Review of Sirenz by Natalie Zaman and Charlotte Bennardo

Publisher: Flux

Release Date: June 8, 2011

More Info: Amazon    The Book Depository

Book Blurb:

Bickering frenemies Meg and Shar are doing some serious damage at a midnight sample sale when the fashionistas find themselves arguing over a pair of shoes-with fatal consequences. One innocent bystander later, the girls are suddenly at the mercy of Hades, Lord of the Underworld himself. To make them atone for what they've done, Hades forces the teens to become special-assignment Sirens, luring to the Underworld an individual whose unholy contract is up.

Finding that delicate balance between their fashion addiction and their new part-time job in the eternal hellfire biz turns out to be harder than Meg and Shar expected, especially when an entire pantheon of Greek deities decides to get involved. Then there's the matter of the fine print in their own contracts...

My Thoughts:

"Sirenz" is fun and funny, and had me laughing out loud many times. Meg and Shar have been thrown together as roommates at an alternative high school that offers residential, college style housing, to it's top students, and it's been a bumpy ride; they are dissimilar and they barely tolerate each other but the school's policy is clear: irreconcilable differences = removal from the program.

While spending time some together shopping over the Christmas school break, in an attempt at bonding, they find themselves arguing over the same pair of red shoes and a cute guy; the latter is named "Bad-ass jacket" by Meg and "Sweet Jeans" by Shar. Guys and fashion, what every pair of BFF's can enjoy, even if their styles are different. "Sweet Jeans" aka Jeremy reappears later in the story and is crucial to the overall plot.

Their arguing leads to an unfortunate event and out of nowhere, Hades, the Greek god of the underworld, appears and offers to help them out. Of course, there's a catch - if they fail to achieve the job he offers them, they will turn into Sirens - bird shaped women who act on his behalf to bring him mortals who have sold their soul to him a la Faust. After much talk and negotiation, a deal is struck, and they have 2 weeks to complete their assignment.

Hades, in Bennardo and Zaman's world, is a lot like the Christian Satan, with a bit of Loki, the Norse god of, among other things, tricks, thrown in. True to classical Greek mythology, Hades is sneaky, lecherous, and not to be trusted. Bennardo and Zaman give us a new spin on the Demeter, Persephone and Hades story, giving us a modern update.None of the gods we meet are particularly nice or trustworthy, straight out of classical mythology.

The girls are stuck together while they work on this job and it doesn't always go smoothly but they keep trying. Along the way, they live in a fabulous condo, enjoy shopping sprees, try to resist temptation, and discover that they can work together and even get along.

The story has twists and turns, the occasional cliche, snappy dialogue, and a fun, original take on Greek mythology. There's a happy ending, but we know that life will not be a smooth ride as the second book is already written. I'm looking forward to it.

I received this paperback from the authors for review as part of a Bewitching Books Blog Tour.

Review of Dark Descendant by Jenna Black

Publisher: Pocket Books

Release Date: April 26, 2011

More Info: Amazon

Series: #1 in the Descendant Series

Book Blurb:

From the acclaimed author of the Morgan Kingsley, Exorcist books comes the gripping first novel in a new series about a private eye who discovers, to her surprise, that she’s an immortal huntress.
 
Nikki Glass can track down any man. But when her latest client turns out to be a true descendant of Hades, Nikki now discovers she can’t die. . . . Crazy as it sounds, Nikki’s manhunting skills are literally god-given. She’s a living, breathing descendant of Artemis who has stepped right into a trap set by the children of the gods. Nikki’s new “friends” include a descendant of Eros, who uses sex as a weapon; a descendant of Loki, whose tricks are no laughing matter; and a half-mad descendant of Kali who thinks she’s a spy. But most powerful of all are the Olympians, a rival clan of immortals seeking to destroy all Descendants who refuse to bow down to them. In the eternal battle of good god/bad god, Nikki would make a divine weapon. But if they think she’ll surrender without a fight, the gods must be crazy. . . .

My Thoughts:


I love mythology, always have. I grew up reading the Greek myths (among others) so the synopsis for this book immediately grabbed me. So did the book. I read it in 2 sittings and stayed up late to finish it.

It's action packed, with hardly a breath for Nikki or the reader. Nikki is a pretty standard UF lead female - something of a loner and an outsider, independent, resourceful, impulsive. She's not as kick-ass as some but over the course of the book that changes. To the best of her knowledge she's just your garden variety human being, and she, like most humans, never knew that the ancient gods were real or that there were living descendants. When she discovers that she is an immortal, descended from Artemis, the Greek goddess of hunting, the wilderness and animals, she has trouble accepting it. Gradually she accepts the knowledge, and in a desperate bid to protect both herself and her adoptive sister from newfound enemies, she learns how to fight and to fight dirty.

There's quite a lot of dirty tactics in this book in fact, and some moderately graphic violence, including torture. Nikki has to adapt and learn to cope with how both sets of immortals behave. It's a dark book, but if you are familiar with the original Greek myths, or pretty much any mythology, you know that is standard. It's the rare mythological deity who plays nicely, says please, and never hits someone. It's a dark book but there's also hope, humor and some likable characters. It's a largish cast and a few were short-changed in terms of development but  maybe Black will rectify that in future books.

Most of the characters are varying shades of gray when it comes to morality, especially the "good guys", the Liberi Deorum, whom Nikki ends up working with. They are violent, willing to torture, quick to distrust and slow to forgive. The leader, Anderson, comes off as manic depressive or maybe schizoid. He ends up being neither; he's not quite what he seems though he readily admits to being tyrannical.

So, what about the bad guys, the Olympians? They are less well developed, more clearly the bad guys, the black hats if you will. Again, I'm hoping that in future books Black will develop them more and explore the individual characters.

I enjoyed this book and I am definitely looking forward to reading more in the series. It's a solid urban fantasy story with enjoyable, interesting characters, a backdrop of different world mythologies, lots of action and decent character development.

This paperback was received from the publisher for review.

Review: Tracking the Tempest by Nicole Peeler

Book Blurb: Valentine's Day is fast approaching, and Ryu - Jane's bloodsucking boyfriend - can't let a major holiday go by without getting all gratuitous. An overwhelming dose of boyfriend interference and a last-minute ticket to Boston later, and Jane's life is thrown off course. Ryu's well-intentioned plans create mayhem, and Jane winds up embroiled in an investigation involving a spree of gruesome killings. All the evidence points towards another Halfling, much to Jane's surprise.

My Thoughts: OMG, I loved this book. It was awesome. Do not, however, read this book if you are having trouble breathing. I was recovering from an asthma flare while reading it and laughed so hard that I could barely breathe. But there's more to the story than humor. Peeler mixes humor, romance, bawdiness, action, mystery, and mythology into the perfect confection. I enjoyed the first book, but Peeler took it up several notches with this story.

     This one takes place several months after the first book, right around Valentine's Day. Jane has been training, learning how to use her magic and developing defensive skills. Ryu surprises Jane with a trip to his home in Boston for the holiday. The trip is an eye-opener in many ways. Jane and Ryu learn more about each other, for better and for worse. We still get to peek into Jane's mind and see her often hilarious, breathtaking (in my case), thoughts. Jane is snarky, hilarious, observant, and willing to fight for what matters to her. On a side note, I follow Ms. Peeler on Twitter, and Jane comes by her bawdiness, her snark, and her humor quite naturally.

     The trip however is not all fun and games. Ryu's job as an investigator interrupts their time together. A halfling is on the loose and committing gruesome murders. As they learn more about him, Jane finds herself torn. Even as she's appalled by the murders, the more she learns about him, the more sympathetic she is to him. Their investigation is complicated by the presence of an investigative team sent by a rival at the fae court. During the course of the book, Jane comes to understand that this new life of hers has it's downside and that magic is not a cure-all for everything or a guarantee that her life will be better.

I like that we see Jane changing and growing. In only two books, there's been more character development than some authors manage in an entire series. I like Jane, she feels like she could be a neighbor or co-worker. Ryu is more exotic, and also arrogant and condescending. While that was apparent in the first book, we really get to see it up close and personal in this book, and so does Jane.

We see many of the people from the first book, including Anyan, who is still yummy, and Caleb, of the ginormous penis. We also meet the members of Ryu's investigative team. One of the things that I like about the Jane True series is Peeler's use of mythological characters. We have not only the standby races of elves but less commonly used races such as selkies, gnomes, satyrs, and ifrits. She does a nice job of taking mythology, tweaking it to her purposes, and putting it into a contemorary story and setting.

I loved this book and I am looking forward to the next one, "Tempest's Legacy", due out in January 2011.

Publisher: Orbit Books

Release date: June 16th, 2010

This book was borrowed from my local library.