Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Pocket Apocalypse: By Seanan McGuire

POCKET APOCALYPSE

SUMMARY

Alexander Price has survived gorgons, basilisks, and his own family—no small feat, considering that his family includes two telepaths, a reanimated corpse, and a colony of talking, pantheistic mice. Still, he’s starting to feel like he’s got the hang of things…at least until his girlfriend, Shelby Tanner, shows up asking pointed questions about werewolves and the state of his passport. From there, it’s just a hop, skip, and a jump to Australia, a continent filled with new challenges, new dangers, and yes, rival cryptozoologists who don’t like their “visiting expert” very much.

Australia is a cryptozoologist’s dream, filled with unique species and unique challenges. Unfortunately, it’s also filled with Shelby’s family, who aren’t delighted by the length of her stay in America. And then there are the werewolves to consider: infected killing machines who would like nothing more than to claim the continent as their own. The continent which currently includes Alex.

Survival is hard enough when you’re on familiar ground. Alex Price is very far from home, but there’s one thing he knows for sure: he’s not going down without a fight.

REVIEW


I start this review to establish a few things. First, Seanan McGuire is an incredibly talented writer who is able to spin a captivating tale that is sure to entrance readers of all sorts. This is evidenced by the fact that I went from one book to the next, followed by one series to the next, until sadly I had exhausted the then currently published supply of books by this talented author. 

Luckily for me, Seanan McGuire is an incredibly prolific writer who publishes (under multiple pseudonyms) multiple books, short stories, and novellas per year. 

One of the reasons I love McGuire's writing is that she fills each book with enough sarcasm, humor, and captivating action to entice even the most hesitant of readers. Couple that with a plethora of odd creatures (both based in mythology as well as created from the brilliant mind of McGuire) (including Yowie, now one of my new favorite inCrypid) and it's no wonder that McGuire's InCryptid series is by far my favorite.

I say all of this to establish the point that the InCrypid series is my favorite of Seanan's series and that Pocket Apocalypse does not disappoint.

As has been established by McGuire's InCryptid series, Pocket Apocalypse is told from Alex Price's point of view. In this novel he and his girlfriend Shelby are returning to Shelby's home to take care of a mounting werewolf problem in Australia (and even more terrifyingly to meet Shelby's parents for the first time). McGuire makes sure to heap on the awkward family drama as things go from bad to worse in the ways of impressing Shelby's family, couple this with near fatal mauling, and its enough for Alex to miss dealing with his normal home brew of poisonous snakes and petrifying (literally) gorgons.

All in all, I loved Pocket Apocalypse. It is filled with lovable characters that I can't get enough of, tons of action, and enough sarcasm and witty narration to make anyone crack a smile (and most to laugh out loud). All of this easily makes this a highly recommended book that I hope readers will give a chance. 

INFO

Publisher: DAW

Published: March 3, 2015

Price: $7.99

Link to Buy: http://www.amazon.com/Pocket-Apocalypse-InCryptid-Book-Four-ebook/dp/B00MNNAOJ4/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1425401566&sr=1-1&keywords=seanan+mcguire

Dead Heat: By Patricia Briggs

DEAD HEAT

SUMMARY

For once, mated werewolves Charles and Anna are not traveling because of Charles’s role as his father’s enforcer. This time, their trip to Arizona is purely personal--or at least it starts out that way...
Charles and Anna soon discover that a dangerous Fae being is on the loose, replacing human children with simulacrums. The Fae’s cold war with humanity is about to heat up—and Charles and Anna are in the cross fire.
REVIEW

Well, the first thing I have to say about Dead Heat is that it's very obvious that Patricia Briggs loves horses and knows a lot about horse breeding and showing.

The second thing to know about Dead Heat is that it is utterly fantastic!

Dead Heat is the fourth book in the Alpha and Omega series and like the other books in the series Briggs does a superb job creating likable new characters while at the same time developing the staple characters (such as Anna and Charles). In Dead Heat, readers are introduced to friendly and likable Cantrip agents (shocking I know!) and Joseph and his family, one of Charles' only friends from before Anna. Joseph's introduction in the story allows readers a glimpse into Charles' past, giving both interesting entertaining stories as well as a sad story of failed love that helps explain Charles' lack of a love life before Anna.


Of course, another interesting twist in Dead Heat is the creation of a new witch based wolf. Before this new development the only wolves with magic that we knew of were Samuel, Bran, and Charles. I don't know for sure, but I think and hope that this new character will create some new interesting story lines for our characters.

Speaking of story lines, the basis of this book's drama centers around the beginning of a war between the humans and the fae. The fae have unleashed some of the most damaged and dangerous fae into the human population. These terrorist attacks include sending a kelpie to drown people and unleashing the Doll Maker, who steals children, replacing them with a fetch, and drains the children's and the parents' lives slowly, ultimately killing them after a year and a day.

All in all Dead Heat is another great book in the Alpha and Omega series. It is filled with great characters, moves the overall story forward at a brisk pace, and has enough action to keep readers more than entertained. Another must read in a fantastic series.

INFO

Publisher: Ace

Published: March 3, 2015

Price: $26.95

Link to Buy: http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Alpha-Omega-Patricia-Briggs/dp/0425256758/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1425401580&sr=1-1