Books I’ve Read

Finished Appaloosa by Robert B. Parker. I read the sequel to this, Resolution, a few weeks ago and decided to read the first book. And hey, it’s a western. I love me some westerns. 😎

In this one, gunfighter Virgil Cole and his friend Everett Hitch are hired to be the law in the Old West town of Appaloosa and apprehend Randall Bragg, a ranch owner who killed the last marshal and his deputy. Along the way, there are shootouts, showdowns, and a tense skirmish with some Indians.

I thought Virgil and Everett waded through the bad guys a little too easily in Resolution, and I expected more of the same in Appaloosa. But I was pleasantly surprised. Appaloosa is a much better book than its sequel, and the two men are really challenged by Bragg and his various minions and machinations. But Virgil and Everett face everything with the stoic grit that’s the trademark of Parker’s characters.

The chapters are short, as always, and filled with Parker’s wry dialogue and bare-bones descriptions. But the story moves along at a fast clip, and the chapters where Virgil and Everett chase down the escaped Bragg are really terrific.

The only quibble I had was with Allie, the woman that Virgil falls for. To put it bluntly, Allie is a floozy who sleeps with whatever man can do the most for her at the present time. She takes up with Virgil, then makes a pass at Everett. She gets kidnapped by some men Bragg hired and sleeps with the leader. Then, near the end, Allie sleeps with Bragg after he regains control of the town from Virgil and Everett.

Virgil knows all about Allie’s affairs, but he just can’t seem to break away from her. People in dysfunctional relationships (particularly men in love with women like Allie) pop up quite often in Parker’s books. And I never understand why the men like Virgil don’t leave the women like Allie. But love is a powerful emotion that makes people do all sorts of interesting and crazy things. Which, I think, is Parker’s real point in the end.

So thumbs up.

Up next: Something from the TBR pile.

Books in my TBR pile: About 13.

Finished Ill Wind by Rachel Caine. This is the first book in her urban fantasy Weather Warden series. Or, as Wheezley puts it, a book that combines two of my favorite things — magic and the Weather Channel. Yeah, I like to watch the Weather Channel. Weird, I know, but that’s me. :cool: 

In this book, Joanne Baldwin is a weather warden, who keeps Mother Nature and her storms from being more destructive than they already are. Other wardens can control earth and fire, and keep them from getting out of hand. But Joanne’s got a problem. One of the other wardens infected her with a Demon Mark (parasite), and now she’s on the run from the whole warden organization, which also thinks she killed the other warden who infected her in the first place. The only person helping Joanne is David, a Djinn (think genie) who has his own mysterious motives …

I’d read a couple of Caine’s short stories about a pirate and his bride in the My Big Fat Supernatural anthologies. I absolutely loved her two short stories, and I had high hopes for Ill Wind. I really, really wanted to love it.

But I didn’t. Maybe my expectations were just too high. I liked this book, but I just didn’t love it the way I wanted to.

I thought the world building was really cool in this one. I’m a little burnt out on vampires and werewolves right now, so reading a book where people control the elements was a refreshing change. There’s also a lot of neat info about how weather/storms form, and watching Joanne use her magic to battle them was interesting. Joanne also has a thing for classic cars, and it was amusing to watch her baby her car, Delilah, who meets a rather tragic end.

Most of the plot involves Joanne driving cross-country to Oklahoma to try to contact an old friend to help her get rid of the Demon Mark, and it gives the book a sort of slice-of-life, Americana feel. And when’s the last time you read a book set in Oklahoma? I thought that was cool too.

However, I had a few quibbles. I would have liked to have seen more about the wardens and how the organization works. Caine gives us a few glimpses, but most of the book is about Joanne running away from the wardens. Also, I thought the narration was a little slow in places, as Joanne tells the reader about losing her virginity, hiking in Yellowstone, and going to Disney World with her mom. Every aside story Joanne tells is important, but they always made me impatient to get back to the current action.

Also, there was a lot of stuff that wasn’t explained. The Djinn are very mysterious, powerful creatures, but that’s about all we learn about them. And I wasn’t sure what the difference between a Demon and a Demon Mark is. Are there demons? What do they want? Where do they come from? None of that was really explained. I know Caine had to save something for the sequels, but a little more clarification would have been good.

Then, there’s my big quibble — the chapters themselves. The chapters are really looong in this book, at least 50 pages or more a piece. There’s maybe seven or eight chapters in the whole book. This is a pet peeve of mine. I hate long chapters. They just don’t make me feel like I’m getting anywhere in a book. I know that’s irrational, but hey, that’s me too sometimes, for better or worse.  :cool: 

Although I did like the fact that each chapter features a “forecast,” so to speak, at the beginning. I always love little extras like that in a book.

Overall, this is a solid read. But still, I wanted the magic I felt when I read Caine’s pirate stories. Ah, well. Maybe she’ll write some more short stories about the pirate one day.

Still, if you’re looking for an urban fantasy that features something other than vampires and werewolves or if you’re a weather junkie like me, give Ill Wind a try. Thumbs up.

Up next: Appaloosa by Robert B. Parker.

Books in my TBR pile: About 13.

Finished Running Blind by Lee Child. This is the fourth book in his popular series about ex-military policeman Jack Reacher. (Can you tell I’m trying to get caught up on this series this summer?)

In this one, Reacher’s having a quiet dinner in New York before driving home — where he’s taken into custody by the FBI. Someone is murdering women in the military who were sexually harrassed — and Reacher knew some of the victims. The FBI basically blackmails Reacher into helping them search for the killer by threatening his girlfriend, Jodie. Reacher’s not happy about it, but he doesn’t have a choice. So he goes along with the FBI and decides to help them find the killer.

I can always count on Child for a good read that’s part mystery, part thriller. Running Blind doesn’t disappoint. This is another quick-paced, tightly plotted read. I wouldn’t have guessed who the killer was at all if I hadn’t peeked at the last chapter. But how Reacher figures it out is still really cool. Instead of using the FBI profile, he relies on himself — and his own common sense.

That being said, the only quibble I have with the book is that perhaps Reacher is too perfect a character. Too strong, too smart, too ingenuis. Nobody lays a finger on him in this one, and he wiggles out from underneath the FBI with little effort. Even James Bond got the crap beat out of him on occasion or was betrayed by someone he thought was a friend. Not Reacher. He never seems to make a mistake. It’s fun to read, but the implausibility of it pulled me out of the story from time to time.

Also, Child makes the FBI out to be a malevolent organization that’s only interested in protecting itself — no matter what. The lengths they go to to control Reacher and try to make him out as the killer at the end are frightening. I hope the bureau doesn’t really operate that way in real life. Shiver.

But overall, thumbs up.

Up next: Ill Wind by Rachel Caine.

Books in my TBR pile: About 13.

Finished Full Moon Rising by Keri Arthur. This is the first book in her Guardian series. I’ve heard a lot of people buzzing about Arthur (and someone, I think Chasity, recommended her on the blog) so I decided to try her book.

Riley Jensen is a half-vampire, half-werewolf in Australia who works for the Directorate of Other Races as an assistant, instead of being a full-fledged guardian like her twin brother Rhoan. But when Rhoan goes missing, Riley sets out to find him. Coming to her aid is the sexy vampire Quinn. But there’s more to Rhoan’s disappearance than meets the eye, and soon Riley is trying to shut down an illegal cloning operation and deal with her squabbling werewolf lovers and her attraction to Quinn.

The world building is interesting and well-done in this book. You don’t see many books set in Australia, and I really liked the descriptions of the country (although I wish there had been more of them.) I also liked some of the secondary characters, particularly Riley’s vampire boss Jack, who sees her potential and wants her to become a guardian. (Riley protests through the whole book that she doesn’t want the job, but then proceeds to act exactly like a guardian. That got annoying after a while).

But I had some major problems with this book. Mainly, the whole werewolf culture. The wolves suffer from moon heat once a month, and their bodies compel them to mate. Most of the wolves have multiple lovers to help them deal with this, and Riley is no exception. She has two lovers at the beginning of the book, and she also sleeps with Quinn several times as well. Not my cup of tea, but I could accept that.

But what got me was the end of the book. At one point, Riley is basically being raped by one of her former lovers. Her mind knows this, but her body is still enjoying it because of the moon heat. She’s being raped, and she’s actually leaning into the guy’s touch, needing more. Ugh. Not for me.

Also, several times during the book, Riley mentions that she hopes she finds her soulmate soon. It made me wonder whether or not she would continue with the multiple lovers after she does find her soulmate. Does anyone know if that’s explained in later books? Just curious. Because it seems to me the purpose of a soulmate is to be exclusive. But maybe I’m wrong.

Overall, I thought Riley was a pretty cool character. She’s strong, confident, and not afraid to do what needs to be done. But I also thought she missed some obvious clues and made some dumb choices. For example, one of her lovers gives her some champagne, and then Riley promptly passes out. But later, it doesn’t seem to occur to her that she’s been drugged — and then she goes back to meet and have sex with the guy again.

Also, the reader never discovers who the big bad guy is who’s pulling the strings on the cloning operation. We’re just told it’s someone Riley knows. That also annoyed me a little bit. I would have liked more info on who it was.

One of the folks in my book group has read several of the Guardian books, and we talked about Full Moon Rising. While my friend enjoys the series, she summed it up by saying, “I like it, but it doesn’t seem like Riley gets a lot done because she always has to stop and have sex.” I think that’s a fair summary.

There are things I liked about this book. The Austrialian setting, the world building, Riley’s strength and confidence. But I have to give it a thumbs down because of the rape scene. I just don’t like books where women are victimized like that. 

Up next: Running Blind by Lee Child.

Books in to TBR pile: About 14.

What about you guys? Anyone read anything good over the holiday weekend?

Finished Dark Dreamers, which contains novellas by Christine Feehan and Marjorie M. Liu.

Feehan’s novella, Dark Dream, is one of her Carpathian (vampire) stories. I’d never read a Carpathian story before and was interested in trying one. Basically, Feehan’s vampires slowly go insane until their meet their lifemate, which is the only thing that can keep them from turning evil. In this one, warrior Falcon has to protect his lifemate Sara from a vampire who’s been stalking her for years.

Liu’s novella, A Dream of Stone and Shadow, is set in her Dirk & Steele world. In this one, Charlie, a gargoyle, has to convince D&S agent Aggie to rescue a girl who’s being abused. A bit of a problem, since Charlie is currently being held captive by an evil witch and can only appear as a shadowy form to Aggie.

Of the two stories, I liked Liu’s better. I actually think this shorter format worked better than some of her longer books that I’ve read. Liu got right down to the action, and Charlie was a great hero. Funny, warm, caring. He was just cool. I also liked Aggie, who kicked butt right alongside Liu’s other characters. The only quibble I had were the sex scenes. I’m still trying to wrap my mind around how Charlie and Aggie could have sex while he was in shadow form, but oh well. Didn’t throw me off that much.

Feehan’s story felt very Gothic to me, with an old-fashioned voice to match. Nothing wrong with that, but I’ve never been a huge fan of Gothic stories. I’m probably the only person alive who doesn’t like Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre, and that’s what Feehan’s story reminded me of. Also, I’m a little tired of the soulmate story line. It’s just not something that works for me. That being said, I did enjoy the last half of the story, as Sara and Falcon try to outwit the vampire stalking her.

If you’re a Feehan or Liu fan, you’ll want to pick up this book. Both stories are a nice, quick introduction to their larger worlds. Thumbs up.

Up next: Full Moon Rising by Keri Arthur.

Books in my TBR pile: About 15.