Category Archives: World of Books

JD Robb: Big Jack

World of Books October 28, 2010 Leave a comment

I really, really wish I could keep track of all the things that interest me. But as I’m learning, that is just not possible. or just not possible for me. I happened to miss this when it came out (although I believe it came out in an anthology) so I read it now as a standalone novel.

Sometimes I get amazed at the synchronicity at play in my life. I already talked about how I’m not really my 100% self these days, and this last Saturday, I was actually so down that not even the thought of reading a book could pick me up (and that is the worst thing that can happen to me, not being able to read). And that’s when I remembered I had a Eve and Rourke novel I haven’t yet read. That book was a life-saver. Not because it was brilliantly better than all other In Death novels but because that series has the capability of making me pick up a book even when I don’t feel like reading anything. I simply love the stories of Eve Dallas and Rourke. They are there for each other in the novels, and they are there for me when I need a pick-me-up.

The story revolves around a big diamond heist that happened sometime around now and in the book we are looking for a quarted of diamonds never found by going back and taking a look at what happened at the time of the robbery.

It’s a typical Dallas story with a crime that needs solving and of course gets solved. It’s really good how JD Robb (or Nora Roberts) gets these crimes to sometimes be terribly transparent who did them and sometimes completely non-transparent until Dallas lets us know who’s guilty.  But that is true to that line of work – not all crimes are equally difficult to solve.

And this is all the details I’m going to give. If you’re a fan of the series, it should be enough, if you never read a book from it, well, you really should and you better start at the beginning.

Are angels evil?!

World of Books October 10, 2010 Leave a comment

According to Danielle Trussoni, yes and no. Or, some of them might be since they are sociopathic in such extremes that it can’t be termed anything else. Then, again, if we talk about Nephilim, they aren’t angels strictly speaking, they are the children of Watchers and Daughters of Men so I guess they are only half-angelic? Have I lost you? If yes, go read Angelology, if not, well, go read it anyway. It’s definitely an interesting take on the problems of human kind.

The only problem I had with the book is that it took forever to get my bearings and to finally understand the origins of the problem. In the meantime, I got familiar with psalms, angel theory, apocriphal works and other religious texts connected with angels. It gets a bit complicated before it gets cleared because in the middle of the book you are taken to World War II and from there, for a bit to the times of Crusades. That was actually quite well written because I had to remember that that is not what the book is about and think back to what happened in the beginning.

I’m not really familiar with angel ranks or spheres, but that is how the book is portioned, 3 spheres and a choir (which works great as thematic parts of the book). There was a reference in the text regarding spheres and the choir but I didn’t give it much thought as it was hidden among all other information in there.

What I did give a lot of thought to (and anxious at that) was the question – is there going to be a second book coming out and how soon?! Because the end just leaves you hanging out there – or would that be flying out there? (shame on you Mrs Trussoni!). 🙂
The answer to that question is yes.

I know there’s a lot of talk about this book (it was translated quite quickly into Croatian and I see banners all over the place) and if you are seeing similarities with The Historian by E. Kostova, you’re not the only one. The only difference is, Angelology is in my opinion much better.

Laurell K. Hamilton: Bullet

World of Books October 8, 2010 Leave a comment

Who thought Mother of all Darkness was dead?!

I for one didn’t. I mean there’s no way they were going to kill her so easily. Turns out that was true and boy, is it going to be even more difficult killing her now.

But, they do have a plan by the end of the book, one that requires a lot of metaphysical pondering for us readers (I for one just went with the flow and didn’t try thinking it through). I mean it really sounded complicated who had what powers and how they kept each other in check, and who went behind whose back in order to keep thing relatively even and then who is going to get killed slowly and painfully because of what they did… Anyway, I just wanted to get to the action so I just read through it and didn’t try to find my way through the maze of political/metaphysical labyrinth.

One thing I can say for Mrs. Hamilton more than for any other author I’ve read is, she can sure take you a bit beyond your comfort level. Although I’m no longer surprised by that and it doesn’t deter me from finishing the book. 

At the beginning of the series, it was all the gore and gruesome killings with some incredibly awful creatures. Then it went into sex and we’re still in that territory but this time around, there are some man on man situations that might not be for everyone (and a bit girl with girl). Not much really and in my opinion not badly done. The one thing that surprised me though (and quite a lot as I still cannot really understand it but then again I could never understand Anita’s mind) is the fact that she doesn’t get jealous at one point in the book where I got the feeling it would be required. Although it’s best for everyone that she doesn’t.

I steered away from the Mother of all Darkness but there’s not much else to be sadi. After realizing the mess they are in, the rest of the book is about what needs to be done to deal with it. And at the end of it, almost everything is in place for the next book to take us to war.

Laurell K. Hamilton: Flirt

World of Books October 8, 2010 Leave a comment

I’ve been a bit disappointed when I first got that book but that was because it’s not the standard Anita Blake size. It’s a novella so I got to enjoy the excitement of Anita Blake’s life for only a third of the usual story. Oh well, at least I got some.

I’m going to give some spoilers so you know not to read on if you don’t want them. 🙂

I was a bit surprised to see that Anita got a bit more relaxed  in her dealings with men, so much so that she flirted a bit with a waiter until the bad stuff started happening.

This time there is no Mother of all Darkness (she got killed in the previous book, but I mean, who ever believed that was the end of it?) but Anita’s everyday work (raising zombies) is what gets her in trouble. Anyway, she is kidnapped and forced to cooperate unless she wants her lovers killed and I’m not going into details how it was all set up but it works. The group that kidnapped her took into account everything except the fact that she carries weretiger strain of  lycanthropy as well. That’s all I’m going to say on the subject.

The good thing about this book is that there’s not too much sex and Anita’s musings on how she’s a bad little Christian and battling with her own conscience. What needs to be done that everyone is safe, needs to be done, even though the consequences are a bit grey (to say the least).

Sabrina Jeffries: Only a Duke Will Do

World of Books September 30, 2010 Leave a comment

Sabrina Jeffries is along with S. Laurens, my favourite historical romance writer. I can always count on her books to make my day (in this genre, there are other writers who can do that as well).  I have to admit though that in this case I waited for quite a while to start reading this book, because the main characters have some history from another of Mrs. Jeffries novels and considering that, I had a problem seeing how that can be successfully resolved.

I was still a bit sceptical when I started reading it and realized that the Duke of Foxmoor was going to court Lousia under false pretenses. Ok, yes, as most of those types of characters, he tries to tell himself that it’s all not for love but passion and all for the good. I was shaking my head at the beginning when Simon agrees with the king to marry Lousia (king’s I think illegitimate daughter) in order for the king to make him a prime minister, of course, with Louisa never knowing of that agreement.

Well, I’m sure you can guess how that part went. 😉 Anyway, it turns out, I can understand why Simon acts the way he does, but my hat goes down to Louisa and her character. I know I am sometimes too proud for my own good so when she does some things in the name of love (and she reacts correctly in the situation), I kept thinking, ok, I would probably lose the love of my life (in that particular case) due to my own pride.

I know people treat romance novels like  something that is not good literature but it’s also a genre in which a writer can express his or her talent, and I’ve been proven once again that Sabrina Jeffries obviously has it. Her characters are always believable and their discussions lively, funny and you never know who is going to win which round.

Of course, I don’t think I’d love her novels so much if all the female characters weren’t such strong women.

Kresley Cole: Demon from the Dark

World of Books September 25, 2010 Comments: 3

I feel I have nothing new to say about Kresley Cole and her Immortals after Dark series. Everything has already been said by both me and other book bloggers.
But reading her books is just so much fun! 🙂 Although this time the male character sounded more like he came out from a Sherrilyn Kenyon’s book due to all the suffering he went through.

Anyway, this time around we meet some new factions in the world of immortals and this time, those are human.
One of the things I like about Kresley Cole is that I can never guess what’s going to happen next. Or at all. Ok, yes, I know in the end the couple is going to work out through their problems and end up together, but the road there – have no idea what’s it going to look like. And that makes me seriously happy.

I liked the characters, Carrow and Malkom both have some childhood problems to deal with (Malkom’s are a bit more tragic though). The sex scenes are steamy hot as usual, love between the characters is as strong as can be and the end hints at the war in the lore happening quite soon. I can’t wait to read the next installment, esepcially since I don’t know whose story is it going to be.

And on the end note, can I just say I am very thankful to Kresley and her publishing house for continuing to publish her work as paperbacks because those books are so great I keep wondering when they are going to want more money for them.

JD Robb: Fantasy in Death

World of Books September 18, 2010 Leave a comment
There’s not much left to be said about this series. I mean, this is book 30 (or over) in the series. I guess you can tell what I think of the series when I tell you I buy them regularly and have all of them. 🙂 Yes, I do spend way too much money on books. 😉

I don’t know if that happened to anyone else reading this book, although if you follow the series, I guess it was pretty obvious how the victims were killed in holo-rooms without any sign of breaking and entering. What I couldn’t guess in the beginning, but when Lt. Dallas pointed in that direction, I could see her reasoning but still couldn’t understand how is it possible people are so awful to each other? And this book came right after Danielle Steel’s concerning a sociopath (which is what the killer in this book is as well).

That’s actually some scary stuff when you think about it. Sociopaths are so great at adapting socially that you never know what goes inside until they break your spirit or kill you (depending on how sociopathic your person is). Of course, the In Death series have the killer kind since Eve works in homicide so she gets to discover who did it.

Anyway, all the characters we love are back and the relationships in Eve’s life just keep getting stronger. It’s been happening for a while and sort of behind her back so that one day she wakes up and realizes she has friends and she actually needs to nurture those friendships. She perhaps is not always sure how it’s done but her heart is in the right place and in the end it always works out as it should. I mean, her friends know her so they have a good idea how she will react in a given situation. That is just one of the things I got reminded of reading this book.

Danielle Steel: Matters of the Heart

World of Books September 12, 2010 Leave a comment

It’s been years since I read something by Danielle Steel (high school I think) so I was interested to read something again when the chance appeared in the form of a Summer reading challenge.

Well, I can certainly say the book was a surprise. I seem to remember her books having a happy end even though the characters usually face some kind of adversity. It’s not that this book has a sad ending but it’s not the traditional happy one. I’d say the book is not really a traditional Steel novel. I mean, when did she start writing scary stories?

Ok, so it’s not really a scary story but it got me a bit scared at one point.
I just wish there wasn’t a quote at the beginning of what a sociopath is – that kind of gave the story away and made me re-think if I want to read it because I was expecting a love story. And it is a love story but a scary one and one every woman should read (especially if wealthy and/or alone) because it warns of some human aspects we should all avoid.

At the beginning, I couldn’t see where the sociopath could appear from and then some situations started happening and I got worried a bit because almost all guys I know have a tendency to display some jealousy at the beginning of a realtionship and I was thinking to myself that it really can’t be described as a symptom of sociopathy but then things started getting a bit troublesome.

I think everyone should warn young girls/women about falling in love and going with everything their partner wants from them. You should always stick with your character and what you feel is right for yourself but I see how often women disregard that in the name of love. But love is/should be reciprocal and your partner should never ask of you something that you obviously don’t want to do. Or women making all the excuses for male behaviour. I don’t feel men try to understand women so much as we do them, but that’s another story.
Anyway, Hope (an extremely strong woman) goes through many difficult situations in life, only to culminate with the most dangerous one for her.

I’m sure if you cannot guess the end, it wouldn’t require much to get you on the right path so I’ll say it. Of course she deals with the situation in the end and I’m happy to say shows how it’s done for many people who might read this book. The greatest things in life are based on very simple ideas. And spiritual healing is something we should all learn how to do for ourselves – it probably will require some outside help (by that I mean talking to someone, even if that someone is imagined) and I did feel a bit inspired in the end of the book to face life with my head held high and with hope that being true to yourself will always bring the necessary outcome for one to grow and heal.

P.S. I feel like this review is completely scattered but I can’t re-write it. It just came out like that. 🙂

Sherrilyn Kenyon: Chronicles of Nick, Infinity

World of Books September 6, 2010 Leave a comment
Well, I can certainly count on Sherrilyn Kenyon for some good paranormal action. This one is YA but once you get hooked on an author, it doesn’t matter what type of book comes out if it’s on the level with previous ones. Ok, so I don’t love all of her books but I did enjoy many of the Dark Hunters books to keep on buying them and enjoying them.
And that brings me to Nick Gautier. I saw some reviews before I got my hands on my copy and most of the problems reviewers had with this book was lack of knowledge about the world where all this is happening. It is very true. While reading, I kept thinking how I know all the characters already Kyrian, Acheron, Simi, Nick’s mother, all the different paranormal factions, who squires are, etc.
I can see how it might detract from a complete reading experience.
Before you continue reading, some spoilers are ahead.

The Dark Hunter books are set in real time (I mean when they come out, that’s approximately the time they are happening). We get to know Nick as a grown man (not very grown, but no longer a teenager). And stuff happens to him in those books.

Here, we follow Nick when he is 14. I for one, couldn’t have guessed what Mrs Kenyon was going to do with the fact that it’s Nick’s childhood and I’m a bit scared where she’s going with it.
Because, you see, Nick is reaching through his adult persona (who is terribly powerful and can tip the balance of the world) to his teenage self in the hope of changing his own future. I love the premise because I know why would he want to do that and it will make his teenage life that much more interesting, but what happens to the world where Nick’s childhood is changed and all the Dark Hunter stories are already written and have happened. You change the life of one person and inevitably, everyone that person is connected to has to feel the backlash. So, that is what I’m scared of but I’m keeping my hopes up. So far I was never disappointed by Ms Kenyon (I could do with her characters not having to suffer so much but those are her stories to tell after all).

Now I’m off to check when is the  next Nick installment coming out. 🙂

Rick Riordan: Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian

World of Books September 1, 2010 Leave a comment
I have to admit, I kept postponing reading this book because I thought it wasn’t going to be that interesting (I kinda got that idea after finishing book 4). I was wrong. It was exactly the opposite of what happened with Keri Arthur in my previous post.

The action started right from the beginning, and Percy is 16 now (I think) so the tone is not light-hearted and people start getting killed from the get-go.
The story revolves around the prophecy that on his 16 birthday, a hero (child of an olympian god and mortal) will have to make a choice that will either destroy the Olympian gods or not. I won’t give details what else was missing from the prophecy in the previous books.
Anyway, I couldn’t guess where the story was going to go and especially how it was going to end. Ok, I could have guessed they were going to defeat the Titan Kronos but that is what everyone knew.

What I found interesting was that the end came with the possibility of some other important quests in the future. Now that I read this last installment, I’m actually happy with that possibility.

I hate it when I have an idea about what the book is going to be like and it’s obviously wrong. How many other books have I missed out on like that?