Book Review

Review: The Warlock by Michael Scott

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The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel Book 5

The Warlock by Michael Scott, UK edition cover.

Title: The Warlock (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel)
Author: Michael Scott
Genre: Young Adult (YA), Urban Fantasy
Publication Date: 2nd June 2011 (Doubleday)
Blurb:

The twins of prophecy have finally been divided. The end is near.

In Alcatraz, Machiavelli and Billy the Kid are following the Elders’ plans to unleash the monsters of Alcatraz on the city of San Francisco, triggering the end of the Humani race.

In the Shadowrealm, warriors – including Scathach and Palamedes – have been summoned to travel back in time to destroy the lost city of Danu Talis. The island must fall to save the modern world.

In San Francisco, Josh has chosen a side – and he will not stand with his sister, Sophie, or the Alchemyst, Nicholas Flamel. He has chosen to fight alongside John Dee and the mysterious Virginia Dare.


Rating: **** (4 stars)
Review:

The Warlock is the penultimate book in Michael Scott’s series The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel. The story starts from where The Necromancer leaves off. Scott crams so much into such a short period of time – it is hard to believe that the first book in the series The Alchemyst takes place on Thursday 31st May whilst this book takes place  on Wednesday 6th June. A lot happens in just six days in this world.

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Review: Spell Bound by Kelley Armstrong

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Women of the Otherworld 12

Spell Bound by Kelley Armstrong, UK edition cover.

Title: Spell Bound (Women of the Otherworld 13)
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy
Publication Date: 4th August 2011

Blurb:

Savannah Levine is in danger. That’s not  usually a problem. But, caught in the grip of a disturbing and violent murder case, Savannah swore to give up her unique gifts if it would save an innocent girl. Little did she know that someone – or something – was listening … Now she has no idea how to restore her powers, just when she needs them the most.

In this compelling, fast-paced new thriller, Savannah has to face a host of deadly enemies bent on destroying not only her, but the very fabric of the supernatural world.

As dark forces gather, Savannah isn’t just fighting for her life, but for everything and everyone she loves …


Rating: **** (4 stars)
Review:

This is the twelfth book in Kelley Armstrong’s epic Women of the Otherworld. This book continues the storyline started in Waking the Witch (Women of the Otherworld 11) showing the consequences of Savannah’s words/wish at the end of the book. It is a fast-paced story; once started I could not put it down.

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Review: Play of Passion by Nalini Singh

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A Psy-Changeling Novel 9

Play of Passion by Nalini Singh, UK edition cover.

Title: Play of Passion (A Psy-Changeling Novel)
Author: Nalini Singh
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy
Publication Date: 26th May 2011

Blurb:

Passion and reason collide with explosive force in the newest installment of Nalini Sing’s mesmerizing Psy-Changeling series. As a conflict with Pure Psy looms on the horizon, two powerful wolves fight a more intimate war of their own . . .

In his role as tracker for the SnowDancer pack, it’s up to Drew Kincaid to rein in rogue changelings who have lost control of their animal halves – even if it means killing those who have gone too far. But nothing in his life has prepared him for the battle he must now wage to win the heart of a woman who makes his body ignite . . . and who threatens to enslave his wolf.

Lieutenant Indigo Riviere doesn’t easily allow skin privileges, especially not those of the sensual kind – and the last person she expects to find herself craving is the most wickedly playful male in the den. Everything she knows tells he r to pull back before the flames burn them both to ash . . . but she hasn’t counted on Drew’s determination to win her.

Now, two of SnowDancer’s most stubborn wolves find themselves playing a hot, sexy courtship game even as lethal danger stalks the very place they call home . . .

Rating: ***** (5 stars)
Review:

This is the ninth installment of Nalini Singh’s fantastic A Psy-Changeling Novel, and boy is it  a fantastic read. With this book we’re straight back into changeling territory, although the Psy do feature prominently in the book as the world is on the brink of war (as it was in the previous book) though it’s not tipped over yet.

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Review: Hit List by Laurell K. Hamilton

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Anita Blake book 20

Hit List by Laurell K. Hamilton, UK edition cover.

Title: Hit List (An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Novel)
Author: Laurell K. Hamilton
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy
Publication Date: 7th June 2011

Blurb:

We followed the fresh blood even though every molecule in my body was screaming at me to run. Run before dark. Run before the vampires come. Run.

My name is Anita Blake. The vampires call me ‘The Executioner’. So when a series of gruesome and spectacular murders occur in the Pacific Northwest, the local police call in me and fellow US Marshal Edward to track down a serial killer they are convinced must be a ‘monster’.

But I know that some monsters are very real. The Harlequin have been the bogeymen of the vampire world for more than a thousand years; they are a secret so dark that even to speak their name can earn you a death sentence. Now they are here in America, hunting weretigers and human police. And me.

The Harlequin serve the Mother of All Darkness, the first vampire. She was supposed to be dead, but only her body was destroyed. Now Mommie Dearest is back, determined to kill Edward and to possess me. And she doesn’t care how many have to die along the way.

Rating: **** (3 1/2 stars)
Review:

This is Anita’s twentieth book, which is kind of scary as the series seems to have been part of my life for a long time. In the last book, Bullet, lines were drawn in the sand and the fall-out occurs in this book. This book is more about Anita’s police work than it is about her love life – something which I really enjoyed. It’s also set outside St. Louis, so we get introduced to some new characters. But the book is not without its problems, which is why it didn’t quite make it to four stars.

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Review: Bonds of Justice by Nalini Singh

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A Psy-Changeling Novel (Book 8)

Bonds of Justice by Nalini Singh, UK edition cover.

Title: Bonds of Justice (A Psy-Changeling Novel)
Author: Nalini Singh
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy
Publication Date: 26th May 2011

Blurb:

Max Shannon is a good cop, one of the best in New York Enforcement. Born with a natural shield that protects him against Psy mental invasions, he knows he has little chance of advancement within the Psy-dominated power structure. The last case he expects to be assigned is that of a murderer targeting a Psy Councilor’s closest advisors. And the last woman he expects to compel him in the most sensual of ways is a Psy on the verge of a catastrophic mental fracture . . .

Sophia Russo is a Justice-Psy, cursed with the ability to retrieve memories from mrn and women so twisted even veteran cops keep their distance. Appointed Max’s liaison with the Psy, she finds herself fascinated by this human, her frozen heart threatening to thaw with forbidden emotion. But, her mind filled with other people’s nightmares, other people’s evil, she’s standing on the border between sanity and a silken darkness that urges her to take justice into her own hands, to be come judge, jury . . . and executioner . . .

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Review:

The eighth book in Nalini Singh’s A Psy-Changeling Novel series, and the second book in a row to move away from the changeling world focusing on the relationship between a human and a Psy who is unable to leave the Net. The world is changing and the net around the Psys is getting tighter – soon they are going to have to choose to sink or to swim; to break the Silence Protocol, or to reinforce: either choice has potentially deadly consequences, and in this book lines are drawn in the sand.

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Review: Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris

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Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Mysteries book 12

Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris, UK edition cover.

Title: Dead Reckoning
Author: Charlaine Harris
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publication Date: 3rd May 2011

Blurb:

There’s a reckoning on the way . . .

Sookie Stackhouse is a cocktail waitress in Bon Temps, Louisiana. It’s a job which has its own challenges, but now the vampires and the shapeshifters are finally ‘out’, you’d think the supernaturals would get on with each other. But nothing is simple in Bon Temps!

. . . and Sookie has a knack for being in trouble’s way; not least when she witnesses the firebombing of Merlotte’s, the bar where she works. Since Sam Merlotte is known to be two-natured, suspicion immediately falls on the anti-shifters in the area. Sookie suspects otherwise, but before she can investigate something else – even more dangerous – comes up.

Sookie’s lover Eric Northman and his ‘child’ Pam are plotting something in secret. Whatever it is, they seem determined to keep Sookie out of it; almost as determined as Sookie is to find out what’s going on. She can’t sit on the sidelines when both her work and her love life are under threat – but as their plans gradually become clear Sookie finds the situation is deadlier than she could have imagined.

Rating: *** (3 stars)
Review:

Dead Reckoning is the eleventh book in Charlaine Harris’s best-selling Sookie Stackhouse series, and it follow on pretty much from where the previous book in the series left off. This is not the place to start if you are new to the series. I have been a fan of this series for a while, and I really looked forward to reading this latest installment.

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Review: Hard Bitten by Chloe Neill

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The 4th A Chicagoland Vampires Novel

Hard Bitten by Chloe Neill, UK edition cover.

Title: Hard Bitten (A Chicagoland Vampires Novel)
Author: Chole Neill
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy
Publication Date: 12th May 2011

Blurb:

Times are hard for newly minted vampire Merit. Ever since shapeshifters announced their presence to the world, humans have been rallying against supernaturals – and they’re camping outside Cadogan House with protest signs that could turn to pitchforks at any moment. Behind its doors, things between Merit and her Master, green-eyed heartbreaker Ethan Sullivan are . . . tense, to say the least. But they have to work together when the may of Chicago calls Merit and Ethan to a clandestine meeting: there’s been a violent vampire attack which has left three women missing. They mayor’s message is simple: get your house in order. Or else.

Merit needs to get to the bottom of this crime, but it’s not easy when she can’t tell who’s on her side. So she goes outside Cadogan House, secretly calling in a favour from someone who’s tall, dark and part of an underground vamp group which might be able to shed some light on this attack. It’s not long before Merit finds herself in the dark, heady heart of Chicago’s supernatural society – which seems to be full of vampires ready to fulfill the human’s worst fears. She’s about to learn that you can’t be a vampire without getting a little blood on your hands . . .

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Review:

Hard Bitten is a rip-roaring read for any vampire lover.

It is the fourth book in Neill’s A Chicagoland Vampires Novel, and continues on from the plot of Hard Bitten. Neill has managed to balance the action and the romance plots in the series brilliantly, so neither overpowers the other and at times they seamlessly merge. Neill does however follow the conventions of the Paranormal Romance genre and have a first person narrator – everything is told from Merit’s point of view, and it works because Neill resists the temptation to tell the reader too much. Neill also follows the convention that Chicago is gangland, albeit with vampires and shifters and other creatures of myth instead of the usual gangster/mobster.

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Review: Blaze of Memory by Nalini Singh

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Book 6 of A Psy-Changeling Novel

Blaze of Memory by Nalini Singh, UK edition cover.

Title: Blaze of Memory (A Psy-Changeling Novel)
Author: Nalini Singh
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy
Publication Date: 12th May 2011

Blurb:

Nalini Singh returns to the Psy-Changeling world and its breathtaking blend of passion, adventure and the paranormal, as a woman without a past becomes the pawn of a man who controls her future . . .

Dev Santos discovered Katya unconscious and battered, with no memory of who she is. All Katya can tell him is that she’s dangerous. Charged with protecting his people’s most vulnerable secrets, Dev is duty-bound to eliminate any and all threats against them. It’s a task he’s never hesitated to complete . . . until now, when he finds himself drawn to a woman who could prove to be the enemy’s most insidious weapon yet.

Stripped of her memories by a shadowy oppressor and programmed to carry out cold-blooded murder Katya Haas is fighting desperately for her very sanity. Dev is her only hope. But how can she expect to gain the trust of a man who could very well be her next target? For, in this game, someone is going to die . . .

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Review:

This is the seventh book in Nalini Singh’s A Psy-Changeling Novel and you would be forgiven for thinking that it follows the precedent set by the previous five books; it doesn’t. In Blaze of Memory Singh moves away from the Changeling world that has dominated the previous five books, and instead gives us a peek into the world of the Forgotten – the descendents of the Psy who fled Silence, unwilling to give up their emotions, their humanity.

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Review: The Necromancer by Michael Scott

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Book 4 of The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel

The Necromancer by Michael Scott, UK edition cover.

Title: The Necromancer (The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel)
Author: Michael Scott
Genre: Young Adult (YA), Urban Fantasy
Publication Date: 5th August 2010

Blurb:

Trust no one . . .

Josh and Sophie Newman have finally made it home – but San Francisco is no longer a safe haven for the twins. They have not yet mastered the magics they desperately need for protection against the Dark Elders, and Dr. John Dee is still hunting them down. Worse still, they are no longer sure if they can trust Nicholas Flamel – or anyone.

Perenelle has escaped from Alcatraz and must now fight with Nicholas to protect Josh and Sophie. But she was not the only powerful weapon hidden on the island – an army of monsters is about to be unleashed on San Francisco. With their powers weakening by the hour, the Flamels know that this battle may kill them both.

Having failed to retrieve the missing pages of the Codex for the Elders, Dee is now an outlaw – and the new prey of all the creatures formerly sent to hunt down Nicholas Flamel. But Dee has a plan – to raise the Mother of the Gods from the dead. To achieve this, he must train a necromancer. And the twins of legend will make the perfect pupils . . .

Rating: **** (4 stars)
Review:

Let me preface this review by saying that I am a fan of the series, and have been following it for a while. This is the fourth book in The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series. It continues the story-arc from The Sorceress and brings the end of the world ever closer. In this book, perhaps more than in any other in the series, there is a definite sense of battle looming in the background – it feels like the Apocalypse will occur within days of the events of the book. There is a very definite sense that the events of this book will set the stage for what is to come.

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Review: Branded By Fire by Nalini Singh

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A Psy-Changeling Novel (book 5)

Branded By Fire by Nalini Singh, UK edition cover.

Title: Branded By Fire (A Psy-Changeling Novel)
Author: Nalini Singh
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy
Publication Date: 14th April 2011.

Blurb:

Though DarkRiver sentinel Mercy is feeling the pressure to mate, she savagely resists when Riley Kincaid, a lieutenant from the SnowDancer pack, tries to posses her. The problem is not simply that he pushes her buttons; the problems is that he’s a wolf, and she’s a cat, and they’re both used to being on top.

But when a brilliant changeling researcher is kidnapped in DarkRiver territory, Mercy and Riley must work together to track the young man – before his shadowy captors decide he’s no longer useful. Along the way, the two dominants may find that submitting to one another uncovers not just a deadly conspiracy, but a passion so raw that it could leave them both branded by fire . . .

Rating: *** (3 stars)
Review:

This is the sixth book in Nalini Singh’s A Psy-Changeling Novel series, and its plot follows pretty much the same plot arc as set out in the earlier books. So if you’ve read the previous books in the series (which is advisable, as the plots of the series are interwoven) then don’t expect a change in formula.

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