Some spoilers..FYI
I have seldom encountered a book, particularly a series, in the historical/vampire genre. First book that comes to mind is the Cin Craven Series and it's one of my favorites. The first book of the series of The Brotherhood of the Blood, was surprisingly good. I was not expecting the story to take place years in the past with the cover looking hot and passionate. Not that historical books can't be hot LOL. I liked the premised that the brotherhood became vampires because they had drank from the Blood Grail thinking it to be the Holy Grail.
The brotherhood was on a mission to capture the Holy grail when Chapel was terribly injured. They were in a tunnel where the Templars had hidden the Holy Grail. Thinking of saving himself, he drank from the cup. When he drank, all of the brothers drank with him after seeing his injuries healed. It did not only saved him but made all of them immortal. These vampires were Catholic and has deep ties to the church, before the church 'purged' them from evil. Centuries later, of the 5 brothers, he was the only one left who remained in the service of the church. He believes that he is evil and working for the church will eventually bring him closer to salvation.
Prudence was vibrant, full of life but she was dying. Feeling cheated out of life, she endeavored to save herself by searching for the Holy Grail convinced that it will cure her out of Cancer.
The two were irrisistably drawn to each other. But, with Chapel being a vampire and thinking himself tainted with evil and Prudence wanting to live, therein lies the conflict. Chapel does not want to turn her into a monster ,risking instead of losing her to death forever. It was really touching how Chapel has to overcome his self loathing and eventually accepts himself as he is so that he in turn can save Prudence. The struggles both of them went through before Prudence gasped her last breath was touching that I was teary-eyed reading. But of course, I knew in the end that Chapel could not bear to lose Prudence and not live with her forever.
This is a wonderful series and I will definitely look for the others.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Spirit Bound Teaser from Penguin Australia
One of the YA books I love, The Vampire Academy Series book 5, Spirit Bound will be release on May 15 (Amazon.com). For the meantime, Penguin Australia will release teasers at youtube.com, quotations from the book. Here's one:
Thanks Ms. Mead for sharing in your blog! Can't wait to read it!
Thanks Ms. Mead for sharing in your blog! Can't wait to read it!
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Happy Birthday To Me!
Yes, I am turning 33 tomorrow :). I feel like I ought to celebrate or something but with so much things going on, our new Bar and Resto opening, we are so busy to celebrate. Although we planned a double celebration in Manila with my friend Van ;). I just hope our WAW friends are going to have some free time to spend dinner with us. Really looking forward to it!
Going back on getting older, I'd like to acknowledge the things that I'm thankful of for the past year of my life. First, my dream of going to the U.S. coming true. When I finally stepped through U.S. grounds, it was so surreal! I had to mentally pinched myself to make sure that it's really happening. When I was a little girl, it felt like it was a impossible dream. Like there was a very remote chance of me going there. Still I day dreamed of eating hotdogs from the street and gorging on huge pizza slices and monster size burgers, very hollywoodish, I know haha. When I got there, I was suddenly struck by the thought that I could live in the states with my family. I'm the only one in my side of the family left here in the Philippines so moving there won't be difficult. We're considering it, hubby and I but for the meantime, we'll be back again next year, hopefully.
I'm thankful that my family is in good health and Alecxi is growing up a happy and healthy little girl.
Business is thriving and we are still keeping our fingers crossed that the new bar and restaurant we just opened will be successful.
I'm thankful that life has never been that hard for us. We have all the things we need, and some of our wants. I thank God I have all these around me, my husband who still makes me laugh and somehow irritates me at the same time, my precious daughter who takes away my frustrations and makes life easier, and a family that support and guide.
For 33 years of my life, I have now the full understanding of patience being a virtue. And what you may want years ago when you were younger won't be the same from what you'll want now that you are older. Priorities definitely change.
Going back on getting older, I'd like to acknowledge the things that I'm thankful of for the past year of my life. First, my dream of going to the U.S. coming true. When I finally stepped through U.S. grounds, it was so surreal! I had to mentally pinched myself to make sure that it's really happening. When I was a little girl, it felt like it was a impossible dream. Like there was a very remote chance of me going there. Still I day dreamed of eating hotdogs from the street and gorging on huge pizza slices and monster size burgers, very hollywoodish, I know haha. When I got there, I was suddenly struck by the thought that I could live in the states with my family. I'm the only one in my side of the family left here in the Philippines so moving there won't be difficult. We're considering it, hubby and I but for the meantime, we'll be back again next year, hopefully.
I'm thankful that my family is in good health and Alecxi is growing up a happy and healthy little girl.
Business is thriving and we are still keeping our fingers crossed that the new bar and restaurant we just opened will be successful.
I'm thankful that life has never been that hard for us. We have all the things we need, and some of our wants. I thank God I have all these around me, my husband who still makes me laugh and somehow irritates me at the same time, my precious daughter who takes away my frustrations and makes life easier, and a family that support and guide.
For 33 years of my life, I have now the full understanding of patience being a virtue. And what you may want years ago when you were younger won't be the same from what you'll want now that you are older. Priorities definitely change.
Friday, April 23, 2010
On ARC (Advance Reading Copies) And Such..
I was wondering if anybody can help me on how to get Advance Reading Copies (ARC) of books and free copies from newly released books for PNR and Urban Fantasy authors? Do I contact the publishers? Do they have some criteria before they send you these books? I plan to giveaway books to my blog readers from the Philippines especially since books are usually released here like 1-3 months later than U.S. release dates..yeah so sad :(
If you can help, I would greatly appreciate it!
If you can help, I would greatly appreciate it!
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Up for Review Next: Be Mine Tonight By Kathryn Smith
*****
See below for my review:
Be Mine Tonight, My Review
Monday, April 19, 2010
My Thoughts on Evermore By Lynn Viehl
***
I rate this book as 2/5 stars
Saturday, April 17, 2010
A Snippet From Magic Bleeds
Sharing with you a Magic Bleeds snippet from Ilona Andrews website:
There are days when time slowed down. It dripped past me, painfully viscous, like cold molasses. Today was one of those days.
I glanced at the watch hooked into the loop of my jeans. I used to wear my watch on my wrist, like normal people, but a few months back I’d ran into a pyromanic armed with a salamander and discovered that watches, even plastic ones, had a tendency to get really hot and burn the hell out of you, especially when hit with a direct blast of salamander fire.
“Two hours till the end of my shift,” I told Marigold.
Marigold, being a mule, remained unimpressed with my stunning time-telling superpowers.
Around us the ruined city crawled by, a collection of crumbling wrecks and new sturdy buildings, stark in the darkness of early morning. Here and there pale blue lights of feylanterns illuminated steel bars guarding the windows. Magic flowed through the city, like an invisible river, smothering car engines, choking guns, feeding mages with power. In the next few hours it would vanish as abruptly as it appeared, and the technology would once again reassert itself. Electric lights would come on and every punk with a gun would think himself king. Magic came and went in waves. Nobody knew how strong the waves would be or how long they would last.
That’s why I carried a sword. It always worked.
“I’m in a melancholy mood, Marigold. Would you like to know why?”
In all likelihood, the only thing Marigold wanted to know would be when I’d get out of the saddle and return her to the stables of the Order of Merciful Aid, where the Order’s grooms would wash the bonnacon blood off her back. The bonnacons looked just like regular bulls and cows with the exception of their inwardly turned horns. They seemed like perfectly reasonable animals, until a dog happened to bark three miles away or a stray cloud in the sky caught their attention, and then the perfectly reasonable animal would plant himself where he stood and proceed to unload a twelve foot long jet of corrosive feces, burning everything behind it. Bonnacon dung could literally peel the paint off a car. The one whose blood currently decorated Marigold’s back somehow found his way into a herd of cows on the southern edge of the city and scorched the hides off a dozen prized heifers before the owner of the ranch called the Order of Merciful Aid. The Order sent me to resolve the problem. Here I was, six hours later, riding back, covered in blood, my new boots burned with bonnacon shit, and I wanted to talk, whether Marigold liked it or not.
“Today will be an interesting day, Marigold. Today I turn twenty five.”
The mule sighed.
“My sentiments exactly. Here I am, twenty five years old. My mother quarter of the century dead. My stepfather ten years dead. Greg, my guardian, six months dead. Everybody is dead. No friends, no family. No birthday cake, unless I make it myself. Nobody to meet me at the door.”
No response. Mules made for excellent listeners but when it came to making sympathetic noises, they failed in an epic way.
“I’d done a lot of things in my twenty five years. Some nice, some not. Mostly not. But I always tried to do the right thing. I work for the Order, which is all about preservation of the law and peace. Sure, I’m not a knight, but I get to help people with their problems. I work hard and I pull long hours. You’d think I’d have something more to show for it than an empty house and an absent birthday cake. You have to admit, it does kind of suck.”
Voices. Coming from the left, off the street.
I turned Marigold and guided her down the alley. The street widened around a lone lamp post crowned with a feylantern. Three guys flanked an old man, pushing him toward the wall. A hold up.
The oldest of the punks held a crossbow, two others carried clubs studded with nails. The old man’s back pressed against the bricks. He wore a dark BDU jacket. His grey hair fell on his shoulders.
“Easy now, grandpa. Easy.”
“How long?” the guy on the left asked.
“He should be almost here.”
My hand strayed toward my saber in a sheath on my back. Normally I’d pull out Slayer and talk shit to scare them away, but tonight I didn’t feel like it. Tonight I felt like hurting someone.
“I don’t like this, man. I don’t like this.” The third punk glanced down the street. “It’s too bright here.”
The shooter glared at him. “Don’t be a fucking bitch. It’ll be over in a minute.”
No ordinary hold up. Oh well.
I pulled a throwing knife and hurled it. It sliced through the air and bit into the shooter’s back.
He screamed. The others stared at him.
“As I was saying, Marigold.” I slid off the saddle. “You’d think that I’d have something more to show for my effort. So I decided, instead of staying in the city tonight, I’m going back to Savannah, where my dad’s house is. That way I won’t be stuck celebrating my quarter of the century in my dead guardian’s apartment. ”
The punks stared at me. The moment of hesitation cost them – I had time to close the distance.
The shooter snapped out of it and whirled to me, squeezing the trigger. I hit him in the throat. The crossbow bolt went wide. He crumbled. The guy to the left swung his club. Too slow. I dodged, letting the club whistle past me, and hammered a punch to his kidney. He gasped. I hurled him aside and caught the third punk’s club, as it came down. I gripped the club and pulled him to me. “What’s next?”
He gulped. A young guy, twenty at most.
“What are you going to do, hotshot?”
He dropped the club and swung at me. I saw the punch from a mile away. He missed and hit his fist against the wall.
“Want a second shot? Let’s try one more time!”
He hit again and smashed his knuckles into the brick with a wail. I slipped out of the way, grasped his shirt and drove his head into the wall. Cartilage crunched. Blood drenched his upper lip. He screamed and dashed into the night. His buddy followed.
“That’s the problem with me, Marigold. I was raised for a purpose – to be the best killer I could be.” So I could kill my real father when he finally figured out I existed.
I strode to the gunman, curled on the pavement, put my foot against his back and pulled out the knife. He cried out. Red gushed from his back, drenching the shirt. I’d angled the knife, and the wound was shallow. It would be sore as hell and take a long time to heal, but he wouldn’t die from it. Too bad it was over so quickly. Barely took the edge off.
I crouched by him and yanked his head up by the hair so I could look in his face. “What’s the story?”
“Martinez,” he gasped. “Pays us. He’s got flesh-eaters.”
I let go of his hair. “Who’s Martinez?”
“He runs a freak kennel. He sells monsters.”
Freak kennels acquired supernatural creatures, “trained” them, turning them vicious if they weren’t there already, and sold them to the highest bidder. Having a couple of pit bulls on a chain was no longer fashionable among the thug elite. Now nothing less than a crocotta or a baby wyvern would do.
“What kind of flesh-eaters Martinez has?”
“Red,” he said. “With big teeth.”
Well that narrowed things down. “Aha. And you’ve been feeding people to them?”
He nodded. “Yeah.”
“How many?”
He shook his head.
“If you don’t tell me, I’ll hurt you.”
He looked into my eyes and turned white. “Two,” he said hoarsely. “We brought him two.”
Two people dead, eaten by red flesh-eaters. Few things were worse than being eaten alive.
My ears caught the sound of the heavy footsteps behind me.
The thug spat blood. “It doesn’t matter. He’s here.”
I winked at him. “Don’t go anywhere. I’d hate to have to find you.”
The sound of the steps came closer, emanating from the dark street. I rose, unsheathing my sword.
The old man slumped against the wall. Odd, he should’ve cleared out by now. Probably in shock.
“Sir, stay behind me.”
I put myself between him and the sound.
A man emerged into the light. Tall and heavy, too heavy to maneuver fast, he wore a short coat, open in the front to reveal a thick gold chain wrapped with a smaller chain of silver. A miniature silver skull with a corona of spikes hung off the chain. The skull eyes radiated pale blue light. Hello, Martinez.
The man stared at me. Hispanic, about twenty five or so. Middle-aged in street thug years – they didn’t have a long life expectancy. Round face, mustache, scraggly goatee, more fuzz on the chin rather than a real beard.
His hand stroked the skull. The eyes flared brighter.
Two beasts trotted out of the darkness. Blood-red, with ragged, blotchy fur, they were the size of a large leopard. Their forelimbs bulged with thick muscle, shaped more like the oversized arms than cat limbs. The equally thick hindquarters were definitely feline. Wide, reptilian paws tipped with black claws gripped the ground. Their heads sat low on thick necks. Each carried a dozen short chains tipped with metal skulls. The chains were hooked straight through the pelt and the skull eyes glowed with blue.
The beasts’ muzzles were awful. They stared at me with unblinking black eyes. Wide hyena mouths gaped open, showing rows of conical fangs embedded in ruby gums. The eyes and teeth were bad enough, but their noses were shockingly human, forcing a comparison with a face, and the impact made nausea squirm through me.
The wind brought a noxious stench of old urine. I looked closer. Yep, dark yellow stains covering the pelts on the underside on both beasts. Someone kept them confined in small cages. They spent their life laying in their own excrement.
I took a step back. The creatures followed. That’s right, come with me into the light, show me your tails…
A long flexible tail curved up from their hindquarters, terminating in a wide flat cone. Rings of muscle layered the tail, making it look segmented. Manticores. Not full grown, adolescents, mangy and battered. There should’ve been poisonous barbs on the tails. Someone pulled them out, causing the beasts excruciating pain, and I had a feeling I knew who that someone was.
“You sonovabitch.”
I flicked my sword, warming up my wrist, and started toward Martinez.
He clutched at the skull. His voice intoned dully without inflection, “Kill. Kill. Kill.”
Blue light splayed from the skulls in manticores’ hides. The creatures screamed in unison, like two hoarse trumpets. The left manticore dropped to the ground, crying. The right lunged at me, its eyes mad with pain.
It came at me, flinging spit. I raised my sword.
The manticore lunged. I sidestepped and slashed across the thick neck. Blood drenched me. I’d severed the jugular. The manticore twisted. Huge teeth grazed my arm. I dodged, once, twice. The manticore snapped again, slower this time. Blood drenched its neck and side, spurting in thick gushes with every heart beat.
I turned my back on it and marched to its handler.
Martinez backed away from me, his hand clutching the skull. “Kill, kill, kill…” He scuttled over to the remaining mantiocre and kicked it. It cried out, still caught in the web of skulls.
Scumbag. I flicked the blood off my sword.
He grabbed the skull on his neck and jerked it up, clutching it between the palms of his hands. The blue glow blazed, two dots of white sparking inside the skeletal orbits. Pain skewered me in a hot rush of heat. It carved its way down my legs and exploded into the soles of my feet. Walking turned into an agony, as if each step sliced me with a dozen jagged razorblades. I grit my teeth and kept coming.
Martinez pulled out a bowie knife and stabbed at me. I dodged and sliced across his gut. He screeched and crumpled down. I’d put a lot of power into the thrust. He wouldn’t be getting up any time soon.
I leaned down. He stared at me with bulging eyes. I grasped the chain and jerked it off him, ripping the skull out of his fingers. The blue glow vanished. The pain slowly drained out of my legs. Behind me the remaining manticore whined softly.
I turned to it. The beast hugged the ground. The skulls on the chains stuck through its skin were dull, little more than painful trinkets now, but it refused to rise. I approached it, moving slowly.
I had to kill it.
The manticore whimpered.
“It’s alright,” I lied to her. “It’s okay. Stay there. Now’s that’s a good girl.”
The manticore shuddered on the ground. I couldn’t let her loose. Not in a city full of people. Manticores were carnivorous. Their name translated from Persian as man-eater. It wasn’t her fault, but I couldn’t let her go.
I stopped over her and raised my sword, looking for the quickest target. Something that wouldn’t hurt. God, you could see every bone the sad thing owned. The tops of her hips stuck out through the red hide.
The manticore raised her head, glanced at me, and licked my boot.
“Damn it!”
The manticore shrunk from me and slinked away. I growled and twisted a loop out of Martinez’s chain, working it into a makeshift choke collar. “Come here, sweetheart.”
The manticore backed away from me.
“Come on, who is a good… beastie?”
The manticore hesitated.
I took another step. She shied to the left. That’s the last thing I needed, to chase the stupid creature across the city.
The manticore froze with one paw in the air, staring past me, mesmerized. I turned. The old man had stepped away from the wall. His eyes glowed with pale red, like two pink tormalines. Within the glow, his pupils tracked me like narrow slits of onyx. He opened his mouth and I saw a forest of sharp needle teeth.
Not good.
The red shine beckoned, luring me closer. It felt old, so old, and cold somehow… I’d never seen anything like it. I raised my foot to take a step toward her and caught myself.
“Good now,” he said. His voice was deep and throaty. “You put chain on her now.”
His voice splashed me like a bucket of iced water. I slipped the chain on the manticore’s neck and wrapped the other end around my hand. The old man bowed to me. I bowed back, because I couldn’t think of anything better to do. He turned, drawing his old army jacket tighter about himself, and melted into the darkness.
“That was creepy,” the thug on the ground volunteered.
“No shit.”
The manticore tugged on the chain, realized she was caught, and licked my hand.
Great. Just great. I growled and went to collect the thug. I had to call PAD and let them know I had two dead bodies and a slightly damaged murderer for them to play with.
*** A Kate snippet always makes my troubles go away. I sometime wish I could kick-ass like Kate!
There are days when time slowed down. It dripped past me, painfully viscous, like cold molasses. Today was one of those days.
I glanced at the watch hooked into the loop of my jeans. I used to wear my watch on my wrist, like normal people, but a few months back I’d ran into a pyromanic armed with a salamander and discovered that watches, even plastic ones, had a tendency to get really hot and burn the hell out of you, especially when hit with a direct blast of salamander fire.
“Two hours till the end of my shift,” I told Marigold.
Marigold, being a mule, remained unimpressed with my stunning time-telling superpowers.
Around us the ruined city crawled by, a collection of crumbling wrecks and new sturdy buildings, stark in the darkness of early morning. Here and there pale blue lights of feylanterns illuminated steel bars guarding the windows. Magic flowed through the city, like an invisible river, smothering car engines, choking guns, feeding mages with power. In the next few hours it would vanish as abruptly as it appeared, and the technology would once again reassert itself. Electric lights would come on and every punk with a gun would think himself king. Magic came and went in waves. Nobody knew how strong the waves would be or how long they would last.
That’s why I carried a sword. It always worked.
“I’m in a melancholy mood, Marigold. Would you like to know why?”
In all likelihood, the only thing Marigold wanted to know would be when I’d get out of the saddle and return her to the stables of the Order of Merciful Aid, where the Order’s grooms would wash the bonnacon blood off her back. The bonnacons looked just like regular bulls and cows with the exception of their inwardly turned horns. They seemed like perfectly reasonable animals, until a dog happened to bark three miles away or a stray cloud in the sky caught their attention, and then the perfectly reasonable animal would plant himself where he stood and proceed to unload a twelve foot long jet of corrosive feces, burning everything behind it. Bonnacon dung could literally peel the paint off a car. The one whose blood currently decorated Marigold’s back somehow found his way into a herd of cows on the southern edge of the city and scorched the hides off a dozen prized heifers before the owner of the ranch called the Order of Merciful Aid. The Order sent me to resolve the problem. Here I was, six hours later, riding back, covered in blood, my new boots burned with bonnacon shit, and I wanted to talk, whether Marigold liked it or not.
“Today will be an interesting day, Marigold. Today I turn twenty five.”
The mule sighed.
“My sentiments exactly. Here I am, twenty five years old. My mother quarter of the century dead. My stepfather ten years dead. Greg, my guardian, six months dead. Everybody is dead. No friends, no family. No birthday cake, unless I make it myself. Nobody to meet me at the door.”
No response. Mules made for excellent listeners but when it came to making sympathetic noises, they failed in an epic way.
“I’d done a lot of things in my twenty five years. Some nice, some not. Mostly not. But I always tried to do the right thing. I work for the Order, which is all about preservation of the law and peace. Sure, I’m not a knight, but I get to help people with their problems. I work hard and I pull long hours. You’d think I’d have something more to show for it than an empty house and an absent birthday cake. You have to admit, it does kind of suck.”
Voices. Coming from the left, off the street.
I turned Marigold and guided her down the alley. The street widened around a lone lamp post crowned with a feylantern. Three guys flanked an old man, pushing him toward the wall. A hold up.
The oldest of the punks held a crossbow, two others carried clubs studded with nails. The old man’s back pressed against the bricks. He wore a dark BDU jacket. His grey hair fell on his shoulders.
“Easy now, grandpa. Easy.”
“How long?” the guy on the left asked.
“He should be almost here.”
My hand strayed toward my saber in a sheath on my back. Normally I’d pull out Slayer and talk shit to scare them away, but tonight I didn’t feel like it. Tonight I felt like hurting someone.
“I don’t like this, man. I don’t like this.” The third punk glanced down the street. “It’s too bright here.”
The shooter glared at him. “Don’t be a fucking bitch. It’ll be over in a minute.”
No ordinary hold up. Oh well.
I pulled a throwing knife and hurled it. It sliced through the air and bit into the shooter’s back.
He screamed. The others stared at him.
“As I was saying, Marigold.” I slid off the saddle. “You’d think that I’d have something more to show for my effort. So I decided, instead of staying in the city tonight, I’m going back to Savannah, where my dad’s house is. That way I won’t be stuck celebrating my quarter of the century in my dead guardian’s apartment. ”
The punks stared at me. The moment of hesitation cost them – I had time to close the distance.
The shooter snapped out of it and whirled to me, squeezing the trigger. I hit him in the throat. The crossbow bolt went wide. He crumbled. The guy to the left swung his club. Too slow. I dodged, letting the club whistle past me, and hammered a punch to his kidney. He gasped. I hurled him aside and caught the third punk’s club, as it came down. I gripped the club and pulled him to me. “What’s next?”
He gulped. A young guy, twenty at most.
“What are you going to do, hotshot?”
He dropped the club and swung at me. I saw the punch from a mile away. He missed and hit his fist against the wall.
“Want a second shot? Let’s try one more time!”
He hit again and smashed his knuckles into the brick with a wail. I slipped out of the way, grasped his shirt and drove his head into the wall. Cartilage crunched. Blood drenched his upper lip. He screamed and dashed into the night. His buddy followed.
“That’s the problem with me, Marigold. I was raised for a purpose – to be the best killer I could be.” So I could kill my real father when he finally figured out I existed.
I strode to the gunman, curled on the pavement, put my foot against his back and pulled out the knife. He cried out. Red gushed from his back, drenching the shirt. I’d angled the knife, and the wound was shallow. It would be sore as hell and take a long time to heal, but he wouldn’t die from it. Too bad it was over so quickly. Barely took the edge off.
I crouched by him and yanked his head up by the hair so I could look in his face. “What’s the story?”
“Martinez,” he gasped. “Pays us. He’s got flesh-eaters.”
I let go of his hair. “Who’s Martinez?”
“He runs a freak kennel. He sells monsters.”
Freak kennels acquired supernatural creatures, “trained” them, turning them vicious if they weren’t there already, and sold them to the highest bidder. Having a couple of pit bulls on a chain was no longer fashionable among the thug elite. Now nothing less than a crocotta or a baby wyvern would do.
“What kind of flesh-eaters Martinez has?”
“Red,” he said. “With big teeth.”
Well that narrowed things down. “Aha. And you’ve been feeding people to them?”
He nodded. “Yeah.”
“How many?”
He shook his head.
“If you don’t tell me, I’ll hurt you.”
He looked into my eyes and turned white. “Two,” he said hoarsely. “We brought him two.”
Two people dead, eaten by red flesh-eaters. Few things were worse than being eaten alive.
My ears caught the sound of the heavy footsteps behind me.
The thug spat blood. “It doesn’t matter. He’s here.”
I winked at him. “Don’t go anywhere. I’d hate to have to find you.”
The sound of the steps came closer, emanating from the dark street. I rose, unsheathing my sword.
The old man slumped against the wall. Odd, he should’ve cleared out by now. Probably in shock.
“Sir, stay behind me.”
I put myself between him and the sound.
A man emerged into the light. Tall and heavy, too heavy to maneuver fast, he wore a short coat, open in the front to reveal a thick gold chain wrapped with a smaller chain of silver. A miniature silver skull with a corona of spikes hung off the chain. The skull eyes radiated pale blue light. Hello, Martinez.
The man stared at me. Hispanic, about twenty five or so. Middle-aged in street thug years – they didn’t have a long life expectancy. Round face, mustache, scraggly goatee, more fuzz on the chin rather than a real beard.
His hand stroked the skull. The eyes flared brighter.
Two beasts trotted out of the darkness. Blood-red, with ragged, blotchy fur, they were the size of a large leopard. Their forelimbs bulged with thick muscle, shaped more like the oversized arms than cat limbs. The equally thick hindquarters were definitely feline. Wide, reptilian paws tipped with black claws gripped the ground. Their heads sat low on thick necks. Each carried a dozen short chains tipped with metal skulls. The chains were hooked straight through the pelt and the skull eyes glowed with blue.
The beasts’ muzzles were awful. They stared at me with unblinking black eyes. Wide hyena mouths gaped open, showing rows of conical fangs embedded in ruby gums. The eyes and teeth were bad enough, but their noses were shockingly human, forcing a comparison with a face, and the impact made nausea squirm through me.
The wind brought a noxious stench of old urine. I looked closer. Yep, dark yellow stains covering the pelts on the underside on both beasts. Someone kept them confined in small cages. They spent their life laying in their own excrement.
I took a step back. The creatures followed. That’s right, come with me into the light, show me your tails…
A long flexible tail curved up from their hindquarters, terminating in a wide flat cone. Rings of muscle layered the tail, making it look segmented. Manticores. Not full grown, adolescents, mangy and battered. There should’ve been poisonous barbs on the tails. Someone pulled them out, causing the beasts excruciating pain, and I had a feeling I knew who that someone was.
“You sonovabitch.”
I flicked my sword, warming up my wrist, and started toward Martinez.
He clutched at the skull. His voice intoned dully without inflection, “Kill. Kill. Kill.”
Blue light splayed from the skulls in manticores’ hides. The creatures screamed in unison, like two hoarse trumpets. The left manticore dropped to the ground, crying. The right lunged at me, its eyes mad with pain.
It came at me, flinging spit. I raised my sword.
The manticore lunged. I sidestepped and slashed across the thick neck. Blood drenched me. I’d severed the jugular. The manticore twisted. Huge teeth grazed my arm. I dodged, once, twice. The manticore snapped again, slower this time. Blood drenched its neck and side, spurting in thick gushes with every heart beat.
I turned my back on it and marched to its handler.
Martinez backed away from me, his hand clutching the skull. “Kill, kill, kill…” He scuttled over to the remaining mantiocre and kicked it. It cried out, still caught in the web of skulls.
Scumbag. I flicked the blood off my sword.
He grabbed the skull on his neck and jerked it up, clutching it between the palms of his hands. The blue glow blazed, two dots of white sparking inside the skeletal orbits. Pain skewered me in a hot rush of heat. It carved its way down my legs and exploded into the soles of my feet. Walking turned into an agony, as if each step sliced me with a dozen jagged razorblades. I grit my teeth and kept coming.
Martinez pulled out a bowie knife and stabbed at me. I dodged and sliced across his gut. He screeched and crumpled down. I’d put a lot of power into the thrust. He wouldn’t be getting up any time soon.
I leaned down. He stared at me with bulging eyes. I grasped the chain and jerked it off him, ripping the skull out of his fingers. The blue glow vanished. The pain slowly drained out of my legs. Behind me the remaining manticore whined softly.
I turned to it. The beast hugged the ground. The skulls on the chains stuck through its skin were dull, little more than painful trinkets now, but it refused to rise. I approached it, moving slowly.
I had to kill it.
The manticore whimpered.
“It’s alright,” I lied to her. “It’s okay. Stay there. Now’s that’s a good girl.”
The manticore shuddered on the ground. I couldn’t let her loose. Not in a city full of people. Manticores were carnivorous. Their name translated from Persian as man-eater. It wasn’t her fault, but I couldn’t let her go.
I stopped over her and raised my sword, looking for the quickest target. Something that wouldn’t hurt. God, you could see every bone the sad thing owned. The tops of her hips stuck out through the red hide.
The manticore raised her head, glanced at me, and licked my boot.
“Damn it!”
The manticore shrunk from me and slinked away. I growled and twisted a loop out of Martinez’s chain, working it into a makeshift choke collar. “Come here, sweetheart.”
The manticore backed away from me.
“Come on, who is a good… beastie?”
The manticore hesitated.
I took another step. She shied to the left. That’s the last thing I needed, to chase the stupid creature across the city.
The manticore froze with one paw in the air, staring past me, mesmerized. I turned. The old man had stepped away from the wall. His eyes glowed with pale red, like two pink tormalines. Within the glow, his pupils tracked me like narrow slits of onyx. He opened his mouth and I saw a forest of sharp needle teeth.
Not good.
The red shine beckoned, luring me closer. It felt old, so old, and cold somehow… I’d never seen anything like it. I raised my foot to take a step toward her and caught myself.
“Good now,” he said. His voice was deep and throaty. “You put chain on her now.”
His voice splashed me like a bucket of iced water. I slipped the chain on the manticore’s neck and wrapped the other end around my hand. The old man bowed to me. I bowed back, because I couldn’t think of anything better to do. He turned, drawing his old army jacket tighter about himself, and melted into the darkness.
“That was creepy,” the thug on the ground volunteered.
“No shit.”
The manticore tugged on the chain, realized she was caught, and licked my hand.
Great. Just great. I growled and went to collect the thug. I had to call PAD and let them know I had two dead bodies and a slightly damaged murderer for them to play with.
*** A Kate snippet always makes my troubles go away. I sometime wish I could kick-ass like Kate!
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Mage In Black (Sabina Kane 2) By Jaye Wells (My review)
***contain some spoilers***The second installment of Ms. Wells' Sabina Kane Novels will leave you panting for more. Sabina has now detached herself from her vampire world and is intent on destroying her grandmother, Lavinia, the dominae of the vampires. And, the feeling was reciprocated. Because Sabina betrayed her and joined forces with her sworn enemy, she now wants her dead. Sabina with her familiar Gighul and Adam now travel to be with the Mages specifically to meet her recently known twin Maisies, who happens to be a figure head in the mancy world. But not all mages welcome her with open arms like her sister. It seemed that there are mages who think Sabina's a harbinger of war. This time Sabina gets more death threats but will definitely kick some ass but this time using her previously untapped magic.
I've always been a fan of spunky and kick-ass heroine and Sabina Kane is consistent and does not disappoint. As with the first book, I was seating on the edge of my seat waiting for the punchline. I was a bit disappointed about the villain this time, though. I thought it would be someone really evil and villainous and not some misguided attempt of revenge by some teenage girl. But, that's just me wanting more drama :). I like it that Sabina was prophesied to be someone bigger, a reluctant heroine who will unite all the dark races. With her love life and her mage powers getting interesting (Adam has a serious contender in the person of Slade, Sabina's previous partner as an assassin), things heat up, literally!
The ending will want you to count the days till the release of the Green-Eyed Demon.
I definitely give this a 4.5 rating.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Powerbook Recommends This April
Read on for book synopsis from www.goodreads.com :
Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux wakes from a year-long coma to find herself changed—an angel with wings the colors of midnight and dawn—but her fragile body needs time to heal before she can take flight. Her lover, the stunningly dangerous archangel Raphael, is used to being in control—even when it comes to the woman he considers his own. But Elena has never done well with authority…
They’ve barely begun to understand each other when Raphael receives an invitation to a ball from the archangel Lijuan. To refuse would be a sign of fatal weakness, so Raphael must ready Elena for the flight to Beijing—and to the nightmare that awaits them there. Ancient and without conscience, Lijuan holds a power that lies with the dead. And she has organized the most perfect and most vicious of welcomes for Elena…
I rate this as 5 stars *****
See below my comments at Goodreads.com
** SPOILER ALERT **
amazing! I totally love how Raphael is becoming more human in his emotions. Elena still kick-ass even with an additional appendage she's still trying to get used too. But I wouldn't complain, if I were her, it more than tips up the scale with her being able to fly now.
Book 3 can't come out fast enough!
Amazing Authors All Under One Roof!
Saturday, April 10, 2010
My Book Blog
Yey!I have finally decided to create my own book blog.
I love reading so much that I feel like my day is not complete without flipping through the pages of an actual book or my Stanza e-book. The books I've read have bought me some relief from the stress of daily life, an escape to a different world where all things wonderful and exciting happens.
This blog is dedicated to all the books that I've read and I'll be reading. Expect some book reviews, authors updates and book releases of my favorite genres, Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy, Sci-fi Romance, Fantasy Romance, Romantica, some Historical Romance and YA.
Hopefully, some future readers of my blog will share their comments and talk just about anything about their favorite book.
Here's to more future posts!
I love reading so much that I feel like my day is not complete without flipping through the pages of an actual book or my Stanza e-book. The books I've read have bought me some relief from the stress of daily life, an escape to a different world where all things wonderful and exciting happens.
This blog is dedicated to all the books that I've read and I'll be reading. Expect some book reviews, authors updates and book releases of my favorite genres, Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy, Sci-fi Romance, Fantasy Romance, Romantica, some Historical Romance and YA.
Hopefully, some future readers of my blog will share their comments and talk just about anything about their favorite book.
Here's to more future posts!
Sunday, April 4, 2010
My Thoughts on Succubus Shadows (Spoiler Alert)
Finally, I read the last few chapters of the latest Georgina Kincaid book. And if you haven't read it yet, please stop reading this now. But if you don't mind to know what happened this time, read on..
Finally, a sort-of a happy ending for Georgina and Seth. I'd probably scream in frustration if they didn't get together finally this time. I kinda new at the back of my mind, even if the past books have revealed that the relationship will end up nowhere and will only give them both heartaches. There have been hints that they would definitely have their happy ending. One was the vision showed to Georgina by Nyx, the one where she held her child in her arms and her husband, who could only be Seth although his face then was not shown, coming home to both of them. Nyx wouldn't have let her have a taste of something she could not save her life with. So, it probably was true vision of her future before Georgina tainted Seth's soul by sleeping with him while he and Maddie were going out.
Another is the contract that Georgina signed, resigning her self as servant of the darker side. It was obvious to me even if Kristin had told her that her contract was airtight, that there was something wrong with it when her creator checked up on her as what happened from the last book.
Some may have said that Seth was too wussy for Georgina or he's not worthy of her, but I think he is what she needs and not some arrogant, cave-man instinct, macho man. Seth is sensitive and endearing. Even if he has these flaws, being introvert and awkward which is very much unlike Georgina but his pureness of heart has captivated Georgina and me as well. He is just true to himself and not pretentious. What you see is what you get. I think it was a bad decision for him to get involve with Maddie when he knows this will surely hurt Georgina, as Maddie works with her and they'll probably be seeing each other more often than not. I think deep inside he wanted to lash out to Georgina, wanting to hurt her as much as she hurt him. But maybe, in the long run he actually loved Maddie in his own way but not as deep as what he had for Georgina. What really struck me was the dream/vision the Oneroi was showing Georgina during her captivity. It was of Seth in his apartment, waking up. Stumbling out of bed and getting dressed for the day. When he was choosing his shirt, which according to Georgina, he would usually take time to deliberate, he stopped flipping through his collection and saw the flannel shirt, his shirt which he let Georgina wore when she stayed over when she was too drunk to go home. He hugged the shirt and inhaled the lingering scent of Georgina. He had never washed it again. That just broke me! He seldom shows emotion but that time he didn't know Georgina could see him through her dream state. That made me love him more.
Here's some of my theory on what's going to happen or what has really happened:
I think the contract became null and void when Seth, who I think is Kyriakos reincarnate, remembers Georgina as Letha since the deal was nobody will remember she ever existed, and somehow Seth subconsciously remembers Georgina. Seth saying to Georgina: " you are the world Letha.." was pretty much the indication. Another was when they were reminiscing on what Georgina wore the first time they met, Seth said she was wearing cream but when Georgina corrected him that it was a purple, he agreed saying that it was actually a violet top and floral skirt, in detail. I think when he said cream, he remembered Letha in her wedding dress. He was even startled when he said cream saying:" Not sure why I remember that ". I think it ties up, too with the discovery Eric made about the 2 contracts of Georgina and why Eric was killed because he was going to tell Georgina about it. This will eventually become a loophole, in which Georgina escapes from the contract and will eventually make her human. Thus the dream she had about Seth and their daughter comes true.
Carter has known all these things about Georgina and Seth, that's why he has always been interested by Georgina's love life. He seemed to help point Georgina to the right direction. Just hinting on the right ones since he is not allowed to influence human's, or even lower immortals's decisions.
I don't know but I think after all Georgina had endured, after all the years of loneliness and trying to live as conscientious succubus, sucking only the lives of those who are hell-bound, she deserves a happy ending. And I think, we readers, who endured with her, deserve one, too.
Finally, a sort-of a happy ending for Georgina and Seth. I'd probably scream in frustration if they didn't get together finally this time. I kinda new at the back of my mind, even if the past books have revealed that the relationship will end up nowhere and will only give them both heartaches. There have been hints that they would definitely have their happy ending. One was the vision showed to Georgina by Nyx, the one where she held her child in her arms and her husband, who could only be Seth although his face then was not shown, coming home to both of them. Nyx wouldn't have let her have a taste of something she could not save her life with. So, it probably was true vision of her future before Georgina tainted Seth's soul by sleeping with him while he and Maddie were going out.
Another is the contract that Georgina signed, resigning her self as servant of the darker side. It was obvious to me even if Kristin had told her that her contract was airtight, that there was something wrong with it when her creator checked up on her as what happened from the last book.
Some may have said that Seth was too wussy for Georgina or he's not worthy of her, but I think he is what she needs and not some arrogant, cave-man instinct, macho man. Seth is sensitive and endearing. Even if he has these flaws, being introvert and awkward which is very much unlike Georgina but his pureness of heart has captivated Georgina and me as well. He is just true to himself and not pretentious. What you see is what you get. I think it was a bad decision for him to get involve with Maddie when he knows this will surely hurt Georgina, as Maddie works with her and they'll probably be seeing each other more often than not. I think deep inside he wanted to lash out to Georgina, wanting to hurt her as much as she hurt him. But maybe, in the long run he actually loved Maddie in his own way but not as deep as what he had for Georgina. What really struck me was the dream/vision the Oneroi was showing Georgina during her captivity. It was of Seth in his apartment, waking up. Stumbling out of bed and getting dressed for the day. When he was choosing his shirt, which according to Georgina, he would usually take time to deliberate, he stopped flipping through his collection and saw the flannel shirt, his shirt which he let Georgina wore when she stayed over when she was too drunk to go home. He hugged the shirt and inhaled the lingering scent of Georgina. He had never washed it again. That just broke me! He seldom shows emotion but that time he didn't know Georgina could see him through her dream state. That made me love him more.
Here's some of my theory on what's going to happen or what has really happened:
I think the contract became null and void when Seth, who I think is Kyriakos reincarnate, remembers Georgina as Letha since the deal was nobody will remember she ever existed, and somehow Seth subconsciously remembers Georgina. Seth saying to Georgina: " you are the world Letha.." was pretty much the indication. Another was when they were reminiscing on what Georgina wore the first time they met, Seth said she was wearing cream but when Georgina corrected him that it was a purple, he agreed saying that it was actually a violet top and floral skirt, in detail. I think when he said cream, he remembered Letha in her wedding dress. He was even startled when he said cream saying:" Not sure why I remember that ". I think it ties up, too with the discovery Eric made about the 2 contracts of Georgina and why Eric was killed because he was going to tell Georgina about it. This will eventually become a loophole, in which Georgina escapes from the contract and will eventually make her human. Thus the dream she had about Seth and their daughter comes true.
Carter has known all these things about Georgina and Seth, that's why he has always been interested by Georgina's love life. He seemed to help point Georgina to the right direction. Just hinting on the right ones since he is not allowed to influence human's, or even lower immortals's decisions.
I don't know but I think after all Georgina had endured, after all the years of loneliness and trying to live as conscientious succubus, sucking only the lives of those who are hell-bound, she deserves a happy ending. And I think, we readers, who endured with her, deserve one, too.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Succubus Shadows, Not A Review
I started reading Succubus Shadows last night at around 10:30pm. I never learned my lesson with any Richelle Mead's book that once I started reading, I wouldn't be able to put it down. At 4:30am, Bleary-eyed and a little depress, I forced myself to let go of my Iphone (I read through my Stanza application) and close my eyes. But, the feeling of being heartbroken still lingers. I'm just amazed how this book really ensnared me. I have not finished reading it yet. I still want to immerse myself a little bit longer in Georgina's misery and depression. I am admittedly a masochist in this case.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)