Urban Books - Page 23

Surviving Demon Island (Demon Hunters, Book 1)

Jaci Burton

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Passionate story heavy on paranormal 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Hollywood action star Gina Bliss agrees to join the cast of a Survivor-like reality show that will test her physical limits. When she first meets trainer Derek, sparks fly and the two engage in verbal sparring as well as plenty of competitive action. What Gina and the rest of the folks who have joined the "game" don't realize is that it is not a game at all, but rather an elaborate ploy to recruit demon hunters. And the demons will stop at nothing to destroy the Realm of Light. Yeah, it lost me there too. Of course, most of the demons were as easy to kill as the Sleestacks from the cheesy 70's TV show "Land of the Lost," so one wonders how they could be such a threat.

Had I known that this was a paranormal story, I probably would have skipped it, as there were many times I rolled my eyes and thought "whatever." But while suspension often needs to be held, and there are a lot of predictable situations, Burton can write a very sensuous story. Derek and Gina are equals - both strong and alpha. And when they give in to their desire, even the most skeptical reader can't help but get caught up in their passion. While I rarely read paranormal stories, I want to know how the series ends, so I can't wait to read Nick's story. Overall, it was a little above average 3 star read.

Editorial Review:

What’s America’s top female action star doing on a tropical island shrouded in secrecy? To Gina Bliss, competing in a survival-type reality show is a nice change from fending off on-screen villains. Until she meets real-life action hero Derek Marks. A survival specialist in a tight black T and sexy stubble, he’s arousing every bad-boy fantasy she’s ever had . . . and testing her survival skills to the max.

Martial arts, jungle warfare—Derek’s done it all. But his latest mission is more dangerous than a stick of dynamite. Try telling that to the sexy, adrenaline-pumped actress who’s got his libido racing off the charts. As the heat rises between them and real-life violence erupts, suddenly Derek and Gina are on the run . . . and when they uncover a secret so explosive it could blow the lid off their so-called reality show, these two unlikely heroes are about to discover what surviving’s really about. . . .

Charmed & Deadly (Bronwyn the Witch, Book 3)

Candace Havens

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Auto buy 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Candy Havens is an author whose work always puts a smile on my face. Her books are action-packed, funny, and full of witches, demons, and other paranormal characters, which is totally up my alley. I love Bronwyn and will continue to follow her crazy life. I hope there are more books in the pipe!

Not as exciting 2 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

For this third book in the series, the zing that was so apparent on the first two books is missing. Our heroine must deal with heavier emotional sacrifice for her work this time around, but the plot is too familiar. She fights the bad guys who try to hurt her friends and family, she got hurt, she heals, and then kills them. Nothing wrong with that except the bad guy is just too one dimensional. The humor in this book is also missing.

Another thing that's missing is the chemistry between her and her warlock boyfriend. It seems the sheik got more pages than her boyfriend. Ok, so maybe I'm a bit biased, I want her to choose the sheik (he's my favorite character). Overall, a good book, just not as good as the first two. Too many things are missing.

Editorial Review:

Bronwyn is back...but so is her evil ex-boyfriend. From the author of Charmed & Ready and Charmed & Dangerous.

Bronwyn is used to making enemies-when you dedicate your life to ridding the world of evil magic dudes and dudettes, it can happen. So when she first realizes that an attempted hit on the Prime Minister was really for her, it's just "same spell, different day." But then something about this hex reminds Bronwyn an awful lot of an ex-Jason Gladstone, who was her college sweetheart until he tied her up and tried to drain her of her powers. Talk about a date from hell.

Shadowrun Book #1: Born to Run

Stephen Kenson

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

Their Baack!! 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

While the reappearance of the Shadowrun series has been a mixed blessing over all, the lead off trilogy is something of a treat for jaded eyes. They are the story of Kellan Colt who has decided to move to the Seattle from Kansas City in a determined effort to become a a shadowrunner in the place where runners go for the big run and either crash and burn or settle into a life of comfort. In no time at all she is drawing unwanted attention and an early crisis reveals unexpected magical skills. When a lucky break offers her the opportunity to become the student of Lothan, a troll wizard, Kellan seizes the opportunity. When she isn't practicing spell casting she's taking part in some of Lothan's bizness. With mixed results.

But her big day appears to be on the way. Lothan has been hired for a major weapons run and Kellan is to play a major part. In most Shadowrun novels the problem is that the runs never come off as expect. This time it's the opposite case. The problem is that the run works perfectly, but the Johnson pays off even though the catch is a load of bargain store electronics. Kellan, ever one to look a gift horse in the mouth investigates more than she should, and manages to turn a mundane run into a web of intrigue and betrayal.

Kellan is a sympathetic character, seeking success and the truth about her mother. She is a bit too assertive and often creates her own problems, but this isn't unexpected in the world of Shadowrun where if you don't grab your share, someone else will. Stephen Kenson writes smoothly and comfortably about the complicated world of Shadowrun with its whole different spin on ethnic and national differences. It's a world where you can inherit talents or have them installed and it takes someone like Kenson to make a tale that works at all levels.

Editorial Review:

Earth, 2063. Long-dormant magical forces have reawakened, and the creatures of mankind's legends and nightmares have come out of hiding. Megacorporations act as the new world superpowers, and the dregs of society fight for their own power. Sliding through the cracks in between are shadowrunners-underworld professionals who will do anything for a profit, and anything it takes to get the job done.

Kellan Colt has come to Seattle to make a name for herself. But her first run proves that in her line of work, there's no such thing as a sure thing, and that in her world, there is only one law-survival.

The Wild Wood

Charles de Lint

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The Wild Wood 5 out of 5 stars.
19 of 19 people found this review helpful.

This is a reporint of the very best of the early works by Charles De Lint. The character is Eithnie, an artist trapped by family patterns, afraid to trust, who becomes involved with Coyote Joe, the Trickster. An allegory about the 'butterfly effect', this small book is sheer magic and love upon the pages.

"...Faerie = Feral = Fear..." 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I can't say enough about DeLint - book after book - I fall in love with his writing and characters and their experience with the natural world. The world that is becoming lost daily. This is listed as an early work - back in print. It feels less complete or as well-formed as more recent books; my perception. But nonetheless - his ability to give you an instant chill of loneliness and then wrap you back in the warmth of friends, love or home - and the peculiar way that DeLint makes my heart ache for a bit of magic... it's all here.

Editorial Review:

A young artist returns to her cabin in the deep woods of Canada to concentrate on her illustrations. But somehow, strange and beau-tiful creatures are slipping into her drawings and sketches. The world of Faerie is reaching out to her for help-and she may be its last chance for survival.

Moonlight & Vines (Newford)

Charles de Lint

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Walking Wounded 3 out of 5 stars.
13 of 16 people found this review helpful.

The short stories in Charles de Lint's `Moonlight & Vine aren't really fantasies per se - rather they are tales of wounded people - mostly women, who are lonely, despairing, lacking self worth or confidence, unable to maintain healthy relationships, sexually confused, and carrying around old hurts from abusive fathers, departed lovers, and totally dysfunctional families. These people don't take their problems to therapist. Instead, they work them out through encounters with ghosts, vampires, guardian angels, and various spirits and creatures from the spirit world of faerie.
I first encountered Charles de Lint twenty-one years ago when I read his excellent novel `Moonheart'. His unique style of urban fantasy and mixture of old and new world mythologies intrigued me and drew me into his work. Over time, however, his writing concentrated less on the elements that drew me to him, and more on the themes of wounded people working out their recovery through his fantastic world of faerie. While I'm sure there must be a market for this type of writing, it holds no appeal for me. I stopped reading him for a long time, but this past month I decided to give him another try to see if perhaps he had returned to his old magic. Unfortunately, the answer was no. In `Moonlight & Vines' he has given over almost entirely to writing about the walking wounded - emotionally crippled characters. The fantasy elements that are present are so peripheral to these stories that it could almost be removed entirely without significantly changing them.
I believe that De Lint has discovered a niche market with these psychological tales of women wounded from sexual and physical abuse working out their healing and that he now caters to it almost exclusively. In `Moonlight & Vine" he includes a strong current of lesbianism - usually women discovering that they can make connections with other women rather than with men who have always abused them; this appears to play to the same audience. He writes well enough, and if you are drawn to the subject matter, you should enjoy his work. If, however, like me, you find the whole thing rather dreary, you will want to avoid `Moonlight & Vines'. De Lint has come a long way from his outstanding novel `Moonheart', and the magic that vibrated through it is only a distant echo, almost lost within the psychodrama of this collection of tales.

Theo Logos

Editorial Review:

Return to Newford

Familiar to Charles de Lint’s ever-growing audience as the setting of the novels Moonheart, Forests of the Heart, The Onion Girl, and many others, Newford is the quintessential North American city, tough and streetwise on the surface and rich with hidden magic for those who can see.

In the World Fantasy Award-winning Moonlight and Vines, de Lint returns to this extraordinary city for another volume of stories set there, featuring the intertwined lives of many characters from the novels. Here is enchantment under a streetlamp: the landscape of our lives as only Charles de Lint can show it.

Night Life (Pharaohs Rising, Book 1)

Elizabeth Guest

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 24 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Disappointing and overambitious attempt at Egyptian vamps 2 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

... I'm disappointed.

I don't mean it in a horrible way, but... I'm disappointed.

I love vamps, Egypt, and Vegas. And sexy pharaohs. But... there was a lot wrong with this book. As a first in a series, it has promise, and I plan to read the rest of the series out of sheer curiosity and because, as I said above, I didn't hate the book.

In short, we had a decided lack of characterization, weak side characters, weak villain, a heroine who became less interesting as time went by, weak dialogue, no world-building, and, let's face it... the vampirism was lacking.

One at a time, now...

I loved the "flashbacks". Anyone who knows me knows I'm a sucker for historical fiction and such. But, even in the beginning, I was a little confused. Seti did this ritual... how? Huh? What? Maya was... huh? But still, I figured it'd work itself out and explain itself.

Nada. Nihil. Nope. No such luck. The extent of our world-building suggests that all it takes to become an "Eater of Blood and Breaker of Bones" (no, I'm not letting myself get out the Book of the Dead to see if that's in there) is to be buried without embalming.

Damn, no one embalm me.

Side characters -- please! When they're introduced, we get a tantalizing taste! And then they go bye-bye so quickly...

Who's this guy Christine Day is hanging with? Huh? He disappeared so quickly I almost want to say that his presence in the book was worthless. Bruce? Bryce? Didn't really need him in the book.

I want to see more of Rahotep. Second to Seti he intrigued me the most -- though, really, I think I'd have liked to see him as the traitor rather than Seti's son, who we hadn't even heard about before...

Maya would be an interesting character -- in the right hands. Vampire turned Parisian fashion designed -- please, Guest, give us longer books, with just as much description and lots more plot and character development!

Seth? Huh? Who's this now? Ah. Our token baddie.

Christine was interesting until the (hot) first sex scene with Seti. Then she became, frankly, a spineless pansy. We have a brilliant Egyptologist. And sure, she's going to likely fuck the pharaoh. I won't be a hypocrite -- I would too.

But somehow this turns her into a clingy girl who seems somehow useless for the rest of the book.

Oh, yes, sex scenes. Pretty good erotica. Except for the dialogue, which consisted of sighing one another's names at various volumes. Can do better. Still, hot. Can't complain horribly. And a few fun twists for how vanilla it was.

Wait... wait... why did I buy the book again? I know there was the Egypt and Vegas thing, but I think there was something else that started with a 'v'.

... vampires?

Oh, that's what happened to those two pointless characters that I still can't figure out the purpose of. Someone drained their blood, right? And then Seti is struggling with all this nonsense about his true nature... uhm... oh, yeah -- because he wasn't embalmed he'll start wanting blood. But he protected himself! He tells his secret name to Christine. Who then apparently can use it against him if he turns on her.

He never does. He never really shows his fangs except to break free of handcuffs and save the damsel in distress. Then he goes out into the desert, kills the bad guy with an incantation, and tries to kill himself unsuccessfully, all the while becoming human in the process.

This is a vampire series! Give us one bite? Please?

Oh, yeah. that's right. Christine saves the day by... singing a lullaby. And Seti Jr., who wants to kill Daddy for cliche "I wanted the throne!" reasons, thinks she's a demon.

But she's not!

Or is she? We never find out or hear more about this soul-gatherer demon she supposedly is. Yet another mess of confusion.

Author, if you want to do better, write like you did for the first few chapters. Please -- it was good! And really, don't be afraid to world-build.

Read it for fun in an afternoon -- even if you are left scratching your head.

Editorial Review:

Ancient Egypt takes a bite out of modern-day Las Vegas.

Once a pharaoh, Adrian King has awakened thousands of years later-as a vampire. Now the owner of the Royal Palace in Vegas, he is falling for Egyptologist Christine Day. But others have awakened who will not rest until Adrian is destroyed again, even if it means taking the only true love he's ever known.

Staying Dead (Retrievers, Book 1)

Laura Anne Gilman

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 41 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

A completely different series 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

This is a series that I recently went back to after reading it in 04 and I fell into a whole different world. Told in third person that changes perspectives often, we are in a world where Magic coexists with the normal world, doesn't it always? Wren is a retriever who works with her friend Sergei. When they are hired to retrieve a stone that holds something inside, the case becomes extremely complicated. Wren cannot figure out who is behind it all and worst of all her partner, whom she has worked with for years is keeping secrets from her and she can't stand that. It hurts even more when she starts having other kinds of feelings for him develop. While her life is spinning out of control Wren must do whatever it takes to pull it back together and hang on to the love of her life.

Editorial Review:

Manhattan's night life just got weirder . . .

It starts as a simple job -- but simple jobs, when you're dealing with the magical world, often end up anything but.

As a Retriever, Wren Valere specializes in finding things gone missing -- and then bringing them back, no questions asked. Normally her job is stimulating, challenging and only a little bit dangerous. But every once in a while . . .

Case in point: A cornerstone containing a spell is stolen and there's a magical complication. (Isn't there always?) Wren's unique abilities aren't enough to lay this particular case to rest, so she turns to some friends: a demon (minor), a mage who has lost his mind, and a few others, including Sergei, her business partner (and maybe a bit more?).

Sometimes what a woman has to do to get the job done is enough to give even Wren nightmares . . .

The Wood Wife (Fairy Tales)

Terri Windling

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 41 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

One of those stories that stay with you... 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I've read this book 4 or 5 times and still enjoy it immensely. I first read it shortly after it first came out, and loved it then. I bought it completely by accident, finding it in an airport bookstore and not even realizing it was fantasy until I started reading it. (I originally thought it was a mystery, and since I prefer Sci Fi/Fantasy, I'm not even sure why I picked it up.)

The characters are well-formed and interesting, as is the plot. The descriptions of the southwest made me want to go there. Years later, spending time in Santa Fe, Canyon de Chelly, Sedona and elsewhere, I felt the images from the book floating back to me and had to re-read the book as soon as I got home from that trip.

I wish Terri would leave off editing and write more! Not that I have any complaints about her editing...

Editorial Review:

Leaving behind her fashionable West Coast life, Maggie Black comes to the Southwestern desert to pursue her passion and he dreams. Her mentor, the acclaimed poet Davis Cooper, has mysteriously died in the canyons east of Tucson, bequeathing her his estate and the mystery of his life--and death.

Maggie is astonished by the power of this harsh but beautiful land and captivated by the uncommon people who call it home--especially Fox, a man unlike any she has ever known, who understands the desert's special power.

As she reads cooper's letters and learns the secrets of his life, Maggie comes face-to-face with the wild, ancient spirits of the desert--and discovers the hidden power at its heart, a power that will take her on a journey like no other.

Summon the Keeper (Keeper's Chronicles)

Tanya Huff

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 95 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Should be 4 1/2 stars 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Tanya Huff's Summon the Keeper didn't disappoint. Claire is a Keeper, a race of beings that keep the balance between good and evil. She's been summoned to a rat trap of a bed and breakfast. She thinks she'll patch up the hole and be on her way, but things don't quite work out as she planned. Her plans are further complicated with the hotel's employee, and young hot male, and the sexy resident ghost.

The characters are fully realized, even the talking cat. The only unbelieveable bit is having a male around that will cook and clean without complaint. Where can I find one of those?

Editorial Review:

Being one of the Earth's protectors is never easy, but when Claire the Keeper and Austin the cat find themselves in charge of the Elysian Fields Guesthouse Bed and Breakfast, all Hell breaks loose in the form of a gateway residing in the basement! Do not miss the latest from one of the top writers in the fantasy genre!
Compares to best-selling fantasy authors Mercedes lackey and Charles deLint Tanya Huff's DAW books were chosen by the New York Public Library system as part of their Books for Teens program!

Wolf Who Rules

Wen Spencer

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Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Kept Looking Like it Would Go Somewhere But Didn't 2 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I really disliked this book for a lot of reasons. The protagonist, who was a brilliant scientist in the prior book, turned into an elf at the end of the prior book, and essentially abandoned what once made her great. Maybe it's the sci fi fan in me, but I have little sympathy for a character who had the ability to give humanity the functional equivalent of an FTL drive and instead decided to play at being a member of the nobility in a feudal society. The author does such a good job of making the problems in the story seem insoluble that when they are solved I didn't quite believe it. Their is a mystery/foreshadowing throughout the book, but when the answers were revealed, they were disappointing.

Editorial Review:

The popular fantasy novel "Tinker" introduced the inventor-heroine of the same name, who lives in a near-future Pittsburgh, which shares an interdimensional border with the land of the elves. Now, Tinker and her elven noble lover, Wolf Who Rules, find themselves besieged from all sides. Faced with an oni invasion, he has had to call in royal troops and relinquish his monopoly of Pittsburgh, which is now entirely stranded on Elfhome He struggles to keep the peace between the humans and such supernatural beings as the Stone Clan, the oni dragons, the tengu trying to escape their oni enslavement, and still others. Meanwhile, Tinker strives to solve the mystery of a growing discontinuity in Turtle Creek. She's plagued with inexplicable nightmares that may hold the keys to Pittsburgh's future - the only clue from the Queens oracle to help Tinker is a note with five English words on it: Follow the Yellow Brick Road. Oni, and dragons and tengu-oh my!