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Book Review: The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice (Series, #2)
Summary:
Lestat, the maker of Louis and Claudia, takes center stage here to tell his own origin story, as well as explain why he has chosen to come out as a vampire rock star in the 1980s. Starting with his beginnings as a rural member of the ruling class prior to the French Revolution, we discover the origins of the Vampire Theater, as well as the origins of vampires themselves.
Review:
The Vampire Lestat is an excellent example of an incredibly well-executed character study. Although we learn things about vampires and their origins, the real crux of the story is who Lestat is. Why he acts the way he acts. How his innate personality affects his life and the lives of those around him. We see how over the course of time he may adapt to new ages and customs, but he is still Lestat. What makes him who he is does not change in spite of all his experiences. This doesn’t mean he doesn’t learn anything, but instead it simply means he is who he is. It is a remarkable example of how people are simply who they are.
Lestat is much more sympathetic a character than Louis. Whereas Louis mostly sits around pouting about what happens to him, Lestat is a fighter.
I never despair! Others do that, not me. I go on fighting no matter what happens. Always. (page 199)
He’s more than a fighter though; he’s also desperate for love. He did not choose to become a vampire. It happened to him, and now he is conflicted as to how to find love when he is essentially a monster.
You sense…my bitterness that I’m evil, that I don’t deserve to be loved and yet I need love hungrily. (page 355)
What truly makes Lestat Lestat though is his impulsivity. Lestat just does things because they feel like something he absolutely must do. He does not concern himself with consequences; he simply acts. This makes those vampires who love him simultaneously frustrated and amazed. They love him for his lack of restraint, but they also worry for him and themselves.
Beyond the great example of studying a character at length, though, Rice’s writing is simply beautiful to read. There as an elegance and a flow to it that pairs up perfectly with the story of a centuries old rock star vampire. I actually read about three pages aloud on skype to a friend simply to revel in how beautiful the language is. For example:
Laughter. That insane music. That din, that dissonance, that never ending shrill articulation of the meaninglessness. (page 358)
This is the type of writing that is a pleasure to read. It feels like treating yourself to a glass of fine wine for your brain. I highly recommend it to all. You do not have to be a fan of vampires to appreciate the language and rich character study it contains.
5 out of 5 stars
Source: PaperBackSwap
Previous Books in Series:
Interview with the Vampire, review
Book Review: Undead and Unemployed by MaryJanice Davidson (Series, #2)
Summary:
Betsy may have dealt with the fact that she’s an undead blood-sucker, but she certainly is not ready to deal with the idea of being queen of the vampires for 1,000 years. Or mated to the horribly tricky Sinclair. The sexy, tricky Sinclair. She is focused on more important things, like her new job selling designers shoes at Macy’s. But when vamps start popping up dead a second time, her duty calls whether she wants to listen or not.
Review:
If somebody asked me to hand them the quintessential chick lit summer beach read, I’d toss the Queen Betsy series at them. Light, short, set in a cool climate, and one guaranteed hot sex scene per book. Great literature it ain’t, but I’ve definitely read far worse paranormal romance in my time, plus Davidson always manages to get at least a few chuckles out of me.
The one thing that baffles me is that I truly hate Queen Betsy. She is everything I loathe in *coughs* certain women: shallow, conceited, wears too much make-up, obsessed with shoes, self-centered. Yet for some reason I can’t help rooting for her. Maybe it’s that she didn’t ask to be queen of the vampires and yet still manages to rise to the occasion when needed that makes her bearable. This is a long series, and I do hope that Davidson will see fit to give us a good character arc for Betsy. Going from a shallow 20-something to a fully grown-up queen. I could dig that.
In the meantime, the storyline here in the second book was actually a bit more interesting than the first, although the mystery was quite easy to solve. Unfortunately, the laughs weren’t quite as frequent, which is what made the first book so enjoyable, but they are still present. Who reads paranormal chick lit for more than a few hours of giggles and horribly unrealistic vampire sex that knocks chunks of plaster out of the ceiling? If that’s what you’re looking for, you won’t go wrong with the Queen Betsy series.
3.5 out of 5 stars
Source: PaperBackSwap
Previous Books in Series:
Undead and Unwed, review
Book Review: Touched by an Alien by Gini Koch (Series, #1)
Summary:
Katherine “Kitty” Katt manages to get released early from a dull day of jury duty only to find herself confronted with an angry man who sprouts wings and starts flinging knives from their tips toward everyone in the vicinity. Kitty attacks and stops him and quickly finds herself sucked into a world she was unaware existed. A world of alien refugees defending Earth and themselves from a bunch of fugly alien parasites. She soon discovers her ordinary parents are more involved in this secret world than she would ever have dreamed. On top of that, she’s increasingly finding herself falling for one of the alien hunks who announced his intentions to marry her almost immediately upon meeting her.
Review:
I received a free Kindle edition of the second book in the series, Alien Tango, last year and read it without realizing at first that it was part of a series. I immediately fell in love with the world and Kitty and decided I needed to go back and read the first entry in the series. This reverse approach definitely gave me a different perspective on the story, but it certainly didn’t make me love it any less.
What makes this series epically entertaining is well-established in this first entry. First, the paranormal element is aliens in lieu of something more widely used. Everything has the clean, secret government agency tinge to it instead of the dirty mafia feel many other paranormals elicit. The aliens are aliens, yes, but they’re also a secret government agency. Imagine Men in Black only the men in black are all aliens.
Second, Kitty Katt is a heroine who clearly epitomizes the modern woman. She can take care of herself, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t like having a man around too. She’s smart, witty, sassy, and sexy, but she has her flaws and weak spots too. She has sex on the day she meets a man, but she’s still aware enough of social norms that she takes care to attempt to hide that fact from the majority of people around her. On the other hand, she herself doesn’t regret that act in the slightest. She so clearly reflects what it is to be a modern American woman that I can’t help but applaud Gini Koch. I hope to see more heroines like Kitty Katt in the near future.
The action itself is vastly entertaining, particularly if you enjoy scifi. The fugly parasites are imaginative, disgusting, and frightening simultaneously. The Big Bad is scary and crafty. The solution to the Big Bad is seriously entertaining. I honestly cannot say enough good things about the scifi in this book.
Overall, Gini Koch’s Kitty Katt series has not failed to leave me glued to my iPod screen yet. It’s sharp, modern, unique, and vastly entertaining. I practically throw copies at lovers of paranormal romance to read, but also highly recommend it to fans of scifi and modern heroines as well.
5 out of 5 stars
Source: Amazon
Book Review: Alien Tango by Gini Koch (Series, #2)
Summary:
Kitty Katt only learned about the existence of aliens on Earth five short months ago. Incredibly hot aliens who wear Armani as a uniform and can run at hyperspeed. Now she’s the head of a special American government division working with the A-Cs to keep Earth safe from the extra-terrestrial threat of superbugs. Plus she has a hot A-C boyfriend, Jeff, who gives her the best sex of her life. Their new routine gets interrupted though when the team gets sent to Florida on a routine mission that quickly turns abnormal. Can the team figure out the threat at Kennedy Space Center? Just as important, will Jeff’s family accept that he’s dating a human?
Review:
I actually received a Kindle copy of this book for free as part of its promotion, so I was unaware that it’s the second book in a series until I was a couple of chapters in. Thankfully, the paranormal romance genre tends to take a few moments to remind the reader of what’s going on in the plot, so I wasn’t lost for too long.
Kitty Katt is the ideal paranormal romance heroine. She’s simultaneously strong and girly. She can kick major ass but also just wants to be held when the action is all over. Best of all, her wit and snark line up exactly with mine. I found her hilarious and would love to be her best friend. Or be her. In any case, she is 100% not annoying, which is not easy to pull off in the paranormal romance world. I want to visit Kitty again and again, which is kind of the point of paranormal romance series, yes? I kind of think of them as modern day serial stories.
I also really enjoy the alien angle. I fully admit I rolled my eyes at the fact that the aliens only wear Armani, but in that “this world is ridiculous but I love it” way, not in the annoyed way. The aliens tend to either be imageers or empaths. I’m a bit unclear as to what the imageers can do. I think that’s because I missed the first book. Kitty’s boyfriend, however, is an empath, which means he almost always knows what emotion she’s feeling. Talk about your dream guy. It’s a fun new angle as opposed to the over-done vampires and shapeshifters.
The plot is full of action and sex. It’s fast-paced with always one or the other going on. The sex scenes are believable, in spite of the alien factor, and very modern. Kitty is a gal who understands how things work in the bedroom but is also able to shoot a gun and outwit terrorists. The combination of well-written modern day sex scenes and exciting action sequences make for an intensely enjoyable read.
Overall, Alien Tango is the ideal paranormal romance. It puts something new into the mix–aliens–and features a heroine who is strong, modern, yet still retains some of her femininity. I highly recommend this series to all who enjoy a good paranormal romance and also to lovers of scifi who won’t mind some hot sex scenes tossed in.
5 out of 5 stars
Source: Amazon
Previous Books in Series:
Touched by an Alien
Book Review: A Tale of Two Demon Slayers by Angie Fox (Series, #3)
Summary:
Lizzie is ready for a vacation what with having spent the last month first saving her grandmother from the second level of hell and then saving Las Vegas from a hoard of succubi. Plus lying around on the beach in Greece with her hunky Griffin boyfriend, Dimitri, sounds like quite the treat. Of course, nothing in Lizzie’s new life ever goes as smoothly as planned. Their arrival in Greece leads to the discovery that someone has stolen something from Dimitri. Something intertwined with Lizzie and that has put the whole Helios Griffin clan in danger.
Review:
Due to the title and the various repercussions so far to Lizzie sharing her demon slayer nature with Dimitri, I expected this book to deal with that. Actually, the story it told was far more engaging and interesting. Can Dimitri with his classical European family of tradition work in a relationship with Lizzie and her globe-trotting work and crazy motorcycle gang witch family?
Although the situations surrounding this romance are highly paranormal, the relationship itself is very normal. Lizzie struggles to trust in Dimitri’s love for her, let alone allow him to love her. Dimitri struggles to find balance between his life and family and Lizzie. It gives a heart to the overall action and story that was missing in the other volumes.
The paranormal aspects are stronger this time around too. The paranormal world seems to mesh together in a better way. The addition of more animals besides Pirate make for a more entertaining menagerie. Dimitri in particular is more fleshed out now that we see his family and where he comes from. New characters too are well-drawn, particularly Lizzie’s new teacher.
Fox manages to avoid common paranormal romance cliches this time around, although at first the reader thinks she is falling into them. This combined with drastically improved sex scenes, the better characterization, and the addition of a real world heart to the story makes for a far better tale overall. I’m glad the humor in the previous two books kept me around for this one.
Overall, this is an excellent example of everything paranormal romance should be–colorful characters, believable paranormal circumstances, the heart of the story relatable to real world circumstances, good sex scenes, and plot twists that manage to avoid cliches. It is thoroughly entertaining, and I highly recommend it to all paranormal romance lovers.
5 out of 5 stars
Source: Amazon
Previous Books in Series:
The Accidental Demon Slayer, review
The Dangerous Book for Demon Slayers, review
Book Review: The Devil You Know (Felix Castor) by Mike Carey
Summary:
In the near future London, supernatural creatures, particularly ghosts, zombies, and demons, have suddenly shown themselves. Naturally the religious find this to be a sign of the coming apocalypse, but most people take it all in good stride. Some even discover that they have exorcism abilities. Felix Castor is one of these people. A staunch atheist, he works for hire, rather like a private detective in a Raymond Chandler novel. He takes a case of a haunting in an archive, but gets more than what he bargained for in the form of an overly-interested pimp, a succubus, and a competing exorcist who oddly bound the ghost so she can’t speak in lieu of sending her off to the after-life. Although his employers just want him to exorcise the ghost and be done with it, Castor refuses to do so until he discovers just what exactly is going on…., and he just might become a ghost himself in the process.
Review:
This book held a lot of promise to me. I’m a big fan of both the old-school private detective novels and the more modern paranormal books, so I thought this would be right up my alley. It fell flat for me, though, although I think that has more to do with me than the book.
First, it contains a very British sense of humor instead of the American kind found in Chandler books. I know some people find British humor absolutely hilarious, but it always completely fails to strike my funny bone. I’d read sentences in Carey’s book and know they were supposed to be funny, but they just aren’t to me. That becomes frustrating the more times it happens in a book, and it happened a lot.
I also, frankly, didn’t like the whole archives setting. Maybe it’s that I’m in library science and know archivists personally, but it just wasn’t escapist enough for me. The extensive descriptions of the archives, reading room, and storage, and the librarians’ spaces were dull to me. I wonder if this is the case for anybody reading a book that takes place largely in a location similar to where they work? It could also just be that I find archives dull. I am a reference librarian, after all.
The mystery itself was good and kept me guessing, although I slightly suspect that part of that was due to the fact that the rules of the supernatural are unclear and so Carey has some leeway in taking unexpected turns. It was the mystery that kept me reading, though, so it was well-written.
Overall, although this book wasn’t for me, it was well-written, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys British humor, detective novels, archive settings, and the paranormal.
3 out of 5 stars
Source: PaperBackSwap
Book Review: Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris (Series, #9)
Summary:
Now that the pieces seem to have been picked up from the bombing at Rhodes, Sookie is hoping to just get back to her normal life and adjust to living with her two roommates, the witches Amelia and Octavia. Of course, that can’t last for long. After seeing how well things are going for the vampires being out, the shifters decide to come out as well. Soon there’s what appears to be a hate crime against a shifter Sookie knows, and the FBI comes knocking wondering how Sookie was able to find survivors at Rhodes. On top of everything, a fae war is brewing, and Sookie can no longer hide from the fact that she’s part fae.
Review:
This is without a doubt my favorite Sookie Stackhouse book so far. It’s dark and (I know this sounds odd to say about a paranormal story) realistic. Harris doesn’t let Sookie hide from her problems. She has to truly face reality and deal with it in a way she’s never had to previously in her life. She can’t hide from her telepathy, her exes, her friendships, her coworkers, or her enemies. In a way this book is all about Sookie having to grow up and deal with it.
Readers who started out loving the beginning of the series might not like the dark direction Harris has turned. I for one love dark, disturbing tales, but those who don’t should be aware that there are a few scenes they may find upsetting. I thought these scenes were quite creative, particularly for a series that is being told in the first person.
Of course, this book still faces the writing issues seen in the earlier books in the series. Mainly, some of the writing is painfully simplistic or uses the obvious analogies. Then again, Sookie isn’t exactly super-intelligent, so it fits her voice. Additionally, the sex scenes continue to be a bit cringe inducing. I know other reviewers have pointed out multiple times how the sex scenes are a bit ridiculous. That continues to be true, but they aren’t exactly the focus of the series, so I’m ok with that myself.
Overall, Harris has taken an idea that could have worn out quickly and moved it gradually to a much darker tale that is quite thrilling. The series continues to be complex, and readers who’ve enjoyed the series thus far won’t be disappointed as long as they can handle some disturbing scenes.
4 out of 5 stars
Source: PaperBackSwap
Previous Books in Series:
Dead Until Dark
Living Dead in Dallas
Club Dead
Dead To The World
Dead as a Doornail
Definitely Dead
All Together Dead
From Dead to Worse
Reading Challenge: R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril
I love horror. Love love love it. I know a lot of readers don’t. They say it scares them too much or keeps them awake at night. The thing is, I used to be one of those readers! I used to avoid horror because when I was younger horror would absolutely petrify me for weeks on end. I’d think every squeak my old house would make was the boogey-man coming to get me. But then I decided, “Enough of this shit! I’m letting my fears get in the way of an entire genre.” So I dabbled my toes, then I jumped in, and now it’s one of my favorite genres. Horror lets me get lost in a world where it’s ok to be scared and supernatural things occur and I basically get to watch car crashes repeatedly. It’s awesome. The whole genre. I can’t believe how much I’d be missing if I’d continued to avoid it! For instance: Zombies. Tree porn. Everything Stephen King ever wrote. You get my point.
Anyway, so when I saw via Chris at Book-a-rama that Carl of Stainless Steel Droppings is hosting a mystery/suspense/thriller/dark fantasy/gothic/horror/supernatural reading challenge for the spooky fall months of September and October entitled R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril, I knew I wanted to sign up. Not that I won’t be reading horror for these two months anyway, but I thought if I signed up, it’d alert you guys to the challenge. Maybe one of my lovely readers is tentative about one of those genres? Well this is the perfect opportunity to stretch your boundaries! Plus you’ll be in the company of a lovely bunch of people for a couple months to do it.
Of course, that’s my other reason for participating. I want to virtually meet other book lovers who are reading horror!
Originally, in light of the fact that I try to keep my reading unstructured and fun, I was going to sign up for one of the lower levels of the challenge….then I saw how much of my TBR pile fits! Lol, so I’m signing up for the Peril the First level: read four books that fit into any of the genres I mentioned above.
My potential reads for the challenge (direct from my TBR pile) include:
- An Edgar Allan Poe collection whose name is escaping me at the moment
- The Lady in the Lake
by Raymond Chandler
- Thinner
by Stephen King
- The Dark Tower
by Stephen King
- The Vampire Lestat
by Anne Rice
- Hunt Beyond the Frozen Fire
by Gabriel Hunt
- His Father’s Son
by Bentley Little
- Fragment: A Novel
by Warren Fahy
- The Day of the Triffids
by John Wyndham
- The Devil You Know
by Mike Carey
I hope you’ll sign up and do the challenge with me! Especially if you’re afraid of horror. You can sign up for one of the lower levels and just dip your toe in. :-)
Any votes for which four out of my list I should read?
Book Review: Undead and Unwed by MaryJanice Davidson (Series, #1)
Summary:
Betsy was a 30 year old secretary (previously a model, previously a college drop-out) living in Minneapolis, and she was quite content with her life. Oh, a good date would have been nice, but at least she got to drool over the hot detective assigned to figure out who assaulted her a few weeks ago outside an Italian restaurant. Everything was fine. Until she got hit by a car one slippery night in front of her house and woke up undead in the morgue the next day. Even that would have been fine, but the local vampires keep insisting she get involved in vampire politics. True, a lot of the vampire rules don’t seem to apply to her. For instance, holy water only makes her sneeze, but why should she bother with vampire politics when she could be doing more important things like getting her designer shoes back from her stepmother?
Review:
This is not paranormal romance. I repeat. This is not paranormal romance! It is, however, what I have chosen to dub paranormal chick lit. Undead and Unwed reads like a Sophie Kinsella novel if it was set in the frigid midwest and had a pleasant back-drop of vampires.
Betsy is one of those main characters who you really think you would hate in real life. In fact, I hated her so much in the first bit of the book that I almost stopped reading it. Statuesque blonde who used to be a model who was too good for college and is illogically obsessed with designer shoes? Blergh. The thing is, though, when she gets turned into a vampire we see the happy-go-lucky, humorous, good souled person underneath. What a flip from typical vampire books, eh? But it works. Betsy is a flawed main character. What a nice change of pace! But she isn’t so flawed that we can’t sympathize with her and enjoy her presence.
Choosing to make Betsy a prophesied mighty vampire puts an interesting twist on the typical paranormal trope. She’s not a non-vampire with interesting powers who shakes up the vampire community, and she’s also not some regular newbie vamp learning the ropes. She’s a vampire who the typical rules don’t apply to, but on top of that, she calls it like she sees it. She laughs at the ridiculous names, pomp, and circumstance the vampires in the area have chosen to burden themselves with. She’s a breath of fresh air, if you will. These combine to make a truly amusing read.
Of course, there is sex, and it’s not badly written at all. The vampire elements are played up more here than they are in series like the Sookie Stackhouse series. Additionally, some readers might be turned off by the revelation that when a vampire feeds on a human, they must also have sex with them so the human gets a similar release. I found this to be a call-back to the grittier vampires such as the type Anne Rice wrote, but I get it that some readers might be a bit skeeved out by that.
Overall, Undead and Unwed is a delightful northern piece of paranormal chick lit that will have you laughing or at least smiling in a wittily bemused fashion. I recommend it to lovers of paranormal and chick lit alike, and I plan on reading the rest of the series.
4 out of 5 stars
Source: PaperBackSwap
Book Review: I Am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells
Summary:
Fifteen year old John Wayne Cleaver has an odd fascination with the bodies he helps cremate in the family mortuary. He also has difficulty feeling any emotions. He even has been studying serial killers for years. He is not one, however. At least, not yet. His therapist believes John may have Antisocial Personality Disorder, but both he and John hope John can learn to control his illness, an illness John refers to as Mr. Monster. However, when bodies start appearing on the streets of the town gruesomely murdered, John wonders how long he can keep Mr. Monster in check.
Review:
I originally had high expectations for this book. Then I had to wait for it so long that they waned, and I felt that it was probably just going to be a watered down YA version of Dexter. Then I grabbed it for my camping trip because I am insane and love to terrify myself when sleeping in the middle of nowhere in the woods with strange men with hatchets I don’t know a mere campsite away. It didn’t turn out to be a watered down Dexter. It also isn’t terrifying. The best word I can think to describe this book is relatable.
Dan Wells chose to write a YA book about mental illness and couch it with some supernatural features and a premise that will appeal to any teens, not just those struggling with a mental illness themselves. These were both smart moves as it makes I Am Not a Serial Killer more widely appealing. However, he not only chose to depict a mental illness, he chose to depict one of the ones that is the most difficult for healthy people to sympathize with and relate to–antisocial personality disorder. John Cleaver has no empathy, and this baffles those who naturally feel it.
Yet Wells manages to not only depict what makes John scary to those around him, but also how it feels to be John. He simultaneously depicts the scary parts of having a mental illness with the painful parts for the one struggling with it. John makes up rules for himself to try to control his behavior. He has to think things through every time he interacts with people or he will do or say the wrong thing. John is fully aware that he doesn’t fit in, but he wants to. He wants to be healthy and normal, but he also wants to be himself, which at this point in time includes the behavior that is his illness.
Of course, this is a book about a serial killer, and it delivers there. The death scenes hold just the right level of gruesomeness without going over the top. Anyone with a love of the macabre will also enjoy the mortuary scenes, which depict the right combination of science and John’s morbid fascination. There also is a tentatively forming teen dating relationship that is simultaneously sweet and bit nerve-wracking.
I feel I would be amiss not to mention that there is some self-harm in this book. It is very brief and is clearly shown as a part of John’s illness. In fact for the first time in reading about it in any book I can say the author handled it quite well, depicting the self-injurer and his reasons for doing so sympathetically and correctly, but without making it seem like something the reader should copy.
Overall this book delivers the thrills and chills it promises, but does so without demonizing John Cleaver. It depicts what it feels like to have a mental illness in a powerful, relatable manner while still managing to be a fast-paced YA thriller. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys YA, books dealing with mental illness, or thrillers.
5 out of 5 stars
Source: PaperBackSwap
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Opinions of a Wolf 