Science Fiction Fantasy Books

Very Good! Artwork and story were amazing! I would recommend this to anyone who enjoyed the video game Knights of the Old Republic.

I enjoyed the first two graphic novel installments of this series, but found them a bit corny. Our hero, a Jedi Knight, seemed to be a cross between Christmas Vacation's (1990) Clark Griswold and one of the Three Stooges. In this book we see a darker turn, one placing the storyline firmly into the adult camp. Good job! I'll definitely check out the next graphic novel of the series, as I think the growth in both the Jedi and the story make it worth understanding in more detail.

As a person who had never read these comics before, I thought they were great. Especially since they lumped them all together like this. I'm sure it will be a while before they make an Omnibus out of them, but all in all the storyline was good and the artwork was enjoyable as well.

Set back in the Mandalorian Wars, really right at the beginning, it has all new characters and races and is quite entertaining. It'll take a couple of hours to read it, but is thoroughly enjoyable. I recommend it.

Also, get Volumes 1 & 2, however I don't know when 4 is coming out... but, as Qui Gon said... "Patience my young padawan..."

If you like the Knights of the Old Republic games, you get to see the characters Malak and Revan before they went bad...

I can only say that as this series goes on, it just keeps getting better and better. The story line does not disappoint and the art is just amazing.

I would definitely suggest that a Star Wars fan buys this book. You won't be disappointed.

This third volume of John Jackson Miller's KOTOR is not quite as satisfying as the first two. The humor's still there, as is a bit of well-scripted pathos, but the second half of the book becomes wordy, the conceptual work is a bit campy, and the story remains incomplete. If you're buying this volume as a stand alone, be aware the conclusion is in Volume 4.

Miller opens with a farewell, the Arkanian drifters Jarael and Camper saying fare-thee-well to the fugitives, padawan Zayne Carrick and Snivvian hustler Gryph. With no plan and no place to go - and no interest in paying full retail - Gryph hires a dim-witted Trandoshan to liberate private transport. Making orbit just as the authorities arrive, the trio don't realize they're piloting a provisioning ship (a mobile restaurant) until they fly right into the middle of a military convoy headed for the front. Unable to escape the armada, they follow to the planet Serroco, where Gryph sets up business and finds to everyone's surprise that while the Trandoshan may not be such a great criminal, he knows his way around the kitchen. But just as soon as things start looking up, the Mandalorians arrive and with them a Force vision of the future, a planetary inferno for the population of Serroco. To save them, Carrick has to convince the Republic forces to move off. And to do that, he has to turn himself in.

"Days of Fear" has all the elements that have made KOTOR such a remarkable series: humor, an emphasis on character over plot, cinematic storytelling, and beautiful art. It also offers one of those rare moments in comics, a scene that honestly evokes a warm feeling of sympathy and compassion. By "honest" I mean that the scene plays naturally. There is no special lighting, no large panels or exaggerated composition, no long-winded exposition - nothing to set the reader up, to say "Hey, here comes the emotional bit!" The scene is played low-key and for that it has all the more impact. Truly one of the best moments in comic books in recent memory. There is perhaps only one thing missing from this story and that is some background on the galactic political landscape. There's a war going on but we don't yet know why.

The second story here, "Nights of Anger," pales in comparison, though certainly not from lack of ambition. It finds Jarael sneaking back to her home world of Arkania in search of medical treatment for her mentor and traveling companion, Camper. Along for the ride is stowaway Mandalorian deserter Rohlan, who may yet turn out to be their savor after Arkoh Adasca, president of Arkania's planetary consortium, Adascorp, holds all three hostage. While they wait for Camper to be treated, Miller fleshes-out the history of his Arkanian drifters, genetic outcasts from a society valuing knowledge - and its application - above individual lives. Camper was himself a leading member of this society, a brilliant scientist conducting ethically suspect research for Adascorp. He has all these years been sought by the same to finish work on a project that will allow Arkania's rulers to intimidate the Republic into submission. To coerce Camper, Adasca needs Jarael. What he doesn't need is a troublesome Mandalorian, one who appears to be every bit as clever with a microscope as he is skilled with a blaster.

The plot is rather simple in summation, but what makes it work is the detail - and plenty of it, which comes to us courtesy of a panoply of talking heads. Presumably readers can look forward to a little more action in the concluding chapters, but to get there we have to put up with the set up, which includes some flinch-inducing camp. Arkania's two genetic groups are known as the Purebloods and the Offshoots, names that could have come straight from a 1970's Jack Kirby comic, as could the universe's new super-weapon, mammoth space-faring worms that eat everything in their paths.

The art in this volume is anything but Kirby-like, even Kirby-esque, though the work in the final two chapters may remind anyone familiar with 70's-era comics of Neal Adams. Harvey Tolibao is an incredible talent and I hope to see him doing more Star Wars in the future. The same is true of Dustin Weaver, who brings a clean Japanese anime influenced style and a great talent for depicting facial expression. Weaver covers two chapters in this volume, and the other third is provided by Brian Ching, a fellow who started out as the regular penciler for this book but whose work is looking more irrelevant with each passing volume. Not that Brian's work is bad, just that it suffers by comparison. At least to these eyes.

This volume not the best place to start reading this series. But with only two previous volumes, and both of them far better efforts than this third, you really should start at the beginning. You'll have fun reading your way here.

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All of the Erin Hunter books are great! I just love them and have read them many times over. I am not a reader, I hate to read!!! But give me a Warrior series book and leave me alone for a few days. They are the best. Thanks Erin for opening up a new world for me.

The group meets amysterious tribe of mountain cats, who keep Stormfur prisoner so they can fufill their own prophecy.
A sad, interesting and detailed read, worth re-reading.

Get lost in the world of cats. The author does a great job discribing tribes of cats in the mountains - cats with different anscestors and different lifestyles. This book is a good for young audience as well, of course, as for cat lovers who often wonder how cat percives our world.

Check also The Dog Who Rescues Cats: True Story of Ginny, The

Pre-teen and early teen girls love the series. It has my 10 year olds attention. She is reading like never before.

After Midnight I wasn't really impressed with the quality of the writing but with moonrise it came up alot so I really recommend this book.

This book is actually good but, you will want to go back and start at the beginning. This series is very addicting. Once you start reading about
the Argeneau family you will not be able to stop. This book is funny, full of action scenes and a hero that makes you wish you were part of the book Just to be with him. You will love him From the beginning what woman would not fall in love with a man that is sexy,handsome,considerate,sexy,and loves his family the way thomas does. read it and I guarantee you that you will want to read the rest in the series.

VAMPIRES ARE FOREVER - is the 8th book in the Argeneau vampire family saga.

I feel this book is going to be hard to review - as I LIKED it -but after I finished it I kind of wondered if I had liked all that much! I was disappointed that like with TALL DARK AND HUNGRY, the book lacked intensity and depth. I liked the two lead characters - Thomas (a younger vampire in the Argeneau family) and Inez were great couple together. Thomas was portrayed here as a mature and interesting individual - with depth - and not the youngster in the family. Inez was a professional and intelligent woman, able to make decisions and not the usual empty-headed heroine. Unfortunately, the sub-plot, a rather convoluted narration about the "searching for mom" mystery - Marguerite Argeneau, took over rather than focusing on their story.

The book has a beautiful cover but in my opinion VAMPIRES ARE FOREVER was more of a "filler" for the next book VAMPIRE INTERRUPTED - Marguerite's story. The novel ended very abruptly and there was actually no resolution. Frankly, after reading the 370 odd pages, it failed to leave a lasting impression on the lead characters and felt somewhat cheated, as Thomas and Inez story deserved more meatiness to their story and it was rather lacking.

Mostly, the story revolved around them traipsing to Amsterdam and England looking for Marguerite, who is never found and incessant phone calls between Thomas, Bastian and other Argeneau family members...

I believe in creating a cliffhanger scenario for a next book - but VAMPIRES ARE FOREVER had a lot of holes and left plenty of unanswered questions.... I have tremendously enjoyed all of Lynsay Sands' novels (including her historicals), but in the last couple of books I've read, she's had a bit of a hiccup in her writing style. I am just about to start VAMPIRE INTERRUPTED and hope that it reclaims Lynsay's old style.

Still, after all that is said - I did like the story as I finished it. For those hard-core fans of the Argeneaus - you will want to read this one so that you can form your own opinion!

In this book we learn a little about Thomas, what he does for a living and meet his lifemate but truly this book doesn't go into too much detail
into their relationship because it is telling about the search for his mom before telling her story in Vampire Intterrupted. Is this a stand alone book? Hardly. As with the other books I wish she would have chosen to go into more detail like is Unia decesnded from the mortal friend Thomas had with the same last name. I hope she writes more about
Thomas in a later book somehow, for this book truly was more about the
search for his mom than him, and in all the other books I enjoyed Thomas
interaction with his family.

Although I did enjoy this book I found it lacked something that the others in the series have, a real in-depth exploration of the lead characters. I felt Thomas was given the short straw, I really wanted to know about his music and his past, also what happens to Thomas and Inez afterwards? where do they live?
There seemed to be too many introductions of other characters from the series which prevented the depth in this book. Still a nice read :)

It was another great read! I was only a little disappointed in the end. I just wished for a couple more chapters on the main couple. Oh well...it just made me glad the next book was already out!

As a Guardian, Riley begins working two cases. One is connected to her former Pack, another deals with a Serial killer. They're connected, but again, not really.

What has me so disappointed in this outing isn't the lack of steamy sex scenes. It's there, but after the first few books Riley was really becoming like Anita Blake... doing any thing, any time, any where... so her promise to try to make a go at it with Kellen was something fresh and unexpected. What I had a problem with is that this lacked the pick up and go action that the first novels had. I purchased this book when it first came out, and I'm only getting around to reading it now because from the very beginning, I was able to put it down at any time. Riley has always been one to grab my attention from go, and that was missing this time. It was like just another day in the life... which tends to get boring if not done right. And sadly enough, this was just 3 shades away from boring.

I like Riley. I really do. But Embraced By Darkness left a lot to be desired. And I hope that with the return of Quinn in The Darkest Kiss, the next book will return Riley back to her glory.

I have read all of this series, and have enjoyed not only the skill and dynamic scope of each of the stories, but also the unfettered and freshly unreserved style of the sensual side of these stories. Riley is great, and I love love love the way that Arthur portrayes and embraces homosexuality. Creative, interesting, you are embroiled with Riley throughout all her adventures. Great fun, well written, very exciting.

I loved this series since the first installment. It's true that this book doesn't have the "heat" of some of the previous books. Here we see Riley starting to develop more as a character who isn't a complete prisoner to her hormones.

Hopefully, Riley will have someone new come into her life. Quinn has his own issues, and can't accept her for herself. As for breaking off her relationship with Kellem, it was no great loss. His character always seemed a little flat to me.

Ms. Arthur has a good imagination so hopefully she will surprise us all in the next book.Embraced By Darkness (Riley Jensen, Guardian, Book 5)

I don't know how fair it is to do a review on a book that I bought as a gift, but for what it's worth, my mom said Embraced by Darkness was good. She reads a lot of mysteries, including some others by Keri Arthur, and according to her, this one did not disappoint.

This installment of the series had NONE of the highly erotic scenes that to date have been a trademark of the "Riley Jensen" stories. It was especially a disappointment after the last book, Dangerous Games, which was super-hot. The story itself was okay, but nothing to write home about. FYI-if you are expecting sizzling scenes, you will get nothing from this book beyond perfuctory, traditional (obligatory?) sex scenes.

Jim Dale gives an excellent reading of all the Harry Potter books. The audio version is especially entertaining when I'm just too tired to read, not feeling well, or on a long road trip when you just can't stand your husband's choice of music on the radio any more!

How does Jim Dale do it? How does he read the books and make us hear each of the characters almost as they say it in in the movies and as we think of them as we read the books? Impossible to say; however, he does it. We listen to the Harry Potter tapes each time we drive up and back to our weekend house (yes, we've read the books numberous times). Any Harry Potter fan must have these tapes and listen to a master reading them and giving HP fans another great experience.

I love the escape the Harry Potter series allows this middle-aged professional. Rarely one gets to re-capture the magic of childhood and still be enthralled by wonderfully entertaining characters exhalting the values we all want in our lives - friendship, integrity, sacrifice, success, teamwork. I just love the reader, Jim Dale's, ability to give each character their own individuality and with such precision over time. It's a LOT of characters to develop and remember. He is truly an artist. A series where each book grows in it's depth and character development and have been some of my all time audiobooks. Treat yourself to the series and share them with any one needing to remember the magic of childhood.

Harry Potter 1- 7 Audio Collection

Jim Dale brings the many characters in Harry Potter to life in an amazingly believable way. I thoroughly enjoyed the books and movies, but the audio collection is for me the most enjoyable way to enjoy the series.

I think Jim Dale puts so much life into these books. I love listening to them at anytime. I even have my husband listening to them now also. The set is great to have and well worth the cost

A good next episodes, but felt the book was a little thin (some of the other volumes are much thicker). THe artwork continues to be excellent.

I was harping abuto this book as I read the first 300 pages. "Its all character development, there's so many people, blah blah blah." Then after the first 300 pages I really started to love the book. I realized that this needed the introductions, because it was more vast than any book I've ever read. I had some sort of emotional investment with the characters since I've read about them so much... I loved this book/series. For a few weeks my work life really suffered, because I was up until 3am countless times reading this; Judas Unchained & The Dreaming Void. Great series and I can't wait for the next volume.

I bought The Reality Dysfunction today. I hope I get some sleep tonight.

I got bored after reading it for a while. The book has too few ideas, and is too verbose at the same time. The concept of "rejuvenation", that is, anti-aging treatment, is neat, but after seeing the word "rejuvenation" repeated more ten times on each page the whole thing starts wearing you out. A good and balanced book on how life may look in a far-future society (while also having a neat and well-developed story) is "Looking to Windward" by Iain Banks, for folks who like such things.

On a whim, I ordered the book from Amazon to fill in the void left after finishing up the Dune series again. Sometimes these things are a gamble, as you can't flip through it quickly, and you've no idea the tastes of the other reviewers in comparison to your own.

However, after spending about 3 weeks in-between work and home reading through all 900 some odd pages, I have to say I liked the book. I suppose my tastes are sort of picky. I like some Fiction, some Detective stories (particularly Holmes), the occasional Fantasy book, and a good bit of Sci-Fi.

The book is a bit "Lower Sci-Fi" than what I'm used to reading, in that it's technology level seems depressingly appropriate for a few hundred years into the future. Every possible technology in the book is firmly based in real-world physics, and very little "Fuzzy Logic" is needed to fill in the gaps and make me believe that it is, indeed, the "future."

Pandora's Star is set a few hundred years ahead of us where interplanetary travel has been solved by wormholes. The setting itself is very solid, and seems to assume that the future will be much like the present itself, with mega-corporations and super-powerful families running everything behind the scenes. It's not thick on political intrigue or espionage, and a lot of the events are simply brute-forced through by massive amounts of cash from said corporations or families, which has two effects for me: The first being that it successfully puts the perspective of power in the right spot for key players, and the second is that it seems to pigeon-hole the book just a tad into the "Ultra-rich" characters. There are Joe-Schmoes playing parts in the book, but they seem to be catalysts, while the financially too-well-endowed are the main event most of the time.

It's also not big on action. This is definitely not some Military-Sci-Fi book, and sometimes that's a relief as the genre itself seems to keep falling over the "Aliens" syndrome a little too often for my tastes. What action there is in the book is described adequately and flows rather well.

I was a bit surprised that the book turned out to be almost a detective novel, both in the main story-arch, and in several of the intimate stories concerning the main characters. In fact, there really seem to be two different stories and two different genres happening here. One is your sci-fi detective story, brought to you by the character Paula Myo and Adam Elvin, and the other seems to be almost a generic Sci-Fi theme of "Spaceflight + Aliens = Book".

However, the author does capably blend the two, and while I found myself sort of wondering where everything was going in the beginning quarter of the book or so, the meat of the book is really contained in the latter half, and now I'm considering buying the sequel my next trip through B&N.

Overall I'd say it's well written, the flow of events is pretty, and the book kept me firmly trenched in my suspension of disbelief. I bought the whole thing line and sinker, and with only the scant things perking up my sarcasm.

However, with the praise for the book, there are a few things which I found to take away from the experience (and these may be my personal preferences, so take them as you will):

-New characters are being added continuously up until about half or three-quarters the way through the book. Trying to keep track of them all can be a bit dizzying, and some of them seemed to take up too much space for being the side-characters they were.

-The exhaustive descriptions of landscapes got to me towards the end. Some may not fault him for this, but the cities and surrounding environments easily get the most attention to detail. With as many curious situations as the book finds itself in, I found this to be a bit annoying, but it's not a deal-breaker.

-This may be very nitpicky, but along with a good chunk of the genre, "saturated with sex" is also rather appropriate to describe this book as well. It happens, and it happens often. It's a casual thing in this book, and many others, and I think that it can definitely take away from the wonder of a good Sci-Fi story. I don't mind the occasional bout of bedtime fun in my books, don't get me wrong, but it's rarely done well. Yes, yes, sex in the future is like brushing your teeth, everyone does it twice a day, I get it... It doesn't need to be pointed out so directly. I think a more subtle approach could be taken, and much better results had. Deal breaker? No. Some of the encounters are well done and appropriate in Pandora's Star, but a significant portion seem to be in only because "It's what the readers want."

Would I recommend it? Well, if you don't mind a lengthy book, and want to see a good creative mind at work at a Sci-Fi detective story that has a few good twists, I would. This -is- a good book, the prose is excellent, and provides a nice fertile area to stretch the mind in a different way before leaping back into another fast-paced post-apocalyptic Starship Troopers type of novel.

4/5 stars for this one.

I generally don't write reviews for the books I read, mostly because I find that others articulate my joys or frustrations better than I can. In the case of this particular book however... I also have nothing new to add.

But I must side the with those who say this book is overwritten. I felt like I had to put in a lot of work at times just to turn the page. That 15 to 20 page narrative early in the story on how to hang glide on an alien planet was about 15-20 pages too long.

But that diversion wasn't the only sin Peter committed. In all, I felt that this book was literally twice as long as it needed to be. Entire subplots were unncessary and nearly made me give up on the novel. And that's a shame because this could have been a truly great one. It just required someone to tell Mr. Hamilton that when we read about a large mansion, we don't really need to know about how the original builder had financed the thing, or how the original builder made his fortune, or about how the architects were influenced by the great architects of a bygone era. I don't need to know any of that stuff, especially when the mansion has been described in painstaking detail for several pages earlier in the book anyway.

This is the first book of his that I have read. I was surprised when I realized that he had written so many other published works. He has an eye for detail, no doubt about that. But the gentleman can't seem to properly pace a book to save his life.

After all that complaining, I still liked the book. It caters to my tastes. After almost putting the thing away after the first 400 pages of going nowhere it hit a stride of sorts and I felt that there was at least some momentum beginning to build - albeit in a 3 steps forward, 2 steps back sort of way.

Once I convinced myself that a society that has created wormhole technology and FTL spaceships (something I wouldn't expect to be possible for tens of thousands of years, if ever) must still use diesel powered vehicles for getting about planetside (Something we could bypass in a few decades) somehow makes sense, I slowly found myself buying in and enjoying the book more and more.

By the end, I finished and reluctantly purchased Judas Unchained. I'll give it a go and pray for Mr. Hamilton to have mercy with me.

Oh yes, one short diversion I did enjoy - a reference to a collector coming upon a first edition of the novel Raft. If it is the same Raft that was written by Stephen Baxter than call me giddy. I would recommend some of Stephen Baxter's older books over this one. Timelike Infinity, Ring, or his Manifold Trilogy. Those are all superior to Pandora's Star.

And while I'm recommeding alternatives, anything by Alastair Reynolds.

_Pandora's Star_ by Peter F. Hamilton, the first part of his Commonwealth duology, is another excellent work from the master of the sprawling space opera epic. Hamilton is really good at what he does; he gives the reader an incredibly engrossing tale told on epic scale with dozens of well-drawn, interesting characters having thrilling adventures, introducing the reader to truly alien worlds and creatures, titanic struggles between good and evil, and lots of high tech gadgets, weapons, and starships.

Where to start...Hamilton introduced the reader in the cover blurbs and in the first chapter two of the most important concepts in Commonwealth, so I will go ahead and reveal these non-spoilerish bits. First of all, the setting is the year 2380 and humanity has spread out among the stars, living in what is termed the Intersolar Commonwealth, a region of stars some four hundred light-years in diameter and containing six hundred inhabited worlds. These various worlds are connected by a series of wormholes that work as transport tunnels between three different regions of space (Phase One, which contains Earth and the first settled worlds, Phase Two, the next region settled, and Phase Three, the most recently settled frontier worlds, farther out from Earth than Phase Two worlds). Starships do not fly between these worlds via the wormholes but rather trains are used, all manner of trains, from cheap to run and maintain steam engine trains on remote frontier worlds to monstrous fusion-powered incredibly advanced machines. All of these trains are owned and operated by Compression Space Transport or CST, the biggest company to ever exist. CST connects all of these worlds, making the Commonwealth possible, allowing people and goods to travel hundreds of light years in minutes and also with their exploration division find new worlds to colonize.

The second most important concept in the Commonwealth universe is that people are nearly immortal; sure, they grow old and can die from disease, accident, murder, war, or if allowed to, old age, but thanks to advances in technology can get a second chance, or a third chance, or fifty-third chance for that matter. Nearly everyone (there are a few cultural exceptions) gets fitted with memory cells in their head that store all of their memories. People periodically update these memories to safe storage outside of their body (a good thing to do if one has a dangerous profession) because these memories can be downloaded into a new body. When a person reaches the end of what they consider their youth or their natural lifespan (depending on personal preference and how much money they have) they can regenerate a new body; a new body is cloned, their memories downloaded, and about six months or so later they are alive and well again but physically in their late teens. If someone suffers "bodyloss" - they are murdered, killed, or otherwise vanish and are presumed dead - once the authorities agree that person is indeed dead someone can be "relifed." Needless to say this changes the culture quite a bit and while not creating a truly alien civilization by any means I did enjoy Hamilton's exploration of this concept.

The Commonwealth is a very peaceful, stable civilization, with a thriving economy, mostly happy people that focus on families, friends, their jobs, entertainment, and celebrity gossip. The Commonwealth is continuing to expand, showing no signs of slowing down. There is only one group that is not happy, a vigilante organization known as the Guardians of Selfhood. Led by one Bradley Johansson, they are based on a fascinating remote Phase Three world known as Far Away, a world that contains one of the few examples of alien technology ever found, a mysterious giant ship that landed long ago and was apparently abandoned. The Guardians believe it was piloted by a malevolent entity known as the Starflyer, an alien whose goal is to secretly manipulate the Commonwealth at its highest levels and eventually to destroy it. Very few believe the Guardians, regarding them as distant eccentrics at best, dangerous terrorists at worst.

They are pursued across space and time by Chief Investigator Paula Myo, one of the most celebrated detectives in Commonwealth history; indeed her investigation of the Guardians and their chief arms merchant and agent Adam Elvin remains her only unsolved case in over a century on the job.

At the same time, astronomer Dudley Bose discovers something extraordinary; over one thousand light-years away a star vanishes. It does not become a black hole or go supernova, it simply disappears in seconds. What happened? Is this an example of a vastly powerful alien race? Why would they encapsulate as it turns out two stars? Was it protection from something or to keep something imprisoned, something very dangerous? Though not a starship-using civilization, the Commonwealth decides to construct and launch a starship called the _Second Chance_, led by Captain Wilson Kime, an ex-NASA pilot, to go investigate.

Other plotlines include the saga of one of the members of the Guardians on Far Away by the name of Kazimir McFoster; Nigel Sheldon, one of the original discoverers of the wormhole technology and the day-to-day head of CST, one of the most powerful men in the Commonwealth; Ozzie Fernandez Isaac, the other discoverer of wormhole technology, who goes on the biggest walkabout of all time trying to find the enigmatic aliens known as the Silfen to see what they know about the Dyson Pair (as the stars come to be known); Mark Vernon and his family, a fairly typical Commonwealth family, always caught in the middle it seems; Justine Burnelli, a member of one of the powerful dynasties that dominate Commonwealth politics; and Melanie Rescorai (the latter two went from being fairly lightweight people to true heroines during the course of the saga). Though I have to admit it was not clear at all initially how the other plot lines tied together, I will assure any future reader that they indeed do and do so in surprising and thrilling ways.

I own all of her books - in hardback! I lover her characters even Hope, but this was such a mishmash. Confusing characters and a whiny annoying heroine. Borrow this one!

In this 8th installment of the Women of the Otherworld series, we travel along with Hope Adams, half-demon tabloid reporter, who goes to Florida to make good on a favor she owes the head of the Cortez Cabal. Unbeknownst to her, ex-boyfriend-werewolf-jewel-thief and newly instated pack member, Karl Marsten, also comes to town to try to save the day.

Hope goes undercover in a gang who has been causing problems for the Cortez Cabal. She personally struggles between doing good and riding the high of the chaos vibes she gets hanging out with the bad guys. She begins to fall for enigmatic gang-banger Jaz, but too late realizes he is not what he appears to be. Hope discovers there is a mole in the cabal, and she ends up enlisting the help of sorceror Lucas and witch Paige Winterborne to help catch the spy.

The story is told alternately from Hope's and Lucas's point of view. Though Armstrong makes it clear who is telling the chapter, the constant switching of characters makes the story feel disjointed. More of the story is told from Hope's point of view, making it even more difficult to switch gears when it is Lucas's time to tell the story. Though Armstrong is a super storyteller, her weakness is well-defined voices, and the switching of character points of view in this novel makes that weakness stick out like Christopher Walken's hair.

Armstrong's next novel in the series is Living with the Dead, releasing October 28, 2008.

I loved this book. Kelley Armstrong wrote a short story called Chaotic about this narrator Hope Adams which was like an introduction to the characters in this book. I suggest you read the short story first. You will learn to love the characters and want to read more. Then you will love this book. I thought it was exciting and the plot twist caught me off guard. I couldn't put it down.

I loved Jaime Vegas' story. This one not so much. It dragged a bit and I found myself being more interested in the other series characters. Hope is not my favorite. The upcoming changes to the series should be exciting, though.

I actually liked this book more than the last three in the Women of the Otherworld series. I was hesitant to even order this book as the last three have had a flat feeling about them. No Humans Involved was difficult to get through for me. Therefore, I was extremely surprised when this book really interested me. Hope Adams, half human, half demon infiltrates a supernatural gang upon the request of Benecio Cortez, leader of the Cortez Cabal. Lucas Cortez who has been featured in Dime Store Magic and Industrial Magic has his own point of view chapters. Maybe Kelly is gearing us up for Men of the Otherworld. If so, I am looking forward to this new series. I liked Hope's character. She was learning to deal with her demon's need for Chaos. She was afraid of it, but kept trying to learn to control it. I loved Karl. He wasn't particularly nice in Bitten, but I really liked his character in this book. He was very sweet to Hope. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It had more action and a lot less of the hunting for clues type of book that the past few have contained.

These books are great and to have them all in one is even better. It starts off great and ends even better each chapter is better than the last!

I love the book! It was recommended through a christian ministry, and I never thought that I would enjoy the fairytale! I highly recommend it for children young and old!

This is a great family movie. I love the way it parallels to the story of Jesus and how he paid the ultimate price for our sins!

It is a full hard covered book. The total unabridged version. A great read for a parent to read with their child. Worked great for parents as reading partners.

This is a nicely packaged hard cover edition of the classic series by CS Lewis. A great read for children and adults alike.

I thought the book was wordy and wandered around a lot. I found it hard to like Raine, or to care if she ever got rid of the link. It seemed to me that the book was written to stretch the tale into a three book series, but it may have been better to leave it as one grand adventure.

A strong female character that for the most part is not perfect, fantastic. How many times have you read a book where the main character, male or female, is perfect? There's no tension, no anticipation, since you already know that she or he will come out on top and they will obtain everything they always wanted. While Raine manages to get though all sticky situations, a little scratch might be nice. I don't want the character hurt, just a little scratch.

Mychael is one of those characters you just want to root for; he is the hero in the true sense of the word, not just martial courage. He'll stand up for what is right and will defend it even if he does bend the rules. He's smart, handsome but with a bit of mystery, somehow you know there is a lot more to the man that the author hasn't yet revealed.

And I liked Tam's entrance, his timing couldn't have been better but then that's how the author planned it. Tam is your typical, well not quite typical bad boy. Dangerous to be around but you want to be, good both in a fight and bed, based on his reputation and a kiss that Raine still remembers.

While the book is a fantasy, the author presents a cast of characters that are believable, one my favorites is Piaras.

And I like the love triangle between the main characters but I hope it will be resolved in the next book. (I'm voting for Mychael; for once let the clean cut guy win).

The action scenes are well scripted and move at a breakneck speed. Ms. Shearin's descriptions are perfect. Enough detail to give the reader a picture of the characters and settings without being bogged down. Sorry but I still have a problem with handsome goblins. ;-)

The author manages to wrap up the story while leaving the reader just enough to look forward to the next book and I am definitely looking forward to the next book which I read will be out in 2009. Hopefully it will be closer to the beginning of the year then the end.

Elves to the left of her, goblins to the right....and all Raine wants is OUT! After trying to help her friend she wound up with this magic stone the Saghred - otherwise known as the Soul Stealer - and next thing she knew it liked her! Now she was stuck with it, and everyone wanted a piece of her - well, the stone, really, they didn't really want her. But since it hadn't driven her insane, as it was known to do with anyone else who had touched it, a lot of questions were being tossed around. But since her mild Seeker skills had increased exponentially, as well, not too many of those questions were being asked to her face.

For now Raine and her friends have taken amnesty on the Isle of Mid with the Guardians. Raine's father, the former custodian of the Saghred, was a Guardian; they are all hoping that the stone may be contained there at the sorcery school. The spell shields help contain the stone while it is dormant, but soon trouble finds it's way to the island and Raine and her friends are soon at the eye of the storm.

Unfortunately, the Isle of Mid is also home to the Conclave, the sorcerer's governing body. It is clear that many of the sorcerers want the Saghred for their own - the power it holds draws the greed of many - but Raine is not one of the many. She stumbled upon these changes and simply wants her life back, but is slowly realizing that nothing will ever be the same again. But what will never change is how important her friends and family matter - and having this much power to control is teaching her to limit her trust in others more quickly than usual.
When the school's best spell-singer students begin to disappear - and Raine is afraid her adopted brother Piaris is next - Raine decides that she must use the power she has despite the danger of the Saghred gaining strength over her - and her losing control.

I wasn't sure how well I liked this series, even though I read straight through the first book and picked up the second and did the same. It is an unusual sci fantasy series, not like one I've read before: yes, the magic rock, the increased powers, etc. But there is still something different that I haven't been able to pinpoint, and I still cannot say positive or negative. I'll have to say I like it because I am looking forward to the next one to see what happens. Intriguing. Not gory or anything, and not a lot of mushy sex or anything - some romance, but nothing explicit. Teasing, maybe. But interesting. I guess I'll just have to wait.

This series is both beautifully written and great fun. The first in the series,
Magic Lost, Trouble Found was good. I went on to the second, this one. Even
better.
Best series I have read in ages. I have them on my Kindle. So I couldn't easily
leaf through when the action got .... well, to where I simply HAD to know what
happened next. In other words, it is a real page turner.

Another bouncing and magic filled adventure with Raine, an elf seeker.

It was interesting watching squabbles between different fractions, and we got to know a bit more about the magic system and the world this time.
The two serious love interests, Tam and Mychael, played quite big parts in the story, as did the infamous rogue of a cousin, Phaelan.

Lined with action, a ample portion of magic explosion, seasoned with Raine's sarcasm, and sprinkles of fascinaating supporting characters, Armed and Magical is a great and fun read, totally worth taking up book shelf space.