Iron Night by M.L. Brennan

Title: Iron Night
Author: M.L. Brennan
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Series: Generation V #2

Mass Market Paperback, 305 pages
Publication: January 7, 2015 by Roc

Source: Purchased for my own reading.

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Underemployed by day. Undead by night.

Underachieving film theory graduate and vampire Fortitude Scott may be waiting tables at a snooty restaurant run by a tyrannical chef who hates him, but the other parts of his life finally seem to be stabilizing. He's learning how to rule the Scott family territory, hanging out more with his shapeshifting friend Suzume Hollis, and has actually found a decent roommate for once.

Until he finds his roommate’s dead body.

The Scott family cover-up machine swings into gear, but Fort is the only person trying to figure out who (or what) actually killed his friend. His hunt for a murderer leads to a creature that scares even his sociopathic family, and puts them all in deadly peril.

Keeping secrets, killing monsters, and still having to make it to work on time? Sometimes being a vampire really sucks.

Iron Night is another strong and solid novel in the Generation V/American Vampire series, and it is even better than I expected. Iron Night picks up a few months after the first book with Fort still in transition to become a full vampire and learning the 411 on all things paranormal from his brother, Chivalry. Things are going good for Fort; he has a stable job as a waiter and a pretty awesome roommate this time around. But then one night he finds his roommate dead in his bedroom, obviously murdered by something nonhuman. As usual Fort’s family wants to cover up the murder so the supernatural community isn’t at risk, but Fort is determined to do everything in his power to find his friend’s killer. And what Fort and Suzume discover is worst than anything they can imagine.

Brennan expands her unique world-building as readers learn more about the vampires, kitsunes, and this time around elves. From the first book, it was known that Fort was different from his older siblings but readers didn’t necessarily know why/how. We finally know why! I kind of suspected it, but wasn’t sure till Madeline told Fort how Chivalry and Prudence’s transition differed from his and the steps she took to make her children better than the last…especially after what happened to Madeline’s first daughter who died in England. Readers also learn a bit more about the Kitsunes and what happens when one is pregnant. Then there are the elves (faeries). Brennan elves are similar to other faeries in the sense that they look extremely beautiful and somewhat unnatural but underneath they’re selfish, cruel and have a mean set of sharp incisors. And like Brennan takes on vampires, the elves background was just as fascinating and somewhat disturbing with all the inbreeding going on. While these main sups played a bigger role, there were also trolls, witches, skinwalkers and changelings/halfies mentioned that added to the ever-expanding world.

Fort definitely did a lot of growing from the end of the last book and throughout Iron Night. He is stepping out of his comfort zone and doing what needs to be done when it comes to protecting his friends, family and the innocents. Fort has more of a leadership role and doing a lot more of the decision making this time around. I mean, even Prudence is taking orders from Fort! And readers who already read this series know how scary and deadly Prudence is. Fort’s gradual change to a vampire and demeanor is very believable. Fort is training and slowly adapting to the vampire ways, so it isn’t a big change or anything. Everything that readers grew to love and admire about Fort in the first book is still very much the same in this book. He’s funny, awkward, still an underdog but less of a pushover. Then there is Suzume, Fort’s shifter friend. I love Suzume as much as Fort, and was glad to see more of her. She is freakin’ hilarious! The scenes with Fort and Suzume are just priceless. I found myself laughing out loud so many times throughout this book. Readers also got to see more of Fort’s siblings, more of Prudence than Chivalry. In the last book we only heard of all the vile and horrible things Prudence did, but this time we saw her in action…and boy, was it creepy. While I know we’re supposed to despise Prudence, I actually like her character. And what this book shows is there’s definitely more to Prudence then meets the eyes.

I loved Iron Night and am looking forward to reading more of this series. If you’re looking for a unique Urban Fantasy, with a fresh takes on vampires and underrated supernaturals then check this series out! The world-building and characters are great, the plot exciting, and the writing is excellent. This series has it all; action, suspense, humor, and mystery. If you haven’t read this book/series yet, get it A.S.A.P., this is a series everyone should have on their keeper shelf!

[Blog Tour] Review: Vacant by Alex Hughes + Giveaway

Title: Vacant
Author: Alex Hughes
Genre: Science Fiction
Series: Mindspace Investigations #4

Mass Market Paperback, 336 pages
Publication: December 2, 2014

Source: I received a review copy from the author in exchange for a honest review/blog tour.

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Nothing ruins a romantic evening like a brawl with lowlifes—especially when one of them later turns up dead and my date, Detective Isabella Cherabino, is the #1 suspect. My history with the Atlanta PD on both sides of the law makes me an unreliable witness, so while Cherabino is suspended, I’m paying my bills by taking an FBI gig.

I’ve been hired to play telepathic bodyguard for Tommy, the ten-year-old son of a superior court judge in Savannah presiding over the murder trial of a mob-connected mogul. After an attempt on the kid’s life, the Feds believe he’s been targeted by the businessman’s “associates.”

Turns out, Tommy’s a nascent telepath, so I’m trying to help him get a handle on his Ability. But it doesn’t take a mind reader to see that there’s something going on with this kid’s parents that’s stressing him out more than a death threat.

Vacant is the fourth book in the Mindspace Investigation series, and it doesn’t look like this series is slowing down. The series just gets better and better with each installment; growing leaps and bound in terms of world building and character growth/development. And from what I can see in this latest book, Vacant, is that from here on out, this series can only go up.

Vacant picks up a few weeks after the events in Marked, everything been quite calm on the police and Guild front and even Swatz is doing much better from his heart scare. But of course too much of a good thing never lasts long. A date night for Adam and Isabella turns bad when a solicitor picks a fight with them and 10 minutes later ends up dead…and the first and only suspect is Isabella. Things go from bad to worse when Isabella is investigated for police brutality and Adam is called out of town to help on an FBI case involving an attempt kidnapping of a 10-year-old boy. But the trouble doesn’t stop there as Atlanta’s Big Boss and an old archenemy of Adam are out to get him, or worst kill him.

Vacant took a different route from the previous book in which Adam was mostly working alone and on a case separate from the police department and Guild. Adam is usually always with Cherabino, working either with a case for the department, Guild, or a combination of both; so it was nice to see him out of his element and taking the lead. With Adam’s drug history and being a telepath people see him in a certain light and in a way discriminate him/categorize him before they even get to know him; they also make decisions on his behalf whether he likes it or not (wage, how he handles his money, and for a time he wasn’t even allowed to drive). In Vacant, readers saw a different Adam, one with more freedom, more acceptance, decisive and respected. Adam had a lot of challenges this time around; both physically and mentally and the occasional self-doubt or feeling of hopelessness but at the end of the day Adam persevered and got the job done. It was a really nice change, and I loved seeing his growth…this better version of Adam.

Overall, Vacant was a very fast-pace read; the story pretty much hit the ground running within the first couple of pages and didn’t let up till the end. I also really enjoy the plot and how it connected to the overall arc of the series. Even though I knew who all the baddies were early on in the story, it didn’t take away any of my enjoyment as I still found myself riveted and unable to flip the pages fast enough. With Cherabino and the usual cast of characters back in Atlanta and Adam out in Savannah, readers were presented with a whole new group of characters, and I must say I loved them all. From Tough but lonely kid Tommy, Agent Jarrod and the entire FBI crew to charming Quentin (Tommy’s dad); they all made a lasting impression that I hope we’ll see more of them in future books.

Vacant is a stellar addition to the series and with how the book ended, I can’t wait to see what Hughes does next with the world and characters. This is by far one of the best Sci-Fi series I’ve ever read and I can’t recommend this book enough. Read this series if you haven’t already, and start at the beginning with Clean, you won’t be sorry! Now, bring on Mindspace Investigation #5!

VACANT CLUE

In addition to fun blog posts, interviews, and exclusive excerpts, fans will have a chance to solve a mystery during the month-long VACANT blog tour! A “Clue-like” checklist is available to download from the author’s blog, here,to be marked off as readers visit stops along the tour schedule. Somewhere on participating blog posts will be clues (clearly marked) that will eliminate specific “Location”, “Weapon”, or “Suspect” options. At the end of the tour, a rafflecopter entry form will help Alex choose a grand prize winner amongst all who correctly guess “who dunnit?” based on the remaining options.

US/CAN/UK ONLY

The author is generously giving away an audiobook copy of one (1) Mindspace Investigation novel (winner's choice) to a blog reader. To enter please fill out the Rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alex Hughes, the author of the award-winning Mindspace Investigations series from Roc, has lived in the Atlanta area since the age of eight. Her short fiction has been published in several markets including EveryDay Fiction, Thunder on the Battlefield and White Cat Magazine. She is an avid cook and foodie, a trivia buff, and a science geek, and loves to talk about neuroscience, the Food Network, and writing craft—but not necessarily all at the same time! For all the latest news and free short stories, join Alex’s email list at http://bit.ly/AlexsList.

Connect with Alex

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Blog Tour Schedule:

Nov 25^th - SF Signal

Nov 26^th - I Smell Sheep

Nov 27^th – Thanksgiving (US)

Nov 28^th - Ashley’s Random Blog

Dec 1^st - What The Cat Read

               BookHounds

Dec 2^nd - NicholasKaufmann.com

                Eclectic Library

                Books Make Me Happy

Dec 3^rd - Vampire Book Club

Dec 4^th - Little Read Riding Hood

Dec 5^th - Insane About Books

Dec 8^th - BiblioFiend

                Between The Lines

Dec 9^th - Smart Girls Love Sci/Fi & Paranormal Romance

Dec 10^th - Reading Reality

Dec 11^th - Short & Sweet Reviews

Dec 12^th - That’s What I’m Talking About

                  Anna’s Book Blog

Dec 15^th - Tynga’s Reviews

Dec 16^th - Janice Hardy – Fiction University

Dec 17^th - Preturnatura

                  Amberkatze’s Book Blog

Dec 18^th - Fantasy Literature

                  That’s What I’m Talking About

Dec 19^th - Books That Hook

                  Literal Addiction

Dec 21^st - Literary Escapism

Dec 22^nd - Open Book Society

Dec 23^rd - My Bookish Ways

Symbiont by Mira Grant

Title: Symbiont
Author: Mira Grant
Genre: Science Fiction, Mystery-Thriller 
Series: Parasitology #2 

Hardcover, 518 pages
Publication: November 25, 2014 by Orbit

Source: I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for a honest review.

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THE ENEMY IS INSIDE US.

The SymboGen designed tapeworms were created to relieve humanity of disease and sickness. But the implants in the majority of the world's population began attacking their hosts turning them into a ravenous horde.

Now those who do not appear to be afflicted are being gathered for quarantine as panic spreads, but Sal and her companions must discover how the tapeworms are taking over their hosts, what their eventual goal is, and how they can be stopped.
 

In Parasite, Grant introduced us to a very realistic world in which SymboGen, a multimillion dollar company bioengineered a tapeworm for every single person worldwide (well, practically everyone). Tired of getting sick, feeling fatigued or nauseous, or having any aches or pains? Well, thanks to SymboGen you can say bye-bye to all that. Having tailored made tapeworms was suppose to change the world, and it did…just not for the better. Readers have seen the calm before the storm in Parasite, and now in Symbiont we get a bird-eyes view of the storm and all the aftermath when scientists try to play god.

Symbiont picks up a couple of weeks after the events in Parasite, Sal has solid confirmation on what she unconsciously already knew; that she (tapeworm) fully integrated the moment she woke up from the coma. Most of Symbiont read like the usual zombie apocalypse book/movie. People aren’t in denial anymore and the government is finally taking the matter seriously as the outbreak has spread far and wide and there no way to contain it. There are four main groups at play: Dr. Cain, Dr. Banks, Sherman and The Governemnt (General Mitchell, USAMRIID). They all have different perspective on the outbreak, and eventually we learned everyone’s true motives. However, what is clear from the start is that Sal is extremely important and everyone wants her. Everyone believes that she is a crucial part to their master plan and the key to winning the war.

Symbiont is set up exactly like the first book, with the book divided in various stages (Part 1,2…). In addition to the usual excerpts from the children’s book, magazine, audio/visual transcripts detailing Dr. Cain and Dr. Bank’s experiment, readers also get to glimpse short journal entries from most of the characters. I really like the journal entries from the secondary characters. It gives us an in-depth look at what they’re doing and thinking even if they don’t get much page/scene time thus still creating a fully realized and developed character. The pacing of the book was pretty consistent, there’s a lot more happening in terms of action since everyone is trying to kidnap Sal and Sal trying to escape. And then there are the hordes of sleepwalker on every corner. I still find it creepy whenever Sal encounters a sleepwalker group all hissing her name. Many reviewers said that this book suffered ‘second book syndrome’ and while I liked the book, I can agree on some parts. The book is very lengthy with it clocking out at a little over 500 pages. I agree that there were a lot of unnecessary scenes and the author could have tone down on not describing every little thing. But for the most part I enjoyed it, and didn’t care too much as the story and characters kept me engaged.

In the first book I wasn’t really a fan of Sal, I said that she read like an adolescent; needing to relearn everything again when she woke up from her coma. However, I’m happy to say she doesn’t anymore. Sal grasps the gravity of the situation now and came to the realization that she isn’t human and she embraces it. For a tapeworm, Sal has a really big heart. She’s more caring and shows more humanness and compassion than the humans around her. There were a couple of unintelligent things that Sal did in the book, many people might get annoyed by it but again I blame it on her caring too much. Example, Sal’s dogs are still at the apartment and the area is swarmed by sleepwalkers. Most people wouldn’t risk their lives to go get the dogs, but not Sal. She never once contemplated on leaving them.

Overall, Symbiont was an enjoyable read. Grant is a master when it comes to characters and world-building, and if you haven’t checked out any of her work (also writes under Seanan McGuire), you’re sorely missing out! Symbiont is a blend of Science Fiction, Horror and Medical-Thriller and I still can’t help feeling how realistic the plot is. It may be a post-apocalyptic novel and all but oh so plausible and possible…that it’s downright scary. I highly recommend checking out this series, starting with the first book, Parasite. The third and final book, Chimera comes out next year; can’t wait to see what happens next!

Another One Bites the Dust by Chris Marie Green

Title: Another One Bites the Dust
Author: Chris Marie Green
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Series: Jensen Murphy, Ghost For Hire #2

Mass Market Paperback, 416 pages
Publication: November 4, 2014 by Roc

Source: I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for a honest review.

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I was an ordinary eighties California girl, dead before my time, until psychic Amanda Lee Minter pulled me out of the time loop where I was reliving my death over and over. Now I’m Jensen Murphy, Ghost for Hire. I decided to put my spooky talents to use in helping Amanda Lee track down bad guys and killers (including my own).

It’s taken time to figure out exactly how that will work (our first case was definitely a learning experience for all involved), so when a young woman asks Amanda Lee for help convincing her best friend to leave a dangerously hot-tempered boyfriend, I’m ready and willing to use our collective powers on her behalf. But some people are dangerous not only to the living—especially when there are darker forces involved...

Jensen Murphy is back at work on another case in Another One Bites the Dust. Instead of a murder mystery like the first book, Jensen’s newest case involves a potential for domestic violence. Wendy Edgett’s online friend Heidi believes that her friend Nichelle’s boyfriend, Tim is one spark from exploding. Tim is so possessive and controlling to the point that Heidi thinks Nichelle’s life is in danger. Heidi has done everything she could yet Nichelle confuses possessiveness as love; so Heidi last efforts brings her to seek assistance from Amanda Lee and Jensen.

Since Tim’s case is pretty straight forward, it’s not as interesting since there’s nothing much to solve but thankfully we get some mystery with Jensen’s case which is explored deeper in this latest installment. Amanda and Jensen not only digs into Tim’s background but also into his mind using Jensen’s ghostly abilities. And what they find in his head and files all point to a seriously disturb and violent young man. And Amanda finally keeps her promise to Jensen as she actively looks into her death. Along with Jensen, readers learn of new evidences about the night Jensen was murder, and talk to those there that night in the Elfin Woods. Jensen also starts remembering bits and pieces of her murder which is as horrible as you can imagine. But every clue the duo discovers puts them one step closer to finding out who killer is.

Jensen has definitely grown in the short time since she was pulled from her time loop. She’s gotten the gist of being a ghost and everything that comes with it. Green expands on the ghost abilities with Jensen being able to create hallucinations that evokes a specific emotion she wants the person to feel…and in Tim’s case, who is always full of rage…a little tranquility does the trick however temporarily. And she’s kind of like a mind reader and lie detector. Jensen is able to see into people’s mind and read/see their thoughts as they’re thinking, which was how she was able to learn if people were telling the truth about her case. I really enjoyed discovering more of Boo World; what the ghosts are capable of and what happens after ghosts are called away by their wranglers (reaper). Green did a great job in building her ghost world and spinning a new take on any stereotypes or preconceived notions we might have about ghosts. Because I for one, will not look at ghosts the same way after reading this series.

I pretty much liked everything about this book, except for the romance part. For some reason, I just can’t get on board with it. You’d think with the plethora of supernaturals: vampires, faeries, and werewolves dominating fantasies and with a romance subplot…that this would be another of the same thing, except it inst. I just cannot picture a ghost in a relationship (I have an issue with Zombies too). Jensen has the hots for Gavin Edgett, whom readers met in the first book and was a murder suspect. And the thing is, I think Gavin is obsessed about Jensen too…he draws pictures of Jensen and stalks her by investigating her murder and contacting her old best friend from high school. While they’re not in a relationship, just seeing Jensen drool over Gavin and Gavin obsessing over Jensen’s case is just odd. Then there’s Fake Dean who wants Jensen, to own her because she amuses him (but obviously he has an ulterior motive). He is disguised as her high school boyfriend, and I swear he’s always trying to seduce her or something. Again, I just can’t see it and therefore it’s not believable. There were moments that I just wanted to skip over all these scenes…but then that would be a big chunk of the book.

All in all, Another One Bites the Dust was a good installment in the Jensen Murphy series. I hope we get more details about Jensen’s case in the next book, solving it would be even better! If you like ghosts, and a little mystery and suspense, then I recommend checking this series out. The books can be read as a standalone, but like all series to get full understanding on the background/characters, start with the first book, Only the Good Die Young.