Monthly Archives: January 2010

Debut Review – Deadtown by Nancy Holzner

Posted on by
5


Deadtown
by Nancy Holzner
Penguin/Ace Fantasy
Paperback – $7.99
Genre: Urban Fantasy

Reviewed by Deborah Blake

Victory Vaughn is Boston’s only professional demon slayer, in a city where the vampires, werewolves and zombies are confined to a quarantined section called Deadtown. Not only is she dealing with a workaholic werewolf sort-of boyfriend, a rash teenage zombie apprentice, and a demanding, demon-ridden client, but now the Hellion who murdered her father has come back for her. And he intends to destroy the entire city in the process.

I confess—I wasn’t sure whether or not this book was for me. I love a lot of urban fantasy and some of my favorite authors write in this genre; if you haven’t checked out C. E. Murphy, Jeri Smith-Ready and Kim Harrison, run, don’t walk to your nearest bookstore. But I’m not a big fan of the new zombie trend, and some urban fantasies are just too dark or too sexy (more sex than plot, for instance) for my taste.

Happily, Ms. Holzner’s book didn’t fall into either of these categories, and she actually found a way to make zombie characters sympathetic and even likable; something I wouldn’t have thought was possible. Her world-building is detailed, plausible, and highly original, and she doesn’t fall back on too many of the classic paranormal tropes in an effort to tell her story.

DEADTOWN’s protagonist, Vicky Vaughn, is real and believable, and the reader can identify with her problems, even when they are set in a world that is somewhat different from ours. The book jumps right into the paranormal; starting out with Vicky fighting demons in her client’s dreamscape reality, along with her zombie apprentice Tina, who wreaks havoc right and left.

As I said before, Ms. Holzner does a great job of making zombies more appealing than I ever would have thought possible. Three years earlier, a plague hit a localized area of Boston, turning regular folks into the walking dead. One of the reoccurring themes of the book revolves around prejudice and intolerance (in this case toward zombies and other paranormal citizens), and the author handles it well, without preachiness or heavy-handed melodrama.

I only had a couple of small complaints about the book—really small, and nothing that would stop me from recommending it. I sometimes had a hard time believing that Vicky would continue to put up with Tina’s impetuous and often destructive behavior. Vicky’s job as a demon slayer is so important; the reader has to wonder why she would continue trying to train this girl to follow in her footsteps. I also thought the book dragged a bit in a few spots, despite the almost non-stop action. But seriously, these are tiny issues and the rest of the book more than makes up for them.

Overall, however, I found the book entertaining and highly readable. The characters were interesting and believable, and the dynamics of the protagonist’ difficult family and social relationships were as realistic as her world was imaginative.

I am looking forward to the author’s next book and to returning to DEADTOWN. Although I have to say, I’m really glad I don’t have to live there!

~*~

Deborah Blake is one of my most enthusiastic followers, and is constantly linking and Friday Following this blog. I know she loves urban fantasy, so when I received this novel and it wasn’t really for me, I thought of her. Here is her bio:

Deborah is the published author of three nonfiction books on Witchcraft from Llewellyn, with two more coming out this year. She has also written three novels that are as yet— alas— unpublished, including an urban fantasy. Her prize-winning short story, “Dead and (Mostly) Gone” appeared in THE PAGAN ANTHOLOGY OF SHORT FICTION, and she won the EMILY “Best of the Best” award in 2009 for her novel WITCH EVER WAY YOU CAN. She also gives two popular online writing workshops, “Witchcraft for the Paranormal Author” and “Beyond Fangs: Creating New & Original Paranormal Characters.”

Ms. Blake lives in upstate NY in a 100 year old farmhouse with five cats who occasionally allow her to stop petting them long enough to write something. She can be found at www.deborahblakehps.com and http://deborahblake.blogspot.com/ as well as on Twitter and Facebook.

Up This Week

Posted on by
Reply

This week, I continue to be lazy and rely on other people to write my blog posts for me. Or, that’s how it seems sometimes! My Mystery Urban Fantasy Reviewer will be unveiled tomorrow, plus I have an author guest post and contest scheduled for Wednesday. On Tuesday I have a bit Debut Showcase almost ready and on Thursday .  .  . well, I don’t know. I have a review ready, but I really don’t want to post it until its Release Day next week. So you never know what I’ll come up with for Thursday. I’ve only done Part One  of my YouTube Tour of Classical Music (which is one of my most visited pages), and only one Road Trip, and I meant to post lots of both of those. So we’ll have to see what kind of mood I’m in later in the week.

See ya!

Debut Review: Veracity by Laura Bynum

Posted on by
7


VERACITY
by Laura Bynum
Pocket Books
Hardcover – $25
Dystopian Science Fiction

VERACITY by Laura Bynum was a welcome change of pace, and despite some plausability issues I had with certain aspects of the plot, I enjoyed it very much. Veracity is a near-future dystopian science fiction story.

Veracity begins with Harper Adams making her escape from her job, the government and her country. She can no longer live with any of these and is willing to do anything to escape — even give up her daughter.

For Harper lives in a future America — actually, a post-America — that is so repressive that it forbids the utterance of thousands of words. She worked as a Monitor for the government where she uses her ability to see auras in the enforcement of the law. She can sometimes recognize truth from lies, plus she is precognitive and remote-sensing. Certain technologies keep the populace in line, and deals out instant punishment for any infractions. This includes children. The Blue Coat police force uses rape and unfettered violence to enforce the law. The Bible has been rewritten as the Confederation Bible. It’s a sort of watered-down Christianity, and it’s the only government-sanctioned religion.

This was a real page-turner. Harper was likable, but I would have liked to seen more character development. As I mentioned above, I occasionally ran into problems with plausibility. In writing circles, the willingness of the reader to set aside reality long enough to read the novel is called suspension of disbelief. The story stretched my ability suspend my disbelief in several places. Early on in the story, for example, we learn that many police are unarmed.

“. . . the largely gun-free system has flourished. Fists, elblows, knees, mouth, teeth, the fleshy weapons carried by men, the ones used to inflict more intimate punishments — these broadcast an absolute and terrifying power the business end of a pistol doesn’t match.”

I thought, “huh?” If this were true, our entire history wouldn’t include one huge, never-ending arms race. The business end of a pistol is about the most terrifying thing I can imagine. I immediately wanted to know how the government would have accomplished the incredible task of disarming our gun-loving populace. However, Ms. Bynum dealth with that tricky problem by not dealing with it. It just happened, and it was so. This happened rather frequently.

I also had difficulty believing that so many sweeping and brutal changes could have happened over the course of one generation, especially since they were voluntary changes. People actually agreed to have slates implanted in their necks, which would monitor their every word, and would zap them if they said a Red Listed word. It was a stretch to my credulity.

One could argue that Stalin managed to install a horrifically oppressive regime within a generation of the revolution in 1917. But the Russian regime that preceded the revolution was hardly one based on freedom. There was a reason for the revolution. I do agree that people are willing to exchange their freedom for security, but only incrementally. Which can lead to horrible things, but I would have been more credulous of a fifty year timespan. One hundred years would have been even better.

Since I otherwise found the book intriguing, I decided to suspend my disbelief in my disbelief of my suspension of disbelief.

Harper has a harrowing time getting into the resistance. In order for her to put on a convincing act for the authorities, she can’t know anything until she’s actually in. It was very well done and made the opening pages just fly by. Ms. Bynum has frequent flashbacks to Harper’s draft into the Monitor program and certain key scenes in her high school years. There was one intriguing character early in the story — the Monitor who tested her — that I wanted to see again, but she didn’t turn up.

Among the things Harper has to give up in order to flee the Monitor program and join the resistance is her daughter, Veracity. She has to make it look like she has no love for her daughter, or the government will use the girl as leverage. This made for some great suspense. Another nailbiting series of scenes involved Harper having to go off on a mission all by herself. And she has to go all the way into the bowels of a Blue Coat station. This would make a great book club book. I just want to talk about it, but I can’t say too much because I want you to discover all these interesting plot twists for yourself.

Bravo to the author for not making the ending one of those cliched everything-is-lost types of endings that have been done way too much these days. There is a struggle, of course, but it didn’t follow one of those well-plowed formulas, so it was more unpredictable than some other novels I’ve read lately. The ending ending pages were extremely subtle, and quite well done. Oh, and more kudos to the author for not making this one of those excessively gritty novels. In fact, if it weren’t for the swearing and the sex scenes, this could easily have been a Christian novel.

I think many of the problems I had with the novel were personal because I’m such a stickler for plausibility. Everyone has their own plausibility tolerance level. Obviously the author found it plausible and so did the many people it takes to get a book published these days, and so might you. I obviously enjoyed the story anyway, and I will certainly be interested in reading Ms. Bynum’s next effort.

Here is another point of view by The Crotchety Old Fan.

UPDATE: Remarks in the comments have led me to believe that by ending this review on a low note, I gave the mistaken impression that I didn’t enjoy it. This is not the case. I really enjoyed this novel and found it quite impossible to put down. It was refreshing to read a science fiction novel that didn’t try to shock one’s senses with grittiness, and who isn’t afraid to end a novel on a hopeful note.

Contents Widget and Post Tags

Posted on by
Reply

I have added a Contents widget in the far right sidebar, plus I have gone through and tagged all our posts. I’m going to try to keep my pool of tags small, unlike what I did at Fantasy Debut, where every author and book title was a tag. It worked well for me behind the scenes, but a tag cloud-based table of contents was not feasible due to the sheer number of tags.

I hope you will find it useful. Now if only I can remember to tag my posts.

Review: Tuck

Posted on by
13

Reviewed by Superwench83.

Blurb:

The story of Rhi Bran y Hud concludes as Abbot Hugo and the Norman invaders attempt to wipe out King Raven and his flock once and for all. Their merciless attack, the first of many to come, heralds a dark and desperate day for the realm of Elfael. Bran and his few stalwarts desperately need encouragement and reinforcement if they are to survive. Bran and Friar Tuck, a most unconventional priest, ride north to rally the tribes of Wales to the fight, making new friends, and even more powerful enemies along the way. . . .

A Welsh Robin Hood? It sounds so strange after all that talk of Nottingham. Yet this is where Stephen R. Lawhead places his King Raven Trilogy, and a number of historical facts point to this being a possibility.

Hood and Scarlet were worthy tales, but this review is not for them (though in the past I discussed them briefly on my blog). Tuck, the final book in the King Raven Trilogy, sees us to the end of Rhi Bran y Hud’s quest to win his kingdom and his crown, and even goes as far as to speculate how the legend came to Nottingham.

Stephen R. Lawhead is a master of poetic prose. He also knows how to write chapter endings that hook you into diving right into the next page. Unfortunately…there’s something missing in this book. I can’t say I disliked it; indeed there were moments I really loved. But all in all, despite a lot of great things going on, I felt apathetic through about half of the book.

I think it was mostly a matter of characterization. Tuck, who is the main character of Tuck (surprise!) doesn’t seem to have any personal stakes. I mean, yes, if Bran’s quest fails, Tuck’s life could well be forfeit. But Tuck doesn’t seem troubled by this fact. He doesn’t dwell on it in dread, doesn’t have to force himself to push the thought away, doesn’t seem to have any dreams that will be shattered if he fails. Nor does he seem overly concerned about the people under oppressive rule. Not that he doesn’t care, but there’s no passion. He just seems to float along with the breeze, rarely proactive.

Another complaint I have is about the dialogue in the argument scenes—especially among the antagonists. It’s petty, silly dialogue…which might work if this were a different kind of novel, one that pokes fun of the villains and paints them as bumbling fools. But this is a serious novel, and the villains pose a serious threat. Their “He said this!” and “He started that!” dialogue seemed quite out of place.

As I said, though, there were moments I really enjoyed. The time Bran spent disguising himself before a pompous noble, as well as his flight away from that errand, were both playful and intense. More than any other scenes in the books, these captured the spirit of Robin Hood legends best, and I wish there had been more like them. I was also happy to see one of the series’ many villains show a few signs of redemption. And the ending was satisfactory, for both the book and the series. Not what I had expected, but a fitting end.

The appeal of this book—of the trilogy, in fact—lies in its unusual placement of the Robin Hood legend in a land and time it has never seen…or at least not for a thousand years. It’s a neat historical spin. I really liked Scarlet, the previous novel in the series, and wish Tuck had captured more of that spirit. All in all, Tuck wasn’t a bad book, but neither was it as strong as I had hoped it would be.

Preview chapter and purchase links

Debut Showcase – Latter December and Early January

Posted on by
1

Deadtown
by Nancy Holzner
Penguin/Ace Fantasy
Paperback – $7.99
Genre: Urban Fantasy (looks humorous, too!)

They call it Deadtown: the city’s quarantined section for its inhuman and undead residents. Most humans stay far from its borders—but Victory Vaughn, Boston’s only professional demon slayer, isn’t exactly human…

Vicky’s demanding job keeping the city safe from all manner of monsters is one reason her relationship with workaholic lawyer (and werewolf) Alexander Kane is in constant limbo. Throw in a foolhardy zombie apprentice, a mysterious demon-plagued client, and a suspicious research facility that’s taken an unwelcome interest in her family, and Vicky’s love life has as much of a pulse as Deadtown’s citizens.

But now Vicky’s got bigger things to worry about. The Hellion who murdered her father ten years ago has somehow broken through Boston’s magical protections. The Hellion is a ruthless force of destruction with a personal grudge against Vicky, and she’s the only one who can stop this demon before it destroys the city and everyone in it.

I love the over-the-top cover here. I tried this one and while it was fun, I knew someone who was a true fan of urban fantasy would make a much better reviewer than me. So I sent it off to Mystery Urban Fantasy Guest Reviewer. Stay tuned!



Plain Jayne
by Hilary Manton Lodge
Harvest House Publishers
Trade Paperback – $13.99
Genre: Inspirational Romance

Jayne Tate loves her life as it is—living in a big city, working as a reporter for a fast-paced newspaper, and dating a guy who knows nothing about her past.  When her father passes away though, she’s forced to take another look at what she wants out of life.  After losing out on the big career opportunity she was hoping for, she decides to escape to Oregon Amish country, seeking solace and maybe a big story.

Even in this land of buggies and bonnets, Jayne finds life more complicated than she expected.  Can she persuade herself that her growing friendship with the mysterious and handsome Levi Burkholder is just about research?  And what’s a latte-drinking, laptop-using, motorcycle-riding reporter to do when this new life starts to change her?

The author keeps a good blog but really needs to finish her website. I like the look of it and since I’ve been meaning to read more than fantasy and science fiction, this is a possibility.



Pieces of Sky
by Kaki Warner
Trade Paperback – $15
Genre: Romance

via Publishers Marketplace

Pregnant and burdened with a terrible secret, Jessica has left England for the American West in search of a new life. Brady, a hard-bitten rancher haunted by the violence of his past, is desperate to protect his land and family from a blood feud that has already claimed one brother. She’s fancy hats and pamphlets on deportment. He’s rough manners and twenty years of blood on his hands. An improbable pair. But after their stagecoach crashes and Jessica is stranded at his high mountain ranch until she gives birth, antipathy slowly becomes attraction. He teaches her to trust and laugh again—she helps him find the joy he’d lost. Faced with hard choices and unspeakable loss, they draw strength from each other to overcome the horrors of their pasts, and in the process find redemption, forgiveness, and ultimately love.

It’s an old west story, a fish-out-of-water story and a pregnant-and-on-the-run story all at once. I’m not sure I feel qualified to read this one, but her being pregnant while traveling makes me sympathetic. Always a good place to start from after reading a blurb.


Veracity
by Laura Bynum
Pocket Books
Hardcover – $25
Genre: Dystopian Science Fiction

Harper Adams was six years old in 2012 when an act of viral terrorism wiped out one-half of the country’s population. Out of the ashes rose a new government, the Confederation of the Willing, dedicated to maintaining order at any cost. The populace is controlled via government-sanctioned sex and drugs, a brutal police force known as the Blue Coats, and a device called the slate, a mandatory implant that monitors every word a person speaks. To utter a forbidden, Red-Listed word is to risk physical punishment, or even death.

But there are those who resist. Guided by the fabled Book of Noah, they are determined to shake the people from their apathy and ignorance, and are prepared to start a war in the name of freedom. The newest member of this resistance is Harper—a woman driven by memories of a daughter lost, a daughter whose very name was erased by the Red List. And she possesses a power that could make her the underground warriors’ ultimate weapon—or the instrument of their destruction. . . .

I have this book. I read this book. Did I like this book? You’ll soon see! I love the author’s website. She had a press kit with everything I need. Authors: take note of this excellent example of a press page for an author website!


The Secret Year
by Jennifer Hubbard
Viking Juvenile
Trade Paperback – $16.99
Genre: Young Adult Romance

via Nathan Bransford

Take Romeo and Juliet. Add The Outsiders. Mix thoroughly.

Colt and Julia were secretly together for an entire year, and no one—not even Julia’s boyfriend— knew. They had nothing in common, with Julia in her country club world on Black Mountain and Colt from down on the flats, but it never mattered. Until Julia dies in a car accident, and Colt learns the price of secrecy. He can’t mourn Julia openly, and he’s tormented that he might have played a part in her death. When Julia’s journal ends up in his hands, Colt relives their year together at the same time that he’s desperately trying to forget her. But how do you get over someone who was never yours in the first place?

Nathan Bransford is the author’s agent and he has been aggressively promoting her book on his blog. Makes me think that an author lucky enough to snag an agent with a popular blog is bound to have a head’s start over authors with nonblogging agents. But the role of an agent isn’t necessarily that of a publicist, so I’ll shut up now.


Wish
by Alexandra Bullen
Young Adult Fantasy
Point (publisher)
Hardcover – $17.99

via Maw Books

For broken-hearted Olivia Larsen, nothing can change the fact that her twin sister, Violet, is gone… until a mysterious, beautiful gown arrives on her doorstep. The dress doesn’t just look magical; it is magical. It has the power to grant her one wish, and the only thing Olivia wants is her sister back.

With Violet again by her side, both girls get a second chance at life. And as the sisters soon discover, they have two more dresses-and two more wishes left. But magic can’t solve everything, and Olivia is forced to confront her ghosts to learn how to laugh, love, and live again.

A video starts when you load up the website, so you have been warned. The blurb was very powerful for me until the last sentence, when it just sort of collapsed. After that, it’s just hyperbole, which I never reproduce. Anyway, right away Olivia is very sympathetic to me because she uses a wish to bring her sister back to life. I find myself wanting to learn more.

~*~

I know there are more, but Edelweiss is still acting up. I went through my Google Reader for recently-featured debuts, which is why you see so many hat tips today. On my ToDo list: Get my debut submission form working again. In the meantime, the one at Fantasy Debut still works, so if you have a mainstream, traditionally-published novel coming out, or know someone who does, please fill it out. It mentions SFWA, but I am looking to showcase all genres.

Review: The Sony Reader

Posted on by
9

By Superwench83

I was one of those who was slow to embrace the concept of an electronic reading device. One who said a book in hand was worth more than a book on screen, that nothing could beat the old-fashioned feel of flipping through those pages. But I began to see the convenience of having my favorite nonfiction books in one portable little reference. Then I got to thinking how great it would be to carry a sleek e-reader in my purse rather than a massive hardback novel. And thus I began to covet the Sony Reader.

If you’ve already considered these benefits and others, you’re probably already sold on the idea of an electronic reading device. In your case, my goal is to share my experiences with the Sony Reader, Touch edition, thus informing any decision you wish to make. And for those who aren’t convinced, who don’t think e-readers are the greatest innovation in written communication since stone tablets went by the wayside: I am here to make a believer out of you.

The Sony Reader has a number of benefits and features which make for a wonderful reading experience. For starters, it’s instant. With a broadband connection, you can find, buy, and begin reading a book in as little as ten minutes. (Those with dial-up can expect to wait a bit longer.) How many times have you been at home, ready to settle in for the night with a good book, and realized you have nothing to read? It’s pretty amazing to be able to turn on my computer and let a book download while I make some hot chocolate to drink for when I sit down to read.

Another thing I love is the Create Notes feature, which allows you to highlight text and scribble your thoughts right on the page—a sacrilegious thing to do to a paper novel according to many. And all notes can be erased without a trace if you so desire. You can also hide the notes if you want to read a clean copy of the book without deleting your scribbles and highlights. Best of all, every note you make is instantly recorded in a chronologically-ordered table of contents for easy reference. The Create Notes feature means no more interrupting my reading to hunt for pen and paper when I want to write something down. All I need is the stylus which comes with the Reader, conveniently and securely stored on the Reader’s top right side.

Additionally, the Sony Reader’s size has benefits I’d never considered. A paper book can be heavy. With large hardbacks, you need two hands to support the weight of the open book, and even with smaller mass market paperbacks, it’s difficult to hold the book and turn pages using only one hand. This means that laying down and getting comfortable while you read can sometimes be a challenge. But with a slim Reader, no book is too big to hold one-handed. And you can use that same hand to turn the page with ease.

Other features of the Sony Reader, Touch edition: It’s got a larger screen than the Pocket edition. (And as the name indicates, the Touch edition is a touch screen.) It’s got instant bookmark-ing. Any time you stop reading any book, the Reader marks your place so you can pick up right where you left off. (And these bookmarks don’t fall out!) You can create text memos, drawings, and handwritten documents. You can download PDF and Microsoft Word documents to the Reader, making it ideal for almost everyone. Students can make notes on documents while on the go, and people whose jobs require them to review documents on a computer screen will find the Reader a marvelous device. It’s easier on the eyes than a computer screen and more portable than even the smallest laptop. You can even store audio files and pictures there.

Since the Sony Reader, Touch edition is the only e-reader I’ve used, I can’t compare it to similar devices such as the Kindle. But I am absolutely thrilled with my Sony Reader. I knew I would be, but I honestly had no idea I would love it this much. If you’ve been thinking of getting one but aren’t sure if it’s worth the investment, I would bet that it is. This is an amazing piece of technology. And I do believe it is the wave of the future.

Productive Weekend!

Posted on by
3

With Superwench83‘s help, I am well prepared for this week! We have a gadget review for you, plus a debut review, a Debut Showcase, and a review of a novel by a well-established author. Plus I managed to get lots of non blog stuff done as well.

~*~

Since I now have my iPod touch, I have been experimenting with ebooks. Over the Christmas holidays, Joely Sue Burkhart‘s Survive My Fire was available as a download, so I grabbed it. I have to read it with no paragraph breaks due to the way my e-reader handles page breaks (not at all), but I’m enjoying it nevertheless. Joely is a longterm friend of this blog. I am not ready to start taking ebooks as review copies, especially since the page breaks don’t work so well. So I expect to be experimenting for a while. Anyone got any recommendation for PDF viewers for the iPhone? I need ones that can handle paragraph breaks when it reflows the text. As a developer, I’m not sure why this is a problem because paragraph breaks are actual character codes that you can look for. But none of the readers I’ve played with so far can do it, on both my old palm and on my iPod.

Superwench’s gadget review will be up tomorrow morning, so be sure to stop back by!

Negative Reviews – The Decision

Posted on by
Reply

I’ve decided (which you already know if you kept up with the comments on the “On Negative Reviews” post below) to do a monthly round-up of all books in my “on hold” pile. I rarely give up on a book permanently, but sometimes it does take me a couple of months to get to it. If I just read three epic fantasies, for example, I’m not going to want to read a fourth right away, which is the ONLY reason I haven’t read CANTICLE by Ken Scholes yet.

So I’ll plan to write my first post on this topic over the weekend!