Eloquent Pedestrian

Staked by Kevin Hearne My rating: 1 of 5 stars Come on Hearne, why do you have to do this to me? I love Kevin Hearne's sense of humor, I follow him on Facebook, I adore Oberon, and all of his shenanigans. But this was just shoddy work. The few good things first off. Atticus has a big revelation about himself in this book, with long term implications. I like that. Granuille is living with the consequences of her actions in recent books and stories. Unfortunately this leads her to a scene so painfully badly written that I genuinely couldn't stomach it. I skipped pages and pages of what was supposed to be the climax of her story arc because the dialogue was painful to look at. Then there was Owen, who has undergone a bit too much character shift for me recently. All in all I was glad to see the character development and the ending of the Vampire War arc. I'm going to give it one more book before I give up on it. View all my rev...

Chaos Choreography by Seanan McGuire My rating: 4 of 5 stars Verity and Dominic are back! I confess to a mixture of excitement (I love these two) and disappointment (I was really hoping to hear more about Antimony). A brief and hilarious introduction and we are plunged into Verity's world of dance, and I was happy to hear from her alter-ego Valerie. Things quickly go south in an epic way and Verity is plunged into an eerily familiar problem. We meet some new types of cryptids and hear far too much about the noble profession of dancers. Honestly if I saw the phrase "We are dancers" one more time I was going to be ill. Verity handles this with her amazing wit and snappy one liners. The aeslinn mice are hilarious, as usual (by the way the God of Tough Decisions in Dark Places is the best fictional god name ever). And then it all falls apart at the very end. The culprits were obvious, with the exception of one who had a personality transpla...

Dead Heat by Patricia Briggs My rating: 4 of 5 stars I really enjoy the Alpha and Omega series. After struggling with Mercy Thompson for so many books and still not knowing how I feel, it is a relief to get the wonderfully rich stories and characters with rough edges that Patricia Briggs is so good at, without running into the walking doormat that is Mercy Thompson. Anna and Charles pull me in with their relationship, which has only gotten better over time. They each have their strengths and their faults, and I love the way they know those things about each other. This novel adds an issue common to all relationships: kids. Adding their own supernatural layer to this common problem only makes it better. I was happy to learn more about Charles, and more about Arabian Horses. The story did fall back into Patricia Brigg's perpetual problem with pacing and concluded in the last forty pages very quickly, but stuck the landing more elegantly than the ea...

Double Cross by Carolyn Crane My rating: 3 of 5 stars I just don't know what to make of this series! So I'm going to do a pro and con list. Pro's: - I still think that weaponizing mental health and making it an intersection between magic and science is fascinating - The heroine becomes more proactive through the course of the series - Female friendships worth reading - Plot twist at the end! I hate it but I love it. Con's: - Beware the Bermuda Love Triangle - Least favorite characters: I alpha male will make you love me with aggressive border-line threatening language that implies I will possess you. - Even worse characters: the woman who is attracted to the above listed character - World's strangest pacing. All in all a middle of the road 2.5 stars out of five. View all my reviews

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book is a fascinating study in story construction. The formula: Introduce the detective, introduce the subjects, experience the crime, interview the suspects, formulate hypothesis, re-interview suspects, deliver conclusion. All of the action happens in the interviews with the suspects and the unique method of interrogation from Hercule Poirot. Instead of a dry recitation of fact Agatha Christie takes us aspiring writers to school on developing back story and a unique voice for every single character. Murder on the Orient Express is not for everyone. Half of my book club hated it, and half of us loved it. Recommended for: students of writing, mystery buffs, and people watchers. Not recommended for: those who need a lot of action in their novels, non-anglophiles, or people who don't know the time period. View all my reviews