My Library

I'd take the easy way out and say that Storm Born (Dark Swan, Book 1) is Zen Moses meets the Chronicles of Narnia, but I won't for three reasons. First, the whole «x meets y» thing has become clichéd. Second, some of you are probably unfortunate enough not to know about Zen Moses. Third, it wouldn't be nice to steal the heroine's own reference to the Chronicles of Narnia.

Keep reading →

In The Devil Inside, Jenna Black invites the reader into the world of exorcist Morgan Kingsley, a world where demons operate openly, so openly they're regulated and controlled by law. Kingsley's job is to exorcise the demons that break the law and possess the unwilling and she is one of the best at it. These are and aren't the demons we know. The premise is that these supernatural beings are the basis for the demon mythology, but they aren't simply fallen angels. In fact, Black never makes it entirely clear just what a demon is - of course not, this is the first novel in a series.

Keep reading →

Vampire Academy, Richelle Mead's second novel and her first effort in the Young Adult market, opens with Rose, our heroine, and Lissa, her best friend, under attack by what they think are Strigoi, the evil immortal vampires of human legend. Rose is a Dhampir, a human/vampire hybrid, and Lissa is a Moroi, a mortal but pureblooded vampire with powerful magic, and a Princess at that. They've run away from St. Vladimir's Academy, a vampire boarding school in Montana of all places, and the Academy wants them back. [Spoiler of sorts, but nothing you won't find on the book's cover or deduce from the title - they get taken back.] The book manages to combine typical school age gossip and rivalries with royal intrigue and the complexities of Mead's own vampire society. The entire story is set against the related mysteries of why Rose and Lissa ran away from the Academy in the first place and the unusual telepathic bond between the two.

Keep reading →

Succubus Blues is Richelle Mead's debut novel and the first in her Georgina Kincaid series. The novels center around a neurotic, conflicted, possibly even moral succubus living in Seattle, Georgina Kincaid. From the cover to the storyline to Miss Kincaid's job, at a bookstore, Mead writes a story in the tradition of the best rock and roll songs - the best rock songs are about being a rock star; this book is about being a book freak. (I think it should be obvious that I mean that in the nicest possible way, being a book freak myself. The politically correct term is bibliophile, but I hate political correctness almost as much as I hate pretentious words. Ironic.)

Keep reading →

Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey is the latest offering from Chuck Palahniuk, the author of cult classic Fight Club: A Novel - now a major motion picture starring Brad Pitt, Ed Norton, Meat Loaf and Helena Bonham Carter - own it today on DVD! - and all the major fight club themes are back with a vengeance...and a twist. Male relations with God as a proxy for relations with fathers, people finding themselves through an underground movement of controlled violence but with a hint of something more sinister beneath the surface, a day world and night world existing side by side and a mostly younger, hip underclass ready to pee in your soup or maybe give you rabies.

Keep reading →

Tooth and Nail by Ian Rankin, originally released in 1992 under the title Wolfman, is the third in Rankin's Inspector Rebus series. Rebus is a Scottish police inspector called to London to help track down a serial killer called the Wolfman because of his habit of biting his victims. The story has the predictable coflict between the out of town expert and the locals, though it seems a bit unusual having the expert in coming in from the backwaters to the capital instead of the other way around.

Keep reading →

Steve Berry has written several books in the same general vein as The Da Vinci Code, thrillers with references to real world art, architecture and history woven around the shadowy semihistory of conspiracy theories. The Third Secret is a bit different. Rather than the more common conspiracies involving Masons, Templars or the Illuminati, Berry posits a conspiracy in the Roman Catholic Church to cover up a part of the Third Secret of Fatima. Fans of the DaVinci Code may appreciate the suspense and style of writing, but don't hold your breath for any well researched insights into historical/religious events. The doctrinal plot premise is created out of whole cloth. (Read after the cut if you need to know more, but be aware it's a plot spoiler.)

Keep reading →