Today we have a very special Q&A post with the author of Pathfinder Tales: Gears of Faith, Gabrielle Harbowy plus a giveaway of her new novel!

Synopsis: 

"Pathfinder is the world's bestselling tabletop role-playing game―now adapted as a series of novels.

Keren is a sworn knight of Iomedae, proper and disciplined in every way. Her girlfriend, Zae, is the opposite―a curious gnome cleric of the clockwork god, who loves nothing more than the chaos of her makeshift hospitals. When a powerful evil artifact is stolen from a crusader stronghold, both knight and gnome are secretly sent to the great city of Absalom to track down the stolen bloodstone.

Sure, they may not be the most powerful or experienced members of their organizations, but that’s the whole point―with legendary champions and undead graveknights battling at every turn in their race to recover the stone, who’ll notice one young knight and her gnome? All they have to do is stay alive long enough to outsmart a thief capable of evading both gods and heroes."

Buy online at Amazon or Book Depository.

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1) Kara: Obviously, you love Pathfinder and this really shows in your level of detail in descriptions and imagination in the book. What is your perfect character and how does he/she differ from Keren and Zae?

Gabrielle: My perfect character is one I’ve never played before!

In writing this novel and, essentially, having to play all the characters and understand the mechanics of a lot of different classes and options, I’ve definitely learned to step outside my comfort zone. I love playing healers and support classes, and that’s what I’ve always gravitated toward in tabletop RPGs, but now I want to dig into all the options and try everything at least twice.

I don’t roleplay Keren or Zae at the table, mostly because I don’t want to have to keep novel continuity separate from in-game continuity. “Remember the time we-- oh, right. That didn’t actually happen.” It would make things twice as complicated for me if they diverged! My current Pathfinder characters are a haunted Oracle whose belongings get shifted around by the spirits of everyone she’s killed; a very impatient Tian human fighter (of the “I respect your desire to negotiate, but can’t we just kill all the things?” variety); and a Tengu (ravenfolk) mage.

2) Kara: What advice would you give readers and gamers new to Pathfinder and Pathfinder Tales?

Gabrielle: Pathfinder is a collaborative game and Pathfinder players are very helpful people, so don’t be concerned about knowing every rule before you show up at the table. You can use a premade character to get a feel for things without getting bogged down by multiple books’ worth of rules, or to try different classes to you find one you enjoy. It’s totally acceptable to say “Okay, how do I roll for that?” or “Where do I find that on my character sheet?” or “Here’s what I want my character to do. Can I do that? What’s the best way to go about it?” and everyone will chime in to help you do your best. Pathfinder works best when the party is a team that strategizes together, so new blood is always welcome because it brings new possibilities to the table.

For readers new to Pathfinder Tales, my advice is basically the same. The novels might require you to piece some things together from context, but the novels (or series of novels within the Pathfinder Tales line) are engineered to stand alone. They’re enhanced by knowledge of the game lore, because you’ll recognize things and appreciate references, but specific knowledge of the game isn’t necessary to enjoy the novels. They’re set all over the known Pathfinder world, and they’re all meant to be accessible starting points. 

3) Kara: There's quite a bit of in-depth mechanical description in Gears of Faith, and the Clockwork Cathedral is amazing! How did you come up with that and the descriptions for the clockwork devices? 

Gabrielle: One of the exciting things about writing tie-in fiction is that you can take something that fascinates you, that’s just a concept or a couple of sentences in a reference book, and really flesh it out and make it your own. I find the Clockwork Cathedral fascinating, and I had a lot of fun translating its bare bones into a living, functioning building. The shape of the Cathedral was already in the canon, as were the giant gears that swing down at varying times to block off the hallways, and the fact that there are no amenities inside. I got to think realistically about what that would mean, what it would feel like and look like, and describe that through the wonder and incredulity of someone new to it all. I particularly enjoyed exploring the contrast between Zae’s first impressions, being overwhelmed by the eccentricity of the place, and the total nonchalance of her fellow students for whom it’s become commonplace.

Sometimes the ideas drive themselves. Without giving away too much, I’ll say that, for example, when a character says something, “be careful not to get stuck inside the gears,” it becomes kind of necessary and obvious that, at some point, someone’s going to be in danger of getting stuck inside the gears!

For the mechanical devices, I did a lot of research. I looked at spells in the game and thought about which of them were practical to house inside of objects and then activate, and how to make the object and its activation method appropriate to the device.

The failed devices were the easier ones to come up with than the working ones, because that just meant taking things to their logical extremes. I wasn’t bound by practicality. Like, take the Bleed spell. That spell means that someone who’s dying and has been stabilized, becomes unstable and resumes bleeding out. Well, you don’t need to go to the effort of magic to craft an object that can do that, when you could just use a sword!

Some of the more whimsical devices didn’t make it into the book, just because I had to strike a balance between creating fun objects and remembering that the characters were under a bit of a time crunch to solve the central mystery...but I’m holding on to the blueprints of those objects for future use.

4) Kara: I loved the diversity in this book! Zae was my favorite character because she's unique, smart, and quirky, and yet I admired Keren's inner drive. Their relationship seems like a good partnership. What did you most want to convey to your readers through the diversity of characters and relationships? 

Gabrielle: Thank you! What I really wanted most was to normalize the diversity. Here’s a couple who’ve been together a while and aren’t in the new romance phase of a relationship, and they’ve obviously made it work. It’s not a coming out story, because coming out isn’t the only story. And there’s no way to dismiss it with “well, it won’t last.” It’s lasted. It doesn’t matter that they’re both female, or that they’re not both human, or whatever. They’re people having genuine emotions and genuine quirks and flaws. All of the things that might get them looked at askance in our real world just aren’t a big deal.

I have a transgendered main supporting character, and again it’s not a big deal. There are also a few non-binary characters sprinkled in conspicuously (one “extra” in the Clockwork Cathedral is a male gnome in eyeliner and a skirt), and no one cares, singles them out, or places different expectations on them. 

In our world, people are still marginalized for these things. And because they’re not what our society sees as its default, it’s rare for people who identify in diverse ways to be able to find themselves depicted in fiction. My intent was that diverse readers would find that perspective refreshing, and readers who hadn’t come across much of that sort of thing might find their horizons widened, and their stereotypes and assumptions challenged. It’s not the big reveal or the punch line or the plot twist. It’s just people being honest with themselves about who they are and/or who they love.

5) Kara: What was your favorite part about bringing the game to life?

Gabrielle: I love Pathfinder’s take on gnomes, which was why I wanted to feature one in the first place. In Pathfinder, gnomes crave novelty and don’t have many hangups about how they get it. They’re long-lived fae-based creatures so they have an outsider perspective on humanity. I had a great time diving into the gnomish mindset. I’ve come to love Zae’s skewed perspective on the mostly human world around her. She gives me an opportunity to take things to their literal extreme, to question things people don’t question, to think about the names of things, and to approach a fascinating world with the kind of wide-eyed wonder that we all eventually lose when we live in a place and see it every day.

In “Inheritance,” the pre-Gears of Faith short story (linked below), Zae explains: “...it's not just [naïve] curiosity. It's informed curiosity. I know how big and complicated and dangerous the world is. What fascinates me is all that variety—how the world can be so full of parts that are so complex and weird and beautiful, and interconnected. I'm not fascinated by birds in flight because I think flight is mystical and impossible, I'm fascinated because I understand how it works, and how it works is fascinating. That's the kind of wonder I see in the world.”

6) Kara: What's next for Keren and Zae? Will we find out how they met?

Gabrielle: Maybe! They’ve hinted at it, but the whole story might come to light in a future tale. In the meantime, you can check out my short story “Inheritance” (free on Paizo’s website) and see how they acquired Appleslayer, Zae’s brave steed. As for what’s next, I think Keren and Zae are going to stay in Absalom a while, but both of them are at the mercy of their callings. Who knows where they might end up!

7) Kara: What's next for you? Will you be writing more books with Paizo?

Gabrielle: My next project is a contemporary (not fantasy / science fiction) young adult novel called Hearts Are Jerks, which is about a teenage girl and her adventures navigating polyamory. I’m in revisions on this now, and I hope to be sending it around to agents this summer. It’s also an attempt to normalize the diverse, and give voice to people who don’t get to see themselves and their relationships represented in fiction in positive ways. After that, I’ll be writing the sequel to Of the Essence, which is an urban fantasy novel I wrote in Ed Greenwood’s “Hellmaw” shared-world setting. Would I like to write more Keren and Zae? Definitely. And I’m looking forward to seeing what stories inspire me in Paizo’s forthcoming Starfinder setting, as well.

Thank you, Gabrielle, for answering my questions about Gears of Faith! I will definitely be looking out for your YA novel! Also, many thanks to TOR for sending us the book to feature and for offering a giveaway!

To enter our giveaway, leave a comment on this post answering the following question:

What is your favorite fantasy RPG? (can be tabletop or video game!)

The giveaway ends May 12, 2017. Please check back to see if you're the winner!

Please note: Giveaway is only eligible to readers from US or Canada.



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Gabrielle Harbowy got her start in the publishing industry as a Pricing Analyst at Scholastic. Since leaving the corporate side of publishing in 2006, she has edited for publishers including Pyr, Lambda Literary, and Circlet Press, and spent a decade as the managing editor at Dragon Moon Press. She copyedits professionally and is a submissions editor at the Hugo-nominated Apex Magazine. With Ed Greenwood, she co-edited the award-nominated When the Hero Comes Home anthology series; their latest anthology endeavor is Women in Practical Armor, from Evil Girlfriend Media. Her short fiction can be found in several anthologies, including Carbide Tipped Pens from Tor, and her first novel, Hellmaw: Of the Essence, is available from The Ed Greenwood Group. She also has a Pathfinder Tales novel, Gears of Faith, from Paizo. For more information, visit her online at @gabrielle_h or gabrielleharbowy.com.

Magic Breaks by Ilona Andrews

Book Stats:  

Reading level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Hardcover: 381 pages
Publisher: Penguin
Release date: July 29th, 2014

Series:  Kate Daniels #7

Source: 

Reviewed by: 

Order: Amazon | Book Depository

No matter how much the paranormal politics of Atlanta change, one thing always remains the same: if there’s trouble, Kate Daniels will be in the middle of it…

As the mate of the Beast Lord, Curran, former mercenary Kate Daniels has more responsibilities than it seems possible to juggle. Not only is she still struggling to keep her investigative business afloat, she must now deal with the affairs of the pack, including preparing her people for attack from Roland, a cruel ancient being with god-like powers. Since Kate’s connection to Roland has come out into the open, no one is safe—especially those closest to Kate.

As Roland’s long shadow looms ever nearer, Kate is called to attend the Conclave, a gathering of the leaders from the various supernatural factions in Atlanta. When one of the Masters of the Dead is found murdered there, apparently at the hands of a shapeshifter, Kate is given only twenty-four hours to hunt down the killer. And this time, if she fails, she’ll find herself embroiled in a war which could destroy everything she holds dear…

The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi

Book Stats:  

Reading level: Adult
Genre: Science-Fiction
Paperback ARC:  336 pages
Publisher: Tor Books
Release date: March 21, 2017

Series:  The Interdependency

Source: For review

Reviewed by:  Stéphanie

Order: Amazon | Book Depository

The first novel of a new space-opera sequence set in an all-new universe by the Hugo Award-winning, New York Times-bestselling author of Redshirts and Old Man's War.

Our universe is ruled by physics and faster than light travel is not possible -- until the discovery of The Flow, an extra-dimensional field we can access at certain points in space-time that transport us to other worlds, around other stars.

Humanity flows away from Earth, into space, and in time forgets our home world and creates a new empire, the Interdependency, whose ethos requires that no one human outpost can survive without the others. It’s a hedge against interstellar war -- and a system of control for the rulers of the empire.

The Flow is eternal -- but it is not static. Just as a river changes course, The Flow changes as well, cutting off worlds from the rest of humanity. When it’s discovered that The Flow is moving, possibly cutting off all human worlds from faster than light travel forever, three individuals -- a scientist, a starship captain and the Empress of the Interdependency -- are in a race against time to discover what, if anything, can be salvaged from an interstellar empire on the brink of collapse.

I'm taking a second look at The Cage by Megan Shepherd.  You can see Stephanie's original review from last year here.

I had the ARC of The Cage sitting on my bookshelf for way too long before I finally read it!  I love love love The Madman's Daughter trilogy by Shepherd, so I was anticipating enjoying this new trilogy just as much.  And I did!  Shepherd is one of my all-over fave YA authors.  I think I've compared her to a female Stephen King for teens in a previous review.  I get sucked into her writing and transported into the book's world and get actual physical goosebumps while I read!

Aliens!  It's not often that you find a book that features aliens that isn't campy.  The aliens in The Cage have kidnapped six teens from earth and placed them into an elaborate cage.  These aliens aren't little green men- they're a very sophisticated race that look vaguely human.  They have the same number of arms and legs and same facial features; the big difference is that their skin is kind of metallic.  They are described as being very solid and a bit on the tall side, which I imagine would make them formidable captors.  These aliens are definitely frightening, with their silence and stoicism and lack of emotions.

Then there's the cage.  The cage, to me, is very reminiscent of a zoo- it's got multiple "habitat" areas that are meant to mimic geographic features of earth, such as a desert area and a town area and a jungle area.  None of them are quite right, of course, but they're just close enough to bug the teens.  (For example, there's daily rain in the jungle area, but no bugs.)  Within the cage are multiple puzzles that the teens can solve over and over again to win tokens.  I kept thinking of seals or killer whales, who are often made to do a trick to earn fish.  It made me cringe.

The setting and the story are very well set up and elaborate.  I won't give anything away, but there's more to the caging of the teens than originally meets the eye.  Even with it's elaborateness and depth, though, the story is never hard to follow.  Shepherd is quite the writer!  However, I didn't feel that the characters were as well developed as they could be.  The reader sees the story from every character's point of view at least once, but a majority of the chapters are from Cora's point of view.  Even with that, though, I didn't always feel like I knew her.  I'd be cheering her independent spirit one moment, then completely confused when she turns around and has feelings for her captor.  We have a whole backstory on her that makes her sound really tough, then she starts to lose it in the cage.  This is the first book in a trilogy, so maybe we get to know other characters better in the second and third books.

The Cage was fantastic!  I'm kind of glad it took me so long to get around to reading it; now I can binge read right into the second and third books without waiting!  Even with the underdevelopment of characters, the unique plot and the whammy of an ending left me wanting more.

P.S. I'll say that I do kind of agree with Stephanie about the aliens' requirement that the teens mate.  (Like animals in a zoo.)  It is pretty creepy.  However, it fits into the story and adds to the terror and suspense, and when characters comply the actions are never described in any detail, so I'm actually ok with it being in the book.  I just wouldn't recommend it to young/immature teens.

Every so often I read a book that perfectly matches up with the time of year, and this was one of those times.  What could be more perfect than reading a delightfully chilling Jack the Ripper story in October, right before Halloween?  I was hooked on Stalking Jack the Ripper from the moment I received the book.  The back of the cover is minimalist, with a picture of historic autopsy tools and

He murdered women in cold blood.  He terrorized an entire city.  He taunted those of us who hunted him down.  But despite all these horrors, in the end, I could not deny it... I was the girl who loved The Ripper."

Chills, right?  And although the jacket copy refers to Aubrey Rose's love for The Ripper, the book is so much more than that.  It's about a wonderfully fierce and feisty independent young woman and a mystery too!

Aubrey Rose is an excellently well-developed main character.  She is complex and unpredictable.  Stalking Jack the Ripper is set in 1888, so the reader sees her daily struggle between what society expects of her and what she expects of herself.  Rather than going full-tilt rebel, we witness her desire to still befriend her much more feminine cousin and to not overly upset/scandalize her older brother.  I always find that it's a mark of great character development if the character grows or changes any over the course of the book, and Aubrey Rose definitely does.  At the beginning of the book she is a very bright young lady who is good at following her uncle's instructions to complete an autopsy.  By the end of the book, she is very much thinking for herself and making her own decisions both on the streets and in the autopsy room.

Stalking Jack the Ripper also has a secondary character, Thomas Creswell, who is an absolute bonus!  I just loved him to bits!  I'm a huge fan of "snark," and he has "snark" for days!  His demeanor and witticisms had me smiling often through this book.  I found myself especially looking forward to any extended dialog between him and Aubrey Rose- they both gave as well as they got in the sarcastic remarks!

Finally, the mystery- this was a really good mystery.  It kept me guessing straight up to the end... and maybe beyond.  ;)  I'm not giving anything away!  You HAVE to read this one yourself.  Kerri Maniscalco reveals only one clue at a time, with a couple of red herrings, to keep you hooked.  I work in a library and ended up reading the latter part of the book on the reference desk because I couldn't put it down!  Not only will you want to solve the mystery, but you'll also cheer for Aubrey Rose as she works through the clues in the male-dominated Victorian era.

This standalone book left me craving a lot more, so I was very glad to read an author interview in which it was revealed that there will be more standalone Aubrey Rose stories in the future.  Go read Stalking Jack the Ripper now so that you can gush about it with me, and keep your eyes peeled for further adventures!

Thanks to the publisher of Stalking Jack the Ripper, we're giving away one copy of the book and some lovely soap from Skull & Bones!  (Because stalking a murderer is dirty work!)  Enter here!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hello!  I was super excited to receive an advance copy of a chapter from Ransom Riggs' forthcoming novel, Tales of the Peculiar.  It is going to be a sort of companion to the Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children trilogy.  If you've read those books, then you've met the peculiar children:  children who have some sort of supernatural feature.  Maybe they're invisible, or levitate, or eat their supper with the mouth in the back of their head.  They can also travel through time loops, and don't age.  Tales of the Peculiar is half folktale collection/half history book, and tells of some of the first peculiars.  It also gives hints as to the locations of other time loops, other than Miss Peregrine's.

The chapter that I got my hands on was "The Splendid Cannibals."  Talk about shock factor!  It's not every day that you read about cannibals so casually.  The cannibals aren't the peculiars in this case, though:  the villagers in Swampmuck are.  They live happily, farming the swamps around their village.  They work hard for a little money, only just enough to get by.  Then one day some very wealthy cannibals come to the village, and everything changes.  You see, it's a match made in heaven:  Swampmuckians regenerate their limbs whenever they're lost (like a lizard can re-grow it's tail if it's bit off) and the cannibals are hungry.

Tales of the Peculiar has Riggs' expected excellent prose.  As I was reading it, I could totally imagine that I was reading a history book (of a very strange-to-me society).  There was just enough familiarity to the setting to make it believable... even though it was populated with people who could regrow limbs and others who ate those limbs!  And if you've read the Miss Peregrine's Home trilogy, you'll know that one of the great features to those books is the antique photos of peculiar people; in Tales of the Peculiar we get pen-and-ink drawings by Andrew Davidson.  They're gorgeous!

After reading this teaser chapter, I'm totally looking forward to requesting a full-length copy when it's released in September!

The First Lie by Virginia King is a mystery unlike most others.  This is not your typical cop, PI or Wannabe PI jaunt through a bunch of clues foisted at them.  Yet, it is a mystery in the truest since.

You can't beat the setting.  Set in the beautiful and entrancing islands of Hawaii, there was plenty of rich imagery as well as history and mythology to dig into.  The historical and visual are used a bit more sparingly than I would have preferred.  There are a great many scenes that could have taken place in Kansas City and it would have fit.  I always like when an author can use the scenery to amplify mood or provide a bit of foreshadowing or even act as  a red herring.  While the author did not take advantage of these things, there was sufficient imagery to keep the story alive.  That is likely due to the story itself.  There is just enough uniqueness to keep interest up.  I was drawn in enough to keep me in the story but, it could have given a lot more.

We get to learn more about the main character, Selkie Moon, by way of her own narrative.  First person has always been my favorite point of view.  It makes it a bit difficult for the author to get all the information to the reader but, in that difficulty we get to feel the struggle of the main character.  That is one of the saving graces to this story.  We learn as Selkie does about herself, her friends as well as about the mysteries that surround her.

The First Lie by Virginia King has the potential to be the first of a series of intriguing mysteries based on supernatural subjects.  I really hope the rest of the books pick up on this and add a bit of local style and historical and mythological richness to take us even deeper into these stories.  There is a bit of language and frank (though not overly crude) discussions of sex and sexuality. For those reasons, I would give these a modest PG13 rating.

The Library at Mount Char was not what I expected, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.  I picked it up because of the word "library" in the title.  Yup... I'm a sucker like that.

Turns out the "library" at Mount Char is NOT your typical library and it's inhabited by folks who are NOT your typical librarians.  Carolyn and her adopted siblings live in the library with a man they call Father and they spend their days studying thousands of tomes that collectively contain all the knowledge of the universe.  Plus some.  Their knowledge extends into the very, very distant past and into the future.  It includes how to practice medicine, and how to heal completely (even from death).  It includes all the languages of the earth, past and present, and also the languages of the animals.  The catch is that no one person gets to know it all.  They each have their own "catalog" to study.  Carolyn, the main character, studies languages.

This is how it's been for decades.  Then one day the siblings find themselves barred from the library, and Father missing.  Is he within the library, which the librarians can't reach?  Or is he dead?  Carolyn, the only sibling left who still speaks enough English to get along in the outside world, starts formulating a plan to get back into the library and find out what happened to Father.  To do this she'll play on all of her siblings' strengths.  So right off the bat there's a lot of magic/fantasy elements:  there's this force field going on that's preventing the librarians from getting near the library, a force field that only affects some people and affects everyone in different ways.  Also, who is this Father guy?  Is he God?  The back-of-the-book synopsis kind of led me to think so, but you'll have to make up your own mind after you read the book.  He's definitely not the same God that Christians know, but is he a god?  Perhaps.

So that's the plot, much boiled down.  There's so much more going on.  I think The Library at Mount Char could have been twice as long, and I'd probably still want more info!  No big plot points are left unanswered, but there are enough characters and enough back story to leave the reader wanting more.  For example, there are two people mentioned throughout the book, Nobununga and Mithrangani, who are never explained.  Who are they and why do all the librarians fear them?  Where did they come from and why did they show up?  I also wanted to know a lot more about the library and how it was set up and what all the librarians studied.  The Library at Mount Char is written from Carolyn's point of view; I would totally read a companion book from Michael's or Jennifer's points of view.  (They're other librarians.)

The book's blurbs are right:  this is definitely an "unputdownable" page-turner.  Each page reveals another bizarre twist or wacky character.  You won't be able to put it down until you know what on earth is going on.  Just as you think you're starting to figure out a character, everything gets turned on it's head!  Occasionally I'd have to go back and re-read a paragraph to make sure my eyes didn't deceive me.  Like when Daniel is first described... did I really read that a 6'+ guy was running around in a purple tutu?  Yup.  And that was one of the least bizarre reveals.  I can't think of any other examples that wouldn't give away big plot points.  Carolyn herself is described as wearing a Christmas sweater with bike shorts and galoshes.  (Normal clothing choices are not, apparently, part of any of their courses of study...)

And last but not least: the writing style.  Most excellent!  Scott Hawkins has a way with words.  I can't put my finger on any concrete examples, but there were definitely passages that felt very Stephen King-esque.

Everything in the book is building toward a HUGE battle for control of the universe, and you won't want to miss finding out about the plans and the battle itself and the aftermath!

To be honest, y'all, I deliberated over this review.  I read Circa Now a couple of weeks ago, and I really enjoyed it, but I also felt slightly misled.  In the back-of-book synopsis, I felt promised "a hint of magic."  In fact, that final paragraph of the synopsis is a bit off base.

It is, however, truly a "gripping story full of hope and heart."  So that's excellent!  Circa Now is Circa's story- a young teen who lives in a small town with her photographer parents.  One night her dad goes out to deliver some photos and is caught by a tornado.  Just as she and her mom are beginning to pick up the pieces and find their new normal, Circa begins to notice that things that she and her dad Photoshopped in photos are coming true.  A strange boy even shows up on their porch, the exact right age to match a baby that she and her dad Photoshopped into a picture!

More than anything else, Circa Now is a story of hope and healing... and maybe not so much of magic.  You know that we here at Tynga's Reviews avoid spoilers like the plague, but I can't help this one:  there is no magic.  I enjoyed the story.  The author is quite talented.  But the publisher put a misleading synopsis on the back cover.  I think there was enough in the book to recommend it even without a teaser of magic, but maybe that's just me.  From what I've been able to glean from author interviews and talking to other bibliophiles, authors very rarely have hardly any say over these synopses, so don't hold this against the book!

As I mentioned, it is a story of healing and growth.  Circa is quite a young teen, and she's having to deal with the horrific tragedy of losing her dad.  Her mom has depression and anxiety, and there are even hints of mild agoraphobia.  Not only is there a beautiful story here of a young girl coming into her own through hope and help from friends and family, there's also a story of friendship.  In the middle of all this, there's a strange boy, Miles, who shows up on their doorstep with amnesia.  After the tornado he found a photograph on the ground with Circa's parents' photography studio address on the back, and he found his way to them.  Circa and her best friend really step up and they befriend Miles.  I love that this is a YA book without romance!  Just friendship.  It's really sweet.

Overall, I very much recommend this book, even minus any actual magic.  The writing is superb, and I had trouble putting down the book ever.  The plot kept a good, steady pace and the characters are 110% lovable.  Then there are these cool photos roughly every other chapter.  A big part of the plot focuses on photographs that Circa and her dad Photoshopped, and the author put them into the book so that we can see them!  I loved that detail.

A quick heads-up:  Meridian is the sequel to Arclight.  You can read my review of Arclight HERE, and there may be slight spoilers for Arclight in the review below.

When Meridian opens, the Arclight community is relatively stable.  Folks are back to somewhat regular routines.  Anne-Marie is now a teacher, Tobin is a perimeter guard, and Marina works in the Arbor.  Everyone knows now what Marina was, and what she is now, and most are ok with it.  At least they tolerate her.  And Marina is discovering that she may not have been 100% "cured" anyway.  For about 8 pages, the reader thinks that things may have finally settled down in the Arclight.  Marina even seems moderately happy when working in the Arbor, and with Tobin.

Then everything goes nuts again.  Of course!  It wouldn't be a very exciting book if Marina and Tobin and Anne-Marie simply grew up and lived happily ever after, right?  Before you can blink an eye, Tobin and Marina start having horrible, horrible nightmares.  In them, the Fade form a flood and drown them.  Anne-Marie's brother, Silver, and Dante all start to turn Fade.  What is going on?  The Fade are supposed to be somewhat neutral now- they keep to their own place in the Dark, but they're not active enemies, either.  So why are people starting to turn again?  How are the Fade even getting into the Arclight, with the perimeter back up and running?

This is a NONSTOP book.  Every time you start to think that the characters have the next challenge figured out, NOPE.  There they go again- change in plan, change in challenge.  In Arclight, they thought they'd figured out the Fade in general- turns out (in Meridian) that there might actually be an even bigger threat.  One that even the Fade they know are frightened of.  On a positive, there might also be other human survivors out there.  I'm reflecting back on the book this evening, and I don't think that any of the main characters sleep at all for the last 2/3 of the book.  That's how much action is in there!

(On sort of a side note to all the action... a coworker recently challenged all of us to come up with a list of YA books that don't involve romance.  While Tobin and Marina definitely care about each other, there is absolutely no time for any romance in this book.  I think there was one quick kiss.  No handholding, no declarations of love, no monologues about how beautiful the other is.)

As I wrote in my review of Arclight, Marina is a difficult character to connect to/empathize with.  It took me most of Arclight to start to empathize with her, and I never really came around to fully liking her.  Same in Meridian... maybe she's just hard to read?  But her actions and words never came across as very emotionally available.  She comes across very cold and indifferent.  Perhaps also there's just too much going on.  Only half of the chapters are from her point of view (the other half are from Tobin's), and there's so much plot going on that character development takes a backseat.  I couldn't even physically describe most of the secondary characters to you, they're so underdeveloped.

On the plus side- lots of plot!  As I mentioned, tons of action.  There's also plenty of description of setting.  Y'all, this is a very dark book.  Literally.  Most of it takes place at night, of course, and the characters are being pursued/attacked by clouds and swarms of dark nanites.  These are described as being black, like grains of iron, that drip off of the Fade and off of the trees and puddle in the ground.  I'm so glad that the author spends time on description.  The whole theory of sentient nanites that can be in a person's blood or in their skin, or even operate independently, is so foreign to my worldview that I needed the descriptions to be able to picture it at all.  There is, however, very little explanation of the theory or origin of the nanites in Meridian; you'll need to read Arclight first to understand.

Overall, not a bad read.  I definitely flew through it, because I couldn't put it down in the midst of all the action!  However, there was very minimal character development or growth, so that takes a few half-stars off my rating.  Also, the ending really feels like it sets up a third book, but the author's website makes no mention of any more Arclight books.  Bummer!

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There was so much to love about Wake! The main character, Gemma, is awesome: she's independent and fun and a good friend and a good sister and a good daughter. She's determined and she works hard, even under less-than-ideal circumstances. These less-than-ideal circumstances include a dad who works hard hours, a mom who lives nearly an hour away in a group home after suffering a traumatic brain injury, and an older sister who is having trouble letting go of her caretaker role as she transitions to college. Through it all, she remains a very active member of her school's swim team, maintains good grades, plan to go to college after graduation, and is a loyal friend who knows how to have fun.

I loved that Gemma and Harper, her sister, wasn't perfect. Because that's real. There is never, ever a question of whether or not they love each other: they love each other nearly to a fault. But that doesn't mean that they will always see eye to eye or never say a hurtful word to each other. That's just the way it is, and I love that Amanda Hocking is able to convey that fiercely loyal never perfect sisterly love.

I also love that there may or may not be mermaids in Wake. I love me some potential mermaidness. No spoilers! You'll have to read the book. Either way, the characters live on the coast, and there's lots of ocean interaction.

While I loved Wake and want to give it an enthusiastic five stars, there's one little thing holding me back a little: willing suspension of disbelief. Amanda Hocking does demand a little bit of willing suspension of disbelief at times. And by a little, I mean a good dose of willing suspension of disbelief. If you go into Wake fully committed to a great time and a fantastic story, you're in for a treat. If you're a skeptical person, this book may not be for you. But I loved it, and I also plan to hand over my copy to my own sister in the near future. I think she'll love it as much as I did.

This was a really good book! I will admit, I was a little skeptical to read "ghost" in the book description, but A Magic Dark & Bright totally proved me wrong. There's a well-developed plot beyond "ghost story" and fantastic 3-dimensional character development. Even the setting is rich!

The book kicks off at the start of summer in Asylum, PA. Amelia is navigating a new normal after the death of her brother a year prior, and her parents' divorce soon after. Now a new boy has moved in next door, and she can't help but be attracted to him, even though she grew up thinking that his grandmother (her next door neighbor) is a bona fide witch. Oh, and just a side note: she occasionally sees a ghost, a woman in white, in the woods near their houses.

That's why I loved this book: yes, there's magic and a ghost, but it's just one part of a much richer story. There's also the story of healing, and how Amelia is finding a way to move on and develop her own personality without her brother or father. And there's the story of friendship, both between Amelia and her best friend Leah, and the blossoming friendship (or more?) between Amelia and Charlie, the new guy next door. There's history: their town, Asylum, is so named because it was originally founded as an asylum for French immigrants plagued by rumors of dark happenings. And last but not least, there's also mystery: a series of explainable deaths, which many residents want to pin on Charlie.

The author does a fantastic job of weaving all of these story lines together to create a captivating novel. There were no plot holes, and I never saw the ending coming. I see it listed as a "Book 1" on Goodreads.com, and I look forward to a potential sequel!

If you're looking for a book that has it all, this is it.  It's YA, which I love, and there's a mystery for the teens to solve and overcome.  There's almost a feeling of a quest of sorts, and a definite dystopian feel.  While you won't love every character the same way, you'll definitely agree that they are very real and very brave.

This is one of those books that I loved reading so much, I'm not sure I can do it justice in this review!  It's so well done, the pages flew by despite the length.  (474 pages)  The story focuses around Liv, a 17-year-old girl who has recently lost her parents and is in a separate foster home from her little brother.  Her life went from carefree high school students to seriously focused young adult.  Everything she does is focused on earning enough money to support herself and her little brother once she turns 18.  That is, until the night that she accepts an invite from her foster sister to a rooftop viewing party for a solar flare.

Just one of the many things Aria Michaels does really well is the way that she introduces characters.  First we meet Liv, and see a little of her backstory through her memories.  Then we meet her foster sister, Riley, when she comes to wake up Liv for school.  Each character that is introduced is introduced in a really natural way, and we're never bombarded with a whole room full of new characters at once.  I love that chance for character development!  Even though we end up with a group of about 10 teens surviving together, I never had to flip back and forth to try to remember who was who.  Also, the cast of characters was diverse without feeling forced.  There were multiple sexualities and ethnicities represented, but none of it was thrown in our faces, and none were exaggerated into stereotypes.  For example, there's a Black girl, but she's not ultra-sassy or ratchet or anything.  She's cool, and goes with the flow.  In fact, the reader knows Falisha for about two chapters before it's even mentioned that she's Black.  Michaels even throws together different religious belief systems in her characters without ever sounding preachy!  I couldn't tell you if the author herself is Christian or not.  (Personally, I can usually guess the author's belief system if belief is mentioned at all in a book.  Very impressed that it wasn't obvious in this one.)  Not only were the characters very real and introduced in such an awesome way, they also show great growth throughout the book.  This goes hand-in-hand with none of them being stereotypes, I guess, but it's still worth mentioning.

(A tiny warning:  I'd give this to older teens.  The characters don't shy away from occasional heavy-handed language.  But that just makes them more real!  It's not overdone.)

The characters felt natural and were introduced in a smooth way, and the plot unfolds in the same way.  In the whole book, there wasn't a single period when I was bored and skimming, and there also weren't any areas where the plot unfolded too quickly.  You know how sometimes you're reading and you have to stop and say, "ok, what just happened??  That came out of nowhere!"  None of that in Killshot.  And that's a big compliment!  We're talking about a solar flare that's decimated society, and I never felt confused or overwhelmed or out of my ability to grasp the situation.  Oh, and I also loved how even though the characters are teens, I never found myself seriously disagreeing with decisions that they made.  They weren't too mature for belief, but they also weren't stupid.  Awesome!

Only two tiny complaints:  I read Killshot as an eARC, and there was a serious lack of conjunctions in it.  This really might just be because I read a pre-edited version of the book.  Unfortunately, I found it a little distracting, especially when the characters were in conversation.  Everyone says "I'm" instead of "I am" when talking!  Also, the ending.  Michaels, if you're reading this, I'm going to need the sequel ASAP.  Like, yesterday.  I'm way too invested in these characters for that exciting of an ending!  I need more!

While the length might be off-putting to some, the story is very much worth it.  Exciting without being overwhelming, with characters you'll get attached to.  Highly, highly recommended!

Andersonville is the bold new entry in the world of magic and historical fiction from author Edward M. Erdelac.  Prisoner of War camps are never an pleasant subject, and Andersonville (Fort Sumpter POW Camp) with it's infamous history, made for an interesting backdrop.

This fictional account of some of the happenings there is brought to us primarily from the point of view of one Barclay Lourdes.  Barclay becomes a resident of Andersonville by unique circumstance in that he went there on purpose.  I won't go too deep into the why's and how's of it because, I think the exposition of Mr. Lourdes is half the journey of this story.  To be sure, he and many of his fellow captives and even some of the captors are compelling characters.  We not only get to struggle with our perceptions of people in this world but, Barclay's perceptions as well.  This is a story that has characters development set down layer by layer until we start to see who are the good, the bad and the evil.  There are a few scattered flat characters that serve as plot devices but, they are used judiciously and don't crowd the scenes.

The scenes are where I start to have some difficulty.  The difficulty, however, is all mine.  I was blessed (or sometimes cursed) with an excellent imagination.  Wonderful when it comes to flying on dragon back or walking through an elfin forest.  When it comes to spending time in a Confederate POW camp of the American Civil War, an excellent imagination can make things difficult.  When the descriptions are so well done, it can be downright disturbing ( I had to limit my reading to non-meal times).  Conditions of that era were hard and in any prison more so.  In a place where human life became a bargaining chip to a lost cause, conditions had to be horrific.  To do this in any other fashion would take away from the total impact of the story.  While it's hard to bear at times, the stark realism of the story is necessary to the narrative.

The story as a whole is well done.  The pacing is done so that revelations are made at the best time to maintain the sense of suspense and drama.  Edward Erdelac masterfully pulls back the veil of each scene and character and draws us deeper into this macabre world.

Andersonville by Edward M. Erdelac is a journey back to a time when the world was simpler, more barbaric and yet full of mystery and magic.  This is one I definitely put in the PG13  bordering on R range due to its disturbing imagery and some mature subject matters.

OHMYGOODNESS!  How much did I LOVE this book!  I usually hate when a book has a blurb on the front proclaiming it "*famous book title* meets *famous book title*" but in this case it turne out to be so true.  The Twistrose Key had a blurb saying it was a mash of The Chronicles of Narnia and The Golden Compass.  So accurate!

Eleven-year-old Lin has had a rough couple of months.  Her family has moved to the city from their farm, and then Lin's pet rat Rufus passes away.  On a cold, wet night, Lin goes exploring in her cellar and finds a magical key, addressed to her.  Next thing she knows, she's in Sylver, just as Lucy passed through the wardrobe to reach Narnia.  This is where I got hooked:  only a couple pages in and I was rearranging my life to make extra reading time!  You see, Sylver is where especially well-loved pets or tame wild animals go after death.  They become larger and more dextrous and gain speech and they live in a little town.  How AWESOME is that premise?!  To think that our beloved pets never truly, completely die, but instead go on to a magical place?  Lin has been "summoned" to Sylver to help solve a mystery.  There's one semi-human (human in shape & form, but very magical) family that lives in Sylver and helps maintain the magic.  Unfortunately, they have disappeared.  If Lin can't solve this mystery and find them in just a few hours, Sylver will start to unravel as the magic unwinds.

Ya'll, this upper middle-grades story was so good that I'm trying to convince the hubby (usually only reads adult nonfiction) to try it!  The writing and pacing were excellent.  I never found myself bored or skimming.  In fact, this book took me a little longer to read than usual because I would find myself lingering over a particularly well-written passage.  It was hard to remember that C.S. Lewis himself didn't write it!  I so enjoyed "walking" around Sylver with Lin and Rufus, and meeting other animals.  When the task grew dangerous, I found myself getting pretty nervous.

The characters themselves definitely added to the book.  The friendship between Lin and Rufus is so sweet.  Neither is perfect, but they complement each other well.  When Lin gets too impatient and impulsive, Rufus is there to force her to slow down and think.  And when Rufus encounters a fear, Lin is there to help encourage him along.  The characters also did most of the heavy-lifting of world building.  Because this is Lin's first (and probably only) visit to Sylver, Rufus continues to explain things to her as they go about town searching for the missing people.  This also clues the reader in on the social mores and infrastructure layout of Sylver.  Super helpful, and meant there were no long paragraphs or sections describing scenery.

The mystery itself was really well done too.  Lin continually uncovers clues throughout the evening, but you'll be guessing until the end!  There's no way anyone could predict that ending.  Don't worry; no spoilers.  Just saying that the clues were doled out often enough to keep me very, very engaged, but not quite enough clues were given for the reader to solve the mystery before Lin does.  I love "group solves" in mystery books!

To sum up:  excellent writing, characters you'll love, gorgeous setting.  I'm adding Tone Almhjell to my "auto-buy" list!

A quick warning: Spoilers for previous novels abound in this review! If you're not caught up, you might want to skip down to the giveaway. :)

Gin's in a very different position in SPIDER'S TRAP: she's spent much of the series hunting Monroes and dodging assassins and now she's the queen of Ashland's underworld. "Reluctant" doesn't even begin to describe how she feels about it but her feelings become moot when someone plants a bomb on her friend Phillip's boat while she's on board for a meeting. The would-be assassin's magic is unlike anything Gin has ever faced, and she can help but think it's related to her past, though she can't quite put her finger on it. Nonetheless, Gin being Gin, she goes into full seek-and-destroy mode, to ensure the safety of her loved ones.

The books in the Elemental Assassin have a definite structure to them: Gin meets threat, Gin spends novel trying to defeat threat (usually with at least one attempt that goes awry - at great cost to her person), Gin survives (again, often at great cost to her person). Within this structure, there's usually a lot of nice personal and thoughtful moments, particularly in the past couple novels, where Gin has struggled with being "out" as The Spider and how that affects the people she cares about. In SPIDER'S TRAP, Gin's reflections go in a different direction, taking us back to her early days with Fletcher, which is one of the reasons I really enjoyed this novel. Every few books, we get to dip our toes into Gin's early days -- you can't quite call it an idyllic childhood, can you? -- and these are my favourite stories because we see how Gin became the woman she is. And we get to learn about Fletcher, who I'm very attached to despite the fact that he's been dead for pretty much the entire series. Gin's formative years and her time with Fletcher are always fascinating and SPIDER'S TRAP is no exception. Estep has given us another peek at Gin's younger self, and of Fletcher in his prime, and I loved it. (As an aside, I would happily read a prequel series just about Fletcher with or without teenaged Gin and Flynn.) Without going too far into spoiler territory, I think I can safely say that it was quite fun to have Gin be something of a secondary player in some of the reminiscences. I'm afraid to be less cryptic, so you'll just have to read through the novel to really get what I mean by that!

I have such big love for SPIDER'S TRAP that I could go on and on but I'm very concerned that I'll inadvertently ruin some of the surprises so I think I'll have to sign off now. ;) I'll close by saying that, as ever, Estep has written a fast-paced, action-filled novel that also manages to deliver great character development and pithy dialogue. It's no mean feat to keep a series interesting once it's hit double digits but she's done a fine job. I'm always eager to read the next Elemental Assassin book and SPIDER'S TRAP has truly delivered. It's exciting, satisfying, and will have you hooked from the opening scene. I dare you to read the excerpt linked below and not run to the bookstore to get your own copy!

Read an excerpt

There is a tour-wide giveaway with different prizes depending on region. Make sure you check the Raffelcopter for details. The prizes:

1 winner will receive an entire print set of Jennifer’s Elemental Assassin series - all 13 books! (US/Canada only)
10 winners will receive one copy of SPIDER’S TRAP (US/Canada only)
1 winner will receive a $25 Amazon gift card (this is open internationally!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What could be worst than seeing your soul-mate die in your arms again and again? It's the hand Regin The Radiant was dealt when she fell for mortal Aidan the Fierce. She wasn't quite in love yet, but cared deeply for him, and after a night a weakness, when he claimed her in passion, he died in her arms, killed by a dreadful vampire. He loved her body and soul, and swore he'd come back to her. And he did, only to die in a similar fashion every time. Regin is now determined to stay away from her dear Aidan because she can't handle the pain anymore. This reincarnation of Aidan have very different plans for her though...

Another awesome installment in the Immortals After Dark series! Kresley has never been wrong for me with her adult titles (surprisingly I don't really like her YA), and Dreams of a Dark Warrior was another success. This title was a bit different because the hero is actually a bad guy. And I mean, a REALLY bad guy. He is a leader in an organization bound to destroy all Lorekind, and when he captures Regin, it's not to sweet talk her into bed. He does (or commands) unspeakable things to all paranormals, and Regin was no exception. I liked how believable his journey was, and if I had been in the place of Regin I would've told him too little, too late dude! But I guess that Valkyrie is more forgiving than I lol. I actually pitied him in the end, and he worked really hard to earn redemption, so I must give him credit for that.

Regin was radiant *snickers* no seriously, the girl was really shining through with her spunky personality. I loved that she was determined to do the right thing, even if Aidan (named Chase in this reincarnation) was awful. I loved how she kept her head held high in even the worst situation, and has a fierce desire to protect her loved ones. Her interaction with her roommates was fun and endearing and her respect for her berserk ally was commendable.

The plot all takes place in the same location and it's quite a feat to keep things interesting in such a limited location. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, wondering when Chase would give in and remember Regin, or if she would give up and sacrifice him yet another time. The tension between them was excruciating, and that's without mentioning the unbearable sexual electricity. I was wondering when they would jump each others' bones.

One of the aspect I like about Kresley's book is that the time lines on each novel overlap. This story takes place in the same time frame as Demon From the Dark and Pleasure of a Dark Prince. Since Lothaire played a big role in the novel, I am guessing "Lothaire" - the novel, will overlap some as well. I think it keeps things interesting and it's refreshing because it's different from any other series I've read.

Dreams of a Dark Warrior was a very satisfying read, and if you haven't started this series yet, I must ask you, What are you waiting for???

Only a flimsy magical barrier and an old as dirt treaty 'protects' the human world (Feyre's world) from the wicked Faeries. Legends are full of warnings about the fey, but none helped her when one came to her home to drag her back to his. Everything is more beautiful, deceptive and cruel than she was ever taught, but she will also discover a brighter side to this foreign world. One she will start to appreciate. It might even have something to do with a certain masked fey lord...

A Court of Thorns and Roses is another awesome faerie world created by Sarah J.Maas, one with a completely (yet, as mesmerizing) different world than the Throne of Glass world. Faeries used to rule the world and after a savage war they retreated to their own territory, forced to release their human slaves. Their world is now split in 7 courts, each ruled by a Lord. Some aren't happy about their predicament and are just waiting the right opportunity to take over the human world once more. Things of nightmare but also terrible (and sometimes deceptive) beauty mingle in this enchanted world beyond human reach.

I really, really liked the colorful and dangerous world Maas created and the rich story line to accompany it. Feyre is taken from her family, and treated as an esteemed guest in Tamlin's manor. He is a bit awkard, but he is making efforts to be nice to her and eventually she will warm to his presence. I couldn't help it, my mind kept screaming 'Stockholm syndrome' but at least the whole thing wasn't creepy! He was actually courting her, for reasons we don't know, but the whole thing is kinda sweet. She's not any swooning girl though and she keeps her foul mouth and attitude at least until half the book. Her witty comments were great, and I LOVED her banter with Lucien. There were many great characters in this novel, but he was definitely my favorite. He is though, secretive, smart, has a shit attitude but he is as loyal as it gets. From beginning to end, he lived up to my expectations.

I find it super hard to talk about the plot without giving anything away... The novel is kind of split in two parts, Tamlin's courting of Feyre and Feyre's hopeless mission. The atmosphere in both part is soooo different you could almost believe it's two different books. Feyre goes from lost girl in search of a purpose to a girl with a purpose that will most likely get her killed, yet she won't give up. I really admired her strength and determination in this second part and I have to command her for it. Tamlin went from shy and flirty, yet mighty powerful, to groveling mute eye-candy. In the second Part, Feyre must complete three tasks to reach her goal and will gain unlikely allies along the way, and ohh were these task stress-inducing! I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.

The conclusion is a complete game changer and I was holding my breath during the final battle. I just couldn't believe what I was reading! I really can't wait for the next novel to discover the fallback of these events and where each character now stands. I haven't mentioned Rhysand yet, but he was one of the great and surprising characters and I can't wait to see the part he will play in the next installment.

A Court of Thorns and Roses is another amazing book by miss Maas and I strongly suggest you read it!

Read an excerpt

The Time Fetch follows young teens Edward (Dweebo to some), Danton, Feenix (Edith to her mother), and Brigit as they discover a stone that holds time foragers, fight to restore order to their world as the time foragers rapidly eat away at their town, and struggle to grow into themselves and discover the good in those around them.

I would only give The Time Fetch 2 or 3 stars out of 5, but I want to give a caveat right up front:  I read this book right after a fantastic one, and I read it over a very busy few days in my personal life.  There wasn't any time for me to sit down and really get immersed in the world; I read it in short bites.  I feel like that might have colored my "meh" opinion.

The Time Fetch did have a pretty unique and interesting premise.  Edward, kind of a loner kid who's just coasting through life has to find a rock to bring into science class last-minute, so he looks out in his aunt's backyard and chooses one at random.  Turns out this is a very special rock, one that should never have moved.  Now the forces within, little bee-like creatures who feed on time, have been disturbed and released.  Suddenly time is starting to literally fly by!  The kids are in class only a few minutes before the next bell rings.  They get home from school only to find it's already dinner time.  They grow taller and stronger overnight.  I was definitely intrigued by the concept of fantastical creatures foraging on time, like locusts of the fourth dimension!  Unfortunately, I felt like this could have been explained much more if the book was longer or the start to a series.  (It's a standalone; I checked.)

The plot premise isn't the only thing left unexplained.  There's an entire scene with Feenix that never really ends up going anywhere.  After it was all over, I kept expecting it to pop back up later in the story... but it never did.  So it was really unnecessary in the scheme of things.  And Feenix's name!  Her name is actually Edith.  Maybe I missed something somewhere, but I don't think the author ever explains the nickname.

Two of the secondary characters really saved this book for me and kept me pushing through:  Danton and Brigit.  I absolutely loved Danton's energy and enthusiasm and friendliness!  If I was a kid again, I'd totally want to be friends with Danton.  He also exhibits a thoughtfulness beyond his years that is super sweet.  And Brigit is such a sweet thing.  She cares so much for her family and friends.  Although quiet, she shows a great inner strength.

Another redeeming factor:  the Action!  Adventure!  near the end of the book.  The story culminates in some pretty daring do's, where the characters experience a great deal of danger to save their town from the time foragers.

My library classifies The Time Fetch as "Young Adult," but I'd only hand it to the youngest of young adults.  Like some middle schoolers.  I'd be afraid, though, that even a younger kid would question the plot holes, and wind up slightly dissatisfied.

1. The characters and their depth.  I want to be friends with Carrie and Bedlam!  Mostly Carrie, because I think Bedlam could feel like a bit much after hanging out for awhile, but I think he'd be a ton of fun in small doses.  See what I mean about character depth?  Just one book into the series and I can tell that Bedlam could possibly be tiring, but I'm still drawn to his magnetic "lets everyone have fun together always" personality.  And Carrie:  so, so, so caring!  She even cares for/looks after Bedlam.  For millenia.  Carrie feels very "real" to me.  She's not perfect.  Even though she's lives thousands (millions?) of years, she still makes the occasional mistake.  She still thinks with her heart and not with her head sometimes.


2. The writing.  It was most excellent.  Rich.  Does that make sense to ya'll?  The writing in Oracle was like a fantastic lavender creme brulee.  (For comparison, I'd say my own writing on this blog is about on par with Cheez Doodles.)  Ms. Corrigan used the word phonemes for pete's sake!  I love vocab-building books.  I'm totally trying to work "phoneme" into ordinary conversation right now.  It's also got this fantastic balance going between hilarity with Bedlam and seriousness in trying to save Sebastian.  Just as the book starts to feel really heavy, Bedlam swoops in to top his waffles with chopped jalapenos.


3. The humanity of Gabriel, Michael, and Bedlam.  I'm a Christian, so I'm sorta familiar with the angels and demons and all that, but not too familiar.  I too always imagined angels to be these vaguely human beings with wings who glowed.  Much loftier than you or I.  In Oracle the angels stop by the diner to say hi and help do some dishes.  Mind. Blown.


4. The Biblical backstories.  I loved these!  Every time Ms. Corrigan introduced a new character, she let Carrie reminisce on how they met.  Some of these were downright hilarious; some touched the heart.  Remember: it's all fiction and it's all for fun, so you're definitely not going to find these narratives in Biblical texts.  Did anyone else read Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore?  Bedlam and Biff could have been best friends.


5. The character list at the beginning of the book.  Ms. Corrigan lists all the angels & demons & their main attributes & where they are in social standing.  Most helpful.  I looked at Raising Chaos (the sequel), and the chart is there too.  Excellent.

Some things I didn't particularly care for about the book, but which will not at all impede me continuing to read and enjoy the series:

1. The demons' demonosity (just made that word up) is really downplayed a lot.  I'm struggling with how to word this; how to say this.  I just expected them to be a lot more evil.  Like, I actually liked Bedlam for the most part.  And that made me feel just a little squeevy inside.


2. The bit in the second half of the book where Carrie goes a-questing.  I don't want to give anything away in the book because I really do think ya'll should go read it.  It's really good.  But there's a point where Carrie goes on a quest to help someone and it just gets a little bit predictable/repetitious.   Just a tiny bit.  I dealt with it by just continuing to read because it's a good book and I was hooked.  So you see, not really terribly bad, but still.  I could have done with just a little bit less quest.

So that's my take on Oracle of Philadelphia by Elizabeth Corrigan.  I devoured the book in just two days (impressive, considering I work full time)!