The Envy Chronicles by Joss Ware - Series Review

Series Review and Post-Apocalyptic Thoughts
Thought #1: "Man, if the grid ever goes down, I'm gonna be food."
Thought #2: "I should get some books on edible native plants... one that includes medicinal properties -- I could be like Claire in Outlander."
Thought #3: "How would you rig a windmill to generate electricity?  I should learn how."
Thought #4: "... I'd better stop right there, or I'm going to end up in a cabin in Montana with a lot of freeze-dried food and guns...."

Generally speaking, I'm not big on science fiction and futuristic settings.  I tend to get bored by the space opera world building and the obsession with technology.  That's what I do for a living (not space travel, but pretty high tech stuff). When I read for fun, I want more character, more emotion in my stories.

But there's something different about the post-apocalyptic subgenre.  It's futuristic, but lower-tech.  In some, maybe most fictional visions, it's pretty much no-tech.  Something about that appeals to us, both to our fears and our desires, I think.  Those of us who are into blogging and reading blogs are a self-selected audience of people comfortable with technology, people who turn to the Internet for fun and entertainment, possibly in addition to using it as an everyday tool for work.  Who among us has not had a fleeting thought that maybe we should be out touching the actual world, and not the internet avatar of the world?  The Information Revolution, and before that, the Industrial Revolution, have done more in the last 200 years to change how people lived than the preceding millenia or two.  Don't you sometimes think that maybe people aren't meant to live this way?  Me too.  (Then I go back to playing "Combine" on Facebook, checking my email, or surfing blog reviews.)

OK, I told you that this stuff gets me going into Deep Thoughts. Which is one reason that I'm so fascinated by Joss Ware's Envy Chronicles.  There aren't too many post-apocalyptic romance series.  (MOAR PLZ).

Series Premise
Something catastrophic-- we're not sure what-- happens to the planet more or less overnight, which caused massive earthquakes, fires, floods, tsunamis, tornadoes.  Mass destruction.

Geographically, the series, at least so far, unfolds between Arizona and Las Vegas, which is the new west coast.  California has fallen off, it seems, sunk or crumbled into the Pacific.  The Arizona/Nevada desert has transformed into a tropic.  While some generated electricity is around, most people are living in small commune-style farming communities.  Envy, named  for the remnants of the LAS VEGAS, NV sign, is, as far as anyone in this story knows, the largest urban settlement around.

I haven't read a ton of stuff in this genre, but most of it focuses instantly on food production.  If you think about it, if "the grid goes down," the most immediate impact for most people is going to be feeding themselves.  Most of us are so far removed from actual food production that the abrupt rupture of those supply lines would.... well, it wouldn't be pretty.  Ware's universe glosses over this a little bit.  Having fast-forwarded 50 years into the future, after the trigger event, she can kind of zoom out from those details and allow the reader to make the reasonable assumption that enough trade is established that the city can feed itself.  The series arc focuses on figuring out what or who caused the cataclysm, and who the mysterious powerful Strangers are.  It has a WW2 Résistance vibe to it, overlaid with good old Cold War-esque conspiracy theory.

The Heroes
I'm loving the characters, and as Casey over at Literary Escapism recently observed, they are nicely diverse, too. (Nothing like the total destruction of civilization as we know it to get humanity to finally pull together, right?)

This delicious group of alpha men in their prime mysteriously survive the cataclysm, because they were deep in the Sonoma caves at the time, and something about the vortexes or ley lines, or mystic hoo-ha protected them.  Like five Cinderellas, they fell into a deep sleep for 50 years while the world changed around them.  When they emerge (I'm not exactly clear on what woke them up?), they are bemused to discover that they each have a paranormal gift; generally as some sort of extension of their pre-event talent.

Really, this is a great setup. Five men, restless, bored, frustratingly purposeless in our times; they're wealthy, athletic, handsome -- but rudderless and reduced to thrill-seeking. Frozen in time for 50 years, their awakening coincides with a culmination of events that lead to some shocking revelations on the depth of human greed and corruption.  The destruction of their world, and the gifts they are given, turn these dilettantes into warriors -- and that's pretty damn hot.




The Heroines
The women of this series are all products of their times, but they run the gamut from hard-bitten former POW, to soft-spoken information specialist, to a post-modern Robin Hood, and world-weary healer.  Generally speaking I think this is a series that's more about the men, but the heroines are well-realized and good partners for their heroes. (I have a particular affection for Robin Hood, err, that is, Zöe), and I like that Ware pairs them up in unlikely ways.

The Tech
You know how "they" always say you should write what you know?  I think in some ways, the opposite also applies: you should NOT read what you know.  It's like how lawyers aren't allowed to serve on juries.  Honestly, Ware does an excellent job overall writing with authority on how things might be, on technology that could survive.  One of the series threads is that the group is working to re-establish the Internet, by setting up wireless outposts around Envy, and propagating beyond from there.

To a degree, this is all feasible and believable.  Sage and Theo and others work feverishly in a basement bunker of Envy, downloading and retrieving cached information from salvaged hard drives.  The wireless transmitters are solar-powered.  You can kind of dig it.  Until you realize that she's talking about retrieving data off FIFTY-YEAR-OLD hard drives and flash drives.  Uh, unfortunately I have to call shenanigans on that. Have you ever tried to dig a file off a dead drive? OK, how about fifty year-old drive?? I'm sorry, that's just Not Happening. Heh. You'd think that if I could buy into vampires and zombies, chambermaids that marry earls, and handsome honorable pirate captains with all their teeth, this wouldn't be such a stretch.

General Thoughts
There were times in these books where I found the prose a little bit of a slog; just... not as effortless or smooth as I'd like.  And the weird villainy gets kind of super-weird there in the fourth book.  Sometimes I felt like the paranormal gifts of the heroes, as well as the sub-plot of the zombies, were distractions from the really interesting parts of the series.

The undeniable thing is though, that the series is fascinating, the world-building has me totally hooked, and I love these heroes. So bring on more Night, Ms. Ware, I'm waiting....

Reading Order & Facts & Stuff
1. Beyond the Night (Elliott & Jade)
2. Embrace the Night Eternal (Simon & Sage)
3. Abandon the Night (Quentin & Zöe)
4. Night Betrayed (Theo & Selena)

According to Ware's website, there are two more Envy books contracted, but no word on when or who.  We're still waiting for Wyatt and Fence's stories, and it would be a shame if Lou Waxnicki didn't get some kind of HEA.

Ware is a pen name of Colleen Gleason, who also writes the arguably more successful "Gardella Vampire" and the new "Regency Draculia" series. I haven't read these, and right now I have to say I'm more interested in Envy. I hope the vampires don't get too distracting.

Legend of Michael, by Lisa Renee Jones - Review

Niche Marketing
Just when I think the number of sub-genres in romance has every possible angle covered, along comes another, even narrower one.  Lisa Renee Jones has kicked off a special-ops/military, paranormal, futuristic romance... and she's not the only one.  Readers who enjoy  Joss Ware's "Envy Chronicles", Jayne Ann Castle's Harmony series, Cindy Gerard and some of Lora Leigh's Elite Ops, and so on, will feel right at home here.

Jones' premise of genetically modified super-warriors is not unique in and of itself, but I really enjoyed her personal spin-- the windwalking talent is mysterious and sexy and dangerous and super-cool.  Love it.  Michael and Cassandra's world teeters on the brink of apocalypse, with the super-race bifurcated into Team Zodius, with the naked goal to rule the world and force ordinary, unmodified humans into slavery; and Team Renegade.  The thing that makes this series potentially Very Interesting is that Team Renegade is a long ways from white hats and rainbows.  Power struggles, loyalties, and betrayals abound, so if you enjoy political intrigue, this should be right up your alley.

Characters
While the redemption of Michael is a major theme, Legend  is more of a plot-driven story, in my opinion.  I never really bought into Michael's "badness" so the redemption was a bit less dramatic than it could have been, but this is a tough line to walk.  You can't make a hero too bad or the reader loses empathy.  Overall, I'd prefer an author to err on the side of "not quite that bad," as Jones perhaps does.  That line is highly individual though, so your take may differ.

Cassandra was an entirely adequate heroine, but more or less along for the ride and a bit of a Mary Sue if one were to be picky.  The villains are pretty much over the top evil, which leads me to...

World Building
I'm not always a fan of the military books, but I did like this one.  It starts out with a somewhat odd mix of the way-out paranormal and the mundane routine you might expect from a more realism-based contemp, but an early plot explosion sets the stage for the post-apocalyptic -- or more accurately, a pre-apocalyptic-- feel.  There is a sense throughout the story of a world on the edge of disaster, while Our Heroes struggle to contain and prevent the cataclysm.  The factions each live in something of a bunkered fortress while the rest of the world carries on more or less unaware.

Jones' Zodius world is consistent, creative, and compelling - it's a worthy scene-setter for a new paranormal romance series.  The foundation is laid and there are a number of interesting directions it could go.  This is another "fated mate" trope, and it doesn't really make any more sense to me than any of the others out there... but it's no worse, either.  There's a definite similarity to Leigh's Breeds in that lovemaking bilaterally "seals the deal" for the bond between them, changing both of them physiologically and emotionally/psychologically.  Personally, it's not a trope I dig that much but it's not the central focus here and didn't get in my way too much.

The one criticism I have about Jones' world is that the villains are too evil.  The genetic intervention takes a permutation that basically causes certain individuals to go insane, but I dunno.  I think it's less interesting than a "grayer" set-up.  Perhaps future books will have more nuance; I think she's left adequate loopholes and I hope she takes advantage of them.

Bottom Line
While I can't honestly say that this is the very best book I've read lately, I do think it's a well-written paranormal romance with strong plotting and world-building, and I would happily pick up Zodius #2: THE STORM THAT IS STERLING when it hits the shelves this November -- and that's really the acid test, isn't it?

Around The Blogosphere
The Minding Spot
Black Lagoon Reviews
A Buckeye Girl Reads

Series Review - Jayne Ann Krentz's Dreamlight Trilogy

This seems like an opportune moment to publish this review, since I'm hoping to swing by a signing tomorrow at the Seattle Mystery Bookstore. This is extra fun because the contemporary part of the trilogy takes place in the same historic Pioneer Square neighborhood.

I'm not sure why the stars aligned just right for me with this trilogy, but the first one caught my eye shortly before the third one came out, so I got to read them all pretty close together, which I think is really fun.

Krentz has always been one of the really innovative authors in romance, in my opinion, and manages her career with the steely resolve of one of her contemporary Titans of Industry that were the popular Alpha Heroes of the late 90s (and still are, sometimes). She writes and writes and writes and rarely disappoints. She writes historicals, contemporaries, and is one of the few and one of the first romance authors to venture into futuristic sci-fi romance. She started writing paranormal before "everyone" was doing it, with heroines who had mild paranormal powers (well, mild compared to say, turning into a werewolf or sprouting the wings of a guardian angel, or what have you). Her Arcane series is the first of its kind, as far as I know, that weaves back and forth among her three pen-names and corresponding three subgenres: Amanda Quick in historical, Jayne Ann Krentz in contemporary, and Jayne Castle in futuristic. I think of her as Jayne Ann Krentz, and I believe that's her most successful persona, but her real name is Jayne Castle. I just can't think of her that way, heh.

She's also something of a hero of mine for being among the first to point out the hypocrisy of critics who "worry" that romance readers are giving themselves false expectations of their own lovelives, while apparently having no concerns that readers of Steven King or Robert Ludlum will suddenly start attempting to solve outlandish murders outside the law or setting fires with their minds. If you haven't read Dangerous Men and Adventurous Women, you really should. Then, more recently, I heard her give this gem of a speech about the genre.

OK, but none of that tells you about the trilogy, right? Well, to cut to the chase, I liked it a lot. Moreover, Krentz succeeds brilliantly at tying the stories together without making them dependent on each other, so if you only like one of the subgenres, you can still enjoy the series. However, it can get a bit confusing if you actually want to follow the books in the order published. I recommend you check the website and maybe keep a spreadsheet. (That's a joke. Sort of.)

So the Dreamlight Trilogy is a subset of the Arcane series, following the past, present, and future of an artifact of paranormal power. The futuristic one, Midnight Crystal, is the first Arcane book to also be a Harmony (set in the future on the planet Harmony) book, but it fits pretty seamlessly into the Harmony worldbuilding.

How do I know that? Well, actually I've only read a novella from the Harmony books, other than this one, so maybe there are contradictions all over the place, but knowing Krentz, I doubt it. The paranormal elements of the two different worlds are nicely complimentary and work together just fine. I can't say that Harmony is my favorite paranormal world -- it's a lot like 21st century earth, for reasons that are explained, down to email, cell phones, and motorcycles, powered by an eerie green grid. Sort of like Tron, I guess.

It was interesting to read the trilogy all together. I'm not sure I've ever seen one done quite this way -- the plot for all three was pretty much exactly the same, but with very different settings and different villains, getting in the way for their own reasons. I enjoyed each book, but I'm not really sure how I feel about how very very similar the plots were, if that makes sense. I felt like the women characters were more differentiated than the heroes, but there were still a lot of similarities, especially between Chloe and Marlowe.  I have to admit being completely charmed by Adelaide's sketchy backstory as a fortune teller in a Wild West show.  I kind of wanted to read that book. 

One of the things I like about the Arcane world is how the paranormal powers are just known and accepted by the characters. While it's sort of the parallel, hidden world that's common in urban fantasy, there is less of the "no one must ever know!" undercurrent that you get with vampires and shifters; and even less of the fear that others will think they're crazy if they acknowledge or use their powers. That isn't bad in and of itself, but it can get tedious, so the matter-of-fact approach is really refreshing to me. I like that the h/h can just talk to each other about their talents without dancing around it for an extended near-big-mis.

The Dreamlight Trilogy delivers Krentz's trademark fast pace and engaging characters.  Read just the ones you want or all three, it will still work for you -- although I think the Midnight Crystal probably references the prior stories the most.  I think the similarity of the stories is overall slightly disappointing, although in a way, it's an interesting experiment in exploring how setting matters.  This might be a case where the sum isn't greater than the whole and the books might be more enjoyable on their own.

ps, I have a post percolating on the plotting pitfalls of the paranormal proficiencies... but it would make this post too long.