Christopher Moore: You Suck

• ISBN-13: 9780060590307
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Publication date: 1/8/2008
• Pages: 352

Being undead sucks. Literally.
Just ask C. Thomas Flood. Waking up after a fantastic night unlike anything he's ever experienced, he discovers that his girlfriend, Jody, is a vampire. And surprise! Now he's one, too. For some couples, the whole biting-and-blood thing would have been a deal breaker. But Tommy and Jody are in love, and they vow to work through their issues.
But word has it that the vampire who initially nibbled on Jody wasn't supposed to be recruiting. Even worse, Tommy's erstwhile turkey-bowling pals are out to get him, at the urging of a blue-dyed Las Vegas call girl named (duh) Blue. 
And that really sucks. 

 Oh, Christopher Moore. You brilliant problem child.
 I found this installment of his vampire trilogy to be funnier than the first, for whatever reason. I think it was the more adept incorporation of additional characters. Most of the characters were old acquaintances, and in this volume they were more fleshed out. The Animals took an interesting (re: gross) turn, but they were pulled back on track by the sheer magnitude of their stupidity, so that was a lesson learned. Jody seems to be heading down a path that Tommy had not initially expected, and I foresee that causing problems in the future.
We were introduced to a doofy goth girl who practically worships her vampire overlords, and so she's a weird companion to the Animals. Elijah is back (the vampire that turned Jody) and he has a few other master vampires at his back to help him take care of the mess Jody and Tommy, and by association, he, have unintentionally created. In the end, Jody and Tommy wind up in the same state in which Jody began the novel: as bronzed statues. Spoilers. I won't tell you how they got there, but there is one more novel in this strange series, and we know they're not going to stay that way.
Overall: B+
Weird, funny, and slightly disturbing. Moore's MO. Better than the last one. Still kinda gross.

Jacqueline Carey: Kushiel's Avatar

• ISBN-13: 9780765347534
• Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates
• Publication date: 3/1/2004
• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Pages: 768

The land of Terre d'Ange is a place of unsurpassed beauty and grace. It is said that angels found the land and saw it was good...and the ensuing race that rose from the seed of angels and men live by one simple rule: Love as thou wilt.
Phedre no Delaunay is a woman pricked by Kushiel's Dart, chosen to forever experience pain and pleasure as one. Her path has been strange and dangerous, and through it all the devoted swordsman Joscelin has been at her side. Her very nature is a torturous thing for them both, but he is sworn to her and he has never violated his vow: to protect and serve.
But Phedre's plans put Joscelins pledge to the test, for she has never forgotten her childhood friend Hyacinthe. She has spent ten long years searching for the key to free him from his eternal indenture, a bargain he struck with the gods - to take Phedre's place as a sacrifice and save a nation. Phedre cannot forgive - herself or the gods. She is determined to seize one last hope to redeem her friend, even if it means her death.
The search will bring Phedre and Joscelin across the world, to distant courts where madness reigns and souls are currency, and down a fabled river to a land forgotten by most of the world.
And to a power so mighty that none dare speak its name. 

The cool thing about the word Carey has created is that it is essentially a parallel universe. It is the world as we know it, with different names. Terre d'Ange - France. French for Land of Angels. Caerdicca Unitas - Italy. The land that she goes to seek? The missing tribe of Israel. The One True God? Well, God. Capital G. So, if you know your history, your geography, and your religions, you should be able to tell which one she is talking about and kind of anticipate the culture and what to expect. I think it's cool, although it is, admittedly, a bit of a rip off.
Onto the story: you thought the Phedre/Joscelin drama was done, didn't you? Nope, no, not at all. Joscelin has mostly accepted Phedre's need for pain, but it is taken to a whole new, grotesque level in this book, and he just can't cope. Quite frankly, I probably would have the same problem if I knew what a loved one was going through and had to watch her be abused publicly. So this is perhaps the one time when I totally get where Joscelin is coming from. On the other hand, Phedre's cause is noble and necessary.
We  have two storylines going on here: one, Phedre's quest to save Melisande's son and potential heir to the throne. He's been kidnapped and enslaved in the worst possible place and Phedre has to head into the heart of darkness to rescue him. That accomplished, she continues her second mission, with the help of a hint from Melisande traded for her first mission: to save Hyacinthe by finding the true name of the One God. And that's where all the Christian mythology comes in. Just when you think you've been through enough, just kidding, we have a whole 'nother quest.
Carey is wordy, as always. However, she keeps it interesting. You begin to notice a very distinct writing style and oft-used phrases the further you go on, but it's not so noticeable that it detracts from the story. The ending is happy, and everyone gets what the want. Basically. Which is a real accomplishment in one of this series.
Overall: A-
This book was hella gory and painful. Lots of people dying and being abused in horrible ways. But Phedre gets what she wants, as ever, and shows her wits and ingenuity in the process. Enjoyable as always, if overlong and overwrought at times.

Georgette Heyer: Pistols for Two

• ISBN-13: 9781402256981
• Publisher: Sourcebooks, Incorporated
• Publication date: 2/7/2012
• Pages: 256

Intrigue, elegance, and glittering romance...
In eleven charming short stories, the Queen of Regency romance presents an exquisite romp through affairs of honor and affairs of the heart. Featuring rakes and rascals, orphans and heirs, beauties and their beaus, the legendary Georgette Heyer's signature wit and inimitable style bring the Regency world dazzlingly alive. 

 Sometimes I forget how much I love Georgette Heyer. And then I read Georgette Heyer, and I remember. This particular work is actually an anthology of short stories. And every one of them is satisfying in its own way. They are, of course, all romantically inclined, some more so than others, and they are all humorous. Not necessarily the laugh-out-loud-and-hold-your-stomach kind of humorous, more along the lines of hijinks and strange personages. Several of the stories are cases of mistaken identity, or simply mistaken assumptions. Some are the exigencies of youth. All are delightful, I assure you.
 Normally, I don't like short stories. At least, romantic short stories. Most of the time, authors are unable to fit a truly engaging love story into so few pages and have you feel satisfied at the end. You're left wanting something more, wandering what happened to the couple when the story ended. Here, you might wonder what happened after, but it doesn't feel like you're missing something. They are fully complete. Love it.
 Overall: A+
 I really love Georgette Heyer. I might have given a slightly higher mark than normal simply because my expectations are lowered for short stories, and these were just so excellent, but I will always give Heyer high points. Definitely go read this. Or read her whole canon. That would be best.

Kim Harrison: Early to Death, Early to Rise

• ISBN-13: 9780061441691
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Publication date: 4/26/2011
• Pages: 256

Madison Avery's dreams of fitting in at school died when she did. Especially since she'd maintained the illusion of a body, dealt with a pesky guardian angel, and oh yeah, brought the reaper who killed her to his untimely end. Not exactly in-crowd material.
Now Madison has learned that she's inherited the job of dark timekeeper and is in charge of angels who protect fate, whatever that means. Never one to abide by the system, Madison forms a group of rogue angels who definitely don't heed the rules of the heavens. But as she grapples with terrifying new powers, Madison may not be prepared for what lies ahead - unless she gets some seriously divine intervention.

If you haven't been following the story up to this point, here's a refresher: Madison - she dead. And she's now in charge of the "Dark" reapers. The big problem with that is that she's not really into doing the job as described. The main conflict of the story is that age old supernatural go-in-hand: Choice. The light reapers and their commander, Ron, foresee a person doing something naughty, one might even say evil, and they decide to preemptively take him out. Madison believes that a person should have the chance to change their minds, to be the better person.
 In this installment, we're dealing with a computer virus and two best friends by the names of Ace and Shoe. I won't let you in on the big twist, but I will tell you one of them is a major douchebag and the other a misguided, but essentially good-hearted, doof.
 Other characters include Madison's frequently exasperated bestie, Barnabas, and her newly acquired reaper, Nakita, who switched to her side in the last book. Also, Paul, Ron's naive new apprentice, who winds up showing some good sense in the end. Three cheers for Paul, keep up the good work on thinking for yourself.
Overall: B+
 It was pretty well written, but there were times when it felt a little rushed and cut off. This is the penultimate book, though, so we have to wait until the next one to see how Madison resolves to resolve her problems.

J.R. Ward: Lover Unleashed

• ISBN-13: 9780451235114
• Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
• Publication date: 11/1/2011
• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Pages: 576

A fighter by nature, a maverick when it comes to the traditional role of the Chosen female, Payne is cut from the same warrior cloth as her brother. And that's before human surgeon Dr. Manuel Manello gets sucked into her dangerous world. Although he's never believed in things that go bump in the night - like vampires - he's more than willing to be seduced by the powerful female who marks him as her own. But as the two find so much more than an erotic connection, the human and the vampire worlds collide...just as a centuries-old score catches up with Payne and puts both her love and her life in deadly jeopardy.

 This one felt a little rushed, guys. I think this was due in part to two things: one, we've already been introduced to the two main players. Payne and Manny. We know their circumstances. Two, Ward has recently been really into starting romance storylines early, long before she reaches the pairing's main book. For example, we've been dealing with Qhuinn and Blay and their angst for the last few books now. Don't get me wrong - I love Qhuay and their angst. I can't wait to read their book. But a lot of time is spent in the novels leading up to theirs focusing on their issues. Which then takes away from the main pairing.
 In this novel, Wrath accidentally breaks Payne's back in a sparring match. Big whoops. V's mate, Jane, can't do much to help her, so they call in her specialist friend and former potential flame - Dr. Manuel Manello. Kind of a terrible name. He's shocked to find Jane alive (sort of) but as is the way in Ward's wacky world, he sees Payne and it's instant love. Or lust. Or a combination of both. V is naturally over-protective, and he's going through his own crap with Jane and his own mental space as well, which also takes time away from Payne and Manny, but hey. Necessary evil. I won't spoil it for you, but suffice to say everyone gets their pretty happy ending.
 We also have introductions to the Band of Bastards, Xcor's drama, and some murder-y goodness, which I hear is really set up for a Fallen Angels novel. So there's a lot going on.
 Overall: C+
 Quite a few times, the drama felt contrived. I didn't feel enough time was dedicated the ostensible main couple. BUT we did get a lot of new information and set up for future books. And it was, as always, entertaining. Probably my least favorite thus far, though.

Hideyuki Kikuchi: Mysterious Journey to the North Sea Part 1

• ISBN-13: 9781595821072
• Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
• Publication date: 5/2/2007
• Series: Vampire Hunter D Series , #7
• Pages: 280

 A hero, no matter how reluctant, can never refuse the last request of a beautiful girl. 
 When a young woman traveling across the scarred wastelands is murdered over the possession of a strange jewel, she entrusts the gem, with her final breath, to the mysterious Vampire Hunter known as D, and charges him with a desperate mission - to deliver the priceless stone to her sister, far off in a fishing village on the shores of the North Sea.
 D's journey is made ever more perilous by the motley unsavory scoundrels and rogues enlisted by the girl's murderer, who will stop at nothing to claim the jewel. Determined the hunter will not reach his destination, the villains are relentless in their pursuit, one of them harboring a secret, deadly agenda of his own.

 If Dickens in my last review shows the very pinnacle to which humanity can reach, Kikuchi is the master of showing the very depths. Every single novel has a plethora of characters that are the most despicable, low-down, conniving bastards the earth has ever produced. And if that's what you're looking for, this novel doesn't disappoint.
 One of the things that has been bothering me about the progressing adventures of the Vampire Hunter D, is the strangely increasing conversation of the intrepid hero. The author goes on and on and on about the silent and stoic Hunter, but he has been steadily becoming more talkative. If you're going to continue to portray him as the strong silent type, he should remain mostly silent. That's all I'll say about that.
 The adventure in this volume centers around a mysterious pearl that everyone seems to be after without seeming to have any clear idea what it is. The usual number of competitor warriors that think they can defeat D have increased as well. There's at least seven that we know of, and that's just right off the bat. This is a two-parter, so who knows what we'll get next time around.
 In addition, we have a possible Noble on the loose. More remains to be seen on that front, but it does seem like we might get a little more history on D. Exciting.
 And hey, let's give a round of applause for Su-In, the girl he's supposedly helping, who loses her whole family and still manages to keep her head in the game.
 There isn't much more to say since this novel is largely setting up for the next one, when all the mysteries will supposedly be solved. Although I'm sure the mystery of D's origins will be drawn out for the rest of the series so don't hold your breath.
 Oh, and Kikuchi is still creating the most disgusting villains the imagine can come up with. Ew.
 Overall: B+
 Not a whole lot of action, so to speak, and it left more questions than answers. The next one will probably be much better as we can really sink our teeth into the story.

Charles Dickens: A Tale of Two Cities

• ISBN-13: 9781593081386
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Publication date: 8/1/2004
• Series: Barnes & Noble Classics Series
• Pages: 448

 "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." With these famous words, Charles Dickens plunges the reader into one of history's most explosive eras - the French Revolution. From the storming of the Bastille to the relentless drop of the guillotine, Dickens vividly captures the terror and upheaval of that tumultuous period. At the center is the novel's hero, Sydney Carton, a lazy, alcoholic - but honorable - attorney who is in love with Lucie Manette, a beautiful woman brought up in London. When Lucie marries a man condemned to death for his ties to the aristocratic Evrémonde family, Carton makes the supreme sacrifice on the blood-stained streets of Paris.
 One of Dicken's most exciting novels, A Tale of Two Cities is a stirring classic of love, revenge, and resurrection.
 
This book. Just...ugh. This book
 I suppose I've become jaded, or just have read too many books, but there are very few these days that make me stop and go, "Wow. That was incredible." When I started reading this book, I knew it was going to be well-written, but I didn't think I would like it too much. First of all, it's depressing, we know that from the get-go, and normally books that don't make happy...well, don't make me happy.
 However, this book made me cry, made me hate humanity, and helped me find my faith in them all over again.
 The story centers around the Manette family, Dr. Manette and his daughter, Lucie. They are reunited after nearly twenty years of separation, when the good doctor was wrongly imprisoned in the Bastille. They are at last brought together again by one Mr. Jarvis Lorry. Flash forward to the trial for treason of one Charles Darnay, assisted by one Sydney Carton. Both men in love with Lucie, both looking surprisingly similar; however, one is a French aristocrat who has forsaken his inheritance to make his own way as a tutor in England and the other a wastrel lawyer who has squandered his youth in booze.
 Aside from all these wonderful personal issues, there's a revolution on in France. Ah, yes, that spectacle of liberty, the French Revolution. Started off as a good idea and degenerated into mass violence, betrayal, and madness.
 The novel does a wonderful job of portraying the insanity of the times. I felt genuine terror for what it must have been like to live in those times, never knowing if you were going to be the next one sent to Madame Guillotine for an unknown crime. Along with that terror and disgust of the extravagancies of the uprisen poor, you are also made to feel how very bad their lives actually were, and so you're caught between horror and sympathy. Except for Madame Defarge. She can just go straight to hell and never return.
 Finally, the novel ends in a last act of ultimate sacrifice. A beautiful moment in the face of stark brutality. I don't mind telling you, I cried. It was a beautiful, sad cry.
 Overall: A+
 I am pretty sure that if someone asks, I'm going to say this is my favorite book from here on out. I recommend that everyone read this book. EVERYONE.

Janet Evanovich: Wicked Appetite

• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks; First Edition edition (August 16, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-13: 978-0312383350

Lizzy Tucker has inherited a historic house in Marblehead, Massachusetts, taken a new job as pastry chef for Dazzle's Bakery in Salem, and set her sights on a comfortable future. The comfortable future and any hope for normalcy evaporates when dark-haired, dark-hearted Gerwulf Grimoire and his nemesis, a blond beach bum named Diesel, enter Dazzle's and change Lizzy's life forever.
 Grimoire has set his sights on the Stones of SALIGIA, rumored to have found their way to Salem. These seven stones, each representing one of the seven deadly sins, can bestow frightening powers upon its owner. Powers that would be dangerous in Grimoire's hands...
 Diesel is a man with a mission: to stop Grimoire at all costs. In order t do so he'll need to convince the baker she alone has the ability to keep Grimoire from the stones. Once Lizzy and Diesel become a team, Diesel will have to guard Lizzy's body...day and night.
 The Seven Deadly Sins pretty much cover everything that's wicked. Diesel thinks they also pretty much cover everything that's fun. And Lizzy thinks Diesel and The Sins cover everything her mother warned her about...
 
 I sometimes forget how short Evanovich novels generally are these days. No less funny, no less ridiculous, no less Evanovich-y, but short.
 In Wicked Appetite, the first of the Lizzy and Diesel series, Lizzy is initiated into the world of the Unmentionables. And no, I'm not talking about your grandmother's underwear. I'm thinking there are going to be at least seven in the series, because I am a fan of complete-ness (not completion, mind you) and I swear to God if she doesn't hit all seven deadly sins...there will be hell to pay. See what I did there?
 Diesel, who we know from the between-the-numbers holiday books of Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series, is hunting Gerwulf Grimoire, his cousin, who is looking for the stones of the seven sins in order to rule the world. According to Diesel, of course. Lizzy seems to be the only person around who can help him, having the Unmentionable ability of being able to sense Unmentionable objects. Sound convoluted? It's not really. She makes Unmentionable cupcakes.
 Evanovich's humor shines through, as usual, in the completely unrealistic and ridiculous antics her characters get up to and the completely bemused, I-give-up-let's-roll-with-it attitude with which they confront their increasingly complicated lives. Her usual animal sidekicks are present in the forms of the monkey Carl and Cat, the one-eyed guardian of Lizzy's inherited home.
 As far as characterization goes, Evanovich has started to rely on tropes. Her girls are good-natured, awkward ladies confronted with strange circumstances who have breakdowns every once in a while that are easily tempered with baked goods. The men are sweet but occasionally lascivious. There's the crazy sidekick who is also good-natured but constantly causing problems. It's a formula that works, but it's a formula nonetheless.
 Overall: B
 There wasn't much punch to this novel, but it was funny and enjoyable. Hopefully the plot is cleared up a little more in future books. The characters aren't even really certain what they're looking for most of the time.

Diana Gabaldon: Dragonfly in Amber

• Mass Market Paperback: 976 pages
• Publisher: Dell; Reprint edition (November 2, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-13: 978-0440215622

For twenty years Claire Randall has kept her secrets. But now she is returning with her grown daughter to Scotland's majestic mist-shrouded hills. Here Claire plans to reveal a truth as stunning as the events that gave it birth: about the mystery of an ancient circle of standing stones...about a love that transcends the boundaries of time...and about James Fraser, a Scottish warrior whose gallantry once drew a young Claire from the security of her century to the dangers of his...
 Now a legacy of blood and desire will test her beautiful copper-haired daughter, Brianna, as Claire's spellbinding journey of self-discovery continues in the intrigue-ridden Paris court of Charles Stuart...in a race to thwart a doomed Highlands uprising...and in a desperate flight to save both the child and the man she loves...

She even used the book title twice in the book (at least). Label me impressed.
 This book picks up right where the last one left off, once you get into the second part. First, though, you have to suffer through a few chapters of intense confusion. Claire is back in the present for some reason that we cannot at that point fathom, and she's looking for information on the men who died at Culloden, the very battle she was trying to prevent when last we left her. So immediately we know she failed. The question then becomes how and why.
 From there on it's a fairly romping adventure through France and back to Scotland with murder, scandal, and, of course, political intrigue. Jamie and Claire are trying to sabotage James and his Charles' attempt to initiate a revolution in England to gain the throne from George, but they have to appear to be Jacobites in order to farm their information without suspicion. This leads to some pretty uncomfortable circumstances as can be imagined.
 The one complaint I would have to lodge is a pacing issue. There are quite a few times when I was reading and I wondered why I was reading about some minute moment in Claire Randall's life. The book is already pretty massive and packed with action, so I could have done without some example of random domesticity. At the end, when you think it might be time to be close to over, you're wrong. The book continues far beyond what is reasonable. It seemed to be wondering in the last few chapters, skipping huge chunks of time. It was almost as if she was trying to cram everything into the last few sections and it came out kind of a trainwreck, I felt. Finally, the giant "plot twist" at the end seemed random and irrelevant when it came down to it. You didn't see it coming because a) it was almost forgotten and b) there was absolutely no hint of it. Rule #1 of writing a good mystery - don't pull your suspects or your motives completely out of your ass.
 SPOILER ALERT SPOILER SPOILER DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT A SPOILER
Aside from the pacing issues, the characterization was great. I especially enjoyed the development of Jack Randall (yes, he shows back up, are we really all surprised?). She did an excellent job of compromising what you thought of him and letting you see that maybe he had a softer side after all. And I thought Jamie learned a huge lesson in the last scene with Randall as well.
 Overall: B-
 The pacing issues really did bother me.

Thomas Hardy: Tess of the d'Urbervilles

• ISBN-13: 9781593082284
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Publication date: 6/5/2005
• Pages: 544

Highly controversial because of its frank look at the sexual hypocrisy of Victorian society, Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles was nonetheless a great commercial success when it appeared in 1891. It is now considered one of the finest novels in English.
 Using richly poetic language to frame a shattering narrative of love, seduction, betrayal, and murder, Hardy tells the story of Tess Durbeyfield, a beautiful young woman living with her impoverished family in Hardy's fictionalized Wessex, a pastoral community in southwestern England. After the family learns of their connection to the wealthy d'Urbervilles, they send Tess to claim a portion of their fortune. She meets and is seduced by the dissolute Alec d'Urberville and secretly bears a child, Sorrow, who dies in infancy. Angel Clare, a very different man, seems to offer Tess love and salvation, but he rejects her - on their wedding night - after learning of her past. Emotionally bereft, financially impoverished, and victimized by the self-righteous rigidity of English social morality, Tess escapes from her vise of passion through a horrible, desperate act. 
 With its compassionate portrait of a young rural woman, powerful criticism of social convention, and disarming consideration of the role of destiny in human life, Tess of the d'Urbervilles is one of the most moving and memorable of Hardy's novels.
 
 This book should be called Tess of the D'UrberVILES.
 Aha, see what I did there?
 Joking aside, there is nothing funny about this book. It is literally a sad fest from beginning to end. Now that you have that out of the way though, and you know that you will derive no happiness from reading this book, you can sit back and enjoy it. Because it really is beautifully written, and when you're reading it you forget a little bit about how miserable it all is.
 Really, this book is one thumper of a social commentary. The subtitle, not presented in this addition, is actually A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented. You would laugh if you knew the story beforehand and read that subtitle. Thanks to me, you can enjoy the inside joke now. Tess is a poor "farm girl," despite the fact that what I can tell, her father and mother do little to no work. She's beautiful and sweet and pure, until Alec D'Urberville comes into her path. A kindly clergyman alerts her father to his ancestry, coming from the illustrious D'Urberville line going back to William the Conqueror, and so her parents send her off to claim kin with the D'Urberville family living up the road. Except they bought into the name, don't actually come from the line. And Alec is a horny philanderer.
 All of this results in the destruction of Tess' life. It's not her fault - and that's the key. She might be blamed for being weak-willed and succumbing to her parents' wishes too easily, but other than that, her plight is the plight of many women before her and probably many after. What Hardy points out is the hypocrisy of society in blaming and punishing the woman for actions outside her control. Even when she attempts to distance herself from the circumstances of her disgrace, she is still held accountable by those who purport to be more understanding. She can't escape and her weakness leads her into more problems, until, finally, there is no way out.
 Well, that's about as best as I can describe it without giving you the entire story. Although, if you're really, super desperate to know the full tale, Wikipedia is your friend. Now let's talk about some characters.
 Alec is a giant douchenozzle to end all douchenozzles. He's manipulative in the extreme. Angel Clare, the other purported protagonist of the tale, is a sweetheart with some serious identity issues. He's parted from his clergyman father because he disagrees with his extremist religious views, but he still can't escape his roots. It's a common problem. No matter how old you get, it's hard to break old habits and ways of thought. Another lesson to take away.
 Overall: B+
 I enjoyed it, mostly because I didn't expect a lot of happiness to come out of it. There were some dry bits, but even in the amidst of wordy paragraphs celebrating odes to the beauty of the countryside, Hardy's craft is obvious. He was a great writer. So there you have it. Don't read this if you want to be happy and have faith in humanity after.

Melissa Marr: Radiant Shadows

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; Reprint edition (February 22, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-13: 978-0061659249

Hunger for nourishment. Hunger for touch. Hunger to belong.
Half-human and half-faery, Ani is driven by her hungers. Those same cravings also attract powerful enemies and uncertain allies - including Devlin, the assassin who is brother to the faeries' High Queen. Ani and Devlin are drawn together, but as they grow closer, a larger threat imperils the whole of Faerie. Will saving the Faery realm mean losing each other?
 Alluring romance, heart-stopping danger, and sinister intrigue combine in the penultimate volume of Melissa Marr's New York Times bestselling Wicked Lovely series.

AH THIS TITLE MAKES SO MUCH SENSE NOW. It's really the only one, other than Ink Exchange, but yeah. Side note of excitement for sudden and blinding comprehension.
 With this installment, Melissa Marr draws one step closer to the final novel in her faery series. She keeps building on her world, which is nice, but on the other hand, I sometimes lose track of who's who. There are just so many characters running around, and shifting of allegiances, that I find myself having to go back every once in a while and refresh on what happened previously. That gets a little annoying, but I'll make the sacrifice for such a good series.
 So, in Radiant Shadows, Sorcha's losing her damn mind, the Summer Court and the Winter Court barely make appearances other than to say that hey, nothing's changed, and the Dark Court is still confusing as hell. Mostly, Irial and Niall confuse me. I have no idea why Niall angsting so hard, but he is, and Irial is still largely awesome, so there are, effectively two Dark Kings. Ish.
 The focus of this novel, one of the so-called "in between" novels, is the halfling Ani, who was introduced in the first novel, I believe. She's part Hound and is incredibly antsy to be accepted. Except that's difficult because she's...special. Enter Devlin, the High Queen's Bloody Hand, re: assassin, who was supposed to kill Ani once upon a time, but clearly didn't. Chaos ensues. Doesn't it always? This time, though, I mean literally: Bananach, War and Disorder embodied, is on the warpath and trying to stir up trouble.
 Marr is building on what she's already created, so there's not a lot of character development going on. It's kind of just getting to know already semi-familiar characters. Unless she throws in a new player, which she does (cough RAE cough DREAMWALKER WHO THE HELL ARE YOU WHAT IS GOING ON cough). Further, the plot is interesting and sufficiently twisty, although she could stand with a little less mystery and a little more exposition. For example, can we have a more clear statement regarding where Ani's wolves come from? What's up with Seth? And also are we just dropping the subject of her supposedly precious blood? (I'm sure that will be answered in the last novel, though.)
 Overall: B+
 It was not my favorite of her novels, and I'm getting a little tired of being denied knowledge gratification until the last few chapters of the novel. But it was still good and it definitely built up the suspense for the next, and last, installment.

Patricia Briggs: Silver Borne

• ISBN-13: 9780441019960
• Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
• Publication date: 1/25/2011
• Series: Mercy Thompson Series , #5
• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Pages: 304

 When Mercy Thompson, mechanic and shape-shifter, attempts to return a powerful fae book she previously borrowed in an act of desperation, she finds the bookstore locked up and closed down. 
 It seems the book contains secrets - and the fae will do just about anything to keep it out of the wrong hands. And if that doesn't take enough of Mercy's attention, her friend Samuel is struggling with his wolf side - leaving Mercy to cover for him lest his own father declare Samuel's life forfeit. 
 All in all, Mercy has had better days. And if she isn't careful, she may not have many more... 
 Mercy Thompson is, hands down, one of my favorite heroines of all time. OF ALL TIME. She's badass, she's brave, she's independent. But in this book she learns something else that we haven't really seen from her yet: she learns that it's okay to lean on someone else and be the weak one for a while. Having spent the last four months immersed in Supernatural, I find this message particularly meaningful after watching Dean Winchester struggle to take all the blame and responsibility of the world on his own shoulders and sacrifice himself for others time and again. OKAY that went where it wasn't meant to go, but the point is, I appreciated Mercy's development all the more because of my Supernatural feels.
 In this installment of her saga, Mercy's dealing with pack and fae bullshit. The pack, being a bunch of mostly old-fashioned dogs, essentially, are having a little trouble accepting a coyote shifter as their Alpha's mate. Since Adam and Mercy are still on precarious ground after her rape of two novels ago, they haven't really taken the time to figure out the dynamics of the magical pack bond that Mercy now has to deal with. Prime time for messing with Mercy's head. Throw in Samuel's mental breakdown (he's very old and very lonely) and you have a recipe for oh-man. And a major plot twist for our favorite white wolf toward the end.
 Also, the fae are after her, again. Although it's not the Gray Lords and it's not a group of fae so much as it's one fae in particular throwing a wretch of a wrench into her life, so that's a plus. Zee's son, Tad, asks Mercy to check in on a mutual friend, and hijinks naturally ensue.
 As I've already kind of intimated, the developing relationship between Mercy and Adam is my favorite part of this novel. Every time something happens to Mercy, Adam climbs the walls and has a freak out, and I, damsel at heart that I am, love to see a man lose his cool when his love is in danger. And since he's a wolf, that means a whole lot more. He has a few this novel, mostly because of the issues with the pack bond, but Mercy handles them supremely and actually talks it out with him, which is a major step in any relationship. So rah-rah on that front. AND BRAN AND CHARLES. They show up briefly and basically any chance to see Bran has me cheering from the rafters.
 Overall: A
 It wasn't as completely action packed as the other novels, but it definitely kept me on the edge of my seat with a ton of "will-he-or-won't-he" situations. Or she. There were a lot. The mystery also had an interesting twist.

Fyodor Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment

• ISBN-13: 9781593080815
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Publication date: 2/1/2007
• Series: Barnes & Noble Classics Series
• Pages: 576

Few authors have been as personally familiar with desperation as Fyodor Dostoevsky, and none have been so adept at describing it. Crime and Punishment - the novel that heralded the author's period of masterworks - tells the story of the poor and talented student Raskolnikov, a character of unparalleled psychological depth and complexity. Raskolnikov reasons that men like himself, by virtue of their intellectual superiority, can and must transcend societal law. To test his theory, he devises the perfect crime - the murder of a spiteful pawnbroker living in St. Petersburg. 
 Raskolnikov soon realizes the folly of his abstractions. Haunted by vivid hallucinations and the torments of his conscience, he seeks relief from his terror and moral isolation - first in Sonia, the pious streetwalker who urges him to confess, then in a tense game of cat and mouse with Porfiry, the brilliant magistrate assigned to the murder investigation. One of the most gripping crime stories of all time, Crime and Punishment delineates the theories and motivations that underlie a bankrupt morality.
 
 I knew I was doomed from reading the first paragraph, simply about Raskolnikov sneaking past his landlady because he didn't want to talk to her, and I related way too much. Like, "Holy shit, this is actually me." Happily, it didn't turn out completely that way, but close enough to be uncomfortable.
 Crime and Punishment is the story of a young college student who has a theory about great men being able/allowed to do things that ordinary men aren't. This leads to him committing a murder pretty much simply to prove his theory and prove himself one of said great men.
 What follows is the slow mental breakdown of Raskolnikov (clearly not the great man he thought he was - aha). He encounters sundry side characters who either contribute to his burden or, in their attempt to understand him, give him hope. There's his mother, Pulcheria Alexandrovna, and his sister, Dunia. His friend Razumikhin, his (girl)friend, Sonia. Of course, he has his antagonists in the forms of Porfiry and Svidrigailov. Oh, the Russian names. Complicated things, my friends, but these are the easiest to remember, I suppose. They all have interweaving storylines - they all know each other in some capacity.
 What makes this novel so compelling is how utterly human they all are. Especially Raskolnikov. You relate to him, his wanderings, his tortures, his emotions. Even if you never would have come up with his theory, you see how he came to it, and all of his actions and his emotions following the murder are so supremely human, I can't even. I related to him even more than I thought. He lashes out at those who love him most when he's angry and hurt and ashamed because he feels he doesn't deserve it, or he knows they will take the abuse and still love him after. It's something I know I do in my own life. His struggles not to collapse entirely when he realizes that Porfiry expects him. Side note about Porfiry: I started off really being irritated by him and his method of police work, but he really pulled through in the end. In his last scene in the book, I even felt a little fondness for the old fellow.
 One of the best parts of the novel, is its overall happy ending. I won't spoil it for you, but I will say that 70% of the characters witness significant improvements to their lives and overall happiness. I'll leave you to guess which ones. Also, the villains of the piece are justly dealt with. I didn't feel that they escaped what they deserved, and I think it was just so refreshing to have a Russian author not crush all my hopes and dreams that I really fell in love with it.
 Overall: A+
 While it dragged in places, as the Russian authors do, I was just so in love with the depiction of raw humanity and the ending that I'll forgive it.

Hideyuki Kikuchi: Pilgrimage of the Sacred and the Profane

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse Books; 1st DH Press Ed edition (December 22, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-13: 978-1595821065

The Cruel Desert between the Inner and Outer Frontiers has a mind, and a heart, of its own.
Granny Viper is a "people finder," a searcher for lost souls along the roads of the forbidding wasteland of 12,090 A.D. Her latest mission: the safe return to her family of an "abductee," a young woman named Tae, kidnapped eight years ago by vampire Nobility and held in Castle Gradinia on the far border of the Frontiers. Rescuing Tae was only half the battle - Viper knows she can't make the rest of the journey with the girl across the formidable expanse to the town of Barnabas alone. But the wizened crone makes a fatal mistake in hiring the mercenary Bullow Brothers to help her, and when she turns to the legendary Vampire Hunter D for salvation the two women and D find themselves in a race for their lives across the blinding desert sands.
 
Another adventure of D - and I really liked this one, mostly because it took D to an emotional place that we'd never seen him before.
 D walks into a Frontier town, like he do, and takes a job from a lawyer engaged in sweaty orgy. Yeah, it surprised me, too. Unfortunately, there are a couple of those happy gunslingers (who usually don't even possess actual guns) that abound on the Frontier who of course want to challenge him. Then there's the one who wants his help, and she's pretty sassy. And also bi-polar, apparently.
 Anyway, with this rag tag group of crazy kids they start across an extremely dangerous desert that they discover...oops, I can't tell you that. Because that would spoil the surprise. But I will tell you this - it's a bit of a "what?" moment. But on to the emotional stuff. The girl in the charge of Granny (sassy lady) is one of the hidden, italics not mine. In other words, she was kidnapped by the Nobility, has served them for who knows how long, and now Granny is returning her to her family, which is an iffy prospect to say the least. There's another surprise about this girl that D strangely connects to, and he, despite the author telling us how cold he is pretty much constantly, protects her from everyone and everything. Not because he has to, but because he's noble and good, and I love that nobody thinks he is, but he's the freaking best. Sorry, babble city right there, but I really love D.
 There's a lot of that strange sort of honor going around in this volume. Each character starts out seeming like a deceptive asshole, but by the end of the book you actually care about each of them. And you're even...somewhat proud of them. And I think that's a great and interesting quality in a novel that is essentially about an emotionless, badass swordsman. Delightfully unexpected.
 Overall: A
 I think this was one of the better ones, plot and pacing wise, although Kikuchi does have a serious problem with keeping pretty much everything obscure. If his plan is to leave us hanging as long as possible and draw the series out, it's working.

Laurell K. Hamilton: Divine Misdemeanors

• ISBN-13: 9780345495976
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Publication date: 7/27/2010
• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Pages: 384

 You may know me best as Meredith Nic Essus, princess of faerie. Or perhaps as Merry Gentry, Los Angeles private eye. To protect my unborn children, I have turned my back on the crown, choosing exile in the human world with my beloved Frost and Darkness. Yet I cannot abandon my people. Someone is killing the fey, which has left the LAPD baffled and my guardsmen and me deeply disturbed. I thought I'd left the blood and politics behind in my own turbulent realm. But now I realize that evil knows no borders, and that nobody lives forever - even if they're magical.

 Merry has given up her throne in faerie, rightfully given to her by Goddess herself, in order to live with her many men and raise her babies in peace. But that's not really going to happen because this is Laurell K. Hamilton, first of all, and second, Merry is the only other available ruler for the Unseelie court and Andais has gone off her rocker, officially. So there are factions galore and everyone wants to kill Merry, maybe. Which we pretty much only get because Doyle still has spies at court.
 Now on to the actual "mystery" portion of the novel. We are, for the first time since like the third book,  back in the real world and working for the detective agency again. It's kind of nice to have an actual problem to solve instead of power politics. Namely, someone has been killing the supposedly immortal demi-fey/lesser fey and Merry is called in to give her expert opinion. Of course, she's followed by her massive entourage because she's pregnant and royal and famous and screw the paparazzi. Basically.
 Now we encounter my first complaint, that actually isn't a huge complaint, but enough to get mentioned - there are way too many characters floating around. Several times I found myself wondering if I'd seen that character before and in what context. She talked about them like we already knew them, but for the life of me I couldn't remember why. Also, since there are so many, it's hard to get any good characterization in. I especially miss Doyle and Frost having the foreground after book 4, I think it was. That, for me, was the best of these novels. We had that emotional breakdown from Doyle when he thought Mistral had been chosen as king to Merry's queen - and it was beautiful. There's not a lot of that going on anymore. There is a lot of emotional/sexual healing going on, though, since all of Merry's guards, which now include Cel's female ex-guards, have some serious mental scars from their abuse at court.
 Which brings me to point number 2: for whatever reason, Hamilton has become incredibly heavy-handed i with her development strategies. We'll be rolling merrily along, detecting, advising, etc. when HALT FOR MERRY'S REVELATION ABOUT A GUARD. We have these strange breaks to have a breakdown, or have some crazy powerful sex, or just to have one of the guards reveal a little more of their life story. There was one particular passage that screamed complete lack of fluidity, being that it jumped between the present investigation, to Merry's thoughts on something else, back to the investigation, and back to Merry's thoughts. Usually Hamilton's much more focused. I think it's a symptom of way too many characters to deal with.
 Other than these complaints (and the shockingly short appearance of Mistral) it was an interesting mystery, and sufficiently squick-y at the end. Although I do think Merry was a tad dense on this one - the clues added up a little faster than she realized.
 Overall: B
 The saving factor for this grade was the murder mystery. Otherwise, I felt like the developments in Merry's world were not coherent, connected, or especially well handled. And I miss the fathers of the babies being around more (yes, I said fathers - Doyle, Frost, Mistral, Sholto, Rhys, and Galen, I believe. Which handily solved the problem of me having too many favorites, and Hamilton as well, is my guess).

Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol

• ISBN-13: 9781593080334
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Publication date: 4/1/2004
• Pages: 304

Generations of readers have been enchanted by Dickens's A Christmas Carol - perhaps the most cheerful ghost story ever. Written in just a few weeks, A Christmas Carol famously recounts the plight of Bob Cratchit, whose family finds joy even in poverty, and the moral regeneration of his miserly boss Ebenezer Scrooge as he is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. 
 From Scrooge's "Bah!" and "Humbug!" to Tiny Tim's "God bless us every one!" A Christmas Carol shines with warmth, decency, kindness, humility, and the values of the holidays. But beneath its sentimental surface, A Christmas Carol offers another of Dickens's sharply critical portraits of a brutal society, and an inspiring celebration of the possibility of spiritual, psychological, and social change. 
 This new volume collects Dickens's three most renowned "Christmas Books," including The Chimes, a New Year's tale and The Cricket on the Hearth, whose eponymous insect chirps amid happiness. 
 
As I really only have The Muppets Christmas Carol as a reference, I have to say - they did a pretty good job of keeping everything accurate. There was never a moment when I said to myself, "Well, that wasn't in the movie."
 But since this is not a movie review, that's all I'll say as far as that goes. I really just wanted to point out that I already knew Scrooge's story fairly well. And it's still one of my favorite Christmas stories. I love the spirit of Christmas present, and I kind of wish he would show up to me some Christmas Eve and take me around and generally have a rockin' good time. Although I would be terribly sad when he eventually grew old as dawn approached. Since everyone pretty much knows A Christmas Carol, I'm pretty much going to leave that one alone. Go read it!
 The second short story in this collection was entitled, "The Chimes." I'm not going to lie to you - I'm not 100% certain what this story was about, for one simple reason - it was a little confusing and also I was extremely tired when I was reading part of it, and was probably fading in and out of consciousness a bit, I blush to say. Essentially, there's a little package-carrier named Trotty that meets the spirits of some bells and they teach him a lesson. That's the major theme in all these stories - spirits teaching lessons. He spends a lot of time thinking about how people are generally bad and especially other poor people, for some reason. The spirits show him that sometimes circumstances lead otherwise good people into desperate situations, and show him a horrible future, pretty just because he was thinking negative thoughts. Of course, he returns home and is grateful for his meager life for the rest of his days.
 Parte trois de this collection is "The Cricket on the Hearth," which is an absolutely lovely story of pure love between two good people and the extent to which love can carry one. That's a lot of love, guys. There's a bitter old man who changes his ways, a sweet little blind girl whose father hides the reality of their bleak life from her unseeing eyes, and a former lover of a young girl who almost destroys a marriage (unintentionally). Sound confusing and like they might not all belong in the same story? I promise it makes total sense and it's a beautiful story. Kind of made me want to have a cricket in my fire place, although I absolutely loathe bugs.
 Overall: A
 Charles Dickens is always a pleasure, but I was particularly pleased with these short stories. They all involved families gathered around a certain communal living space learning to appreciate what they had. And for Christmas, what other lesson is there, really?

Rachel Vincent: My Soul to Keep

• ISBN-13: 9780373210053
• Publisher: Harlequin
• Publication date: 6/1/2010
• Pages: 304

 Kaylee has an addiction: her very hot, very popular boyfriend, Nash. A banshee like Kaylee, Nash understands her like no one else. Nothing can come between them.
 Until something does.
 Demon breath. No, not the toothpaste-challenged kind. The Netherworld kind. The kind that really can kill you. Somehow the super-addictive substance has made its way to the human world. But how? Kaylee and Nash have to cut off the source and protect their friends - one of whom is already hooked.
 And so is someone else...

 NAAAAAASH - she screamed in fury.
 Oh, Rachel, you crazy, sadistic wench. Why must you do this to my emotions on a fairly regular basis? My little fangirl heart can't handle the strain. Although the promise of things to come does somewhat alleviate the pain....
 As I'm sure you've already figured out, Nash and our heroine Kaylee are on the rocks, but why? That is the important question. And not even the most important question. Vincent does a wonderful job in this novel of effectively reproducing the virtually unbounded stupidity of teenagers. Especially rich bitch teenagers. So effective, in fact, that I spend the majority of the novel head-desking hard enough to knock books askew.
 Kaylee and her cousin Sophie are still at odds, mostly because Sophie's a raging bitch-head but also because she sort of blames Kaylee for her mother's death. Emma is dating some moronic jock (so is Sophie, but can we really expect any less? Or more?) who is hell bent on snuffing some new drug, street name "Frost." Real name, Demon's Breath, the highly addictive carbon dioxide exhalation of a hellion from the Netherworld. Sounds fun, right? Getting all jumped up on someone else's bad breath, yum.
 But actually, no, it's highly destructive to the human body and mind, and withdrawal is the mother of all psyche-breakers. Doug and his friends apparently didn't get the memo, and now Kaylee and Nash are out to save all their sorry, thrill-seeking butts. Kaylee, for once, is playing the safe card, wanting to take the whole situation to the adults to handle, but Nash is, for some reason, holding her back, supposedly to protect his dumbass friends. I smell something rotten in the state of Denmark, methinks.
 Also, for some strange reason, Kaylee is unable to sleep because she soul-screams herself right into the Netherworld. Yes, you heard that right. While having nightmares of a death, she screams herself straight out of the real world and into the next, a talent that only the female bean sidhe possesses. Which means she's also going to have to get herself out. After one experience of this, she needs constant watching while she sleeps, to have someone there are to wake her should she start screaming. Fascinating, awkward, and hard to deal with, while also reflecting my actual life at the time of reading. It's the perfect storm of awesomeness.
There isn't too much character development in this installment, unless you count that punch Tod threw at Nash's head, in which case I think we have a deep insight into his character. Save that for later. Ruminate on it, savor it. Think back on it later. Other than that...everyone is pretty static. Other than Nash, of course, and I'm not even going to touch that one with a ten-foot pole for fear of spoilers. Honestly, though, that's about as close as I can even get to the matter without giving the whole thing away, willy nilly.
 Overall: B+
 I was genuinely annoyed with the moronic actions of nearly everyone in the novel, but since they're teenagers, this is, then, a highly accurate depiction. Vincent catches some slack from that. Other than that, I feel like My Soul to Sleep only created more questions rather than solving any of them. We didn't get to see much bean sidhe action, and that was disappointing. Nonetheless, it was still a fun ride.

Julia Quinn: An Offer From a Gentleman

• ISBN-13: 9780380815586
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Publication date: 7/28/2001
• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Pages: 368

Sophie Beckett never dreamed she'd be able to sneak into Lady Bridgerton's famed masquerade ball - or that "Prince Charming" would be waiting there for her! Though the daughter of an earl, Sophie has been relegated to the role of servant by her disdainful stepmother. But now, spinning in the strong arms of the debonair and devastatingly handsome Benedict Bridgerton, she feels like royalty. Alas, she knows all enchantments must end when the clock strikes midnight. 
 Who was that extraordinary woman? Ever since that magical night, a radiant vision in silver has blinded Benedict to the attractions of any other - except, perhaps, this alluring and oddly familiar beauty dressed in housemaid's garb whom he feels compelled to rescue from a most disagreeable situation. He has sworn to find and wed his mystery miss, but his breathtaking maid makes him weak with wanting her. Yet, if he offers her his heart, will Benedict sacrifice his only chance for a fairy tale love? 

It's sort of like Julia Quinn knows my life. Or at least the story of Cinderella, anyway. You see, I was raised by my mother and grandparents, but was forced to spend every other weekend with my father and his wife, and their children. My father (now divorced from my stepmother, mwahaha) recently told me that I was Cinderella, which was a little upsetting if he knew that but didn't do anything. But I digress. The point is, my life was very much the Cinderella fairy tale, with the being forced to clean the house I only lived in four days out of the month and verbal abuse by the non-parent. There just wasn't a Prince Charming to come rescue me. I got out on my own. I told you that story not for sympathy, but because that might explain why I'm giving this book higher marks than I perhaps normally would. 

 Sophie Beckett is the illegitimate child of an Earl, a very difficult position to be in during the Regency period (or any time, really, let's be honest). Her circumstances are not as bad as they could be, however, as she is labeled as her father's "ward," and receives all of the luxuries that entails. That is, until he marries and brings in the fabled stepmother and two evil stepsisters. Or, in this case, one evil stepsister and one fairly kind but weak-minded stepsister. Sophie's life takes a distinct turn for the worse upon the death of her father, and she is forced into unpaid servitude.
 Enter Bridgerton Number Two, better known as Benedict. He falls in love with a mysterious lady at a masquerade ball (HMM WHO COULD THAT BE?) but loses her to the stroke of midnight, only to come across Sophie in rather unfortunate circumstances a few years later. Hijinks naturally ensue.
 What really struck me about this novel is the reality of it, as I've said. Some people are blessed with loving step-parents. I have one. The other one. He's more of a father to me than my actual father, which doesn't bother me in the least. However, every once in a while, you get those people that feel put upon to care for children that are not there own, for however brief a time. They believe that the other child is somehow detracting from the love and/or attention that they and their children deserve. I've seen it, I've experienced it, and so I relate to Sophie on a very personal level. Huge credit for that goes to Quinn for painting a realistic portrait of those emotions. She does, however, stray into "excuse me, what" territory with the final big fight between Benedict and Sophie. I felt that his anger there was a little unjustified and used mostly to motivate plot movement.
 Characterizations are fun and interesting, as usual. We see much more interaction between the younger three Bridgerton sisters, as Daphne has already had her story told and they are the only ones remaining in the house to received the attentions of ladies'-maid-Sophie. They always provide a healthy dose of humor at perfect moments i.e. the scone incident.
 The pacing of the novel was great, as well. I was never bored, nor did I feel that it moved too fast to be considered a novel. Again, Quinn is one of my favorite romance writers, mostly because her books deal with real emotional issues, for each character, and the sex is not all important to the books. The characters' relationships are based on emotions and getting to know the other, and less on physical desire, which is a nice change from other romance novels of today.
 Overall: A
 Again, giving this one higher scores than normal for personal reasons. But honestly, without those, it would still have been at least an A-.

Rachel Vincent: Alpha

• ISBN-13: 9780778328186
• Publisher: Mira
• Publication date: 10/1/2010
• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Pages: 472

The unscrupulous new Council chair has charged Jace, Marc and me with trespassing, kidnapping, murder, and treason. Yeah, we've been busy. But now it's time to take justice into our own hands. We must avenge my brother's death and carve out the rot at the heart of the Council.
 It's not going to be easy, and loss seems unavoidable, but I have promised to protect my Pride, no matter what. With a target on my back and Marc at my side, I'm heading for a final showdown that can - that will - change everything forever. A showdown I'm not sure I'm ready for.
 But life never waits until you're ready. 

Here we are again at the end of another series. A sad day for all. However, since it's a happy ending, we're not too sad to see it go.
 Faythe is having problems, again. These problems being a nearly seamless continuation of the problems in the previous novel, which had not arrived at a resolution. Calvin Malone is still practicing extreme douchebagger-y, but now Parker's father is pissed off because Faythe gave up his son Jerald to the Thunderbirds - perfectly justifiable, unless you're an ass. Which apparently half the cats in North America are. From what I can tell, in the Pride world, the men are either good guys or a combination of stupid, sadistic, or weak-willed. Thus, we have a fairly even divide between Malone's allies (the assholes) and Faythe's allies (the good guys).
 Now, I have spent a lot of time from basically the fourth book onward being incredibly frustrated with the political structure of the world that the characters inhabit. That's what I'm supposed to be feeling, so I'm not complaining, but one has to wonder why the toms all have medieval mentalities in the modern world. I understand that tabbies are not particularly prolific in the child-birthing department, but that doesn't mean that they automatically hand their lives over to the nearest Alpha male. This is really the core of the problem, other than Calvin's megalomania - the toms can't seem to understand Faythe's desire to be her own woman. Thus we have lots of "rape her because she's a woman and she's standing up to me and I don't know how to deal with that" going on. And I come to one of my issues with this book - many of the characters hit that one dimensional note I was talking about - stupid, sadistic, or weak. That's a little disappointing from someone that I know can do much more.
 My other problem with this book was the wrap up, of which he barely had one. The final big battle only lasted two chapters, and we had one chapter to basically resolve Faythe's relationship status and list the dead and wounded. Not really a wrap up. We know that the way Prides work is going to change, but we have no resolution of some of the basic problems. For example, how is Faythe going to deal with the remnants of Malone's allies? How is Paul Blackwell going to react to the all-out war that just occurred? Will he support Faythe's reign or continue to follow his chauvinistic beliefs? Is Jayce going to take over Malone's Pride? Lots of interesting paths to pursue, and while I appreciate that Vincent was leaving the future open for the reader to imagine, I would have appreciated a little more closure in the political arena.
 Other than that - I greatly enjoyed this book. Faythe has really grown up since Stray, and I was rather impressed with the way she handled the tension between Jace and Marc. Old Faythe might have yelled or run away from the problem - new Faythe merely asks for time and tries her best to maintain an even playing field. Any anger she displays is justified and she uses it to her advantage rather than letting it overwhelm her.
 Overall: A-
 The ending was too abrupt for my taste, but the rest of the book felt like it flew by. Vincent makes you weep, makes you laugh (not so much in this one), and makes you think about what you would do were you in that situation.

Charlaine Harris: Dead to the World

• ISBN-13: 9780441012183
• Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
• Publication date: 5/5/2005
• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Edition description: Reprint
• Pages: 320

  It's not every day that you come across a naked man on the side of the road. That's why cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse doesn't just drive by. Turns out the poor thing hasn't a clue who he is, but Sookie does. It's Eric the vampire - but now he's a kinder, gentler Eric. And a scared Eric, because whoever took his memory now wants his life. Sookie's investigation into who and why leads straight into a dangerous battle among witches, vampires, and werewolves. But a greater danger could be to Sookie's heart - because this version of Eric is very difficult to resist...

 Sookeh and Beel are still on the rocks, and it's looking pretty perminent considering the distinct lack of Beel in this novel. He basically makes an appearance at the beginning to announce he's not going to be in this novel overmuch, and then at the end to help keep everybody from dying. Thanks, bro. Other than that, this installment is all about Sookie and the suddenly-memoryless Eric. 
 There's a new brood of witches in town, and I was shocked at how little they were actually in town. They are threatening basically the entire supernatural community of the area surrounding Bon Temps, yet they are easily dispersed at the end of the novel, and, frankly, don't seem terribly threatening to the actual supernatural community. They just feel more bitchy to me. But personal opinions are personal. I was actually kind of proud of Sookie in this novel. She put on her big-girl britches and managed to take care of all the people she had promised (to herself) she would. She stepped into her adult shoes with a little more eagerness than I was anticipating in certain areas, though. Can we all agree to acknowledge that she does sleep with Eric in this novel, since season four or whatever of True Blood basically follows this novel, and I think anyone who's ever heard anything about True Blood knows this. Okay, that's out of the way. She jumps into bed with him awful quick, though. Surprising. But you go, girl.
 We also have the introduction of some new characters that I feel will be around for quite a bit, namely the Hotshot community of shapeshifters. I kind of really like Calvin, although I couldn't tell you why, distinctly. He just seems really...cool. He also hits on Sookie with determination, and not because he likes her sparkling personality. I like that, and it makes me laugh a little. He's a strong leader and takes care of the shit his people deal out with no problem. I generally have a problem with characters in leadership positions who refuse to discipline their people or acknowledge their wrongdoing. No problem with that here. Bravo.
 Finally, we have Jason being less of an ass than usual, but that's through a lack of presence, really. His one significant contribution to the novel, taken under his own will, was a total ass-hat move that he portrayed as being in Sookie's interest, but was really just him being a greedy bitch. 
 Another character I really enjoyed this time - Pam. Pam is righteous, and the only fault I can find is in her choice of clothing. No pink, Pam. You're better than that. I like the relationship she and Sookie are developing, although it's still in its infancy. I'm expecting some entertaining hi-jinks out of these two, Ms. Harris. And as much as I hate to return to an earlier subject, since it suggests that my review doesn't have good form, I'm also excited for the developing romance of Sookie and Eric. We got a glimpse of what he might once have been, and might still be somewhere inside that heap of ego. He has potential. 
 Overall: A
 It was a great read without annoying me even once. And it brought a lot of ideas and potentialities between the characters to the forefront, making me anticipate the forthcoming novels more than ever before. The action was a little lacking, though, and seemed somewhat anti-climactic at the end. Oh well, you can't have everything.