Category: B+

antigone?

Posted on by Greig

Chimes at Midnight

Seanan McGuire

chimes at midnightThe latest Toby Daye book is as enjoyable as ever.
Tremendous upheaval comes to the Kingdom of the Mists in this book but it feels more like the theme of this one is about Toby accepting that she belongs in Faerie with the family she’s made up along the way.
It’s simultaneously very exciting and very annoying that hints about what appears to be the series endgame crop up in the last couple of chapters and the bonus short story.
I think, though, that some really awful things are going to start happening soon to our favourite changeling knight.
A total must read for Toby fans and the series as a whole is more than recommended for those who don’t actively hate urban fantasy.

Rating: B+

serum?

Posted on by Greig

Divergent

Veronica Roth

divergentThis is a very enjoyable slice of dystopian YA science fiction.
It’s Chicago in the future and after some unspecified calamity the city is isolated and people split up into five factions.
At sixteen children are tested for factional affinity and then have to choose which faction they want to join.
This is a very quick read and it’s an intriguing world the author’s set up that is begging to be expanded in later volumes.
Obviously it’s going to be compared to The Hunger Games books as it’s a first-person narrative book for teenagers set in a bleak future. Honestly it’s not as good but it’s still worth a read and I’m definitely reading the sequel.

Rating: B+

wren?

Posted on by Greig

Mockingbird

Chuck Wendig

MockingbirdThe sequel to Blackbirds takes a while to build up steam but once it hits the meat of the story it easily meets the standards of the first book.
Miriam Black is a very interesting character and it’s good to see Wendig making her more complex and nuanced with every book.
I think you really need to have read the first book to get the most from this one (though I think it would work as a standalone to some extent). I would recommend it just as much as Blackbirds.

Rating: B+

oakland?

Posted on by Greig

Deadline

Mira Grant

deadlineThe second in the Newsflesh trilogy is still a cracking read but it’s just little less interesting or compelling than the first book.
After the events of the first book we see things from gradually deteriorating perspective of Shaun Mason as he investigates a conspiracy dumped his lap.
You have to read this if you’ve read the first book – especially since the third book promises to be very interesting…

Rating: B+

shovel?

Posted on by Greig

Blackbirds

Chuck Wendig

blackbirdsMiriam Black can see your death. A single touch of her skin on yours and she will see how and when you’ll meet your maker.
Unable to change the events that she forsees, she has become profoundly cynical – a drifter using her gift to be present when others die and scavenging their money and personal effects before moving on down the line.
The events of this book find her gifts getting her in trouble with genuinely evil people and putting her sanity and safety at risk.
This is a really enjoyable book with a lead character that you quickly become invested in despite her obvious flaws. I can’t wait to read the sequel.
I’ve classified it as fantasy but apart from Miriam’s real psychic ability this could be just an excellent example of a hard boiled thriller.
Recommended if you like thrillers or urban fantasy.

Rating: B+

spine?

Posted on by Greig

Kill The Dead

Richard Kadrey

kill the deadStark returns to fight off a zombie invasion of Los Angeles. He does this while also acting as Lucifer’s bodyguard and mingling with the Hollywood elite.
It’s a fun enough book and the central character remains enjoyably cynical but it’s just not as good as the first book.
Recommended if you enjoyed the first book.

Rating: B+

transient?

Posted on by Greig

The Song of the Quarkbeast

Jasper Fforde

Song of the QuarkbeastThe second of Fforde’s YA fantasy sequence sees our heroine plunged into a battle for the future of magic.
It’s a fun little romp – if a little disjointed feeling compared to the first book.
I’m looking forward to book three – which looks like it’s going to be very interesting.
Certainly recommended if you’re looking for an amusing YA fantasy.

Rating: B+

spike?

Posted on by Greig

Rosemary & Rue

Seanan McGuire

rosemary and rueI don’t normally re-read books so quickly but I was looking for something to divert me at lunchtimes now that I no longer eat at my desk. This, the first Toby Daye book, just happened to be on my phone.
It’s a very enjoyable urban fantasy novel that sets up the series with a deft hand. There’s a lot of seeds planted in this first book that go on to pay off with interest in later volumes and it was fun to catch that this time around.
If you have any tolerance for urban fantasy please check out this series – it starts well and gets better.

Rating: B+

potato?

Posted on by Greig

This Lullaby

Sarah Dessen

this lullabyRemy is a cynical young woman about to graduate from high school and escape her home town to Stanford for college. Convinced love is a sham following her Mother’s many marriages she jumps from boyfriend to boyfriend without ever getting emotionally invested. Then she meets Dexter – the singer of an indie band newly arrived in town and things stop being so cut and dried.
This is an expertly constructed and very enjoyable slice of teen romance. Recommended by a fellow fan of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries I raced through this in a couple of days.
It nicely hits that funny, smart romantic tone that I’m sucker for in films and TV without ever getting too melodramatic.

Rating: B+