Review: Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Goodreads Summary:

St. Vladimir’s Academy isn’t just any boarding school—it’s a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They’ve been on the run, but now they’re being dragged back to St. Vladimir’s—the very place where they’re most in danger...

Rose and Lissa become enmeshed in forbidden romance, the Academy’s ruthless social scene, and unspeakable nighttime rituals. But they must be careful lest the Strigoi—the world’s fiercest and most dangerous vampires—make Lissa one of them forever.

My Review:
Why did I wait so long to read this series? Of course I'd heard of the series, I like the author's other series. (Well, at least for the first few books)  I guess the main reason I didn't start reading this series was I didn't want to make a commitment to yet another series. But a few weeks ago, a Feature and Follow question asked something like, "Which character would you most like to see jumping out of your birthday cake?" A lot of the answers were about character(s) in this series. So, I bought the book- and buying an ebook is a major commitment for me, so I started reading it right away. The Verdict? This is one of those cases where when a lot of people like it, there's a reason that they like it- pretty much because it's really good.

Rose... Rose makes me think of this song:

I have this song on the brain because it's part of a playlist I just made for my son who just ended a relationship with a girl...who is now semi-stalking him and harassing him online. Let's call it the "Angry Breakup" Playlist, agree that this means that yet again, I'm not going up for the "Mother of the Year Award".

Back to the book...Is it just me or is the relationship between Rose and Lissa just a little creepy. I get that Rose is Lissa's bodyguard, but Rose just seems overly clingy and jealous. I guess because Lissa had to feed off of her? In any case, it's just one more issue to add to Rose's pile of emotional baggage. Which was already stacked pretty high. But it does make you feel for her and relate to her. I mean, who didn't have some issues in their high school days?

I think one of the best things about this book is the characters. I feel that Mead did a good job with even the secondary characters. Which is a real weakness for a lot of authors. I think she has a real "touch" with creating great bad characters and that she created a variety of them with different reasons and motivations. That some aren't really "bad" or evil- that the characters do things that end up being "bad" because of lack of self-esteem or weakness. In other words, there's a complexity to Mead's characters...and yet she manages to leave enough unsaid- enough mystery- about them that I want to read the next book in the series. At least for me, the most important factor in determining whether I keep reading a series is great characters. Even if there's a cliffhanger, if I don't care about the characters, then I don't really care to keep reading to find out what happens to them next.  So, this is a series I plan to keep reading- I already have the next few books in the series.

Overall  Rating: 3 1/2 stars
Genre Rating: 4 coffins

Richelle Mead's Website
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Vampire Academy's Ning site
 

Review: Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

Goodreads Summary:

Deborah Harkness exploded onto the literary scene with her debut novel, A Discovery of Witches, Book One of the magical All Souls Trilogy and an international publishing phenomenon. The novel introduced Diana Bishop, Oxford scholar and reluctant witch, and the handsome geneticist and vampire Matthew Clairmont; together they found themselves at the center of a supernatural battle over an enchanted manuscript known as Ashmole 782.

Now, picking up from A Discovery of Witches’ cliffhanger ending, Shadow of Night plunges Diana and Matthew into Elizabethan London, a world of spies, subterfuge, and a coterie of Matthew’s old friends, the mysterious School of Night that includes Christopher Marlowe and Walter Raleigh. Here, Diana must locate a witch to tutor her in magic, Matthew is forced to confront a past he thought he had put to rest, and the mystery of Ashmole 782 deepens.

Deborah Harkness has crafted a gripping journey through a world of alchemy, time travel, and magical discoveries, delivering one of the most hotly anticipated novels of the season.

My Review:
I wasn't blogging when the first book of this trilogy, A Discovery of Witches, came out.  But if I had been blogging, my review would have gone something like this:

I gave "Discovery of Witches" a 1 star rating on Goodreads. I liked the first, maybe, fourth of the book. Then I thought it was boring and overly long. Think about it- it's a 600-ish page book and I thought 450 or so pages of it were deadly dull. That's like a whole boring chunky book worth of boring. So, why did I read Shadow of Night? Because it's set in the Elizabethan Era and I was promised that I would meet Christopher Marlowe and Walter Raleigh. So, I decided that as long as I could get the book for free, I would give it a try.     

So, this was my attitude going into the book. I was prepared to try to like it, but I was expecting to hate it. I know that's not really fair, but... I ended up really liking this book. Which says something, because when I started the book, I was looking for reasons to hate it and give myself and excuse to stop. But I couldn't stop, the book just sucked me in. Why? Because stuff actually happens in this book compared to the overly navel gazing boredom of the first book. Second, Diana is really a lot less whiny and annoying in this book. Finally, Kit (Christopher) Marlowe is a deliciously, queen bitch, gay daemon.   
  
Historical Accuracy: I'm not an Elizabethan scholar, but I'm pretty sure that Marlowe wasn't a demon. In other words, this is an historical fantasy novel. So don't quibble about this. I hope it's accurate because the atmosphere Harkness created in this book is really lush and you feel transported into Elizabethan England. In any case, Harkness has published these books: The Jewel House: Elizabethan London and the Scientific Revolution and John Dee's Conversations with Angels: Cabala, Alchemy, and the End of Nature. So, I'm going to assume that Harkness knows more than I do and that this book is pretty historically accurate.
      
Overall Rating: 3 1/2 stars  
Genre Rating: 4 magic wands  

As a side note: If you despised "Discovery of Witches", and perhaps were unable to finish it. I think that you could read a summary of "Discovery" to get enough background to read this book. There's really very little information you need from "Discovery" to make sense of  "Shadow of Night". Of course, if you hated a first book in a series, it goes without saying that you should get this one from the library.  
 
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Review: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Goodreads Summary:

Indiana, 1818. Moonlight falls through the dense woods that surround a one-room cabin, where a nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his suffering mother's bedside. She's been stricken with something the old-timers call "Milk Sickness."

"My baby boy..." she whispers before dying.

Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother's fatal affliction was actually the work of a vampire.

When the truth becomes known to young Lincoln, he writes in his journal, "henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose..." Gifted with his legendary height, strength, and skill with an ax, Abe sets out on a path of vengeance that will lead him all the way to the White House.

While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving a Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years.

Using the journal as his guide and writing in the grand biographical style of Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough, Seth has reconstructed the true life story of our greatest president for the first time-all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War and uncovering the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation.

My Review:
I've seen some ridiculously odd comments about this book. Like questioning the historical accuracy of the time period and the portrayal of Lincoln. Well, if you're going to go into the book with that kind of attitude just stop. Put down the book, return it to the library, give it away to a friend. This book was not meant for you, it's not a vehicle for you to prove the superiority of your knowledge of the time period. I mean:

The title alone should have been a dead giveaway- unless you're okay with and believe that Lincoln hunted down vampires and saved the Union, but the rest of it was just awfully inaccurate crap. Like, he did slay a vampire, it just happened in 1842 instead of 1823. (Or whatever) Look, just go back to mommy's basement and work on your perfectly scaled replica of The Battle of Bull Run. 


Back to the review, it was good, but not great. It was a fun book, but you almost got the sense that the author wrote it thinking, "Movie Deal!" In other words, it kind of reads like a (good) novelization of a movie- like it's a book based on a movie, not the other way around. But, it's a good summer type read. And yet, you almost get the feeling that this might be one of those books that the movie will be better than the book.


Overall Review: 3 stars
Genre Review: 3 1/2 coffins

Review: Kiss the Dead by Laurell K. Hamilton

Goodreads Summary:
When a fifteen-year-old girl is abducted by vampires, it’s up to U.S. Marshal Anita Blake to find her. And when she does, she’s faced with something she’s never seen before: a terrifyingly ordinary group of people—kids, grandparents, soccer moms—all recently turned and willing to die to avoid serving a master. And where there’s one martyr, there will be more…

But even vampires have monsters that they’re afraid of. And Anita is one of them…

My Review:
I fell in love with this series when I stumbled upon the first book (Guilty Pleasures) shortly after it had been published. One of the bookstores I went to was pushing this book hard- it was shelved face out and was on the counter being hand sold.

Over the next, say, decade I fell in love with the characters and eagerly awaited each book. Then, to me, they started to go bad after this one Obsidian Butterfly; Obsidian Butterfly was the last book in the series I really enjoyed. As any longtime reader can tell you, this is when she started with all of the sex stuff.

For what it's worth, here's my opinion about the best parts of the series (If enough of these are in one of the books, I'm more prone to like it):

1. Edward is in it. I love Edward, I think he is my favorite character in the whole series. (Edward is not in this book)
2. Anita has an interesting case for either RPIT (The Regional Preternatural Investigation Taskforce) or a cool necromancy assignment. I.e., this series is only as good as its villains. (The enemy in this book was lackluster and laughable.)
3. Edward is in it. Did I already mention Edward? Because he is not in this book. (Boo!!!)
4. The sex is non-existent (my best case scenario) to very limited (what I can live with). (Well, there were only 3 sex scenes in the book. Only one involving Anita with more than one "person". So, that's some progress, I guess)
5. Edward is in it.

Plus, she has turned Asher (my second favorite character) into an annoying, whiny, wimp. I think I'm going to start a new series of posts, my "I Hate You" author of the month, or something like that. I think Hamilton would be the first featured author.

"How to Quickly Scan Through Anita's Sex Scenes" Tips:

Clothes are coming off (scan, scan, scan)
Breast (continue scanning)
Heaving, glistening, buttocks, or thrusting (rapidly scanning)
Foreskin (Wow, who's European? Oh, that's right...scanning)
"X" is done, "Y is taking his place" (Crud, scanning. Probably okay to flip at least 2 pages forward)
"Oh, God"; "Oh, my God" or some variation (Stop scanning. Will be over and wrapped up in a paragraph or two.)

Overall rating: 2 stars (This is with a 1/2 star bump for reduced sex scenes)
Genre rating: 2 stars

This book makes me feel dirty. Not because of the sex, but because I can't stop reading these books even though I know I won't love them.

Welcome to the Thunderdome...Two Books Enter, One Book Leaves

In just a few months, there have been three vampire dystopian books released:

People live in a walled city controlled by vampires and must donate blood.

People live in a walled city, are dominated by vampires...

World dominated by vampires...oh, well, basically the same thing.

What to read, what to read? Do you really have time to read all three books? Do you even want to read 3 vampire dystopian books? (Which looks like the newest sub-genre du jour as another one is being released soon) Well, you don't have to read all three. I will- two books will go head to head in The Thunderdome and only one will live to fight another day against another book in Round 2. You'll only have to read the winner.

(Don't know what The Thunderdome is? It's from Mad Max 3- I'm a child of the 80's. Sorry for the following clip- Mel Gibson is in it. But he is blessedly silent, for a change. And Tina Turner's awsomeness way overpowers Mel's douchiness. Men battle to the death in the Thunderdome- Two men enter, one man leaves.)

Darkness Before Dawn  by J.A. London and The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa enter The Thunderdome. Dawn looks a bit nervous, and she should because she's a novice- a mere debut novel. Immortal Rules is written by an author who's already published a successful series. The odds in the Dome are 4-1 in favor of Immortal Rules. (Kagawa has written 4 more books than London) The crowd is sneering- at Dawn.

The Premise: Well, both books are about the same thing. So, it's a swing and a miss from both books.
The Plot: Immortal Rules is your standard "Quest-type" novel. Dawn is as much about personal discovery as it is about vampires. Winner: Darkness Before Dawn, narrowly: glancing blow to Immortal Rules, right in the nose. Ow.
Pacing: Parts of Immortal Rules seemed overly drawn out- it was much too long at 400+ pages. A 400 page book shouldn't feel like one- every page should count or be edited out. Winner: Darkness Before Dawn because it was well paced- stuff kept happening and it kept you on your toes- Dawn pummels Immortal Rules and sends it reeling.
Characters: Immortal Rules had better character development- which only makes sense in a long book. But, it seemed like the information- the reveals- were too slow and badly spaced out. Dawn- I just liked the main character better and thought the "reveals" were timed better- kept you in suspense, but not too long. Winner: Dawn, by a smidge- Dawn throws a punch, Immortal turns, but still gets hit in the kidney.
Romance: There's nothing I hate more than a love triangle. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. Dawn- has a love triangle. And yet, it doesn't annoy me. It's even plausible and works within the story. Immortal Rules- no love triangle- romance angle kind of low key (which I like). Winner of this round: Dawn. Because if it can make me accept a love triangle, it's gotta be good. Immortal Rules takes a series of head shots, goes down, staggers back up. It doesn't look good...
Readability:  I read a lot of books at the same time. So, to me this is a measure of how often I can't resist going back to a book and picking it up and forsaking other books. Immortal Rules: liked it fine, read it between many other books. Enjoyed it for the most part while I was reading it but...Darkness Before Dawn was a book that I pretty much read cover to cover, putting aside my other books to read this book.Winner: Darkness Before Dawn who delivers a series of blows that puts Immortal Rules down- permanently.

Winner: Darkness Before Dawn is leaving The Thunderdome. Battered, yes. So battered that we'll give Dawn a break before sending her back to The Thunderdome to fight The Hunt.
The Dead: Immortal Rules. You'd probably enjoy this book, if it weren't busy being dead on the floor of The Thunderdome.