Top 5 Sundays #36 - Series I Plan to Start in 2013!

Books are like the animal kingdom; even as new specimens evolve, there's still so many more already out there just waiting to be discovered. This week's Top 5 post is all about the future - the Top 5  Series I Plan to Start in 2013 - but as we set out to explore my goals here, I just wanted to clarify that new to me doesn't mean new to the world. It's a big, dense book orchard out there, folks, and it's not always the low hanging fruit that peeks interest and curries favour. Did that metaphor makes sense? O_o Oh, well, either way you get the idea. 

#5 - The Novels of  Jane Austen

Alright, so if you want to be technical this isn't really a series. But they are six books written by the same author that share similar (if not the same) settings, themes, and tropes. I just finished Northanger Abbey and am planning on hunting down another target in due course.

#4 - A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin

Do I want to read this series? Do I not? I keep going back and forth on this and quite simply can't decide. On the one hand, I like the television series well enough and if the plot of the book's even half as good (and these things tend to have the book as doubly good), it should be one hell of a read. At the very least, I want to read the first book to know if the rest are worth pursuing. And, hey, also? Wolves.

#3 - The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare

So, for the record, it's not always movies and television that sparks my interest in a series but sometimes it does give the little extra push of incentive that takes a series from "Oh, that seems interesting!" to "OMG! Must find! Must find!" It helps that books has the whole "normal girl learns of not-so normal origins and finds herself drawn into conflicts of previously hidden/unknown magical world" plot device working for it.

#2 - Celestial Blues series by Vicki Pettersson

On the one hand, you've got rockabilly girl Kit Craig, an eternally optimistic and peppy reporter, and on the other hand, there's angel-turned-human Grif Shaw, an embittered former private detective whose own unsolved murder is a cold case fifty-years frozen.  And they're working together. Colour me intrigued. Plus some generous soul gifted me with a copy of the first books months ago, so really I've no excuse not to get reading this one.

#1 - Hercule Poirot series by Agatha Christie

So, um, remember when I said that it's not always movies and television sparking my interest? Well, I want to state for the record that my sudden desire to delve into Agatha Christie has nothing whatsoever to do with that episode of Doctor Who - "The Unicorn and the Wasp" - that featured Agatha Christie and sang her praises. No, not at all, nope. And Murder, She Wrote has nothing to do with my interest in Christie's Miss Marple series. (^_~)

Top 5 Sundays #15 - Worst Fictional Dads

Okay, okay - it goes without saying but, once again, I'm late getting my Top 5 post out. To be fair though I usually write up this post much earlier in the week, as soon as it's clear what way the poll over at this feature's originating blog, Larissa's Bookish Life, is going to go in fact. Unfortunately, this week's poll was tied right up until the last minute and so I went away for the weekend without being able to post this week's Top 5 in a timely manner.

But now I'm back, the tie is broken, the topic is clear and I'm all set to go! So, without further ado, Calliope's Domain presents this week Top 5 list featuring the worst daddies the fictional world has to offer!


#5 - The Tulpa, Joanna's father, Signs of the Zodiac series

Once upon a time, he was a mental construct. Fast forward and he's a big bad who could give Darth Vader a run for his money. And Joanna Archer is his bouncing baby girl all grown up. Since learning of her existence (as his daughter, that is - he dispatched one of his minions to rape her at the tender age of sixteen not knowing of their familial connection), he's alternated between wanting her to join him on the dark side and trying to kill her and, really, he has no preference which way the results go so long as she's removed as an interference to his master plans. Can you say "fatherly affection"?

#4 - Daniel Beckstrom, Allie's father, in Devon Monk's Allie Beckstrom series

When he was alive, he had no qualms about using his magic and power to manipulate his family - namely his wife du jour  and daughter, Allison - into being more manageable, more in line with what he wanted them to be. When Allie realized what he was doing to her, she turned her back on him and his plans for her and struck out on her own, happy to be ignored by Daddy Dearest for years to come. Then he died - killed, to be precise - and took up residence in his daughter's head. I'll admit that he's has some kick ass knowledge to impart and has proved useful at times but when you get right down to it he's still using his daughter as a time share to escape death.

#3 - Jeffrey, Elena's father, in Nalini Singh's Guild Hunters series

Jeffrey wasn't always such an ass, it's true, but following the brutal murders of his wife and two eldest daughters, he shut up his softer emotions and became a man driven solely by his ambition and greed who sees his remaining daughters (from his first marriage at least) as assets to be exploited. First time he's introduced in the books, for instance, is when he summons Elena to his presence to demand she use her newly established acquaintance with an archangel to further his own business interests and, when she refuses, berates her for her lack of family loyalty, never mind that he'd all but disinherited Elena before that moment.

#2 - Max, Cat's father, in Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress series

Alright, so the question of whether or not daddy dearest raped Cat's mother has gotten a little murky since the first book but even if Max was innocent in that instance he's more than made up for it since. To date he's hired multiple hit men to try and kill his daughter and when they all failed took a turn at capturing and torturing her himself. Fortunately, like many a villain targeting an urban fantasy heroine, Max made the grave error (See what I did there? Ha!) of forgetting about the love interest.

#1 - Roland, Kate's father, in Ilona Andrews' Kate Daniels series

Roland is a powerful, ancient man responsible for the creature of vampires and whose very blood is a weapon all its own; he's also a horrible father. Throughout history he's fathered numerous children and without fail every single one of them has tried to kill him, necessitating a bit of preemptive action on Roland's part. Fast forward a century and ten and Roland has a bit of a memory lapse and caves in to his latest concubine's desire to have his child. By the time he remembers why it was he was against having any more children, his concubine is already pregnant. So he tries to kill her and things just go downhill rather spectacularly from there...

And there you have it! Tune in next week for yet  another Top 5 list - hopefully on time! Kiss, kiss!

REVIEW: Vicki Pettersson's The Scent of Shadows

Book: The Scent of Shadows

Author: Vicki Pettersson

Series: Signs of the Zodiac (Joanna Archer)

Publishing stats: February 27th 2007 by Eos (USA)

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Cover Blurb: The First Sign of the Zodiac

When she was sixteen, Joanna Archer was brutally assaulted and left to die in the Nevada desert.

By rights, she should be dead.

Now a photographer by day, she prowls a different Las Vegas after sunset – a grim, secret Sin City where Light battles Shadow – seeking answers to whom or what she really is … and revenge for the horrors she was forced to endure.

But the nightmare is just beginning – for the demons are hunting Joanna, and the powerful Shadows want her for their own…

First line: He didn't look dangerous, not at first glance.

What I liked: This book's heroine, Joanna Archer, is an interesting blend of strength of vulnerability. After a childhood trauma, she goes out of her way to take control of her life and develop the necessary skills to ensure she'd never be anyone's victim ever again. Unfortunately, the shadow of that first trauma never truly dissipates and its effect can be seen in so much of who and what she is. Overall, she's a truly complex and intriguing character and I loved seeing her layers unfurl chapter after chapter.

What I didn’t like: The story of this book seems to be incredibly drawn out. It was a lot like reading a story about a viking who starts out telling you he's going to die the next day then takes about a hundred and fifty pages to work up to it. You then spend the next hundred and fifty pages waiting for the Valkyrie to show up so he can go to Valhalla where you hope the story's going to pick up. In the meantime, your viking is essentially stuck in some kind of Snakes and Ladders game that gets him caught up in some sort of deranged cycle. It was frustrating to say the least.

Overall: It was not a bad book but it wasn't a great book either. I loved the characters. I loved the relationships and interactions that went on. I especially loved the whole premise of the story; Pettersson took comic book mythology, shook it up, and remolded it into an exciting and intricate mythology all her own. Her incorporation of the Zodiac signs into the battle of good versus evil - referred to as Light versus Shadow - was more than skin deep and infused not only the story but the characters as well. Most of my displeasure with the book, as stated previously, derived from the pacing and redundancy of the plot.

Would I read this author again: Yes. This is the first book in the series, after all, and it wasn't horrible. I would want to read at least the second book before passing judgment on the merits of continuing.

My rating: ♥♥/5

To purchase the book for yourself, you can find it at Chapters.Indigo.ca, Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, or Barnes & Noble. Enjoy!