to not let it distract from the focus of the story you want to tell. With that in mind, it was evident that Johnson struggled to balance the inclusion of the happenings of what it was like during the time of Katrina with developing the mystery/thriller portions of the plot. I personally found it interesting to relive some of what went on during the hurricane through DJ's eyes. I also thought it was handled with tact and was informative, but not overwhelmingly so. Suzanne Johnson had apparently lived in New Orleans for many years, so there's a personal touch to be found here to put everything into proper context.

The pacing was slow though, but I didn't find it dull by any measure. I can see were many would have problem with it, but I didn't think it a major problem; but it was a problem. Kinda of a double edged sword because you want the Katrina exposure, but at times it impeded the momentum of the story. By the same token, I enjoyed the tangents through much of it. I found DJ to be a fun and quite even-keeled narrator, which is interesting considering she's an empath. She never gets too high or too low through the narration and it served the balance between the events of Katrina and the rest of the story well; and when she goes to emotional extremes, they don't last long, which I loved. There's plenty of funny scenes throughout the novel to contrast the somber moments.

I found the biggest problem with the novel was the mystery plot aspects. Though it kept us guessing about certain things throughout it, I thought everything became transparent earlier than I would've liked. Not that big of an issue at the moment, but I thought there was a detachment from the case through the novel that made me not care about many of the events surrounding the story. Particularly evident with the serial killer victims, didn't care for them. We weren't really immersed in the investigation, we weren't made to care for the victims, as such the investigation wasn't of much interest. What held the story together was the wondering of what happened to Gerry and DJ's personal issues she's to overcome.

The story had some good action though. I would've liked to see just a bit more of it and maybe a few more scenes that would've made the novel a bit more suspenseful with a heightened sense of danger, but other than that quite pleased with what Johnson provided. I really think DJ will become one kickass character as the series continues, but we'll see how she keeps developing her powers.

The world-building was excellent, and it's mainly what has me thinking this is a very promising series. She has also injected into the story a preternatural being called "historical undead" which have been quite lively so far, and insures that we'll be exposed to plenty of flavorful characters as the series continues. There's mention of all the usual supernatural beings too, but they haven't made an appearance yet for the most part. In many regards it reminds me of The Dresden Files world now that I think of it, differentiated with the unique touches Johnson has given it; combining all these with the rich history of New Orleans and how well it's been incorporated to the aftermath of Katrina is a great start.

Royal Street introduced us to some good characters that will be entertaining and pleasant to follow. Character interaction was good and fun through much of it. As mentioned previously, never gets too high or low emotionally for an extensive span of time. Was worried about this in particular with DJ being an empath, since it had the potential to become a bit too touchy-feely for me, but Suzanne Johnson handled much of it to my liking. There's some romantic interests here, more than one actually, but it's been kept light so far and it hasn't bother me. We'll see how much of the focus it'll have going forward, but not too worried at the moment with the current precedent.

I really enjoyed DJ as the narrator and as a character. At times a bit too impulsive, which is all right. She recognizes it as a flaw herself, so it's all good. Makes her a bit unpredictable. Even though at times she tries to rationalize some of her actions as prudent. Going forward I think she needs to be cleaned up a bit because she's clearly not an idiot, but has plenty of dumbass moments. One in particularly grated on me. DJ warded her house and as means to disable it used a word that would be the equivalent of using "password" as the password for your email account. Sorry if I indirectly called some of you a dumbass, but probably well deserved. In all, despite this I think she'll be a good character to follow.

All this to say that yes, Royal Street is very much a flawed novel, but I think it's one that's very much worth the read. I enjoyed it thoroughly flaws an all. I'll recommend it with little hesitation to all urban fantasy fans, and this being Suzanne's debut, I'd imagine we can expect things to get better from here. The foundation for the series is now in place, and it's a strong one. Early reactions to the sequel River Road have been positive and seem to agree that it's better than the precursory novel. Suzanne Johnson may just have winner in her hands with the Sentinels of New Orleans series.

Thoughts and prayers for those currently affected by Hurricane Isaac. Donations can be made to the Red Cross.

Also a percentage of her River Road royalties has been pledged by the author to help on the relief from this hurricane and an oil spill. Have just learned that the setting in the sequel has been destroyed by Hurricane Isaac, Plaquemines Parish. Details can be found here.

Buy a copy of Royal Street from The Book Depository.

Please visit Suzanne Johnson's website and blog for more information.