Stormdancer

So, the trailer is pretty tongue in cheek, as is the author's bio. the Novel itself, is incredibly powerful. The world Jay Kristoff has built in Stormdancer is intricate (without tedium), realistic (no small feat for steampunk literature), gritty and simultaneously decadent. He has crafted a world, destroyed by the parasitic nature of human cultures, tortured and misused until mass extinctions of wildlife and burning, acidic rain are normal parts of everyday life. Goggles and respirators are necessary precautions for any who wish to remain unharmed by the immediate environment and cancer free. Those too poor to afford the luxury of protections from these harsh elements are left to suffer. The masses starve and suffer while an elite few rule over them, dulling their senses with Blood Lotus smoke and the ever present threat of the Shogun's cruel brand of justice. How could one young woman ever hope to overcome what so many thousands fear?

War, political intrigue, religious fanaticism, romance, betrayal, griffins, samurai, tattoos, demons, airships, goggles, and general badassery..... What's not to love about this book? Its like... Japanese-Steampunk-Game of Thrones, starring Mulan. With Griffins instead of Dragons. Bloody, and raw, its a book that doesn't pull punches. I teared up at least three times, and my heart raced pretty much through the whole book.  And it was an absolute delight to read a steampunk novel that's not set in London. Realistically, the period of British history that most steampunk seeks to mimic was infused with a spirit of adventure and expansion. The Great British Empire was at it's height, spread across the globe in every imaginable exotic locale. Steampunk should be just as eager to explore as it's mother.


Also, just LOOK at this cover art! Jason Chan is one of my favorite cover artists, and this is an intoxicating example of why. Take a look at the wallpaper version for the full effect.

A year later....

I've read a lot since posting... ah... um... last May. But here's a review of something recently read, just to get the ball rolling again.

Discount Armageddon, by Seanan McGuire and it's sequel, Midnight Blue-Light Special. These are the first two installments in Seanan McGuire's new InCryptid series. The books revolve around Verity Price, an aspiring professional ballroom dancer, born into a family that has, for generations, been protecting innocent cryptids (Monsters if you didn't know already) from a secret, cryptid-hating organization called the Covenant of St. George. Snappy dialogue, a wealth of original and highly entertaining characters made these books excellent reads. I look forward to future installments. :D

Heart of Brass and Fated

     I just finished Heart of Brass by Kate Cross today, and Fated by Alyson Noël the day before. I enjoyed both, but I think I'll work backwards since Heart of Brass is freshest in my mind. :) 

    In this steampunk romance/fantasy novel, Arden Grey is an undercover agent in an organization of spies and protectors of England in Queen Victoria's London. Like her father before her, she has a particular brilliance for invention which she employees to the advantage of her country. She consults with Scotland Yard on murders, having devised a contraption that allows her to see the last moments of a victim's life through their eyes. She drinks like a sailor and doesn't mind putting a swear word to good use on occasion. She's a pretty nifty gal. Unfortunately, her long lost husband seems to be trying to kill her. 


    Personally, I have a love/hate relationship with Steampunk as a genre. I love the imaginative technology, the romance of the Victorian era and the whimsy of little, tiny top hats.  Who can say no to wee top hats? But sometimes it strikes a sour note with me. It's a thin line. On occasion the whimsy floats to high and becomes vapidity. All too often, the devices described are just a little too ridiculous or have names that even half of the characters in the story cannot remember or pronounce. There is such a device in this novel, but the author only presses the name upon the reader once or twice. I cannot even recall the name now.... Optical... rep.... nope. Can't remember. Anyway. There are a couple of fashions described that seem (to me) a bit too outlandish to be believable, but they are balanced by the sheer awesomeness of Lords and Ladies having tattoos beneath their jackets and laces. Outlandish, mayhap. But I just don't care. All in all, it was mostly love this go round. 


Five of six toes. 


Also, check out this fabulous, unrelated Heart of Brass T-Shirt design. 






    Fated, first in a new series by Alyson Noel, was pretty fun. I will admit that the author's previous series (The Immortals) kind of lost me at the end, prompting me to pick up the last book and (WARNING! BLASPHEMY AHEAD!!!) flip to the end. Yeah. No one tell Kelli. She'll never let me live it down. But I enjoyed the beginning of the series so... here we were with a shiny, fresh start. I gave it a go, and I'm not disappointed. 


    Noel takes genre favorite themes and makes them her own. With the Immortals she gave readers a break from vampires, choosing alchemy as her life prolonging method of choice. The Soul Seekers books revolve around magic workers, but not the witches you'll find elsewhere (For Wendy, I say, "... witches, they were persecuted/Wicca good and love the earth/And women power and I'll be over here"). Soul Seekers are shamans of Native American and Latino heritage. The first book moves fast, but centers around the main character learning the nature of dreams and visions she's been plagued with for years. It will be interesting to see what the extent of her powers are in subsequent books. Also? Freaking excellent cover art. 


Four of six toes. 

Meg Cabot Fabulousness

Underworld, the sequel to Abandon, is steamy, dark and enthralling. I couldn't put it down. I can't say how pleased I was by the open, please-have-a-third-book-in-the-works ending! It seems likely that another installment will follow, and I will be tapping my feet with anticipation until it's here. :D

Meg Cabot has another book coming out this summer, Size 12 and Ready to Rock, a new Heather Wells mystery. I LOVE the Heather Wells books and am sooooo excited for a new one. I highly recommend the series. They're crazy funny and excellently entertaining.

Next up on my Reading List is Kevin Hearne's fourth Iron Druid book, Tricked.

A Sliver of Shadow

Allison Pang's second novel, A Sliver of Shadow, is just as engrossing as the first. Full of elves, fairies, daemons, and of course Phin the naughty unicorn, there is never a dull moment. The characters are by turns humorous, witty and heartbreaking... but always entertaining. I highly recommend Abby Sinclair's exploits to anyone who enjoys a healthy dose of quirk and geekery to their urban fantasy. Watch out for the cliffhanger ending, though. It leaves you gasping and dying for the next installment.

5 of 6 toes.

Read A Brush of Darkness first. I reviewed it here.

Kiss of Frost

I finished Kiss of Frost, the second book in Jennifer Estep's young adult Mythos Academy series last night, and I very much enjoyed it. The first book came to me as an ARC at work, and I wasn't sure how seriously to take it based purely on the description. I'm a huge fan of her Elemental Assassin series, though, so I gave it a try. The Mythos books feel a little lot like a comic book universe, and that's no surprise given that the author has penned a superhero series as well. This is a fresh and interesting take on legends living in the modern world. Just as in her Elemental Assassin books, Estep has blended unexpected elements of world mythology with the technology age. Amazons and Vikings train at the Academy to fight against the Reapers, evil warriors devoted to freeing Loki from his eternal prison.

Gwen Frost is a Gypsy girl, gifted with psychometry (the ability to divine history, emotions and more through touch), but cursed with puny human strength and stamina in a school where most of the other students might bench press small cars. She's learning a little more about herself and her power, however, and she just might make it in this new and frightening world after all. There's a juicy bit of romantic drama at the core of the second book, plenty of wry humor, and a new, terribly daunting challenge for Gwen in future installments. I can't wait. :) 

Plum Crazy

Forgive the pun. But really, I did go a little crazy. Sometimes, when I start a series.... I can't stop until it's over or I run out of published books. It was so with Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum Novels. Customers and coworkers have been trying to cajole me into reading these books for years. And then heard about the movie, and I saw the trailer and thought it might be a movie I'd like to see... and you can't see the movie first. The book is always better. You have to read the book first. So I did.

Two weeks later, I finished the very recently published Explosive Eighteen. Okay. Go back, and take a look at that sentence.

"Two weeks later, I finished the very recently published Explosive Eighteen."

I am not estimating. Two weeks, to the day, is how long it took me to read all eighteen novels and even one of the holiday novelas. Eighteen and a half books, in fourteen days. I couldn't stop. In my defense, I was recovering from a minor but hindering injury during those two weeks. However, I would be lying if I let anyone believe that I actually did anything useful like, say homework, during those fourteen days. I was addicted. I kind of still am.

These books are freaking hilarious. I kind of want to be a bounty hunter now. It's on my list right after circus performer, and right before werewolf. For real. I would rather be Stephanie Plum than a werewolf.  What? It could be an option. Science advances every day. But about the books... Funny. So funny. You know those books that make you laugh out loud in public places, and then people look at you like you're goofy? These are those books. Who even cares what those people think? They need to read more funny books.

Five of five toes to the whole series. <3