Early Review of Sandy Williams' The Shadow Reader

Title: The Shadow Reader

Author: Sandy Williams

Publisher: Ace

Format: Mass Market Paperback & eBook

Source: Won through Goodreads FirstReads Program

Publication Date: October 25, 2011

Rating: 4 out of 5

This week I’ve read some really excellent books, and this debut Urban Fantasy by Sandy Williams drew me in from the beginning. The heroine is an appealing mix of strength and vulnerability, and according to Ms. Williams’ webpage there is a sequel in the works, so I’m really looking forward to reading more of this world. If you’re a fan of UF, I think you’ll really enjoy The Shadow Reader.

McKenzie Lewis is in her early twenties, but since her teens she’s been working for the king of the fae as a shadow reader. When the fae travel, or fissure, between realms, she can look into the shadows left behind and pinpoint their locations. This has been a handy trick, since fae King Atroth is currently fighting a rebellion among the fae, and McKenzie has helped him hunt down rebels. She’s also in love with Atroth’s Swordmaster, Kyol, who protects her when she’s reading the shadows. Unfortunately, the rebels have caught up with her, and she’s kidnapped by Aren, one of the rebel leaders. Instead of having her killed, he teaches her the fae language and tries to convince her that Atroth and Kyol have been lying to her for years. When the fighting ventures into the human realm, McKenzie has to make difficult decisions about which of the fae to trust.

There’s a lot to like about this book. McKenzie is an appealing heroine who has found herself cut off from human relationships because of her abilities to read the shadows. The fae don’t concern themselves with her life in the human realm, and they simply pop in and out of her life, expecting her to drop whatever she’s doing to serve the fae king. This naturally makes her seem crazy to everyone else, because they can’t see who she’s speaking to or understand why she can’t keep a steady job. But after years of believing that the fae king is protecting her, McKenzie doesn’t know what to believe when the rebels kidnap her and begin telling her their version of what’s happening. She’s also confused by her attraction to the rebel leader, Aren, because she’s very much in love with Kyol. Watching her develop into a woman who finally acts on her own behalf instead of merely following the orders of others is really rewarding. It would have been easy to portray McKenzie as a victim, but Ms. Williams makes her a complex woman who learns to trust herself after years of disappointment at the hands of others.

While the characters are appealing, the world-building is stellar, and it will completely draw you in. The conflict between the fae factions is much more than nuanced than it would initially appear. It is clear fairly early on that McKenzie’s perceptions of who is good versus who is evil have been heavily influenced in the King’s favor, but I like that we can see how he came to make certain decisions. His swordmaster Kyol is portrayed as an honorable man faced with difficult choices, and while he has served the King faithfully for years, he, too, experiences doubt about the King’s current path. But the rebels aren’t necessarily sympathetic characters either, since some want to kill McKenzie immediately, only holding off because Aren convinces them to wait and try to bring her over to their side. This complexity makes the outcome uncertain and will keep you turning the pages to see how it all works out.

I do have two criticisms of the novel, one more serious than the other. The first is that I wasn’t completely sold on the Aren-McKenzie part of the love triangle. I was never in doubt that they were attracted to one another, but I was uncertain about his feelings for her. Does he truly love her or are his actions motivated by jealousy of her relationship with Kyol? He accuses Kyol of using McKenzie, but he also needs her help as a shadow reader. I’m still not completely convinced of the depth of his feelings, and while McKenzie does decide between Aren and Kyol in the end, the resolution leaves room for the love triangle to continue in future books.

My other criticism is stylistic. Ms. Williams writes the book in the first person present tense, and frankly that is my least favorite form of narration. It's not that I prefer third person narration over the first, because a lot of Urban Fantasy novels are written in the first person, and UF is one of my favorite genres. But when everything is narrated in the present tense, it strikes me as unsophisticated. It makes it feel as though McKenzie describes everything in real time, a la Jack Bauer in 24. It’s to Ms. Williams’ credit that the world-building, plot, and characters are so engrossing that for the most part the writing takes a backseat to the action, but at times the constant use of the present tense was jarring and drew me out of the book. I really don’t want to notice the writing over the story while I’m reading the book, and this is a serious flaw. I’m hoping that this will improve in subsequent books, as The Shadow Reader was easily one of my favorite Urban Fantasy reads in a while.

Despite its flaws, The Shadow Reader is an exciting debut and an engrossing read. I’m really looking forward to reading more about these characters and this world in the future, and Ms. Williams can’t write that sequel fast enough for me. Definitely check this one out!

Review of Revenge of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz

Title: Revenge of the Spellmans (Spellmans #3)

Author: Lisa Lutz

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Formats: Hardcover, Trade Paperback & Ebook

Source: Won from Goodreads’ First Reads

Publication Date: 2009

Rating: 4 out of 5

One of the reasons I enjoy Goodreads’ First Reads program is that I can enter contests to win books I normally wouldn’t pick up, thus discovering new authors in different genres. Sometimes this backfires (see my review of The Medusa Amulet), but since I spent last night laughing like a hyena and scaring the dog, I think we can safely say my plan worked out great with Lisa Lutz’s Revenge of the Spellmans. This book was so funny in places that I had to stop reading because I was tearing up from laughing so hard.

Revenge of the Spellmans is billed as a mystery, but to me the biggest mystery is how Isabel “Izzy” Spellman has managed to live 31 years without strangling someone in her family. Izzy’s family owns a PI firm in San Francisco, but as the book begins Izzy is taking a break by working as a bartender and attending court-ordered therapy sessions. When her boss at the bar asks her to look into a friend’s case as a favor, Izzy reluctantly agrees, but what at first seems to be a simple case of a husband suspecting a wife of cheating soon becomes far more elaborate.

What makes this book so unusual is that most of the book is focused on small mysteries within the family. Izzy wants to know why her perfect lawyer brother David is acting so unusual, her younger sister Rae keeps relocating Izzy’s car without permission, and her father keeps insisting on having lunch with her. This family is probably certifiably insane, and in the real world these people would drive you NUTS, but within the pages of this book the Spellmans are hilarious.

My absolute favorite scene has to be when Izzy recounts the first job interview she ever had. Even though she’d been working off the books for her parents since she was 12, her father insisted on having a job interview when Izzy turned 15. Honestly, I think I found this scene so funny, because I can TOTALLY see my Dad doing this. Unfortunately, I resemble uptight lawyer brother David more than Izzy, so I would have played along. Izzy doesn’t, and just thinking about the scene makes me snicker. She’s quite the smartass, and while at times that definitely gets in the way of her developing relationships with other people, it creates some hysterical moments within the family. When her Dad (Albert) calls her from the office and tells 15 year old Izzy to “Dress appropriately, Ms. Spellman”, Izzy dresses up in her brother’s old nerd costume and packs a lunch in his briefcase. When the interview begins, she breaks out a napkin and starts eating. Really, I was crying by this point. But my favorite lines come at the end of the interview, which I have to quote here:

ALBERT: Why should we hire you?

ISABEL: Do I need to remind you that I already work here?

ALBERT: Tell me how you can contribute to our organization.

ISABEL: Please. Just let me drink the Kool-Aid.

ALBERT: That’s it, Isabel. Get out of here!

ISABEL: It’s been a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Melman.

Ms. Lutz varies the narration in a lot of different ways, including transcripts from Izzy’s court-ordered therapy sessions, more traditionally narrated passages, appendices, case files, and flashbacks like the one I just mentioned. The back and forth between the family mysteries and the ones Izzy is hired to solve mesh perfectly, while the snarky footnotes help make this book a winner.

My only criticism is that the actual mysteries Izzy has to solve really aren’t that interesting to me. The family dynamic is what keeps you turning the pages and wanting more. I think if you know that going in, you’re really going to love this book, but if you’re looking for a gritty, hardcore mystery, this is probably not the book for you. I’m also not thrilled by the cover art, but it seems in keeping with other books in the genre, such as the Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich, so I’m sure that was intentional.

In the end, this was a lot of fun to read, and I’ll definitely be catching up on the series before the fifth book is released in February. If you’re the mood for a good laugh, you really can’t go wrong with Revenge of the Spellmans.

My Kindle Has Created a Monster

I’m a little ashamed to admit that I haven’t set foot in a public library in over a decade, mostly because my library time has been spent at college libraries. I worked at my alma mater‘s library for four years while a student, and I love academic libraries, but it’s been a long time since I’ve been to a public one. However, in an effort to save my pocketbook and try new authors risk-free, I recently got a library card at my public library.  Why I waited so long, I’ll never know. I live in a small town of only about 20,000 people with no bookstore in town, but we do have the main branch of the county library. It’s a nice building, and from what I can see, constantly busy. There are lots of programs for kids and adults, and the staff is particularly helpful. But their collection of fiction seems a bit…. spotty.

The library seems to have only parts of series, and not always the first book in the series. I was forewarned by friends, so it hasn’t been much of a surprise, but it has created some dilemmas. I stopped by yesterday to pick up the first books in Carrie Vaughn’s Kitty Norville series. The library has books 1 – 3 and book 7. Does this strike you as odd? It does me. Lest you think that I mean they only had those books on the shelves, allow me to reassure you that as a former library employee, I know better than to make such assumptions! I checked the catalog and asked a librarian. They do indeed have only books 1 – 3 and 7 of the Kitty Norville series. And this is not limited to Carrie Vaughn’s books.  Last weekend I checked out Karen Marie Moning’s Faefever series, and the library had books 1-2 and 4-5. Why not book 3? They have all the others in the series, plus one of her Highlander books.  

I would very much like to ask how they make purchasing decisions, because I suspect this would clear up a lot of the mystery. From what I’ve seen online, most libraries make purchasing decisions based on patrons’ likes, bestseller lists, and library journal recommendations. Given that our town and county are so small and nationwide libraries are facing budget cuts, I’m curious how the librarians go about making what must be difficult decisions about purchases. I’d love to interview one of the librarians, so maybe I can work that out one of these days. Yesterday the library was hopping, so I didn’t want to take up the librarians’ time when there were so many patrons needing assistance.

Visiting the library has been lots of fun, mostly because I get to leave with as many books as I want for free. Yay, free books! It has also reminded me how much I love my Kindle. It is just so much easier to read my Kindle one handed while in bed, cooking, walking the dog, grading papers, etc. Plus I don’t have to get dressed in something other than sweats or pajamas and put on a minimum of make-up in case I see someone I know. And you KNOW I would see someone I know if I were wearing my sweats to the library. They would then have to rescind my Southern Belle (SB) membership card. The horrors! (This could also happen if I didn’t match my accessories or wear lipstick.) My Kindle makes maintaining the illusion of Southern Belle-ness a lot easier, let me tell you! Fortunately, Amazon recently announced that later this year they’ll be allowing library lending on the Kindle, so I’m very excited about that. Hopefully my local library will participate, but since they don’t lend ebooks at the moment, I’m not sure what will happen. And I’m sure that would add one more headache to purchasing decisions, since most normal/sane/non-accessory matching patrons don’t have ereaders.

But since their collection of series is incomplete for some authors, I’ve run into a dilemma. First, with Moning’s books (and you can bet the DH had some snarky comments about pronouncing her last name), I had to decide if I should wait to read books 4 and 5 after somehow getting a copy of book 3 elsewhere. I really didn’t want to buy book 3. I liked the series, but didn’t love it, so spending money was out of the question. Since I’m one of THOSE readers who skip to the end, of course I decided to go ahead and read books 4 and 5, and I don’t feel like I missed anything vital. But I really like Carrie Vaughn’s Kitty Norville series and want to continue reading it. I looked at the summaries for the other books in the series on Amazon, and I don’t want to skip ahead to book 7. Apparently I would miss a LOT by doing so (this seems more than a bit obvious, right?). Again, do I buy the books for my Kindle? They’re $6.99 each! Or I could order them in paperback off Amazon and get the 4-for-3 special like I did for Larissa Ione’s books, but then I’d only have books 4, 5, 6, and 8 and have spent 24-ish dollars, plus have to wait several days. Waiting? Noooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!! And you can forget about waiting with no whining, which would not constitute reason for rescinding SB membership. Go figure.

A while ago a friend recommended paperbackswap.com, which seems like it could be a possible solution, but that’s assuming that the books I want are available and the person who posted them will actually mail them to me. I certainly have several books that I purchased on a whim that I could pass on. Usually I pass paperbacks that I enjoy but don’t want to keep on to my mother-in-law, but she’s not a fan of paranormals, so now I’m stuck with several Lora Leigh stinkers. I’m already a member of Goodreads.com, and they have a bookswap program as well, but it costs between $3.50 and $4.75 a book because they add a small fee to the postage costs. Paperbackswap.com doesn’t do that; they charge nothing, but you can purchase postage and print it out at home if you wish. I have to think that media mail prices for a paperback would be less than $3.50, right? I’ve also considered purchasing books used from Amazon, but they tack $3.99 on for shipping. At that price, I should just buy the book new and get free shipping. But then there’s the waiting… ARGH!!!

Clearly, my book reading addiction has become a serious problem. I’d say I can stop whenever I want, but that’s so obviously a lie it’s not even funny. The Kindle has created a book devouring monster. Clearly, I need to get tons-o-followers for my blog, so the publishers will send me oodles of books for free to review. Then I wouldn’t have this problem. I could graciously pass those books on to the library when I’d finished, adding to their collection and the enjoyment of future book addicts. So if you’re reading this and you’re not a follower, become a follower. Consider it a service to the community – it sure beats having an intervention.

Review of Robert Masello’s The Medusa Amulet

In a bit of a departure from my usual reading habits, today I’m reviewing Robert Masello’s The Medusa Amulet. Before this post, all of the books I’ve reviewed were books that I purchased myself, but I was sent an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) of this novel by the publisher through the Goodreads.com First Reads program, which was exciting. Free books – woo hoo! You can sign up for book giveaways on the Goodreads webpage, but so far The Medusa Amulet is the only book I’ve been sent. The FTC (and ethics!) requires that I tell you up front when I’ve been given something for free in the expectation of a review, so consider yourself informed. Unless I tell you otherwise, though, you can assume that I’ve bought or borrowed a book I’m reviewing.

I enjoyed this book, even though thrillers aren't my preferred genre, which, as you know, is romance. My preferences in reading could have prejudiced my reading of the novel somewhat, so keep that in mind. The premise behind this thriller/paranormal is that a Renaissance artist, Benvenuto Cellini, traveled to the underworld and used objects he found to create an amulet with a mirror on the back. This mirror supposedly has mythical properties, and there is some doubt over whether or not the Medusa Amulet even exists. The novel jumps between the historical Cellini’s story and that of present day historian David Franco. Franco works for the Newberry Library in Chicago and is tasked with recovering the Medusa Amulet by a wealthy benefactor, Kathryn Van Owen. David’s sister, Sarah, has terminal cancer, and the mysterious Mrs. Van Owen promises him that if he recovers the Medusa Amulet, his sister can be cured.  David then begins his race against time, unsure if he even believes in the restorative powers of the mythical Medusa Amulet.

While the beginning was a bit slow, the pace of the novel quickly picked up. I found the historical and international settings of Florence, Rome, and Paris truly fascinating, and I appreciated the author's descriptions of archival research since I, too, am an academic. However, I enjoyed the historical couple of Benvenuto Cellini and his lover Caterina much more than the current day protagonists of David Franco and his love interest Olivia Levi. I liked David's race against time to find the Medusa Amulet in the hope that it will save his sister from terminal cancer, but I found his character to be otherwise uninteresting and, quite frankly, unrealistic. He has his PhD and a plummy position at the Newberry Library at 31? BWAHAHAHA!!! Yeah, right! And Olivia is quirky. And SMART! She can do archival research! Other than that, we know very little about her, and the romance between her and David is lacking in sparks. Then the Nazis made an appearance. So the plot was a bit far-fetched and the romance lacking for my taste.

I found myself looking forward to the historical/flashback sections more than the contemporary ones, which is a bit odd, since David Franco is supposedly the hero. The ending, however, was fast paced and action-packed. I think if you enjoyed Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, you'll probably enjoy this as well. I'm not sure if I'll read any of Masello's other novels, but as I stated previously, I suspect that's more because of my personal preferences in reading, rather than the content of the novel.