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Category: Science Fiction & Fantasy

Review: The Thirteen Hallows by Michael Scott & Colette Freedman

[ 4 ] January 4, 2012
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Rating: +1 (from 1 vote)

Reviewed by Sarah Lelonek

The Thirteen Hallows by Michael Scott and Colette Freedman is a dark novel that follows many different characters who are associated with the Thirteen Hallows of Britain. The novel bounces between present day and ancient times to give the reader a full understanding of the great power these seemingly ordinary objects possess.

The Thirteen Hallows is more of a sinister thriller than anything else. Between the elderly Hallows Keepers being brutally murdered and talk of demons preying on human souls, the reader is transported into a world of mysteriously dark and somewhat disturbing magic.

However, the story becomes hard to follow early on. Scott and Freedman take the liberty of using short novels traveling between eight to ten different characters. I found myself flipping backward between chapters to remember which one I was now reading about. Once I was able to get a hold of all the players, I found they were fairly well developed. Sarah Miller and Owen Walker, the two main characters, were complex and easy to relate to. Miller came from an over-bearing mother who wouldn’t let her live her own life, while Walker came from a broken family. I did want to see longer, or combined chapters, so that I could relate and connect with the characters earlier in the book.

Along the same lines, the passages written in italics about the history of the Hallows grew redundant and unnecessary. I felt that the talk of the Demonkind ended up being stale by the end of the book. Every passage seemed the same: the demons were strong and wanted to be released while a young boy worked hard to keep them at bay. Toward the end of the novel I even found myself speed reading and skipping portions to get to the present day action.

On the other hand, Scott and Freedman did a very good job with building the suspense. The entire novel circles around the idea that someone is bringing together the Thirteen Hallows on All Hallows Eve, Halloween for short. If these hallows are brought together, the world as we know it could very well end. While the suspense build up was executed nicely, the end result was sub-par in my opinion. The last few chapters are the shortest in the novel, while I wanted them to be the longest to get sense of the action that was taking place.

All in all, The Thirteen Hallows was a good read. It’s not a long novel, and the writing itself is easy to follow. I liked the haunting feel and the few twists kept me on my toes. The descriptions were spot on and the character development was very descriptive. My only wish is that there was more to read in a less jumbled manner so that I could be truly transported to modern Britain with a touch of past magic.

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

Sarah Emily Lelonek has a BA in English Literature from Kent State University. She is planning on attending Graduate School for English Rhetoric and Composition. She enjoys traveling and gaming while on breaks from working on her novel.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Tor Books. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: The Rafters by AC Montgomery

[ 2 ] December 13, 2011
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Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Reviewed by Garret Rose

The Rafters weaves an intricate, but confusing series of characters, storylines, and subplots that don’t add up to a pleasing conclusion.

The first of the Somnambulist Saga begins with choppy dialogue that reeks of the type of discussions that one would hear in a misogynistic, high school locker room. As the story becomes more involved with the plot, the dialogue becomes more sporadic, profane, and annoying. While the story is visually stunning and weaves an intricate amount of threads, characters, and even plots, this complex world gives the feel of a newly-released scenario video game. While this novel falls short on quality, there is enough room for improvement in the following books of the Somnambulist saga.

Rhyus Delmar is a young Calling who, due to memory loss, finds himself running ever further from his Messenger in a vain attempt to discover his true identity. Every chapter brings with it new revelations, and often new questions. As he seeks to find his memory with help from Venn, a reluctant, but ultimately compassionate character, Rhyus sets out on an adventure that offers the reader a new and exciting world for the fantasy epic lover. As the novel nears the end, many questions are answered, but many questions remain open for answering in the following books to come.

Montgomery adds an unnecessary dose of banter throughout the story, which only serves to slow down the action. The characters wear biker jackets, sport lip rings, eyebrow barbells, magic tattoos, and use adolescent lingo. This seems intended to appeal to a younger audience. This is ultimately the undoing for the first book of the series. Hopefully the maturity of the dialogue will increase without sounding too dramatically different from the opening novel of the saga.

The Rafters is a great read for those who are interested in the fantasy genre, but only for those interested in the fantasy genre.

Rating: 2/5

Garret loves literature! He is creating the Vernal Journal for his students as well as anyone else that is interested in literature – be it fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama, or even miscellaneous! Garret’s goal is to share, review and make connections to the world and each other.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Intrasomnium Publishing. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Out of Oz by Gregory Maguire

[ 3 ] November 28, 2011
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Reviewed by Shannon Hopkins

Nobody ever really leaves Oz.

The epic that culminates with Out of Oz began for most of us not when we saw Wicked on Broadway, or even when we picked up Gregory Maguire’s 1995 book of the same name. No, our Oz story began the very first time we saw Judy Garland step out of her farmhouse and into a technicolor dream world.

That being said, this is not the Oz we thought we knew.

Before you continue, the most important thing to know is that Out of Oz, this intricately woven conclusion to the Wicked Years series, will make little sense to you if you have not read Wicked, Son of a Witch, and A Lion Among Men. If you haven’t been introduced to Maguire’s dark, disturbing and impossibly beautiful adaptation of Oz, I urge you to acquaint yourself before continuing.

No one mourns the wicked…

The sixteen years since the death of the Wicked Witch of the West have not been good for Oz. Ongoing civil war between Loyal Oz and Free Munchkinland to the east has reached a stalemate, and both sides are feverishly seeking the Grimmerie — the fabled magic book of dubious origin — and its keeper, hoping to tip the balance in their favor.

The hunt for the book, and its guardians’ quest to keep it hidden, lead the entire cast of characters on varied journeys across Oz, where they learn more about themselves and each other than any could have imagined. Old mysteries are unearthed, old visitors revisited, and old history rewritten, and when the dust settles Oz will be changed for good.

Like many novels with ensemble casts, Out of Oz has its fair share of subplots running parallel to the main story. Unlike others, however, every word of every side story brings each character closer to her or his destiny in the very heart of Oz…and in their own hearts as well.

Out of Oz is a book of questions, asked and answered. Who is Rain, and will she discover her true identity? What secrets is the mysterious Tip hiding? Who will win the war and take control of Oz once and for all? And, foremost on everyone’s mind, what really happened to Elphaba sixteen years ago?

Maguire’s trademark is dividing his stories into sections based on significant places, people, or events that are introduced, which provides much-needed continuity in a story that can quickly become confusing even for the Oz scholar. After all, the Oz of this series is a three-dimensional world the locations of which are far more developed than L. Frank Baum could ever have imagined. It has a history, and persons of importance, and Maguire brings all of these to life in moving, eloquent prose that draws the reader into Oz as surely as Dorothy herself was drawn. While he gives the reader small clues to suggest what may lie in store, each revelation is sufficiently jaw-dropping that it inspires a re-read just to be sure you read that right the first time, until his final words that are just as memorable as his very first.

There is so much more I could say, would say, and have said, but having shed my tears at the conclusion I now leave it to you to experience Out of Oz for yourself. It is an amazing story of love, loss, and discovery, set in a world that is both familiar and brand new at the same time.

Out of Oz is a moving epitaph to those Ozians who have lived and loved and died between the covers of the Wicked Years series. However, though this the “Final Volume” in the series it is by no means an ending. The story of Oz is never really over.

Rating: 5/5

Shannon lives in Cleveland, Ohio with her fianc é and a room full of books that she peruses when she isn’t trolling Apartment Therapy for new decorating ideas. In her free time she enjoys maintaining her blog, The Writer’s Closet, planning her wedding, and baking tasty gluten-free treats.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by William Morrow. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Genie Knows Best by Judi Fennell

[ 3 ] November 25, 2011
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Reviewed by Jennifer Jensen

Judi Fennell’s books first caught my attention on Goodreads through their giveaway program called First Reads; I was positive I would enjoy her books because she has written about mermaids and genies, two mythical creatures I adore.

Genie Knows Best is the second in her series called Bottled Magic, but it’s not necessary to read I Dream of Genies first because they do not contain the same characters or a chronological sequence of events. In Genie Knows Best, Samantha Blaine becomes the owner of her late father’s genie lantern. During his life, he kept the genie’s lantern a secret from his only daughter. Kal, the genie, is looking forward to his retirement from the Service. Samantha will be his last master, and it is his desire to make her wish him free. But Kal never expected that he would fall in love with her; if he ever utters those words to Samantha, then he will become mortal and cannot become the vizier in his world.

Samantha is not the only one who knows about Cal, however. Her boyfriend, Albert, has long been waiting for the day he would marry into Samantha’s family and gain access to her vast fortune. One day he witnessed Samantha’s father conjuring up the genie. If Albert were to become the genie’s new master, he would no longer need Samantha or her wealth. Albert now has a new plan, but when Samantha discovers his true feelings about her, he will have to find another way to steal her genie.

Genie Knows Best is a romance novel, but I was more interested in the fantasy aspects of it. I actually found myself skipping over the pages and pages of sex scenes just to get back to the plot line. The characters in Genie Knows Best were hard for me to get attached to, though, and the pacing was really off. Rather than showing us how things are between Albert and Samantha, Fennell spells it out matter-of-factly, and then immediately thrusts Samantha and Kal in the magical land of Izaaz where almost the entirety of the novel occurs.

Judi Fennell has a wonderful imagination, but her writing style, characters, and pacing left a lot to be desired. This will be the last of her books that I will read.

Rating: 1.5/5

Jennifer graduated from the University of Utah with a BA in English. She occasionally dabbles with her own fiction writing, particularly with the Young Adult and Paranormal genres. She currently resides in Utah with her husband and daughter.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Sourcebooks Casablanca. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: The Strangers on Montagu Street by Karen White

[ 1 ] November 22, 2011
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Rating: 0 (from 0 votes)

Reviewed by Colleen Turner

Melanie “Mellie” Middleton is a very particular person: she keeps her life organized on spreadsheets – from her job selling historic homes in Charleston, South Carolina to her shoe and clothes collections – and likes as few surprises as possible. Lately, however, her life seems to have other plans and curve balls keep coming from everywhere. Her own historic home continues to need serious TLC and the costs keep mounting. Her mother, who left her and her father when Mellie was very young, is back in her life and her recovering alcoholic father is sober and ready to strengthen the relationships with both of them. And there’s that whole “ability to communicate with the dead” thing always causing Mellie new problems.

When Jack Trenholm, the man Mellie is having an increasingly hard time hiding her feelings for, shows up on her doorstep with a teenage daughter, Nola, who he just discovered he had now that Nola’s mother died, asking Mellie to let Nola live with her while they work through this new tenuous relationship, she thinks things couldn’t possibly get any more complicated. As always, it seems, another ball is about to drop.

Jack’s mother gives Nola an antique Victorian dollhouse in the hopes of helping her feel more at home in her new life. They quickly discover that something is very wrong with this house, the dolls always showing up in unexpected places, often with strangely broken parts. A feeling of foreboding surrounds the house and Mellie knows she needs to find out who the house originally belonged to and what unsettled spirits are still attached. Nola’s mother is also sticking close and seems to have something she needs to take care of before she can move on. But what could that be?

As Mellie, her mother, Jack and Nola work to answer these questions they must also work on the very real issues in their own lives. For Mellie, it seems, life is just meant to be full of surprises.

The Strangers on Montagu Street is actually the third book in Karen White’s Tradd Street contemporary paranormal mystery series. Having not read the first two books in the series there were often times I felt in the dark about the background of the characters and their many varied and complicated relationships. For example, Jack and Mellie obviously have quite a colorful past but I am not fully sure what that is from reading this book. Having said that, this is still a very entertaining read and somehow combines fun and quirky southern antics with more serious topics like suicide, abandonment and murder.

I got chills when a normal walk down the street suddenly had a dead person staring at Mellie or walking towards her in hopes of help. A trip to the hospital has the dead lining the walls and peering in windows at her. Such seemingly casual inclusion of these types of occurrences bothered me enough to have me peeking over my shoulder to make sure I was alone.

The touching and fragile growth between the characters gave a very real and solid contrast to the paranormal elements and really made me want to go back and read the first two books in the series to get caught up on how they all got to this point. I plan on doing so as The Strangers on Montagu Street ends with “to be continued” and I am very excited to see where the author takes Mellie next.

Rating: 3.5/5

Check out more reviews of Karen White’s books:

The Girl on Legare Street

On Folly Beach

Falling Home

Colleen lives in Tampa, Florida with her husband, son, their dog Oliver and their fish Finn. When not working or taking care of her family she has her nose stuck in a book (and, let’s face it, often when she is working or taking care of her family as well). Nothing excites her more than discovering a new author to obsess over or a hidden jewel of a book to worship.

This book was provided free of any obligation by Joan Schulhafer. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Postmortal by Drew Magary

[ 3 ] November 17, 2011
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Reviewed by Jill Elizabeth

I have been very excited about The Postmortal. Normally I review non-fiction for Luxury Reading. But I saw this one on the “books to be reviewed” list and it sounded so clever and intriguing that I asked if an exception could be made and I could do a spot o’ fiction.

I loved the premise – in our world in the not-so-distant future, a cure for aging has been discovered. The President has banned it in the U.S., but it is available on the black market. John Farrell, a bit of an Everyman who happens to be a divorce lawyer, has a connection and decides to take The Cure.

Initially, mayhem and madness ensue, in the best possible ways. John’s future world is one of snarkiness, dark gallows humor, Shocking Revelations, and more than a few unexpected twists and turns. At least, it is in the first handful of chapters. After that, well, it becomes a lot darker and the gallows humor becomes more gallows and less humor. Random acts of violence, bitterness, resentment, ennui, and the decline of all forms of faith, hope and love are apparently the name of the game in the future.

If we really are in for that kind of future, I am in no rush to sign up – let alone to extend my stay with a late check-out.

The Postmortal is a combo entertainment/cautionary tale. But the existential angst surrounding John Farrell and his family/friends was entertaining for a while, then it got a little heavy-handed for my taste.

Personally, I don’t know that I see all that much appeal in a cure for aging. From the beginning, I rather fell in line with the pro-death traditionalists (and John’s father) when they pointed out that everything good must come to an end – and that this is not necessarily a bad thing or something to avoid, but just a necessary part of life and the appreciation of what we have. This is, ultimately, the message Magary sends us away with – and it’s a good one. But frankly, I think he could have delivered it without quite as many participants in the parade of horribles that poor John Farrell had to deal with along the way…

Rating: 2.5/5

A former corporate attorney and government relations/health policy executive, Jill-Elizabeth walked away from that world (well, skipped actually) and toward a more literary life (equally challenging, but infinitely more enjoyable). If you enjoyed this review, please visit her at Jill-Elizabeth.com, the official home of All Things Jill-Elizabeth – that is, all of the teehees, musings, rants, book reviews, writing exercises, and witticisms of her burgeoning writing career.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Penguin. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley

[ 5 ] November 10, 2011
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Reviewed by Jennifer Jensen

After the death of her beloved sister, Eva Ward returns to the quaint house in Cornwall she remembers from happy childhood memories. Reconnecting with Mark, her sister Katrina’s first love, and his family, Eva slowly begins to heal from the loss of her sister as she determines where to scatter her sister’s ashes.

But soon Eva is hearing voices, and eventually slips into another time altogether. In the 18th century, Eva encounters Daniel Butler, a man she begins to fall in love with. She cannot control when she slips back into her own time, nor can she resist attempting to find out what became of Daniel and his brother Jack. Through Jack’s memoirs, Eva discovers some heavy truths she would rather not see become a reality. Does Eva have the power to change the course of these men’s lives?

The Rose Garden is the second book I’ve read by Susanna Kearsley, and it is just as beautifully written as The Winter Sea. I got swept away in the beauty of her language, and the powerful imagery behind her words. Kearsley has the ability to transport the reader right into the action of her stories; I felt as if I were right on the Cornish coast with Eva.

Kearsley’s characters are full of life and I could fully flesh out their appearances in my mind as I read. I loved the idea of time travel, though Kearsley’s explanation for how and why it happens is a bit underdeveloped. Thankfully, however, further explanation isn’t really necessary to enjoy this story. I would have appreciated more understanding as to why Eva and Daniel fell in love with each other, because it happens rather quickly given that the first few times she travels to Daniel’s time she doesn’t stay very long.

Fans of books like The Time Traveler’s Wife and Outlander will definitely want to check out Susanna Kearsley and her enchanting novels.

Rating: 4/5

Check out our review of Susanna Kearsley’s The Winter Sea

Jennifer graduated from the University of Utah with a BA in English. She occasionally dabbles with her own fiction writing, particularly with the Young Adult and Paranormal genres. She currently resides in Utah with her husband and daughter.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Sourcebooks Landmark. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: The Traitor’s Daughter by Paula Brandon

[ 4 ] November 2, 2011
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Reviewed by Colleen Turner

In a land known as the Veiled Isles, the eternal energy called the Source is beginning to reverse. With the last reversal mankind was able to inhabit the Veiled Isles and banish the previous Inhabitants, a race of sentient, bodiless creatures that operated as one Overmind to control all manner of living things in their path, to the area known as the Wraithlands.

Since then man has created its civilization and many have forgotten the power of the Source and what came before. But now the signs that the Source is once again reversing, allowing the very laws of nature and arcane magic to change and the great Overmind to once again assert its power, are beginning to show. The only way to halt this change is to cleanse the Source and keep it on its current path. This can only be done with the combined assistance of the arcane powers held within the six great houses: Belandor, Corvestri, Steffa, Orlazzo, Pridisso and Zovaccio. These houses have been at war or been slowly dissipating for years, but they will have to find a way to come together or they, and all of mankind, are doomed.

In the city of Vitrisi, the wealthy Magnifico Aureste Belandor is saddened but resigned to marry his beloved daughter, Jianna, to a prominent family far from the city of her birth and the hatred that he has kept her sheltered from. Jianna idolizes her father and has no idea he has long been considered a traitor to his Faerlonish brethren and has spent his life conniving and bribing his way into favor with the current administration.

On the ride to her wedding, Jianna’s carriage is attacked and all her attendants viciously murdered before her eyes. Her captors soon show themselves to be a branch of the Belandor family that Aureste brought to ruin, allowing himself to become the Magnifico of the family after his predecessor, Onarto Belandor, was killed in exile. Onarto’s widow, Yvenza Belandor, has hatched a plan to marry Jianna to her brutish son, Onartino, hoping to once again establish her lineage as the head of the house.

As Jianna waits for her father’s rescue she soon discovers she will need to use her own resources and intellect to try and save herself. At the edge of despair help comes from a Dr. Falaste Rione, a man who has lived his life loyal to Yvenza but cannot justify the pain she seems set to lavish on Jianna.

While Jianna lies in the clutches of Yvenza and her vicious clan, Aureste sets out to indeed try and rescue his daughter. As he uses his brother Innesq’s arcane powers to locate her, he also sets about to destroy one of his enemies, Magnifico Vinz Corvestri , the man who married the only other woman Aureste ever loved, Sonnetia Steffa. But before Vinz is arrested, he uses his own arcane magic to assist the Faerlonish resistance in an attempt to murder Aureste and burn down Belandor House, injuring Innesq in the process. By the time the smoke clears, Jianna and Dr. Rione are in hiding with the resistance, both Yvenza and Aureste’s homes are in ruin, Vinz has been arrested and Innesq lies on the brink of death. Will they all survive and, if so, how will they ever begin to work together to save the world as they know it?

The Traitor’s Daughter is the first in an epic trilogy that promises to be exciting. Not usually a fan of fantasy stories, I was thrown off at first by the talk of magic; as the story progressed I became enamored with Paula Brandon’s writing. It reads like a classic historical fiction novel that stretches its boundaries to include the mystical. The twists and turns keep you turning the pages and while there are a lot of plot points and characters to absorb, it isn’t hard to become thoroughly invested in the story. The ending is left at the tip of a cliff hanger and I cannot wait to read the second book in the series, The Ruined City, which comes out in February 2012.

Rating: 4.5/5

Colleen lives in Tampa, Florida with her husband, son and pet fish. When not working or taking care of her family she has her nose stuck in a book (and, let’s face it, often when she is working or taking care of her family as well). Nothing excites her more than discovering a new author to obsess over or a hidden jewel of a book to worship.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Spectra. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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