Category :: Review :: Page 66

THE BLINDING KNIFE (Amazon) picks up where THE BLACK PRISM (EBR Review) ends, throwing you into the exciting action from page one.

Oh, yeah.

If you haven’t read book one, the opening chapters of BLINDING won’t make any sense to you. Sure Weeks refreshes our memory here and there, but it won’t be enough to get new readers up to speed. So if you haven’t read THE BLACK PRISM, stop here, go read it, then come back, or else what follows will have spoilers.
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In Carrie Vaughn‘s last Kitty Norville book, KITTY’S BIG TROUBLE (EBR Review), she raises the stakes (ahem, no pun intended) regarding Kitty’s dealings with the vampire Roman. In the next installment KITTY STEALS THE SHOW (Amazon), we come to understand that his plans are big and his reach is even bigger.

Kitty has been invited to be a keynote speaker at the first ever Paranormal Conference in London. Scientists, lawyers, doctors, and paranormals themselves are not only presenters but attending the historic conference. Well, and a group of protesters, too. Of course.
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Every so often I buy a novel purely based on the cover. I don’t read the synopsis on back of the book. I don’t read any reviews. Nothing. Now granted, you can get a fairly decent idea of the type of novel from the cover art, but buying based purely on cover alone has made for some interesting reads in the past.  Usually they end up being novels I would normally avoid, but that please me nonetheless. So, real quick, look at the cover of John Hornor Jacobs’ SOUTHERN GODS (Amazon). Do you see what I see? Do you get the impression I got and say, “Huh, that looks cool”? Can you see why I bought the novel without knowing anything about it?

To me, it looks like the blending of Horror and 50’s music. Everything about the cover–from the pose, to the macabre figure, to the tentacles, to the night club look–literally forced me to buy the novel.

And then I started reading.
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I’ve been meaning to try out James Enge’s work for some time now. I’ve seen some high praise (there is a blurb by Lev ‘effin Grossman on the cover for instance) and so my expectations were high when I cracked open A GUILE OF DRAGONS (Amazon). This novel is a prequel to Enge’s Ambrose series and I saw that as a perfect opportunity for a beginner to jump in. As a book filling in some background detail for a beloved series fans may be satisfied. For those yet to be initiated this may not be the best entry point.
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Unfortunately for A.M. Dellamonica, here at EBR we don’t have an ecofantasy label. So if you search for more ecofantasy on the site you may have trouble sorting it from all the other fantasy out there. By labeling it ecofantasy Dellamonic is screaming to you her political leanings, but fortunately they don’t get in the way of telling a fascinating story.

BLUE MAGIC (Amazon) is the second book in a duet. I didn’t have trouble getting into the story despite not having read book one, INDIGO SPRINGS (Amazon). Dellamonica brings us up to date quickly without burdening the novel with tedious infodumps. If anything, Dellamonica seems incapable of writing a word more than is necessary.
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For a guy who scoffs at the urban fantasy genre I sure have been reading a lot of it lately. Doyce Testerman’s HIDDEN THINGS (EBR Review) for instance. Now I have to add Chuck Wendig to the list of authors that I need to keep an eye on. BLACKBIRDS (Amazon) is a dark, profane, blistering read that takes an unromantic premise and makes it even more coarse and filthy than you’d suspect possible.

Miriam Black surrounds herself with death. Should her skin make contact with your own she will get a psychic vision detailing your exact time and manner of death. For years she fought to save lives but there is no stopping fate and now she subsists as a vulture, surviving off the remnants of those who pass away. That is, until she meets a truck driver and sees his demise, a horrible murder. But before his death he calls out a name, her name. Now Miriam will try anything in her power to circumvent the natural order.
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This is my first James Herbert novel. As most of you know, I’m trying to round out my Horror reading. People have been telling me over and over that James Herbert is the guy. Since Herbert had a new novel coming out, I thought that this was a good time jump in.

ASH (Amazon) follows the story of paranormal investigator, David Ash. Now, prior to this novel, Ash was also in the Herbert novels HAUNTED and THE GHOSTS OF SLEATH. To Herbert’s credit, I never once had trouble with feeling lost. ASH begins with the investigator taking a job to investigate some mysterious happenings at Comraich Castle–including the crucifixion of a man who was alone inside a locked room. Everything about the contract is shady, but the pay is astounding.
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This past April I visited New Orleans for the first time. As a tourist I saw all the sites: the French Quarter, walked Magazine Street, St. Louis Cemetery #1. One morning I took a walking tour hosted by a local, and he talked about the history of New Orleans and its inhabitants. We all had a good time. Then he talked about hurricane Katrina and everyone went quiet. He had lived it and survived to tell the tale.

So did Suzanne Johnson, and while ROYAL STREET (Amazon) is your typical Urban Fantasy, she handles the Katrina angle with the reverence it deserves, thereby adding with fascinating detail a compelling setting.
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It’s too soon to be declaring any book as the best of the year in any category. But! It can be said that THE DIVINERS by Libba Bray (Amazon) is pos-i-tutely one of the most enjoyable and promising of 2012. This is an urban fantasy, historical fiction, mystery epic that accessible to young adults while still managing to be entertaining to an older audience. Finding the rare gem like this is the very reason I read.

Evie O’Neill has been shipped off to live with her uncle in New York City. The exile is intended to be a punishment but Evie sees only opportunity in the bright lights of the Big Apple. The city is full of potential and Evie’s uncle is only concerned with managing the The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult – jokingly referred to as “The Museum of Creepy Crawlies.” Life is good until the police seek Uncle Will’s assistance with solving a series of occult-based murders. Evie has a very unique and unnatural gift that may enable her to help catch the crazed killer…if the killer doesn’t catch her first.
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Ephraim is your typical high school socially awkward guy. He doesn’t much like school. He’s got a goofy best friend, but not many other friends. There’s a pretty girl he likes who doesn’t know he exists. There’s the bully who picks on him. Unfortunately his dad left years ago and his mom is a drunk. He really can’t imagine life worse than it is now.

But that all changes when a quarter shows up in his his locker with the note: “Make a wish and flip the coin to make it come true.” Only nothing goes as Ephraim plans.
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