Review of Blood Rights by Kristen Painter
Dec
12
2011
Blood Rights
by Kristen Painter
416pp (Paperback)
My Rating: 3/10
Amazon Rating: 4.4/5
LibraryThing Rating: 4.08/5
Goodreads Rating: 3.85/5
 

Blood Rights is the first book in the House of Comarré series by Kristen Painter. It was just released the beginning of October, and both the second and third books in this urban fantasy series, Flesh and Blood (#2) and Bad Blood (#3), are also available now. There will be fourth and fifth books coming out later as well – Out for Blood in August 2012 and Last Blood in February 2013.

As a comarré with blood specifically designed for vampires, Chrysabelle has spent nearly her entire 115 years of life in the service of a vampire noble. When she finds the vampire she serves murdered, she flees and goes to stay with her exiled aunt. One of the other vampires, Tatiana, is hunting Chrysabelle as the possible murderer. However, Tatiana seems more concerned about Chrysabelle’s possible possession of a ring of great importance that her master had – a ring that Tatiana had designs to take for herself.

Chrysabelle’s aunt directs her to people who can help her, and Chrysabelle finds herself with Mal, a vampire who is anathema. Incidentally, Chrysabelle and Mal met briefly recently and Chrysabelle tried to kill him, making their meeting rather turbulent. It’s even worse because Mal has voices in his head telling him to drain Chrysabelle dry. Yet an accident in which Mal unknowingly becomes the new owner of Chrysabelle’s blood rights forces them together, and the two will do what they can to stop Tatiana.

In spite of the fact that I’m not normally a big fan of vampires, I was excited about Blood Rights. It had a cover quote from Patricia Briggs and it had nice matching covers with a gorgeous red, white, and black color scheme. After hearing a lot of good buzz about it, I couldn’t wait to start reading it. Unfortunately, I found it a real struggle to finish and my feeling of “Eh, it’s ok” that I had for a bit gave way to dislike when it wasn’t any better by the end (especially after stopping to really evaluate what didn’t work for me and why). Since it was the first book in a series, I decided to give it a chance and finish it in case it got better, but I ended up wishing I had just dropped it to read something else. Take my opinion with a grain of salt since most seem to have found Blood Rights enjoyable, but I believe there are much better books out there and I would have rather spent my time on one of them instead of this one.

Kristen Painter has developed an interesting idea with the comarré, humans modified to be more pleasing to vampires. I do like how she set this up and gradually revealed more about them and their role over the course of the story. It soon becomes obvious that there is much more to them than serving vampires and they have their own agenda. I’d imagine this will be further developed in the next books, and this part of the series certainly has potential.

However, an interesting idea is not enough to carry a story and I thought this one needed a lot more in order to succeed. The plot meandered and took a while to get started, the characters were bland and one dimensional, and some of the dialogue was quite cheesy. In particular, the parts told from the perspective of the villain Tatiana were difficult to read. She’s a very arrogant, vile, power-hungry, self-centered vampire who has no depth as a character at all. She never tries to hide the way she is and has no subtlety at all, and she has scenes like this one in which a Nothos just showed her something important it found:

 

She smiled and nodded. “Well done.”

“Thank you, my lady.” It bowed with the litheness born of an excess of bones and double-hinged joints.

She scowled at the Nothos. “I was talking to myself. If I hadn’t sent you out, you wouldn’t have found this, would you?” [pp. 91]

Tatiana is one of those overdone villains. She can’t remember the name of anyone she thinks is beneath her even if she’s spent years around them, she loves snakes, and she rarely does anything that doesn’t give off an EVIL vibe. More of the book is focused on Chrysabelle and Mal, but a decent part of the book is spent with Tatiana.

While they are somewhat better written than Tatiana, I didn’t think Chrysabelle or Mal were great characters, either. Chrysabelle is very perfect but bland since there’s not a lot that gives her personality. She’s the common kickass heroine and there’s very little that really gives her any sort of unique features or traits. It seems as though she spends most of her time arguing with Mal, talking tough, and explaining comarré. She worries about her aunt, but other than that, there’s not a whole lot that makes her seem like a fully fleshed human. Nor does she seem capable of the finesse that seems to have been part of being comarré, but perhaps she just did away with that when she found herself running for her life (one character who had known her before this did say she had changed so that is a possibility). Likewise, she doesn’t have the maturity I’d expect from a 115 year old woman, but then she has probably been somewhat sheltered all her life so that may be part of it. Because of her lack of personality, she feels more like a conduit for learning about her kind and a foil for Mal than a real character.

Mal at least had an interesting past story that unravels throughout the novel, but he is also a somewhat repetitive character in that there are just a few traits of his that keep coming up. He’s an unusual vampire with a drinking problem and a curse. Anytime Mal drinks blood directly from someone he ends up unable to stop and killing them. Due to his curse, anyone he kills haunts him as a name written on his skin and a voice in his head. The voices particularly haunt him in Chrysabelle’s presence, constantly wanting him to drain her dry. He spends most of his time angsting over his curse and his past. Eventually he and Chrysabelle end up angsting over each other when they have to keep kissing each other for a very contrived reason that I found irritating.

The plot is pretty slow going since for a while it doesn’t seem to go anywhere and consists of Mal and Chrysabelle arguing a lot. At the end, it does move faster, but it still feels like very little happened given the number of pages. Most of the time I was bored by the story and was just reading it in hopes that it got better.

The more I think about it, the less I like Blood Rights. The secret agenda of the comarré has some promise, but I’m not convinced it will be worth reading the rest of the books to get there. There were far too many negative aspects with this one, even for the beginning of a new series. The story dragged, the characters were flat and one dimensional, and some of the dialogue was outright cheesy. I’m dropping this series. There are much better books out there to read, both inside and outside of the urban fantasy genre.

My Rating: 3/10

Where I got my reading copy: Review copy from the publisher. (I also picked up a signed ARC at BEA this year, but I read the finished copy.)

Read an Excerpt

Other Reviews:

The Leaning Pile of Books
Dec
11
2011

This week brought two review copies and one ARC. The ARC is a print copy of Range of Ghosts by Elizabeth Bear, and I was thrilled to open the package and find that inside! I did just recently talked about this book here if you missed it and are interested in learning more about it.

On to the new books…

Rise of Empire by Michael J. SullivanRise of Empire by Michael J. Sullivan

This is the second volume in the Riyria Revelations, following Theft of Swords (review). I had a lot of fun with the first volume, which actually contains the first two books in the series. Since I’ve heard the series only gets better, I’m really looking forward to continuing and finding out what happens next.

Rise of Empire contains Nyphron Rising and The Emerald Storm, books 3 and 4. It’s supposed to be released next week, but it looks like it’s already on sale at quite a few places. The conclusion, Heir of Novron, will be released in January 2012.

Samples from all the books are available online.

Royce and Hadrian have been called upon to aid the struggling kingdom of Melengar as it alone stands in defiance against the newly formed empire. As war approaches a desperate gamble behind enemy lines is their only chance at forming an alliance with the Nationalists to the south.

But Royce has plans of his own and uses this opportunity to discover if an ancient wizard is using Riyria as pawns in his own bid for power. To find the truth, Royce must unravel Hadrian’s hidden past. What he discovers will lead them to the end of the known world on a journey rife with treachery and intrigue.

And so continues the second tale of treachery and adventure, sword fighting and magic, myth and legend.

When author Michael J. Sullivan self-published the first books of his Riyria Revelations, they rapidly became ebook bestsellers. Now, Orbit is pleased to present the complete series for the first time in bookstores everywhere.

Silver-Tongued Devil by Jaye WellsSilver-Tongued Devil by Jaye Wells

This is the fourth book in an urban fantasy series, Sabina Kane. The first three books are Red-Headed Stepchild, The Mage in Black, and Green-Eyed Demon. Silver-Tongued Devil will be published on December 27, but Jaye Wells is giving away 2 copies for Christmas on her blog right now. Chapter one is available on the publisher’s site.

I haven’t read this series since I’m missing the first book, but I’ve been hearing it’s a lot of fun!

Now that the threat of war has passed, Sabina Kane is ready to focus on the future. Her relationship with Adam Lazarus is getting stronger and she’s helping her sister, Maisie, overcome the trauma of her captivity in New Orleans. Even Giguhl is managing to stay out of trouble thanks to the arrival of Pussy Willow and his new roller derby team. But as much as Sabina wants to feel hopeful about the future, part of her doesn’t believe that peace is possible.

Her suspicions are confirmed when a string of sadistic murders threatens to stall treaty negotiations between the mages and the vampires. Sabina pitches in to find the killer, but her investigation soon leads her down dark paths that have her questioning everyone she thought she could trust. And the closer she gets to the killer, the more Sabina begins to suspect this is one foe she may not be able to kill.

Books of 2012: House of Shadows by Rachel Neumeier
Dec
07
2011

Instead of writing one huge post of all the books I’m looking forward to in 2012, I decided to highlight some of these books in their own posts throughout the rest of this year. That way I can include as much information as I want about each one without it being an 8-mile long post and can just compile a list of links to these posts at the end of the year.

House of Shadows by Rachel Neumeier

House of Shadows by Rachel Neumeier is a self-contained book with a potential sequel. It’s scheduled for release in July 2012. To read more about the book, you can visit the author’s coming soon page (where she also talks about how Patricia Briggs has made her a fan of werewolves in spite of herself and has inspired her to write a sort-of werewolf story).

I’ve been hearing good things about Rachel Neumeier’s writing, especially the Griffin Mage trilogy, and have wanted to read one of her books for a while now. If I don’t start the first Griffin Mage book before this is out, that may not be a bad place to start since it is just one self-contained story. Plus I love the sound of it and the pretty greens on the cover.

About House of Shadows:

Orphaned, two sisters are left to find their own fortunes.

Sweet and proper, Karah’s future seems secure at a glamorous Flower House. She could be pampered for the rest of her life… if she agrees to play their game.

Nemienne, neither sweet nor proper, has fewer choices. Left with no alternative, she accepts a mysterious mage’s offer of an apprenticeship. Agreeing means a home and survival, but can Nemienne trust the mage?

With the arrival of a foreign bard into the quiet city, dangerous secrets are unearthed, and both sisters find themselves at the center of a plot that threatens not only to upset their newly found lives, but also to destroy their kingdom.

Other Books of 2012:

Review of Saints Astray by Jacqueline Carey
Dec
05
2011
Saints Astray
by Jacqueline Carey
352pp (Paperback)
My Rating: 7/10
Amazon Rating: 3.7/5
LibraryThing Rating: 2.75/5
Goodreads Rating: 4.24/5
 

Saints Astray by Jacqueline Carey is the sequel to Santa Olivia. The genre Santa Olivia falls under is hard to describe – it’s been referred to as both urban fantasy and science fiction. While I thought of it as urban fantasy when I first read it (not having read much of the genre at the time and having seen it labeled that), I’d consider it science fiction now since it does deal with genetic engineering and is a bit post-apocalyptic/dystopian.

Warning: Since this is a direct sequel to Santa Olivia, there will be spoilers for the end of that book. If you’re curious about the books but haven’t read the first one yet, here’s my review of Santa Olivia.

After escaping Santa Olivia, Loup is offered a job working for Global Security, who thinks having the world’s only genetically modified bodyguard would be a great asset to its clients. Loup isn’t sure she wants to take the job and definitely won’t take it without Pilar by her side. Pilar is worried she won’t be able to pass bodyguard training, but she will try if that’s what Loup wants to do. After spending some time with Loup’s cousins in Mexico, Loup decides to pursue the bodyguard job for two reasons – she’s afraid her cousins may be in danger with her there and she’s tired of doing nothing. She thinks perhaps she can find a way to draw attention to the people left behind in Santa Olivia and help them in some way.

Once Loup gains some fame as a bodyguard for a famous rock band, she has a chance to help an old friend and possibly the rest of the inhabitants of Santa Olivia. Unfortunately, it will mean placing herself in great danger, but Loup wouldn’t consider doing anything else if she may be able to make a difference.

The previous book, Santa Olivia, introduced us to a whole new world with Outpost 12, which was occupied by the military and isolated from the rest of the world after a disease killed many of its inhabitants. The only way for a person to leave was to defeat the general’s boxing champion, which was done by Loup, a fearless girl with inhuman strength descended from a genetically engineered soldier. It was also part coming of age story as Loup grew up, and it was also about giving hope to the residents of Santa Olivia when they felt like they were abandoned by God. While it was a fun, fast-paced read, Santa Olivia still had some depth because of the world and themes like being an outcast and faith.

Saints Astray is a different book from Santa Olivia in a lot of ways. While it is similar in that it’s not a dense book and is a quick read with lots of dialogue, it’s also more of a straight-forward adventure story. Loup and Pilar have left Santa Olivia, thanks to Loup’s win, and they train to be bodyguards, actually become bodyguards, and travel the world (which, outside of Santa Olivia, really doesn’t seem all that different from our own). They have lots of fun in this book, although they do often remember and worry about those left behind in Santa Olivia. Since there is so much time spent on their adventures, it seems as though it may not come around to resolving what happens to Santa Olivia for a while, but it does come back to dealing with those left behind by the end. Saints Astray actually reminded me a bit of Carey’s recent Naamah trilogy even though it has a very different writing style and setting. Like the Naamah books, there’s a lot of world travel by main characters who want to do good and inspire others. It has the same sort of light and hope, even though the Naamah books are darker overall.

While I had a lot of fun reading Saints Astray, it is my least favorite of Jacqueline Carey’s books I’ve read. It’s an enjoyable book, but it doesn’t have the same sort of depth her other books have – and a big reason I love her books so much is that depth. Saints Astray is largely just an entertaining story with some action, adventure, and lots of focus on Loup and Pilar’s relationship. It’s a book that was fun to read but wouldn’t have stuck with me after reading it at all except for one thing: the character Loup. I loved seeing how her fearlessness made her different from other people. Pilar is constantly plagued by insecurity, but Loup doesn’t have that problem because she’s not afraid of what other people think. It allows her to be herself and to be more carefree. Fearlessness doesn’t mean emotionless or seeming inhuman, either – she can love and she can be sad for her friends. Loup also has a strong sense of justice and when that’s combined with fearlessness, it means she will do anything she can to help others regardless of the cost. Her strength of character spreads to and inspires those around her, and it’s very uplifting to read about what a difference this one young woman makes. Simply put, I loved Loup and she herself is what really made this book for me.

The beginning of Saints Astray was rather slow since not much happened after Loup and Pilar were rescued. They discussed the possibility of becoming bodyguards, then they just spent some time hanging out with Loup’s cousins. While it was nice to see Loup and Pilar having some fun for a change, it also started to get a bit dull to read about them shopping, playing on the beach, and discovering the wonders of the world outside of Outpost 12. Once they decided to become bodyguards and started their training, I found it picked up a lot and from that point on it was very readable with hardly a dull moment. There was an excessive amount of time dedicated to Loup and Pilar discussing how sexy the other was, but it usually moved on to other things before it completely lost me (although it did always come back to this again later since there was a lot of focus on young love and their relationship).

Saints Astray is more of a feel-good, fun-loving story than Santa Olivia even though it’s not without some tension toward the end. For a while it seems like it will just be an entertaining adventure with Loup and Pilar acting as bodyguards and enjoying seeing the world, and it largely is just a fun story with a fairly forgettable plot. However, the way Loup’s character is written makes it a more memorable novel – she has a fierce, driven loyalty and love for justice that makes her shine and inspires others. Also, by the end, it does become tied more closely to Santa Olivia since it comes back around to wrap up the loose ends involving the fate of the occupants of Santa Olivia, making it a satisfying conclusion to this storyline.

My Rating: 7/10

Where I got my reading copy: Review copy from the publisher.

Read an Excerpt

The Leaning Pile of Books
Dec
04
2011

This week was a very good week since it brought 3 new review copies, all of which look very interesting to me.

I already talked about one of these books on Friday since I got it after I’d written up a post about how much I was looking forward to it in 2012. If you’re interested in learning more about Range of Ghosts by Elizabeth Bear, there’s a post on it here (and I will say that although I haven’t had a chance to read the whole book yet, I have peeked at the opening and it is so beautifully written).

The Folded World by Catherynne M. ValenteThe Folded World by Catherynne M. Valente

This is the second volume in A Dirge for Prester John and a sequel to The Habitation of the Blessed, which showed up along with this one (I see a giveaway in the future since I already have 2 copies of this book, having recently purchased a second signed copy at a talk given by Catherynne Valente). I really enjoyed The Habitation of the Blessed (review) and I’m really excited about reading The Folded World. It was such a gorgeously written, imaginative story. The Folded World is out now with a third book, The Spindle of Necessity, coming out in November 2012. The only excerpt I can find is the Amazon preview.

I was also incredibly excited to see my review of The Habitation of the Blessed quoted under the critical acclaim section in this book. Catherynne Valente is an author who I think very highly of so seeing that in one of her books made my week!

When the mysterious daughter of Prester John appears on the doorstep of her father’s palace, she brings with her news of war in the West–the Crusades have begun, and the bodies of the faithful are washing up on the shores of Pentexore. Three narratives intertwine to tell the tale of the beginning of the end of the world: a younger, angrier Hagia, the blemmye-wife of John and Queen of Pentexore, who takes up arms with the rest of her nation to fight a war they barely understand, Vyala, a lion-philosopher entrusted with the care of the deformed and prophetic royal princess, and another John, John Mandeville, who in his many travels discovers the land of Pentexore–on the other side of the diamond wall meant to keep demons and monsters at bay.

These three voices weave a story of death, faith, beauty, and power, dancing in the margins of true history, illuminating a place that never was.

Eyes Like Leaves by Charles de LintEyes Like Leaves by Charles de Lint

Eyes Like Leaves, an epic fantasy with Celtic and Norse mythology, is coming out in February 2012. This book was released once in hardcover with a limited print run, and this time it will be available in paperback.

Charles de Lint has written over 70 books and is mostly known for contemporary fantasy. According to the introduction to the book, Eyes Like Leaves was actually his fourth novel but he delayed publishing it because he decided at the time to brand himself as a contemporary fantasy writer. I’m really curious about this one since I love Celtic and Norse mythology.

Taking a delightful departure from his more common urban-fantasy settings, this epic tale from acclaimed author Charles de Lint weaves elements of Celtic and Nordic mythology while bringing sword and sorcery to the forefront. Summer magic is waning in the Green Isles, and the evil Icelord is encasing the lands in a permanent frost while coastal towns are pillaged by snake ships. Mounting one last defense against the onslaught, a mysterious old wizard instructs his inexperienced apprentice in the art of shape-changing. Mercilessly pursued by the Icelord’s army, this newfound mage gathers allies—a seemingly ordinary young woman and her protective adoptive family—and they flee north in a desperate race to awaken the Summerlord. Time is running short for the Summerborn, especially when a treacherous family betrayal is discovered.

Books of 2012: Range of Ghosts by Elizabeth Bear
Dec
01
2011

Instead of writing one huge post of all the books I’m looking forward to in 2012, I decided to highlight some of these books in their own posts throughout the rest of this year. That way I can include as much information as I want about each one without it being an 8-mile long post and can just compile a list of links to these posts at the end of the year.

Range of Ghosts by Elizabeth Bear

Range of Ghosts is the first book in Eternal Sky, a new epic fantasy trilogy by Elizabeth Bear. It will be available in March 2012.

This is a book I’d read just because it’s by Elizabeth Bear. I love her books – they’re not always the easiest books to read since she has a tendency to throw you in without all the details but they are beautifully written, intelligent books. They also often use a lot of different mythologies, which I’m also drawn to. The Sea Thy Mistress by her is one of my favorites from this year.

Elizabeth Bear’s description of it from an interview I did with her earlier this year got me very excited about it:

 

I just handed in the first novel of my first real epic fantasy trilogy. It’s called Range of Ghosts, and it forthcoming from Tor in 2012. I’m a little in love with this world–it’s a cod-Medieval Central Asian fantasy in the mode of the cod-Medieval European fantasy we see so much of. It’s fascinating to me that there are these vast empires and amazing trading societies, socially and technologically advanced, the history of which is almost absent from the Western psyche except when they are invoked as boogeymen–Genghis Khan, Attila the Hun. My Cossack ancestors claim descent from the Golden Horde, and it was incredibly interesting to bury myself in that history.

These are not, I hasten to say, historical fantasies. They’re high fantasy, but they draw their inspiration from sources usually ignored–or cast as the invading enemy–in most of the Western fantasy tradition. And it’s a largely unvisited realm, outside of the adventures of Conan the Cimmerian. The far East gets some attention, but not the vast empires of the Himalayas and the Steppe.

Since preparing this post, I have gotten an electronic copy to read from the author, and I couldn’t resist looking at the opening pages. The writing is just as lovely as I expected. Now I’m eager to get a chance to finish reading it! I don’t generally read a lot of ebooks since I just don’t have as much fun reading them, but I will read this any way I can. It’s one of those books I’d read even if my copy was handwritten on napkins.

About Range of Ghosts:

Temur, grandson of the Great Khan, is walking away from a battlefield where he was left for dead. All around lie the fallen armies of his cousin and his brother, who made war to rule the Khaganate. Temur is now the legitimate heir by blood to his grandfather’s throne, but he is not the strongest. Going into exile is the only way to survive his ruthless cousin.

Once-Princess Samarkar is climbing the thousand steps of the Citadel of the Wizards of Tsarepheth. She was heir to the Rasan Empire until her father got a son on a new wife. Then she was sent to be the wife of a Prince in Song, but that marriage ended in battle and blood. Now she has renounced her worldly power to seek the magical power of the wizards. These two will come together to stand against the hidden cult that has so carefully brought all the empires of the Celadon Highway to strife and civil war through guile and deceit and sorcerous power.

Other Books of 2012: