Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Mass Market Paperback, 370 pages, Published January 1st 1998 by Avon, ISBN13: 9780380789016

 

Richard Mayhew is a plain man with a good heart – and an ordinary life that is changed forever on a day he stops to help a girl he finds bleeding on a London sidewalk. From that moment forward he is propelled into a world he never dreamed existed – a dark subculture flourishing in abandoned subway stations and sewer tunnels below the city – a world far stranger and more dangerous than the only one he has ever known…

Review: An enjoyable read!

**Spoiler Alert!** If you plan on reading the book, do not continue reading this review. … Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Richard Mayhew is just your everyday Average Joe who moved to London to procure a number-crunching job. He meets a girl and becomes engaged. Life seems to be great. However, Richard is an absent-minded person. He forgets his keys, loses track of time, etc… On the way to dinner with his fiancee (with a reservation he forgot to confirm), where he was supposed to impress her boss, Richard stops by a rag girl who is exhausted, frightened and hurt. Jessica (who is most definitely a woman who prefers her way or the highway) demands he leave her for someone else to take care of. And when he picks up the girl to take her home, Jessica (her name isn’t Jess) threatens to end their engagement. Richard disregards her statement and takes the girl home to mend. Little did he know how bad life was about to get.

“Door” can open doorways without keys, can open doors where there are none. It was her ability that helped her escape her would-be assassins, Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar, and brought her to London Above. But Richard doesn’t understand her meaning. No worries, reluctantly, he soon will. Her would-be assasssins manage to track her down, but Richard manages to get rid of them. With her face now plastered on Missing posters throughout the neighborhood, Door sends Richard for help and he brings back the Marquis de Carabas. As she leaves, she apologizes. Little does Richard know how deep that apology actually goes. For Richard’s life, as he knows it, is now over. Jessica broke their engagement and refuses to see or talk to him. When he arrives at work, his possessions are removed from his desk. His flat is leased to another couple – while he’s in the tub! Richard is gone. It’s as if he never existed. He can be seen, but is immediately forgotten. Throwing some of his belongings into a duffle bag, he sets off to find Door, wanting answers, wanting his life back. There’s only one way he figures he can find her. Start with the very place she’d sent him before for help.

And help he gets – from unlikely characters. For under London lies London Below, filled with shady characters, talking animals, tunnels, sewers, hidden passageways and a mysterious market that’s never held in the same place twice. A market that provides, but people barter, and not with money. Money means nothing in London Below. For Richard, this isn’t reality. He wants to go home.

Door is on her own quest. She wants to find her family’s muderer. She wants to know why. And only the Angel Islington can help. But after finally finding him, she is sent on a quest to retrieve a certain key, and when she returns, he will tell her all she needs to know. Richard, reluctantly, is along for the ride, for afterwards, the promise is he’ll be sent home and his life will be as it was.

But Door was warned; they have a traitor in their mists. The Hunter is hired to bodyguard her from the assassins who are after her. Richard deals with more than he bargained for. And just when they think they have the story right, how wrong they were.

An enjoyable read, it was an adventure. Places where people have no business being. Strange and shady characters, some you enjoy, some you dispise. A solid mystery that leaves you asking questions until you finally get the answers you seek. For me, it was missing just that little “oomph”, that little “spark” to make the story completely believable. While I could picture a different world of London Below, I couldn’t really picture some of the characters and what they did. I enjoyed the banter with Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar. And I felt, at heart, how Richard came to care for Door. Definitely an entertaining story to read.

Rating:

The Hunger Games (Hunger Games, #1) by Suzanne Collins

Published July 6th 2010 by Scholastic, Inc, Paperback, 374 pages, ISBN13: 9780439023528

 

WINNING MEANS FAME AND FORTUNE.

LOSING MEANS CERTAIN DEATH.

THE HUNGER GAMES HAVE BEGUN…

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on life TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before – and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

**Review:**

**Spoiler Alert!** If you plan on reading the book, you may not want to read my review. … Okay, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

What an incredible book!!!

Collins creates an alternate world where North America is no longer as it stands now. Divided into 13 districts, each has their way of life. Not liking the powers that be, a rebellion had been formed, and squashed, which explains how District 13 no longer exists. Now new rules make just about everyone’s lives absolutely miserable. Poor, starving, people do what they need to stay alive – and pray they don’t get caught.

Katliss Everdeen, 16, is one of those people. After her father had died in the coal mine explosion, she has done what she needed to do to keep her family alive. Her father had taught her well. She hunts, she barters, and does what she can.

And then enter the Hunger Games, created after the rebellion. It was Capitol’s way of keeping the people, the Districts, under their thumbs, a constant reminder that – look what we can do. We can take your children and make them kill each other. Rise against us and it will become infinitely worse for everyone. Children from the ages of 12 to 18 are at risk, male and female alike. Thrown into a situation where it becomes kill or be killed, and be the last person standing – the victor, do whatever is necessary to stay alive. At the age of 12, their name is entered once. At 13, twice. 14, three times, and so on, until their 18th year. After that, no more. Obviously, the older you get, the more at risk you are. A catch to that: say you are poor and starvation is knocking on your door. As an adolescent between the ages of 12 and 18, you can exchange your name for tesserae, which is worth one meager year’s supply of grain and oil for one person. And the entries are accumulative. Your names from the year before, from each tesserae, stays in that ball, until your final year. And this just raises the stakes – your name could be next.

This year, Katliss’s sister, Prim, turned 12, and her name had been entered, but only once. And yet… her name was pulled. Out of desperation and panic, Katliss volunteers herself, to take her sister’s place.

Already nervous, anxious and fearful, her heart sinks to her stomach when the boy’s name is called. Peeta Mellark’s name is pulled from the boys’ ball. The baker’s son, he had risked a beating at the age of twelve and stole to stale loaves of bread and gave them to a starving Katliss. She had never spoken to him, before or since, but she was always grateful for that small act of kindness. And then reality hits – only one victor, one person can win. How is she supposed to be able to kill Peeta, the first person to give her that small act of kindness.

From District 12 to the Capitol, it’s an experience no one will ever receive – unless their name is pulled from that ball. From rich foods to clothes and costumes, from training and judging and scoring, Katliss takes it all in, no matter how much she abhors it, no matter how much it twists her stomach. She has to, for reprecussions would fall on her mother and sister and the rest of her district.

And then the Games begin, and it is all about survival. (I won’t go into details – except to say there are times were you become furious and times where a box of Kleenex is handy.) Strategy comes into play, and some of it leaves Katliss’s mind reeling. It seems the strategy is that Peeta is supposed to be in love with Katliss. Yet, she doesn’t know if it’s real or not. Then an announcement sounds – rules have been changed. The two people from the same district can both be the victors, if they are the last alive. Now Katliss is determined – she won’t have to kill the first person who showed her an act of kindness. They can both live, and both go home.

More twists, fighting, trying to stay alive. And just when they believe they make it, another twist occurs that makes your own stomach drop, your heart rip out, and you may have to put the book down to wipe your tear-filled eyes.

And just when Katliss thought the “star-crossed lovers” strategy was simply that, strategy, it turns out, Peeta wasn’t lying. She doesn’t know what she feels, but she is warned. Play it up, cause both of their lives depend on it.

**An incredible book, one of the best YA novels I’ve ever read. I think it surpasses Twilight!**

The story sucked me right in from the beginning, and quickly became an unputdownable book. If you are a YA fan, this book is a definite must-read and a book for your “keeper” shelf.

Those who know me know I’m not big on YA novels. Because they are written with young adults in mind, the dialogue isn’t quite adult. The scenes aren’t adult. I have a hard time putting myself in that frame of mind to really enjoy it. But I have to admit, this one sucked me right in. While it’s YA, I personally feel that the violence may be a bit much for younger YA. However, my niece is going on 12, and she’s loving it, so what do I know? *shrug*

The violent scenes are just that – violent. But, even though they are quite violent, it’s so well written that you are literally in the characters’ shoes. You feel what they feel; hope, fear, adrenaline, loss, sadness, anger… the author pulls them out of you, no matter your age.

The characters are superb! You get a feel for what their lives are like, what they go through, how they live, what they feel. You become the shadow over their shoulder, watching and hearing everything they do, right there in the story with them.

You root for them, and root hard. Then you hit the end of the book and immediately want to grab the second. So, ladies and gents of all ages, make sure you have Catching Fire on hand. Like me, you’ll regret it if you don’t, LOL!

Rating:

Small Favor by Jim Butcher “The Dresden Files” Book #10

Paperback: 560 pages - Publisher: Roc; Reprint edition (March 3, 2009) - Language: English - ISBN-10: 0451462009 - ISBN-13: 978-0451462008

 

Small Favor

by Jim Butcher

“The Dresden Files” Book #10

Wizard Harry Dresden’s life finally seems to be calming down. The White Council’s war with the vampiric Red Court is easing up, no one’s tried to kill him lately, and his eager apprentice is starting to learn real magic. For once, the future looks fairly bright.

But the past casts one hell of a long shadow.

Mab, monarch of the Winter Court of the Sidhe, calls in an old favor from Harry. Just one small favor he can’t refuse – one that will trap Harry Dresden between a nightmarish foe and an equally deadly ally and strain his skills and loyalties to their very limits.

And everything was going so well for once….

Review: You owe me a favor, Harry…

Finally, it seems that life is calming down some for Harry. But you never know when the past will come back to bite you in the ass…

Winter’s Queen Mab seeks out Harry; he owes her two favors, and she’s come to collect on. As Winter’s Emissary, she’s putting Harry in charge of finding Gentleman Johnny Marcone. Seems the man has been kidnapped, and that move is against the Accords. Harry doesn’t want to, but he has no choice.

Summer’s Queen Titania doesn’t like what’s happening and is sending everything she can to stop him.

But that’s not the worst of it. When the Denarians roll into town, Harry knows no good could come of any of this, no matter what side is hitting at him. In an effort to get Marcone back, Harry has asked the Archive to mediate a meeting between Harry and Nicodemus. And Harry walked right into their trap, for it’s the Archive they’re after. Should she be broken and take one of the coins, all hell would literally break loose.

So, now Harry has to find the Archive as well as Marcone, repay the favor, keep from getting killed by Queen Titania’s emissaries, all the while trying to keep his friends alive. Could things get any worse?

**There is no stopping Jim Butcher! One of the best series I’ll continue to read until Harry is no more, and I hope that doesn’t happen for a really, really, really long time.

How can you not like Harry Dresden. He is chivalrous, caring, funny, does whatever he can to keep his butt and those of his friends from getting fried, can be a little slow on the uptake when it comes to women, and is completely selfless. He’ll put himself in harm’s way before standing behind someone else. And when scenes get tense, his quips and one-liners make me laugh sometimes to the point of tears. As a defense mechanism to push back his fear, I love it!

The action scenes are superb and well written; descriptions have you right there in the thick of it, seeing everything around you, without going overboard. All characters are three-dimensional and you care for everyone one of the good guys, all while rooting them on to taking down the bad guys. Oh, and a love interest is starting to bloom for Harry as well, I think. I’m very interested to see where that line goes.

Mr. Butcher, you are one hell of an author and I hope Harry is around for a long, long time. I can’t wait for my daughter to be old enough to read this series!

Rating:

Warlord by Angela Knight contains “Jane’s Warlord,” “Warfem,” “The Warlord and the Fem,” and “Baby, You’ve Changed”

Paperback: 410 pages - Publisher: Berkley Trade (September 4, 2007) - Language: English - ISBN-10: 0425217841 - ISBN-13: 978-0425217849

 

Warlord

by Angela Knight

contains “Jane’s Warlord,” “Warfem,” “The Warlord and the Fem,” and “Baby, You’ve Changed”

Together for the first time – the acclaimed novel and novella that turned Knight into “a rising star in the paranormal pantheon” (Midwest Book Review) – plus two never-before-published stories set in an erotically charged workd that “will set your blood on fire and have you begging for mre…” (In The Library Reviews)

In Jane’s Warlord reporter Jane Colby has made a startling discovery about a recent murder. The killer has struck before – hundreds of years in the past. Now’s he’s jumped through time to find his next victim … Jane. Her only hope lies with Baran Arvid – a genetically engineered warrior from hundreds of years in the future sent to capture the predatory time traveler – even if it means using jane as bait. But can they survive the galaxies that come between them – and a madman bent on destroying them?

In Warfem a strange destiny has reunited the seductive Warfem Alina and Baird, the sexually dynamic Warlord who shared his lover’s young fantasies twenty years ago. But in this time apart, a dangerous new spark has been ignited between them. One that has held Alina captive in another’s plot of death and betrayal…

Review: Erotically charged, action, mystery, suspense, together with paranormal sci-fi elements – Knight is one heck of an author!

Jane’s Warlord

As the newspaper reporter at a crime scene, Jane Colby can only imagine how horrible the crime scene must be if the lead detective comes out and “tosses his cookies”. Upon arriving home, she faces a rather large man and what looks like a rather large wolf who broke into her home. But Baran and his partner, Freika, convince her that their there to save her, to protect her, from the murderer. Traveled back in time, Baran and his partner sent to stop the murderer and he needs Jane. Only, Jane isn’t meek. Strong, self-reliant, with a past that haunts her, she wants to fight and to use herself as bait, regardless of her fear. But not only does she accept that he’s from three hundred years into the future, she’s afraid she’s losing her heart to him, and worried about how much she’ll have changed once he goes back, for she’s losing her heart to him..

**Incredible as only Angela Knight can make it. With believable details, you really like Baran and Freika right from the start. What I liked was how Jane stood up to him even knowing that he could overpower her. I loved their banter, especially with Freika. Action was great, love scenes superb that make you squirm in your seat. Excellent plot well carried out. A truly fine story.

Warfem

Warfem Alina is carrying a file for the one she serves. She is to deliver the file, on the promise that her mistress, Rajin, would finally release her from duty and give her back her son. Baird is investigating a case of treason, afraid that his ex-lover, the woman he loved, is knee-deep in it. And while he doesn’t want to believe it, extenuating circumstances forced her to do as her mistress bid. But no more. Alina is tired of the threat Rajin holds over her son and will do whatever is necessary to get her son out of harms way. What Baird doesn’t know is that, even after twenty years, Alina still loves him, had been forced to leave him. Question is, will he understand and believe when the truth stands in front of him in the form of a ten-year-old boy?

**I liked this one. The action was great, the plot well done, even if it was small. I think Ms. Knight could have actually made this one into a novel instead of a novella, adding more to the story. I think my fave part is of the boy taking down the one person who could destroy them all. Perfect ending!

The Warlord and the Fem

Apparently, these last two first appeared on a yahoo group and added them to the book. Truthfully, I think they could have stayed out of the book. I won’t go really into deal, cause there isn’t much to begin with. Baird, a Warlord (not to be confused with Baird from Warfem – this Baird is a different character,) fights to become part of a mercenary group because of Kyna. Kyna is a Warfem, and Baird wasn’t her as his mate. But Kyna refuses, for she remembers spying on an “episode” with her sister and her Warlord, and it freaked her out. She swore to herself she would never be with a Warlord, would never play the submissive to their dominant ways in the bedroom. But Baird is determined. What I liked was that he did his damndest to “court” her, playing chess, talking, taking walks, all in the name of having her as his mate. I think, though, that Kyna could have fought him a little harder in the last scene, and while their lovemaking was great, it was short of spectacular. Could have been better – the whole story could have been.

Baby, You’ve Changed

Did not like – not one bit. There was nothing to it. Warfem Tamir and her ship, the Xe’vit, fight and lose the battle to Captain Gage Deauxville and his ship, the Intrepid. But he’s not after her ship – he’s after her. Years ago, as teens, Tamir had humiliated him, for humans aren’t strong enough to play the dominant, as Warfems need. But now Gage isn’t just merely human anymore, but a vampire, strong enough if not stronger, than Tamir. He intends to take his revenge on her in the way of how Warlord do. What I didn’t like was how. Until she submitted to him, what he was going to do was rape, and that left a sour taste in my mouth. Yes, I know that some have that fantasy, of being taken against their will. This was so not for me. Period. ‘Nough said.

Overall, I really liked the book and recommend it to any sci-fi, paranormal fan.

Rating:

Gabriel’s Ghost by Linnea Sinclair (‘Gabriel’s Ghost’ series Book #1)

Mass Market Paperback: 480 pages - Publisher: Bantam (October 25, 2005) - Language: English - ISBN-10: 0553587978 - ISBN-13: 978-0553587975

 

Gabriel’s Ghost

by Linnea Sinclair

‘Gabriel’s Ghost’ series Book #1

This RITA Award-winning novel of romance and adventure tells the electrifying tale of an intrepid pilot who falls from grace – and the otherworldly rogue who is all too ready to catch her.

Captain Chasidah Bergren, a onetime pride of the interstellar Sixth Fleet, is framed for a crime and exiled to a prison planet from which no one escapes – until a seductive ghost from her past shows up to rescue her. Gabriel Sullivan, alpha mercenary and scoundrel, is supposed to be dead. Now he offers her a ticket to freedom – for a price. Someone in the Empire is breeding uncontrollable killing machines, and Gabriel needs Chaz’s hellp before hundreds of innocents die. Their own lives are on the line – but the long-held attraction that heats up betweent hem may be the riskiest part of all…

Review: Incredible Sci-Fi that’ll take you for a ride!

Stripped of her post as Captain for the interstellar Sixth Fleet after being convicted of a crime she didn’t commit, Chasidah “Chaz’ Bergren is sent to Moabar prison planet, with only her Grizni dagger to protect and defend herself.

Just when she defends herself and kills a Taka, she comes face-to-face with Gabriel “Sully” Ross Sullivan, the legendary mercenary and scoundrel, whom she’d met several times before. Chaz is sure Sully loved the chases then. But meeting up with him now is a surprise, considering he’s supposed to be dead. Mind you, the dead man still looks as good as he did then.

Sully has a proposal for Chaz; in return for her help and services for his mission, he’ll get her off of Moabar and help clear her name.

She accepts and wonders if she’ll regret it.

Racing from one station to the next, Chaz learns that someone is breeding “jukors”; uncontrollable monsters. However, Sully has learned of a new gen-lab breeding these monsters, and using Takan females as incubators. Sully is determined to put a stop to it.

The question is: who can they trust? Who’s behind the gen-labs? How high up the chain of command does it go? For recent reports gleamed by inside informants say the lab is on Marker, where the Empire is based.

And all the while trying to determine answers to those questions, Chaz is falling for Sully more and more, even when she refuses to be on that “long list of confused women” that Sully is purported to have left behind in his wake. And despite not wanting to be on that “long list”, Chaz is falling in love with him.

But Sully isn’t everything he plays himself to be. Sully is an Empath, a Telephath, and then Chaz finds out he’s something more. Can she push past those barriers she was taught to put up against someone, something like Sully, or will her decision be lead by her heart?

Oh, did I so enjoy this story!

At first, I worried. I’m not usually one who likes a story narrated in first-person. While I sometimes have a hard time reading stories told that way, this in no way hampered this book. In fact, I think the story being told by Chaz herself adds to the book – I can’t see it as a third-person story.

The action starts immediately and pretty much doesn’t let up, no matter which kind of action, defending one’s self and others or heating up the sheets. As the story grows, so do the characters, coming full circle from start to finish, and is more than satisfying to this reader. Add in mystery with amazing characters, primary and secondary, and you have the makings of an amazing book.

Chaz is a strong woman, more than capable in defending herself, and like Sully, believes the gen-labs needs to be stopped, is willing to do what is necessary to see them stopped. She knows she’d been framed, doesn’t want to believe that someone close to her helped put her there, but she needs to get to the bottom of it, even if she doesn’t like the truth.

Sully is Alpha through and through; strong, brave, forceful, incorrigible, and protects those he loves and cares about with a fierceness that will steal a reader’s breath. But Sully also hurts more than most, for he hides a deep, dark secret, one that he knows very few will accept. Only one person truly knows what he is, and he’s hoping Chaz will be the second, for he truly loves her deeply, and to be rejected by her would surely put an end to the Sully we grow to love.

Incredible from start to finish, the story will suck you in and leave you with a sigh of contentment when finished. I can’t wait to get my hands on Shades of Dark, book #2 in this series. Awesome job, Ms. Sinclair!

Rating: