The Spy Who Haunted Me, by Simon R. Green

In The Spy Who Haunted Me (the third book in Green’s Secret Histories series) Edwin Drood enters a competition organized by the Alexander King, the legendary Independent Agent. The group of gathered spies must work together to solve some of the world’s greatest mysteries, but only one of them can claim the prize – the secret knowledge accumulated by King during his career. There’s also a literal deadline. Alexander King is terminally ill, so if the victor doesn’t return quickly enough then King’s secrets could go with him to the grave. Edwin believes that only the Drood family can be trusted with what the Independent Agent knows. But he’s not the only one determined to win at any cost, which becomes clear once the competitors start dying.

Recent YA Reads – June 2009

Lately I’ve been reading a lot of YA. Here are a few of the books I’ve finished in the past month or so:

Once Dead, Twice Shy, by Kim Harrison

A girl who died after her junior prom is able to stay in the world of the living thanks to a mystical amulet stolen from the supernatural being who killed her. Thankfully a light reaper and guardian angel are trying to help keep her safe from its previous owner- or at least as safe as a dead girl can be.

Madison, the heroine of the story, is one of the best YA characters that I’ve come across lately. She’s fun to read about. But I’m not sure if I’m that interested in the premise yet. This is another one of those “first in a series” books that was actually introduced in an anthology (2007’s Prom Nights From Hell), so the amount of backstory and world-building info that had to be recapped didn’t exactly help the flow of the book. And since I don’t think I’ve said it yet this month, I still hate that trend of separately-published short stories that contain series-critical information.

I’d recommend this book to any YA readers, but do yourself a favor and track down the short story first.

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The Awakening, by Kelley Armstrong

This is the second of Armstrong’s Darkest Powers series, it uses the Otherworld setting but no major players from the adult series have made an appearance so far. At the start of the story, Chloe is locked in the headquarters of the Edison Group, an organization that approaches the supernatural from a scientific perspective. Her only shot at escape is to pretend to lead her captors to the hiding place of her friends who are still on the run.

I liked the characters and the concept, and this one was more action-heavy than the first. It felt like too many of the character interactions involved arguing with each other, though. Having characters in a novel compare their activities to fictional stories is a pet peeve of mine, and Chloe, with her interest in movies, does this a lot. Still, I’ll happily read the next in the series because I really enjoy Armstrong’s world.

It’s an enjoyable series so far, but if it sounds interesting then make sure you start with the first one (The Summoning).

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Hunted, by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

This is the fifth House of Night book (the series starts with Marked), but it’s the last one I’ll be reading.

After the exciting events and character growth of book four, it feels like the series basically just reset to square one. Some storylines that felt nicely wrapped up started all over, Zoey falls back into the same old mistakes, and god forbid she not have three love interests at any one time. Despite her advanced boyfriend-juggling skills, Zoey sounds more and more like a much younger character, and the series has gone back to “Zoey can fix all problems with relative ease because she’s super fledgling” land.

Not recommended.

Curse the Dawn, by Karen Chance

During all of Cassandra Palmer’s short reign as Pythia, the world’s most powerful clairvoyant and time traveler, factions in the supernatural community have been fighting to control or destroy her. Now Cassie is trying to stop the plans of her most powerful enemy yet – a supernatural being who was once worshiped as a god. She faces attacks, accidents, and even a magical disaster, all while having her usual arguments with the allies who want to keep her safely away from the action.

Dead and Gone, by Charlaine Harris

Dead and Gone begins with the weres and shapeshifters revealing their existence to the world. As one shifter changes her shape on live television, many others transform in front of their friends, customers, and even unsuspecting family members. Reactions are mixed, but many humans seem willing to try to accept their newly outed neighbors. Then a werepanther is found crucified behind Merlotte’s Bar.

Everyone in town wonders if the killer was an anti-supernatural fanatic or if there was a more personal motive. The local investigation is assisted by a pair of FBI agents with a keen interest in Sookie, so she has to be even more careful than usual about hiding her telepathic talent.

Mean Streets, an anthology

Mean Streets is an anthology with four stories about supernatural investigations. It includes:

• “The Warrior” by Jim Butcher
  When Harry Dresden steps in to protect a threatened friend, he could be playing into the hands of an unknown enemy. This book is set after Small Favor, and has some pretty major spoilers for that story. The story took some interesting turns and there was also a nice theme about how small actions can have unforeseeable results. It was my favorite story in the collection, and any fan of the Dresden Files should enjoy it.
• “The Difference A Day Makes” by Simon R. Green
  A woman asks John Taylor to help recover her lost memories of the previous day, and the search leads to one of the seediest areas of the Nightside as well as a truth that she’d probably be better off not knowing. This story seems like it may be targeted at people who haven’t been introduced to the series yet. As someone who has read all of the books, I found it pretty repetitive. I think maybe I’ve read that “Not everything that looks like a car is a car” bit one too many times. The concept was interesting enough, but it was too stuffed with speeches about the nature of the Nightside and the ending was less than satisfying.
• “The Third Death of the Little Clay Dog” by Kat Richardson
  Harper Blaine gets a bequest in a stranger’s will, but it comes with strange conditions that lead her to a Day of the Dead celebration full of secrets and revenge. This is my first exposure to Richardson, and I’ll definitely be trying one of her novels. Harper’s powers seem interesting, though I didn’t understand them all that well. Some of the Day of the Dead explanations felt too much like lectures, and the climax got a bit confusing. But there were some great twists and I liked it a lot.
• “Noah’s Orphans” by Thomas E. Sniegoski
  Remy Chandler gets dragged into another angel-related investigation after the murder of Noah (yes, the one that built the ark). It’s set shortly after A Kiss Before the Apocalypse (my review), and there are a few spoilers for that novel. The story is okay and I like the main character, but I’m just not connecting with this setting the way I have with my favorite urban fantasy worlds.

buy it from Amazon
read reviews on Goodreads

White Witch, Black Curse, by Kim Harrison

In White Witch, Black Curse, Rachel and her partners team up with the FIB on a hunt for the dangerous Interlander that attacked her friend Glenn and left him for dead. It’s a difficult job, especially considering that Rachel is also trying to uphold her bargain with Al, deal with the fallout of her damaged reputation, defend her choices to her brother, evaluate the possibility of a new relationship, and face a ghost from her past, all on top of the standard level of roommate drama. Oh, and she’s also still trying to find the person responsible for the murder that’s been (rather cruelly in my opinion) left hanging since the end of For a Few Demons More.

Men of the Otherworld, by Kelley Armstrong

Men of the Otherworld is an anthology focused on Clay and Jeremy Danvers, mostly told from Clay’s perspective. Most of this book was previously available for free on Armstrong’s website, but it’s nice to see it in print form. Armstrong will be donating her proceeds from the book to World Literacy of Canada.

Seaborn, by Chris Howard

Seaborn is about a magic-using, aquatic race of beings that secretly live in the Earth’s oceans. Kassandra is a granddaughter of the seaborn king, she was raised in exile on dry land and has a difficult time dealing with her powerful hereditary magic. And Corina is a human who, while diving, becomes possessed by an imprisoned seaborn sorcerer named Aleximor. Kassandra prepares to challenge her grandfather, while Aleximor uses Corina’s body to gather an army of the dead that he can use for his revenge.

Midnight’s Daughter, by Karen Chance

The main character of Midnight’s Daughter is Dorina, a human/vampire hybrid. Unlike most of her fellow dhampirs, Dorina has managed to stay fairly sane between her occasional berserk rages. When her uncle Dracula escapes from his prison, Dorina reluctantly agrees to track him down with the help of Louis-Cesare, a vampire with a troubled past.

The Summoning, by Kelley Armstrong

The Summoning is the first book of Armstrong’s young adult trilogy. It takes place in the same world as her other novels, but don’t worry about missing anything if you haven’t checked those out. The main character is Chloe Saunders, a teenager who is sent to a group home after seeing an angry ghost. The staff members at Lyle House say that she needs therapy and medication, but strange events continue to happen around Chloe and her unusual housemates.