Showing posts with label Bantam Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bantam Books. Show all posts

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Challenge Review: No Humans Involved by Kelley Armstrong

Title: No Humans Involved
Series: Women of the Otherworld #7
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Genre: Supernatural Fiction, Urban Fantasy Fiction
Elements: Necromancers, Werewolves, Ghosts, Witches, Demons, Sorcerers, Angels
Publisher: Bantam Books, Random House Inc.
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 505 Pages
ISBN: 978-0-553-58837-8
Release Date: February 26, 2008
Source: Borrowed from Wentworth Library
Rating: 5/5

Tagline(s): ~NONE~

Summary: It's the most anticipated reality television event of the season: three spiritualists gathered together in one house to raise the ghost of Marilyn Monroe. For celebrity medium Jaime Vegas, it's her best shot at the celebrity holy grail: a TV show of her own. Because, unlike her colleagues, who are more style than substance, Jaime is the real thing.

Yet reluctant to upstage her fellow spiritualists, Jaime supresses her talents, as she has always done. But something is lurking in the gardens behind the house: trapped spirits without a voice. And for the first time, Jaime understands what it means to be haunted. When events culminate in a psychic showdown, she must use her darkest power to defeat a shocking enemy--one whose force comes from the last realm she expected....

Review:

Jaime Vegas is a necromancer with power over the dead. Life from death, she can raise the dead and control them as she wishes. The darkest power any supernatural can wield. But the legacy of necromancy is madness, and Jaime has seen this madness in other necromancers first hand.

No Humans Involved begins with a young man named Brendon, who left home to make it as an actor in L.A. Walking the streets at night, Brendon is picked up by a couple who seem to want to give him food and a warm place for the night. But while in their home, he overhears them talking about texts, rituals, and the amount of suffering needed. When Brendan tells them that he wants to leave, the woman drugs him and the group proceeds to set him on fire.

This is the first of many glimpses we have into this group and their atrocious rituals. This group first came to Jaime's attention when a ghost made physical contact with her on the set of a reality TV show she's taking part in. These ghosts have damaged souls that are trapped between dimensions, unable to step into ours or cross over into the other. It doesn't take Jaime long to realize by the ghosts actions that these are the ghosts of children.

Jaime's search for this group overshadows the whole reality show things, as we only really see anything from the set in between the events of Jaime's investigation. She has help from Jeremy Danvers, alpha of the werewolf Pack; Eve Levine and Kristof Nast; eudemon Aratron; and half-demon Hope Adams. Everyone (well, not Aratron) on this team is outraged that this group would kill innocent children for its rituals and in such horrible ways, and this makes them the perfect people to bring this group down.

Aside from Jaime's investigation, we are shown pieces of her past and Jeremy's as well. We learn of Jaime's relationship (or lack thereof) with her mother and the pressures she put on Jaime to make it on TV. Aratron brings up the deal she made with a demon in the past to become famous. Jeremy's past with his father is brought up, how Jeremy had to clean up his father's kills, and how his father tried to mold Clay into the son he always wanted the Jeremy wasn't. There was definitely no love lost between them. There is also the interesting little tidbit about the runes that pop into his head, as well as the visions and sensing no normal werewolf has--Jaime believes these came from his mother. Though we are given these little snippets into their respective pasts, there is still enough mystery surrounding Jaime ans Jeremy to keep it interesting.

If you've read the previous books in the Women of the Otherworld series, you know that Jaime's got it bad for Jeremy. It's been 4 years since they first met and Jeremy is finally showing interest. But Jaime isn't going to give him what he wants without having a little fun first. Jaime has waited 4 years for Jeremy to take notice, so she makes him wait for it and performs a little tease to get him all wound up. Jaime ans Jeremy totally work as a couple and it was great to finally see them together. Jaime can be a firecracker when she wants to be ans Jeremy's reserve off-sets that perfectly. They aren't together for very long in No Humans Involved, but I'm definitely left wanting to see more between them.

Like with Haunted, Eve's story, it was great reading Jaime's story in No Humans Involved and getting better insight into her character. The next book in the series is Hope's story. What little we learn of her in this book has left me curious to learn more about her in Personal Demon.

Book Trailer:



About this Author:

Kelley Armstrong has been telling stories since before she could write. Her earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a story about girls and dolls, hers would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to her teachers' dismay. All efforts to make her produce "normal" stories failed.

Today, she continues to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in her basement writing dungeon. She's the author of the NYT-bestselling "Women of the Otherworld" paranormal suspense series and "Darkest Powers" young adult urban fantasy trilogy, as well as the Nadia Stafford crime series. Armstrong lives in southwestern Ontario with her husband, kids and far too many pets.









PART OF....

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Challenge Review: Dime Store Magic by Kelley Armstrong

Title: Dime Store Magic
Series: Women of the Otherworld #3
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Genre: Supernatural Fictions, Urban Fantasy Fiction
Elements: Werewolves, Witches, Demons, Sorcerers, Necromancers, Ghosts
Publisher: Bantam Books, Random House Inc.
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 414 Pages
ISBN: 978-0-553-58706-7
Release Date: April 27, 2004
Source: Borrowed from Wentworth Library
Rating: 4/5

Tagline(s): ~NONE~

Summary: Paige Winterbourne was always either too young or too rebellious to succeed her mother as leader of one of the world's most powerful elite organizations--the American Coven of Witches. Now that she is twenty-three and her mother is dead, the Elders can no longer deny her. But even Paige's wildest antics can't hold a candle to those of her new charge--an orphan who is all too willing to use her budding powers for evil...and evil is all too willing to claim her. For this girl is being pursued by a dark faction of the supernatural underground. They are a vicious group who will do anything to woo the young, malleable, and extremely powerful neophyte, including commit murder--and frame Paige for the crime. It's an initiation into adulthood, womanhood, and the brutal side of magic that Paige will have to do everything within her power to make sure they both survive.

Review:

Kelley Armstrong introduces a new heroine in Dime Store Magic. Paige Winterbourne is the 23-year-old leader of the American Coven of Witches. We first met her in the second book in the Women of the Otherworld series, Stolen. Due to events in Stolen, Paige also gained custody of 13-year-old neophyte witch, Savannah Levine. Paige has a lot on her plate with an extremely talented ward, an unsupportive coven, old and new enemies surfacing, protestors in her front yard (and naked Wiccans in her back yard), and a sorcerer with good intentions; how can such a young leader come out on top?

Leah is back--and she's brought the Nast Cabal with her. Determined to gain custody of Savannah, Leah has gone to Savannah's biological father, Kristof Nast. What the cabals value most is money and power, and with Savannah's raw talent they can gain A LOT of power over the other cabals. And they will do anything to get what they want--ANYTHING.

But Paige and Savannah don't have to combat these forces alone. Help has shown up in the form of 25-year-old Lucas Cortez. He's young for a lawyer, just out of school, and he just happens to be a sorcerer. But not just any sorcerer--the illegitimate son and heir of the Cortez Cabal. The cabal world sees Lucas's idealism as rebellion--a rebellion that he'll eventually grow out of and take his place as heir. But no one, no matter what they say, can deny his noble intentions. The fact that Lucas wants to fight the evils of the cabal world and his inside knowledge on how they operate makes him a valuable ally.

I wasn't sure how I would like Dime Store Magic because I really liked Elena as the heroine of the first two books, Bitten and Stolen. I'm always wary when the main character changes, and to be honest, I didn't like Paige in the beginning of Dime Store Magic. But as the story went along Paige really grew on me and I came to like her in the end. Savannah is just really fun. She's spunky and confident. I liked her moments of maturity. Her level of maturity is certain situations is uncommon in someone her age. I think it would be really interesting to read from her POV. I absolutely loved Lucas. He's kind of nerdy and speaks way too formally, but I liked how genuine he was--in both his intentions and his sorcery. I also liked that he's trying to improve the world he was born into.

In Dime Store Magic we are introduced to the cabal world and it's operation. The cabals are like the mob or yakuza of the supernatural world, but more like a corporation with the main family of sorcerers leading the cabal. And below the sorcerer family are half-demons, necromancers, shamans, and any other paranormal; except werewolves and vampire--they won't hire anyone who could possibly eat them. There is a lot more to the cabals and how they work, but it gets kind of complicated, so it would be better for you to read the book for yourself to get the gist.

Not only do we learn about the intricacies of the cabals, but we also learn more about half-demons and a little of the history of the Salem Witch Trials.

One of my favorite moments was when Lucas came to tell Paige of the Wiccans in her back yard--the naked ("skyclad") Wiccans. Just Lucas and Paige's reactions to the situation were hilarious. It was a great tension-breaker that was really needed, and really entertaining to boot.

I also liked that Paige and Lucas's relationship happened in a natural way (as natural as you can get with a witch and sorcerer who are supposed to be mortal enemies, anyway). It wasn't rushed and at times it seemed like nothing was ever going to happen. The fact the Paige is a witch and Lucas is a sorcerer put a wedge between them in the beginning. But once Paige decided to trust Lucas, him being a sorcerer ceased to matter. It was fragile and genuine, and that made it beautiful.

I can't wait to read more of the Women of the Otherworld series. Industrial Magic brings us Paige and Lucas trying to stop a serial killer from killing cabal teenagers.

About this Author: 

Kelley Armstrong has been telling stories since before she could write. Her earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a story about girls and dolls, hers would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to her teachers' dismay. All efforts to make her produce "normal" stories failed.

Today, she continues to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in her basement writing dungeon. She's the author of the NYT-bestselling "Women of the Otherworld" paranormal suspense series and "Darkest Powers" young adult urban fantasy trilogy, as well as the Nadia Stafford crime series. Armstrong lives in southwestern Ontario with her husband, kids and far too many pets.







CHALLENGE: MONTH THREE
DIME STORE MAGIC BY KELLEY ARMSTRONG