By Carrie Vaughn
Kitty has run away from all the notoriety that Washington caused. She is staying in a
mountain cabin. Then someone leaves a dead rabbit on her porch, painting a cross in
blood on her door. Who is trying to place a curse on her and why?
Then Cormac shows up with her lawyer, Ben. Ben has been bitten by a werewolf. Ben
and Cormac grew up together, cousins, and best friends. Cormac had been hired to
take out a werewolf, and asked Ben to back him up, but something went wrong and Ben
got bitten. Cormac is guilt-ridden but can’t bring himself to follow through on his
promise to kill Ben if something should happen.
Kitty nurses Ben through the trauma, helps him during his first full moon, and realizes
that Ben is now her pack. As well as her lover.
But trouble is brewing. Something evil is slaughtering cattle. The sheriff thinks it is a
werewolf, Kitty. But it isn’t. It is something far worse.
Carrie Vaughn has captured me, I am totally enamored with the story of Kitty Norville
and can hardly wait until the next in the series.
Reviewed by Linda Suzane
Kitty takes a Vacation
Warner Books Copyright 2007
Friday, November 21, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Second Sight
By Amanda Quick
Victorian England, Venetia is a wellbred young woman, left penniless when her parents die. But unlike so many stories of its ilk, she doesn’t become a governess. No, Venetia earns a livelihood for herself and her younger sister and brother as a photographer. To give herself respectability she assumes the role of a widow, taking the name of Jones, in honor of the one night of exquisite passion she experienced with Gabriel Jones, before he was killed in an accident. But Gabriel isn’t dead and suddenly she has a husband to contend with.
Second Sight is a nice piece of fluff, with a paranormal touch. Venetia can read auras. Gabriel Jones is a member of the Arcane Society, and possess his own psychic abilities. And of course there is a villain and lots of danger. As I said a nice piece of fluff, with a happy ever after ending.
Reviewed by Linda Suzane, September 3, 2008
Second Sight
Amanda Quick
An Arcane Society Novel
G.P. Putnam
2006
ISBN: 0-399-15352-7
Victorian England, Venetia is a wellbred young woman, left penniless when her parents die. But unlike so many stories of its ilk, she doesn’t become a governess. No, Venetia earns a livelihood for herself and her younger sister and brother as a photographer. To give herself respectability she assumes the role of a widow, taking the name of Jones, in honor of the one night of exquisite passion she experienced with Gabriel Jones, before he was killed in an accident. But Gabriel isn’t dead and suddenly she has a husband to contend with.
Second Sight is a nice piece of fluff, with a paranormal touch. Venetia can read auras. Gabriel Jones is a member of the Arcane Society, and possess his own psychic abilities. And of course there is a villain and lots of danger. As I said a nice piece of fluff, with a happy ever after ending.
Reviewed by Linda Suzane, September 3, 2008
Second Sight
Amanda Quick
An Arcane Society Novel
G.P. Putnam
2006
ISBN: 0-399-15352-7
Friday, November 14, 2008
Kitty goes to Washington
By Carrie Vaughn
As a self proclaimed werewolf, Kitty is called as an expert witness to testify before a Congressional committee overseeing a government agency The Center for the Study of Paranatural Biology, which has just released a report that claims that lycanthropy and vampirism are diseases and real. But it is a trap. The head of the committee is Senator Joseph Duke who is rabidly against werewolves and vampires, especially Kitty. Things smell wrong to Kitty and she and her lawyer Ben start investigating the head of the Center, trying to figure out what is really going on behind the scenes. Too late, Kitty discovers that she is the focus of the plot and ends up totally exposed as she transforms on live TV.
Again Carrie Vaughn has created a sympathetic picture of the difficulties of being a werewolf and the same time telling a complex, fast paced story, this time taking advantage of all the sleeze that makes up politics. If Kitty thought pack politics could be deadly, she’s learning that Washington politics are even more so.
Reviewed by Linda Suzane
Kitty goes to Washington
Warner Books Copyright 2006
As a self proclaimed werewolf, Kitty is called as an expert witness to testify before a Congressional committee overseeing a government agency The Center for the Study of Paranatural Biology, which has just released a report that claims that lycanthropy and vampirism are diseases and real. But it is a trap. The head of the committee is Senator Joseph Duke who is rabidly against werewolves and vampires, especially Kitty. Things smell wrong to Kitty and she and her lawyer Ben start investigating the head of the Center, trying to figure out what is really going on behind the scenes. Too late, Kitty discovers that she is the focus of the plot and ends up totally exposed as she transforms on live TV.
Again Carrie Vaughn has created a sympathetic picture of the difficulties of being a werewolf and the same time telling a complex, fast paced story, this time taking advantage of all the sleeze that makes up politics. If Kitty thought pack politics could be deadly, she’s learning that Washington politics are even more so.
Reviewed by Linda Suzane
Kitty goes to Washington
Warner Books Copyright 2006
Monday, November 10, 2008
The Smoke Thief
By Shana Abe
I’m not quite sure how this book made it out of the romance paperbacks and into hardback, and into the fiction section, rather than romance, because it is one of those Alpha Male finds the only woman who can complete him and it becomes a battle to make her submit. Christine Feehan and other have made this kind of romance very popular, but it isn’t vampires this time, but dragons.
Over the centuries, the dragons to protect themselves have learned to masquerade as human. The Drakon, the remnant of the once proud species lives in hiding in England, living in villages upon the rural estate of the Marques of Langford. To keep the dragons’ secret, they are forbidden to leave the confines of Darkfirth, although a few have gone rogue to be hunted down and returned. But now the new Marques of Langford, Kris, has a problem. There is a jewel thief in London who sounds suspiciously like one of them, but there is no one missing. Kris must discover who this rogue is and bring him home.
Rue grew up despised by the Drakon, a halfling, whose father was human. On her seventeenth birthday, Rue discovered she could turn, turn into a dragon with wings. She is the first female in several generations to be able to turn, which makes her the alpha female. She knows that she will be forced to marry Kris. While she has loved Kris from afar, as has every girl in the shire, she refuses to be forced to submit and stages her own death, escaping to London. There she uses the inherent dragon skills, especially the ability to turn into smoke, to become a master thief and leads a life full of adventure and role playing, knowing that one day, the Drakon will come for her.
Kris sets a trap for her by bring their greatest treasure, a huge violet diamond, to London to put on display. Unable to resist, she visits the museum and is caught by Kris. Kris is shocked to realized that she is a woman, and in the instant she turns to smoke, he realizes that she is his future mate. Then someone steals the jewel. In the confusion, Rue escapes. Kris has her scent and tracks her down and she is returned to Darkfirth.
Rue makes a bargain with Kris and the Council. She will recover the diamond and lead them to the other runner hiding in London, in return for her freedom. She and Kris set off to London and exciting adventures, Kris planning on using the time to win her love. She already loves hm but is determined not to give away her independence.
The story is interesting, the twists and turns intriguing if somewhat predictable. The dragons are shapeshifters, shifting first to smoke and then to dragon form. When the regain human form, they have left their clothes behind, and are naked, which causes Rue some problems and some interesting possibilities between the two of them. The setting is rather generic England, supposedly around 1740, but there wasn’t enough to set it as a particular period. The heroine, as is often the case, was too modern in her attitudes for the period.
Do I recommend it? Yes and no. If you are like my husband, looking for a good fantasy novel, you probably won’t like it. The romantic elements are way too strong. But romance readers will definitely enjoy it. I was reminded of the Regency romances I used to read, but way more interesting.
Reviewed by Linda Suzane, October 25, 2005
The Smoke Thief
Shana Abe
Published by Bantam Books
Copyright 2005
ISBN: 0-553-80448-0
Genre Subgenre: Fantasy Romance
I’m not quite sure how this book made it out of the romance paperbacks and into hardback, and into the fiction section, rather than romance, because it is one of those Alpha Male finds the only woman who can complete him and it becomes a battle to make her submit. Christine Feehan and other have made this kind of romance very popular, but it isn’t vampires this time, but dragons.
Over the centuries, the dragons to protect themselves have learned to masquerade as human. The Drakon, the remnant of the once proud species lives in hiding in England, living in villages upon the rural estate of the Marques of Langford. To keep the dragons’ secret, they are forbidden to leave the confines of Darkfirth, although a few have gone rogue to be hunted down and returned. But now the new Marques of Langford, Kris, has a problem. There is a jewel thief in London who sounds suspiciously like one of them, but there is no one missing. Kris must discover who this rogue is and bring him home.
Rue grew up despised by the Drakon, a halfling, whose father was human. On her seventeenth birthday, Rue discovered she could turn, turn into a dragon with wings. She is the first female in several generations to be able to turn, which makes her the alpha female. She knows that she will be forced to marry Kris. While she has loved Kris from afar, as has every girl in the shire, she refuses to be forced to submit and stages her own death, escaping to London. There she uses the inherent dragon skills, especially the ability to turn into smoke, to become a master thief and leads a life full of adventure and role playing, knowing that one day, the Drakon will come for her.
Kris sets a trap for her by bring their greatest treasure, a huge violet diamond, to London to put on display. Unable to resist, she visits the museum and is caught by Kris. Kris is shocked to realized that she is a woman, and in the instant she turns to smoke, he realizes that she is his future mate. Then someone steals the jewel. In the confusion, Rue escapes. Kris has her scent and tracks her down and she is returned to Darkfirth.
Rue makes a bargain with Kris and the Council. She will recover the diamond and lead them to the other runner hiding in London, in return for her freedom. She and Kris set off to London and exciting adventures, Kris planning on using the time to win her love. She already loves hm but is determined not to give away her independence.
The story is interesting, the twists and turns intriguing if somewhat predictable. The dragons are shapeshifters, shifting first to smoke and then to dragon form. When the regain human form, they have left their clothes behind, and are naked, which causes Rue some problems and some interesting possibilities between the two of them. The setting is rather generic England, supposedly around 1740, but there wasn’t enough to set it as a particular period. The heroine, as is often the case, was too modern in her attitudes for the period.
Do I recommend it? Yes and no. If you are like my husband, looking for a good fantasy novel, you probably won’t like it. The romantic elements are way too strong. But romance readers will definitely enjoy it. I was reminded of the Regency romances I used to read, but way more interesting.
Reviewed by Linda Suzane, October 25, 2005
The Smoke Thief
Shana Abe
Published by Bantam Books
Copyright 2005
ISBN: 0-553-80448-0
Genre Subgenre: Fantasy Romance
Friday, November 7, 2008
Kitty and the Midnight Hour
Long-time Listener, First-Time Werewolf
By Carrie Vaughn
SFBC edition 2007
Kitty and the Midnight Hour
Warner Books Copyright 2005
Kitty Norville is a werewolf who is also hosts a radio show called the Midnight Hour, “the show that isn’t afraid of the dark or the creatures that live there...” Almost by accident she starts taking calls about the supernatural, and her down-to-earth advice to werewolves, vampires, and wannabes, believers and disbelievers, turns her show into a rating success. But not everyone is happy with her popularity. Her pack leader wants her to quit, so does the head of the local Vampire family. But Kitty loves her show. It is hers, something important, that helps her hold her life together. Then someone sends a bounty hunter after her. Cormac, a man who makes his living killing werewolves, has been hired to kill her while she is on air. In a bold move she keeps him talking, convinces him hold off killing her, but in the meantime announces on live radio that she is a werewolf. Everyone, even her mother now knows. Her life is changed forever.
She has to find out who wants her dead, hates her enough to hire Cormac. Not only that, someone is out killing people and it looks like a werewolf. As the only confessed werewolf, Kitty ends up the police prime suspect, and she ends up turning to Cormac to help her clear her name and put the end to the murderous rampage.
Being a werewolf isn’t easy, Carrie Vaughn makes Kitty a sympathetic character, one you want to root for. Her world is interesting and captivating and full of surprises.
Reviewed by Linda Suzane
Kitty and the Midnight Hour
By Carrie Vaughn
Warner Books Copyright 2005
Long-time Listener, First-Time Werewolf
SFBC edition 2007
By Carrie Vaughn
SFBC edition 2007
Kitty and the Midnight Hour
Warner Books Copyright 2005
Kitty Norville is a werewolf who is also hosts a radio show called the Midnight Hour, “the show that isn’t afraid of the dark or the creatures that live there...” Almost by accident she starts taking calls about the supernatural, and her down-to-earth advice to werewolves, vampires, and wannabes, believers and disbelievers, turns her show into a rating success. But not everyone is happy with her popularity. Her pack leader wants her to quit, so does the head of the local Vampire family. But Kitty loves her show. It is hers, something important, that helps her hold her life together. Then someone sends a bounty hunter after her. Cormac, a man who makes his living killing werewolves, has been hired to kill her while she is on air. In a bold move she keeps him talking, convinces him hold off killing her, but in the meantime announces on live radio that she is a werewolf. Everyone, even her mother now knows. Her life is changed forever.
She has to find out who wants her dead, hates her enough to hire Cormac. Not only that, someone is out killing people and it looks like a werewolf. As the only confessed werewolf, Kitty ends up the police prime suspect, and she ends up turning to Cormac to help her clear her name and put the end to the murderous rampage.
Being a werewolf isn’t easy, Carrie Vaughn makes Kitty a sympathetic character, one you want to root for. Her world is interesting and captivating and full of surprises.
Reviewed by Linda Suzane
Kitty and the Midnight Hour
By Carrie Vaughn
Warner Books Copyright 2005
Long-time Listener, First-Time Werewolf
SFBC edition 2007
Monday, November 3, 2008
Midnight Never Come
by Marie Brennan
I had a hard time classifying MIDNIGHT NEVER COME. I suppose it falls in the category of a paranormal romance. But it lacks the steam or the erotica that we have come to expect from paranormal romances. I’m not even sure I would classify it as a romance, for it lacks the typical structure of romance novels, even thought the love story between Deven and Lune is an integral part in the story. Then is it a historical novel? Set during Queen Elizabeth I reign, it does indeed stand the test for a historical novel. The historical details are rich and vibrant and the characters literally step out of the pages of history. But it is more than just a historical novel. The author Marie Brennan has added to the convoluted machinations of the Royal Court another player or rather group of players. The fairy Queen Invidiana and the fae of the Onyx Court, which exists beneath the city of London in a parody of Queen Elizabeth’s own court. Deven, one of the Queen Elizabeth’s own Gentlemen Pensioner, (fancy term for guards), is also in the service of Walsingham, Queen Elizabeth’s Principal Secretary. He is a spy. And he is set the task to discover the identity of the secret player who has been influencing the Queen and English politics. Deven doesn’t expect that his search will lead him to the woman that he loves and wants to marry, or that all she appears to be is a lie, and she herself is a fairy, the Lady Lune, and a spy for the Onyx Court. Now perhaps we could call it a historical mystery, for the two of them must uncover a secret that threatens both Courts.
I found myself enjoying the slow pace of the book, that followed more the pattern of historical mystery novels than the usual paranormal fantasy. I enjoyed the richness of the historical detail, but I also enjoyed the glittering made up world of the fae.
So what is MIDNIGHT NEVER COME? I guess you could call it a paranormal fantasy - historical - romantic - mystery. That’s quite a mouthful to describe an unusual and interesting blending of genres, Marie Brennan has managed to make it all come together and work. MIDNIGHT NEVER COME is well worth reading.
Reviewed by Linda Suzane, October 14, 2008
Midnight Never Come
Marie Brennan
Paranormal Romance / Historical
Orbit
June 2008
ISBN-13: 978-0-316-02029-9
ISBN-10: 0-316-02029-X
I had a hard time classifying MIDNIGHT NEVER COME. I suppose it falls in the category of a paranormal romance. But it lacks the steam or the erotica that we have come to expect from paranormal romances. I’m not even sure I would classify it as a romance, for it lacks the typical structure of romance novels, even thought the love story between Deven and Lune is an integral part in the story. Then is it a historical novel? Set during Queen Elizabeth I reign, it does indeed stand the test for a historical novel. The historical details are rich and vibrant and the characters literally step out of the pages of history. But it is more than just a historical novel. The author Marie Brennan has added to the convoluted machinations of the Royal Court another player or rather group of players. The fairy Queen Invidiana and the fae of the Onyx Court, which exists beneath the city of London in a parody of Queen Elizabeth’s own court. Deven, one of the Queen Elizabeth’s own Gentlemen Pensioner, (fancy term for guards), is also in the service of Walsingham, Queen Elizabeth’s Principal Secretary. He is a spy. And he is set the task to discover the identity of the secret player who has been influencing the Queen and English politics. Deven doesn’t expect that his search will lead him to the woman that he loves and wants to marry, or that all she appears to be is a lie, and she herself is a fairy, the Lady Lune, and a spy for the Onyx Court. Now perhaps we could call it a historical mystery, for the two of them must uncover a secret that threatens both Courts.
I found myself enjoying the slow pace of the book, that followed more the pattern of historical mystery novels than the usual paranormal fantasy. I enjoyed the richness of the historical detail, but I also enjoyed the glittering made up world of the fae.
So what is MIDNIGHT NEVER COME? I guess you could call it a paranormal fantasy - historical - romantic - mystery. That’s quite a mouthful to describe an unusual and interesting blending of genres, Marie Brennan has managed to make it all come together and work. MIDNIGHT NEVER COME is well worth reading.
Reviewed by Linda Suzane, October 14, 2008
Midnight Never Come
Marie Brennan
Paranormal Romance / Historical
Orbit
June 2008
ISBN-13: 978-0-316-02029-9
ISBN-10: 0-316-02029-X
Friday, October 31, 2008
What do I call it?
I just added a new author and character to my list of favorites, which includes Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake and gang and Merry Gentry and her men of fae, Jim Butcher and the Dresden Files, Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire series, and Kim Harrison and her witch, Rachel Morgan. To the list I now add Carrie Vaughn and her creation, Kitty Norville. Kitty is a reluctant werewolf and a radio D.J..
I started to wonder how to classify these new stories. Paranormal romances? No. Mysteries? No. Science Fiction? No. Fantasy? Maybe, but not really. Perhaps we need a new name, a new sub-genre.
The first Anita Blake stories by Laurell K. Hamilton were originally sold as romances. But from the very beginning, they didn’t quite fit. I seem to remember that Laurell K. Hamilton belonged to a writers’ group called The Alternate Historians or something like that. Could Anita Blake fall into the Science Fiction sub-genre Alternate History, where an event changes history? In this case, the event was vampires coming out of the closet. Her books were also mysteries. Anita Blake is often referred to as a paranormal investigator. When you look Laurell K. Hamilton up, she is classified as a Science Fiction/Fantasy author.
So what do Anita Blake, Merry Gentry, Harry Dresden, Sookie Stackhouse, Rachel Morgan all have in common? They have to do with the paranormal.
Dark fantasy is another term I’ve heard used, since they are fantasy, but with the dark side of vampires, werewolves, and other creatures of the night. But Dark Fantasy has been linked with horror, and usually these books tend to be on the light, often humorous side.
Paranormal romances have become extremely popular with ghosts, vampires, werewolves, witches, even angels. People can’t seem to get enough of them. But although each of the above mentioned series have romantic elements, even erotica, they don’t really fit into the classic romance. Or even paranormal romance.
They also had mystery elements, but as the stories progressed, the relationships and the world became more important and often overshadowed the mystery. So they really don’t fit the term mystery, or even paranormal mystery.
I came across another term, Magic Realism. That certainly sounded like a possibility. But I did some research. It is narrowly defined, to represent first a style of art and later a particular kind of literature, in Latin America in the 1940's. While in most ways, these books don’t match the criteria for Magic Realism, they do in one area, that the supernatural is considered real by the characters.
Bruce Holland Rogers says, “If a magazine editor these days asks for contributions that are magical realism, what she's really saying is that she wants contemporary fantasy written to a high literary standard.” It is a marketing term.
There is one other term that I have heard used to describe them -- Urban Fantasy. Laurell K. Hamilton’s Merry Gentry series is referred to as an urban fantasy on her website.
According to Wikipedia, Urban Fantasy is a subset of contemporary fantasy, consisting of magical novels and stories set in contemporary, real-world, urban settings. Either in what is called open, where the magic and paranormal events are accepted to exist or closed, where they exist, but remain hidden. It has also become a term used in films, which include movies and TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, and the Dresden Files, a show based on Jim Butcher’s books.
So I guess Urban Fantasy is best fit.
I started to wonder how to classify these new stories. Paranormal romances? No. Mysteries? No. Science Fiction? No. Fantasy? Maybe, but not really. Perhaps we need a new name, a new sub-genre.
The first Anita Blake stories by Laurell K. Hamilton were originally sold as romances. But from the very beginning, they didn’t quite fit. I seem to remember that Laurell K. Hamilton belonged to a writers’ group called The Alternate Historians or something like that. Could Anita Blake fall into the Science Fiction sub-genre Alternate History, where an event changes history? In this case, the event was vampires coming out of the closet. Her books were also mysteries. Anita Blake is often referred to as a paranormal investigator. When you look Laurell K. Hamilton up, she is classified as a Science Fiction/Fantasy author.
So what do Anita Blake, Merry Gentry, Harry Dresden, Sookie Stackhouse, Rachel Morgan all have in common? They have to do with the paranormal.
Dark fantasy is another term I’ve heard used, since they are fantasy, but with the dark side of vampires, werewolves, and other creatures of the night. But Dark Fantasy has been linked with horror, and usually these books tend to be on the light, often humorous side.
Paranormal romances have become extremely popular with ghosts, vampires, werewolves, witches, even angels. People can’t seem to get enough of them. But although each of the above mentioned series have romantic elements, even erotica, they don’t really fit into the classic romance. Or even paranormal romance.
They also had mystery elements, but as the stories progressed, the relationships and the world became more important and often overshadowed the mystery. So they really don’t fit the term mystery, or even paranormal mystery.
I came across another term, Magic Realism. That certainly sounded like a possibility. But I did some research. It is narrowly defined, to represent first a style of art and later a particular kind of literature, in Latin America in the 1940's. While in most ways, these books don’t match the criteria for Magic Realism, they do in one area, that the supernatural is considered real by the characters.
Bruce Holland Rogers says, “If a magazine editor these days asks for contributions that are magical realism, what she's really saying is that she wants contemporary fantasy written to a high literary standard.” It is a marketing term.
There is one other term that I have heard used to describe them -- Urban Fantasy. Laurell K. Hamilton’s Merry Gentry series is referred to as an urban fantasy on her website.
According to Wikipedia, Urban Fantasy is a subset of contemporary fantasy, consisting of magical novels and stories set in contemporary, real-world, urban settings. Either in what is called open, where the magic and paranormal events are accepted to exist or closed, where they exist, but remain hidden. It has also become a term used in films, which include movies and TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, and the Dresden Files, a show based on Jim Butcher’s books.
So I guess Urban Fantasy is best fit.
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