books

I'm falling behind on my book-blogging. Here's four new books for you to consider:
15. Dying Bites by D. D. Barant. This first book in urban fantasy series The Bloodhound Files is quite good. It's about an FBI officer named Jace who finds herself catapulted into a parallel universe where the world is overrun by vampires and werewolves. Humans make up less than 1% of the population. And she's been taken there to track down a human madman. Now, there's loads of this sort of noirish, gritty urban fantasy out there these days. A lot of it is mediocre, in my opinion. But this one is not. The characterization of Jace is good; her struggle to adjust and adapt, her feelings about it, her inner conflict about who she is working for versus who she is hunting. Good stuff. I'm definitely going to pick up the next book in this series.
16. Song of the Silence by Elizabeth Kerner. Yes, it's epic fantasy. Which I don't read much of these days, frankly. It takes a darn good epic fantasy to hold my interest. And this one did it. It's about a woman named Lanen Kaelar who has dreamed her whole life of finding the dragons of legend and speaking to them. And then sets out to do just that. Lanen is a refreshingly competent character, bold and selfless, and her adventures are worth reading. For those of you skeptics out there, this epic fantasy contains no elves, no singing swords, no princesses. The dragons are the big trope, followed by some demons and some magic. But this is a confident, well-written debut, and I'm looking forward to reading more of her books.
17. Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs. What can I say? I love the Mercy Thompson books. Smart, sassy, and interesting. This one shows Mercy trying to solve a spate of Fey murders, with disastrous consequences in her own life. I laughed and cried over the course of this book (and swore a few times). Ah, urban fantasy, I love you. Seriously, everybody should read this series.
18. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I've heard so much about how brilliant this book was, that I was frankly a little skeptical. But you know what? I think the hype was right. This book is great. Extremely well done, with characters that grab your attention and don't let go. I read the whole thing in two or three days, around work. Katniss is a really fascinating character: she's smart, and clever, and prickly, and quite adept at taking care of herself and her family. She understands the politics of the situations she ends up in. This is a book where you really suffer along with Katniss, and make no mistake, it's a brutal piece of fiction. But it's shot through with moments of grace and beauty, and it's pretty breathtaking to watch Katniss go through her trials and tribulations. I've got the sequel, Catching Fire, borrowed from a friend in my office, and I can't wait to get to work on Monday so I can start reading it on my commute home that afternoon.
I feel like I've missed one that I read. Well, I'll have to ponder that.
In other news, I bought a plane ticket to go home for a good friend's wedding in July, and I think that'll be a fun trip. My partner-in-crime won't be joining me, as he can't afford to take the time off, which is a shame. But it'll be good to see family and friends.
Also, some big news is looming on the horizon. You'll find out in a couple days, readers. Be patient with me!
Anyway. I've gotten behind on my writing this week so I need to get back to it. 1300 more words to write today in order to be caught up by the end of tomorrow.
Happy weekend, everyone!