Thunder and Blood by Stacey Voss
Series: Thunder and Blood
Publisher: Donner, 2009
Genre: Fantasy
Sub-genre: Paranormal
Rating: 2 1/2 pints of blood
This cover freaks me out a little. Ok, I'll admit I like the sunset, particularly the deep red strip right at the horizon. It's moody and dramatic, and an excellent hearkening back to the title. The eyes are relevant, a part of the story, but cripes are they creepy hanging out in the sky like that. I was going to say they're an unnatural shade of green, but that seems a silly criticism given the genre. The eyes in the book are described as being a striking emerald green, though, and that is not it. Also, and I'm being petty here, they kind of clash with the blue portion of the sky.
I think what disturbs me about it is they're just eyes, hanging out in the sky, like they're popping out of the clouds. Crazy weather tonight, hmm? If there was a semi-transparent hint of nose and/or eyebrows to go with the eyes, to indicate they were part of someone's face and not just random floating orbs of creepiness, I'd be less inclined to find this a disturbing image.
When Sarah discovers her husband cheating on her, her sister Christine steps in to comfort her. The two of them decide to drive down across the US border to go to a day spa and cheer Sarah up. Along the way they get caught in a thick fog, but fortunately a quaint elderly couple take them in for the night before they get hopelessly lost.
When the sisters leave the next morning, they quickly realize things aren't exactly the way they remember. For one thing, the road to the border is suddenly gravel instead of paved. They can't see any power lines, and the cell phone isn't getting a signal. Slowly, they discover the fog acted as a gateway to an alternate world, one where the world is run by vampires and technology never progressed beyond the 15th century. The area they're in is controlled by a mad vampire lord with a bigger thirst than average who has his eye on Christine.
Early in the story, the two sisters are separated, and each stumbles into their own collection of characters who try to help them acclimatize to this new world. The narration follows Sarah a little more closely, and as the older sister she's preoccupied with trying to find and protect Christine from the vampire lord.
I'm going to be up front and say I had a lot of issues turning off my "inner editor" while reading this. Evidently the publishers didn't have the same problem, because there were a ton of little ticks in here that needed to be tightened up. Extraneous words, awkward phrases, head hopping... all of these add up to major distraction, to the point where it's sometimes hard to see the story these poor words are trying to create.
Partially because of the head hopping I mentioned, I never felt connected to any of the characters. I watched them go about their business without any emotional investment on my part, and when the narration switched between Sarah, Christine, and Hillard, there wasn't much of a distinguishable difference between their voices. I couldn't help but think if the positions were reversed, very little of the story would have changed.
That being said, I did find it a refreshing change of pace when Sarah acknowledges she's not a particularly pretty woman. She's a husky sort of gal, much bigger than she's like to be, and while she's angry with her husband for his cheating and places the blame squarely on him, somewhere in the back of her mind she thinks he might not have been so tempted if she were prettier. Her uncertainty about her body is natural and familiar, and emphasized when other characters recognize her younger, slimmer sister as the pretty one.
The romantic interests were a bit too pat for my liking. It seems overly convenient that when the sisters are separated, they each happen to meet someone who strongly attracts them, especially Sarah, who just two days earlier was devastated at finding another woman nearly naked in her house. Apparently by the end of the book she's in love all over again, though, which... wow, 0 to 60 there.
Thunder and Blood is available in trade paperback
.
Publisher: Donner, 2009
Genre: Fantasy
Sub-genre: Paranormal
Rating: 2 1/2 pints of blood
This cover freaks me out a little. Ok, I'll admit I like the sunset, particularly the deep red strip right at the horizon. It's moody and dramatic, and an excellent hearkening back to the title. The eyes are relevant, a part of the story, but cripes are they creepy hanging out in the sky like that. I was going to say they're an unnatural shade of green, but that seems a silly criticism given the genre. The eyes in the book are described as being a striking emerald green, though, and that is not it. Also, and I'm being petty here, they kind of clash with the blue portion of the sky.
I think what disturbs me about it is they're just eyes, hanging out in the sky, like they're popping out of the clouds. Crazy weather tonight, hmm? If there was a semi-transparent hint of nose and/or eyebrows to go with the eyes, to indicate they were part of someone's face and not just random floating orbs of creepiness, I'd be less inclined to find this a disturbing image.
When Sarah discovers her husband cheating on her, her sister Christine steps in to comfort her. The two of them decide to drive down across the US border to go to a day spa and cheer Sarah up. Along the way they get caught in a thick fog, but fortunately a quaint elderly couple take them in for the night before they get hopelessly lost.
When the sisters leave the next morning, they quickly realize things aren't exactly the way they remember. For one thing, the road to the border is suddenly gravel instead of paved. They can't see any power lines, and the cell phone isn't getting a signal. Slowly, they discover the fog acted as a gateway to an alternate world, one where the world is run by vampires and technology never progressed beyond the 15th century. The area they're in is controlled by a mad vampire lord with a bigger thirst than average who has his eye on Christine.
Early in the story, the two sisters are separated, and each stumbles into their own collection of characters who try to help them acclimatize to this new world. The narration follows Sarah a little more closely, and as the older sister she's preoccupied with trying to find and protect Christine from the vampire lord.
I'm going to be up front and say I had a lot of issues turning off my "inner editor" while reading this. Evidently the publishers didn't have the same problem, because there were a ton of little ticks in here that needed to be tightened up. Extraneous words, awkward phrases, head hopping... all of these add up to major distraction, to the point where it's sometimes hard to see the story these poor words are trying to create.
Partially because of the head hopping I mentioned, I never felt connected to any of the characters. I watched them go about their business without any emotional investment on my part, and when the narration switched between Sarah, Christine, and Hillard, there wasn't much of a distinguishable difference between their voices. I couldn't help but think if the positions were reversed, very little of the story would have changed.
That being said, I did find it a refreshing change of pace when Sarah acknowledges she's not a particularly pretty woman. She's a husky sort of gal, much bigger than she's like to be, and while she's angry with her husband for his cheating and places the blame squarely on him, somewhere in the back of her mind she thinks he might not have been so tempted if she were prettier. Her uncertainty about her body is natural and familiar, and emphasized when other characters recognize her younger, slimmer sister as the pretty one.
The romantic interests were a bit too pat for my liking. It seems overly convenient that when the sisters are separated, they each happen to meet someone who strongly attracts them, especially Sarah, who just two days earlier was devastated at finding another woman nearly naked in her house. Apparently by the end of the book she's in love all over again, though, which... wow, 0 to 60 there.
Thunder and Blood is available in trade paperback
.