Books – Kaitystorm

Down Home Zombie Blues

admin — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:34:12 +0000

Down Home Zombie Blues by Linnea Sinclair, published in 2007 by Bantam Books

This book was a very fun read. Linnea’s books were first published as Science Fiction, but her publisher reclassed her works as Romance, issued new covers to appeal to a new audience. Zombie Blues has action, adventure, and the expected relationship, but I was pleased that it didn’t overshadow the story.

Jorie Mikkalah is a Guardian Force commander who is chasing zombies, which lead her to Earth. Theo Petrakos is a Florida homicide detective who finds one of Jorie’s team mates—now a mummified corpse. Who knew that Florida has been infested with biomechanical organisms who are deadly to anything humanoid?

The characters are believable and likeable. I loved that Jolie was strong without making Theo weak or wishy-washy. The technology that Jorie and her team mates use are cool and worthy of wishful thinking for our current times. The zombies (not what you would normally think of as zombies) are tough enemies to beat. There is a lot of humor and the secondary characters are well-fleshed out and loyal.

The ending of this story is quite satisfactory; even though it leaves things a little open, the natural progression is obvious. There is quite an opening left for a sequel, and I found myself wanting one very much. Even the ‘bad’ character redeems himself in the end. Watching the team try to fit into the 21^st century culture was quite amusing as well.

The book was hard to put down, and my enjoyment of it made me do something I’d never done before. I sent the author an email expressing my pleasure and we exchanged several notes. I also read the rest of her novels, and loved them as well.

Another very cool aspect of this novel is that it has it’s very own theme song that can be found on the internet. I recommend this one if you don’t mind a little romance with your science fiction.

The Edge of The World

admin — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:33:08 +0000

The Edge of the World

By Kevin J Anderson

We were promised an adventure…… And Anderson delivered. I’m ready for the next one! The characters in the first book in the Terra Incognita series are rich and real, and you grow with them over their years. You feel their pain and desperation, wonder and awe. The world that Anderson built is incredibly rich and detailed, and the images are easy to come as you read. There were times when I was overwhelmed with all the different characters and settings, but the confusion didn’t last long and the rewards were many. Anderson shows us religious conflict and belief, wars and slaves, mysterious sea creatures and the promise of a world unexplored. I encourage anyone who loves epic fantasy to check out this well-written novel.

Magic Strikes (review) by Ilona Andrews

admin — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 05:17:10 +0000

Magic Strikes

By Ilona Andrews

The third installment in the Kate Daniels saga continues to get better than the previous tales, which is saying somehting major. Kate is quite the loner who enjoys her solitude, but has suddenly found herself getting attached to a few others, including Julie, who we met in the second book. Julie is an orphan who doesn’t fit in any more than Kate does. Kate also has befriended Derek, a werewolf. Kate fights her attraction to Curran, the leader of the local pack, but it’s clear that she won’t be fighting him off forever.

Kate and her friends live in Atlanta, which has periods where magic hits, making all technology fail. Kate is part of an organization that cleans up the messes left/made when the magic hits. Her friend Derek is injured and Kate has to make a deal with the devil to rescue him, only to find that he has been infected by something she has never heard of. She enters a set of illegal games in a bid to save his life. We learn a lot about Kate’s past, quite a bit more about Curran, and get to enjoy several other characters who complete Kate’s growing circle of supporters.

I enjoyed this story, and encourage people to read the first two novels before reading this one, but do read them!!!

Review-The Snow Queen by Mercedes Lackey

admin — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 23:08:49 +0000

Lackey has a series called the 500 Kingdoms that has turned the traditional fairy tale type story on its ear. Taking those same fairy tales and twisting them through the Tradition.

The Snow Queen is a tale of a lonely fairy Godmother who lives with Brownies and a spoiled young man she is trying to redeem. She helps those in her kingdom to avoid the bad ends they could be destined to meet. She watches her charges work through their own difficulties, and find herself actually involved in the tale when someone is posing as her and killing entire villages. She heads off to stop the imposter and meets her charges face to face.

The novel was a lot of fun, a good read, and the cover is beautiful. While I enjoyed the book and all the wonderful fairy tale elements, I think I enjoyed a couple of the other books in the series more. There is one element in the others that is missing in this one–the romance that slowly builds in the other books with people growing towards each other.

I will continue to read the series, but with this one being my least favorite.

3 out of 5 stars. Gotta love the cover, though…..