Urban Books - Page 16

City of Saints and Madmen

Jeff Vandermeer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 39 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In City of Saints and Madmen, Jeff VanderMeer has reinvented the literature of the fantastic. You hold in your hands an invitation to a place unlike any you’ve ever visited–an invitation delivered by one of our most audacious and astonishing literary magicians.

City of elegance and squalor. Of religious fervor and wanton lusts. And everywhere, on the walls of courtyards and churches, an incandescent fungus of mysterious and ominous origin. In Ambergris, a would-be suitor discovers that a sunlit street can become a killing ground in the blink of an eye. An artist receives an invitation to a beheading–and finds himself enchanted. And a patient in a mental institution is convinced he’s made up a city called Ambergris, imagined its every last detail, and that he’s really from a place called Chicago.…

By turns sensuous and terrifying, filled with exotica and eroticism, this interwoven collection of stories, histories, and “eyewitness” reports invokes a universe within a puzzlebox where you can lose–and find–yourself again.

The Taste of Night (The Second Sign of the Zodiac)

Vicki Pettersson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 36 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Going great! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Yes, I truly like this serie. As it happened with the first one, I found this book fascinating. I like the idea of two sides of the zodiac, one light and another shadows, and that they have to work for the balance. Is like the topic of good and evil but with some new twist added on the middle. I also liked the fact that the main character, Joanna, is a little of both sides, and she can choose in what side to be. I liked it, because the other ones where born to be light or to be shadow, without being able to chose.

I also like the character of the Tulpa, who's created from the mind of another one and makes himself into an independent being.

All in all, is a nice book to read, and I enjoyed the fact that Joanna, as happened a priori on the first book, has to accept who she is now before asking for acceptance between her comrades. Even to the point of leaving behind all she has so she can be who she really is.

The only thing that bugged me a little was her narrowmindness on vengeance. I found myself getting a little tired of her and Joaquim, who she is bent to destroy without anything else making her think twice about it until... (no, no spoilers).

All in all i'm still enjoying this series as much as when I started reading it, so I want to read the third one!!!

Editorial Review:

Equal parts Light and Shadow, Joanna Archer must fulfill a destiny she never wanted. Once a photographer and heiress to a casino fortune, she is now dedicated to the cause of good . . . but susceptible to the seductions of evil.

A deadly virus is descending on Las Vegas—a terrifying plague unleashed by the powerful overlord of Zodiac's dark side: Joanna's father. Chaos and panic grip Sin City as agents of Light fall prey to the terrifying epidemic. Death reigns supreme—and Joanna stands at dead center of an epic and terrible war long foretold, the last hope of a damned world.

But first she must somehow conquer the malevolence that grows all around her . . . and within.

Bitten & Smitten (Immortality Bites, Book 1)

Michelle Rowen

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 53 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Sarah Dearly has had a bad date. What else would you call being buried alive before dessert? Not to mention that bite mark on her neck, and the creepy way her date keeps saying that he’s sired her. Then those guys with the stakes show up and turn her date into so much dust! Sarah runs for her life, only to be rescued by a tall, dark, and handsome stranger. Sure, she interrupts him as he’s about to throw himself off a bridge – but as far as rescuers go, Thierry de Bennicoeur will have to do. Only problem is their age difference. He’s a six-hundred-year-old vamp with a death wish. She’s a new kid on the block with a need for someone with experience to show her the ropes. And to keep her one step ahead from the vampire hunters that are in town to rid Toronto of the ‘monsters’. Sarah doesn’t know what to make of all this. Sure, she’s got a healthy hankering for blood lately, but she doesn’t feel like a monster. Just an unemployed girl looking for love. Even if the object of her affection—Thierry—can’t go out in the sun for very long.

The Scar

China Mieville

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 103 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

A mythmaker of the highest order, China Miéville has emblazoned the fantasy novel with fresh language, startling images, and stunning originality. Set in the same sprawling world of Miéville’s Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning novel, Perdido Street Station, this latest epic introduces a whole new cast of intriguing characters and dazzling creations.

Aboard a vast seafaring vessel, a band of prisoners and slaves, their bodies remade into grotesque biological oddities, is being transported to the fledgling colony of New Crobuzon. But the journey is not theirs alone. They are joined by a handful of travelers, each with a reason for fleeing the city. Among them is Bellis Coldwine, a renowned linguist whose services as an interpreter grant her passage—and escape from horrific punishment. For she is linked to Isaac Dan der Grimnebulin, the brilliant renegade scientist who has unwittingly unleashed a nightmare upon New Crobuzon.

For Bellis, the plan is clear: live among the new frontiersmen of the colony until it is safe to return home. But when the ship is besieged by pirates on the Swollen Ocean, the senior officers are summarily executed. The surviving passengers are brought to Armada, a city constructed from the hulls of pirated ships, a floating, landless mass ruled by the bizarre duality called the Lovers. On Armada, everyone is given work, and even Remades live as equals to humans, Cactae, and Cray. Yet no one may ever leave.

Lonely and embittered in her captivity, Bellis knows that to show dissent is a death sentence. Instead, she must furtively seek information about Armada’s agenda. The answer lies in the dark, amorphous shapes that float undetected miles below the waters—terrifying entities with a singular, chilling mission. . . .

China Miéville is a writer for a new era—and The Scar is a luminous, brilliantly imagined novel that is nothing short of spectacular.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Moonshine (Cal Leandros, Book 2)

Rob Thurman

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 52 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Add my vote 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I picked the first book up in the airport to have a reserve as you can't be too careful about running out of reading material. What a pleasant surprise it was. As soon as I got back home, I went to the bookstore and bought the second. I pre-ordered the third from Amazon.

Others have summarized the books well. I just wanted to add to the number of positive comments and encourage others to buy the books.

Editorial Review:

After saving the world from his fiendish father's side of the family, Cal Leandros and his stalwart half-brother Niko have settled down with new digs and a new gig-bodyguard and detective work. And in New York City, where preternatural beings stalk the streets just like normal folk, business is good. Their latest case has them going undercover for the Kin-the werewolf Mafia. A low-level Kin boss thinks a rival is setting him up for a fall, and wants proof. The place to start is the back room of Moonshine-a gambling club for non-humans. Cal thinks it's a simple in-and-out job. But Cal is very, very wrong.

Cal and Niko are being set up themselves-and the people behind it have a bite much worse than their bark...

Primal Desires (Primes Series, Book 6)

Susan Sizemore

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Enter a world of dark, irresistible passions, where a powerful vampire finds the one woman who can satisfy his every hunger....

In Las Vegas, Jason Cage is known as "The Beast Master." But his onstage feats of magic are nothing compared to the abilities he keeps hidden from human eyes. Jason is Prime of his vampire family, and once used his telepathic skills to tame wild werewolves. It's a talent that leads him to beautiful, sensual Sofia Hunyara, who instantly triggers all of Jason's primal urges. Sofia is destined to be his bondmate, but keeping her alive long enough to convince her of that fact will not be easy.

Sofia has no reason to trust Jason, or to believe his story about her family's secret history as Wolf Tamers. The only thing she's sure of is an overwhelming attraction that quickly develops into a scorching affair. If Jason's claims are true, can Sofia embrace her legacy -- when it means walking away from a soul-searing desire that's deeper than any she's ever known?

Master of Darkness (Primes Series, Book 4)

Susan Sizemore

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Continues the "I Hunger for You" series.... 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I wish I would have realized that before I sold the first 3 books. I prefer to keep my series together so if I get confused I can go back and check some things in previous books. BUT other than that, I really enjoyed it. I especially enjoyed that the poor guy/vampire who didn't feel he belonged anywhere and was shunned by all, found a place & a people to call home -- just love those happy endings!

Editorial Review:

When vampire hunter Eden Faveau mistakes Laurent, a renegade vampire of Tribe Manticore, for her new partner, he's not about to correct her. He's stolen a laptop full of sensitive files from the Tribe leader, Justinian, and needs help cracking the encryption. At first he wants sexy and intelligent Eden only for her computer wizardry -- but soon he wants her for much, much more.

Working by night and growing closer every day, Laurent and Eden struggle with the passion that threatens to overwhelm them. But when Justinian captures Eden, and Laurent proves his loyalty to his Tribe in the most shocking of ways, Eden vows to kill Laurent for his deception. Can he find a way to prove his love for her before a full-on war breaks out between vampires and humans?

Unshapely Things (Connor Grey, Book 1)

Mark Del Franco

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 37 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

The title didn't make the story good enough 2 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I loved the idea of this book, as I'm very fond of Rob Thurman... And this book kept my interest for a little bit, but then it just failed.
The characters have to grab me within the first ten pages, and unfortunately this book did not have a strong enough characters to not only grab it but kept my attention for the entire book.
It was okay story/characters/plot, average, not GREAT.

Editorial Review:

In the alleys of the decrepit Boston neighborhood known as the Weird, fairy prostitutes are turning up dead. The crime scenes show signs of residual magic, but the Guild, which polices the fey, has more "important" crimes to investigate and dumps the case on human law enforcement.

Boston police call in Connor Grey, a druid and former hotshot Guild investigator-whose magical abilities were crippled after a run-in with a radical environmentalist elf. As Connor battles red tape and his own shortcomings, he realizes that the murders are not random, but part of an ancient magical ritual. And if Connor can't figure out the killer's M.O., the culmination of the spell might just bring about a worldwide cataclysm.

Keeping It Real (Quantum Gravity, Book 1)

Justina Robson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 31 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

"There's a treat in store for you all, as the new Justina Robson is out. Lila Black is a spy, and a bodyguard, and every so often she breaks into the sheer joy of the toys she carries within her. It's good to see that almost naïve geek love you see among born techies translated into a character so beautifully. The only truly bad thing about this book is that it isn't stand-alone and now I've got to wait until she's finished writing the next one, wanting much, much more." --Starburst (Five Star review)

The Quantum Bomb of 2015 changed everything. The fabric that kept the universe's different dimensions apart was torn and now, six years later, the people of earth exist in uneasy company with the inhabitants of, amongst others, the elfin, elemental, and demonic realms. Magic is real and can be even more dangerous than technology. Elves are exotic, erotic, dangerous, and really bored with the constant Lord of the Rings references. Elementals are a law unto themselves and demons are best left well to themselves.

Special agent Lila Black used to be pretty, but now she's not so sure. Her body is more than half restless carbon and metal alloy machinery, a machine she's barely in control of. It goes into combat mode, enough weapons for a small army springing from within itself, at the merest provocation. As for her heart, well, ever since being drawn into a game by the elfin rockstar Zal (lead singer of the No Shows), who she's been assigned to protect, she's not even sure she can trust that any more either.

Your Coffin or Mine?: A Novel of Vampire Love (Dead End Dating, Book 3)

Kimberly Raye

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

BEING DEAD CAN KILL A SOCIAL LIFE!

For Lil Marchette, the owner of Manhattan’s premier dating service for vampires (and a dazzling denizen of the dark herself), death is all in a night’s work. Unfortunately, it’s going to take more than matching up vamps to pay the bills and fund Lil’s cosmetics addiction. Dare she add actual humans to the mix? Eager to diversify, she signs up for a popular dating show, Manhattan’s Most Wanted (MMW), to pitch her expertise to the perfect target audience–eligible women looking for eligible men.

Of course Lil is trying to forget the one man she’d love to sink her own teeth into: Ty Bonner, the ultraseductive vamp who broke her heart after she gave him the hottest night of his afterlife. Problem is, she and Ty have an intense mental connection and she’s sensing he’s in deep trouble. Even worse, she soon finds herself heading for MMW’s grand finale (cameras are so not a vamp’s best friend). The race is on as Lil struggles to save Ty (and herself) before all hell breaks loose.

“Lil is a likable mix of Bridget Jones, Carrie Bradshaw and Dracula–charming, sweet, stylish, with just a hint of fang.”
–Parkersburg News and Sentinel