REVIEW: Unholy Magic by Stacia Kane

Author: Stacia Kane
Title: Unholy Magic
Series: Downside Ghosts #2
Pages: 346
Source: Owned

The second book in this edgy urban fantasy trilogy. Chess is a fiercely independent witch and talented Debunker - working for the Church of Real Truth to exorcise ghosts and expose human liars. But she has a dark little secret that is causing her a lot of problems! a drug addiction. Trying to catch a spectral serial killer with a fondness for his victims' eyes is distracting Chess from her day job, and her growing attraction to Terrible is making things worse. Life is getting too complicated and Chess must break the rules to keep her head above water.

Much of the reason I am rating this four stars is Terrible.

Okay. Here are my thoughts:

1.  I am fascinated by the world Ms. Kane has created. Oh I am still confused by a lot of it, but it's still rather unique in terms of UF worlds. It's dystopian (which is commonplace in UF), but the part of the world we see/spend time is not common: the underworld. It's dark, raw, gritty, and an unpleasant place to be. The books are about a high functioning druggie who lives smack in the inner city, who deals with drug lords who run prostitution rings, sell drugs, have their henchmen brutalize people, where street fights kill people, and where most people are victims of circumstances. It isn't a pretty world. The characters are not people you should be rooting for: a drug addict who realizes that her drugs are ruining her life but who still makes no move to try and stop, and an enforcer who, as Mimi puts it, "is a professional bully" for a drug baron. But that is the genius of Stacia Kane. Like Regina says, "[Ms Kane] is able to surprise us with our feelings about Terrible."

2. Terrible is awesome. And Ms. Kane did one of the best jobs in any UF anywhere when she came up with this guy. He's not someone we should root for. He's not your normal hero; or anti-hero. He brutalizes people for a living (never mind that he was a victim of circumstances, the truth is still the truth), he also oversees his drug lord's prostitution business. Seeing him in action as th thug was...harrowing. I hated it. But he still manages to be kid, sweet, considerate..... in some ways he is more than the usual heroes we have in UF: not many people can live the life he has, in the circumstances he has and still be an honorable person through and through. Yet Terrible manages to be believably so. A very big part of what keeps me coming back to this series is Terrible.

3. Chess: again, to quote Mimi, she is not so TSTL as she is TUTL (too unstable to live). She is supposedly a high-functioning drug addict. She is always high and can still solve mysteries while high. If she can do that, I don't see why she can't exercise some of that good sense and NOT hurt Terrible; and NOT make bad decision after bad decision; and NOT decide she needs to get her life together and wean herself off drugs. You see glimmers of growth here and there, but for the most part....oh Chess - get it together, girl!!

4. I still don't get a lot of the ghost mythology and stuff. For example, how the heck big is this so-called City of Ghosts? The spirit of every person who ever lived is kept there? Don't they run out of space? These ghosts are supposed to b incorporeal, but thy act like zombies half the time. Pyschopomps? Huh?!!

5. I am not amused with the way things ended.

★★★★

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:

1. Unholy Ghosts.

 

ARC REVIEW: Raven Calls by C.E. Murphy

 This title will be published on March 1st, according to Goodreads.com. FictFact has this title as being published on the 21st of February

Author: C.E. Murphy
Title: Raven Calls
Series: Walker Papers #7
Pages:  384
Source: Netgalley

Something wicked this way comes…

Suddenly, being bitten by a werewolf is the least of Joanne Walker’s problems.

Her personal life in turmoil, her job as a cop over, she’s been called to Ireland by the magic within her. And though Joanne’s skills have grown by leaps and bounds, Ireland’s magic is old and very powerful…

In fact, this is a case of unfinished business. Because the woman Joanne has come to Ireland to rescue is the
woman who sacrificed everything for Joanne—the woman who died a year ago. Now, through a slip in time, she’s in thrall to a dark power and Joanne must battle darkness, time and the gods themselves to save her.

I gave up after about 30% of the way through.

It's not bad, I was just patently uninterested in the plot.

Joanne, bitten by a werewolf in the previous book, heads off to Ireland to see if she can get a powerful shaman to reverse the effects of the bite, so she doesn't become a werewolf. Instead, she finds herself traveling back in time on a quest to save her mom's life.

Bo-ring.

After 6 books, there is very little character growth. Joanne is still the same old dimwit, same old rude, obnoxious, and infantile person she used to be. All of the growth from book 3 and 4 have been lost. And IMO, there is no excuse for that this far into a series.

Existing fans of this series will probably enjoy this installment, so I'd say "go for it." To someone who hasn't started I'd say "don't bother; it isn't worth it."

*I received this ebook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

★★★

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:

1. Urban Shaman
2. Thunderbird Falls
3. Coyote Dreams
4. Walking Dead
5. Demon Hunts 
6. Spirit Dances

 

REVIEW: Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane

Author: Stacia Kane
Title: Unholy Ghosts
Series: Downside Ghosts #1
Pages: 339
Source: Library

The world is not the way it was. The dead have risen, and the living are under attack. The powerful Church of Real Truth, in charge since the government fell, has sworn to reimburse citizens being harassed by the deceased.

Consequently, there are many false claims of hauntings from those hoping to profit. Enter Chess Putnam, a fully-tattooed witch, freewheeling Debunker, and ghost hunter. She’s got a real talent for nailing human liars and banishing the wicked dead. But she’s keeping a dark secret from the Church: a little drug problem that’s landed her in hot and dangerous water.

Chess owes a lot of money to a murderous drug lord named Bump. And Bump wants immediate payback. All Chess has to do is dispatch a very nasty species of undead from an old airport. But the job involves black magic, human sacrifice, a nefarious demonic creature, and crossing swords with enough wicked energy to wipe out a city of souls. Toss in lust for a rival gang leader and a dangerous attraction to Bump’s ruthless enforcer, and Chess begins to wonder if the rush is really worth it.

Hell, yeah.

In hindsight, I must say that Terrible was a very big part of the reason I enjoyed this book. He's drawn with consummate finesse and is one of the most unique and endearing male characters I've ever had the pleasure to meet in any fiction. 

I was confused almost the whole time I was reading this novel. The whole time. The world Stacia Kane has created is soooooo blurry to me. It seems that some time back, ghosts exploded on the scene, and were out with a vengeance to kill the living. One organization who called themselves 'the Church' (nothing to do with religion, since all religion is outlawed) banished the ghosts - to some city? I wasn't too clear on that - and now runs the world - or is it the immediate area? - with an iron fist. Part of their mandate is to protect the living from ghosts. So if you find your house haunted, it means they failed, so they'll compensate you after carrying out an investigation and an exorcism (if your claim is true). Woe betide you if your claim is false.

Chess is a DeBunker (person who banishes ghosts and checks claims) for the church. She is also a drug addict on the side (if the church found out, she'd be toast), and her unscrupulous drug dealer has forced her to do something for him.  In the course of her routine investigations, she discovers a dangerous plot, which is also somehow intertwined with what her drug dealer wants her to do. To make it even more complicated a rival drug dealer doesn't want her to go through with the job for the regular drug dealer.....and oh yes, she has the hots for the rival drug dealer's henchman, as well as the hots for the regular drug dealer's enforcer, called Terrible.

Like I said, I spent a goodly amount of time confused. It seems ghosts are incorporeal when they want and corporeal when they want too. It was very confusing. At some point in time I was wondering whether or not I was reading about zombies instead of ghosts. Woulda made much more sense that way, I think. And the plotting as well confused me. We'd be somewhere, and I'd be following okay, and then all of  sudden I had no idea what was going on, who we were talking to,where we were. I can't get a sense of the world Chess lives in.

I ended up liking Chess and Terrible quite a bit. (I still don't know why Chess is a drug addict, though, or when she began her habit). But my favorite was Terrible, all huge, and ugly, and a drug dealer's head thug but underneath surprisingly sweet and kind and considerate. I am surprised to say I was rooting for a thug, haha. I wish Chess had gotten with him instead of Lex (the other drug dealer's henchman). Btw Terrible is such a bad name for a thug :D but I still love him.

So um yes, recommended. You might have better luck understanding the worldbuilding dynamics than I did, and Chess and Terrible are worth it :D

★★★

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:

 

Waiting on Wednesday #4

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted over at Jill's blog, and highlights upcoming releases were highly anticipating.





 
Today's entry is for Sacrificial magic, book #4 in Stacia Kane's Downside Ghosts urban fantasy series

Cover and description taken from goodreads.com

When Chess Putnam is ordered by an infamous crime boss—who also happens to be her drug dealer—to use her powers as a witch to solve a grisly murder involving dark magic, she knows she must rise to the challenge. Adding to the intensity: Chess’s boyfriend, Terrible, doesn’t trust her, and Lex, the son of a rival crime lord, is trying to reignite the sparks between him and Chess.

Plus there’s the little matter of Chess’s real job as a ghost hunter for the Church of Real Truth, investigating reports of a haunting at a school in the heart of Downside. Someone seems to be taking a crash course in summoning the dead—and if Chess doesn’t watch her back, she may soon be joining their ranks.

As Chess is drawn into a shadowy world of twisted secrets and dark violence, it soon becomes clear that she’s not going to emerge from its depths without making the ultimate sacrifice.

I am so excited! I get to see Terrible again! I am only on book 2, but I hear by this time Chess is actively attempting to clean up her act, so it will be interesting to see what happens.

Your turn now :D

REVIEW: Heidi by Johanna Spyri

Author: Johanna Spyri
Title: Heidi
Series: n/a
Pages: 352
Source: Owned

Heidi was first published in 1880. A classic tale of childhood joys and friendships, it has delighted and inspired generations of children.

I consider this story a romance. I know it's not one in the 'traditional' sense of the word, but it's one in spirit.  It's about a gruff old man learning to open up his heart to the love that his young granddaughter feels for him; it's about the fierce and abiding love a young girl feels for her grandfather and the mountainside on which he lives.

It was one of my favorite childhood stories, and still is. To be sure, it's rather idyllic, but that is how most children see the world, and the places and people they love, no?

What I don't remember from the abridged version as a child was many of the religious passages/ connotations of the novel. It was a nice surprise, and I felt that Ms. Spyri weaved it well into her novel.

The prose like many of the classics, is flowery and embellished, and in this story, could be a bit tedious here and there, but never for long.

All in all, it's a wonderful story about a little girl who's joie de vivre and love bled out into everyone around them and made their lives that much better.

Reminds me of Anne of Green Gables :D

★★★★

 

Memorable Monday #3

This meme is fast becoming one of my favorites ever!  Memorable Monday is a new meme hosted by the ladies over at Escape in a Book, and invites us to share a memorable quote from something we've read/ are reading.

Today's quote is from a book I just finished reading: Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane. There are so many good quotes to highlight what I want, I don't know which on to choose. So here goes:

"So why do you work for Bump?"
"Only thing I ever good at"
"What, beating people up?"
He nodded "I got no school, you know. No family. Bump took me in, I just a kid. Getting in street fights for food, sleeping any flat wheres I could find. Now I don't have to fight. Nobody wanna dance with me." Faint pride colored his voice as he spoke the last sentence.

This is Terrible's life story, as told to Chess I LOVE Terrible. One of the best characters I've ever had the pleasure of reading since I began reading romance and (urban) fantasy.. He's a badass - his job requires hat he be one but I don't know anyone else who's a bona fide thug (dude's an enforcer for a drug dealer, or as my friend put it, professional bully) who also manages to be so genuinely sweet, so kind, so considerate.  Okay enough rambling.
 

REVIEW: The Conqueror by Brenda Joyce

Author: Brenda Joyce
Title: The Conqueror
Series: The de Warenne Dynasty #1
Pages: 428

Like a pagan god, Rolfe the Relentless rode into Castle Aelfgar to claim it as his prize--and Lady Alice as his bride.  Lauded for his bravery in France, in England he was the hated enemy.  Once ensconced in his new domain, Rolfe became determined to tame the Saxon beauty Ceidre, Alice's illegitimate sister, whose spirit and sensuality make him risk treason to have her--not Lady Alice--in his bed...

Mysterious and seductive, she was no lady but a spy for the rebel cause of her noble half brothers.  Refusing to bow to this arrogant warrior who ignited her forbidden passion, Ceidre was swept into a dangerous liaison tied to the fate of England and kings.  Yet with his kisses on her lips, his skillful hands on her body, she would have to struggle not to surrender to... The Conqueror.

Reading a bodice ripper - a medieval bodice ripper, no less - requires some mental preparation on my part. I have to be willing to suspend copious amounts of disbelief, and keep in mind that people could be callous, women were not treated like human beings, and that violence and rape was practically a way of life (at least no one cared to defend the rapee from the rapist). Oh, and the language was a lot bawdier then - at least all the medieval bodice rippers I've read have bawdy language. Once I get there, then I can leave my outrage at the door and just enjoy the story for what it is.

Even so, this one was a bit hard to take at times. Rolfe de Warenne is one of William the Bastard's (that's conqueror to you :D) most trusted knights. After a successful campaign to control Saxon England, William rewards Rolfe's services with some Saxon Lord's holdings. He is to marry the dude's daughter to cement his claim. So he and his knights ride in triumphantly and wreak havoc. Rolfe sees a girl he fancies and attempts to forcibly take her, only to be informed that was his wife-to-be. [It was a case of mistaken identity. Caedre was the half-sister of the wife-to-be].

 The almost-rape in the very beginning left me reeling. I mean, it was very much in character for that time but still! Well anyway, we continue on to meet Alice, the wife-to-be who's a bitter vindictive woman, probably because she learned it from her mom. See, her dad didn't love Alice's mother. He'd married her as an afterthought to prevent himself from going after the baseborn woman whom he loved - Caedre's mom. but everyone talked of it as if Alice's mom had been bitter for no good reason. Would you not be bitter too, in her shoes? Things like that bothered me.  Again, I understand that is how things were- women were not given any consideration - but still.

There were also many moments where I felt the heroine was exceedingly TSTL, because she did things anyone with a modicum of sense wouldn't do, like telling your sister, who so obviously hates you, that yo are committing treason. The hero spent a good amount of time thinking with not-his-head, and then would be surprised when things went wrong because of that. He also acted with casual callousness a lot of the time, but see my very first paragraph for the disclaimer. Smh.

I still did give this three stars though, because I very much enjoyed the drama and the angst - this was one very angsty tale impossible love. Rolfe desperately wants Caedre, to the point that he is open about it and everyone knows it. She rebuffs his advances 1. because he is to be married to her sister, and 2. she's been an outcast since she was born, what with being a bastard child, being cross-eyed and being able to heal with herbs. No one has ever wanted her. He wants her, he can't have her. I don't think I've ever read a medieval romance where the heroine was actively rebuffing the hero's advances or the hero was so open about his desire; I enjoyed that aspect very much.

And the various obstacles - mostly man-made -  that kept popping up in their path just made me want to groan - it seemed like they were never going to get together! When Rolfe decided to marry Caedre off, I was speechless, but then that's when things took an interesting turn (IMO it was rather ingenuous execution on Ms. Joyce's part), i.e. that's when all the smexing began, and boy was there boatloads of it! Ms. Joyce had gone 60-70% of the novel without any smex, and she seemed bound and determined to make up for that. It kick-started off with a rape, which again, I had to grit my teeth and remind myself that it was in keeping with the time period and our characters, but it still grated. What didn't didn't gel well with me was Caedre's arousal right after she'd been raped. But oh well. I'd suspended disbelief for so long, I was willing and able to go with the flow.

At the heart of it, I truly did enjoy Rolfe and Caedre's story. Good bodice ripper. Recommended - if you like that sort of book, and if you are willing to suspend disbelief.

★★★

 

Demon Hunts by C.E. Murphy

Author: C.E. Murphy
Title: Demon Hunts
Series: Walker Paper #5
Pages: 361
Source: Library

Seattle police detective Joanne Walker started the year mostly dead, and she's ending it trying not to be consumed by evil. Literally.
She's proven she can handle the gods and the walking dead. But a cannibalistic serial killer? That's more than even she bargained for. What's worse, the brutal demon can only be tracked one way. If Joanne is to stop its campaign of terror, she'll have to hunt it where it lives: the Lower World, a shamanistic plane of magic and spirits.
Trouble is, Joanne's skills are no match for the dangers she's about to face--and her on-the-job training could prove fatal to the people she's sworn to protect

For the most part, this series leads me to think of what it might have been, instead of what it now is. It could easily have been a great series, but it isn't. Not by a long shot. I had thought the series was starting to look up when the author began to portray a different side of Joanne - a more likeable side. But alas, it seems like that was only a flash in the pan.

Dimwit Joanne seems to be making a comeback in full force: rude, obnoxious, and with very little to recommend her. In this book, this was not just Joanne, but every other female character. It made reading such a chore.

Unfortunately the plot was also uninteresting - the search for a cannibalistic serial killer...sounds interesting, but the execution was a failure.

Not recommended.

★★

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES:

1. Urban Shaman
2. Thunderbird Falls
3. Coyote Dreams
4. Walking Dead

 

TGIF @ Greads #5: Blogger Pride

TGIF is a weekly meme hosted every Friday at GReads, asking reading/book-related questions which are fun to answer. This week's question is:

Book Blogger Pride: What do you take pride in when it comes to blogging?

Erm...I think I take pride in my blog. I like to share my thoughts on books with people, and having a blog, being a part of the book blogging community gives me a sense of  pride, if you will.

I think I am most proud of my reviews. IMO some of them are very good, others not so much, others, quite bad. Some of them are all formal, others more informal. Some are written in awe of an amazing writer or book, or else disappointment or disgust at something I considered subpar.  It's an accurate reflection of how I feel about a book at any given time. So um, yes. I am proud of having a blog where I write down my thoughts about books; I am proud of being a part of a community of readers who like to talk about their books - especially romance and fantasy.

A year ago, none of this was true. Now it is. And I'm proud of that :D

Grave Peril by Jim Butcher

Author: Jim Butcher
Title: Grave Peril
Series: Dresden Files #3
Publication Date: 1st Sept 2001
Pages: 374
Source: Library

HARRY DRESDEN — WIZARD
Lost Items Found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates. No Love Potions, Endless Purses, or Other Entertainment.

Harry Dresden’s faced some pretty terrifying foes during his career. Giant scorpions. Oversexed vampires. Psychotic werewolves. All par for the course for Chicago’s only professional wizard.

But in all of Harry’s years of supernatural sleuthing, he’s never faced anything like this: the spirit world’s gone postal. All over Chicago, ghosts are causing trouble—and not just of the door-slamming, ‘boo’- shouting variety. These ghosts are tormented, violent, and deadly.

Someone—or something—is stirring them up to wreak unearthly havoc. But why? And why do so many of the victims have ties to Harry? If Harry doesn’t figure it out soon, he could wind up a ghost himself....

This third installment of the Dresden Files is a huge improvement over the second book, and Harry has risen a bit in my estimation. Oh he still has most of his faults - a God-complex, and a bumbler - but he is no longer unforgivably obtuse, and that counts for a lot.

I was confused in the beginning, because the whole mystery aspect was based of an occurrence that happened off-screen I think. I don't remember seeing Kravos in any of the previous books. i thought he might have been the sorcerer in the first book, but according to the time line, the first book took place two years before, and the Kravos incident took place a year after that. He was also definitely not in the second book. Anyway, it made for a mystery that seemed really complicated but was rather simple in hindsight.

One thing I have noticed is that I don't think I like the female characters Jim butcher writes. They are horrible, and I wouldn't bat an eyelid if any of them were killed. Susan almost certainly deserved what she got, and s for Karrin Murphy, the less said about her, the better. The book was so much more enjoyable because she was out of it for the most part.

I liked the addition of the character Michael. He was not a bumbling fool. Plus, you very rarely find Christians in UF, even rarer, portrayed in a favorable light. I am interested in him and hope we'll get to see more of his backstory. I liked his wife :D.

I am definitely going to come along for the next ride.

★★★★

  

OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES: 

1. Storm Front

2. Fool Moon