"Thin Air" by Rachel Caine

This is a series (of course!) that my bookstore friend got me into a while back. Joanne Baldwin is a Weather Warden, one of many humans that can control the weather. You just thought you knew how life worked, huh? In the previous Weather Warden titles, we have been introduced to Joanne, watched her run for her life several times, and watched her fall in love with a Djinn named David. It's been a wild ride for Joanne, but nothing like Book Six of this series.

I won't go into too much detail because hopefully you'll be intrigued enough to check out the rest of the series. If not, Book Six is actually not a bad place for you to pick up the series, as it opens with Joanne having amnesia. She has no idea who she is or what she can do. She doesn't remember anything, other than basic stuff like "this is a shirt" and "this is food", etc. When I started reading, I was really flummoxed as to how all this would play out. But I have to admit, about half-way through this book, I found myself thinking that Rachel Caine has hit upon a very novel idea: take one of the installments in her successful series and give the character amnesia, thus letting new readers find her and fall in love. This book works mostly because I really think anyone could pick it up and enjoy it - there's plenty of back story filled in thanks to Joanne's figuring out how to go into someones mind and look at their memories. It helps her fill in some of the blanks, just as it does for new readers. I really am impressed by this approach, and it was nice for someone like myself, who has been reading the series since Book One, to be reminded of some of Joanne's previous adventures.

I'm anxious to see how the next Weather Warden book turns out. Yes, you read that right - according to the author's "tease" in the back of this book, Book 7 will be out next summer. So Joanne will be fighting the good fight in one form or another again. Do yourself a favor and get to know the Weather Wardens.

"Poltergeist" by Kat Richardson

I absolutely love to see marked improvement between a first and second book from an author, and this is just about the perfect example (another would be Kim Harrison's series about Rachel, the witch). "Greywalker" introduced us to Harper Blaine, just an ordinary woman who now happens to have an extraordinary talent, thanks to being dead for exactly 2 minutes. That brief amount of time changed Harper's life forever (she fears); she is now a Greywalker, a person that literally walks between the land of the living and the land of the dead. When she enters the Grey, she becomes a ghost of herself to those around her, sometimes disappearing entirely. And the Grey isn't a fun place to be; there are lots of ghosts, spirits, and other beasties just waiting to catch her unawares.

In the first book, Harper spent a lot of time "falling into" the Grey, mostly because she didn't really understand what it was and how it affected her. Luckily, she became close friends with Mara and Ben Danzinger, professors who also had a deep interest in the paranormal. While not Greywalkers themselves, they took her under their wing and taught her as much as they could about her new condition, relying on their own knowledge of paranormal things and science. While I enjoyed the first book, I found myself getting irritated by just how often Harper "fell into" the Grey, how much she was floundering, etc.

Imagine how delighted I was with "Poltergeist"! Not only is the writing a bit better overall, but Harper as a character has grown a lot since we last saw her. She has actually learned how to handle the Grey for the most part and is becoming more adept at the things she can do in it and with it. YEAH! Finally, a strong female protagonist who really IS strong, one who learns from one book to the next! I was losing all hope of finding such a thing! Anyway, not only is Harper doing better at her Greywalking, she's being called in as an "expert" investigator on a university experiment gone wrong. Dr. Tuckman is trying to recreate the Phillips experiment, a project done several decades earlier, in which a group of subjects actually created an "entity" and some poltergeist activity. No one has really been able to duplicate it until now. Rather than celebrating, Tuckman wants Harper to prove that one of his project members has been faking the results; the "entity", Celia, that his group has created is too active. He believes one of the members is skewing his data and will not accept otherwise, even though Harper informs him it's possible there is a real poltergeist.

Complicating matters further is the murder of one of the group, a young man who was actually a plant by Tuckman. Seems that there was some faking going on at first, mostly to get the group to believe they could do what they can now do. Unfortunately for the young man, someone, or something, has very much killed him by bashing his skull into a wall with extreme force. Harper doesn't believe it could have been a human that did the deed, but she's not exactly sure. She asks for help from the Danzingers, Carlos, a vampire she's crossed paths with a time or two, and her electronics-wiz friend Quinton. Things don't add up, especially after she interviews each member of the group. It would appear that the good doctor has lied to Harper about a thing or two, such as his take on the dynamics of his little group of volunteers. They are not a happy family at all; there are sexual tensions running rampant, as well as huge streaks of jealousy and competitiveness, all things that could possibly lead to the creation of a real force of some sort.

The mystery is intriguing, especially since Richardson used several real historical incidences to frame it, including the Phillips experiment, the Wah Mee massacre of Seattle, and the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps from WWII. As I said, Harper as a character is much more developed and smarter, something I very much appreciate. There's a hint of the romance from the previous book, but not much. In fact, I was much more interested in her possibly hooking up with Quinton; he seems right up her alley! I am really looking forward to Ms. Richardson's next book, and hopefully, it will be in the Harper Blaine series.

"The Witch is Dead" by Shirley Damsgaard

If you enjoy light reading, then the Ophelia & Abby mysteries by Damsgaard are just your cup of tea. I found this author a while back, and am amazed that she's already on her 5th book in this series! They're sort of a tea-cozy/paranormal read; Ophelia and her clan are witches, but most of the body count is staged off-page, nothing too graphic for the reader.

Since we last saw Ophelia, she has proceeded with her legal adoption of Tink, the young teen she rescued a book or two back. Tink, aka Titania, is a medium coming into her own power. Ophelia has been relying on her grandmother, Abby, to help her with Tink; both Ophelia and Abby are psychics, rather than mediums. Still, they have a medium or two in the family, so they do their best to help Tink control her powers and develop them.

Enter Aunt Dot, one of the best "old lady" characters to come along since Stephanie Plum's Grandma Mazur! Dot comes for a visit, and she's a pistol! Around 90 yrs old or so, she doesn't understand why Ophelia and Abby don't tell everyone about their abilities; she has nothing to hide. Then again, she does see and talk to the fairies, something that her Midwest relatives don't want her making public. Or does she really see the fairies? Seems Aunt Dot likes to have a glass or two of wine every day, wine that she and her sister make, wine that has a very "special" ingredient that really gives it a kick! Oh, and Aunt Dot knows all about the "adventures" that Ophelia has had so far and wants to have one of her own!

The mystery itself isn't bad, but it's really the characters that make these little books so enjoyable. I like Ophelia, Abby and Tink, plus some of the other regulars, such as the sheriff and Ophelia's best friend, Darci, but I absolutely LOVED Aunt Dot! I'm hoping to see her again in the next installment; she added some fabulous humor. If you like your mysteries light, and you enjoy a bit of the paranormal, then I would highly recommend picking up one of Damsgaard's books. You wouldn't even have to read these in strict order, but as usual, I'd recommend it!

"Hex and the City" by Simon Green

John Taylor, the man who can find anything, has been given a most unique case by Lady Luck herself: track down the origins of the Nightside. Some would say it's a fool's errand, and they might be right; John finds himself getting closer and closer to the answer, but is never quite there.

He has some new companions on this journey, characters not seen in the previous books. There's Sinner and his gal Pretty Poison, a most interesting pair. Sinner sold his soul to the Devil in order to know true love. Enter Pretty Poison, a succubus chosen by the Devil himself, who meets Sinner, marries him, and at the end of the 10-year contract, reveals her true nature. Sinner loves her anyway and refuses to stop loving her, thus getting himself kicked out of Hell (can't have anyone mooning away down there!) Heaven won't take him, seeing as how he sold his soul and all, so he walks the Nightside, fairly indestructible. Pretty Poison has left Hell to learn exactly why Sinner still loves her, given what she is. Again, they're an interesting pair. Also enlisted by John is Madman, a person who Saw the true workings of the world, a thing which, of course, has driven him insane. Worse for everyone else, Madman is able to change the world around him with his thoughts, so when he gets upset or scared, reality is fair game.

The quartet work their way to older and older denizens of the Nightside, asking the same question every time - where did the Nightside come from and why does it exist? Again, no one really has the definitive answer, but it becomes quite apparent that John's mysterious mother has something to do with it. It's also clear that the Authorities in charge don't want John to succeed in this particular mission and that they'll go to great lengths to stop him.

This was a very important entry in Green's Nightside series. If you've gotten into them thanks to my reviews, you know that John has had questions about his missing mother since the beginning. Well, some of those questions are answered in this book, including just who his mother is. Naw, I'm not going to tell you! That would be cheating! Suffice to say that it's a great reveal, and I'm looking forward to the next book in the series. Should be interesting to see how John handles his mom - she's not really the warm and cozy type!

"Burning Water" by Mercedes Lackey

"Dallas Police Detective Mark Valdez isn't just any cop - he's a psychic who knows that the cattle mutilations and torture murders he's been investigating are somehow tied together. He also knows that his meager psychic abilities aren't enough to identify the killers, much less stop them.

Luckily, Mark has an ace up his sleeve: an attractive young romance novelist who happens to be a practicing witch. And not just any witch, either - Diana Tregarde is a Guardian, charged with protecting the Earth and all its creatures.

Using modern science and ancient magics, Diana and Mark discover that they are tailing no ordinary serial killer but the awakened avatar of an Aztec god. Tezcatlipoca and his four beautiful handmaidens are preparing for a great sacrifice that will transform North America into a new Aztec realm.

Diana isn't sure her powers are strong enough to take on those of a risen Aztec god, but she has no choice. As a Guardian, she is sworn to protect mankind, even at the cost of her own life. Luckily, she does not stand alone. Mark Valdez is more than just a cop. And Tezcatlipoca is not the only Aztec god walking in the world."

Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? Well, as it turns out, this is a case where the "trailer" is better than the movie. The book isn't bad overall, but I wasn't as happy with it as I was hoping to be. Part of it may be that the work is somewhat dated, having first been published in 1989. I think a bigger part of it was the writing itself. While Lackey did a fairly good job on the plot, the writing of said plot left a lot to be desired. I felt at times as if I were reading a debut novel (which this might have been - I'm going to check into that later). There's a HUGE overuse of italics, so much so that it became distracting. I was reminded of the time I read "Phantom of the Opera"; I was laughing at times at how many exclamation points were used in just one paragraph!

Diana is a fairly likeable heroine, one I wouldn't mind reading more about. I was very glad to see that she was not "tough as nails" as one finds in so many books of this kind. I'm not entirely sure, but her development might have come off more pleasantly due to the fact that it's not told from her point of view, nor is she really the "main character" in this book; I would argue that Mark is the star. Since the two are working together from the get-go, it makes both of them more palatable as the fighters of evil. Neither one comes off looking like a superhero, something else that, at times, tends to ruin a book for me.

I would have liked to learn more about Diana's position as a Guardian, something that is alluded to in the blurb from the back of the book, but not really discussed in the meat of this book. There are two other titles in the Diana Tregarde trilogy, so perhaps Guardians are discussed more in-depth there. And yes, I'll be tracking down the books, but not so much for myself. My hubby really enjoyed this one, so I've been given the mission to find the other two for him to read!

"The Man with the Golden Torc" by Simon Green

(The cover pictured at left is the British artwork. If you're looking for a copy of the American artwork, do a Google image search under the book title)

Having been impressed with Green's other works (the Nightside series and a stand-alone title), I was excited to see us get this book, the start of a new series. YES! Always fun to be in from the start!

Edwin "Eddie" Drood is a field agent for the Drood family, a man that works undercover as "Shaman Bond", fighting the good fight and attempting to vanquish evil. The Drood family has been in the fighting biz for eons, as far back as Droods can remember. In fact, the Drood family is directly descended from the Druids. Each Drood child is fitted from birth with a golden torc, a sort of supernatural choker, a fantastic force field that each Drood can call on to make him or her almost invincible. Eddie is one of the few field agents living outside the family manor; he's been on his own for about the last 10 years, although he's still a Drood through and through.

One fateful night, after a somewhat difficult assignment, Eddie is summoned to the great Hall of the Droods. No reason is given, just that his presence is demanded. Eddie has a feeling that something is up, but no one says "no" the Matriarch, so off he goes. He's given a very special assignment, one that the Matriarch states she cannot trust anyone else with, for there's a good chance that there's a traitor in the Hall of the Droods.

Truer words were never spoken, as Eddie soon finds out. He is attacked by various factions on his way to Stonehenge. By the time he vanquishes the last of them, he is visited by his Uncle James and told that Eddie himself has been declared rogue - all Drood agents have orders to either bring him in or kill him. Eddie has no idea what he could have done to be declared rogue, and thus we have the meat of the book, Eddie attempting to contact various people who may have information about his status.

Of course, what good is an action-thriller without a ticking clock? During his huge fight on the freeway, Eddie was shot with an arrow by an elf, an arrow that somehow pierced his golden armor that is provided by the torc, a thing that is not supposed to be possible. The arrow contained "strange matter", something from another dimension, and it's slowly eating away at Eddie's body. He's running out of time to discover the Drood secrets and to save his life.

This was a fantastic start of what I'm hoping will be an awesome series. Eddie isn't perfect, but he's a good man at heart, so I found myself rooting for him quite a bit. Also, as the wild witch of the forest, Molly Metcalf, informs him, not all the bad guys are entirely bad. Eddie learns that his family isn't what he thought it was and there are some secrets too horrible to learn. I would definitely recommend this to dark-fantasy, action-adventure lovers out there. The best news is that there's a second book planned for June 2008!

"Caught Stealing" by Charlie Huston

OK, this guy totally gets my seal of approval for tight, suspenseful thrillers. If you've been keeping up with this blog, you'll remember his vampire books "Already Dead" and "No Dominion". I thought maybe it might be worth it to try some earlier stuff, and man, I was not disappointed in the least.

"Caught Stealing" is a book about exactly that - a theft of grand proportions. Our hero, Henry "Hank" Thompson, knows nothing about it when the book opens, only that he's been beaten up by some pros for no known reason. Not only that, but it soon leads to him losing a kidney, something that is just going to make his life that much worse in the next week or so.

Hank has been asked by his neighbor Russ to cat-sit. Hank isn't great with animals but Bud, the cat, seems to be pretty mellow and Russ begs very well. Shortly after that, while at his bartending job, Hank is attacked by some Russians who comment on his mixology abilities. Then it's the trip to the hospital to take out said kidney, followed by more visits from various bad guys, including a dirty cop. The only thing that Hank knows is that he found something in the bottom of Bud's cat carrier, an envelope which felt like it had a key in it. Being the cautious and very paranoid sort, Hank didn't open the envelope. But for much of the book, he also can't remember where the envelope is - seems he might have given it to a friend of his at the bar when he was rip-roaring drunk. Yeah, not very smart after losing a kidney, but Hank's been having a very rough time; giving up booze isn't easy when you're being stalked and beaten by thugs for reasons unknown to you.

Eventually Hank finds out why everyone is after this key. Not only that, but his life continues a downward spiral, something that doesn't look to have any good way out. Hank has to fight for his life and make some tough choices, when all he really wants to do is watch a damn baseball game.

Like I said, Huston is an awesome writer, one I'm eternally grateful to find. He keeps the story simple but action-packed. His hero, Hank, is fantastically flawed, yet still a good-enough guy that you root for him to overcome all obstacles. Even better? This is the first in a trilogy about Hank, so I have two more books to read. YES!!