books and stuff

Update on books I've been reading.

Finished the books I had on the weather warden series. Windfall and Firestorm both cracking.  I zipped through them because they begged to be read and quickly.  The pace which was already break-neck speed went up another notch and its completely flat out with very little respite from the dangers that are besetting our heroine Joanne on all sides.

As I've previously stated the novels are a lot of fun and have been very enjoyable. There is a further book in the series that I don't have that I will have to seek out at some point because I need to know how the sequence ends.  It is a very inventive series of books and highly addictive.

Following on from that I realised that I had been given the 4th book in the Succubus series: Succubus Heat by Richelle Mead.  I intently disliked the third book in the sequence but the fourth one was rather good.  I think it is like the star trek films and the even number ones are better than the odd numbered ones.

I'm caught up on those which left me with a quandary, what to read next.  I've been eyeing the Kerri Arthur Books for a while so I'm sinking my fangs into Full Moon Rising.

Also in order not to be boring I might mix up the series a little.  I find it hard to write about the same author in spurts the way I've had to.  Especially if I'm reading a series I feel like I'm being repetitive when talking about them. If this series is too addictive then I might not be able to help what I read but I'll see how it goes.

Books: Succubus Nights and Succubus Dreams

Succubus Nights

Having had an attack of the meh's about the first novel, the second took me by surprise with just how good it was.  Far more entertaining and it seemed to hang together better.  It started to address some of the flaws that the first book had and it was good.   Georgina Kincaid was less irritating and supah speshal and was far more likable.

The pacing was good and I really enjoyed.

Succubus Dreams

With good vibes from the second book I really looked forward to the third one, and was disappointed. 
Maybe it's like Star Trek films and only the even number books are entertaining.

What got me, was the lead character's attitude and the drama she generates.  Obviously the protagonist has to generate drama but meh it didn't do it for me.  I found her annoying and in a number of ways incredibly selfish.

Also the relationship with Seth. IDEK I can only assume that Richelle Mead thought that the readers would think it sweet that Seth Calls her Thetis and in a way it is a creature from mythology who was a shape shifter and so is she. But I've been on the recieving end of someone bestowing a new name upon me and it wasn't done to be sweet, it was done to manipulate and control.

I don't think the relationship was written particularly well.



So for reading the first three books in the series I'm unlikely to read any more.

Book: Succubus Blues By Richelle Mead

In some ways I hate starting a new series of novels, I get submerged into the rules of that universe and I get miffed when I then have to change the rules. Silly I know but there you are. It’s me being lazy.

So I was coming at Succubus Blues from a disadvantage. The good news is that by the end of the novel I’d been more won round the bad news was it took me a while.

The premise is that Georgina Kincaid is a Succubus; she is not the demon you would expect, she’s actually kind of good and a lot tired of seducing good men to get her fix. There is her crux, by setting her sights on morally dubious men she doesn’t get her fix or not to the same extent. Enter Seth, her favourite author and all round good egg. He’s a really nice stable guy and she likes him but there’s the whole OMG-I-CAN’T-SLEEP-WITH-HIM-LEST-I-KILL-HIM! Thing. There are also other interests, Roman for instance.

Coupled with her predicament there is also the mystery, someone is killing immortals but who.

I don’t do spoilers, so I’ll stop talking about the plot and get on with things. If I’m honest the set up is more than a little cheesy. Georgina is a little bit of a Mary-Sue. The thing that I think makes me roll my eyes is the whole supahspeshal thing. Sure she’s a succubus and with her current morality it makes it hard for her.

But she’s surrounded by men, all of whom fancy her a bit, even her vampire friends, which is a by product of being a succubus, there are very few women in the book, none of them are characterised fully apart from Georgina.

Don’t let it put you off, it’s a perfectly adequate novel which was enjoyable to read, its just I do get somewhat irked at things like this.

Book: American Gods, Neil Gaiman

This book is epic, in all senses of the word.

Epic in scope, in length as a journeyman tale and the fact it features certain Norse deities.

It was a satisfying read, there were patterns which weave and present themselves in such ways which are so clever and you get to feel quite clever when you've worked them out. Well you do if you're me.

My main reservation is that I was quite underwhelmed by the novel.  I wonder that it is a tad overhyped.  It is beautifully written, but I didn't get sucked in, I couldn't quite believe and that made me sad because of all the books I want to believe in I wanted it to be this one.

Maybe I missed something, but I found it lacked something.

It's also long and on occasion there is a long long way between chapters which doesn't complement my style of reading. I still think its a good book, it just didn't get me burning up with the degree of enthusiasm I thought it would.

My next book is Richelle Mead's Succubus Blues