ELITIST BOOK REVIEWS

Claire Connolly lives in a New Orleans we wouldn’t recognize. Seven years ago the veil between our world and the world of magic was ripped open. The paranormal waged war on humans, but the humans won and repaired the veil. The paranormals left behind were rounded up and interned in what they call Devil’s Isle, where they aren’t allow to use their magic. Some humans exposed to magic become Sensitives, and if discovered are immediately taken to Devil’s Isle, where the magic eventually burns their minds and they become wraiths.

Claire inadvertently discovers that she’s a Sensitive, but hides her ability, risking not learning to control her ability–she doesn’t want to be sent to Devil’s Isle. Despite being careful, she’s seen using her powers by Liam Quinn, but fortunately he decides to help her. But that’s a risk in itself, because Claire knows little about Liam or his motives.
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Charlie is worried. Ever since his father died a few years ago, he constantly worries about everything. Will he fall asleep in his soup and drown? Will his toes freeze off if he forgets to wear his socks? But Charlie’s sister Georgie loves an adventure, and unlike her brother doesn’t think about the consequences.

So when Grandmother Pearl invites them to visit, Georgie thinks it will be an exciting adventure. However, Charlie knows that they don’t have a Grandmother Pearl, that both their mother and father’s parents are long dead. But mother seems to be in a stupor and Charlie can’t snap her out of it. With mother needing medical care, the children have no choice left but to go, and they head to granny’s.

And discover that everything Charlie worries about is nothing compared to what awaits him at grandmother’s house.
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How often is it that you come across a horror story (novel or even movie for that matter) where the main POV character has both drive and motive for doing the things that make us go, “Oh please, don’t go in there. Just please… NO!” Instead offinding these words bubbling from my lips, however, I frequently find myself saying, “Why are they going in there again? Do they WANT to die a horrible, gruesome death?” There are relatively few instances of the former that I’ve come across, and I just wish there were more. Makes horror stories so much better when they do. The only example that I could think of, in fact, was the movie “The Ring.” Can you think of any others? Drop a comment here, if you do. I’d love to find me some really good horror. In the meantime, there’s this one, and it ain’t half bad.
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Camellia is a high school sophomore who lives with her adopted mother, who happens to be a witch. But witches are only ever wicked, as evidenced by the spell Cam saw the witch perform when Cam was five years old. She still doesn’t like to talk about it.

Growing up with a witch stinks, since their M.O. for child rearing includes really terrible punishments. Like turning fingers into noodles. Or turning the child into a pile of rotten tomatoes for the afternoon. And forcing them to gather weird ingredients such as goats blood, pigs ears, and… eggplant?

But now the witch is planning to take over the town using Phoenix fire, and needs Cam’s help to manage the demon she summoned in order to do it. Cam wants to undermine the witch’s plans AND pass her Algebra test at the same time, but she’s not sure that’s possible.
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Promise is a Marine for the Republic, having signed up after witnessing the death of her pacifist father by pirates. Now she can get off the backwater planet where she was born and instead roam the universe, fighting against the same kind of criminals who killed her father.

But in a twist of fate, Promise is promoted for the very purpose of representing the Republic on her home planet, Montana, as a sort of public relations gesture. In the past the Republic hasn’t done its best protecting the rim planets from pirates and the Empire. Now it’s Promise and a single company of Marines assigned to protect a planet of ninety-eight million people, with only the help of a couple of scraggly space platforms, and an aging warship to patrol the orbit. No wonder the Montanans’ view of the Republic is less than stellar.

However, before Promise’s assignment is up she must prove her mettle in the face of impossible odds.
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There is a tale written by a chap you might have heard of before (Hans Christian Andersen) about an Emperor that is duped by a couple of swindlers into paying for clothes made out of cloth that is not there. It’s called “The Emperor’s New Clothes” (just in case 😉 ), and it’s a wonderful tale that at its face can be viewed as being about not allowing yourself to be lied to and taken advantage of because you want something so badly, but has deeper meaning about not believing what everyone else does just because everyone else believes it. Once I’d written this review, I realized that a triggered remembrance of this old tale is exactly what I’d need in order to finish up. So let’s get to it.
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Lucy can hear ghosts. Lockwood can see them. George is tactical support. Together they are Lockwood and Co, ghost hunters extraordinaire. Well, competent if not extraordinaire. Okay, maybe they’re just barely getting by.

You see, only children can see or hear ghosts, so when ghost hunters get too old to hunt them, they lead the teams. However, Lockwood and Co don’t employ adults. They’re three kids who live in the house Lockwood inherited from his parents. DERPAC (Department of Psychical Research and Control–run by adults of course) monitors all companies that deal with Visitors–aka ghosts–and believe that children gallivanting around without adult supervision are suspect, even if they are licensed.

DERPAC’s agent Barnes feels justified in questioning Lockwood when their most recent job results in destruction of a client’s property, which is a strict no-no. Now they’re in danger of losing the house, the business, and any means of gainful employment. What’s a ghost hunter to do?
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I’m not sure what I expected going into this novella. I mean…look at the cover. It’s weird, kinda creepy, and automatically makes me want to read the story. Subterranean Press was kind enough to send over a copy of the exceptionally strange novella by Jonathan Carroll, TEACHING THE DOG TO READ. It didn’t disappoint.
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K.J. Parker has been one of my favorite authors for quite some time now. Her books, in my opinion, are brilliant fun and have oodles of engaging characters put into absolutely awful predicaments. Even though she overwhelmingly shies away from all things “magical,” there’s plenty within the “fantasy palette” developed by each book that I feel completely satiated at the end of each reading. She makes me laugh, and as I’ve repeatedly found, making a reader laugh can cover a multitude of sins (if there are any). If you’re up on your game in regards to her publications, you might also have noticed that Ms. Parker is NOT A MS. Completely took me by surprise as, when speaking of authors from across the pond, I’ve tended to like the works of more female authors than their more masculine counterparts (with a few exceptions). Never thought I’d see the day honestly. But still, Tom Holt writes the books the same way whether he uses that pseudonym or not. So I’m still happy.
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Not only did this series get a major upgrade with the last book (hardcover, anybody?), but we also heard that SyFy had picked it up for a 10-episode series (which begins to air this December), and they also started writing for series two of the SyFy series last month. That’s June. Six months before the series even premieres! Just freaking cool. Still, I’m already itching for book six, Babylon’s Ashes. Although, we’ll get a new novella (The Vital Abyss, Oct 1st) in just a few months, and then the tv series in December, so the time between now and then should just fly.
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