Review - The Lunatic Cafe (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #4) by Laurell K. Hamilton

Title: The Lunatic Cafe (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #4)

Author: Laurell K. Hamilton

Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group

Publication Date: 1996 (Hardcover Edition 2005)

Hardback: 344 pages

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Goodreads Summary:

The zombie-raising business gets slow in December, so Anita Blake is starting to see some oddball cases. She's got a neatly typed list of eight missing lycanthropes given to her by Marcus, the leader of the local werewolf pack, who wants her to find them. The trouble is, Anita's occasionally furry boyfriend Richard is locked in a power struggle with Marcus. Jean-Claude, master vampire of the city and Anita's other love interest, is getting jealous as well. To top it off, Anita has to solve some horrific murders and keep her bounty-hunting friend Edward from killing Richard and Jean-Claude.

Review:
Anita sees George Smitz, a man who is looking for his missing wife who is also a werewolf. Anita is furious with Bert for referring a missing persons case to her when she was unqualified for the job. She was able to convince Mr. Smitz to see her friend Ronnie who was a private investigator with missing persons experience. Shortly thereafter Anita has a theater date with her "sweetie" Richard. Afterwards, they run into Jean-Claude who reveals that Richard had something of a showdown with the current werewolf Alfa, Marcus, but refused to kill him. This has caused some big problems within the pack. Anita was furious that she hadn't been told, how dare Richard not tell her what was going on. He explained that he was trying to protect her, then she's mad that he tried to do that.

"'You either share this problem, or we don't date anymore.'

He looked shocked. 'Why?'

'Either you kept me out to protect me, which I'm going to hate. Or you have some other reason. It better be a damn good reason and not just some male ego shit.'"

That's right, Anita doesn't agree with someone's reasons, it must be bullshit. I am left to wonder what it is that Jean-Claude and Richard see in her, because she's a cow. The above argument is interrupted by constant pages from Dolph, who needs her to book it to a murder scene in the middle of nowhere. As Anita leaves, she runs into Gretchen, a powerful vampire who is in love with Jean-Claude. Gretchen doesn't understand that Anita doesn't want Jean-Claude, and threatens Anita if she doesn't stay away from him. There's a little scuffle (J-C's first scene in every book results in Anita fighting with someone) and then Jean-Claude says that he didn't mean "for this to happen". He says that every time, and I'm glad Anita called him on it. Anita finally makes it to Dolph's crime scene to fight with racist and hick cops over jurisdiction and weather the victim was attacked by a bear or not. I liked this storyline, nice and twisty, didn't see the end coming. The next day Anita is asked by Marcus to help the pack. She goes to a meeting at The Lunatic Cafe that does not go well, but she ends up getting strong armed into helping look for missing shifters. Edward makes an appearance in this book, he's always fun. These different story lines came together very nicely, great action, but Anita is still a problem for me. She is so unforgiving of others and so violent, that I saw her as similar to the monsters she hates so much. I really liked that Anita had this same realization, I'm hoping that her character will change in future books.

Verdict:
Anita, Anita, Anita, you are such an unlikeable character, I think you might be ruining the story for me. I enjoyed the the story itself, but...grrr! I feel so bad for Richard, why is he still with her? She can take his shirt off but if he touches her but she considers it groping? She can't abide explaining her actions, but if others don't hop to and explain everything to her she blows up. I was prepared for this to be the last Anita Blake book I ever read, but she had the whole maybe-I'm-just-as-bad-as-the-monsters-I-hate revelation. And the story was good, I will read the fifth book, but I'll get it from the library, I just can't spend money on Anita.

Update:

Jen at The Movieholic & Bibliophile's Blog promises that Anita will mellow out in later books. All right Jen, I'll keep with it, so it better be worth it. :)

Part of the Anita Blake Challenge Hosted by Book Chick City

Tots to Teens & in beTween - The Sixty-Eight Rooms by Marianne Malone

Title: The Sixty-Eight rooms

Author: Marianne Malone
Illustrator: Greg Call

Publisher: Random House For Young Readers

Publication Date: February 23, 2010

Hardback: 288 pages

Genre: Juvenile Fiction, Mystery, Magic

Summary from Book Jacket:

Almost everybody who has grown up in Chicago knows about the Thorne Rooms. Housed in the Children’s Galleries of the Chicago Art Institute, they are a collection of 68 exquisitely crafted miniature rooms made in the 1930s by Mrs. James Ward Thorne. Each of the 68 rooms is designed in the style of a different historic period, and every detail is perfect, from the knobs on the doors to the candles in the candlesticks. Some might even say, the rooms are magic.

Imagine—what if you discovered a key that allowed you to shrink so that you were small enough to sneak inside and explore the rooms’ secrets? What if you discovered that others had done so before you? And that someone had left something important behind?

Review:
Ruthie's class wraps up a school field trip to Art Institute of Chicago with a visit to the Thorne Rooms- a collection of 68 miniature rooms. Ruthie becomes a little obsessed with the tiny perfection of the rooms and the princess-like quality of one room in particular. She imagines herself sleeping in such a wonderful bed, very different from the crowded room she shares with her older sister.

Exterior view of one of the Thorne Rooms

Ruthie's best friend Jack's mother, a struggling but well known local artist, strikes up a conversation with Mr. Bell, one of the museum guards. She discovers that he was a famous photographer, but gave up his work when his wife died. Jack talks Mr. Bell into letting him take a quick peak into the corridor that runs behind the rooms, just to see how everything is set up and maintained. While looking in the underwhelming corridor slash storage room, Mr.Bell tells them how is daughter used to do her homework in the corridor while he was at work. On the way out, Ruthie sees Jack pick something up of the floor and pocket it.

Later on Jack shows Ruthie a lovely and intricate key that he found on the corridor floor. When Ruthie holds it, she begins to shrink. They then discover that whatever Ruthie hold also shrinks. Both kids are then able to shrink and explore the Thorne Rooms. These explorations lead quickly become out of the ordinary when the kids discover that each room is linked to the living past. In addition to being able to go back in time, Ruthie and Jack find clues in the Thorne Rooms that indicate they aren't the first people to be inside them.

Malone spent a lot of time describing the rooms, but it was hard to imagine how perfect each miniature room was without pictures. The characters were diverse and fairly believable, especially their reactions to going back in time or fighting giant bugs. I also liked how Ruthie and Jack did some creative problem solving to get past obstacles when they were shrunk. I did find that the story lagged at times, generally when the author was going into a lot of descriptive detail.

The story was similar to The Wright Three or From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Unlike The Wright Three, the historical aspect didn't get overly detailed or confusing. There was just enough history to support the story, be interesting, and maybe encourage readers to find out more on their own.

Verdict:
Despite the fact that the story had some slow parts, this was an interesting and easy to follow story. There were several mysteries, but not all were solved, but as one character points out that's part of the fun. If you, or a child you might buy for, liked From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, then I would recommend getting this book. Otherwise, I would say check it out from your local or school library. That being said, I do plan on ordering this book for my school library, along with a picture book of the actual Thorne Rooms. I think that this book would appeal to several of my students. I've also included a video of the actual Thorne Rooms

Review - Circus of the Damned by Laurell K. Hamilton

Title: Circus of the Damned (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter #3)

Author: Laurell K. Hamilton

Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group

Publication Date: 1995 (Berkley Hardback Edition 2004)

Paperback: 307 pages

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Goodreads Summary:

The third novel of Hamilton's Anita Blake series has the petite necromancer fighting a giant cobra and a rogue vampire, Alejandro, who wants her for his human servant. Anita is still resisting the advances of Jean-Claude, St. Louis's master vampire, but she does need him on her side, if not in her bed. Anita's reluctant involvement in the odd goings-on at the supernatural Circus of the Damned introduces her to Richard, the werewolf of her dreams, and Larry, her powerful but nervous partner in zombie-raising.

Review:

Anita is under more pressure by Jean-Claude to take the fourth mark, pressure from her boss to take jobs that are out of her job description, and pressure from the Police to help them solve a series of murders. Jean-Claude's shaky Master of the City status draws other powerful vampires who wish to take over. Since Anita is his human servant (against her will and fighting the last of the marks) the challenging master vampires also want to test her. If this weren't enough trouble, Dolph's latest crime scene seems to include a victim of multiple vampire bites. When the victim rises (even though you're not supposed to rise after being bitten by multiple vampires) Anita realized that they have two problems: 1) all of the victims will rise as super strong rabid vamps and 2) they have a master vamp so strong that anyone he bites and drains will turn. It's this vampire, Alejandro, that decides to make Anita his human servant. Anita also meets a really cute guy named Richard who asks her out on a date. She meets a master vampire so old she thinks he might be about a million years old who wants the location of Jean-Claude's daylight resting place. She has to be given Jean-Claude's fourth bite to save her life after being attacked by a lamia and almost drowning. As you can guess, Anita was not very happy about the fourth mark, so she gives up Jean-Claude's daylight resting place to the ancient master vampire, Mr. Oliver. I don't want to say too much more about the plot, just in case you're like me and have never read these book and know nothing about the series. Let's just say that at this point it's very action packed and Anita is eventually freed of both Jean-Claud and Alejandro.

Another gritty book, lots of action, a good mystery, and some great interactions. I just really don't like Anita, she's a horrible person. She's angry and unforgiving (like hating her stepmother because she's not the real mother). I'm assuming all of this anger over her mother's death will be explained in future books. But it just gets tiresome that she uses her mother's death as the reason that she needs to be independent and that love isn't real because people leave you. Anita is also constantly referring to "monsters" and how they kill without thought, but her first response is always to kill the problem! She also hates explaining herself to people, but she gets furious if people don't explain themselves to her! When Richard has to take her to Jean-Claude to save her, she jumps to all kinds of ridiculous conclusions instead of JUST LETTING HIM EXPLAIN HIMSELF! Sorry, but at this point I wanted to slap her. I just find her exhausting and the characters around her waaay to forgiving of her behavior. Also, what's her deal with men's nipples? It seems like she's describing them constantly. It could be just Jean-Claud, and maybe it's only once or twice in a book, but it feels very repetitive.

Were there things that I did like about the book? The cover of my hardback edition was very cool. I really liked the scene where Anita and the cops are going after the first victim who rose unexpectedly - that was cool and tense.

Verdict:

I could have liked this book, but Anita is tiresome and unlikeable. If I rated books, I'd give it a 2. I'm going to read the 4th book because I've already checked it out from the library and I'm participating in the Anita Blake Challenge, but I don't know how much longer I can stick with the series.

Part of the Anita Blake Challenge Hosted by Book Chick City

A new "Magic Slays" snippet from Gordon

Gordon posted a snippet from Magic Slays on Thursday. Apparently this has caused Ilona to ban him from the website for the day. :) I find myself once again going into the I-Need-More-Kate-Daniels mode.

I guess I'll just have to not so patiently wait for Bayou Moon (The Edge #2) to come out in September.

Review - Blood Song by Cat Adams

Title: Blood Song (Blood Singer book 1)

Author: Cat Adams (pen name for C.T. Adams & Cathy Clamp)

Publisher: Tor

Publication Date: June 8, 2010

Edition: Kindle

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Goodreads Summary:

Bodyguard Celia Graves plies her trade in a world where vampires roam the alleys of Tinseltown and movie stars openly practice witchcraft., where streetcorner psychics have real powers and cops use memory enhancement spells on witnesses. Though she’s an ordinary human, Celia uses street smarts and charmed weapons to protect the rich and famous from mortal and supernatural threats.

She’s landed a plum job, protecting the Prince of a small but politically vital nation while he tours Los Angeles’s least savory hot spots. What should be a routine assignment goes badly wrong. Attacked by a master vampire, Celia knows she is about to die.
She’s startled to awaken on a cold metal table in a university lab. Celia Graves has become an Abomination, neither fully mortal nor fully vampire. Her “master” is hunting her, to destroy her or finish what his bite began. She’s accused of murder and the cops aren’t sure whether she should be locked up or staked. And then there’s the demon she glimpsed during the vampire attack . . . .

Struggling to cope with her new powers and trying not to terrify everyone she meets with a flash of fang, Celia reaches out for help from her once (and future?) lover, who is a powerful mage; his warrior-priest brother; a handsome werewolf who keeps his lupine nature concealed from the world; an elderly clairvoyant, and one trustworthy cop.

Celia Graves has three days to save the world, her sanity, and her soul.

Review:

In my head, I'm doing a fangirl squee because I loved this book! I know I say this a lot (mostly to my students) but this story was a total ride! The action moved quickly, the characters were great, the world building awesome, I even started clenching my jaw at the final chase scene because I was so into it and feeling the stress.

Blood Song is set in a world where magic, demons, vampires, and warrior priests are common place. The reader learns more about the world as the story moves along, but in a way that supports the story. Vampires are a menace and you can pick up your anti-bat supplies at the local drug store. You can go to your local mage to put wards around your business or home, you can find out about your future, or go to a magical therapist to help you deal with traumas. It was great!

Celia Graves is a body guard you grudgingly takes a job to guard a prince. She didn't like the retainer who came hire her or the lack of information. But hey, the money was really good, and the job could be very good for her business. The job, while distasteful, was just a few hours away from being finished when the strip club the prince was at was about to be raided by the cops. The prince, who had recently allied himself with his country's religious fundamentalists (the religion was never specified), could not afford the bad press, so Celia and the other body guards hustle him out the back entrance. As they were exiting, they were attacked by vampires. During the fight, Celia notices that the "Prince" changes forms (turns out he was a demon or at least a demon spawn) and traps the body guards in the ally to die. The others are killed, but one of the bats starts the spell to turn Celia. The spell wasn't completed due to a timely rescue, and Celia becomes an Abomination - a human with vampire traits. Celia gets fangs, the glowy eyes and pale skin (also kinda glowy), the speed, the healing, and a few other inconveniences. Because she looks so much like a vampire, people freak out, even in the middle of the day. I gotta say, those were some of my favorite bits. The corner shop attendant that freaks out and douses Celia in holy water - it cracked me up. Because she does the law abiding thing and informs the police of what has happened, the cops, the FBI, and the princes' government get involved. Circumstances conspire against Celia and she has three days to find out what happened, figure out who is still trying to kill her, and not end up locked away in a state facility because of her Abomination status.

I loved that Celia came with baggage, was strong and good at her job, but was still socially capable. Yes she had a short fuse, but she could still work with people. ( I've been getting really tired of kick-ass heroines with zero people skills, it's getting old.) the other characters in the book were great and well written. There was a revelation toward the end that was a bit corny, but I can work with it.

Verdict:

So, when does the next book come out? I would like it now please! This was a great read, you should definitely pick it up. Great characters, great world building... I'm trying not to gush but it's hard. This is the first book by either Cathy Clamp or C.T. Adams that I have read but I'm going to be putting their other books in my TBR pile.

By the way, the next book is Siren Song due out September 2010.

The third book, Demon Song, has no listed release date or cover art.

You can read an excerpt of Blood Song and Demon Song at their website. Unfortunately I couldn't get a direct link to either excerpt, but website, click on books and scroll down to Blood Singer series.

But you don't have to take my word for it (thanks LeVar Burton!):

Reading on the Dark Side review

The Good, The Bad, and The Unread review

Story Wings review