Review: Eden's Hell

Title: Eden's Hell: I: The First

Genre: (Erotic) Romance

Author: Dawne Dominique

Synopsis:

In the beginning... God created man and called him Adam, a fine specimen replicated in his own image. He then created woman to ease Adam's loneliness and named her Lillith. Unfortunately, God realized his mistake too late in giving woman free will, for she would rule her domain-not man. When Lillith left Adam, God created another for his first-born son, and gave her the name Eve and a kingdom called Eden, but by then it was too late, for he'd unleashed Hell into the world of man.

Dawne very sweetly sent me this E-Book a while back, an ARC for review, and I kept forgetting that I had it when I was switching all my files and such over to my new netbook from my monster of a laptop, F.R.E.D.

I finally managed to wedge in enough time to read Eden's Hell, and I did enjoy it.

Warning: This review contains spoilers. I couldn't find a way around it without just leaving it at "I enjoyed it." So read on only if you don't mind knowing the plot/some details!

I liked the overall plot--I particularly liked that she brought Lillith, Adam's first wife, into play. It's rare that she gets any screen time, even as a villain--she's usually a footnote with a cursory "she was disobedient, God replaced her, and now she's evil."

I don't like that Satrina's name didn't have a correlation to Lilith the way Addison/Adam, Eva/Eve did. It felt odd to me. I thought it was a bit strange that Addison took Eva to fancy places when Satrina was so hot to have Eva to herself. I'd have thought that Satrina would be fully capable of treachery, even with the Elders and the Alluminatae's rules, the Vampire Bible as set down by God and Lucifer (which, I did think was pretty darn cool). I also didn't quite understand why Satrina wanted her so much--she didn't know who Eva was, she was just some human morsel as far as Satrina was concerned...why go to so much trouble?

After centuries of living near each other without major conflicts, why pick this single girl to destroy everything?

I liked the fact that Eva didn't immediately fall into Addison's arms--she did fight to keep herself, and she didn't trust him right off the bat. He had to prove himself. It made the story more real to me.

Addison...there was a bit of a cliche with him--brooding older man who is inexplicably drawn to this sweet, (mostly) innocent girl. I did kind of think it was out of character when, nearing the end and he was telling Eva who he really was, who he used to be, he was a bit...preachy in how he spoke of God and his disobedience. And while I know that it's technically accurate, it didn't feel real for the strong character that Addison had been through the rest of the book.

The...three or four sex scenes in the book were a 10 out of 10 on the Oh My God Scale. If there is one thing you cannot say about Dawne Dominique, it's that her sex scenes are timid or lacking in any area. She doesn't flinch from using naughty phrases and giving you the nitty gritty of the down n' dirty.

The ending was a shock--and I admit that I was both disappointed and satisfied, if that makes sense. I liked that they (obviously) ended up together. I didn't like the loose end of Satrina--it could be foreshadowing for later books (I hope so) or it's a plotline that ends there (I hope not.).

Taking everything into account, I'd have to give this book a 3.5 rating. It was a good set-up book, and I enjoyed it, but there were things that kept me from going "Wow!"

Review: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: Part 1

Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school...again. And that's the least of his troubles. Lately, mythological monsters and the gods of Mount Olympus seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Percy's Greek mythology textbook and into his life. And worse, he's angered a few of them. Zeus's master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect.

After a summer spent trying to prevent a catastrophic war among the Greek gods, Percy Jackson is finding his seventh-grade school year unnervingly quiet. His biggest problem is dealing with his new friend, Tyson, a six-foot-three, mentally challenged homeless kid who follows Percy everywhere, making it hard for Percy to have any normal friends. But things don't stay quiet for long.

When the goddess Artemis goes missing, she is believed to have been kidnapped.And now it's up to Percy and his friends to find out what happened. Who is powerful enough to kidnap a goddess? They must find Artemis before the winter solstice, when her influence on the Olympian Council could swing an important vote on the war with the titans. Not only that, but first Percy will have to solve the mystery of a rare monster that Artemis was hunting when she disappeared -- a monster rumored to be so powerful it could destroy Olympus forever.

I actually started reading this series a few months ago, after I saw the trailer for the movie (no, I haven't seen it yet.) and I'm really glad I did. I've always liked books that use old mythology like the Gods in new ways, and Riordan brought the Greek Gods and their legends to the modern world in a way that just fit.

I had a couple problems with the character development--Eisley Jacobs said, in her review of the first book that it's far fetched to believe that these kids are so lacking in common sense that they continue to make the choices they make. I actually have the opposite reaction. I felt that Percy seemed a bit too mature for a 12 year old. He came across (to me) as mentally a 15-16 year old in the first 3 books. Their choices could definitely have been better advised, but...I had the feeling that even New York raised kids at 12 wouldn't have been able to handle all of the things that were happening.

Regardless of that, though, these books catch you from the first pages and don't let go until you've finished them. And then you're left going, "I need the next one. Now."

I really do love how integral all of the characters are to the storyline--from the less than pleasant Daughter of Ares (who has always been one my favorite Greek Gods, if only because of Xena. *heehee*) to the drunken lout, Dionysus.

While reading, you forget that these books are for kids and all you can think about is what happens next.

Rating: 4 Stars

Part 2: Coming soon...

Review: Fire

Title: Fire

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Author: Kristin Cashore

Synopsis

Beautiful creatures called monsters live in the Dells. Monsters have the shape of normal animals: mountain lions, dragonflies, horses, fish. But the hair or scales or feathers of monsters are gorgeously colored-- fuchsia, turquoise, sparkly bronze, iridescent green-- and their minds have the power to control the minds of humans.

Seventeen-year-old Fire is the last remaining human-shaped monster in the Dells. Gorgeously monstrous in body and mind but with a human appreciation of right and wrong, she is hated and mistrusted by just about everyone, and this book is her story.

The concept of "monsters" was confusing at first, probably because preconceived notions of monsters are ugly whereas these are so beautiful they muddle your head--making you easy prey. After a couple of chapters, it grew on me, and I think Ms. Cashore did a really good job with it. I really liked the fact that her interaction with Prince Brigan started off on probably the worst foot it could, and that their relationship slowly grew--it didn't just pop out of nowhere. I didn't start off the story thinking, "Well that relationship is pretty much set. " Particularly since she was already involved with someone, albeit in a more casual way than you'd expect.

This installment of the Seven Kingdoms books is actually set 30 years prior to GRACELING, and has a single crossover character, which anyone who has read the first book will recognize easily.

There were quite a few shocking moments later in the book, and the questions steadily piled up as the story progressed.

It wasn't an amazing book, but I did enjoy this book and I do recommend it, so this rating is...

4 Stars

Review: Graceling

Title: Graceling

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Author: Kristin Cashore

Synopsis:

In a world where some people are born with extreme and often-feared skills called Graces, Katsa struggles for redemption from her own horrifying Grace, the Grace of killing, and teams up with another young fighter to save their land from a corrupt king.

Katsa never really had a chance in what she did with her life. I was immediately aware of this, from beginning to end. From the moment her Grace, her ability, manifested, she was doomed to be used as a tool as long as she remained with her uncle, the King of Middluns. It took her years to begin to rebel, by building the Council and going "undercover" in a roundabout way, but she remained the King's "lady killer" to everyone else.

It was only when she met Prince Po of Lienid--and I couldn't help but think of Kung-Fu Panda every time I read his name--that she began to realize how much power she really had.

This was a very enjoyable read. Katsa grew over the course of the story, and each step in the plot made sense. At one point, I was on the verge of tears, and when that area, for lack of a better term, was revisited, I was right back to nearly crying.

I think I would've liked more interaction between Katsa and some of the other minor characters, such as her cousin, Prince Raffin. One thing in the later part of the book that really bothered me was Princess Bitterblue. She was described as very young, but her speech and ability to comprehend seemed far older--closer to Katsa's late teens than a small child.

I liked the fact that this book didn't shy away from the "issue" of pre-marital sex. I thought the author did a very good job of incorporating it into the relationship between Po and Katsa without it becoming a major plot point or something that the story obsessed over. I was oddly glad to see that the author didn't reveal Po's secret to his family--I had half expected there to be a tearful family moment involving it. The ending was surprising but in a good way.

This was about changing circumstances, owning yourself and your actions, adapting to situations. It's a whole new kind of coming of age story, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Rating: 4 Stars

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Review: Nightlife

Title: Nightlife

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Author: Rob Thurman

Synopsis:

Welcome to the Big Apple. There's a troll under the Brooklyn Bridge, a boggle in Central Park, and a beautiful vampire in a penthouse on the Upper East Side---and that's only the beginning. Of course, most humans are oblivious to the preternatural nightlife around them, but Cal Leandros is only half human.

His father's dark lineage is the stuff of nightmares---and he and his entire otherworldly race are after Cal. Why? Cal hasn't exactly wanted to stick around long enough to find out. He and his half brother, Niko, have managed to stay a step ahead for four years, but now Cal's dad has found them again. And Cal is about to learn why they want him, why they've always wanted him: He is the key to unleashing their hell on earth. The fate of the human world will be decided in the fight of Cal's life....

I've been reading first person POV books since I picked up Laurell K. Hamilton's Guilty Pleasures when I was twelve. I fell in love with the style then, but over the years it was rare to find an author who could really pull of the style of writing.

Rob Thurman made me fall back in love with first person, frankly. I read it in 24 hours, and it took me that long because I had to sleep. She weaved sarcastic observations with beautiful prose with such ease, it felt completely natural. One such passage was:

A morning mist dissipating in the rising sun. A broken bird plunging from the sky. A scuttling dark thing fleeing the light of day. Shit, I should've been writing some of this down. Dying really brought out the poet in me. (Page 2 of Nightlife)

There's plenty of action in this book and I love that she actually didn't use a lot of cuss words in the book, and when she did, it helped build the characters and their personalities. Cal is impatient, but lazy, slightly self-loathing but not in a annoying way, and purely because he knows what he's capable of. But he's also in control enough that he ignores that and keeps going. He wants roots, not so much for himself as for his brother--which is admirable. I like that he goes against his brother because he knows that Niko deserves better than constantly moving around.

I'd love to see more with Cal and Georgina, especially considering her role in everything but I can understand why there was very little of that. (I do have hopes for the rest of the books, as well as Niko and Promise.) I tend to prefer more romantic elements in what I read, but wow I barely even missed it in with this book.

And then there's Robin. Robin Goodfellow, a puck, used carsalemen (really, Ms. Thurman, perfect job for him. Seriously.) and unwilling/willing sidekick to Niko and Cal--caught completely by surprise and drawn into everything because he's lonely and, frankly I think because it cannot ever get boring with Cal and Niko! He's my kind of guy--perpetually dirty minded (I love the constant jokes at Niko's expense.), generally out for himself but has rare moments of heroism, and completely in love with himself. He was the comedic relief, and I just adored him.

I'm going to stop gushing here, because you should go and buy this book! I'm going to be on the lookout for the rest of them and I'll be buying them as soon as humanly possible.

Side note: As a die-hard fangirl of Supernatural, I want to mention that if, gods forbid, Supernatural gets cancelled, my squealing obsession will then be transferred to Cal and Niko. You cannot get a higher judgement from me!

Rating: 5 Stars

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Review: American Gods

Title: American Gods

Genre: Science Fiction / Fantasy

Author: Neil Gaiman

Synopsis:

Shadow gets out of prison early when his wife is killed in a car crash. At a loss, he takes up with a mysterious character called Wednesday, who is much more than he appears.

In fact, Wednesday is an old god, once known as Odin the All-father, who is roaming America rounding up his forgotten fellows in preparation for an epic battle against the upstart deities of the Internet, credit cards, television, and all that is wired. Shadow agrees to help Wednesday, and they whirl through a psycho-spiritual storm that becomes all too real in its manifestations. For instance, Shadow's dead wife Laura keeps showing up, and not just as a ghost.

Armed only with some coin tricks and a sense of purpose, Shadow travels through, around, and underneath the visible surface of things, digging up all the powerful myths Americans brought with them in their journeys to this land as well as the ones that were already here. "This is a bad land for Gods," says Shadow.

I don't usually read Science Fiction, but an acquaintance on Twitter recommended this book to me and I'd heard about over the past few years in a general sort of way, so I picked up American Gods from the library last week.

Because of the sheer length of this book (456 pages of actual story), it took me two days to read it--three if you count the day where I didn't read it at all. However, don't let the length of it put you off--this was an amazing read! I love that Gaiman plucked bits and pieces from so many different pantheons and cultures and made it believable.

Shadow is a man who made mistakes, understood that he was wrong, and accepts the consequences for his actions; he's also a man who knows when to question and when to keep silent. One of the twists of the book, I figured out about halfway through, long before Gaiman actually revealed it, but compared to the big, underlying twist...that was small potatoes.


The characters are varied and remarkable. I am truly in awe of this man's ability to tell a story. If you haven't read it yet, I completely recommend that you do.
Rating: 5 Stars


Author Information:


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Review: Coraline

Title: Coraline

Author: Neil Gaiman

Genre: Horror / YA

Synopsis:

When Coraline steps through a door to find another house similar to her own (only better), things seem marvelous. But there's another mother there, and another father, and they want her to stay and be their little girl. They want to change her and never let her go. Coraline will have to fight with all her wits and courage if she is to save herself and return to her ordinary life.

I picked this up from the library yesterday because I had seen the movie last year, and realized it was a book. I tend to read books before I see the movies, so I had to get it. I only opened it briefly when I got home. Today, I sat down to read it.

It took me two hours.

Even for me, that's fast. I don't generally read horror because it's hard to find a story that truly creeps me out through written word. I've found a few short stories that have done it (example: Skin by Ceridwen Swift) and Coraline did not disappoint after watching the movie, which had me closing my eyes several times.

The simple act of sewing buttons over their eyes has the ability to creep me out, but add in the rhymes such as:

We have teeth and we have tails

We have tails we have eyes

We were here before you fell

You will be here when we rise

from the rats, and Neil Gaiman had me hooked. The "Other Mother" was truly spooky. I loved the illustrations even though they, to be repetitive, creeped me out.

I liked Coraline the character--a very curious girl, and not one to shy away from something that scared her. I really liked the story about her and her father, it added a much needed depth to the parental characters, which had been in danger of simply being extras in the story.

But I have to say, the cat was my absolute favorite character. I loved him in the movie and I adore him in the book. Kudos to Neil Gaiman for capturing the attitude of a cat perfectly.

Rating: 5 Stars

Author Information:

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Review: Midnight's Daughter

Title: Midnight's Daughter (Book 1 in the Dorina Basarab series)

Author: Karen Chance

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Synopsis:

Dorina Basarab is a dhampir—half-human, half-vampire. Subject to uncontrollable rages, most dhampirs live very short, very violent lives. So far, Dory has managed to maintain her sanity by unleashing her anger on those demons and vampires who deserve killing.

Now Dory’s vampire father has come back into her life. Her uncle Dracula (yes, the Dracula) infamous even among vampires for his cruelty and murderous ways, has escaped his prison. And her father wants Dory to work with the gorgeous master vampire Louis-Cesare to put him back there.

Vampires and dhampirs are mortal enemies, and Dory prefers to work alone. But Dracula is the only thing on earth that truly scares her, and when Dory has to go up against him, she’ll take all the help she can get…

I was hesitant to get this mainly because of the dhamphir storyline, but I picked it up because it's Karen Chance and I've always enjoyed her work. I found myself very glad to have bought it.

Per Ms. Chance's norm, this was a fast paced book, filled with action, humor, and loads of sexual tension. I love that she managed to work in flashbacks of Dory's past but she did it in a way that you barely noticed the transition from first to third person--which is usually a pet peeve of mine.

Karen Chance has a real talent for first person point of view and bringing a fresh tone to it for different characters. A lot of the time, I'll read an author whose Voice stays the same regardless of the character, but I never see that with Karen Chance.

I was a little disappointed that Dory and Louis-Cesare didn't get together, and it got where I couldn't figure out who I wanted to cheer for--Louis-Cesare or Caedmon! But I have high hopes for the second book.

The fight scenes were amazing, the plot well thought out. I loved Claire, Dory's Roommate, and her little note-writing quirk was cute and funny.

Overall, this book was really good. Action packed, fast paced, humorous, sexy as hell, and I can't wait to read the second book!

Rating: 4 Stars

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Review: Unclean Spirits

Title: Unclean Spirits (Book 1 of The Black Sun's Daughter)
Author: M.L.N Hanover
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Synopsis:

In a world where magic walks and demons ride, you can't always play by the rules.

Jayné Heller thinks of herself as a realist, until she discovers reality isn't quite what she thought it was. When her uncle Eric is murdered, Jayné travels to Denver to settle his estate, only to learn that it's all hers -- and vaster than she ever imagined. And along with properties across the world and an inexhaustible fortune, Eric left her a legacy of a different kind: his unfinished business with a cabal of wizards known as the Invisible College.

Led by the ruthless Randolph Coin, the Invisible College harnesses demon spirits for their own ends of power and domination. Jayné finds it difficult to believe magic and demons can even exist, let alone be responsible for the death of her uncle. But Coin sees Eric's heir as a threat to be eliminated by any means -- magical or mundane -- so Jayné had better start believing in something to save her own life.

Aided in her mission by a group of unlikely companions -- Aubrey, Eric's devastatingly attractive assistant; Ex, a former Jesuit with a lethal agenda; Midian, a two-hundred-year-old man who claims to be under a curse from Randolph Coin himself; and Chogyi Jake, a self-styled Buddhist with mystical abilities -- Jayné finds that her new reality is not only unexpected, but often unexplainable. And if she hopes to survive, she'll have to learn the new rules fast -- or break them completely...

Overall, this book was okay. I didn't care for the introduction being in third person and then switching over to first person in chapter one, but I can understand that the author did it to bring conflict into the story immediately, and probably to foreshadow later books.

Jayné was a little too obvious a character for me--daughter of a strict, religious man, getting into trouble as a teenager, college dropout, and when her uncle dies, she gets pushed into a situation she's not in any way prepared for. Suddenly, she's rich and she can fight like she's been trained all her life--which she hasn't.

Honestly, I was not a happy camper when Jayné and Aubrey got together, and I am very glad that it was nipped in the bud when it was. I was rooting for Ex all the way. I like that the romantic elements didn't overshadow the fantasy, but instead enhanced it. I was pleasantly shocked when Aubrey's estranged wife and Jayné got a bit buddy-buddy with each other.

I enjoyed the author's Voice/Style of writing. He has a fluid way of describing things to keep the pace steady. I particularly enjoyed the fight scenes.

My favorite part was when they figured out that Midian wasn't human. His tirade was the most natural and humorous part of the book. His language is intelligent, if crude, and he won my vote as favorite character in the entire book.

Overall, this was an enjoyable book, and I do recommend it. But it could've been better.

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Author Information:

Official Website (M.L.N Hanover is a pseudonym for Daniel Abraham, and his website for his penname doesn't seem to really up and running, so I'm linking to his regular website.)