Book Review — Midnight Blue-Light Special

Title:  Midnight Blue-Light Special
Author:  Seanan McGuire
Genre:  Urban fantasy
Pages:  Paperback, 328
Publisher:  Daw Fantasy, March 5, 2013
ISBN:  978-0-7564-0792-6
Opening Lines:  "Verity stood with her hands folded in front of her and her feet turned out in first position, watching her father read her report card."

Rating

"Telepathic mathematicians. Chess-playing dragons. Bogeyman nightclub owners. Talking mice. The Price family has spent generations studying the monsters of the world, working to protect them from humanity—and to protect humanity from them. Verity Price is just trying to do her job, keeping the native cryptid population of Manhattan from getting into trouble, and doing a little ballroom dancing on the side. But her tenure on the East Coast is coming to an end, and she's still not sure what she wants to do with her life.

"Enter Dominic De Luca, an operative for the Covenant of St. George, and Verity's on-again, off-again boyfriend. When he tells her that the Covenant is sending a full team to assess how ready the city is for a purge, Verity finds herself between a rock and a hard place. Stay, and risk her almost-certain death, for flee, and leave the cryptids of New York with nothing between them and the Covenant.

"It's not the kind of choice that ever comes easy. With allies and enemies on every side, and no safe way to turn, it's going to take some quickstepping for Verity to waltz out of this one. There's just one question on everyone's mind. Is this the last dance for Verity Price?"

~ Jacket copy

This book is the second in the InCryptid series, so it was the next logical choice after finishing Discount Armageddon!

After the aftermath of the last book, Verity is finally settling into her new role at the Freakshow, her ever-changing relationship with the cryptid population of NYC, and trying to discover the true nature of her budding romance with Dominic. However, even though everything seems as though it is finally falling into place, Dominic tells her that the Covenant is coming into town to assess his work and field reports. He has been lying on them, and the Covenant is not convinced that he is going to reach a decision about a possible Purge.

Wanting to keep Verity safe, Dominic begs her to leave town and take any cryptid she can with her. But, being a Price girl, Verity is determined to keep the population of cryptids safe from the Covenant and try to convince them that a Purge is unnecessary. However, she questions where Dominic’s true loyalties lie, whether she can make it through this storm on her own, and keep the city safe.

This book was just as awesome, fun, and hilarious as the first book. McGuire was able to keep up the momentum and pace set in the previous book. Reading them one right after the other, I felt as though the transition was seamless between the two. Granted, time had passed; however, I didn’t feel as though I was lost or that she was skipping a lot of important stuff.

Verity did a lot of growing in the book. She was finally faced with making the decision between her dance career and following in the family business. While I will not tell her choice, it was definitely an adult and defining moment in her life. Further, she is starting to see that her cavalier attitude isn’t always a wise choice. Her actions—while surely that of a twenty-three-year-old—need to be thought out. I also appreciated seeing her inner turmoil concerning her relationship with Dominic. Even though she loved it, she was really forced to find her priorities.

It was interesting to add the familial element in this book. I really thought Uncle Mike’s character was neat. I will like to see him and her adopted grandmother in later books. He was needed to push the plot on; however, his role wasn’t huge.

I loved Istas! She was a neat minor character in the previous book; however, she really took on more of a major role in this one. Her talk about carnage, rat casserole, and her Gothic Lolita threads is absolutely priceless! I hope she is in future books, and that her character continues to develop.

The one thing I really didn’t like was when Sarah took over the narration. Granted, I understand the circumstances that brought it about; however, I didn’t like the plot device. For me, Sarah has always been a rather weak and boring character. In the first book, she had a few funny lines and unique quirks, but she never held my attention. I wish that McGuire had found some other way to tell that side of the story, or just didn’t include it. For a cuckoo especially, Sarah is just too damn whiny and annoying. That being said, in the end, she got a tiny bit neater.

The continued romance between Dominic and Verity should prove to be an interesting story. With her grandmother’s past, it was easy to see it coming. However, it didn’t take away from the romantic and “awww” factor!

For me, this book was another hit right out of the ballpark! Seanan, I need the next books STAT! If you haven’t read the first book, GO DO IT! These books take all of the best elements of the October Daye and Newsflesh series and combine them in an awesome, funny package.

Current Pages: 6379
Current Progress:

22/50 books

Book Review — Discount Armageddon

Title:  Discount Armageddon
Author:  Seanan McGuire
Genre:  Urban fantasy
Pages:  Paperback, 344
Publisher:  Daw Fantasy, March 6, 2012
ISBN:  978-0-7564-0713-1
Opening Lines:  "Verity Danced circles around the living room, her amateurish pirouettes and unsteady leaps accompanied by cheers and exultations from the horde of Aeslin mice perched on the back of the couch."

Rating

"Ghoulies. Ghosties. Long-legged beasties. Things that go bump in the night . . . and that's just the beginning. The Price family has spent generations studying the monsters of the world, working to protect them from humanity—and to protect humanity from them. Enter Verity Price. Despite being trained from birth as a crytozoologist, she'd rather dance a tango than tangle with a demon, and is spending a year in Manhattan while she pursues her career in professional ballroom dance.

"Sounds pretty simple, right? It would be, if it weren't for the talking mice, the telepathic mathematicians, the asbestos supermodels, and the trained monster-hunter send by the Price family's old enemies, the Covenant of St. George. To complicate matters further, local cryptids are disappearing, strange lizard-men are appearing in the sewers, and someone's spreading rumors about a dragon sleeping underneath the city . . .

"A lifetime of training isn't enough to prepare Verity for what's ahead—especially not for Dominic De Luca, the Covenant's newest operative. When a Price girl meets a Covenant boy, high stakes, high heels, and a lot of collateral damage are almost guaranteed."

~ Jacket copy

When this book first hit the shelves, my interest was most definitely piqued.  However, for whatever reason (or lack thereof) that possesses me while buying new books, this never made it off of the shelves and into my hands.  I kept kicking myself for the longest time, and decided to go on a quest to find it at used bookstores.  Unfortunately, everybody loved it!  A dear friend of mine, hearing my plight, packaged this (and the second book) up and sent it to me media mail!

Wanting to pursue a career in professional dance—and still completely torn as to whether she should continue in the family business—Verity gets permission to move to Manhattan on a trial run.  However, she has strict instructions to keep an eye on the local cryptid population.  However, that is easier said than done when a Covenant operative comes into town and local cryptid girls are disappearing.

Realizing that they are better as a team, Verity and Dominic team up to root out the reason behind these disappearances and follow the rumors of the last dragon to their source.  However, what the don't expect are the different players involved, the high stakes, and a budding romance.

I loved this book!  Granted, I would not classify it as earth-shattering prose or completely life-altering.  However, it was a fun and lighthearted read!  Honestly, sometimes you cannot go wrong with a light, funny book.  ^_^

Verity was a refreshing heroine.  Too many books out there have these insipid, dull, stupid, arrogant, and whiny heroines.  For me, Verity has none of these qualities.  In some ways, she reminds me of younger Anita Blake.  That being said, she doesn't have this overwhelming snarky quality to her, which has been overdone to death.  And, honestly, she is just plain cute!

As with the October Daye novels, McGuire has a lot of detail in this book and spends a lot of time world building.  However, it doesn't bog the reader down as much, and it is extremely successful.  With the various cryptid species and different locales in NYC, McGuire had to spend a certain amount of time describing things.  She did a good job of balancing these descriptions in the story and making them humorous.  Furthermore, since this is the first book in the series, she needs to set a lot of this up in advance.

For the most part, the characters were pretty well-rounded.  Dominic wasn't fleshed out nearly as much; however, some of that could be due to his continued character development and evolution.  Verity was puerile in a lot of ways, but that gave credence to her age and how green she truly was.  And, in a lot of ways, it made for a more enjoyable experience to watch her grow.

McGuire really pulls on a lot of folklore with her creatures, which makes for neat read.  However, one thing of note, Verity doesn't come into contact with too many non-sentient cryptids.  This might be due to the fact that they wouldn't make as interesting a story.  Either way, I didn't feel a lack.

On way or the other, this book was fun!  If you're looking for an escape and something outside of the normal urban fantasy genre, give this book a try.  You will find yourself roaring with laughter and occasionally snorting.

Favorite Lines

"'Telepaths have ethics?' Dominic's eyes narrowed, tone and posture united to convey his disbelief.
'My mother and I do,' said Sarah, letting her head settle against the back of the chair. 'We mostly got them from Babylon 5, but they still work.'"

"'What's to stop the populace from decrying you as a witch and rising against you?'
'I don't know. A couple hundred years of social evolution, combined with a general failure to believe in anything that doesn't have Wikipedia entry? Except most cryptids have Wikipedia entries these days, so that's maybe not such a good measuring stick. You know, most of the edits on the Sasquatch entry are actually made by Sasquatch? They think it's hysterical watching the human editors argue about whether or not to let one of their corrections stand.'"

Current Pages: 6051
Current Progress:

21/50 books

Book Review — A Local Habitation

Title:  A Local Habitation
Author:  Seanan McGuire
Genre:  Urban fantasy
Pages:  Paperback, 377
Published:  March 2010
Publisher:  Daw
ISBN:  978-0-7564-0596-0
Opening Lines:  "The last train out of San Francisco leaves at midnight; miss it and you're stuck until morning."

Rating:

"Toby Daye-a half-human, half-fae changeling-has been an outsider from birth. After getting burned by both sides of her heritage, Toby has denied the fae world, retreating to a "normal" life. Unfortunately for her, the Faerie world had other ideas...

"Now her liege, the Duke of the Shadowed Hills, has asked Toby to go to the County of Tamed Lightning to make sure all is well with his niece, Countess January O'Leary. It seems like a simple enough assignment-until Toby discovers that someone has begun murdering people close to January, and that if the killer isn't stopped, January may be the next victim."

~ Goodreads

After finishing Rosemary and Rue, I had to pick up this book to see what would happen in Toby Daye's continued adventures.  Unfortunately, our local library only has the first book it the series.  It's enough to whet my appetite, but not enough to fulfill it.  Needless to say, I ILLed a copy!

Toby is finally back doing her P.I. work.  She has been getting steady work and seems to be doing just fine.  However, Lord Sylvester, her liege, has decided her needs her to do a job.  He has been out of contact with his niece in a neighboring county for quite some time.  Since they usually talk on a regular basis and she isn't returning his calls, he is quite concerned.  However, to avoid a diplomatic incident, he cannot go check on her himself.  So he sends Toby to make sure she is alright.

Once in the county of Tamed Lightning, Toby find some very interesting things.  Not only is the world advancing in technology, but the Fae—especially Sylvester's niece—in Silicon Valley are taking it to a whole different level.  What she doesn't expect to find are mysterious murders, no way to trace the victims' blood, and the night-haunts refusing to take Fae bodies.

Armed with only Quentin, her wits, and Dare's knife, Toby must find out who is killing people, why the night-haunts are not coming for the bodies, and keep Sylvester's niece—and Quentin—alive.

Okay, this sounded like an interesting premise.  And it honestly could have been.  However, the book just fell flat.  I kept groaning at Toby's stupidity.  For someone who is supposed to be a pretty good P.I., the obvious can waltz by her in an evening gown with a sign around it's neck and she would still miss it!  Honestly, the phones and the weirdness between Terrie and Alex couldn't have been more transparent.  And, even though I couldn't be 100% sure, I had a suspicion about the night-haunts leaving the bodies.

Everything surrounding the computer jargon and methodology was jaw-dropping.  My husband, a systems administrator for over fifteen years, was just baffled and confounded.  He couldn't understand why a router needed these elaborate schematics.  Further, all of it seemed a little too farfetched even for someone not as computer savvy.  In addition, the whole reason behind the murders was another thing that was just too much. Really? Really?!

Aside from my issues with the technology, I did find April to be quite interesting.  The whole back story around her and how she was still alive was fairly creative.  My hat goes off to the author on that one.  Also, I felt she put some thought into the function and livelihood of the knowe.  That being said, she never went into much detail about it, so it was a little flat.

The book was needlessly too long.  A lot of the fat could have been trimmed, which would have made it a better book.  Yes, I understand that the knowe changes on the whim of the ruler; however, there has to be some way to navigate it.  Everyone else didn't seem to have a problem.  Besides, she never traveled that far.  Toby continuing to get lost, drinking endless amounts of coffee, and so on, was just too much repetition.  Did the reader need to be told every time she got lost? 

Throughout the book, I felt as though I was reading a book about a stupid, female form of Harry Dresden.  Not only is she a P.I. with dark hair and a trainee, but she also drives a damn Beetle!  Also, sustaining life-threatening injuries and being able to come back from the brink is classic Dresden.  Come on, we need a different P.I. archetype.

I really had a hard time getting traction in this book.  The parts with Tybalt were cute, and I enjoy him as a character  And some of the other characters could have been interesting, but they were never fleshed out.  Toby was too stupid and things were too farfetched to enjoy this book.  Further, it felt as though it was dragging until forty pages from the end.  It took some time to force myself to finish the book.  That being said, I will end up reading more in the series.  I've heard it gets better, and I am very curious to see what happens between Toby and Tybalt.

Current Pages: 5707
Current Progress:

20/50 books

Book Review — Rosemary and Rue

Title:  Rosemary and Rue
Author:  Seanan McGuire
Genre:  Urban fantasy
Pages:  Paperback, 346
Published:  September 1, 2009
Publisher:  DAW
ISBN:  978-0-7564-0571-7
Opening Lines:  "The phone was ringing.  Again."

Rating

"October 'Toby' Daye, a changeling who is half human and half fae, has been an outsider from birth. After getting burned by both sides of her heritage, Toby has denied the Faerie world, retreating to a "normal" life. Unfortunately for her, the Faerie world has other ideas...

"The murder of Countess Evening Winterrose pulls Toby back into the fae world. Unable to resist Evening's dying curse, which binds her to investigate, Toby must resume her former position as knight errant and renew old alliances. As she steps back into fae society, dealing with a cast of characters not entirely good or evil, she realizes that more than her own life will be forfeited if she cannot find Evening's killer."

~ Goodreads

This book has caught my attention many times; however, I never got around to reading it.  After an author friend of mine kept pestering me about Discount Armageddon, I decided to finally sit down and read this book.  Since our local library and used bookstores do not have the other series, this seemed like a good alternative.  Unfortunately, even though I know we own a copy, we couldn't find it!  Thank you, library, for having it on their shelves!

After spending fourteen years trapped by a curse and losing everything that is important to her, October "Toby" Daye receives an unexpected call from Evening Winterrose.  Even though Evening had tried to reconnect her with the Faerie community and get her PI license reinstated, Toby has done everything she can to stay away from that life.  Now, when her own life is on the line, Evening binds Toby with a curse that forces her to find the killer or bear the same fate.

Thus begins Toby's return to her Fae heritage, her life as a PI, and gives her the ability to claim her own destiny.

The beginning of this book was simply amazing!  There was no way to anticipate what would happen and how it would completely shape the rest of the story.  Even while this beginning was well written and astounding, I felt that the story kind of went downhill from there.  At the get go, Toby seemed to be a fairly sympathetic character and one people could like.  After her fourteen year curse is lifted, she just kind of becomes an observer in her own life.  Granted, I could understand suffer a major amount of depression after what she went through; however, I felt as though she didn't fight to regain her old life.  I also couldn't fully understand why she just kind of ran away from everything.  Yes, she disappointed her liege lord; however, running away was an extremely childish response to me.  And, if you get right down to it, she wasn't responsible for what happened to her.

For the most part, I didn't like most of the characters in the book.  Even Toby, the main character, was fairly one sided and flat.  There were points when she went beyond one dimension; however, that isn't enough to redeem a character.  McGuire introduced some interesting characters in this story, but she didn't do too much with them.  I have to wonder whether they will have bigger roles in later books.

It was obvious that McGuire lives in San Francisco.  It has been over two decades since I was last there; however, she was able to fully access my old memories of the locale.  She did an amazing job fleshing out the setting and making it real for the reader.  I appreciated how she made the fog almost it's own character!

The different Fae mythologies all working together was really interesting.  Most authors tend to pick on mythology and stay with it; however, McGuire was able to put them together with relative ease.  That being said, the pronunciation guide is wrong on how to pronounce kitsune . . .

Part way through the book, I really started to lose steam.  The beginning was amazing, the middle was rather bland, and the end started to bring it back.  For me, this book felt as though it was written relatively early in McGuire's career.  It also reminded me of the Dresden Files.  If you can get through the slow parts, there are some neat elements to this book, some interesting characters, and promising to be a good series. 

Current Pages: 4060
Current Progress:

16/50 books