book count
1 - The Soul Mirror (Collegia Magica) - Carol Berg. The writing in this series is really sub-par, and despite the paroxysms of ecstasy from her fans on Amazon she really does not have the grasp of the intricacies of the English language they seem to think she has. The faux olde English attempts were just grating (in character speech) and she seems to have a hard on for the word ;limed' and really, fine use that word, but not for EVERY DAMNED THING an for feck sake use it consistently. :/
That said, clearly I was sufficiently intrigued by the over arching plot to read book two. But I have to say as annoying as Portier was in book one (again her legions of Amazon fans rave about what a wonderfully complex, flawed, self-depreciating character he was), with his I am such failure, woe is me, I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy attitude, Anne was far, far more annoying, In book one she had been vaunted as a great scientific mind, staunchly disbelieving in magic, and five minutes into the book, after missing endless clues to, well, everything, she is blithely using magic invisibility potions! Now, lets be clear here, in this world, magic IS real, so I had trouble wrapping my head wrong a group of scientist who actively disbelieved in something many had seen with their own eyes, Yes, many of the magic feats had been explained by science, and yes magic was greatly reduced since the Blood Wars (a horrific war between the two most powerful families with magical blood that devastated the continent), but seriously a group of so called scientifically minded people, disbelieving the evidence of their own eyes? Does Carol Berg understand the field of science AT ALL?
Anyways, the plot was moved on, it did have a good sub-plot of court politics going on, which I enjoyed. And I found the reveal of the big bad and his goals quite satisfying (again it was obvious before the big reveal I mean really, the doctor made a magical mist? The anti-magic doctor, um no, he's clearly the bad guy in disguise, don't go with him you daft bint!, the revelation that many where not the good guy/bad guy the appeared to be were all satisfy, if again, somewhat obvious, but at least one of those made me terribly happy I NEVER lost faith in you Dante, even though Portier did! All things considered I am rather pissed off that the e-book of the 3rd book isn't available yet (even though the book came out last week) I hit up Amazon and read the 'look inside' excerpt, which has cooled my enthusiasm somewhat, for while it was obvious it would be from Dante's perspective this time (which made me think yay!) the excerpt makes him sound more pathetic and full of self loathing than Portier EVER was... and all full of how wonderful, and smart and amazing Anne is, and how she can't possibly want him, because ohnoes he's blind! Even though by this point she has made it more than clear that she wants him bad, and can help him through their psychic link, and help him see the magic that he so loves(since it turned out she is one of the last remaining member from one of the bloody families involved in the Blood Wars). Self-depreciating is one thing, self-defeating and self flagellating are something else entirely. Carol berg needs to learn the difference (or rather her legions of fans do)
2 - Shadow Heir (Dark Swan 4) - Richelle Mead; Now let's be clear here, I really did enjoy this book, and I very much approved of the resolution to the love triangle, but I can't help but tell you parts of the so called 'resolution' left a bitter taste in my mouth. I was team Dorian all the way, so yay for picking him. I figured out long before the reveal that Pagiel was actual the prophesied Grandchild of the Storm King who would lead the invasion of the human world, and not her son Stormagedon (actually, Dorians name for her boy twin was';t THAT cool, Richelle clearly isn't a Doctor Who fan) after all. The revelation that Dickwad, sorry Kiyo wasn't that father and it was Dorian after all was touching and happy inducing, but not terribly convincing given the time line (though I do need to do a spot of research, sperm CAN stay alive for a while in the womb, but really???!?!?). Then Dickwad saying yeah okay we know Pagiel was the prophesied grandchild, but some people might think your son MAY be the one to fulfil the prophesy so he MAY not be safe in the fairy realm, leading her to make the dumb ass, hate inducing, me foaming at the mouth decision, to LEAVE her damn 3 month old twins with scarily nice random strangers in the human world, and waltz back to be with Dorian in the Otherworld, and NOT telling him he's a damned father (The poor man would die of ecstasy if he knew that bloody kids where his!)! And this from the woman who cheated on him because he's not always truthful with her!!!!!!!! Yes, because he's going to be sooo happy with you when he finds out you kept his kids from him for year and years and years. Not. *grrr*
3 - Sins of the Demon (Book 4 of the Kara Gillian series) - Diana Rowland; OMG, holly cliff hanger Batman! I cannot emphasise enough how much I love this series. It is the perfect blending of police procedural and supernatural thriller, AND awesomely, touchingly rendered romance. Kara Gillian is an easy character to like, sassy without being obnoxious or annoying (a la Dante Valentine) not blithely stupid (a la Sookie Stackhouse) and not too damned pretty. She summons demons, and the mechanics of that seem to work flawlessly and have been clearly well thought out by the author, but not presented in coldly scientific terms either. This is book three clearly, and while each book has it's own serial killer, there is the ever present over arching plot which moves forward very satisfyingly in this book. My only serious complain is the long wait I have to find out what the hell happens next and WHY! Finally she and Ryan declare their love for one another, just as she is pulled through to the demon realm by a hitherto unknown Demonic Lord. She doesn't actually screw Rhyzkahl in this book, which makes me feel a bit better. Not that I don't think adults should have sex with whomever the damn please, just it has felt a bit like she was cheating on Ryan even though they were playing at 'just being friends'. And don't get me wrong, Rhyzkahl is pretty awesome, in the first book he is described as looking Fabio esq which is nom, now, clearly with some sort of intent of hangning out more in the human world he has cut his hair to shoulder lenght and is wearing tight black jeans, again nom. He is a very intriguing character, first painted in one light, then shown to have depths and un-guessed at motivations and I would dare to venture that is is rather fond of Kara. If Ryan weren't in the picture I would be way shipping Kara and Rhyzkahl. But Ryan IS in the picture and he is absolutely on of my all time favourite love interests from this genre. On the surface he is a slightly moody, geeky Mulder-esq FBI agent, which frankly was a good start :) He and Kara become close quickly, but not in a rushed or forced way, it feels really natural and real. He hit 'possessive/protective' stage which I assume may be off putting to some, but I totally digged, especially since the author added in occasional hints of his motivations (as in he not-so-secretly loves her) and does act a little emo, but hey I love Richard from the Anita Blake series, so I'm still good here. But then tail end of book 2 (I think) Kara is about to be smited by a golem and her new demon guardian shouts a name and RYAN turns round and smites the golem with an arcane blast, bam, gone. Kara quickly figures the only way he could have done that, was if he too was demonic lord. He clearly doesn't know what he is, and has had his powers and memories repressed. His FBI partner Zack (surfer boy) is HIS demon protector/jailer (though given how fond Zack seems of Ryan, protector seems more likely). So, now we have the situation where, arguably the Ryan we have come to know and love does not really exist, he's a fabrication. Does the actual entity love Kara or does he just think he does coz the made up Ryan persona would? Does she really love him, since all she knows is this made up persona?
In between trying to solve the case in this latest book, Kara is dropped hints as to which demonic lord, Ryan is, coming to believe he is Rhyzkalh's nemesis Szerain (round about working that out Kara realises Szerain is the name Eilahn shouted when the golem nearly bludgeoned her), whom is the demon that the group including Kara' grandmother where trying to summon (to cure the wife of one of the summoners of cancer, because Szerain was allegedly nice like that) when the accidentally got Rhyzkahl who then slaughtered them. We also discover that Szerain gave that same group the design for a portal that could stay permanently open and anyone could be brought through, at any time, which allegedly would cause great change and turmoil to the human world (NOT so nice of him). By the end of this book, you are left wondering if your initial impression of Rhyzkalh = bad Szerain = good is actually right.
SHe hasn't been able to figure out WHY Szerain/Ryan has been banished to the human world and disguised as a human, Rhyzkalh made it clear that there is no crime that a demonic lord could commit that would carry that sentence, and the=at demonic lords do not censure each other, which means the why cannot be that Szerian committed a crime (even though Kara is STILL trying to figure out what bad thing he did). But still any demon that comes across him hisses and calls him oath breaker (I forget the demon term for it, but it is that they actually hiss) - but the revelations in this book imply it was for protection purposes, maybe even a voluntary exile, every damn creature is oath bound to say nothing about it, how the hell do you make every demon and lord oath bound?!!?!?!?
Also, sadly Eilahn is shot and killed, thus returned to the demon realm. She will be able to be re-sumoned, and at least in the demon realm she can tell Rhyzkalh some of what has happened, but she was shot before Kara was summoned so as it stands at the end of the book Rhyzkalh doesn't know! So HE cant save her, and Ryan doesn't even know what he is, so HE can;t save her either, and the bastard demonic lord who has her has collared her, so SHE can't save herself. Weirdly, the book ends with the demonic lord answering her "Where am I?" question with "Don't you recognise it? (which she does as she's been dreaming about that place) It's your old summoning room" Which carries a whole ass ton of implications and throws up roughly a bajillion questions! Damn you, Diana Rowland, write faster!!!!!
That said, clearly I was sufficiently intrigued by the over arching plot to read book two. But I have to say as annoying as Portier was in book one (again her legions of Amazon fans rave about what a wonderfully complex, flawed, self-depreciating character he was), with his I am such failure, woe is me, I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy attitude, Anne was far, far more annoying, In book one she had been vaunted as a great scientific mind, staunchly disbelieving in magic, and five minutes into the book, after missing endless clues to, well, everything, she is blithely using magic invisibility potions! Now, lets be clear here, in this world, magic IS real, so I had trouble wrapping my head wrong a group of scientist who actively disbelieved in something many had seen with their own eyes, Yes, many of the magic feats had been explained by science, and yes magic was greatly reduced since the Blood Wars (a horrific war between the two most powerful families with magical blood that devastated the continent), but seriously a group of so called scientifically minded people, disbelieving the evidence of their own eyes? Does Carol Berg understand the field of science AT ALL?
Anyways, the plot was moved on, it did have a good sub-plot of court politics going on, which I enjoyed. And I found the reveal of the big bad and his goals quite satisfying (again it was obvious before the big reveal I mean really, the doctor made a magical mist? The anti-magic doctor, um no, he's clearly the bad guy in disguise, don't go with him you daft bint!, the revelation that many where not the good guy/bad guy the appeared to be were all satisfy, if again, somewhat obvious, but at least one of those made me terribly happy I NEVER lost faith in you Dante, even though Portier did! All things considered I am rather pissed off that the e-book of the 3rd book isn't available yet (even though the book came out last week) I hit up Amazon and read the 'look inside' excerpt, which has cooled my enthusiasm somewhat, for while it was obvious it would be from Dante's perspective this time (which made me think yay!) the excerpt makes him sound more pathetic and full of self loathing than Portier EVER was... and all full of how wonderful, and smart and amazing Anne is, and how she can't possibly want him, because ohnoes he's blind! Even though by this point she has made it more than clear that she wants him bad, and can help him through their psychic link, and help him see the magic that he so loves(since it turned out she is one of the last remaining member from one of the bloody families involved in the Blood Wars). Self-depreciating is one thing, self-defeating and self flagellating are something else entirely. Carol berg needs to learn the difference (or rather her legions of fans do)
2 - Shadow Heir (Dark Swan 4) - Richelle Mead; Now let's be clear here, I really did enjoy this book, and I very much approved of the resolution to the love triangle, but I can't help but tell you parts of the so called 'resolution' left a bitter taste in my mouth. I was team Dorian all the way, so yay for picking him. I figured out long before the reveal that Pagiel was actual the prophesied Grandchild of the Storm King who would lead the invasion of the human world, and not her son Stormagedon (actually, Dorians name for her boy twin was';t THAT cool, Richelle clearly isn't a Doctor Who fan) after all. The revelation that Dickwad, sorry Kiyo wasn't that father and it was Dorian after all was touching and happy inducing, but not terribly convincing given the time line (though I do need to do a spot of research, sperm CAN stay alive for a while in the womb, but really???!?!?). Then Dickwad saying yeah okay we know Pagiel was the prophesied grandchild, but some people might think your son MAY be the one to fulfil the prophesy so he MAY not be safe in the fairy realm, leading her to make the dumb ass, hate inducing, me foaming at the mouth decision, to LEAVE her damn 3 month old twins with scarily nice random strangers in the human world, and waltz back to be with Dorian in the Otherworld, and NOT telling him he's a damned father (The poor man would die of ecstasy if he knew that bloody kids where his!)! And this from the woman who cheated on him because he's not always truthful with her!!!!!!!! Yes, because he's going to be sooo happy with you when he finds out you kept his kids from him for year and years and years. Not. *grrr*
3 - Sins of the Demon (Book 4 of the Kara Gillian series) - Diana Rowland; OMG, holly cliff hanger Batman! I cannot emphasise enough how much I love this series. It is the perfect blending of police procedural and supernatural thriller, AND awesomely, touchingly rendered romance. Kara Gillian is an easy character to like, sassy without being obnoxious or annoying (a la Dante Valentine) not blithely stupid (a la Sookie Stackhouse) and not too damned pretty. She summons demons, and the mechanics of that seem to work flawlessly and have been clearly well thought out by the author, but not presented in coldly scientific terms either. This is book three clearly, and while each book has it's own serial killer, there is the ever present over arching plot which moves forward very satisfyingly in this book. My only serious complain is the long wait I have to find out what the hell happens next and WHY! Finally she and Ryan declare their love for one another, just as she is pulled through to the demon realm by a hitherto unknown Demonic Lord. She doesn't actually screw Rhyzkahl in this book, which makes me feel a bit better. Not that I don't think adults should have sex with whomever the damn please, just it has felt a bit like she was cheating on Ryan even though they were playing at 'just being friends'. And don't get me wrong, Rhyzkahl is pretty awesome, in the first book he is described as looking Fabio esq which is nom, now, clearly with some sort of intent of hangning out more in the human world he has cut his hair to shoulder lenght and is wearing tight black jeans, again nom. He is a very intriguing character, first painted in one light, then shown to have depths and un-guessed at motivations and I would dare to venture that is is rather fond of Kara. If Ryan weren't in the picture I would be way shipping Kara and Rhyzkahl. But Ryan IS in the picture and he is absolutely on of my all time favourite love interests from this genre. On the surface he is a slightly moody, geeky Mulder-esq FBI agent, which frankly was a good start :) He and Kara become close quickly, but not in a rushed or forced way, it feels really natural and real. He hit 'possessive/protective' stage which I assume may be off putting to some, but I totally digged, especially since the author added in occasional hints of his motivations (as in he not-so-secretly loves her) and does act a little emo, but hey I love Richard from the Anita Blake series, so I'm still good here. But then tail end of book 2 (I think) Kara is about to be smited by a golem and her new demon guardian shouts a name and RYAN turns round and smites the golem with an arcane blast, bam, gone. Kara quickly figures the only way he could have done that, was if he too was demonic lord. He clearly doesn't know what he is, and has had his powers and memories repressed. His FBI partner Zack (surfer boy) is HIS demon protector/jailer (though given how fond Zack seems of Ryan, protector seems more likely). So, now we have the situation where, arguably the Ryan we have come to know and love does not really exist, he's a fabrication. Does the actual entity love Kara or does he just think he does coz the made up Ryan persona would? Does she really love him, since all she knows is this made up persona?
In between trying to solve the case in this latest book, Kara is dropped hints as to which demonic lord, Ryan is, coming to believe he is Rhyzkalh's nemesis Szerain (round about working that out Kara realises Szerain is the name Eilahn shouted when the golem nearly bludgeoned her), whom is the demon that the group including Kara' grandmother where trying to summon (to cure the wife of one of the summoners of cancer, because Szerain was allegedly nice like that) when the accidentally got Rhyzkahl who then slaughtered them. We also discover that Szerain gave that same group the design for a portal that could stay permanently open and anyone could be brought through, at any time, which allegedly would cause great change and turmoil to the human world (NOT so nice of him). By the end of this book, you are left wondering if your initial impression of Rhyzkalh = bad Szerain = good is actually right.
SHe hasn't been able to figure out WHY Szerain/Ryan has been banished to the human world and disguised as a human, Rhyzkalh made it clear that there is no crime that a demonic lord could commit that would carry that sentence, and the=at demonic lords do not censure each other, which means the why cannot be that Szerian committed a crime (even though Kara is STILL trying to figure out what bad thing he did). But still any demon that comes across him hisses and calls him oath breaker (I forget the demon term for it, but it is that they actually hiss) - but the revelations in this book imply it was for protection purposes, maybe even a voluntary exile, every damn creature is oath bound to say nothing about it, how the hell do you make every demon and lord oath bound?!!?!?!?
Also, sadly Eilahn is shot and killed, thus returned to the demon realm. She will be able to be re-sumoned, and at least in the demon realm she can tell Rhyzkalh some of what has happened, but she was shot before Kara was summoned so as it stands at the end of the book Rhyzkalh doesn't know! So HE cant save her, and Ryan doesn't even know what he is, so HE can;t save her either, and the bastard demonic lord who has her has collared her, so SHE can't save herself. Weirdly, the book ends with the demonic lord answering her "Where am I?" question with "Don't you recognise it? (which she does as she's been dreaming about that place) It's your old summoning room" Which carries a whole ass ton of implications and throws up roughly a bajillion questions! Damn you, Diana Rowland, write faster!!!!!