Books for June
Jul. 1st, 2009 08:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
indiana_j1. Blood Price (Victoria Nelson, Book 1 by Tanya Huff. It's been ... years since I've last read Huff but I've known abut this series for what felt like forever. I decided it was a good time to try the series and I found it to be pretty good. It stuck out more for me than some of her other books (I don't even remember most of her other stuff) and I found the characters to be pretty interesting. The end was more than a bit predictable but it was still fun.
2. Murder on St. Mark's Place (Gaslight Mysteries #2) by Victoria Thompson. Can I jut say how much I enjoy this series? The characters are well fleshed out and the mystery is enjoyable (something that sometimes falls a bit flat with my other 'new' favorite mystery series). The only thing I could wish more for would be more side characters but the two main are great, so I'll have to deal. This tends to be one of those read in one sitting kind of books; not only because I really like it but also because it's not the heaviest material in the world. ;)
3. Street Magic (Black London Novels) by Caitlin Kittredge. A little back ground about this. While this is the first book in the series, this was not the first time that we, I, were introduced to these characters. She'd written a piece for My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon that featured Pete and Jack after this book - it was a bit jarring to read a short story based on a book that hadn't been printed yet but it was good enough to leave an impression on me. This was no different. I found it to be incredibly interesting, and darker than I had expected, and the characters were still as intriguing as I had found them a year or so ago.
4. Iron Dawn (Heart of Bronze, #1) by Matthew Stover. *grins* Thanks,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nute, for telling me I should get this book. I read Stover years ago but he'd dropped off my radar - oh man, do I need to put him back on! This was a great adventure novel that was just different enough from the normal adventure fantasy books to stand out. I cried in places, I laughed and I shrieked at a few. It was really not what I was expecting and I can't wait to read the sequel.
5. Dies the Fire by S.M. Stirling. NGGAAAGH. I made that noise a number of times while I was reading this (and note - do NOT read this while listening to Repo The Genetic Opera; the dreams were FREAKY WOO WOO). I thought it was a biiit long but it didn't really detract from the enjoyment for me, just dragged a slight bit in some of the day to day things. I adore end of the world as we know it books and I really just ate this up. Even if it scared the bejesus right out of me.
6. Heroics for Beginners by John Moore. I'm so sad to say that I really didn't enjoy this as much as I had been hoping. After Dies the Fire (Not Die in a Fire ;) ), I had wanted something funny and this was amusing in places but it had been done so much better in Never After. I found it to be so heavy handed and not in a way that was actually funny. I laughed at some places but spent most of it kind of going 'eh'.
7. Magic to the Bone (Allie Becktrom, Book 1) by Devon Monk. This was a fairly decent urban fantasy book - it had an interesting magical set up and the characters were interesting. I found it dragged around the middle, where they went out of the city, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes at some of the romance stuff (I'm not a big fan of love being found within such a short period of time) but I enjoyed it and I'll probably pick up the second one.
8. Ghost Ocean by S.M. Peters. This is, I believe, Peters second novel. I ADORED Whitechapel Gods, a steampunkish take that had me clinging onto the story from page one to the last page. I ... wish I had felt the same with this one. It was really good (and don't get me wrong, the writing is incredibly strong) and then I just ... got lost. The plot kind of went out to outer space and while I followed it, I didn't really enjoy where it ended up going. I didn't really care for any of the characters, not even Te the main character, with the exception of Yun who we didn't see enough of. The writing wa solid and strong but I just didn't enjoy it as much. Peters has one hell of an imagination, that's for sure, though.
What do I recommend? Street Magic for those who like gritty urban magic with characters that you like even while knowing they can be kind of awful people. (Yeah,deathpixie , you might like this one.*grins*) Iron Dawn and Dies the Fire for sure. Skip Moore's book. And pick up Whitechapel Gods - yeah, I read it ages ago but it's FANTASTIC.
2. Murder on St. Mark's Place (Gaslight Mysteries #2) by Victoria Thompson. Can I jut say how much I enjoy this series? The characters are well fleshed out and the mystery is enjoyable (something that sometimes falls a bit flat with my other 'new' favorite mystery series). The only thing I could wish more for would be more side characters but the two main are great, so I'll have to deal. This tends to be one of those read in one sitting kind of books; not only because I really like it but also because it's not the heaviest material in the world. ;)
3. Street Magic (Black London Novels) by Caitlin Kittredge. A little back ground about this. While this is the first book in the series, this was not the first time that we, I, were introduced to these characters. She'd written a piece for My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon that featured Pete and Jack after this book - it was a bit jarring to read a short story based on a book that hadn't been printed yet but it was good enough to leave an impression on me. This was no different. I found it to be incredibly interesting, and darker than I had expected, and the characters were still as intriguing as I had found them a year or so ago.
4. Iron Dawn (Heart of Bronze, #1) by Matthew Stover. *grins* Thanks,
nute, for telling me I should get this book. I read Stover years ago but he'd dropped off my radar - oh man, do I need to put him back on! This was a great adventure novel that was just different enough from the normal adventure fantasy books to stand out. I cried in places, I laughed and I shrieked at a few. It was really not what I was expecting and I can't wait to read the sequel.5. Dies the Fire by S.M. Stirling. NGGAAAGH. I made that noise a number of times while I was reading this (and note - do NOT read this while listening to Repo The Genetic Opera; the dreams were FREAKY WOO WOO). I thought it was a biiit long but it didn't really detract from the enjoyment for me, just dragged a slight bit in some of the day to day things. I adore end of the world as we know it books and I really just ate this up. Even if it scared the bejesus right out of me.
6. Heroics for Beginners by John Moore. I'm so sad to say that I really didn't enjoy this as much as I had been hoping. After Dies the Fire (Not Die in a Fire ;) ), I had wanted something funny and this was amusing in places but it had been done so much better in Never After. I found it to be so heavy handed and not in a way that was actually funny. I laughed at some places but spent most of it kind of going 'eh'.
7. Magic to the Bone (Allie Becktrom, Book 1) by Devon Monk. This was a fairly decent urban fantasy book - it had an interesting magical set up and the characters were interesting. I found it dragged around the middle, where they went out of the city, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes at some of the romance stuff (I'm not a big fan of love being found within such a short period of time) but I enjoyed it and I'll probably pick up the second one.
8. Ghost Ocean by S.M. Peters. This is, I believe, Peters second novel. I ADORED Whitechapel Gods, a steampunkish take that had me clinging onto the story from page one to the last page. I ... wish I had felt the same with this one. It was really good (and don't get me wrong, the writing is incredibly strong) and then I just ... got lost. The plot kind of went out to outer space and while I followed it, I didn't really enjoy where it ended up going. I didn't really care for any of the characters, not even Te the main character, with the exception of Yun who we didn't see enough of. The writing wa solid and strong but I just didn't enjoy it as much. Peters has one hell of an imagination, that's for sure, though.
What do I recommend? Street Magic for those who like gritty urban magic with characters that you like even while knowing they can be kind of awful people. (Yeah,
deathpixie , you might like this one.*grins*) Iron Dawn and Dies the Fire for sure. Skip Moore's book. And pick up Whitechapel Gods - yeah, I read it ages ago but it's FANTASTIC.