Suramya's Blog : Welcome to my crazy life…

Dead in the Family (Southern Vampire Book 10) by Charlaine Harris

Description: If you think your family relationships are complicated, think again: you haven’t seen anything like the ones in Bon Temps, Louisiana. Sookie Stackhouse is dealing with a whole host of family problems, ranging from her own kin (a non-human fairy and a telepathic second cousin) demanding a place in her life, to her lover Eric’s vampire sire, an ancient being who arrives with Eric’s ‘brother’ in tow at a most inopportune moment. And Sookie’s tracking down a distant relation of her ailing neighbour (and ex), Vampire Bill Compton. In addition to the multitude of family issues complicating her life, the werewolf pack of Shreveport has asked Sookie for a special favour,and since Sookie is an obliging young woman, she agrees. But this favour for the wolves has dire results for Sookie, who is still recovering from the trauma of her abduction during the Fairy War. Buy From:

Rating:

Review:The newest installment in the Southern Vampire series picks up from where the previous book ended. The Faery War has ended but everyone is still recovering from it.

I really didn’t remember a lot from the previous books and so for the first few chapters was a bit lost. Plus the books are completely different than the TV series so that was another thing that confused things for me. It would have really helped if the author had written a short summary of the events till date before starting the new story. Unfortunately very few authors do that.

Thankfully a few chapters into the book enough was explained and I remembered enough from the previous books that I was able to enjoy the rest of the book without wondering what was going on.

Final Recommendation: A good read but it could have started off better.

Hard Magic (Paranormal Scene Investigations Book 01) by Laura Anne Gilman

Description: Welcome to P.U.P.I. – Private, Unaffiliated, Paranormal Investigations A handpicked team trained to solve crimes the regular police can’t touch – crimes of magic. My name’s Bonnie Torres. Recent college grad, magic user and severely unemployed. Until I got a call out of nowhere to interview for a job I hadn’t applied for. It smelled fishy, but the brutal truth was I needed the work – so off I went. Two days later I’m a PUPI – me and Nick, Sharon, Nifty and Pietr. Five twentysomethings, thrown into an entirely new career in forensic magic. The first job we get is a doozy: proving that the deaths of two Talents were murder, not suicide. Worse, there are high-profile people who want us to close up shop and go away. We’re sniffing out things they’d rather keep buried. Looks as if this job is gonna get interesting. The only problem is, we’re making it up as we go along.. Buy From:

Rating:

Review:Hard magic is the first book in a new series based in the same universe as her famous Retriever Series.

The P.U.P.I (Private, Unaffiliated, Paranormal Investigations) is an organization that is mentioned a couple of times in the Retriever books but their origins and manifesto were never told. This book makes up for the lack and introduces us to the P.U.P.I and takes us through their first case.

The storyline was fun and clean and the characters were well defined. Even though its set in the same universe as the Retriever books none of the characters from them appeared in this book though it might change in the future books.

As this was the first book a lot of groundwork was laid before the actual story started but none of it was too tedious or boring, which was good.

The ending not one that answered all the questions but I think that was intentional so that the next novel has a base to start from. But even though it didn’t answer all questions it was a fun read.

Final Recommendation: A fun read

Black Blade Blues (Black Blade Book 01) by J. A Pitts

Description: Sarah Beauhall has more on her plate than most twenty-somethings: day job as a blacksmith, night job as a props manager for a low-budget movie, and her free time is spent fighting in a medieval re-enactment group. When the lead actor breaks Sarah’s favorite one-of-a-kind sword, it sends the director into fits. Sarah agrees to repair the blade to avoid reshooting scenes. One of the extras claims to be a dwarf and offers to help her at the forge. That’s when things start to get weird. Could the sword really be magic, as he claims? Why does he want her to kill a Portland investment banker? And what is it about that homeless guy that has her on edge? As if things weren’t surreal enough at that point, Sarah’s girlfriend Katie breaks out the dreaded phrase’ ‘I love you.’ Black Blade Blues is about forging an existence in a world that is much different than one expects. Oh, and dragons. Buy From:

Rating:

Review:Black Blade Blues is the first fantasy book by JA Pitts and I really liked the book. The plot was interesting and the characters were well defined. The best part was that even though the main character (Sarah) had self doubts and was conflicted about her relationship with another woman at no point in the book did it become too melodramatic or feel like it was put in there for no good reason other than to have drama in the book.

Sarah’s reactions to finding out that Dragons are real were completely believable but it never got to the point of being idiotic. When she finally figured out that it was all real she didn’t continue to deny the fact or do stupid stuff.

Too many authors of Fantasy books allow their characters to adjust to a radical change in their world view instantly and that just doesn’t sound realistic.

The supporting cast could have been defined a bit more in detail but was still sufficient enough to carry the book forward.

Final Recommendation: A good read

Bewitched & Betrayed (Raine Benares Book 04) by Lisa Shearin

Description: My name is Raine Benares. I’m a seeker. I find lost things and missing people ‘ usually alive. Finding the specters of six evil mages who escaped the Saghred, a soul-eating stone of unlimited power, was easy. Stopping them before they unleash Hell on earth just may be the death of me. Being bonded to the Saghred wasn’t my idea ‘ neither is hunting down its escapees. Especially not when one of them is also hunting me. He’s regenerating his body by taking the lives of powerful victims, along with their memories, knowledge, and most important of all, their magic. The dark mage wants control of the Saghred, and if he gets it, he’ll become an evil demigod whom no one can stop. The only thing in his way is me. One of us doesn’t stand a ghost of a chance. Buy From:

Rating:

Review:In the 4th book of the Raine Benares series Raine is searching for the six souls of evil mages that had escaped from the the Saghred, (a soul-eating stone) in the previous book in the series.

The plot in the book is quite fast paced and it is a different take on a world with Elves and Goblins. Usually most of the books that feature Elves portray them as a long lived peaceful race and Goblins as an evil race. In this case both races are shown to have their plus points and their negative points.

The humor in the book is mostly dry and slightly sarcastic which is why I loved it. The characters are well defined and the back story is given to as as the current book goes along so you don’t spend three chapters learning what happened in the previous books but also gave enough information that the reader doesn’t need to refer to the previous books for information.

Final Recommendation: A good read.

Changes (Dresden Files Book 12) by Jim Butcher

Description: Long ago, Susan Rodriguez was Harry Dresden’s lover-until she was attacked by his enemies, leaving her torn between her own humanity and the bloodlust of the vampiric Red Court. Susan then disappeared to South America, where she could fight both her savage gift and those who cursed her with it. Now Arianna Ortega, Duchess of the Red Court, has discovered a secret Susan has long kept, and she plans to use it-against Harry. To prevail this time, he may have no choice but to embrace the raging fury of his own untapped dark power. Because Harry’s not fighting to save the world… He’s fighting to save his child. Buy From:

Rating:

Review:

This is the 12th book the Dresden files following the adventures of the world’s only Wizard investigator, Harry Dresden. At the beginning of the book Harry finds out that he has a child and that she has been abducted by the Red Court who are vampires. The rest of the book covers how he and his friends team up to recover the child without loosing everything. Even though the book is the part of a series you don’t need to know/remember all the back story to enjoy the book, which was good as I have forgotten the story from the earlier books. The information from the old books that was needed to make sense in this one was provided to the reader which is something not all author’s do unfortunately. Recapping the back story is always a good idea especially in stories that have been going on for a while (like this one). I liked the fact that the book didn’t let the hero take an easy way out, he had a morally ambiguous choice and the choice he made had consequences which he had to bear. There were no magic pills/cure all’s in the book. The ending was a bit surprising and I can’t wait for the next book. Final recommendation: A must read book.