Evil & Malice: Save The World!
Evil & Malice: Save The World!
Category Archives: Fantasy
Kitty’s House of Horrors
The age of reality TV comes to Kitty’s world with an offer to bring her, and several other well-known supernaturals, together in a house with a skeptic for a period of time. Kitty’s House of Horrors (Kitty Norville, Book 7)
As the guests start settling in, strange things start happening – including murder. Soon, the safety escape route is gone as well and the contestants find themselves fighting for survival. This story places the novel in the horror camp as not everyone survives despite the combined power among the house’s inhabitants.
This is a worthy entry into the Kitty mythos. It acts as a universe expanding book where larger battles previously hinted at start to come to fruition. Some scenes are truly gory and may upset sensitive readers – but they are appropriate for the story.
I have noticed some folks complaining that there was no character development in this story. I have to disagree. I think it shows that Kitty is growing in her recognition of what it really means to be the Alpha and in charge of a pack – no matter how that pack may be defined.
Code Name : Hunter
At a recent science fiction convention I found a treasure. The creators of Code Name: Hunter – A Political Spell
The main characters are two special agents in an agency that seems loosely based on fictional accounts of MI5. “Max” Hunter is the lead agent with his partner Ruby. Though they are not the most refined of agents, they are sent on a diplomatic mission to bring back a much needed mage to help with wild magics that seem to be cropping up.
Astoria, the feudal society, is divided and there is a lot of internal intrigue between different magical factions. Some wish to bring their state into a more modern frame of mind, while others consider the small changes that have already occurred due to contact with Great Britain to be a threat to the survival of their nation. A very talented young mage is sent to be both an asset to the British issues with magic and a spy. Culture shock does ensue on all sides.
This graphic novel is filled with storylines for Ruby as well. All is not as it seems with her - or why she is being sent to Astoria in the first place. Of course, everyone starts focusing on Hunter as a key to the story since he is the chief in the duo. I, for one, am anxious for the next graphic novel to get more answers. (I’m trying to control my comic pull list!)
Code Name: Hunter – A Political Spell
Hex in High Heels
Jake’s past is finally catching up to him. His former pack has moved into the resort next door to town. His mother has set eyes up on the two witches who have lived there for at least a hundred years, Stasi and Blair. Of course, Blair is a more interesting prey as she seems to have encouraged an interest in Jake which his mother does not approve of at all.
Blair, of course, has different intentions. Matters are not helped when the town starts creating more magical trouble by hiring elves for their winter festival from the most disreputable supernatural temp agency around. The elves that show up are not as advertised, but Agnes, the town busybody, seems determined to bring the supernatural forces to heel much to the chagrin of Blair and Stasi.
Did I mention those loveable bunny slippers, Fluff and Puff are spending some quality time with Blair? This adds a whole new dimension of trouble with weres, elves, and witches running around.
Hex in High Heels
The Unwritten : Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity
What if everything you knew about yourself wasn’t the complete truth? Mike Carey and Peter Gross create a world where fiction literally comes to life in Unwritten Vol. 1: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity
A strange series of events involving sites of literary greatness start to make Tom start doubting that he is just a namesake. Especially when a mysterious woman starts claiming that he is Tommy Taylor and was sent to this world to protect his future defeat of his own villain.
The premise includes a very interesting take on our culture’s infatuation with celebrity – no matter how it comes. The cast of supporting characters do seem to know more than they are letting on, but there is never really certainty that can’t be explained away as a dream or nightmare.
The story transitions to Rudyard Kipling, Mark Twain, and other giants of the late 19th and early 20th century. Authors who shaped the way the English speaking world thought of itself. This series is dark in its implications. In that, it imitates those great masters of literature in the viewpoint they left in their later works.
This book is for mature readers who enjoy seeing the classic “storyteller as god” motif in a new light.
Cast In Shadow
Some books are hard to put down. A very few books are so good that you can’t put them down. The house is falling apart around you, but you must know what is going to happen next to Kaylin – the foundling from Lord Nightshade’s crime-ridden fief.
All who have been given this book have cursed – in a loving way – the friend who gave it to us. Some of us were warned that husbands and wives actually fought over who got to read the next in the series first. I resisted to no avail. And, yes, everything fell down around me – including my blog as I went through the first four books. I am resisting the fifth until I catch up on all of my reviews.
What kind of novel engrossed hardened science fiction and fantasy fans with a literary bent to such a degree that our ravenous reading would not be satieted? A world with a variety of species that help to draw an engaging, mysterious, and yet familiar world. The opening scene? The young cop, Kaylin, getting chewed out for being late by her sergeant – who happens to be a leonide (exactly what it sounds like) – even as his heart isn’t into it. He knows she spent the night before trying to save the lives of women giving birth as well as their infants.
From this beginning we are introduced to the Aerian Hawklord (the Hawks being one division of law enforcement in this multi-species world) who decided to take a chance on a very young Kaylin when she came in from Nightshade with visions of being a Hawk. Here we learn that she has been assigned to work with someone from the Imperial Court – ruled by a real dragon – to solve a case in the world she left behind. The world she left behind includes a man with whom she shares a secret – and who has kept secrets from her – like being a wolf in this world’s police. The one’s who do what others cannot or will not.
Somehow this world works smoothly with humans, Barrani (a haughty race reminiscent of, but unlike, Tolkien’s elves), Tha’alani, Aerians, and Dragons being policed by three branches of the Halls of Law. The characters are realistically drawn in that the idiocy of the 18 year old or so Kaylin is very believable in her disdain for the orders she doesn’t understand or agree with. She is much like most women that age – part surly teenager and part mature woman with both parts warring to win out. Even the characters around her are quite believable as those who care about her but want to slap her upside the head for being a complete idiot in the way only the young adult can be.
If you enjoy a light fantasy with epic overtones, you can stand everything going into disarray behind you, I can only recommend Cast in Shadow (The Chronicles of Elantra, Book 1)
“Discovering” World of Warcraft
I resisted for years.
My brother started MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) in the days of Evercrack, er, Everquest.
Everyone I interact with on Ravelry seems to play World of Warcraft.
I have known many players of Heroes and WoW. And even dabbled in tabletop gaming.
It really was only a matter of time. Like water, it gradually kept eating away at my resistance until, like stone, my resistance was gone.
I am now playing a Tauren Druid, Tauren Warrior, Blood Elf Mage, and an Orc Warlock. I am anxiously awaiting the day when Cataclysm comes out so I can play a Goblin Rogue.
I have already installed a plethora of Add-Ons to help me in the game.
I am even in a guild – Renowned Vanquishers on Hydraxis.
It really was just a matter of time. I am a media lover, and gaming is the single biggest money generator in the media market. More money is made in gaming than in any other form of media. It is, after all, all about the story.
So, anyone else out there succumb to the temptation? And, if so, how did you find yourself there?
Marvel Adventures The Avengers Volume 2: Mischief Digest (New Printing) (v. 2)
Marvel Adventures The Avengers Volume 2: Mischief Digest (New Printing) (v. 2)
Marvel Adventures The Avengers Volume 2: Mischief Digest (New Printing) (v. 2)
This digest is just what the doctor ordered in a world of badly written Marvel Avengers’ comics. I would choose this line over Ultimate any day.
La Muse (Graphic Novel)
Susan uses her powers to create a perfect world – at least her vision of it. The joy of the book is in watching so many that should get their comeuppance get it. Everyone from evil businessman to sleazy politicians learn that they are no longer in power. Even the ‘secret’ government gets theirs from Susan.
Now, there is one glitch when Susan is called in front of her parent’s people for fixing everything. This happening calls her parents to what she is doing and she and Libby find themselves confronting their folks while trying to protect reality. Libby reveals a few secrets of her own.
La Muse is a fun romp in wish fulfillment. This is not a serious book but a nice commentary of what could be done if someone was truly omnipotent.
Leader of the Pack
In the last book we were left wondering what exactly is Mark, her client/boyfriend – and boy do we find out. Why Sophie and Heath fell into another’s arms makes a lot more sense once the identity of Mark is revealed – and what he wants from Sophie. It’s little wonder her mother disliked him from the start. We also were left wondering why Tom continued to lead Lindsay on – even this is answered to some degree in the latest book.
Leader of the Pack (Tales of an Urban Werewolf, Book 3)
I enjoyed this book but am a little confused by the number of people calling this a humorous book. I didn’t find it especially humorous, but I did find it a pleasant completion of the previous two books.