Archive for Fantasy Books
Fantasy Book Cover Artist – Dan Dos Santos
Posted by: | CommentsWhen you’re browsing for something new to read at your local bookstore, what makes you stop and pick up a particular book? For me it’s the cover art. If I see a book with an awesome cover, I’ll pick it up just to examine the design more closely. Sometimes, based on the book’s synopsis, I’ll purchase the book – sometimes not.
I’m happy to say that there’s one group of books that hits it on both counts: they’re incredibly well written and the cover art is awesome:
The Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs. The cover art is provided by Dan Dos Santos.
Check out some of Dan’s work:
This is the book cover for the new Mercy Thompson book titled “Silver Borne” by Patricia Briggs. It’s due to hit the streets in March 2010.
Isn’t this awesome!
I could stare at this illustration for hours.
Here’s an illustration for the movie Hellboy II: The Golden Army.
This illustration won the 2009 Chesley Award for Best Product Illustration! Yea Dan!
Here’s the cover art for the book Ancient Bloodlines.
Dan is an awesome artist isn’t he? Check out more of his art in his gallery at DanDosSantos.Com. Enjoy!
Meet a Witty Smart Mouthed Heroine in Witch Craft by Caitlin Kittredge
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Witchcraft by Caitlin Kittredge is the fourth book in the Nocturne City series and definitely my favorite. The character of Luna gets more interesting as each new novel joins the series. She’s one tough chick, but considering she’s a werewolf, that only seems to make sense. In this latest installment, Luna is the head of the new Supernatural Crimes Squad in Nocturne City which requires her to be a super bad-ass she-wolf hellion. Unfortunately, the people in Nocturne City aren’t too happy about the fact that supernatural beings live there; they’re even less pleased with the fact that they have a police squad solely devoted to taking care of supernatural crimes.
Nonetheless, Luna has a job to do. So when a mysterious fire (obviously supernatural in origin) burns with intense heat and incinerates the occupant of the house, it’s Luna and her squad that are called in to investigate. The cops at the scene aren’t too happy to see her and then, to make matters more difficult, a totally sexy ATF agent, Will Fagan, joins the investigation.
Luna is at first a bit annoyed with him but he finally wears her down to the point where he becomes an integral part of the case. Just in time too because more burned bodies show up and a secret is discovered that could put the whole of Nocturne City in the hands of some very disagreeable witches.
With Witch Craft the author has written an unrelenting non-stop action story that has you wishing you could take a break for just a minute, but there is no way you’re going to put it down until the very last fulfilling moment. Plus the love triangle between Luna, Will, and Lucas – her nemesis from earlier books – has you wondering who’s finally going to “get lucky” throughout the whole book.
Luna’s piercing repartee actually had me jotting down notes of things I wanted to remember to say at a later date. One of my favorite lines was Luna’s quip to Will that he needed to move his “penis replacement” car before she had it towed. I can’t remember how many times I’ve wanted to say something like that to a few guys who got in my way.
Although some people may find Luna a bit too harsh I found her refreshingly and equally irritating to everyone – she’s an equal opportunity smart ass. I was pleased to find a female character that says exactly what she’s thinking. After all, it is not called urban fantasy for nothing.
Great Fantasy Adventure Book – Torn by Julie Kenner
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Torn by Julie Kenner is Book 2 in the Blood Lily Chronicles. The series has an extremely unique heroine who has learned to accept the fact that she is the “prophecy girl” – the person who has the answers to everyone’s questions about the future. In the first book, Lily Carlyle spent all her time working toward the goal of saving the Earth – only to find out she was duped by her demon handler. In Book Two, Lily (understandably) has major anger issues. She now knows she’s been working FOR the demons instead of against them. So, she devises a plan for revenge: become a double agent and take down the demons who tricked her.
But as with most things, things aren’t as black and white as they appear. Case in point, there are good demons as well as bad ones: Lily has a tenuous relationship with Deacon Camphire but a bona fide hateful one with another demon, Lucas, who recently invaded her sister Rose’s body. Keeping herself from accidentally killing her sister while she interacts with Lucas becomes one of Lily’s biggest challenges. She’s a tough, no nonsense heroine that will do anything to keep her sister safe.
As a double agent, Lily has to play many different roles to keep up her charade. Julie Kenner delivers a powerful story about a woman who has many difficult decisions to make and writes it in a way that has you rooting for her the whole way, hoping she makes the right ones. While it’s easy to pick up and follow the storyline in Torn I also recommend reading the first book, Tainted, to get a real feel for how intense Lily’s anger is at the betrayal she suffered. And knowing the full storyline helps make the revenge – and there will be revenge – oh so sweet!
Julie Kenner creates a dark and believable fantasy world where the thrills of Lily’s subterfuge keep you engaged from page one.
New Fantasy Book – Three Days to Dead by Kelly Meding
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Imagine waking up in a morgue, not knowing how you got there, and when you see your reflection, it’s not your face! This is how Kelly Meding’s paranormal fantasy novel “Three Days to Dead” begins. It’s the story of a young warrior, Evangeline (Evy) Stone, who is one of three soldiers who make up a Triad – teams whose mission is to hunt and kill “Dregs”, nightlife creatures who live in the shadows and threaten humans.
Evy wakes up in the body of Chalice Frost, someone who is the exact opposite of Evy – she is now tall, curvy and has none of the physical training needed to battle goblins or vampires. Her top priority is to find out what happened to her body and that means she has got to find her handler, Wyatt. Not an easy task when you are a fugitive on the run. To add insult to injury, Wyatt tells her that she has three days left to live in Chalice Frost’s body – the old Evy died but he used his powers to move her soul to a new body – a body with a three day expiration date on it!
Wyatt and Evy team up to find out why she has been targeted by the other Triads as a traitor as well as figure out a way to extend Evy’s life in the new body. Finding out the details of how Evy died in her original body is a pretty gruesome description and be prepared for that if you decide to pick this book up. The story has some romantic elements – ‘old body’ Evy and Wyatt were together once, but she does not remember it – however, he remembers it quite well. And, he wants to continue that relationship with ‘new body’ Evy – this idea freaks her out. That would kind of freak me out too…
Kelly Meding delivers real characters that you sympathize with – her description of Evy waking up in the morgue is excellent and I could clearly picture the morgue attendant’s reaction that is described. The author writes a believable story and you almost despair for Evy several times, but she always comes out on top against seemingly impossible odds. Read “Three Days to Dead” if you like edgy thrillers that don’t have a slow moment – plus you get to see Evy interact with one of the largest variety of mythical characters I have seen in a while – gargoyles, vampires, goblins, fairies, elves and trolls. This is a great, fast-paced read with some romantic elements that I strongly recommend for the paranormal fantasy reader.
Fantasy Book Review – Madhouse by Rob Thurman
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The Leandros brothers are back for a third installment in the series. Cal, the half auphe demon and Nikos the battle trained warrior are still trying to make their fledging business successful. Being trained to kill the undead and other supernatural evils had the brothers open a security/detective agency dealing with all the assorted creatures of the night.
Business is not good and the brothers take on other jobs to make ends meet. Shortly into the story evil erupts onto the scene and the brothers are called into action. The remains of the notorious Scottish mass murderer, Sawney Beane have disappeared. The niche services of Cal and Nikos is needed because Sawney Beane was a Redcap, who, according to legend, were goblins that murdered travelers and stained their caps red with their victim’s blood. This particular Redcap was even more deranged; he wore no cap but soaked his hair with blood.
Sawney Beane killed and consumed a thousand people before he was captured and burned at the stake. The brothers discover he has been brought back to life and has begun his killing streak again on the streets of New York City.
Once again I enjoyed the two protagonists. Cal is hard and tough with a past that keeps him from ever really being whole and well. As a half demon he always struggles with his monster tendencies. We the readers are allowed into his mind to see how he suffers and worries. It is a striking contrast; tough guy on the outside and insecure on the inside.
Nikos is the only person Cal loves and trusts wholeheartedly and the appeal of Nikos is the pure goodness that makes him who he is. It is a toss-up of who I like better. Fortunately, I don’t have to choose. I get to have both; bad boy and good boy.
Paranormal fans will thoroughly enjoy the wild ride that Madhouse takes them on. I was entranced and entertained – this was an excellent read.
Get your copy of Madhouse and read about the Leandros brother’s adventures.
