Dark Books - Page 14

Iron Council

China Mieville

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 68 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Following Perdido Street Station and The Scar, acclaimed author China Miéville returns with his hugely anticipated Del Rey hardcover debut. With a fresh and fantastical band of characters, he carries us back to the decadent squalor of New Crobuzon—this time, decades later.

It is a time of wars and revolutions, conflict and intrigue. New Crobuzon is being ripped apart from without and within. War with the shadowy city-state of Tesh and rioting on the streets at home are pushing the teeming city to the brink. A mysterious masked figure spurs strange rebellion, while treachery and violence incubate in unexpected places.
In desperation, a small group of renegades escapes from the city and crosses strange and alien continents in the search for a lost hope.
In the blood and violence of New Crobuzon’s most dangerous hour, there are whispers. It is the time of the iron council. . . .

The bold originality that broke Miéville out as a new force of the genre is here once more in Iron Council: the voluminous, lyrical novel that is destined to seal his reputation as perhaps the edgiest mythmaker of the day.


From the Hardcover edition.

Sebastian (Ephemera)

Anne Bishop

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 62 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Could have been a hit, was definetly a miss 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I held very high standards for this new series because I absolutely loved the Dark Jewels trilogy. By all appearances this book promised a rich new world and enticing, sexy characters.
The book, intially, held promise. The first few chapters were able to draw me in and entertain me. Belladonna appeared to be a pretty awesome character and her story worth reading. Sebastian on the other hand held a lot of promise. I mean, after all, him being an incubus and living in a "carnal carnivale" was almost a guarenteed "erotic" experience, right? Ah, yeah, not so much. What sex he DID have was played out in a "fade to black" style which is typical of Bishop's style but why present a "sex demon" and not fill a few pages with a sexy encounter? Not even a sex scene, but something to back up the fact that you're writing about sex demon. (Seriously, why not make him something else, he didn't even use his incubi 'talents'). Eater of the World? Meh, it had potential but I found it hard to read the chapters about It. And by the end of the book, double 'meh' because it seemed like that aspect of the 'plot' was pushed onto the back burner.
That aside, I felt the secondary characters were weak. I don't understand why everyone turned out to be all mushy-mushy good at the core. And by everyone, I mean EVERYONE. There was not a grey area for these characters. They were either good or bad. Black or white.
In conclusion, I really enjoy Bishop's writing, but this book just fell flat. So flat that I'm not picking up the next installment, despite Belladonna being the most interesting character throughout the novel.

Editorial Review:

National bestselling author Anne Bishop's provocative hardcover debut, set in a darkly romantic, ever-changing world.

A world of shifting lands connected only by bridges, Ephemera has been kept stable by the magic of the Landscapers. In one land where night reigns and demons dwell, the half-incubus Sebastian revels in dark delights. But then in dreams she calls to him: a woman who wants only to be safe and loved-a woman he hungers for while knowing he may destroy her.

But a more devastating destiny awaits Sebastian, for in the quiet gardens of the Landscapers' school, evil is stirring. The nearly forgotten Eater of the World has escaped its prison-and Sebastian's realm may be the first to fall.

The Wicked (Vampire Huntress Legends)

L. A. Banks

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 31 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

really? good reviews for this?! 1 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

i bought this book based on the reviews and i was mislead! The Writing was so bad i couldnt get passed the prologue! Infact! i've lent this to 3 friends and the all did the same thing. They read the prologue which can only be described as vampire erotica and refused to go any further! The prologue in a nutshell is about a vampire whos blowing stuff up cuz he can get a "nut off". It actually describes him "thrusting into inanimate objects". Thats a direct quote. He ends up having vicious sex with some chick and then sodomizing her infront of the devil. If i wanted to read that kinda stuff i woulda picked up a hustler. L.A.Banks is obsessed with writing this kind of stuff. Dont bother with this or any other of her books. Read something like "threshold" by kiernan instead. Cant believe i wasted my money on this crap

Editorial Review:

Damali and Carlos have finally tied the knot, but there is no happily ever after on the horizon. Cain, the son of Eve and the new chairman of the Vampire Council is amassing an army of creatures like no one has ever seen before. But while a band of human scientists are conducting secret experiments they open the dimension that holds Cain and he is released into the human world, bigger and badder than ever. Her family slaughtered, Damali heads for hell to serve justice and faces off with a nemisis the likes of which she has never encountered. Carlos doesn't take his wife's disappearance lightly and races against time to get Damali back... only to learn that his wife might be pregnant. The question: is the child his or the Chairman's?

The Midnight Road

Tom Piccirilli

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

From the moment he saw the girl in the snowstorm, Flynn had less than an hour to live. But he’ll remember his last fifty minutes long after he’s dead. As an investigator for Suffolk County Child Protective Services, Flynn has seen more than his share of misery, but nothing could prepare him for the nightmare inside the Shepards’ million-dollar Long Island home. In less than an hour, that nightmare will send him plunging into a frozen harbor—and awaken him to a reality even more terrifying.

They’ve nicknamed Flynn “The Miracle Man” because few have ever been resuscitated after being dead so long. But a determined homicide detective and a beautiful, inquisitive reporter have questions about what really happened at the Shepard house—and why the people around Flynn are suddenly being murdered. Flynn has questions of his own, especially when one of the victims dies while handing him a note: THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT. Flynn has returned from the Midnight Road—and someone wants to send him back.

Dead Sexy (Garnet Lacey, Book 2)

Tate Hallaway

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Enjoyable 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Vampires, zombies, and Vatican killers... what's a witch to do with so many supernatural distractions?

Garnet Lacey's life didn't used to be so complicated. However, the slaughter of her coven by the Vatican killers, The Order of Eustace, and her subsequent possession by the Goddess Lilith has made things difficult. Now, an FBI agent is questioning her about those deaths (because of course the Vatican killers couldn't survive the wrath of Lilith) while zombies are littering the town she now calls home. Never mind that her ex-vampire boyfriend, Parrish, is hiding out at her place without her current vampire boyfriend, Sebastian, knowing anything about it! Garnet's got her hands full!

Tate Hallaway continues to blend together romance with a dark fantasy tale. The added touches of humor, such as her familiar cat's allergy to magic, make for a very interesting tale. DEAD SEXY is the second book in this series and can stand alone, although readers will appreciate the relationships better if TALL, DARK, & DEAD is read first.

DEAD SEXY is an intelligent and fast paced paranormal novel with some fun but quirky characters. I liked seeing more of William as he is going through his various phases. However, Garnet herself is the driving force behind the success of this series. Her continued battle between her peace loving former life as coven member Meadow Spring and her current life with Lilith battling to the surface is exceptionally well done. Tate Hallaway's brilliant characterizations make even the secondary characters spring to life in this wonderful series. Just be forewarned....DEAD SEXY ends on a very emotional cliffhanger!

COURTESY OF CK2S KWIPS AND KRITIQUES

Editorial Review:

From the author of Tall, Dark & Dead, the second in the paranormal series featuring "a gem of a heroine" (Mary Janice Davidson).

Tall, Dark & Dead introduced Garnet Lacey, a bookstore manager/witch who accidentally unleashed the dark goddess Lilith on Vatican assassins. Now she has other things to worry about-like pesky frat boy zombies, a gorgeous FBI agent hot on her trail, love spells gone wrong, and keeping her vampire boyfriend a safe distance from her vampire ex-boyfriend. There's just no rest for this Wiccan...

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.

Vampire Hunter D Volume 7: Mysterious Journey to the North Sea, Part One

Hideyuki Kikuchi, Yoshitaka Amano

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A good ending 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book provided a good, though not decisive, ending to the story begun in volume seven. The theme of this book is mostly about finding acceptance for the things you have done in the past as well as finding a place to belong in the future. Su-in finds out why the vampire in the sea holds such a fascination for her and one or two of the bad guys gets mostly redeemed.

Character development for D takes a suprising turn when we see him consistantly on the losing end of battle-- to the point of being parted from left-hand. While there are few clear defeats there are enough battles that end in a draw that one begins to wonder if D is really invested in the fights. Couple that with the fact that the "bead" that brought about the whole tale turns out to be a non issue, you begin to wonder at the direction this installment seems to be leading the series. I, for one, can't wait for Rose Princess to be released to find out.

Editorial Review:

Even a reluctant hero can't refuse the last request of a beautiful woman. On her deathbed, the mortally wounded woman gives him a strange gem and asks him to deliver the priceless stone to her sister, far off in a North Sea fishing village. D's journey is made ever more perilous by a series of scoundrels and rogues hired by the girl's murderer. They'll stop at nothing to claim the jewel. Will they catch him? Hideyuki Kikuchi's crackling narrative and Yoshitaka Amano's imaginative artwork make this a must-read entry in the series.

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.

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...