July 9

Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris

ISBN: 9780441018642

Sookie Stackhouse book #10

I was given this book as a gift.

Spoiler Warning: This review will include spoilers of earlier books in the series.

Also the Sookie books are very different from the True Blood TV series, so if you’re coming here as a fan of the TV show don’t expect the two to line up at all.

I’ve reviewed many Sookie books before, and nearly every time I point out that Harris’ strength is in her character building. Well, it’s also in the deep sense of community she’s embedded in Dead in the Family.

It stands to reason that in the early Sookie books, Sookie, a mind reader in a small town where everyone is reeling from the coming out of vampires, doesn’t have many friends. She was the odd one out, the one that no matter how sweet and serving, made other people uncomfortable, as much with her as with their idea of what they might be forced into admitting they were thinking at the time they dealt with her. But with the slow expanding of Sookie’s world, vampires are becoming old hat, shape shifters just came out, and the “normal” world hasn’t even met fairies yet, Sookie is becoming at least a familiar power in Bon Temps. Compared to the others Sookie seems almost harmless. Not to mention she’s ingratiated herself, sort of, into the community as a loyal and helpful member.

Dead in the Family sees the residents of the world struggling to deal with the recent outing of the weres, and Sookie’s own little community still trying to recover after Victor, a vampire from Nevada, forcibly took over Louisiana, killing the injured Queen, Sophie-Anne. Sookie herself is trying to recover, physically and mentally, from being brutally tortured in the last book as well as her impromptu marriage (and *ahem* consummation) to the only surviving New Orleans sheriff, Eric.

Readers who have been aching for Sookie to finally give in to her feelings for Eric will not be surprised to discover there are more obstacles to their relationship than Sookie herself, and the potentially untrustworthy Victor, when Eric’s maker comes to town with his newest child–the last crown prince of Russia Alexei Romanov. All is not well in Sookie’s paranormal world as there are still unfriendly fairies in her woods, anti-shifter groups picketing Merlott’s and Victor’s emissary to Louisiana makes his hatred of Eric and Sookie very clear by trying to have Sookie killed.

However, Sookie does have allies; Eric himself, her brother Jason, who is now a werepanther, Alcide, alpha of the local werewolf pack, her cousin (and a fairy) Claude, Sam, and a handful of humans who are outclassed by Sookie’s supernatural problems, but still think her good people. It’s easy with Harris’ off-beat, unique style to get caught up in the ordinary bits of Sookie’s life–the daily struggle to get through work, reach out to friends and family in need, and try to maintain her own boundaries and identity in the wake of so many overpowering characters–and be caught completely off guard by invading fae, vampire assassination attempts and werewolf feuds.

There really are no even close imitators to Harris’ stand-alone style. Die hard fans will eagerly devour this latest chapter of Sookie and crew’s story, and new fans will find a complex community of people plucked out of the real world and smothered in entertaining (one hopes) fiction with the promise of a lot more good stuff to come.

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July 6

Silver Kiss by Naomi Clark

Reviewed for MonsterLibrarian.com

Silver Kiss by Naomi Clark
Queered Fiction, 2010
ISBN: 978-1920441128
Available: New, print and digital

Some books wrap themselves up in the tropes of a genre like a comfortable blanket, and others seem to transcend genre and theme with their very nature. Silver Kiss is one of these. Labeled an “urban werewolf novel”, it’s the tale of Ayla, a werewolf, and Shannon, a human, trying to make a new life together as part of Ayla’s Pack and family while they deal with the recent murder of Ayla’s cousin Adam (which drew her back to the Pack in the first place) which may not be an isolated event. There’s also a new street drug that’s highly addictive to werewolves and triggers their animal instincts, making them rage-filled animals ready to fight. Sure enough, Shannon and Ayla get dragged in (and blackmailed), ending up way over their heads.
Silver Kiss is not an urban fantasy or paranormal romance. It is a werewolf mystery, with a strong overlying theme of community and family acceptance and how it relates to humans, werewolves, and lesbians. Ayla is a high-strung character whose nervous energy infects a book that otherwise has very much normalized the concept of werewolves and werewolf culture. Her emotionality does, at times, distract from the main plot, possibly the book’s only flaw, and her independent streak leads her to distrust the people around her, even family and friends.

Clark has created an interesting balance between the paranormal elements and the struggle for normalcy in what’s considered deviancy even in our supposedly modern and accepting culture. Highly recommended for library collections, with a good mystery and moments of surprising depth, Silver Kiss is the sort of stand out, inclusive fiction that more collections should have on their shelves.
Contains: sex, violence, cursing

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July 1

Unholy Magic by Stacia Kane

ISBN: 9780345515582

Downside book #2

I was given this book to review.

Chess Putnam lives in a hybrid punk-pseudo-Catholic world where ghosts are real, The Church rules everything and Chess can only be herself in the drug-laced gutter rock bars of Triumph City. So it’s not actually Catholicism that has taken over (in fact all the religions we know today are archaic and illegal), but rather a domineering, completely ruling “Church” that came about when ghosts tore through the streets, killing everyone they could many years ago. Since then the Church (the one that rules the world) has taken over by protecting people from the murderous ghosts who still try to break free every so often.

The dark angle of universally murderous ghosts is a greater metaphor, especially in this second book in Kane’s Downside series, since the books focus on Chess, who is a Debunker (and ghost banisher) for the Church, but who is also haunted by her vicious childhood and has become an addict just to deal the trauma of her past. Terrible, the right hand man to Chess’ dealer, but an almost good-hearted guy, asks Chess for help when a series of hookers are found dead, and the witnesses say a ghost is to blame. Rival dealer Slobag, has been facing the same problem. With both sides ready to throw down as much as cooperate, Chess being bribed or blackmailed into loyalty to each side, the Church giving her a high profile, career making case and a ghost and witch team doing the unspeakable to the women of the street, all the pressure is on Chess, who just can’t handle it.

Chess is a spiderweb of cracks, pieces of her slowly giving way to the pressure. Reading Unholy Magic is watching her breakdown, under the strain others put on her, and the tragedy of the ways she chooses to punish herself. Unholy Magic is not a pretty book. It’s not an easy experience, but it is a viscerally emotional story. It’s dark, at times outright lovely, a must read for those who read urban fantasy for a dark, psychologically twisted tinge to characters and world settings. Some of the best writing in speculative fiction today can be found here, with monumental world building, raw characters and a darkly surreal feel that’s hard to find elsewhere. One for horror and dark fantasy fans, not lightweights, Unholy Magic is simply not to be missed.

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