This week’s recommendations are short and sweet. I didn’t have a lot of time for reading (sob!), but I did manage to get through a couple of books.
First, I read the next installment in Mary Janice Davidson’s “Undead” series called ” Undead and Unemployed.” I really just love this series and can’t wait to pick up the next installment. The heroine has a great sarcastic sense of humor and shares my love of fabulous shoes so what more could a girl ask for? Oh, I forgot the hot, hunky love interest and various steamy love scenes which, okay, are a BIT on the “romance novel” side for my taste, but at least there’s a plot going on to hold them together (are you listening Laurell Hamilton?) Yes, there’s no great overwhelming literary themes going on here, but these books are perfect for beach reading or any time you just need a fun, trashy novel to enjoy. Personally, I like to read them while sitting in the spa chair at the local mani-pedi parlor.
From trashy, girly fun, I moved on to Dave Duncan’s “King’s Blades” series. I’ve been hooked on these books from the first one, “The Gilded Chain.” The universe created by Duncan has some fascinating details such as the ritual for becoming a blade – after all, who among us could really stand calmly still and let our future employer ram a sword through his or her heart so that we could take up a life of servitude afterwards. And no, not EVERYONE survives the magical sword-ramming ritual. So far, all the books have been of good quality, but this latest one, ” The Jaguar Knights,” leaves something to be desired. It starts off well with a midnight raid, a stolen Marquesa and a tortured hero, but it quickly degenerates. I got the feeling this started out as a two-book story which got crammed into one volume thereby necessitating severe cuts towards the end. The investigation into the raid and the love story between Sir Wolf and Dolores should have been one book and the ensuing expedition to Tlixilia (insert rant about authors who use un-pronounceable made-up words just to torture their readers) should have been another book. The story rapidly accelerates at the end with huge giant chunks missing and lots of questions left unanswered. Except they’re not unanswered in the “oh, an obvious sequel is coming up” sort of way (although we get that, too – it IS a series after all) but more in a “my editor says I have to cut X number of words and I hope no one will miss this bit here so SLASH.” Very frustrating. If you’re a fan of the series, I suppose it’s worth having to complete the collection, but if you’ve never picked up one of these books, go get “The Gilded Chain” and read the story of Sir Durendal (who makes a brief appearance in “Jaguar Knights”). It’s so much better that there’s almost no comparison.
That’s it for books because I’m STILL waiting for B&N to get in my copy of Linnea Sinclair's “An Accidental Goddess!” GRRR!
And now, I’m off to spend the weekend in children’s birthday party hell as my son turns 3 tomorrow and I have outdoor entertainment planned that I hope we will manage to get through before the predicted rainstorm arrives (stupid weather!). So, happy weekend all and take care!
KJ
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