Bone Crossed Giveaway
Feb
24
2010

A couple of days ago I got a copy of Bone Crossed, the fourth book in the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs, as a late Christmas present. Since I already bought it the day it came out and just read and reviewed it, I’m going to give it away here. (This is the new paperback edition, not the hardcover.)

Contest Rules and Information

To enter, send an email with the subject line ‘Bone Crossed’ to fantasycafe @ novomancy dot org. Please include your mailing address. Addresses will not be used for any purpose other than sending the book to the winner and all emails will be deleted once a winner has been selected.

One entry is allowed per person. This giveaway is open to everyone no matter what country you live in.

This giveaway will close on Friday March 12.

Good luck!

The First Chapter of Silver Borne
Feb
24
2010

Since I just reviewed Bone Crossed, it seems like a good time to post the link to the first chapter of Silver Borne. I saw this the other day thanks to a post on Angieville, which also mentioned this would be Samuel’s book. I don’t normally read chapters online, but I did read this one (partially because I was hoping it would help me decide about my dilemma about whether or not to wait for paperback – no, still undecided). Silver Borne is the fifth book in the Mercy Thompson series and will be released on March 30.

Due to an email from Borders, I also noticed that the first book, Moon Called, is coming to hardcover on March 2. The fourth book was the first one released in hardcover so the first three books had only been available in paperback (unless you include the Science Fiction Book Club version, which contained the first three novels as Preying for Mercy).

Review of Bone Crossed
Feb
23
2010

Bone Crossed
by Patricia Briggs
304pp (Paperback)
My Rating: 8/10
Amazon Rating: 4.5/5
LibraryThing Rating: 4.22/5
Goodreads Rating: 4.26/5

Bone Crossed is the fourth book in the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs. The first three books in this popular urban fantasy series are Moon Called, Blood Bound and Iron Kissed, respectively. Silver Borne, the fifth book, will be released in hardcover in March 2010. Briggs is also writing a related series featuring different main protagonists called Alpha and Omega, which currently consists of two novels and a novella.

As this is a review of a book in an ongoing series, there will be spoilers for the first three books.

This novel picks up shortly before the end of Iron Kissed and expands on that ending. While Mercy and Adam are still discussing their relationship and the trauma Mercy recently endured, Mercy has several surprise visitors. First, her mother shows up after reading about Mercy’s rape in the paper – Mercy doesn’t exactly like to talk about it and would like everyone to stop looking sorry for her so she hadn’t yet told her. Soon after that, Stefan appears in her living room in such bad shape that Mercy is afraid he might die (or whatever it is vampires do when they cease to exist since they’re sort of already dead). All Stefan manages to tell Mercy is that “she knows,” but Mercy is aware that he is referring to Marsilia discovering that she killed a dangerous vampire from the vampire’s seethe and that Stefan covered it up. Now they are both in danger.

Soon after the first two visitors arrive, there is a knock on the door. It is Amber, an acquaintance of Mercy’s from college, who also heard about Mercy rape in the news along with the fact that she is dating Adam, a werewolf. Now that Amber realizes Mercy’s drunken ramblings about being raised by werewolves is plausible, she thinks perhaps she meant it when she said she could see ghosts too. Amber’s house is haunted and she requests Mercy’s help. Mercy finds the timing somewhat suspicious at first, but she later finds out there is no reason Marsilia would want her to go to Amber’s hometown. Neither she nor any of her vampires would be able to get near Mercy there since it is inhabited by a very territorial, uncooperative vampire who will allow no others in his area. Mercy decides to pay a visit to Amber and investigate her ghost problem if it will get her away from Marsilia, especially since she believes Marsilia would not hurt any of her friends without Mercy around to witness it.


There is a lot happening in this latest installment in spite of the fact that is not a long novel. It has the vampire plot with Stefan/Marsilia and the ghost plot with Mercy’s college acquaintance Amber and her family. Plus there is the aftermath of Mercy’s traumatic experience from the previous book and great moments with many of the characters – especially Stefan, Adam, and Amber’s ten year old son Chad. Briggs continues to maintain a great balance between keeping the plot moving and characterization.

Each book seems to contain some new insights into the various types of paranormal beings that inhabit this world. This one had most of the focus on the vampires with a little more information on the werewolves. There were also some interesting revelations about Mercy’s own powers, which she knows very little about since she doesn’t know of any other walkers like her. Mercy seems more like an ordinary human than most of them – she can shapeshift and is gradually learning more about her abilities but she’s not dangerous like the werewolves or evil like the vampires.

Mercy is very enjoyable to read about and her character is one of the highlights of this series. The novels are all told from her first person perspective and she’s such a fun narrator. She has a humorous way of looking at the world around her and Briggs gives her such a great voice that she comes alive. In spite of the fact that she can shapeshift into a coyote, she seems like an ordinary person with a mixture of real personality traits. She’s loyal to her friends and seems to be very likable, yet she’s also hesitant to really open up to others. While she likes to be in control and is stubborn and independent, she’s also pragmatic enough to let others take over if it’s the logical thing to do and seems necessary (at least most of the time). She’s not so perfect that she’s hard to relate to – she still has vulnerabilities and makes mistakes. Whenever she does mess up, though, it always seems to fit with her character and makes sense.

In this novel, there is a lot of hardship for Mercy. After her traumatic experience in the previous book, she still panics when she knows there is no rational reason to do so. While she does her best to overcome it, it’s also not something that she can just brush off and forget about immediately, either, even though she seems to like to be reminded of it as little as possible.

In general, the characters are all very interesting and seem to have unique personalities even if lots of pages are not dedicated to their development. The friendships are well-written and enjoyable to read about. I was especially happy to see so much of Stefan in this installment – even though I am not normally a vampire fan, I do really like Stefan. Everyone always says he is not that bad for an evil vampire, but even he isn’t what one would call a “good guy.” He does have the capacity to care for others, but he’ll also still commit acts like murdering innocent people if he thinks it’s necessary. Stefan is more complex than good or evil and I like that in a character.

It’s not a perfect book, although I had so much fun with it while reading it that I didn’t notice many flaws until afterward. There is still some info dumping, but there is still a lot less of it than in the first book in the series. Also, perhaps there was a little too much going on in this novel sometimes – this one seemed to lack some of the emotional impact of the previous two books and that may have been because it was always rushing on to the next scene. Sometimes, as is often the case in novels, everything may work out a little too conveniently, too.

While Bone Crossed was not quite as good as the second and third books, I was immersed in the story from start to finish. Reading a new book in this series is like visiting old friends, and I’ll definitely read the next one.

My Rating: 8/10

Where I got my reading copy: I bought it.

Read Chapter One

Other reviews of this book:

Reviews of other books in this series:

The Leaning Pile of Books
Feb
21
2010

Just finished a rough draft of a review of Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs – getting closer to caught up on reviews all the time. Or maybe it would feel that way if I hadn’t finished The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms over the weekend and read most of Sea Dragon Heir yesterday, but at least it is a lot easier to review books that have been read more recently. (The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms was excellent – my favorite book I’ve read this year to date and I’m really excited about the next one in the series.) Next up is a book I am looking forward to, A Local Habitation by Seanan McGuire, and the next book I read after that probably depends on how close to caught up I am.

Yesterday I got one review copy in the mail.

Procession of the Dead by Darren Shan

Darren Shan is better known as a writer of YA fiction, particularly the Cirque Du Freak series (the first three books were recently made into the movie Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant). This one is an adult novel coming out on June 4, 2010 although it looks like it has been published before but was not easy to get a hold of in the United States. It is the first book in a series called The City. Since I hadn’t heard of this one before, here’s the blurb on it (I’ll probably start including these anyway for all books including the ones I purchase myself):

What had I done before coming to the city? I couldn’t remember. It sounded crazy but my past was a blank. I could recall every step since alighting from the train, but not a single one before.

Young, quick-witted and cocksure, Capac Raimi arrives in the City determined to make his mark in a world of sweet, sinister sin. He finds the City is a place of exotic dangers: a legendary assassin with snakes tattooed on his face who moves like smoke, blind Incan priests that no one seems to see, a kingpin who plays with puppets, and friends who mysteriously disappear as though they never existed. Then Capac crosses paths with The Cardinal, and his life changes forever.

The Cardinal is the City, and The City is The Cardinal. They are joined at the soul. Nothing moves on the streets, or below them, without the Cardinal’s knowledge. His rule is absolute.

When Capac discovers the extent of The Cardinal’s influence on his own life, he is faced with hard choices and his own soaring ambition. To find his way, Capac must know himself and what he is capable of. But how can you trust yourself when you can’t remember your past?

Review of Miles Errant
Feb
16
2010

Miles Errant
by Lois McMaster Bujold
752pp (Trade Paperback)
My Rating: 8/10
Amazon Rating: 4.5/5
LibraryThing Rating: 4.38/5
Goodreads Rating: 4.3/5

Miles Errant is an omnibus containing the novella “The Borders of Infinity” and the novels Brothers in Arms and Mirror Dance in the Miles Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold. Mirror Dance won the Hugo Award in 1995.

There are currently 13 novels in this space opera series (including the ones that are loosely related since one takes place 200 years before, two are prequels about Miles’s parents, and one does not feature Miles but a member of his crew instead) and 4 novellas with a new novel (Cryoburn) scheduled to come out later this year. Miles Errant is fourth in the omnibus edition order (after Cordelia’s Honor, Young Miles and Miles, Mystery and Mayhem). It is followed by one novel not in an omnibus (Memory) and two more collections, Miles in Love and Miles, Mutants and Microbes.

Even though the books were not all published in chronological order, I’d recommend starting with either the first prequel about Miles’s mother (Shards of Honor which can also be found in the omnibus Cordelia’s Honor) or the first book about Miles (The Warrior’s Apprentice which can be found in the omnibus Young Miles). The two books in Cordelia’s Honor are not really necessary to understanding the rest of the series, but I’m glad I started with them because I really enjoyed them. However, I would recommend those who are more interested in space opera adventure begin with The Warrior’s Apprentice since Shards of Honor is largely a love story.

The novella “Borders of Infinity” starts off this collection. Miles is dropped off in the Cetagandan prison camp Dagoola IV, where he is immediately beaten and stripped of his few belongings (including the clothes on his back) by some of the other prisoners. Soon he is approached by another naked man who would like to know if Miles is the One – or rather, the other One since the scripture he’s been carrying around says there are two Ones. Miles thinks perhaps he can use this religious fanaticism to his advantage in his mission – rescuing the heroic Colonel Tremont from the prison camp.

Brothers in Arms picks up after the events of “The Borders of Infinity.” In this novel Miles and his fleet end up on Earth shortly after the end of the previous story. While waiting for the funds necessary to repair one of the ships, Miles works at the Barrayaran embassy – to the great dismay of Captain Galeni, who has to deal with him and his Dendarii Fleet. However, after his requests for funding are ignored, Miles begins to wonder if there is some sort of conspiracy at play – and inadvertently discovers a plot against his home planet involving the clone he never knew he had.

Mirror Dance takes place about two years after the previous story but is very closely related since it is mostly about Mark, Miles’s clone. Mark pretends to be Admiral Naismith in order to free the clone children on Jackson’s Whole, who will eventually be replacement bodies for their progenitors. While he largely succeeds due to the intervention of Miles, who figured out what happened, the plan goes awry and has some rather dire consequences. Afterward, Mark ends up on Barrayar where he meets his family and must come to terms with who he is.


The series focuses of course on the title character, Miles Vorkosigan, a dwarf with very brittle bones due to a toxin his mother was exposed to before he was born. Growing up in a very military society, Miles has had to overcome the obstacles of both prejudice and his own physical limitations. Fortunately for Miles, what he lacks is more than made up for by the fact that he is brilliant. He’s hyper, has issues with obeying authority and is overall a very vibrant character – and is very entertaining to read about. It’s a fun series to read, and I do think there is some great character development and insight, particularly in Mirror Dance (which was not only my favorite in this collection but also my favorite in the series so far).

The three stories in this particular collection all tied together very well. “The Borders of Infinity” was a very light, fast-paced and fun story – at least until close to the end where it’s not as light. The way it ended was great, though, and it’s very rare that I really think a story has a strong conclusion. Brothers in Arms followed a similar pattern of going from light and fun to less so, but it didn’t take long for Mirror Dance to be on the darker side. Even when it’s not going well for the characters, the narrative contains enough humor to keep it from feeling as grim as it could, though.

For instance, right at the beginning of “The Borders of Infinity,” Miles is stripped naked and pretty thoroughly beaten by some other prisoners. Instead of focusing too much on the depressing circumstances, it is immediately followed up with Miles being approached by a fellow naked prisoner offering him a drink of water:

The man squatted in studied politeness until Miles finished drinking, then leaned forward on his knuckles in restrained urgency. “Are you the One?”

Miles blinked. “Am I the what?”

“The One. The other One, I should say. The scripture says there has to be two.”

“Uh,” Miles hesitated cautiously. “What exactly does the scripture say?”

The man’s right hand wrapped over his knobby left wrist, around which was tied a rag screwed into a sort of rope. He closed his eyes; his lips moved a moment, and then he recited aloud, “…but the pilgrims went up that hill with ease, because they had these two men to lead them by the arms; also they had left their garments behind them, for though they went in with them, they came out without them.” His eyes popped back open to stare hopefully at Miles.

So, now we begin to see why this guy seems to be all by himself…. “Are you, perchance, the other One?” Miles shot at a venture.

The man nodded shyly.

“I see. Um…” How was it that he always attracted the nut cases? He licked the last drops of water from his lips. The fellow might have some screws loose, but he was certainly an improvement over the last lot, always presuming he didn’t have another personality or two of the homicidal loonie variety tucked away in his head. No, in that case, he’d be introducing himself as the Chosen Two, and not be looking for outside assistance. (pp. 5 – 6)

Even though Mirror Dance is more about Mark than Miles, it is still a very good story and also contains some good scenes with Miles. In spite of being his clone and sharing many of his traits, Mark is very different from Miles. This is definitely his book and he undergoes a lot of growth in it. It goes very well as a follow-up to Brothers in Arms, in which we first meet Mark but only see him from Miles’s perspective.

While I wouldn’t recommend starting with Miles Errant, I’d definitely recommend it to fans of the series who haven’t read it yet. For those who haven’t read the series, I’d recommend it to those who like adventures, strong characters and some well-written humorous narrative.

My Rating: 8/10

Where I got my reading copy: I bought it.

Reviews of other books in this series:

The Leaning Pile of Books
Feb
14
2010

Yesterday I got one review copy in the mail. After finishing Bone Crossed (about 60 pages left), I was planning to read one of my review copies but I wasn’t sure which one until this one showed up.

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

This fantasy debut novel is the first book in the Inheritance trilogy. I have been hearing very good things about it and have been especially excited about reading it ever since I read Ana’s review over at The Book Smugglers. It sounds like just the type of book I like so it was a great surprise to receive a copy yesterday. I am really looking forward to reading it. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms will be released on February 25.