This is the first of a series but not Briggs’ first book. Mercy Thompson is a walker - not a wereanimal but a shapeshifter - a coyote. She’s all too involved with the werewolves, not to mention the local vampires.
It’s a good story, full of action but occasionally it’s hard to track who is who. Perhaps it’s because I forgot my Adderall today. In any event, there are 2 more, thus far, in the series and I’ll likely read both “Blood Bound” (about a sorcerer turned vampire) and ”Iron Kissed” (about Mercy’s friend Zee.)
This was another first book and overall not a bad beginning. I think there were some bad copyedits, but other than that, it’s fine. I doubt I’ll read the rest of them but this book was okay.
This is the first of the Southern Vampire series that I listened to on audio. It was weird, frankly. The narrator’s voice was nothing like I imagined Sookie.
The general story: Sookie is off to Chicago with Queen Sophie and the rest of the Louisiana vamps for a vampire summit. QS is going to be on trial for killing her husband, which she did not do. Sookie is going to read the minds of the humans to help QS decide who’s up to what.
Sookie tries to balance being with Quinn, avoiding Eric and Bill and doing here work for Queen Sophie. While they are there, other vampires wind up dead, humans have all kinds of problems and there is a group of anti-vampire protesters causing problems. Actually, fairly big problems. Sookie winds up letting humans see that she is a telepath, which winds up causing her big problems.
This was probably my favorite of the Southern Vampire series. The storyline was attention getting and there were more developed relationships with Sookie and Quinn and Eric.
Jaime Vegas, who we originally met in Industrial Magic, is the narrator for this book in the Women of the Otherworld series. Jaime is a necromancer which means that she can communicate with the dead. In some books, like Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series, a necromancer doesn’t talk to ghosts, she raises and controls the dead. Hamilton’s Anita Blake is that sort of necromancer. Jaime CAN raise the dead but it’s not something she does routinely. In fact, though she knows it’s possible, it’s in NHI that she raises her first dead person.
The story begins with Jaime being invited to participate in a television special about “spiritualists” who claim they can talk to the dead. The show’s producers want Jaime, and 2 others, to have a séance and find out who or what killed Marilyn Monroe. Jaime is the only one among the three who is actually “gifted.” Things begin to go awry, however, when Jaime is pestered by a type of ghost she has never encounted. With the help of Eve, Kristof, Jeremy and a new character, Hope, Jaime helps these ghosts.
No Humans Involved was more of a page turner than other books. Armstrong more fully developed characters from previous books. Jeremy, for instance. The reader learns a lot about Jeremy and why he is the way he is.
At the risk of sounding too much like a fan, this series just keeps getting better and better.
I had sort of decided that l wouldn’t write anything too bad about anyone but then I remembered … I write *this* blog for me, and me alone, so no worries.
This book was a first book but so badly done I can’t bring myself to read the rest of them. The plot was okay and I actually wasn’t sure of “whodunit” until close to the end but getting there was torturous. I kept reading thinking that perhaps it would get better. It didn’t.
I couldn’t do any better, but really, I can’t read any more of Jackson’s books. Sadly. I was hoping I’d found a new writer.
Elena is the only female werewolf. Werewolves are either born with the gene – and it’s only passed to boys – or bitten and women usually die. Except Elena. Elena was Bitten but she lived.
The pregnancy is troubling – there hasn’t been a werewolf pregnancy so no one knows what to expect. It would be an understatement to say she was bored witless, so when something comes up that requires her expertise – and seems harmless – she jumps at it.
Of course, it isn’t harmless. Elena inadvertently opens a time portal and a serial killer and 2 zombies are loose in Toronto. Elena, Clay and Jeremy stay in Toronto to try to send the serial killer and his zombies back. Along the way, they ask Zoe, a vampire, and Jaime, the necromancer, for help. For some reason, the serial killer and his zombies are targeting Elena specifically. The Pack and its friends have to find out why and what to do to close the time portal.
The ending is nearly saccharine but the reader – at least this reader – can’t help but cheer for Elena and Clay.
Eve Levine is a ghost. In “Industrial Magic” she makes a deal with The Fates and, if Paige and Lucas are returned to life, she’ll owe The Fates a favor. Now they’ve decided to call it in.
What they want seems to be impossible. The Nix, a demi-demon, has accidentally been let loose in the world. For, oh, several hundred years. She’s been nearly caught but has escaped. Eve’s task is to track her down and bring her in, so to speak. She’s scared witless but she isn’t alone: she has the help of Kris (who is her daughter’s father and the love of her life) and Tsriel, an angel.
The Afterlife, according to these books, is very different from what most of us think of as “Heaven.” Eve encounters various things: a pirate’s enclave and a school for poltergeists, for example. There is a version of what hell must be like but, in this case, was reserved for the worst among us: serial killers and like that.
The story goes back and forth between Nix and Eve, which can get confusing. I had to look back a few times to remember who this person or that person was. I have to say, as you can probably tell by the lackluster thoughts here, I didn’t really care for this book. I am a big fan of Armstrong’s but this one just didn’t thrill me.
On the plus side, we see more of Savannah, of Paige and Lucas (who got married between Industrial Magic and Haunted) and Jaime. Since Jaime is going to have her own book coming up, that’s a good thing.
I love surprises!
This afternoon, I got online to check my email. There, in my yahoo email, was a lovely surprise. I entered a contest on Bookreporter.com and won 2 new books! One of them is the newest (Certain Girls) by one of my favorite writers, Jennifer Weiner. The other is a Mary Higgins Clark book.
Besides the fact that I won books, I think they’re a cool website and if you’re a reader, you should go check ‘em out.
I’m always thrilled when I find a new writer who a) I think is amazing; b) who is writing a series, which I love; c) there are several books to the series before I find them; and d) whose writing gets better with each book. That describes Kelley Armstrong perfectly.
The Women of the Otherworld series is slightly different in that the narrator of each book changes. Some narrators have more than one book, but there are several. Armstrong does a good job of introducing the narrator at least a book in advance and then also characters from the other books show up. For example, Elena is the narrator in the first two books, Paige shows up in book 2, Paige is the narrator of books 3 and 4 but Elena is in both of those, though not as the focus of the story.
Industrial Magic is the second book narrated by Paige Winterborne, a witch. In this book, she and her boyfriend, sorcerer Lucas, are asked by Lucas’ father (a powerful Sorcerer leader) to investigate why supernatural teens are being killed. That’s all I can really tell you without spoiling the story for you.
What I CAN tell you is that the story is suspenseful yet is character-driven, there a couple of new characters that you’ll enjoy and one thing that is highly implausible – but then isn’t the entire concept?
Overall, I’d say this is the best of The Women of the Otherworld and I can’t wait to read the next!
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Book
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Narrator
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Bitten
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Elena
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Stolen
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Elena (Paige is introduced)
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Dime Store Magic
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Paige (Lucas and Eve are introduced)
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Industrial Magic
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Paige (More Lucas, more Eve, Jaime is introduced)
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Haunted
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Eve
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Broken
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Elena
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No Humans Involved
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Jaime
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Personal Demon
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Hope & Lucas
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Living with the Dead
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Robyn
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I tried to read this book. I got about 120 pages into it and decided I couldn’t finish. There are those who think it’s funny and clever, but I thought it was silly.
This is the 2nd time I’ve tried to read Piers Anthony. I guess he just isn’t for me.
