Book Review - Cold City by F. Paul Wilson

I came to the Repairman Jack books, brilliantly written by F. Paul Wilson, late in the series. My wife was a big fan and had read all of his books, but I just never had taken the time to do so. However, a later book in the series showed up on the list of books available to review for Curled Up With a Good Book. Since I wanted to get a copy of it for her to read, I requested it. Of course, if you request it, you have to review it, so I read it first.

I found myself blown away, and while the details of the mythos were all new to me, it was written well enough for a beginner that I had no problem figuring out what was going on.

This was By the Sword, and I was hooked.

Jack's story ended last year, but Wilson is now writing three prequel books that tell us how Jack became who he is. He's a man who's lived his life off the grid, untraceable because he refuses to do things like use credit cards or things like that. He pays cash, he works for cash, and when he needs weapons, he has friends who will sell them to him.

Cold City is the first book in this prequel series, and it is a very good book, though I think it may be better ready if you're at least somewhat familiar with the Adversary Cycle of books. It is understandable if this is your first one, and it's still an excellent story, but you'll get a lot more out of it if you have read some of the other books first.

My review of it is up on Curled Up With a Good Book.

From the review:

"It's 1990, and a man named Jack (we never will find out his last name, I don't believe) has dropped out of college and headed to New York to make his way. Strange things have been happening to him, dark urges that he must fight before they overwhelm him. He's gone off the grid, living on cash and the odd jobs that will pay him that, which almost necessitates some jobs that are a bit on the shady side. After he suffers one dark attack and almost kills a co-worker who has been bullying him, he's not sure what to do. Getting hired as a driver to smuggle cigarettes is quite lucrative and will definitely keep him able to live well—and buy the weaponry he might need for the days ahead. Especially when he encounters a preteen smuggling ring, some jihadists, and the mob trying to deal with his good friend, the bartender Julio. With all of that, he may be wishing for a monster from the dawn of time to deal with."

Wilson's writing is great, drawing you into the story and not letting you go. I highly recommend this novel, no matter whether you're familiar with the series or not.

Read the review and let me know what you think!

Book Review - The Dirty Streets of Heaven by Tad Williams

I love me a good fantasy that takes the whole religion thing and kind of turns things on their heads. An imaginative view of just how heaven and hell works can really be fun to read if done well. Sometimes they're satirical (like Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's wonderful Good Omens), and sometimes it makes a good setting for a more serious (but not *too* serious) story (like Liz Williams' "Inspector Chen" series of fantasy novels, which I may have to include on a future entry, as they're really good).

Tad Williams' latest novel, The Dirty Streets of Heaven is another take on the whole idea, and it's wonderfully written. The sequel comes out in September, and I'm really looking forward to it. The novel's protagonist, Bobby Dollar, is a really fun narrator, even more so because he just seems like a regular guy (other than this being dead thing, of course). There's lots of action, but some good humour too, and the setting is quite interesting.

In Williams' world, when a person dies, there is immediately an accounting. A heavenly advocate shows up (like Bobby) to extol that person's virtue and a demon advocate shows up to talk about the bad things the person did in life. A "judge" also shows up to make the final decision.

One of the problems Bobby is having, as seen in the description below, is that some things aren't going through the right process.

My review is up on Curled Up With a Good Book.

From the review:

"Bobby Dollar's afterlife is turning out to be much more hectic than he ever would have believed. Bobby and his friends are advocates for souls when individuals die, but that's not the main source of all his problems right now. He's dealing with his own sins, including anger and lust, as well as souls disappearing before they can go through the testing process. A couple of demons are after him, he can't necessarily trust his heavenly superiors, and he's not sure about his friends, either. Add to this a new kid that he's supposed to train in the advocacy field, a kid fresh out of the Records department in Heaven, and it's understandable that he's a little on edge. Just what is happening with these souls, and is somebody from Heaven in on it? Is it enough to get Bobby killed (again)?"

It's a wonderful book, with a few slow spots.

It's well worth checking out. So why don't you?

Let me know what you think of the review as well.

Book Review - All Spell Breaks Loose by Lisa Shearin

I like it when authors have a set story in mind, but they know it's going to take a number of books to finish the series. Sure, episodic novel series (like Sue Grafton or Janet Evanovich) can be good too. But a lot of times those series start to become stale.

Lisa Shearin is the author of a fantasy series of books about Raine Benares, an Elven Seeker who just happens to have the essence of an incredibly powerful (and not to mention truly evil) ancient stone inhabiting her body. She fights constantly against the evil intelligence to keep it from making her do things to release itself or to feed on the energies of other living beings. Of course, there are forces in the world who want to release that energy or take it over themselves. The only way to do that is to get rid of the current host, unfortunately.

This series is six books long, and I recently finished the last one, All Spell Breaks Loose. I've loved the series even though I missed reading the first and third books in it. It's very well-written with a lot of great dialogue between the various characters, both magical and "mundane" (yes, I've been briefly inhabited by Harry Potter).

What I find best about the series, and this book specifically too, is how Raine is not a perfect character. She will do something and then belatedly realize that maybe that just wasn't the right thing to do. In fact, maybe it was a horribly wrong thing to do, and then she has to deal with the consequences.

So how does this book end the series? Is it on a good note?

I can safely say that yes, it is.

From the review:

"Goblin dark mages have stolen the Saghred. With the power of the stone, the dark mage will be able to take over the world and destroy the Elven race. One thing stands in his way: while Raine is alive, he can't access the stone's power. Solution? Make sure she's not alive. Raine and her friends may be making it easier for him as they undertake a covert mission to the Goblin homeland to destroy the Saghred once and for all. Or die trying."

This is a great series, an excellent final book, and I can't wait to see where Shearin goes next.

While future stories could be told about Raine and the other characters in this series, I hope she expands and comes up with some new ones. I know I will follow and see how she does.

The entire review can be found here on Curled Up With a Good Book. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Book Review - Among Others by Jo Walton

I have a love/not so much love relationship with Jo Walton's work.  (I wouldn't go so far as to say it's "hate"). Some of her books I've loved, and some I've really disliked, mainly because I thought the political points were too much in the reader's face and the books themselves suffered from it.

With Among Others, though, she's redeemed herself in my eyes. This is nothing more than a love letter to classic science fiction and fantasy novels, but unlike the political books, Walton doesn't skimp on the characterization and plot.

My review is now up on Curled Up With a Good Book.

"Morwenna Phelps (Mori) is a young Welsh girl in the 1970s. She has been sent off to live with her father and his sisters in London after the death of her own twin sister and some mysterious incident with her mother that left her crippled. Her father sends her off to a boarding school because he can't take her in full time. For Mori, magic and faeries are real, but the school is a place where no magic resides. As a coping mechanism throughout her life, Mori has immersed herself in the world of science fiction and fantasy, a recluse who shies away from most social interactions. She risks everything to use her own magic to form a circle of like-minded friends at the school, which unfortunately draws the attention of her mother for a final confrontation that Mori can no longer avoid."

I'm not a big fan of coming of age tales. They can be interesting, but often they just leave me cold. Mori's story, however, really affected me. I don't know if it's because of the SF homages or whether I just liked the story, but I really felt for Mori's isolation. I remember being able to lose myself in my books like she did, and while my familiarity with all of the classic SF books is fleeting, I still understood it enough to immerse myself in Mori's situation.

If you're an SF fan, you will love all the classic talk. If you're not, you can still follow a great story that moves along at its own, sedate pace, but will keep you entranced nonetheless.

Book Review - Shadow Chase by Seressia Glass

(Yes, this is taken from Amazon. How could you tell?)

Fans of the urban fantasy genre have a lot to choose from. Devon Monk is a good one, but there are so many others as well.

One new entry (or relatively new, since this is now her second book and I have just finished reading her third) is Seressia Glass. A former romance author, she has decided to delve into the already packed genre. The second book in the Kira Solomon series is called Shadow Chase, and it doesn't quite live up to the first book. That doesn't mean it's bad, because it's not. It's just that the pacing is off and the climax is really lackluster.

My review of it has now posted on Curled Up With a Good Book.

From the review:

Kira is a Shadowchaser, a woman trained to serve the Light and fight off the forces of Shadow that are trying to take over the world. She has been tainted by it, however, and spilled innocent blood. As part of her atonement, she has been recruited as the Hand of Ma'at, the Egyptian goddess of Truth and Order, to fight for her as well. While in London settling the affairs of her murdered mentor, Bernie, Kira becomes embroiled in other business by the Gilead Order. A fellow Shadowchaser has disappeared, as has the Vessel of Nun—an artifact that will cause immense destruction if it's not returned. Kira and her friends, including an immortal Nubian named Khefar who is the only person who can touch Kira without being affected by her powers, will have to recover it before it's too late.

One thing that really impresses me with Glass' work is that she avoids some of the stereotypes of the genre. Sure, there's a hunky guy and an incredibly sexy and athletic woman who are the main characters. Yeah, there's romance in there. The thing about Glass' work is that she doesn't delve into the sex. It's all "fade to black," which is a refreshing change Not that I mind it in the other books, of course. It's just nice when not all of them are like that.

I have read the third book, Shadow Fall, and it's much better than this one. This one's important in the series, though. It's a very quick read and it's worth it. It's just not as good as it could be.

Check out the review and let me know what you think.

Jennifer Fallon and S.J. Day Book Reviews Posted

Wow, a virtual cornucopia of my reviews have been posted on Curled Up With a Good Book! Ok, only two, but considering I'm usually getting one at a time in to the editor, that is an abundance, isn't it? Good thing I finally finished the Marcus Aurelius book so I'll have another review to submit.


Anyway, the first review is for Jennifer Fallon's The Gods of Amyrantha, the second in the "Tide Lords" series. Fallon is one of my favourite authors, neck-and-neck with Kage Baker, and she doesn't disappoint with this one either. Excellent characters, writing, and plotting make for a fantasy feast that you won't be able to put down.


The next book is S.J. Day's Eve of Destruction, the second book in the "Marked" series. This is a series that takes biblical characters and brings them forward to the modern day. Human sinners are given the "Mark" and become Heaven's bounty hunters against the numerous demons that haunt the world. Evangeline Hollis (known as Eve) is not only a new Mark, but is also involved in a hot love triangle with Cain & Abel (yes, that Cain & Abel). Cain is her mentor and lover, but Abel is her "handler" (essentially, the guy who gives her the bounty-hunting assignments) and also has the hots for her. This is an excellent series, and while the sex is still in this book, it's not as in your face as in the first book.

No word on whether either brother feels any weirdness from the fact that she has their mother's name. Then again, their mother is mentioned in this book, so maybe she'll appear in the third one?

Both are definitely worth a read. And I must say the reviews are outstanding too. That's some quality writing there (oh, the authors are good too). You can't go wrong....

*A huge hook appears from the side and pulls Dave off-stage before he can talk himself up anymore*

Eve of Darkness - S.J. Day (The Marked #1)

One of my first blog posts was about this book, asking your opinion on explicit sex in books and whether it turns you off or on. It's also one of my most-visited pages, which I think says something about my readership (or the searches they use to find my blog).

My review of the book has been published on Curled Up With a Good Book, so you can take a look at what I thought about the whole book in general, not just the sex scenes.

If you can get past those, this is actually an interesting take on the whole Heaven/Hell war throughout time, taking place in a modern day setting. The characters are hot, the action (what there is of it) is hot, and the sex is hot. How can you go wrong? I'll be picking up the second and third books soon, as the situation definitely intrigued me. Cain & Abel as project coordinators in some heavenly "anti-demon soldier" front corporation? Demons and other mythical beings secretly walking the earth and having to be eradicated by super-powered, tortured sinners who are just trying to work off the stain on their souls? And Eve, sweet, sexy Eve, thrust into this whole situation because one of the original brothers can't resist the temptation that God sets in front of him, and thus can't keep it in his pants?

Yeah, I'm definitely there.

Explicit Sex in Books - a Turn Off?

I'm currently reading Eve of Darkness (The Marked: Book 1), by S.J. Day, and enjoying it for the most part. It's a book I received from Curled Up With a Good Book, the site I review books for, so I won't be able to post the review until it's up. Unless the ending is a complete cop-out, though, it's going to get a decent (though not outstanding) review.

This is the first time in a long while (probably since The Queen's Bastard) that I've read a book that has had explicit sex in it. And it's the most explicit sex I've read in a long time even before that.

One question it brings to mind. Does knowing a book have explicit sex make it more or less likely that you'll read it? Or will it turn you off completely, making you avoid it totally despite the fact that the subject matter might be something you're interested in? This particular book is an urban fantasy, where a one-night stand with one of the original brothers gives Evangeline Hollis the "Mark of Cain," causing her to become one of "the Marked," those sinners who have been tasked by Heaven to deal with the demons who walk the earth in a rather final way. They are given superhuman powers to enable them to do this.

But that's beside the point. What are your thoughts? And if you read Romance novels, then I know the way you lean, though I'd still love to hear your thoughts.