Recommendations

Back to My Beginnings

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I am really into vampires.  No, they aren’t real. No, I don’t pretend to be one.  And again, they do not sparkle! But I very much like to read books where the main characters are vamps.  It all started for me with the movie Interview with the Vampire.  Yes, the movie.  Before that, I always thought of fantasy creatures such as vampires and werewolves were scary.  This is probably because my dad liked the original Dracula with Bela Lugosi and other classic horror movies and impressed upon me that vampires = scary.

The movie Interview with the Vampire changed that perspective for me. I wasn’t really scared of anything in that movie. I was, however, very intrigued.  Vampires weren’t entirely monstrous.  Indeed, the main character of the movie, Louis, tries very much to be human.  He attempts not to live off human blood for the longest time and he treats Claudia as a daughter.

I watched that movie twice in a row the day I rented it.  The rest of my family thought I was nuts. They didn’t like the movie and I couldn’t really explain my infatuation with it. But when I watched it the second time (with the lights off, to increase the ambiance), I noticed that it was based on a novel by author Anne Rice.

I think I was in junior high school at this time, and I was mostly into reading Star Trek book s (Yes, I am a Trekkie-I was born one) and Three Investigators novels (which I recommend for younger readers).  I was a little wary about starting Interview with the Vampire.  Oh. My. God.  It was an amazing book.

To this day, I still own the first copy of it I ever read.  This is an A+ book.  Anne Rice has a beautiful way with words. You can almost see and feel what the characters are seeing and feeling.  Lestat could have been an entirely unlikable character what with how much he thinks only of himself, but there are layers to him that you can’t help but fall in love with.

Interview with the Vampire was the first in a series of novels by Anne Rice revolving around an core group of vampires (Lestat, Louis, Armand et al) and humans (the ‘boy’ reporter Daniel and a secretive group called the Talamasca).  The Vampire Chronicles arc spans eons, from Ancient Egypt to present, and does it well.  I suppose it isn’t quite ‘urban’ fantasy in its entirety, but still well worth the read. To this day, one of my favorite authors is Anne Rice.

A Little Something from the Nightside

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My brother got me into British author Simon R. Green around ten years ago with Green’s Hawk and Fisher story arc.  I love Simon R. Green. He is one of my favorite authors.  One of his newer story arcs is his Nightside novels, featuring the not-quite-human P.I. John Taylor.  The Nightside novels take place in modern day London, in the secret, dark and hidden heart of it called the Nightside where it is always 3 o’clock in the morning.

I was originally a little suspect of these books, I must confess.  I had previously read all the books of Green’s I could get my hands on, the Hawk and Fisher novels and the Deathstalker series, both of them very good.  However, neither of those arcs are set in modern times, so I was a little worried that Green’s  graphic and extraordinary imagination wouldn’t mix well with “the real world” of London, or anywhere else for that matter. Thinking back on it now, this was really my first introduction to anything that was both urban/contemporary/modern mixed with fantasy.

I was pleasantly surprised by the first novel, Something From the Nightside.  Green was the snarky, dry British writer that I’d enjoyed previously and he created such an amazing, if somewhat frightening and disturbing, place in the Nightside.  Anything can happen there, and often times does.  His lead character, John Taylor, is severely flawed and you can’t quite figure out if you love him or hate him.  But Taylor’s enough of an underdog that you just have to root for him.

Green’s novels aren’t for anyone who can’t stand graphic descriptions of blood, guts, gore and anything else he can come up with.  He is so wonderfully descriptive that you’re almost there with the characters, like it or not.  I love a writer who can make you feel like you’re there.  If I could meet any one of the writers in enjoy reading, I think it would be him.

His Nightside arc is currently 11 novels long, with a 12th to be released in 2011 (can’t wait!!!). I think originally it was supposed to be far less, but either her really loves this arc or his fans do. Or both. Either way, I’m not complaining.

The books:

  • Something from the Nightside: First book of the series and it does a good job of introducing the characters. John Taylor gets pulled back into the Nightside after years of trying to make it in real world London as a specatcularly failing P.I. I personally thought it wasn’t the best of the bunch, but it grabbed my interest enough to read the next one.  B-
  • Angels of Light and Darkness: Angels from Above and Below (yes, the caps are needed) come to the Nightside looking for an extremely powerful, but not quite holy, relic.  Taylor is highered to find it before they do. More Razor Eddie (one of my personal favorite characters) in this one. B+
  • Nightengale’s Lament: An interesting concept of a singer whose voice is powerful enough to sway people’s emotions…but something’s not quite right with her. Enter John Taylor and one of my other personal favorite characters, Dead Boy. Solid story, but not quite as good as later stories.  Doesn’t add much to John Taylor’s “mysterious past”, but a good break from the overall seriousness. B
  • Hex and the City: John Taylor is hired to look into the mysterious origins of the Nightside and, just possibly, his long lost and most definitely not human mother.  You’re just starting to get into the meat of Taylor’s mystery with this one.  A
  • Paths Not Taken: This one starts off delightfully light and off beat, with a plain and simple human from real London getting lost in the Nightside.  This little side bit is fun and snarky and gives you a little break from the seriousness of the rest of the book, in which Taylor travels back in time, still investigating the origins of the Nightside.  He is accompanied by Susie Shooter (otherwise known as Oh Christ, it’s her RUN!) and Tommy Oblivion, the existential detective.  A
  • Sharper than a Serpent’s Tooth: *Spoiler Alert-sorta* End to the Lilith story.  I think that this story could have been cut short a bit and tacked on the end of Paths Not Taken.  I liked it, but I felt it took just a bit too long. B
  • Hell to Pay: This is the first novel after the Lilith War ended. I was really, really interested in how Green handled the fact that Taylor had relatively more freedom now that he changed his fate, and I was pleased to see it was done well.  Taylor is still Taylor, he doesn’t let his new found relative freedom get to his head. A
  • The Unnatural Inquirer: This one is just fun.  Sure it still has it’s moments of gore and violence, but you just can’t help but have fun with Taylor is teamed up with a Demon Girl Reporter who is, in fact, half Succubus. A+
  • Just Another Judgment Day: The Walking Man comes to the Nightside and all hell breaks loose. Again. B+
  • The Good, the Bad and the Uncanny: Walker, the man who passes for law and order in the Nightside, is dying and is looking for someone to take his place when he goes.  Enter John Taylor, who really doesn’t want the job. At all.  But not all is as it seems. It never is, with Walker.  A
  • A Walk on the Nightside: This is a compilation of the first three novels of the Nightside.  Since I gave them all a different score, I guess I can just put this in as a solid B.

I can’t wait for the next novel which is, supposedly, called A Hard Day’s Knight.  This can, of course, change as the release date comes closer, but it seems to fit with his pun-tastic titles.

The Dresden Files

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Since reviews of the books I’ve read will take a while, I decided to get the ball rolling with some recommendation blog posts.

First up is Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series.  I LOVE this series!  I used to hate books that were written in first person, but I’ve come to enjoy them thanks to this awesome series.  Butcher starts out with book one, Storm Front and just gets better from there.  I highly, highly recommend this series.  Harry Dresden is talented, irreverent and has a chip on his shoulder the size of Chicago.  On the whole I give the series an A+. It hooks you and reels you in so that you just can’t wait for the next book (trust me, right now I am lamenting the fact that the next Dresden novel doesn’t come out until March 2011).

The nice thing about the series is, you don’t necessarily to have to read the books in order to understand what happens in them.  It’s easier if you do, true, but Butcher does a good job of briefly recapping the previous bits of story line in each successive novel.

  • Storm Front: This is the first novel of the series and it’s pretty solid, even with introducing the main characters.  It isn’t quite as excellent as the later books, but I think that’s to be expected for a first novel. Magic, fairies and warlocks oh my! Overall, it’s a solid B novel.
  • Fool Moon: This novel focuses on werewolves and the many varieties thereof.  The series is stretching it’s wings, so to speak, and is introducing more recurring characters.  B/B+
  • Grave Peril: Introductions to Butcher’s view of vampires. Being a vampire story enthusiast, I was pleasantly surprised and intrigued by Butcher’s ideas of vampires.  Also introduces recurring character Michael Carpenter. The series really starts getting better from here. B+
  • Summer Knight: Good fairies, evil fairies and possibly evil exes (aren’t they all). A-
  • Death Masks: The Red Court returns just at the worst possible time, as the Blackened Denarians are in town.  A-
  • Blood Rites: This is one of my personal favorites in the series.  I love, love, love the character of Thomas the incubus half-brother of Harry Dresden.  A+
  • Dead Beat: Necromancy! Yay! But seriously, who doesn’t think that riding a resurrected T-Rex through Chicago is awesome? Polka will never die! A+
  • Proven Guilty: Introduction of Molly Carpenter as Harry’s plucky side kick.  Very good story, a little darker than the previous Dresden books maybe. A
  • White Night: Who’s killing off Chicago’s minor magic users? That’s what Harry wants to know! But no one wants to talk with him.  What else is new?  A-
  • Small Favor: Return of Ivy the Archive and one of my favorite characters, Kincaid. A
  • Turn Coat: Ah! A little bit of “I told you so” for Donald Morgan! Very good story. A+
  • Changes: Oh. My. God. Amazing, amazing book. But SOOOOOOOO frustrated with the end! A little spoiler: It is definitely going to leave you hanging…and not on a good note! I cannot wait for the next novel. A++
  • Short stories: Jim Butcher has an anthology of his Dresden short stories due out around October 2010. I’m definitely going to get it, but I have read some of them already from other anthologies.  As I am waiting, patiently, for this book Side Jobs: Stories from the Dresden Files.

I recently recommended Storm Front to my father-in-law and he has gotten just as hooked as I have.  Butcher is a good, witty writer who can do a comedic scene just as well as an angsty scene or an action scene.  If anyone out there has read and enjoyed this series, I would love to hear from you on any authors/series that you would recommend along the lines of the Dresden Files.

Hello world!

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Recently I’ve become hooked on reading urban fantasy novels and anthologies.  My problem is that I stumbled into this fascinating genre via Jim Butcher’s awesome Dresden Files series and I had never even heard the term “urban fantasy” before.  I tried Googling for urban fantasy recommendations and didn’t find a whole lot out there.   So I figured that I would create my own blog for reviewing the books that I’ve read and asking people if they had any suggestions for similar books.

Like I said, I’ve been real into urban fantasy lately, but I also like some mystery, some action/adventure and even some history books.  So I’ll have a little bit of everything on my site eventually.

Just a bit of miscellany before I get started:

  • I am not looking for any reviews, recommendations or raves about the Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer. I realize that I may piss off a horde of teenage fan girls out there, but I personally found the series dull. I’m sorry but vampires do not sparkle.
  • I do like Harry Potter. I adore Harry Potter.  I’m obsessed with Harry Potter. I’m sure I’ll get around to writing a review for those books eventually but since they are so popular, I’m sure I don’t need to recommend them to many people out there at this point.
  • I do not own any of the titles, characters, author’s names etc I may mention here. I’m not making any money off of this (though I would love to if I could).
  • I don’t care if you don’t agree with what I say, that’s your prerogative, however, please try to be civil in your posts and I’ll try and be civil in my responses.
  • I have read a lot of books and I would like to review most, if not all, of them eventually.  This means I may have to re-read them, so if new posts take a while, that’s why.

And now…to the show!