Series Review: Lords of the Underworld

The next review I'd like to write is on a favored series, The Lords of the Underworld series by Gena Showalter. Gena Showalter has quite a few series and stand alone novels, some of which I've read and some I haven't yet had the pleasure. I've enjoyed everything she's written, but the Lords are a personal favorite. (And there's no vampires!! *smiley face*). I'm sure her other series will make it to a review in this blog in the future (even the ones with vampires...).

Series Overview: There's a lot to like about this series and little to dislike. Although the actual dynamic of the series general plot is a very old, tried and true, how the details and old ideas are put together are original.

The series starts outside Budapest with a castle full of dark, brooding, muscle bound men who keep to themselves. One day a woman stumbles on to their grounds and one of these brooding males takes a shine to her and protects her, in his own gruff way, from the wrath of the rest of his brothers. So far, not so original. Quite a few paranormal romance series starts out as such, but this one was well written and intriguing so I continued to read (and they weren't vampires, which is always a plus).

Here's the interesting part. Gena Showalter has weaved together Greek mythology with more modern day religious icons to create the Lords. Whereas Zeus and the other gods are real in this world, so are Lucifer and a whole host of demons. The titans and a few angels are even thrown in there for good measure.

A very long time ago, a group of demons escaped from hell and ran rampant on earth. As a punishment, the Greek gods put together an inescapable box. The demons were rounded up and placed in the box. A race of men and women were created for the sole purpose of guarding this box. When Pandora was put in charge of the box's safekeeping, there were those who were jealous. Pandora was killed and the box was opened, releasing the evil on the earth again.

Once more the demons were rounded up, but instead of being placed back in the box, they were placed inside each of the warriors that had a hand in their release from Pandora's box. This was a punishment for both the demon and the warrior. Being immortals, they would suffer together forever, the demon once again contained and the warrior driven insane from the demon's torments.

So, of course, after a thousand years or so, each of them start to find females and falls head over heals for them. Funny how that always seems to happen at the same time in each and every series. And also, they are waging war with some big bad human contingent set on their extermination.

Here is a listing of the current books and a few future books (note there are also two short stories not listed below):

• The Darkest Night - Maddox, the keeper of Violence
• The Darkest Kiss - Lucien, the keeper of Death
• The Darkest Pleasure - Reyes, the keeper of Pain
• The Darkest Whisper - Sabin, the keeper of Doubt
• The Darkest Passion - Aeron, the keeper of Wrath
• The Darkest Lie - Gideon, the keeper of Lies
• The Darkest Secret (May 2011) - Amun, keeper of Secrets
• The Darkest Surrender (July 2011) - Strider, keeper of Defeat 

Conclusion: I'm a huge Gena Showalter fan. She hasn't disappointed yet. I love her writing style and have long wished to better my own skill so I can write in a similar style. This is one of the best series I've read and I highly recommend it to any paranormal romance fans out there. There's a little of everything, action, adventure, love, romance, betrayal, and everything else (except vampires! no vampires!). There's some hint at a crossover to her other series and even a mention of Kresley Cole's Immortals After Dark series. It's a world filled with life like characters that you immediately sympathize with and only want to see them happy, even if they are demons.

Series Review: The Nightwalkers

Today’s series has a large and very loyal fan base. It’s The Nightwalkers, a paranormal romance series by Jaquelyn Frank (http://www.jaquelynfrank.com). Although there are vampires, they don’t take a predominant role, which appealed to me greatly in this paranormal romance market flooded with angsty teenage girls and the vampires that love their whininess.


There are several species of Nightwalkers. It’s a generic term used for all of the creatures out there that aren’t human. Nearly all of the Nightwalkers can’t go out in the daylight for one reason or another, hence the name, but this series primarily focuses on demons. It does side track to shapeshifters, vampires and a few others, but the main story line throughout the series is demon.

Series Overview: This series has a lot of plusses, but it also has a lot of minuses. I don’t want to offend any of the hardcore fans out there, but I had to put down the second book (and the third) several times just to take a break. I could have skipped the first third of the book and been fine because the author took that long to explain what happened in the first book. I know why she did it, to make each book stand alone in case someone picked up the second one first, but for those of us who had read the first one, it was incredibly boring. It does get better as the series progresses, and the author uses other methods to explain what’s happened so far in the story.

On the other hand, the world that the author has created is rich and unique. One of my requirements of a good series is that I can lose myself in the world, and I found myself getting lost in these books quite often (in a good way). I liked the characters and even though the writing style of the author annoyed me, I felt connected enough to those characters to continue with the rest of the series. However, I will not be picking up her other two series.

Jacob – This book drew me into the series immediately. Jacob is an enforcer for the demon race. He’s kinda like their police force. Most of his job is keeping demons away from humans. When he becomes uncontrollably drawn to one human in particular, who will enforce him?

Jacob was my favorite book in the series. It introduces the world and there’s just so much potential.

Gideon – This one had the potential of being my favorite if it wasn’t a retelling of the first book and then Gideon’s story. The plot of this one was right up my alley and could have really been fabulous. However, the author likes to use a lot of the telling style. Normally, I don’t mind some telling, but the first third of this book is almost all telling and it got really boring, really quickly. What kept me reading were the characters.

We’re also introduced to the shapeshifters and yet more of this wonderful world is revealed.

Elijah – If you wanted to know more about the shapeshifters, this is the book. There is quite a bit less telling in this book and the style in general is much better. However, these particular characters weren’t my personal favorite. So it remains a good book in the series, but not my favorite.

Damien – We’ve gotten hints about Damien up to this point in the series and we finally get his story. This book deviates from demons and focuses on vampires and shapeshifters almost exclusively. Again, it is better written, but the characters were not my favorite. This one does get more into the ongoing plot and moves the whole series forward. I have to admit that I enjoyed that part.

Noah – I had been looking forward to this book. Noah was one of my favorite characters and I really wanted to see him with a happy ending. That said, I literally put the book down and started yelling because I was so disappointed at his actions. It totally ruined my view of this very beloved character. He does make up for it and everything comes together in the end, but the beginning left a very bad taste in my mouth.

Otherwise, it was a decent book in the series. However, the ongoing plots were barely touched. I don’t know if she plans more in this series, but there are several loose ends that need to be tied up.

Conclusion: Some people rave about this series and how great it is. I think it had potential (I think I’ve used that word very liberally in this post so far), but it ended up fizzling or at least not being as great as it could have been. The plots themselves, the world, and the characters are wonderful. It’s the writing style and the constant rehashing of previous books that turned me off the most (not to mention my disillusionment of Noah in the last book).

If I knew then, what I know now, I probably wouldn’t have picked up this series. Now that I’ve been immersed in the world, I’d continue reading if more books were put out just to see what happens.

She does have two other series going, but I will not be reading them.

Series Review: Black Dagger Brotherhood

Okay, so this is a couple days late. I know you all were just waiting with anticipation.

Today, we’re going to explore the Black Dagger Brotherhood by JR Ward (http://www.jrward.com). This is an intense series from the point of view of the vampires. Humans are the bad guys and vampires just want to be left alone.



Series Overview: Overall, JR Ward creates a world from the vampire’s perspective. They don’t feed off humans, they don’t hurt humans at all really (unless the humans strike first). In essence, they are completely harmless and just want to live their lives. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case. Hunted down and often tortured, their race is dwindling. Only the Black Dagger Brotherhood stands in the way of their extinction.


The Brotherhood is a group of warriors who are enlisted by the king to protect their race. Born only of other warriors and the Chosen (think vampire nuns who exist only to serve their deity and give birth to more brothers), the brotherhood is treated like royalty. Built like mac trucks, they are genetically engineered to be stronger, faster and be fierce protectors.


Ironically enough, the biggest threat to their race is a human militia group, the Lessening Society, led by the Omega (another deity). In this world, vampires don’t even drink human blood; it’s too weak to sustain them. They drink blood of other vampires. They completely and totally leave humans alone, but the lessers insist on killing and torturing them anyway, the big meanies.


The writing is strong and forceful. The plots are usually fairly involved and can be brutal. The characters aren’t always your typical hero/heroine type. They have issues and problems and it’s working through those issues that make the books great.


Here’s what irks me about the books (and these little quirks have totally turned off some people).


1 – For some reason, vampire warriors are gangsta. Everything they say is slang or abbreviated. Quite a few times I had to stop reading to go back and figure out what the heck they were talking about. I usually figured it out, but it did bring me out of the story.


2 – Major brand name dropping. There are constant references to products and brand names. I think this is just her writing style, but some get turned off because they think she’s getting paid to drop names.


3 – This is the one that gets me more than the other two. The names are ridiculous and the “Old Language” from somewhere over in Europe is basically English with a bunch of ‘h’s and ‘r’s stuck in various places. The deity who created vampires is called the Scribe Virgin (and she’s neither scribe nor virgin) and their nemesis is the Omega. Seriously? Yes, seriously.

Dark Lover – this is the start of the series and it starts out with a bang (literally and figuratively). She focuses on the King and a half human/half vampire woman named Beth. This really introduces you into the world and the culture as Beth goes through her coming of age. I found this book enjoyable, but it didn’t enthrall me. It took quite some time for me to pick up the second one. I really didn’t see what the fuss was all about.


Lover Eternal – This is the book that made me a devoted fan of the series. I laughed, I cried, I went through a whole range of emotions. This book focuses on Rhage and a human named Mary. Bella is also introduced and the next book is set up quite nicely. We also start hearing about John Matthew who is key in an ongoing plot throughout the series. (Supposedly, he’s the focus of the next book.)


Lover Awakened – Another great book in the series. So much pain and so much healing. This book focuses on Zsadist and Bella. Some of the other ongoing plots will rip your heart out in this one. There’s a lot going on in the series at this point, so there’s a lot of switching back and forth between the different characters.


Lover Revealed – For many people, this is their favorite one. It was good, but Lover Eternal is still my favorite. This is the story of Butch and Marissa. Marissa got screwed over big time so far, so it’s nice to see her character evolve and grow. Butch has been lingering as a character too and it was time to do something with him.


Lover Unbound – I was extremely anxious to read this book. Vishous was my favorite of the brothers and this was his story. I have to say that he got jipped. In an interview with the author, I found out that Vishous was her least favorite character and that she struggled with this particular book. I have to say that it shows. This story is about Vishous and a little bit about Jane. It’s only redeeming factor is that it really delves into the vampire world and society. Quite a lot is explained in this book. In fact, the author has been criticized that she’d gotten away from the “romance” element and focused on more fantasy instead. Although there is a romance story predominant, it is not the only story and all the other plots do start to compete for dominance.


Lover Enshrined – Since I was disappointed with Vishous’s story, I looked to this one to bring the series back to life for me. Phury is also a favorite of mine and I really wanted to see his life take on a more rewarding path after all he’d been through for his twin brother, Zsadist. This is the story of Phury and Cormia, but as with the previous book, there was very little “romance,” but a whole lot of side plots and soul searching instead.


Lover Avenged – Okay, so after two not quite romance books, I resigned myself to the fact that I was reading this series because the world was so rich and there were a whole lot of side plots going on that I wanted to keep up on. So I read this without expecting too much. This is Rehvenge and Ehlena’s story. I have to say that the romance element was brought back in this book even though there still was quite a lot of side plot still present. Technically, Rehvenge has been a side plot for quite some time and little was known about him. Everything is revealed in this book regarding this character. Ehlena is just sort of along for the ride.


Lover Mine – (To be released next week 4/27) This is John Matthew and Xhex’s story. John’s side plot to this point has been completely heart wrenching and it’s about time for something to get resolved here. This book is set up in the previous book much like Zsadist and Bella’s story was set up. I’m anxious to read this one because of all the other ongoing plots, this one has been lingering the longest and has captivated many fan’s hearts.


Future books – Although the author is also working on another series (Covet), there are plans for more books in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. Specifically books about Torhment (one of the original brothers), Lassiter (an angel sent to help them) and Pain (a potential female “brother” ), all three have been ongoing plots for awhile now, Torhment having been there from the beginning.


Conclusion: I love this series, even the books that were questionable. I picked it up for the romances, but stayed because of the world. Towards the end of the series, it does get involved and the plots do focus more on events and character growth rather than romance. The romance never disappears, but it is much more downplayed in later books.


Please note that there is sex, violence, blood, torture, more blood, rape, and some very dark elements. If any of those elements offend you (or just the slang and silly names) then don’t pick up this series.


If you can look past the dark elements, the gangsta speak, and the ridiculous names, this is a series that is a must read.

Series Review: Almost Human

This time, I'm going to review a self published author, Melanie Nowak's Almost Human (1st Trilogy) series (http://www.melanienowak.com/).  Okay, I admit it.  I got drawn into the whole Twilight world and really liked it.  There, I said it.  After I was done reading that series, I craved other similar series and did a bit of digging.  During my digging, I found this one.

Although written before Twilight, it does have a similar feel.  The differences are that the heroine is in college and the situations are a bit more "real".  Real as in, there's a 300 year old vampire, of course he's had a few relationships and even fallen in love before.  I mean, come on...

Whenever I read a self published author, such as this, my brain shifts a bit.  Typically (not always) there are going to be typeos, grammatical errors and just the odd thing here and there.  And yes, you do get those, but there are less than I expected.  It's definitely not polished by editors and the like, but for not having that polish, it's not bad.

Overview - A few annoying things come to mind. In particular, she uses bold for emphasis instead of italics.  For whatever reason, that just bothered me (probably more than it should have).  Also, the books are really not stand alone AT ALL.  The series is really just one big book broken out into three parts.

Otherwise, I got my whiney teenage girl/moody vampire fix.  The plot itself drags out a bit, but is pretty solid.  The writing could use some polish, but I was able to get through it.

Note that the plan is to have multiple "trilogies" in the same world but with focus on various characters.  She's currently working on the 2nd Almost Human Trilogy.

Fatal Infatuation - Felicity goes away to college.  She'd been protected her whole life and this is her chance to finally sprout those wings and go out on her own.  She soon finds herself completely alone and a little bit pathetic.  She gets a job, meets a guy, has a run in with a few vampires (Sindy), another vampire (Cain) saves her, yada, yada, yada.

Cain is an elder vampire who has found religion.  He has a mission to convert all the other vampires to drink from animals or at least not kill the poor helpless humans.  If they don't, he kills them.

Of course, the hero and heroine cross paths and are hopelessly attracted to each other and he has to protect his new love interest from the evil Sindy.

Lost Reflections - Here's where you get the skinny on Cain and find out more about the vampire culture and inner workings.  Venom is explained further as well as how to turn humans into vampires.  I do have to admit that the explanation of how everything works is pretty detailed.  However, Cain's story felt a bit forced.

Evolving Ecstasy - The final book that wraps everything up for Felicity and Cain.  I won't spoil anything, but the ending struck me as odd.  Not Cain's part, that actually made sense to me and was a lot more realistic.  No, Felicity's part was what made me think, "Really?"  It just struck me as really soon and fickle.  Then of course, there's a teaser for the next trilogy.

Conclusion - If you liked Twilight, you'll probably like this as well.  However, there are sexual scenes, more violence and more adult situations.  It is not a YA series.

If you don't like Twilight or unpolished work annoys you, it might not be for you.

Series Review: The Southern Vampire Mysteries (Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries)

And here we are, back to vampires again.  Be honest, you knew we'd end up here, didn't you?  Yes, this is a review about another very popular universe that revolves around vampires, weres and shifters.  It was made popular by the hit series True Blood, which has been taking one season per book.  Of course, they have their own interpretation of things and there are some significant differences.

This is a series that has several books is still ongoing.  It's written by Charlaine Harris (http://www.charlaineharris.com/).  I believe Charlaine Harris has a three book deal in the Sookie Stackhouse series on top of a new installment that's coming out in May.  She also has a couple other popular mystery series.

Overview: There's way too many books to go into detail about them all, so I'll just do an overview.  There are a couple things that irk me about this series.  Why don't we get those out of the way up front? Actually, I have a few other bones to pick, but they include spoilers.  I'll do a spoiler's section at the end to include those.  Here are the non-spoiler irking parts:

1. – There are TONS of inconsistencies.  For example, in the first book Bill had 5 kids and was turned into a vampire in 1871.  In another book he dropped a few kids and had only 2 and was turned in 1869.  Finally, in a third book he was turned in 1868 (but he still had 2 kids).  Stuff like that just bugs me.  I notice it and it detracts from the story because my brain cells won't let it go.  However, most of them are inconsequential to the actual plot.  It's usually passing comments.

2. – I had a hard time with the author's writing style.  Let it be known now that I'm not a big "southern mystery" kind of person.  So some of this is completely personal preference.  However, I found it hard to get immersed in the books because of the writing style.  Once I was able to get into it, I found the style humorous and quirky, but it took a bit of effort to get to that point.

3. – This is yet another case where the whole love triangle is stretched out WAY too long.  Just make a decision already!  Even if the decision is to ditch them all and start over, at least it's a decision.  And I use the world "triangle" loosely.  There's the main triangle between Bill and Eric, but there's a few love interests hanging out there on the outer edges.  In later books, there's a third (I won't spoil it).  Yeah, I know you've got to make the suspense last.  I can rattle off quite a few series that died as soon as the tension between the main characters was gone, but that just means you've got to come up with something else to keep our attention and stop using the same old plot devices over and over and over.

Okay, now that that's over, what about the good parts?

1. – I love this world that the author built.  It's extremely detailed and even through all the inconsistencies, she sticks to the rules of her own universe.  I like that a lot!

2. – The characters are complex.  They aren't just good or bad, they're a combination.

3. – The plots aren't as obvious as some mystery series, but are a bit on the obvious side.  Even so, there were a few plot twists that had me yelling, "No way!"

4. – She's not afraid to kill off characters.  This is both good and bad.  I like the boldness of an author that isn't afraid to kill characters off.  It means that all bets are off and anyone can bite it at any point.  You don't always know what's going to happen because it's not necessarily always going to be a happy ending.  I do dislike, however, when we've grown attached to a character that has been the focus of our attention for awhile and then BAM they're killed.  Especially when we don't even read about it.  It's more of a passing comment, "Oh yeah, so-and-so got killed.  It was horrible."  "Oh, that's a shame.  What are we doing for lunch?"  Wait! What?  Go back!  This happens a couple of times in the series.

5. – The writing is quirky and humorous.  Yes, I listed this as a negative just a few minutes ago, but it's also a positive for me.  There were quite a few times where I caught myself chuckling out loud.  Her books have a definite unique quality to them.  You'll either love it or hate it.

Here's a listing of the books in order to date.  Note that I am not including short stories/novellas except for the compilation that was published in October of 2009:

 

Dead Until Dark – 2001

Living Dead in Dallas – 2002

Club Dead – 2003

Dead to the World – 2004

Dead as a Doornail – 2005

Definitely Dead – 2006

All Together Dead – 2007

From Dead to Worse – 2008

Dead and Gone – 2009

A Touch of Dead – October 2009 (a complication of all the short stories)

Dead in the Family – May 2010

A lot of readers were complaining that the later books were darker and just plain different.  This is a complaint I see of a lot of series and it's usually true.  I would say that they are different and darker, but that the characters have grown and evolved.  If they hadn't changed, the series would have gotten stale by now.  Sookie goes through very big changes in her life and she deals with them.  She learns and grows and moves on.  Therefore the series grows and moves on too.

That said, there were a few times where I wanted to scream at Sookie for something stupid she did.  Then, the latest book, Dead and Gone is extremely violent, bloody, and dark.  This particular book turned quite a few people off.  I was okay with it and it's actually one of my favorites, but I'm weird like that.

Conclusion:  It is a good series, but it isn't for everyone.  Maybe read a few of the short stories to see if it's for you.

Now…huge ****SPOILERS**** alert from here on out (and a bit of just random ranting...okay a lot of ranting):

Okay, for those of you who are True Blood fans, you might not like what I have to say.  The TV Bill Compton and the Book Bill Compton are two very different people/vampires.  What I'm going to go off on is the Book version.  As you'll see, I'm am not a Bill fan.

Bill and Sookie broke up early on in book three.  Ever since, it's been one long love triangle with Eric and then Quinn and Bill trying to win her back in some fashion or other.  Sam is just never going to get a girlfriend, especially not Sookie.

When people refer to Bill as a southern gentleman, I want to scream.  He is under no circumstances a gentleman.  Never was, even in the first book.  Just because someone opens a door for a lady, doesn't make them a gentleman.

Why do I have such hatred for Bill?  There are five reasons:

1. – He cheated on her

2. – When she saved his ass, he raped her and nearly killed her.

3. – When they were broke up he purposely flaunted his new girlfriend in front of her when he knew she could hear what the new girlfriend was thinking.  He pit them against each other purposely.  It was very hurtful and spiteful.

4. – While he had another girlfriend, he tried to cheat on that girlfriend with Sookie.  Once a cheater, always a cheater.

5. – He lied to her from the very beginning.  He was sent by the Queen to seduce her from the very start.  He felt it was "beneath him" to shack up with a mere human and wouldn't have done so otherwise.

Okay, #1 I can over look because he was "compelled" by his maker.  Supposedly no one can resist their maker.  Whatever…

#2 I can almost overlook too, because he was so starved and had been tortured.  He wasn't in his right mind.  He's a vampire, he's going to want blood and when they drink a sexual instinct kicks in.  So even after all that, I still had a secret wish that Bill and Sookie would hook up again.

#3, 4, and 5 was it.  I'd had it with Bill.  Now all he does is lurk outside Sookie's house and a very creepy way.

Now, I'm obviously not on Team Bill, but whose team am I on?  I'm SOOOOO on Team Quinn.  When she broke up with him I was shocked at her reasons.  That was such a bitchy and selfish move.  It was very unlike her and it did make me take a step back and re-evaluate the series.  The author must have realized it because in the next book Sookie wonders about her decision.

Where does that leave Eric?  I absolutely adore Eric.  I think he's fabulous.  Who else would don hot pants and a pink tank top and pretend to be gay to help Sookie save the day?  It also doesn't hurt that he's been described as having 1,000 years to perfect his kissing/love-making skills and that he makes love like a freight train going through a tunnel.  I really really really want the author to explore Eric's feelings for Sookie more.  Both he and Pam are my favorite characters of the series.  (Pam rocks!)

I know what you are thinking.  You're thinking I just said I was Team Quinn and then I gush about Eric.  What gives?  Eric is great and all that, but he's a vampire and Sookie has made him promise to never change her.  It just won't work out down the road. As hot as it might be, it's a relationship that's doomed to fail.

Quinn, on the other hand, is exactly what she needs.  He's also huge and can protect her since she seems to be a danger magnet.  In my humble opinion, when she's done diddling with Eric, she needs to invest some major time with Quinn.  Hopefully he'll take her back.

Finally, for those who like to compare Bill Compton to Twilight's Edward Cullen, here's the main difference:

Edward Cullen – "No, you mustn't come near me.  I'm a monster."  *dramatically turns away with a sob*

 

Bill Compton – "Yep.  I'm a monster.  Let's go have sex."  *turns on the Jacuzzi*

Series Review: The Riftwar Saga

Just to prove that I read more than just paranormal romance and trashy vampire novels (I do, honest!), this review is going to be about Raymond Feist's Riftwar Saga (http://www.crydee.com/).  Okay, so if it wasn't about vampires or werewolves, you knew it had to have at least one dragon in it to pique my interest.

I have actually read this series twice over my lifetime and am severely tempted to make it a third.  Before I knew anything about that Tolkien guy or anything about some silly ring, I was reading about Pug, Tomas and Princess Carline (and later Lyam, Aurtha, Jimmy and Princess Anita).

It was the first fantasy series I'd ever read and it sparked my interest in not only reading but writing.  I wasn't the only one.  The popular series has spawned comic books, video games and is still in print 25 years later.

Series Overview:  The series is very multi-dimensional.  Yes, there are actual dimensional portals, but it also spans many times and over several cultures of the worlds it describes.  There's magic, dragons, elves, evil dragon riders and a whole lot more.

The main premise is that there are two worlds joined by a rift.  One world wants to take over the other, but because of the rifts, it's attracted an old evil that could destroy them all.  Only the power learned from both worlds and a young magician will save them.

Magician – 1982 (Later republished as two separate books Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master)

The story starts in the world of Midkemia.  Pug and Tomas are young boys, Pug working in the kitchen and Tomas aspiring to be a squire.  Pug is chosen to become a magician, taught by Dulgan.  As the rifts become known to the inhabitants of Midkemia, Pug gets taken to the other side and is enslaved.  Taken from all he knows, he finds his own way in a strange land.

This is Pug's story and my favorite of the series.  He grows from a kitchen boy to a man. It shows his growth as a person, as well as in the magical realms.

Silverthorn – 1985

Pug wasn't the only one that was busy.  There were lots of other plots going on while he was off learning all that magic stuff.  This part of the series picks up back in Midkemia.

In this book we learn more of the underbelly of all the political intrigue.  We see more of Jimmy the Hand and learn more about the Mockers, a society of thieves.

Also, at its heart, it's a love story.  Prince Aurtha is to marry Princess Anita.  She's poisoned and the only cure is Silverthorn.  The prince will do anything to save his beloved, even risk his life.

Darkness at Sethanon – 1986

This is the culmination of the previous books. All the rifts and world jumping has beckoned true evil that will destroy both worlds, an ancient evil that will swallow them all whole.  Everyone returns in this all star cast to battle for their existence.

Other Thoughts:  I loved this series.  There's a little something for everyone.  Magic, politics, vortexes, knights, elves, pirates and even a dragon.  What's not to like?

Okay, there are spots where the author slows down and feels the need to describe every tiny little detail.  I will admit, this annoys me and there were times when it felt like a strain to get past certain parts.

However, I found myself always rewarded for sticking with it by once again getting sucked into the world after the describing was done.

This was truly my only gripe.  The plot made sense (for their world) and I never questioned where they were or what they were doing.  And for a highly complex plot(s) such as this, that's quite impressive.

I love maps, and having a map of Midkemia and having the author stick to that map was wonderful.  He threw out all the names of cities and areas just as a character would think of them, but because the reader never heard of it before, it was handy to have a reference.  Of course the character wouldn't question what the capital was, but the reader sure would.

Conclusion:  If you like fantasy, then why haven't you read this yet?  It is definitely worth the read.  I can't vouch for his other work.  He has a couple other series based in the same world with some of the same characters as well as series on completely different worlds, but the Riftwar Saga is special.

Series Review: Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Series

Whaddya know?  Another vampire/werewolf love triangle series!  Okay, by the tenth book it's more like a love hexagon with aspirations of becoming a dodecahedron, but you get my point.

Written by Laurell K. Hamilton (http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/index.php), the series is dark and twisted.

Series Overview:  The series begins as a cross between a murder mystery and supernatural fiction.  I'm not a huge mystery fan, but the supernatural element gave it that extra zing.

Anita is a self proclaimed tough cookie and I'm not going to argue. She kicks a lot of supernatural ass.  Living in St Louis in an alternate reality where vampires and shapeshifters not only exist, but are publicly acknowledged, Anita is an official "Vampire Hunter" commissioned by the government for those times when you just have to deal with those pesky vampires.  Was your daughter bitten and murdered by vampires?  Want to make sure she doesn't rise as one of the living dead?  Who do you call?  Ghostbus…er…Anita Blake!  She'll come and stake your little princess and send her back to the afterlife.  Minimal fees are involved.

But that's just her day job.  At night she is an animator.  Dad forget to let anyone know the combination to the family safe before he died?  No problem.  Anita to the rescue!  For a nominal charge, she'll animate your father's corpse and let you ask him any question your little heart desires.  Sending him back to his grave is included in the fee.  What a bargain!

As if being a vampire hunter and animator weren't enough, she also freelances for the local supernatural police task force.  Because of her experience in the supernatural, she is often called in on a consultant basis for some of the goriest crime scenes you'll ever read about.  She can easily discern whether a body was disemboweled by a vampire, ghoul or shapeshifter with a glance.

The combination of all of her professions makes for a very interesting murder mystery.  

Ever prepared, Anita goes nowhere without packing heat and carrying an assortment of knives.  She even sleeps with a special gun holster on her headboard so she isn't found helpless in her bed.  A girl has to be careful ya know.  Guns don't kill supernatural creatures, but her theory is that it'll slow them down enough to either kill them using some other method or to run away.

This series is still continuing, with two more on the way in 2010 alone.  Due to the large number of books in this series, I won't get into them individually, but will list them in order at the bottom.  (There are also a number of short stories and graphic novels/comics.  For the purposes of this review, I'm focusing on the novels.)

1. Guilty Pleasures – 1993

2. The Laughing Corpse – 1994

3. Circus of the Damned – 1995

4. The Lunatic Café – 1996

5. Bloody Bones – 1996

6. The Killing Dance – 1997

7. Burnt Offerings – 1998

8. Blue Moon – 1998

9. Obsidian Butterfly – 2000

10. Narcissus in Chains – 2001

11. Cerulean Sins – 2003

12. Incubus Dreams – 2004

13. Michah – 2006

14. Danse Macabre – 2006

15. The Harlequin – 2007

16. Blood Noir – 2008

17. Skin Trade – 2009

18. Flirt – February 2010

19. Bullet – June 2010

In my opinion, the first 4 books are the best in the series.  Books 4 through 6 start to build romantic/sexual tension with a continuing love triangle plot line.  Until book 6 there are no sex scenes at all.  Until book 10, the sex scenes are detailed, but rare; focus still being on the mystery at hand.  Book 10 and all the ones after are highly sexual and let's just say that the author is creative.

In the first books, the author tried to outdo herself with gory descriptions of horrific crime scenes.  Each book had even more blood and body parts than the previous.  After book 10, the author tries to outdo herself with graphic sex scenes that involve multiple partners, magic and the occasional bestiality.

Needless to say, this series is not for anyone with a weak stomach.

Book #13 is really a novella, even though they charge the same price (which really burns me up just on principle alone).  It doesn't even move the overall plot ahead.  If you are interested in the Michah character, it's a little bit more about his background.  If you don't care, feel free to skip it.  You won't be missing anything.

During the last few books there are some quite heavy and serious ongoing plots.  However, several of them end suddenly and anti-climactically.  I was so surprised that I had to re-read the passages a couple times to make sure what I thought happened, really did happen.  It was very disappointing.

Other Thoughts:  I think that sometimes, the old love triangle element does more harm than good.  It's exciting and intriguing in the beginning, but by the end, it's stale and emotionally draining.  Which is what I feel like after reading the later books, stale and emotionally drained.

I often feel like screaming, "Just have sex or break up already!"  I keep reading the new books in hopes that some of those plots will be resolved, but they just keep dragging on and on.

I think this is a series that started out very good, but it needs to be put out of its misery.  As of now, it's dying a slow and painful death..

Conclusion:  I highly recommend the first 5 to 6 books.  After that, you're on your own.  I got hooked on the world and my OCD kicked in until I read every book.  I can't say that I enjoyed the later ones, because after I finished each book, I felt like I needed to take a break.

Review: The Twilight Series

So why not start out with a blockbuster.  The Twilight Series.  This series holds a special place in my heart.  I had taken a long hiatus from both reading and writing.  This is the series that brought me back to both.  I casually mentioned to my husband that I would like to read "that Twilight Series" some day.  The next night he brought home the first book as a surprise.

But you guys aren't here to listen to how I got to the point of reading the series, you want to know if it was any good or not.  So, here we go!

Overview of the Series:  It has its strengths.  It has its weaknesses.  No, it's not great literature, but that didn't stop me from thoroughly enjoying it.  I did have to put aside some of my common sense in order to completely get swept away in the Twilight world.

Seriously.  If you think about it, the story revolves around Edward and Bella (from Bella's point of view).  She's 17 and in high school and he's a 100 year old vampire.  And people talk about Hugh Heffner dating them young.  Technically, Edward is a murdering, bambi killing, pedophile and stalker.

"But he looooooves her!" you cry out.  Yes, and that's the whole crux of the story.  It's one big epic love story.  Stephanie Meyer could have written in a band of mermaids that like to do the can-can with their fins and the result might have been the same. 

It's all because of the love story.  Every girl, young and old, wants to be loved deeply and unconditionally.  Edward brings that to the table in spades.  In his eyes, Bella can do no wrong, even when she acts her age and becomes a whiney little cry-baby.

Bella brings a few things to the table too.  Even though she plays both Jacob and Edward like a finely tuned fiddle, ending up with a co-dependent, clingy relationship, she is also strong and independent.  She knows what she wants and she'll do anything to get it.  She is also extremely caring and self-sacrificing.  She will go to hell and back to protect those she cares about.

Finally, the last thing that made this series so popular, if unconditional love and self-sacrifice wasn't enough, was the Cullens.  Let's face it.  Who didn't wish they were adopted at one point in time during their childhood?  We've all done it, usually while serving some sort of grounding sentence while "the party of the year" was raging down the street, you being stuck in your room.

The Cullens are the perfect family.  Okay, yes, they are vampires, but other than that they are the perfect family.  I mean, it's not like they are "bad" vampires.  They live off the blood of animals instead.  If that doesn't scream Leave it To Beaver, then I don't know what does…

You've got the compassionate father figure (Carlisle), the loving mother figure (Esme), the quirky sister (Alice), the protective older brother (Emmet) and a bitchy older sister who's just jealous of you (Rosalee).  Oh, and a creepy brother who keeps fighting the urge to kill you (Jasper).  See, all normal.

The part that drew me into their family dynamic was that they all truly love each other.  They really are a family, even if they aren't related by blood (no pun intended…okay, maybe a little intended).  They would die for one another.  Yes, even Rosalee.

So, Bella, the self-sacrificer, gets unconditional love and a new family where 5 out of 7 welcome her with open arms.  The 6^th family member would welcome her if he didn't want to kill her and drink her sweet, sweet blood.

New love, new family, new life.  What's not to love about this series?  Okay, so the plot is slightly unbelievable and we get all revved up for a good fight only to have it diffused and one side always ends up running home to their mommies. 

Here are the novels in order:

Twilight - It starts out very slow. Edward is the typical guy, quiet, hard to read, ignores her, makes jokes at her expense, etc. Then he saves her life and the cogs start turning in that brain inside Bella's head. She can't leave well enough alone and needs to find out what's going on.

This book showed how smart and resourceful Bella really is.  She's a sneaky little one.

New Moon - Bella's not the only one into self-sacrifice.  And while Edward is away the cats...er...werewolves will play.  This is where the werewolves come into their own.  Their culture is fleshed out and we get a glimpse of their world.

Of course the love triangle is started here as well.

Note that everything in New Moon is hinted about in Twilight.  Nothing is really a surprise.  This was the hardest one to get through because through the majority of it, you're dealing with someone with a broken heart.  Where was that happy ending I was promised?

Eclipse - Okay, this take the love triangle element and puts it on steroids.  There's werewolves and there's vampires and none of them are happy campers. (There's a joke in there but you have to read the book to get it.)

We get more insight into the pack and the Cullens.  Most of the continuing plot lines are resolved.

Breaking Dawn - Maybe better called breaking Edward or rip out the werewolve's heart why don'tcha?  Okay, that's a bit of a long title.  Everything is resolved in this book.  It's technically the end of the series even though there's a draft of a 5th novel floating around out there.

The vampire world is reviewed in depth.  There's more vampires than you can shake a stake...er...stick at.  Everyone gets superpowers and Bella finally completes her journey.

This is probably my favorite of the series, but, then again, I'm a big X-Men fan.  I kept comparing them all to mutants.  "Hmm, let's see.  Bella is Jean Grey.  Emmett is Collasses.  Edward is Professor X..."  Yeah, I gave them ALL names.  You should try it.  It's fun.

Midnight Sun - This is the first book, Twilight, rewritten from Edward's perspective.  If you are really into Twilight and you just HAVE to know what Edward is thinking, it's worth reading.  It does offer a bit of insight into the Cullen's and some of the surrounding vampires.

However, this is only a partial book.  The author was working on this particular book while they were filming Twilight the Movie.  She shared her partial manuscript and someone posted it on the internet.  She was so hurt and felt so violated that she stopped working on the project.  She did, however, post the draft on her website http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/ for those that just HAD to read it so they didn't have to pirate it.

Other Thoughts:  What drew me into this book was the author's laid back writing style.  It was easy to read and made me feel warm and fuzzy.  Even though absolutely nothing happens in the beginning, I still continued to read because of her style.  It was the characters that cinched it for me as a favorite series.  I felt like I knew them by the time I was done with the series and I can't say that many books/series.

The story isn't THAT bad.  There is actually some action and conflict, at least enough to make it interesting.  It's not just a brooding vampire in love with another high school girl.  Okay, it's a lot about that, but there are other things going on as well.

And now…here's where I declare my loyalties.  I'm totally Team Edward.  Yes, Jacob would be better for her.  He's all buff and sweet and is exactly what she needs.  But, Bella and Edward are fated to be together.  Who am I to mess with the fate of others?

In conclusion, I suggest reading the series.  It's good for all ages.  It's young adult, so there's no sex scenes and the violence is kept to a minimum (mostly referred to after the fact).  Yet, there's enough of a plot to hold grown up interests.

Book Series Review

I love book series.  When I find a writer and style I like, I want to immerse myself in their world.  I'll obsess over reading each book in order, back-to-back until I'm done with the series.

So, I'm going to review book series on the first and third Wednesdays of the month.  I'd do more, but we are talking series (several books at a time) here and if I did a review more frequently I'd quickly run out of series and would have to quit my job so I could read the next series to be reviewed.

Whereas, I would love to do that, the bank that holds my mortgage (and my husband) wouldn't like the lack of monthly payments coming their way.

Therefore, in an effort to not become homeless, I'll restrict my reviews to twice a month.

The first review will be this Wednesday, February 3 at 8 PM EST.

This will serve two purposes:

1 – It gives me one more deadline to inspire some semblance of routine in my writing world.

2 – It will be slightly more interesting than hearing my ramblings about what was going on in my head while I was writing.

Something for you and something for me.  It's a win/win situation!