WackyAki's Books: The Good, The Bad, The Horrendous

I'm not sure how I feel about this book. It took me an awful long time to finish it.

Plus, parts of it were downright boring and the whole thing with how main character A felt about partially main character B?

No.

There was nothing... there. I've read trashy relationships that do a better job.

But I have to say that the whole concept was interesting.

Too bad the prose didn't match up to it.

So... there are a lot of vampire books out there.

The Twilight series doesn't count.

Nor does The Dark Heroine, or the Marked series.

But there are a lot of vampire books and series out there.

This is one of my favorites.

I discovered Jeaniene Frost when my mother showed me this book. I shrugged it off, thinking, another vampire book. Blah.

Then I read Once Burned, a spin-off of the Night Huntress Series.

Hello, Vlad!

Then I went back and bought this book.

Hello sinfully sexy Bones! Hello Catherine (Cat) Crawfield-- a farmers grandaughter who was born half vampire.

Yeah, I know. Everyone just stares and says the same thing: Vampires can't reproduce, duh.

And this isn't Vampire Hunter D!

Well... yes, normally vampires can't reproduce, and yes, I know that this isn't Vampire Hunter D.

But see, the creep that fathered Cat wasn't dead very long when he "raped" Cat's mother and impregnated her. (See, as you later learn, it wasn't really rape.) So like it or not, Cat's half-vampire.

And thanks to her mother who instilled within her that all vampires are evil bloodsuckers, Cat made it her mission to kill every last one of them.

I'd like to say that then she met Bones and it changed, but the fact is, even Bones couldn't actually change that about her. But he did train her after she proved that she was what she said she was.

And for a while, they worked together until she was given an ultimatum that takes her away from Bones for a couple of years. Remember, it's a series.

My thoughts? This book was excellent. One of the truly good vampire novels I've read.

I did like this book.

I did.

For me, however, it was missing a conflict, something to keep me from putting it down. And what conflict there was came at too late a period for me.

It's so hard to write the second in a series or trilogy and make it as good as it's preceding novel.

I think this is the only second novel I've read that I actually liked and can say is as good as the one it follows.

If you liked Splintered, then you will like Unhinged.

I would say my only bone of contention-- and I see this in just about every author nowadays-- is using the title in the text of the story, somehow.

I'm not really a bit fan of Alice in Wonderland, but I really liked this book!

I sincerely adored the characters, the magic, the mix of their world versus our world.

And Morpheus.

Oh, Morpheus, you were my favorite character.

(Yes, I probably say that about all the hot guys, but still)

Take a romp through wonderland as a descendant of the original Alice, correcting all the mistakes the original Alice made.

Alyssa is a descendant of the original Alice Liddel, the one that Lewis Carol wrote his infamous novel about. Now Alyssa must go down the rabbit hole, put her ancestors mistakes to right, and bring peace to Wonderland.

But as always... things aren't what they seem.

At all.

Especially the descendant business.

It was cute.

Totally predictable, but cute.

"My name is Gin, and I kill people."

Well, isn't that a wonderful way of getting your reader's attention? I mean seriously. 

So what if Gin was in an asylum at the time she said it? She meant every word of it. Gin's an assassin known as The Spider because her rune is in the shape of a spider-- a creature that means patience and Gin is probably one of the most patient characters-- and deadliest-- that I've ever come across in a book.

As a main character, Gin is so awesomely self-sufficient and independent. It's really hard to come across a strong character-- a strong female character that's not a Bella Swan-esque ditz and totally dependent on a man for everything. 

For anyone who'd love to bury Bella Swan with a few stakes in her heart because of how annoying she is, this book is for you. Too bad I'd never be able to afford Gin Blanco to take out the Bella Swan's from the literary world. =( But that's life, I guess. 

I would, however, like to know more about the runes that Estep is talking about. 

You know, I kept seeing the title for the fourth in this series Archangel's Blade as a recommendation on Barnes and Nobles-- you know, the recommendations after you buy a book of a certain genre, they not-so-subtly nudge you to buy another book and waste more money. 

It's a common ploy. Retail does it all the damn time.

So... I bit the bullet. I bought it from iBooks, the first one where Elena meets Raphael while tracking a blood-born angel named Uram.

See, in this world, arch angels rule different quadrants of the world. The Archangel Raphael (who is an actual archangel according to Judeo-Christian views) is the ruler of North America. And it doesn't hurt that Raphael is sexy as sin. 

The archangels that rule the world are grouped together in a cadre. This is where they meet to make decision and generally talk. The problem that brings Elena into the picture is that the Archangel Uram has gone mad with the toxins in his body that hadn't been drained. The toxins have to be drained or the angel will lose his or her sanity. It's not explained in this book about this toxin other than this is what creates vampires-- not the usual blood drain, etc. 

Of course she and Raphael get together, too. 

My thoughts? I liked this book. I truly enjoyed it. It was sexy, hot, fun, and had a plot that was actually original. I was hesitant at first, but the plot gripped me, wouldn't let me go, and I've read every other book since and I'm eagerly waiting for the seventh book so I can preorder it. 

So this book is the last of the Shadow Grail series that Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill co-authored. 

This book disappointed me on several levels beyond its predictability. I would have liked to see more of Merlin, or his internet alter-ego, everything was strangely ho-hum with the Shadow Knights, and being reincarnated from Arthur and his table? 

Yeah, not so much. 

And what annoyed me probably the absolute most was seeing all the other books and television shows they named and in their own way made fun of. I mean, Hunger Games, I could sort of see. The other series? Not really.

It was also strangely anticlimactic at the end. The alternate persona's like their legendary weapons just poofed and left. That's not really how reincarnation works, you know. 

Anyhow, I did enjoy the series. I just wish it hadn't been so predictable with the ending book.