Showing posts with label urban fantasy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label urban fantasy. Show all posts
Book Review - Ink
Labels:
amanda sun,
book review,
fantasy,
ink,
paper gods,
paranormal romance,
romance,
the paper gods trilogy,
urban fantasy,
young adult
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| Cover art courtesy of Barnes and Noble |
Author: Amanda Sun
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publication Date: June 25, 2013
Version I Read: Kindle
Rating: 3/5
I’ve been trying to get away from YA paranormal romance as of late, because it’s all just so boring and not very well written. Ink is only a partial exception to that, but I found myself picking it up anyway because the premise and setting intrigued me.
Ink follows the story of Katie Greene, an American teen having to go live with her aunt in Shizuoka, Japan, upon the death of her mother. Grieving for her mother, feeling like an outsider in a completely different culture halfway across the world, all she can think about is going to live with her grandparents in Canada instead. But when she meets mysterious Tomohiro and strange things begin happening around her involving ink, Katie realizes there’s more to Tomohiro than the rumors suggest.
For the most part, Ink is pretty typical for its genre. Mysterious boy in high school who turns out to be some kind of supernatural being, tries to push the girl away for her own protection, girl is “special” for some reason, boy loses girl for some dumbish reason, no real plot to speak of, yadda yadda yadda.
That being said, there are a few things that set Ink apart from the crowd:
The culture. Amanda Sun has clearly been to Japan, because I have too and I can vouch for nearly everything being precisely true. The accuracy of it truly makes the Japan of the book come alive, so kudos to the author on that front. The one odd exception to this is the Kami themselves, who don’t resemble mythological Japanese kami at all. That being said, her take on them is interesting.
The dialogue. The banter between Katie and Tomohiro feels real and makes them feel more like real people than typical protagonists in a paranormal YA novel. Fortunately, Tomohiro also escapes the “abusive boyfriend” problem that tends to crop up in YA because all of his “bad boy” attributes turn out to be complete accidents or lies, and, aside from his powers, he turns out to be a rather normal Japanese teenager.
The true natures of Ishikawa and Takahashi were also pretty well-done, with Ishikawa turning out not to be so bad a guy (adequately foreshadowed) and Jun being kind of a megalomaniac wanting to take over the world (not so adequately foreshadowed, but it worked because it was an interesting twist). Yuki and Tanaka don’t have much personality, but they do feel like normal high school students. I was interested in Shiori and wanted to learn more about her.
At first I rolled my eyes at the ending (Katie’s grandparents being able to take her in and Tomohiro encouraging her to leave so she won’t be hurt because of his power) but it was not too badly done because of the last few paragraphs, where Katie says screw it and doesn’t go. I also consider Katie herself to be a rather strong heroine, as she knows kendo and uses it when they’re captured by yakuza. Even without using her physical strength, she manages to be an imposing figure, not afraid to speak her mind or challenge others.
The Verdict: Not perfect by any means, especially compared to my sensibilities and standards, but if you’re still on the prowl for Twilight clones, you could do a lot worse than this one.
Neither Karen Lofgren nor Loyalty Press has any affiliation with the author or publisher. This review constitutes Fair Use.
Book Review - Sleeping Late On Judgment Day
Labels:
angels,
book review,
demons,
sleeping late on judgement day,
tad williams,
urban fantasy
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| Cover art courtesy of Barnes and Noble |
Author: Tad Williams
Publisher: DAW (Penguin)
Publication Date: September 2, 2014
Version I Read: Kindle
Rating: 4.25/5
It's been a long time since I've done book reviews, so I figure I should get back into the swing of things. And what better book to do it with than the grand finale to Tad Williams' newest series about angel Bobby "Poor Sap" Dollar?
After the horrifying, gut-wrenching experience that was Happy Hour in Hell, I was eagerly awaiting this last book to see how everything was going to shake out. Unfortunately, I found myself not very satisfied with the conclusion. Oh, don't get me wrong, it's a good book. Like everything else Tad has done, it was very well-written and the prose and humor is great as always. But some plot threads seemed neglected, some others did not have ample foreshadowing, and the ending, in my personal opinion, did not wrap everything up well enough. These are all things I've never seen before in a Tad Williams novel, and I'll admit they bothered me.
Spoilers, ye have been warned.
Let's start with the plot. It was fine and worked within the context of the story okay, but I've seen Tad do much better, especially in terms of foreshadowing, tying it all together at the end, and having nearly every character play some sort of important role. After two books of some incredibly great, cosmic-shaking setups (Happy Hour in particular was extremely thought-provoking and made me want to see our main characters change something about the way this world was set up), nothing much came of it and several seemingly important plot points were left unanswered. Anaita being the one who created the Third Way and her motivations behind it, while they made sense, didn't feel "big enough" after what had been set up in the two previous books. The noir/mystery feel of the story is also nice (in that the main character runs around investigating a mystery and all sorts of weird stuff happens), but I'm afraid in this book it went a little overboard to the point where the plot was a little more all over the place than it should have been.
As for the ending, I'm positive the ambiguous nature was intentional, but I sure hope he's planning another book to wrap up some of the loose ends, because otherwise I'm going to start writing some fanfiction over here. (Where did Sam go? What was Eligor's deal? What was Karael's deal? What's going on in Heaven? What about Sitri and the neo-Nazis? Who the heck is Gustibus? What about the people Bobby met in Hell?) I guess I was expecting too much, but after the first two books I was really rooting for the Third Way to be a thing that would force Heaven and Hell to sort their stuff out at the very least, but ultimately that didn't really happen either. Then again, Bobby gets Caz back even though he doesn't accomplish much of anything else, and I suppose he's happy and that's a reasonable, logical outcome to what he was facing. So in that respect the ending works just fine. But I'm afraid I wanted a little more.
The characters are great as always. Bobby's narration is both funny and heartfelt, and you really feel like you came along with him on this journey. Clarence (sorry, Harrison) and Sam are also- well-developed. (Thinking about it just now, Bobby and Sam kind of have the same dynamic the Dude and Walter from The Big Lebowski have...) The side characters also serve their purposes spectacularly, like were-pig George and crazy Foxy. Unfortunately, no one else really gets the kind of development they need. The Amazons, while I did genuinely like them, come in here in the last book and took up a lot of space that could have been used for development of the other characters or important, neglected plot threads. I know we weren't supposed to find out, but Gustibus' identity was driving me crazy. (Currently, I'm guessing he's God.) I guess Eligor didn't need a ton of further characterization because he just kind of is who he is, but it would have been nice to see a little more of him. Anaita, same thing. Caz is probably the biggest offender - while it's pretty obvious why she doesn't have much to do in the story, I still feel like she was a major character (she's Bobby's entire motivation, after all) that was criminally neglected. Her being Bobby's motivation was fine - Tad did something similar in Tailchaser's Song where it worked beautifully. In this case, however, I felt she needed a lot more "screen time."
Verdict: So while I have to say this is my least favorite Tad Williams series to date (which is basically saying it's still better than most other things I've read), it is still well worth reading.
Neither Karen Lofgren nor Loyalty Press has any affiliation with the author or publisher. This review constitutes Fair Use.
Hobo Zombie and Other Stories
Labels:
fantasy,
science fiction,
short stories,
short story collection,
urban fantasy,
zombies
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Hobo Zombie and Other Stories
Karen Lofgren
Release Date: September 16, 2013
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, Science Fiction
A zombie becomes a hobo because of exile and a desire for freedom. An ancient dragon ventures down from his sacred mountain into modern North Korea. A teenage girl finds a mermaid washed up on a beach. A young woman witnesses aliens crash land in a corn field. Hobo Zombie and Other Stories features nine short stories by Karen Lofgren, author of Imagine Someday. Nine stories that are beautifully fantastical yet strangely real.
Buy:
Ebook:
For Kindle
On Smashwords
For Nook
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Imagine Someday
Labels:
contemporary fantasy,
fantasy,
griffins,
mythical creatures,
new adult,
novel,
unicorns,
urban fantasy,
wyverns
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Imagine Someday
Karen Lofgren
Release Date: June 5, 2013
Genre: Urban Fantasy, New Adult
A dark, New Adult urban fantasy novel.
Diego Avery’s life has never been an easy one. His father was executed for murder when he was a teenager. He’s hosting the spoiled son of a rich British businessman. He lives alone with his childhood best friend. And he’s been hiding a griffin named Aglaciel in the forest on his property for the last five months.
However, Aglaciel soon grows tired of waiting. He is young and wants to know more about his kind, but unfortunately remembers nothing of his life before meeting Diego. And Diego’s questions about Aglaciel’s origins have gone unanswered, making radical change to their situation all but impossible.
Some questions are resolved but even more are posed when Diego’s girlfriend discovers an injured unicorn in a public park. Someone, or something, is hunting the last Fantastical Creatures to extinction. Before he knows it, Diego becomes embroiled in the plight of the Fantastical Creatures and their fight to survive.
Together with his friends, Diego embarks on a journey to find the answers to his questions. But will he like the answers he receives, and can there be a happily ever after?
In this tale of struggle and hope, debut author Karen Lofgren encourages us all to imagine a better someday, and then fight to make it happen.
Buy:
Ebook:
For Kindle
On Smashwords
For Nook
On the iBookstore
Paperback:
On Amazon
On CreateSpace
At Barnes and Noble
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