Review of Between Their Worlds by Barb & JC Hendee

• Publisher: Roc Hardcover 
• Release Date: January 4, 2011
• Buying Links: Barnes & Noble  Amazon
• Blurb:  (from authors' site)
• “A unique tale of vampires and half-vampire undead hunters set against a dark fantasy world ruled by tyrants,”* the Noble Dead Saga continues to entrance readers with action-packed adventures and an intriguing mythology. Now national bestselling authors Barb and J.C. Hendee present the long-awaited return of dhampir Magiere and half-elf Leesil…
• Wynn Hygeorht receives unexpected visitors at the Guild of Sagecraft. Magiere and Leesil, along with the elven wolf Chap, have come for her, but Wynn can't afford to leave. She needs access to the texts within the guild's archives, which may help her decipher the locations of the last two orbs sought by the Ancient Enemy.
• There are five orbs in total. Magiere and Leesil have two of them in safe-keeping. Chane Andraso, the vampire who loves Wynn, has hidden the Orb of Earth on her orders. To complete her task — and protect the orbs — Wynn must remain sequestered from her friends

But she's essentially a prisoner. One of the guild's superiors is just as eager for Wynn to translate the ancient texts, but she knows the others will not permit her to share that knowledge — knowledge Magiere and Leesil desperately need if they're going to stop the Ancient Enemy from unleashing war on the land…

Reviewed by: Jax

My Thoughts:

In every series, you get that book that ties up loose ends and sets up the next the next level of adventures...it's the nature of sagas. Usually, they are the books I endure, knowing/trusting that the pay off will be some awesome book to come. It was an unexpected pleasure to get to the end of this book, and not feel that moment of "is that all?" that I commonly feel in these "bridge" books. Instead of a ho-hum skip from one side to the other, JC and Barb give us intrigue and battles. Even up to the end, you're not sure who is the troll that is going to gobble up the travelers and who is going to truly help them in their quest.

I love that the right answers aren't clear, that relationships are strained and tested, and that the characters hide necessary information from each other causing that much more chaos and confusion. A thoroughly enjoyable read.

I received a hardcover from the publisher for review.

Review of In Memories We Fear by Barb Hendee

Publisher: Roc
Release date: October 4, 2011

Series: Vampire Memories #4
Buying Links: Amazon    The Book Depository


Reviewed By: Liz

Book Blurb: 

*MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR EARLIER BOOKS*
 

Eleisha Clevon lives a quiet life in Portland, Oregon — for a vampire. She has learned to feed without killing humans and to train others of her kind. Along with her protector, Philip Branté, and their human companion, Wade Sheffield, she seeks out other vampires to offer them a community and to show them they do not have to exist alone. 

 Now, a series of killings in England point to a new — and feral — vampire. Eleisha, Philip, and Wade travel to London to make contact with the terrified creature, to offer him sanctuary and stop the bloodshed. But the vampire they find is not what they expected. Maxim is centuries old, with no memory of living anywhere besides the forest and feeding on animals. Now, he’s gained a taste for human blood. Philip thinks he’s too dangerous to save, but Eleisha won’t give up... even at the cost of Philip’s love and her own life.

My Thoughts: 

*MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR EARLIER BOOKS*

This is the fourth in the Vampire Memories series, and another well written book by an author that I enjoy reading.  I enjoyed the book, reading it was a pleasure.  This installation scratched a few well timed plot itches, and made me go ‘squee’ a time or two.  I love that she didn’t make them oversexed misunderstood eternal good guys.  That shtick got old fast for me. She has a couple good lines that jump out at me.  Talking about watching Hitchcock for the first time: "If the word 'artistic' came out of her mouth even once, he would revolt."  It was kinda corny and made me smile. 

Here comes the big ‘but’… BUT there was something niggling the back of my mind when I was reading this book.  So much so that I put it down and didn’t pick it back up for over a week while I tried to figure it out.  It wasn’t until I finished the novel that it walked up behind me with the 2x4 and one heck of a swing.   Now I might be over thinking this but it bugged me.  It was, in fact, just about the only thing that I didn’t enjoy about this book, and I suspect that’s why I didn’t just shrug it off.  It’s like putting a screen door on the most advanced submarine in history, a glaring oversight.

 Here’s the deal for those of you who haven’t read this series yet; the vampires are psychic.  Nothing groundbreaking or terribly exciting, I admit for those of you hiding yawns, but they can share memories.  I had no problem with this as she introduces a telepathic human as a main character in the very first novel.  My problem lies with this sheltered vampire, Eleisha, using a recently awakened memory sharing ability without any noticeable side effects except difficulty pulling out of the flow their memories.  Essentially she’s stuck in their memories.  By this book she has roughly a thousand years of FIRST PERSON memories straight from other people’s heads and no difficulty processing it or separating her memories from theirs.  I have trouble pulling myself out of a character’s head after one novel, much less experiencing their every thought and movement first hand.  This made it difficult to enjoy a well written and otherwise perfectly useful plot device.

With that one (huge to me) issue noted I want to reiterate that I really enjoyed this novel, and if you are thinking “meh, no biggy I can deal with that” then please read this book! 

I received a paperback from the publisher for review.