Personal – Page 37 – Michele Lee

Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane

ISBN: 978-0345515575
I was given this book as a gift.

Downside book #1

With this book Kane has brought Urban fantasy back to its roots, not a place where a girl detective has to choose between the unbelievably sexy vampire that might someday weaken and kill her, or the blindingly gorgeous werewolf who might get her mixed up in a fight too big for her and end up just as dead. Here Kane takes strong element of the world we all know and forges them into something new, familiar, yet utterly different.

In the Downside books the Church and the government are one and the same, but this isn’t the modern Church running things. Instead the supernatural is fact, and veined with magic, ghosts and witches, and the Church as controller of it, also must protect the citizens from the supernatural (mostly so it can maintain it’s steel-locked control of the world). Chess is a witch working for Church, a Debunker, who either debunks faked hauntings, or clears up real ones for her employers. She’s also a drug addict who owes someone terrible a lot of money. So in one book readers will find a fantasy-skewed religious conspiracy thriller and a paranormal, hard core (in the dark and harsh sense and in the Oi punk! sense) noir mystery story.

Bump, Chess’ dealer, demands that she debunk the haunting of an old, abandoned air field so he can use it to funnel in more drugs. Meanwhile a rival dealer makes her an offer, enticing her with free drugs, if only she’ll make sure Bump can’t use the airfield. Both tasks turn out to be more complicated than expected since Terrible, Bump’s right hand enforcer, becomes Chess’ assistant and guard as she works, and as Chess tries to fight her attractions to Lex, a dealer for the rival drug lord. In the end the airfield isn’t just haunted, something much, much worse is going on, and Chess can’t even go to the Church for back up because of her own dark dealings and her suspicion that someone in the church is behind the dark magic at the airfield.

Unholy Ghosts is a thrilling ride, textured and vivid, a powerhouse of fantasy. Brimming with characters that aren’t quite heroes but aren’t quite bad guys either, it shows the hard core, broke down parts of the world other stories skip over, the dark side of reality that comes not from magic, but from the poor, desperate and disillusioned trying to make it through a hard life.

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May 13

Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris

ISBN: 9780441017157
Sookie Stackhouse book #9
I bought this book.

The last book in the Sookie series was a palate cleanser, but this one doesn’t shape up like a traditionally formed mystery story. It doesn’t need to however, as now Sookie is official embroiled enough in the paranormal world that even when she doesn’t stumble into or seek out danger, it will come to her.

The first thing readers will notice is that Sookie has a lot of problems in this book. Some of them are external, but mostly she’s struggling to deal with the series so far. Unlike other urban fantasy heroines Sookie is not okay with being a killer, not even when it’s to save her own life. That she’s had to make that choice before is weighing heavily on her. In fact, it’s pretty clear in Dead and Gone that Sookie’s suffering from full on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

So when her sister-in-law, Crystal is found crucified in Merlott’s parking lot and her great-grandfather, the fairy prince Niall, gives her cryptic warnings about his enemies seeking her out, and even worse, Eric, Sookie’s on-and-off vampire romance (who now remembers what happened when he was under a spell and they almost had a real relationship) pulls Sookie into vampire politics without her knowledge, Sookie is unable to really handle things. Raw, emotional, and on the edge of a break down, Sookie still has to try to clear her brother Jason’s name (again), deal with the backlash of the shifters coming out to the public, defend herself from a vampire and FBI agents who want to force her into their service, face the betrayal of people she thought were her friends, and dodge fairy assassins, which is the scariest of all.

There’s a serious emotional load in Dead and Gone, possibly the darkest Sookie book yet. While this does take up a large part of the book, there’s other plots too, woven back and forth and ultimately giving Sookie little time to handle any threat, much less deal with her own issues. Some readers might not be okay with the darker notes to Sookie’s voice. But others will be able to recognize Dead and Gone as the natural, and compared to some other urban fantasy series more honest, progression of Sookie as a character. In a way she takes on a beaten puppy dog feel, and many readers will sympathize all the stronger with Sookie as she reevaluates everything her life has become so far.

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May 7

My Soul to Save by Rachel Vincent

ISBN: 9780373210046

I borrowed this book.

Soul Screamers #2

For a book all about death, demons and soul selling, My Soul to Save isn’t that dark of a book. The second book in the Soul Screamers series by Rachel Vincent, it again follows Kaylee, a bean sidhe (banshee) by birth who is quite new to her powers. Still sensitive to her habits of screaming uncontrollably when someone is about to die, and how that leads to time in mental wards despite that it’s completely normal for her, Kaylee is now in bean sidhe lessons with her boyfriend’s mom (and 80 plus year old bean sidhe) Harmony. She’s also finally living with her dad, who has sacrificed a higher paying job in Ireland for an attempt to raise his daughter.

But no one approves when Kaylee discovers and decides to help a pop star (and ex-girlfriend of her boyfriend’s brother) who has sold her soul to hellions and only has four days before she dies (and her soul is sentenced to eternal torture for the hellions’ pleasure). While bean sidhe do have powers, and can walk into the demonic Netherworld, they aren’t exactly big guns there, their powers put them directly in opposition with most of the Netherworld creatures and Kaylee herself is so new at being a bean sidhe she still smells like the packaging.

My Soul to Save is off beat compared to the larger slice of urban fantasy YA books out there. No vampires, no teen family angst, no torn between multiple boys, popularity issues, etc. Kaylee has a pretty good head on her shoulders. She’s clever, sweet and smart. Her biggest failing is not using the knowledge of the adults around her and instead trying to do everything herself. While Vincent does imply that asking for help might not have gotten the plot resolved, one can’t help seeing how Kaylee does put herself in incredible danger, out of not just naivety, but at times a refusal to believe things are as dangerous as they are. To Kaylee this adventure is dangerous, but something she has to do. To the adults, and even the more knowledgeable teens, Kaylee’s actions are DANGEROUS. The difference leads to readers wondering if Kaylee just doesn’t understand, or isn’t listening about the danger she’s putting herself in.

In a way this is the opposite of many UF tales, where the tension and danger are part of the story drama. Kaylee ends up with a very white knight feel, noble, but mere steps away from being high -horsed (if she developed a chip on her shoulder, or had the thought of her actions making her better than the people around her) or naive to the point of stupidity (if she doesn’t learn anything from her very close brushes with death in this book). Overall there’s a feel of idealism to Kaylee and this series that will appeal to readers who might be tired of dark, nihilistic paranormal adventures, but there’s also real danger which will appeal to readers tired of convenient plots or fluffy paranormal worlds.

The Soul Screamers series is different from the popular styles today, so readers really should take advantage of Vincent’s free prequel novella on her website before deciding whether to continue the series or not. The books are good, but are poised to shift the focus of what’s popular in the YA genre rather than following or expanding current trends. As such readers stuck in the popularity mindset might not find the Soul Screamers as appealing at this point, but the writing and story are there and quite enjoyable.

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May 4

Shift by Rachel Vincent

ISBN: 9780778327608

I bought this book.

Since this is the fifth book in the series readers really should be familiar with Faythe, Marc, Jace and the shifter world before picking this volume up. If you start here you should be able to pick things up, but the true levity of the situation is more complicated than this one book can explain. In fact, when compared to the rest of the series Shift is clearly a focusing book, eliminating some plot lines and focusing as the series comes to an end.

Faythe Sanders is a werecat, the prized female of her family, but abhorred by much of the rest of werecat society, which holds females to be used and manipulated for power (and to pop out babies to get more of the rare “tabbies”.) But in her family Faythe is an enforcer, bodyguard and extension of the alpha (her father)’s rule, and an unheard of position for the valuable females of the species. But living in a society that has fallen to such extremes such as women being kidnapped and bred over and over like in puppy mills, children being snatched to be raise to be broodmares instead of real people and women’s voices being overridden by any male in the area, has made Faythe unwilling to let herself of her cousins and extended family to continue being treated unequally. Her father has risked much to train her to be his own replacement, rather than forcing her to marry off. And for his own choices he’s now facing a full on werecat civil war against the clans that want things to remain as they are (with the power where it is as well).

However, Shift tones down the gender play and focuses on the family and pride dynamics. This book almost side steps from the direct plot arc to the werecat civil war and instead pits Faythe’s pride against a rookery of thunderbirds, avian shifters not seen in decades, who suddenly descend on the pride’s ranch out for blood.

Shift is partly side quest, part calm before the storm, which is saying something since most of the book is spent with the werecats fighting the onslaught of werebirds. But the focus is on untangling the depth of the situations Faythe finds herself in and in her learning how to work autonomously, making her own decisions. In essence, Faythe by this book is no longer working on defending her own right to be a valuable member of her pride rather than a valued possession of it, she’s learning the complications of being an alpha, no doubt preparing her to face the man out for her father’s blood.

Readers might find this the weakest book in the series, since most of the tension comes from an entirely new adversary and most of the drama comes from Faythe being torn between two men. It is still a fast, enjoyable read, pushing the series to a (hopefully) powerful conclusion. The growing up is hugely evident in this book, as is the focusing and accumulation feel to the overall plot line. Readers should savor every word and be ready for the final scene, Alpha, the sixth and last book due out this October (2010).

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April 29

Apex Magazine, April 2010

Apex Magazine is a free online SF/horror magazine. You can read the April issue here.

This issue of Apex starts with “Dying with Her Cheer Pants On” by Seanan McGuire (also available in audio form in this issue). The tale should be whimsical, but it’s not, pitting a team of cheerleaders, narrow escapees from a vicious alien invasion, against the creatures that killed most of the people at the homecoming game. But this is no Buffy the Alien Slayer, instead it’s a tale of a fantasy and horror showdown against science fiction. Humorous as pitting an urban legend against alien invaders might be, McGuire pulls it off without a tongue-in-cheek or sarcastic style, instead making her cheerleaders the ultimate superheroes.

Another urban fantasy staple, Mark Henry, follows with “Seafoam”. Henry picks up the tongue-in-cheek where McGuire kept things serious, but there’s still a mismatch with “Seafoam”, which uses a humorous tone to tell a serious story of stalking, mermaids/aliens and a shoe fetish. Skewing another urban legend, this one being The Licker, who slips in through the dog door and licks the babysitter’s feet while she’s half asleep, Henry makes the villain less of a bad guy and more of a hapless, and by the end, helpless, guy with a kink that leads into all kinds of troubles. Light as the tone may be, the level of the obsession and actions taken concerning it are genuinely spooky.

“Snipe Hunting” by Jennifer Brozek rounds out this issue (the Close Encounters of the Urban Kind promo issue). This short, punchy tale capitalizes on the city folk vs country folk legends, specifically of “snipe hunting”, the practice of sending ignorant city folk out hunting mythical creatures in the woods. The scary bits involve what the city slicker actually finds in the shadows of the woods.

Overall it’s a fun issue, like a twisted fairy tales theme, only with urban legends instead. A little cheesy (like the legends themselves) but well done and definitely entertaining.

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