by Kay | Jul 9, 2011 | Reviews, Summer Shorts |
Summer Shorts: Kelley Armstrong!
Summer Shorts is weekly feature of short story/novella reviews, posted every weekend of July and August, 2011. Every week has a different theme - be it featuring a specific anthology, a particular genre, or a great author.
Last week I reviewed a few tales from the
Mammoth Book of PNR, and this week I'll be reviewing some YA stories by one of my favourite authors...
Kelley Armstrong!
The following stories are all available online (free!) and are set in Kelley's Otherworld/Darkest Powers verse. If you haven't read her Darkest Powers series yet, a) run out and buy it b) these might not be quite as meaningful to you.
Kat by Kelley Armstrong
(Read it
here! Set in the Darkest Powers verse, following the story of another Edison Group subject.)
Favourite Quote:
As I strode into the alley, the driver leapt out, raising his gun.
“I come in peace,” I said, lifting my fingers in a V.
He paused, half out of the van, his broad face screwing up in confusion.
I raised my hands. “See? No pistol. No switchblade. Not even a ray gun.”
Thoughts: Kat is the story of another Edison group experiment, Katiana, and one of her (many) encounters with Edison group minions. I really liked Kat - she reminded me of Maya from The Gathering, and for a while in the story I actually thought she might be her long lost sister. She's tough and could no doubt kick my ass. She won't back away from a fight and, if the circumstances require it, she'll run straight into one. The story is only 20 pages long, but I would have been happy to have read an entire book in her POV.
As for the style of the story - well, it felt like it was straight out of the Darkest Powers novels. Lots and lots of action, a whole bunch of running-for-their-lives, and the occasional bit of snappy dialogue. While I can't say that I was blown away by it all, I certainly did enjoy the tale. I'm hoping Kat is a lead-up to a fuller story or, perhaps, her inclusion into some of Kelley's other YA novels.
Bottom line? Kat is an action-packed tale with the same feel as Kelley's Darkest Powers series. But even if you haven't read her trilogy, you'll enjoy it!
Divided by Kelley Armstrong
(Read it
here! Darkest Powers Story set between
The Summoning and
The Awakening.)
Favourite Quote:
"I do. I mean sure, I've liked a lot of girls and you probably think this is just the same thing. But it's not. I like being with her. Hanging out with her. Talking to her. Getting to know her. Not that I didn't want to get to know the other girls, but I really want to this time. I'm not just asking questions to make conversation. She's different and she's interesting, and she doesn't know she is and that's . . ." He glanced back at me. "I'm glad you two seem to get along." He grinned. "A nice change."
Thoughts: Spoilers for the DP trilogy! Divided follows Derek and Simon after they are separated from Chloe at the end of The Summoning. Divided is the second short story I've read from Derek's POV (Dangerous, I read and loved last year), and I can now officially say that he is the best narrator ever. Love this guy.
While - of course - it was fantastic to revisit my beloved DP characters, Divided did more than just that. It added to the canon of the trilogy. Kelley gives us more details about Chloe's mother's death (that was a real shocker), some insight into how Derek started to take more notice of Chloe, and how he felt about "using" her to get Simon to go on the run; and even some insight into how much Simon was honest-to-God pining after Chloe (see the quote, friggin' adorable and yet so sad).
Bottom line? If you love the Darkest Powers trilogy, you'll love Divided. It's a story I hadn't even known I'd wanted, and I am so glad it's been told.
FYI - If you're looking for some more great Darkest Powers stories, Kelley had completed three that are available here. She's currently in the middle of another story set post-The Reckoning, which you can follow on the Darkest Powers blog. Oh, and apparently the Enthralled anthology (edited by Melissa Marr) coming out in September is also going to be post-The Reckoning, set 2-3 weeks after the end of the book and told from Chloe's POV. Needless to say that that news got the book onto my wishlist!
Next week... Zombies vs. Unicorns!
by Kay | Jul 7, 2011 | Reviews |
Exile by Rebecca Lim
Series: Mercy #2
Published by HarperCollins
Pages: 304
Genres: Paranormal YA, Young Adult
Source: Purchased myself
Add to Goodreads
Rating:
Also in this series: MercyMercy is an angel with a shattered memory, exiled from heaven for a crime she can’t remember committing. So when she ‘wakes’ inside the body and life of eighteen-year-old Lela Neill, Mercy has only limited recall of her past life. Her strongest memories are of Ryan, the mortal boy who’d begun to fall for her – and she for him.
Mercy soon discovers that circumstances have forced Lela into waitressing at the Green Lantern, a busy city café frequented by suits, cab drivers, strippers, backpackers and the homeless, while caring for her terminally ill mother.
Just as Mercy is adjusting to Lela’s life, her beloved, Luc, reappears in her dreams, and she begins to glimpse her true nature and true feelings for Ryan. What she does not know is that her attempts to contact Ryan may have explosive consequences for everyone around her. Meanwhile, ‘the Eight’ — the angelic beings responsible for her banishment — remain determined to keep Mercy and Luc apart, forever...
Thoughts: Wow, this book was just… lovely. Just as ethereal and otherworldly as the first book in the series, Mercy, albeit not quite on the same epic scale. But even still, it was fantastic. Beautiful and just… lovely.
OK, specifics. Our amnesiac heroine, Mercy, is as tough as ever. This is an angel who may not have any idea who she is, but that hasn’t made her weak. She’s fearless and strong – she can do anything, except, well, escape her body. She’s a protector, not the protectee. Mercy is one of my very favourite YA heroines and she deserves more fans!
While I can still call her an amnesiac, she actually grows a lot more aware of her powers, her history, and her relationships with Luc and Ryan. She becomes more “awake”, looking at her situation without the love-spectacles forced on her by Luc. Suddenly things she had never been capable of thinking about – the circumstances that led to her being trapped in mortal bodies, the reasons why Luc actually wants to find her, and her growing feelings for Ryan – become all she can think about.
And while we are only the subject… Ryan. I am so glad Rebecca Lim brought him back for Exile! I fell for him as slowly as Mercy did – it took me up until the last page of Mercy to really start to feel for him. But by the time Exile came around, he was the highlight. This is a guy that fell in love with a body-snatcher while she was wearing the body of an underdeveloped, acne-ridden teen. In other words, he’s a diamond in the friggin’ rough.
Bottom line? You have to read this series. If you’ve been let down by other Angel YA, this will restore your faith… literally.
by Kay | Jun 30, 2011 | Reviews |
Brother/Sister by Sean Olin
Librarything / Goodreads
Genre: Young Adult Thriller
Received for review from Puffin
Rating: 4 stars
Pages: 256
Summary: Will and Asheley have a troubled past. Their father left them when they were little, and their mother has just been carted off to an alcohol treatment center. Now, they have the house to themselves, and an endless California summer stretching out before them. Through alternating perspectives, they tell the story of how and why their lives spun violently out of control – right up to the impossibly shocking conclusion you’ll have to read for yourself to believe.
Thoughts: I really really enjoyed this book. I mean, really enjoyed it. Or maybe I loved it. Now that I think about it, I think I did kind of love it. Loved it like you love your best friend even after they’ve killed their father…
Where was I? Oh yes, Brother/Sister.
This book is dark – very dark. It has the magical trio that would make it great source material for an HBO show: great characters, bloody deaths and incest (albeit, there’s not that much incest). The novel jumps between two main characters, siblings Will and Asheley, as they recount their story to the police. Even though they were telling the same story, the differences between their accounts were fantastic. You know how they say no two people see the same thing? Well, that is exactly what Brother/Sister plays on. I was never sure which of them was the stable one…
Neither of the siblings have had any stability outside each other. Their father abandoned them, their mother is a violent alcoholic, and their school mates are all self-centred, abusive and petty children. That this turned Will and Asheley into less-than-stable individuals is not surprising. That I liked them and rooted for them anyways, well, that was rather surprising.
But while the characters and their ultra-realistic world were excellent, it was the mystery and suspense kept me reading. I thought I knew where the book was going, but half way through Olin took it to a whole new level. Most novels have 1 twist, Brother/Sister must have had 50. Hell, there were twists within the twists.
And the ending… just, wow. The ending made this book for me. Just when I thought things were winding down, BAM. Olin brings in yet another plot twist out of left field.
Bottom line? Brother/Sister is unexpected. Unexpectedly good, thrilling, disturbing… just unexpected. Read it if you’re starting to tire of the cookie-cutter YA that has been clogging the shelves.
Regarding release dates: This book is currently out in hardback in the US, but UK readers will have to wait until August 4th to get their paperback copy.
by Kay | Jun 23, 2011 | Reviews |
Night Life by Caitlin Kittredge
Series: Nocturne City #1
Published by Gollancz
Pages: 352
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Source: Purchased myself
Add to Goodreads
Rating: Nocturne City could be any big city in the US. Poor areas, rampant drugs and violent crime, witches, demons and were creatures. Homicide detective Luna Wilder is investigating the death of a drug addict and comes across a drug that is more a spell than a chemical. A drug that leads her to the centre of a vicious war being fought between witches, a war that threatens to unleash hell on Nocturne City. Backed by a gritty take on crime and a vivid look inside a police department leading a fight against crime out of our worst nightmares the nocturne city novels bring crime to Dark Fantasy.
Thoughts: I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed the protagonist, Luna, with her impulsive, kick-ass ways; the universe with its out-but-not-accepted!supernaturals; the bloody, complicated magic that actually made sense; and, of course, the love interest Dmitri, who was such a bad catch, it’s ridiculous.
And yet, there are a number of reasons why I shouldn’t have enjoyed Night Life. For starters, a lot of Luna’s erratic, stupidly fearless behaviour was blamed on her being a were. Same went for her love interest Dmitri. One minute they are getting on just fine, the next they have nearly come to blows, and then they are jumping each other’s bones. Unbelievable would be putting it lightly… or so one would think. It worked in Night Life – and so did a number of other things you’d think would have me rolling my eyes. For example, the book centres around an open-and-shut criminal case. I don’t tend to like my Urban Fantasy overlapping too heavily with a criminal procedure novel – mostly because I think it illogical to have a character chose to risk their life (and the lives of their loved ones) for a stranger. And yet Night Life, for all its criminal fantasy elements, made it work.
I was also surprised by how much I liked Luna. Although she was erratic and had no sense of self-preservation, she was an enjoyable narrator that I could completely root for. Luna’s fierce pursuit for justice, as well as her troubled past (which involves attempted rape and an evil grandmother), made her all the more admirable. And then there was love interest Dmitri… actually, I’m not sure I should call him a love interest. The guy is Bad. News. He has an extremely sordid criminal record and really should be everything I hate. And yet, he proves himself worth his weight more than once… and, well, everyone loves a proper bad boy now and again. Especially when partnered with a heroine who can more than take care of herself.
The only character I was less than fond of was Luna’s cousin – and supposedly her best friend – Sunny. God, did I ever want to show her off a cliff. How could this woman profess to care for Luna whilst defending the man that attacked her and the woman that had kicked her out of her home? *makes stabbing gestures*
Bottom line? Night Life was a welcome respite from the mundane UF I’ve been reading lately. If you want a bit of a rough-and-tumble in your next fantasy, pick this up!
by Kay | Jun 4, 2011 | Reviews |
Night Shift (Jill Kismet #1) by Lilith Saintcrow
Librarything / Goodreads
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Rating: 3 stars
Pages: 416
Summary: Not everyone can take on the things that go bump in the night.
Not everyone tries.
But Jill Kismet is not just anyone.
She’s a Hunter, trained by the best – and in over her head.
Welcome to the night shift…
Thoughts: I picked up Night Shift on the strength of Lili’s YA series, Strange Angels. And while they are obviously written by the same author, I couldn’t quite get a grip on her Jill Kismet series.
This is dark urban fantasy, reminding me on the early Anita Blake books: complete with sexual violence, psychological violence, demonic violence, and, er, violent violence. Not at all cheery. As far as I remember, there are no laugh breaks and no light moments – and they would have felt forced if they’d been included. As for Jill, she’s just as dark and twisty as the verse. She’ll need about 100+ years of therapy before being allowed into regular society. But Jill’s also tough, kick-ass, and extremely independent; this is a woman who jumps straight into the fight.
Does any of this sound familiar? Well, it should. Night Shift is an a-typical Urban Fantasy book. Almost every trope you’ve ever read is included… but the way it’s been written makes it all seem rather new. Let’s be honest here, people. As much as we like “a fresh take on urban fantasy”, there’s something to be said for a decent take on the bog-standard. And, well, Night Shift is just that.
So, if I liked the tropes and the dark-twisty characters, why aren’t I giving this book more stars?
The short answer: emotion. The long answer: the lack of emotion. We spend the entire novel hearing about Jill’s painful loss of her mentor Mikhail (who I thought was a total creep) and her terrible fear of Perry-the-demon (who wasn’t all that scary) – all through her extremely snarky and self-deprecating inner-voice. And despite this – or maybe because of this – absolutely none of her emotions seemed real. I didn’t “get” her, nor was I particularly keen to.
Bottom line? Night Shift is a solid urban fantasy novel, but I’d only recommend it to die-hard fans. That said, I’ll probably continue the series as I think Jill just needs to grow on me!
by Kay | May 31, 2011 | Reviews |
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
Series: Peter Grant #1
Published by Gollancz on 2012-07-01
Pages: 416
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Source: Purchased myself
Add to Goodreads
Rating: This is London as you've never seen it before.
A city of wonders and terrors.
London is a city full of ancient secrets, a city haunted by its past. A city where you are never far away from the magic.
And now meet the person who will show you the city you never suspected...
My name is Peter Grant, and I used to be a probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police Service, and to everyone else as the Filth.
My story starts when I tried to take a witness statement from a man who was already dead.
There is something dark at the heart of the city I love...
Thoughts: Rivers of London was very nearly great. The quote on the gorgeous cover says “What would happen if Harry Potter grew up and joined the Fuzz” and it is exactly that. Our adult-HP-hero, Peter, has the same not-a-genius-but-rather-savvy way about him. He also has a fantastically dry, English sense of humour which constantly made me chuckle. Add to that the wonderful, spot-on London setting, and we should have had the makings for a fantastic book. And while there were times when I loved it, it did drag. But before I move on to that, I’d like to share a few fantastic lines from the book:
“On the minus side, Covent Garden had nearly burned down, but on the positive side there weren’t any major bus routes or tube lines affected.” – p. 337
“I have an idea,” I said.
“This better not be a cunning plan” said Lesley.
Nightingale looked blank, but at least it got a chuckle from Dr Walid.
“It is, in fact,” I said, “a cunning plan.” – p.249
‘It’s a myth that Londoners are oblivious to one another on the tube: we’re hyper-aware of each other and are constantly revising our what-if scenarios and counter strategies. What if that suavely handsome yet ethnic young man asks me for money? Do I give or refuse? If he makes a joke do I respond, and if so will it be a shy smile or a guffaw? If he’s been hurt in a fight does he need help? If I help him will I find myself drawn into a threatening situation, or an adventure, or a wild interracial romance? Will I miss supper? If he opens his jacket and yells ‘God is great’, will I make it down the other end of the carriage in time?
All the time most of us were devising friction-free strategies to promote peace in our time, our carriage and please God at least until I get home. It’s called, by people over sixty, common courtesy, and its purpose is to stop us from killing each other.’ – p.244
So, as you can see, Aaronovitch knows how to deliver the funnies. Rivers of London is filled with snark, sarcasm and genuinely insightful humour. Aaronovitch also really understands London – the people, the streets, the transport, everything. His descriptions of the city kept me reading and really made me want to love the book.
But when it came to everything else – the plot, characters, the universe – the novel dragged. I mean it seriously dragged – picking it up every night required concerted effort on my part. I never grew attached to any of the characters, as I never actually got to know them. While I enjoyed Peter’s snarky remarks, I couldn’t quite work out what he was all about. Was he a damaged, traumatized kid-in-a-uniform? Or was he as confident as he snark made him seem? I never found out. And then there was the story, which had some 12 unrelated plot-strands floating through it without any obvious overlap. I never quite understood what was going on – and even when I did, nothing was work staying awake for.
Bottom line? Londoners should find Rivers of London amusing and rather touching – but non-Londoners won’t be able to see past the faults. But I think Aaronovitch will improve with his next book, and am willing to stick around to find out.
P.S. Although the English cover is gorgeous, the US cover should be avoided like the plague.
