New Moon

My niece lent me New Moon last week. Read through it quite quickly during my breaks. Unlike Twilight (previous post), this is a character development book instead of action. Some people will find this a little dry compared to the first. There is plenty of action and many new jump off points for the other books, and presumably for any other side series Meyer may ever need. I will be interested in seeing the movies of these two books when they both get to DVD (or I borrow them from my niece). 3/5 for action, 4/5 for development, and 2/5 for the niece's interest in this one.

Twilight

I recently borrowed Twilight (by Stephenie Meyer of course). Compared to the literature I normally read in the vampire realms, this was definitely toned down (appropriate since it is targeted to teens IMHO). A few new twists from the traditional mythos, or perhaps a return to an earlier version, provide interesting effects. Like many stories, vampires have extraordinary abilities but these ones can live in the sunlight and choose to have a conscience about the feeding. This one will make you think twice about the loners in the lunch room of your youth.

Rhapsody in Red

Forgive me for not posting recently, but I did just complete reading Donn Taylor's Rhapsody in Red that a friend lent me. It's not my usual style (see other books on my blog), but it is a decent murder conspiracy mystery. When things don't add up, Professor Preston Barclay (referred to by friends as "Press") teams up with the least likely of his colleagues to solve a mystery. Based on the jacket information, the prof is based somewhat on Mr. Taylor himself, but you will have to read this to find out just how a history professor and a comparative religions study go on to solve a murder that just gets more interesting as the pages go on. There is wonderful character development with bits and pieces showing up right on queue to help drive this novel. I can't wait to see what's next, a symphony, concerto, or perhaps a waltz?

Heat Stroke

Heat Stroke (ISBN 9780451459848) is book 2 of the Weather Warden series. Our heroine was killed in the first book and lovingly restored to life as a Djinn. Joanne gains a whole new perspective about how magic works in the world as she learns to control her power and, unfortunately, learns how to be controlled. Mixed in with the disaster on the horizon is a child master who has had the worst kind of life.
Rating: 4/5

Ill Wind

This is the first of the Weather Warden series. The quote on the book suggests that you will never look at the weather the same, but this depends on your level belief in the supernatural. There are four types of power that a mortal may control, the standards as far as I am concerned. Earth, the rarest; Fire, the most volatile; Air, common; and Water, also common. The wardens trap and control Djinn who are used as amplifiers in a manner of speaking. For more, see the next post on Heat stroke or read this book (ISBN 9780451459527).
Rating 4/5
PS: I have switched to using Barnes and Noble links instead of Amazon links... if anyone cares.

For a Few Demons More

This is the latest chapter in the Rachel Morgan saga that I have read. I get these when they come out in paperback and for my taste of the dark side of sci-fi this really has a the feel of a detective style novel in a very believable setting. In this, a couple of the characters from prior books are done away with and others return, obviously, with vengeance in mind. We pick up smoothly from the prior story about the Werewolf focus and delve more deeply into the seemingly unlimited well of power available to our dark version of Danger-Prone Daphne.
For those of you who've not read this series, which I got into quite by accident, Rachel Morgan is an earth witch in an alternate reality where most of the normal human population had been severely decimated by a genetically engineered virus transmitted by Tomatoes. Demons, Pixies, Faries, Elves, Vampires, Werewolves (dogs, foxes, etc), and trolls round out the mythical creature list to date. With the exception of Elves, the "Turn" engendered by this virus made no dent on the now significant population of other-worldly races.
Rachel's job at the start of this series was as a "Inderland" officer and with a genetic quirk foisted on her to cure her of a deadly disease, she can do this job much better than anyone else, or so we're led to believe.
Although this book is found in the science fiction environment, For a Few Demons More (ISBN 0061149810) may also be very comfortable in a couple of other sections and Mr. Dewey could just break his decimal system with this writer.
Rating: 4/5

Stardust

Well, I bit the bullet. After the movie being out for nearly a year I decided to finally read the book (and no, I haven't yet seen the movie, tends to ruin the book that way). After the hype of the commercials I had a glimpse of this universe, and only when I saw that he wrote 'Neverwhere' as well did I put 2 and 2 together.
For those who want to read it, it is a fantastic ride down the well of imagination. While there are plot points that could be expanded upon in other stories or may have already been so, each of his books appear to be independent stories. Startdust (ISBN 0060934719) is the story of a boy drawn into a plot before he was born to reshape the lands of Faerie. At points it is hard to tell who is on the boy's side and discovering the truth about his mother has profound implications on the wayward lad. As the author puts it in the closing remarks, we are reminded that fairy tales are not just for kids but adults to.
Some of the character development and attributes, while fantastical, did not ring true to me for the world, but all in all, that may have been colored by my previous reading of 'Neverwhere' (ISBN 0060557818).
Rating: 3/5