Review: Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor

Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Book 2

Tags: YA, fantasy, angels, demons, love, war

Review

…And here, my interest in this series comes to an end. Daughter of Smoke and Bone was a heart-pounding whirlwind of an introduction into a magically complex double-world and a fascinating protagonist. DAYS OF BLOOD AND STARLIGHT took all that and beat it into the ground until it turned into dust. All. At. A. Very. Slow. Pace.

I think my interest started waning upon Karou and Akiva breaking the wishbone in Book 1. Since then, the narrative has drowned in a pathetic ocean of romantic angst. I don’t mind moping so long as there are other things going on in the story, but there’s nothing—repeat, nothing—to alleviate the patheticness that continues to emanate from Karou and Akiva. Karou spends the whole of Book 2 basically a prisoner in an isolated “castle” in the deserts of Morocco, helping Thiago exact his brutal plan of revenge against the angels. And yet I couldn’t bring myself to feel sorry for her. I probably could have if it seemed like there was more to her than just her apocalyptic feelings regarding Akiva’s betrayal. But I didn’t see it.

Taylor’s writing tries to take on this objective “observer” tone to allow readers to feel their own horror at the scenes of warfare that unfold. It only sort of works. A heart-wrenching chapter or two in the midst of more plot, more action would have been great. It would have been the literary equivalent of poignant silence in the midst of a Hollywood warfare movie. Instead, DAYS OF BLOOD AND STARLIGHT chooses to string several dozen of these chapters together to make up the majority of the book—with the result that its attempt to move readers into lingering contemplation over the horrors of the war gets drowned.

Poignant chapters, great love, and musings over war are all great, and necessary, but they need to be done in moderation. DAYS OF BLOOD AND STARLIGHT did not do any with moderation. And as a result it made what should have been an enjoyable, moving, and tear-jerking read into a slog.

Similar Authors
Holly Black
Cassandra Clare

Cover discussion: It makes for a cool movie-esque poster, but I don't really associate these titles with the books without those titles written in such a large font.

Little, Brown / Nov. 6, 2012 / Hardcover / 528pp. / $18.99

e-book received for review from publisher and NetGalley.

Review: Let It Bleed by Jeri Smith-Ready

WVMP Radio, Book 3.5
Book 1: Wicked Game review
Book 2: Bad to the Bone review
Book 3: Bring on the Night review

Tags: urban fantasy, vampires

Summary

Ciara’s attempts to deal with her new life as a vampire aren’t easy, especially when her fiancé Shane’s unstable vampire DJ coworker Jim “accidentally” kills two humans who turn out to be Ciara’s cousins. Things get more complicated—and intriguing—when several more members of Ciara’s Traveler family come to town to look into their relatives’ disappearance…and bring some shocking revelations about Ciara’s anti-holy blood.

Review

In an unprecedented move, Jeri Smith-Ready publishes an essential piece of her WVMP Radio series in an e-book novella format. Longtime fans of this urban fantasy series, including me, have been eagerly awaiting LET IT BLEED. The verdict? While a refreshing dip back into the WVMP Radio world, LET IT BLEED’s novella length does make it feel a bit rushed and incomplete.

As ever, Ciara’s witty narration carries readers’ enjoyment of the story, but—and this may just be me—I wonder if the series may be suffering from the literary equivalent of the “Moonlighting” curse—that is, now that the main characters have gotten together and are getting married and all that, some of the tension that drew me through earlier installments of this series is gone. LET IT BLEED expands Ciara’s story to include more troubling conflicts and revelations, but it feels a little bare in some places, as if the story is trying to juggle too many of these conflicts, revelations, and sideplots, with the result that the pacing is uneven and the resolution abrupt. I would’ve liked LET IT BLEED to be longer, so as to give space for the plots involving Jim and Ciara’s family to be given more space to develop.

LET IT BLEED was a complete story structurally, but I didn’t have the same emotional investment in it as I had with earlier installments. Still, I am no less a fan of the series, and excitedly look forward to the final book, Lust for Life. There are, in my opinion, few protagonists who can compare to Ciara for paranormal resourcefulness and wit, and I’d follow her through anything to the ends of the earth…or the end of the series, since that seems more likely.

-

Let It Bleed is currently available as a free download on Jeri Smith-Ready's website. It's an essential part of the series, so don't miss out!

Review: Magic Gifts by Ilona Andrews

Kate Daniels, Book 5.4

Tags: urban fantasy, magic, shapeshifters

Summary

Work and play rarely stay separate for new lovers Kate and Curran—which really means that it is always work, and hardly ever play—and so when their dinner date comes to a screeching halt with the dangerous appearance of a deadly necklace, it really isn’t all that surprising. Enlisting the reluctant help of the Masters of the Dead, delusional Vikings, and scary dwarves, Kate and Curran set off to discover the origins of the necklace in order to save lives.

Review

It’s the best day of the week…month…(year)…when a new Ilona Andrews book comes out, and it’s even better when it’s a story in Kate Daniels’ world. MAGIC GIFTS may only be a novella, but it was just the thing to whet our appetites with some more of Kate and Curran, and set our senses tingling for the arduous wait until Kate #6.

Perhaps the husband-and-wife writing team that makes up Ilona Andrews has the world’s best/wickedest sense of humor, because MAGIC GIFTS gifts us with more of the delightful humor that we love about the series. Maybe the magical scenarios get wackier and wackier as Ilona Andrews researches more deeply into more and more countries’ mythologies, but I’m willing to believe anything and everything they write, simply because A) they make the mythologies merge effortlessly with their fictional world, and B) the characters have the best sense of humor ever, all the while still being remarkably “human” (despite them, er, not being fully human).

MAGIC GIFTS is a full enough story to be a satisfying read on its own. It’s a must-read for Kate Daniels fans, though not a necessary read—although you should obviously still read it!

This e-book novella is available FREE for a limited time only--as in, only for the next couple of days--so head over to the website to get your copy now! http://www.ilona-andrews.com/magic-gifts/.

Review: Bring on the Night by Jeri Smith-Ready

WVMP Radio, Book 3
Reviewed: Wicked Game (Book 1), Bad to the Bone (Book 2)
Note: spoiler-free zone!

Tags: urban fantasy, vampires, zombies, necromancy

Summary

It’s been three years since ex-con artist Ciara Griffin’s last adventure with the undead. In that time she’s managed to almost complete college and stay with her vampire DJ boyfriend, the preternaturally hot Shane McAllister. But trouble never leaves Ciara alone for long. In fulfilling her obligation to the Control, Ciara stumbles across the existence of zombies, which point to malignant necromantic activity. But her biggest problems aren’t from beyond the graveyard, when something threatens to take all that she loves about her life away from her forever.

Review

BRING ON THE NIGHT is the third of five planned books in the stellar WVMP Radio series, and it is clearly a turning point. Needless to say, it is impossible to be specific about anything that happened in this book without there being spoilers. In the interest of NOT being that person that messes up your reading experience, then, I will instead focus on how BRING ON THE NIGHT is yet another example of Jeri Smith-Ready’s world-building and characterization talent.

You would think that two people as in love as Ciara and Shane are with each other would get boring after a while, but this standout couple proves us wrong again and again. What makes Ciara and Shane consistently interesting is their deeply rooted differences—specifically, their faith, or the lack thereof. Shane’s struggle with the morality of vampirism as a result of his Catholic upbringing brings to mind other vampires’ famous moral conflicts (Edward Cullen, anyone?). It results in us occasionally wanting to just swat him upside the head and tell him to lighten up, you’re killing the mood—but damn, this boy is just completely and utterly adorable, the perfect guy to counterbalance Ciara’s recklessness and skepticism. And did I mention that he’s a talented musician as well?

The central plot pertaining to the zombies feels a little far-fetched at times, but mostly because they all play second fiddle to The Thing That Happens that I can’t tell you about. Still, it doesn’t take too much for us to adjust our knowledge of Ciara’s world to accommodate zombies and whatever else Jeri might want to throw at us next. That’s the beauty of her books: from the beginning, she weaves a world so complete that it begins to take on a life of its own, allowing us readers to stretch it as needed for us to believe in it. The strongest structures aren’t necessarily the most rigid: they’re the ones with just enough give and flexibility to absorb any shocks and new material.

BRING ON THE NIGHT marks a big change for Ciara, Shane, and all the other characters whom we’ve come to love. I’ll definitely be waiting to see what happens to them next!

Writing: 4/5
Characters: 5/5
Plot: 4/5

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5


Pocket Books / July 27, 2010 / Mass-Market Paperback / 416pp. / $7.99

ARC sent by author and publisher.

Review: Bad to the Bone by Jeri Smith-Ready

WVMP Radio, Book 2
Reviewed: Wicked Game (Book 1)

Tags: urban fantasy, vampires, music, radio

Summary

Con-artist-turned-radio-station-publicist Ciara Griffin broke the boundaries when she came up with the theme to disguise the station’s vampire DJs as vampire DJs—out in the public. The audience loves their vampire personas, but Ciara works hard to make sure no one knows that they’re really vampires.

With the holiday season looming, WVMP is attacked by a religious fanatic group illegally tapping into their frequency and broadcasting anti-vampire diatribes. With the aid of Shane, her beloved though definitely OCD vampire DJ boyfriend; David, her brooding but undeniably sexy coworker; and some old and new friends, including a lovable vampire dog, Ciara delves into the workings of a radical group determined to rid the world of vampires.

Review

Author extraordinaire Jeri Smith-Ready set the urban fantasy bar high with the first book in her WVMP Radio series, Wicked Game. BAD TO THE BONE, however, continues right where Wicked Game’s excellence left off, propelling me once more into a engrossing world of vampires, mystery, memorable characters and relationship troubles.

In my review of Wicked Game I talked about the appreciatively multidimensional protagonist and vampires. Now, I wish to talk about other characters and the plot. BAD TO THE BONE contains an enviably colorful cast of characters that stand out due to their eccentricities and wonderfully unique quirks. In this installment we also get to see a deeper and necessarily darker side to Shane and Ciara’s relationship. A relationship between two such fundamentally different people—one a vampire, one a human; one neurotically methodical though determinedly devoted, the other more of a “think now do later” girl—is bound to have its problems. What will become of Shane and Ciara? I like that BAD TO THE BONE strews some doubts and insecurities into their relationship: this makes it much more realistic and beloved to me than a perfect relationship.

Jeri Smith-Ready has a way of constructing a world that’s so expansive, yet so complete, that you can either miss it all from being completely absorbed in it, or be in awe of her writing talents. (Or you can be both. Just, you know, not at the same time.) It seems to me that the books in this series usually take a while before finally getting into the action and the meat; that is because the beginning of the book is usually setting up the unusual circumstances that will be the grounds of conflict. While the main plot arc may be oftentimes buried in other, more interesting, albeit side-plots, I never felt confused or frustrated. I always just wanted more, more, more!

WVMP Radio is, in my opinion, one of the best urban fantasy series out there. Endearingly complex characters, a fully realized world, and the potential for future stories make sure that I’ll be glued to this series for hopefully years to come. Don’t miss out if you think this might be your type of book!

Similar Authors
Charlaine Harris
Ilona Andrews

Writing: 5/5
Characters: 5/5
Plot: 4/5

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5


Pocket Books / Feb. 2010 (reprint) / Mass-Market Paperback / 432pp. / $7.99

Copy bought.