REVIEW: Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison

Date Started:  Thursday, March 24, 2005
Date Finished:  Monday, March 28, 2005
My BookCrossing Rating:  9 out of 10 stars
Comments: 
Though I originally read Dead Witch Walking last year, I wanted to give it a quick reread prior to starting on the sequel, The Good, The Bad, and The Undead, since I didn’t recall all of the characters from the first book. Plus I liked it well enough the first time around...

This is a great first novel from this new author, who only just released her second one, The Good, The Bad, and The Undead, last month. The action is snappy, the characters are interesting, and the plot keeps you on the edge of your seat. I’m looking forward to reading the entire series as she puts them out.

Though I received 3 new bookring books the other day, I'm going to stick with my original plan and read The Good, The Bad, and The Undead before starting on those as I'm sure I'll get through this second book in less than a week as well.

See the BookCrossing journal page for this book for more information and links.

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REVIEW: Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich

Date Started:  Sunday, March 20, 2005
Date Finished:  Wednesday, March 23, 2005
My BookCrossing Rating:  8 out of 10 stars

Comments:  
Another good and funny one. I look forward to reading the rest of the books in this series. I’m hoping Stephanie will hook up with Joe Morelli soon, and according to the Plumography at the back of book 1, I think this happens around book 4, or maybe that’s when he asks Stephanie to marry him. In any case, though I wouldn’t consider this a romance, I like the little element of romance that is there, the burgeoning relationship between Stephanie and Joe.

Again, I’ll keep this in reserve until I’ve read another one or two and then pass them along to another BC’er. Need to check and see if all my favorite BC pals have read them yet.

See the BookCrossing journal page for this book for more information and links.

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REVIEW: One for the Money by Janet Evanovich

Date Started:  Thursday, March 17, 2005
Date Finished:  Sunday, March 20, 2005
My BookCrossing Rating:  8 out of 10 stars
Comments:  
Just finished this this morning. It was a great start to a new series (to me anyway) and I look forward to reading more adventures with Stephanie Plum. I started Two for the Dough right after I finished up this one since I knew I still had a bit of time before a few more rings/rays started rolling in.

I plan to keep this one in reserve for a little bit until I’ve read the next few in the series, and then plan to pass them along engroupe to another BC’er, in the same way NeedSun has shared them with me. :)

See the BookCrossing journal page for this book for more information and links.

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REVIEW: Enders Game by Orson Scott Card

My Rating: 8 out of 10 stars

Wow, this was a great book. I'm not usually a huge sci-fi fan... I like it here and there, but could usually take it or leave it. Based on a friend's recommendation, I decided to take her advice and give this book a read and I'm glad I did.

I usually expect sci-fi to either be written over my head, in terms of physics and all that which I never took in school, or else just dull and bland appealing only to trekkies and the like. ;) So I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I wouldn't say it was dumbed down, but it certainly didn't expect it's readers to have a background in physics or astronomy either. :) I've got the second book in the Ender series, Speaker for the Dead waiting here for me too. I'm not sure that I'll read it next as too much of a good thing, and all that... I may have to get a supernatural fix of witches, vamps, or werewolves in first. *grin*

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REVIEW: Wither's Legacy by John Passarella

My Rating: 7 out of 10 stars

I didn't like this one as much as the first two, Wither and Wither's Rain. Whether it was because the antagonist was a monster rather than taking the form of a person or spirit entity, as Wither did in the previous novels. Or that the attack scenes were a little more gruesome than they were in the first two books... Or a combination of the two....

The story itself was interesting enough. The action was nonstop, and kept me entertained and wanting to read more, but it simply didn't endear itself to me the way the first two books in this series did. The story was well-written and progressed seamlessly from the previous novel for those who read them. However, character development was fleshed out enough that new readers to the series wouldn't really be too lost if they started with this book before reading the others (without being overly detailed for returning readers). Sure they'd be some things they didn't understand right off, but I believe Mr. Passarella wrote this book to be able to stand on its own. That said though, I wouldn't recommend this as a starter to the series since I thought the first two were much better. This being the 3rd book I've read by this author, I plan to keep my eye on his upcoming work.

PS - While I was reading Wither as part of the book club at Kelley Armstrong's site, John Passarella, invited by Kelley herself, was there to participate in the discussion. He was a very interesting man who puts a lot of thought and research into his writing.

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REVIEW: Blood Canticle by Anne Rice

My Rating: 7 out of 10 stars

I was a little disappointed in this book after the engagingly wonderful Blackwood Farm. Going from one book to the next, you feel almost as if it were written by a different person, the other Anne Rice whose grammar, syntax, and language usage I continually felt like correcting while reading (which is the case with some of her older books). She puts it off as trying to say that's the way Lestat talks, but I truly don't recall him being such a poorly-spoken vampire.

Beyond the writing itself, and on to the story, that part was good enough to hold my interest, though it didn't move as quickly as Blackwood Farm did. The story picks up right where Blackwood Farm left off, with Lestat making Mona Mayfair into a vampire. Certain parts of the story are dragged out longer than they need to be. For instance, the entire first half of the book was devoted to Mona adjusting to becoming a vampire, her outbursts with her family and Lestat, and so on. I kept thinking, when are we going to get to the meat of this story? That said, there really wasn't a whole lot of meat and substance to the story contained in this book. It had a few interesting subplots, but it wasn't as exciting and intense as some of her other work.

However, I like the characters, and I've followed both the Vampire Chronicles and the Mayfair Witches from the beginning so whether I liked this book as much as the others or not, I felt the need to bring the series to it's logical conclusion. Huge fans of either series will definitely want to read this one to see how things end. But definitely don't make it a first read if you're new to Anne Rice as it'll probably bore you to tears, not knowing or understanding a lot of the background behind the current characters.

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REVIEW: Blackwood Farm by Anne Rice

My Rating: 9 out of 10 stars

Having read this book back in 2003, I just gave it a quick reread prior to starting on Blood Canticle in order to refresh my memory on the characters and their situations.

I had forgotten how much I really liked this book. It was one of the best-written and most engaging tales Ms. Rice has written in the Vampire Chronicles, right up there with The Vampire Lestat in my book. Though I mentioned that I gave this a quick reread, there were actually very few parts I glossed over in the rereading; some of the more detailed passages that contained a lot of visual imagery perhaps, but only if I distinctly recalled that scene from my previous reading. This is one of those books that you just don't want to put down; the fact that I got through 626 pages in just 2 1/2 days is testament to that fact. Now on to Blood Canticle...

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