[REVIEW] Entice – Carrie Jones

Carrie Jones
Entice (Need Pixies, Book 3)
Bloomsbury (US: 7th December 2010; UK & AU: 4th January 2011)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

Nick Colt has died, and been taken away to Valhalla. Or taken to Valhalla where he’ll be killed, I’m not quite sure. Zara White wants nothing more than to have Nick safe and sound back in Maine, but how can she retrieve him if she can’t even find Valhalla?

Zara White is still my favourite protag, in YA or adult. Her passion and commitment to Amnesty International proves that she doesn’t just pay lip service to peace, and that violence really does go against everything for which she stands and believes. Nick may be her number one choice, but I can’t be the only reader who much prefers Astley. As a king, he could’ve been arrogant and a lot worse, but he’s a generous soul who just wants Zara to be happy.

With characters you’ll actually like and intriguing plot elements, Entice deals with tough issues – fearing becoming that which you hate – without falling into emo.

[REVIEW] Chinatown Trollop – Mario Acevedo

Mario Acevedo (Artwork by Alberto Dose)
Chinatown Trollop (Killing the Cobra, Book 1)
IDW Publishing (US: 30th November 2010)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

I have two as-yet-unread Felix Gomez novels on my shelf, with three more on my wishlist. Not much for comics or graphic novels, but this unexpectedly arrived in my snail mail. Felix Gomez was in the US Army doing a tour of duty in Iraq when his troop unintentionally killed a village of civilians. Soon after he was turned into a vampire. Normally I’m wary of those who choose to join the military, but Felix’s guilt and grief humanises him, makes him less of a soulless killing machine.

He has immortality; super-strength, -speed, and -stamina; and can easily climb walls and whatnot thanks to some kind of vampiric stickiness (yeah, I didn’t understand). But he never drinks human blood, only that of animals.

Felix is a private investigator now, doing odd jobs for the vampiric hierachy. This time he has to extract an agent from a heroin cartel in Hong Kong. But Felix is a vigilante, and destroys a shipload of heroin due for export. The Han Cobras’ head honcho is dead-set on killing Felix, who’s unlike anyone Jiang Chow’s ever fought. But if he can’t capture Felix, he’ll take a hostage: Felix’s lover. Qian Ning works as Felix’s interpreter on the case, and she also manages a women’s shelter in San Francisco, helping other former street workers gain life skills, safety, employment, etc.

Chinatown Trollop is a fast read, about forty-five minutes. Basically I just read the text and skimmed over the art – it’s just not my kind of medium. Felix and Qian are affable, but their scenario is horrid – and it worsens.

Persnickety Snark’s FIVE Challenge, Day 5: Most Anticipated

Today, December 25, is the fifth day of Persnickety Snark’s FIVE Challenge (I skipped Day 4: Re-reads), and today’s particular challenge is…Most Anticipated (2011 titles)!

Adele’s list may be YA only, but I’m including all age brackets.

Anyhoo, here we are, counting down from 5 to 1 – yes, I do play favourites:

9 New Covers (Armstrong, Caine, Clare, Gay, Snyder, Stewart, Tracey & Verday)

Persnickety Snark’s FIVE Challenge, Day 3: Great Series

Today, December 23, is the third day of Persnickety Snark’s FIVE Challenge, and today’s particular challenge is…Great Series!

Adele’s list may be YA only, but I’m including all age brackets. Oh, and these aren’t all published in 2010 – I just read them in 2010. Better late than never

Anyhoo, here we are, counting down from 5 to 1 – yes, I do play favourites:

Persnickety Snark’s FIVE Challenge, Day 2: Great Covers

Today, December 22, is the second day of Persnickety Snark’s FIVE Challenge, and today’s particular challenge is…Great Covers!

Adele’s list may be YA only, but I’m including all age brackets. Where necessary I’m listing the country, because some countries get fabulous covers while other countries get stooged.

Anyhoo, here we are, counting down from 5 to 1 – yes, I do play favourites:

Persnickety Snark’s FIVE Challenge, Day 1: Great Debuts

Today, December 21, is the first day of Persnickety Snark’s FIVE Challenge, and today’s particular challenge is…Great Debuts!

Adele’s list may be YA only, but I’m including all age brackets. I read quite a few debuts, but not all of them were published this year, as I tend to read things by availability and my ordered lists. There are probably many awesome books published this year that I may not read until 2011 or beyond.

Anyhoo, here we are, counting down from 5 to 1 – yes, I do play favourites:

[REVIEW] Don’t Kill the Messenger – Eileen Rendahl

Eileen Rendahl
Don’t Kill the Messenger (Messenger, Book 1)
Penguin Berkley Sensation (US & CA: 2nd March 2010; AU: 28th March 2011)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)

I’m used to publishers mismarketing paranormal romance as urban fantasy, but it’s nonetheless annoying every time it happens. Don’t Kill the Messenger is the rare opposite: urban fantasy mismarketed as paranormal romance. An author blurb emblazoned on the cover speaks of “an edgy, kick-ass protagonist”, as if they’ve never come across one before. Maybe not in paranormal romance, but I assure you that in urban fantasy they’re a dime a freaking dozen.

Originally I’d passed over this book because the series concept isn’t anything new: the protag is a Messenger, an intermediary between preternatural creatures, with some Speshul Snowflake abilities of her own. But with ninjas, Taoist priests, and Chinese vampires on offer, the book’s rather tempting, as is its bargain price.

The location is Sacramento, a city I haven’t encountered in fiction since Karen Kijewski’s crime novels. (Am I showing my age?) The characters are a bit cardboard, but the main plot is intriguing. The sub-plot regarding Kokopelli’s flute, however, is unnecessary in the big picture, and thus could have been excluded.

There is convenience in that the characters only go to their jobs when it serves the plot. I’ll admit that I know next to nothing about the police, but I reckon they must be terribly overworked. Ted Goodnight, however, spends his time checking on his girlfriend at her two workplaces. Is he really employed? ‘Tis rather unprofessional to get involved with case witnesses, and there’s really no reason for him to get with this one.

Despite all my whingeing, I actually quite enjoyed this, mainly because of the subject matter. But unless the next novel features some other of my interests (eg. cryonics, cyborgs, and samurai), the series doesn’t seem worth continuing – the concept’s just not awesome enough.

January 2011 Releases

Done with December 2010 Releases? Here are January 2011 Releases. Some of these books will actually be available in late December (Harlequin changed their release info at Amazon after I’d already done December’s list), so pre-order now and they may arrive before 2011. To see further into the publication date future, check Reading Wishlist.

[REVIEW] The Legend of Banzai Maguire – Susan Grant

Susan Grant
The Legend of Banzai Maguire (2176, Book 1)
Dorchester Love Spell (US: April 2004)
Buy (US)

I love futuristics, and bought this series when I heard about Liz Maverick’s The Shadow Runners. Australia in the year 2176? I’m so there! But that’s the third book in this series.

First up is Susan Grant’s The Legend of Banzai Maguire. In 2006, US fighter pilot Bree Maguire is shot down, captured, and put in bio-stasis. Cryonics is one of my most-wished things to read about, so I love this bit.

170 years later, life on this planet is different in 2176. Geographically, some countries have disappeared from rising sea levels, whilst others have been bombed to pieces. Then there’s Australia, which is the world’s waste dump. Yes, business as usual…

Prince Kyber, the Emperor of Asia, is hosting Banzai in one of his palaces. She’s treated like royalty, but still wants to find her lost wingman. I adore the prince, who’s alpha male WITHOUT being a d-bag. The two unfortunately tend to go hand in hand, so Kyber is a welcome difference. And he’s a hot Asian. So he’s kind of awesome.

But as for Banzai’s love interest, the commander…he’s creepy. Sweet, perhaps, but creepy. Back when he was a boy, he learned about Banzai in a military history book, and she was his dream woman. And now he meets his dream woman, and loves her all the more. I’m all for meeting your idols, but shagging them? Kind of weird.

What’s more uncomfortable is the international unease. Country against country. US v North Korea (in 2006). When specific countries are named, and the word “patriot” is thrown around, I get terribly nervous. I don’t like war in real life, and I don’t like it in fiction. I would do anything for love, but I won’t do that.

Nevertheless, with fascinating world-building, conceivable technology, and the smell of an uprising on the wind, this novel won me over, but the teaser in the back gives me the impression that I’ll love Book 2 more. And Book 3, which I’m dearly looking forward to…