STORM CURSED

Storm Cursed by Patricia Briggs
Book 11 of the Mercy Thompson series
Read by Lorelei King and George Newbern
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: hardback, ebook & audiobook

About Storm Cursed:

My name is Mercedes Athena Thompson Hauptman, and I am a car mechanic.

And a coyote shapeshifter . . . And the mate of the Alpha of the Columbia Basin werewolf pack.

Even so, none of that would have gotten me into trouble if, a few months ago, I hadn’t stood upon a bridge and taken responsibility for the safety of the citizens who lived in our territory. It seemed like the thing to do at the time. It should have only involved hunting down killer goblins, zombie goats, and an occasional troll. Instead, our home was viewed as neutral ground, a place where humans would feel safe to come and treat with the fae.

The reality is that nothing and no one is safe. As generals and politicians face off with the Gray Lords of the fae, a storm is coming and her name is Death.

But we are pack, and we have given our word. We will die to keep it.

Source: Info in the About Storm Cursed was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25026912-storm-cursed on 02/09/2018.

My Thoughts:

Being an old fan of Mercy Thompson, I have probably said all that I have to say about this book in my reviews of previous books in this series. Nevertheless, it is still true that this book is masterfully written and a wonderful read! However, I am not sure why this book is titled Storm Cursed though... and the ending was slightly drawn-out.

Now that Mercy has discovered her new affinity for zombies, I wonder what this new ability will do for her and for the pack in the future... and what would now happen to Wulfe, after his encounter with the Hardesty witches... and after Mercy told him to be "at peace".

Looking forward to the next Mercy Thompson book!

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 5
Character development = 5
Story itself = 4.5
Writing Style = 5
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 5
Pace = 5
Plot = 5
Narration = 5

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 cherries


Books In The Mercy Thompson Series:
Click on the cover image to go to my review or to the GoodReads page of the book for more info.
                     

 

About Patricia Briggs
	Patricia Briggs was born in Butte, Montana to a children’s librarian who passed on to her kids a love of reading and books. Patricia grew up reading fairy tales and books about horses, and later developed an interest in folklore and history. When she decided to write a book of her own, a fantasy book seemed a natural choice. Patricia graduated from Montana State University with degrees in history and German and she worked for a while as a substitute teacher. Currently, she lives in Montana with her husband, children and six horses and writes full-time, much to the delight of her fans.
www.patriciabriggs.com | facebook | twitter | goodreads | Amazon

FTC Disclosure:
This book was purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.

HUNTING GROUND

Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs
Book 2 of the Alpha & Omega series
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook & paperback

About Hunting Ground:

Anna Latham didn’t know how complicated life could be until she became a werewolf. And until she was mated to Charles Cornick, the son — and enforcer — of Bran, the leader of the North American werewolves, she didn’t know how dangerous it could be either.

Anna and Charles have just been enlisted to attend a summit to present Bran’s controversial proposition: that the wolves should finally reveal themselves to humans. But the most feared Alpha in Europe is dead set against the plan — and it seems like someone else might be too. When Anna is attacked by vampires using pack magic, the kind of power only werewolves should be able to draw on, Charles and Anna must combine their talents to hunt down whoever is behind it all — or risk losing everything.

Source: Info in the About Hunting Ground was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5292853-hunting-ground on 27/01/2018.

My Thoughts:

I stopped reading this series for a long while because I did not like the torture and rape that was the story of the first entry into this series, the Alpha & Omega novella, in the On The Prowl anthology book. But after several years. I forgot my annoyance and picked this series up again. Which is good because I like Patricia Briggs! And it is something good to read while waiting for the next Mercy Thompson book to come out. However by the end of this book I was also a fan of this series as well. There was a hole in the plot which I am vigorously ignoring however it still irritated me. A little. And that sank the rating of this book down, not down to the sand, but almost. But that didn't keep me from buying the next books in this series, in two or three different formats!

So the sum of the parts should rate this book a whole lot more than 3.5. And I was ambivalent about the final rating about this book. Sometimes it felt like a 3, and sometimes it felt like a 4 or more. In the end, I settled for 3.5, and by the way, no Patricia Briggs book is ever going to rate a less than 3.

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 4
Story itself = 4
Writing Style = 4.5
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 4.5
Pace = 3
Plot = 3

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 cherries


Books In The Alpha & Omega Series:

About Patricia Briggs
	Patricia Briggs was born in Butte, Montana to a children’s librarian who passed on to her kids a love of reading and books. Patricia grew up reading fairy tales and books about horses, and later developed an interest in folklore and history. When she decided to write a book of her own, a fantasy book seemed a natural choice. Patricia graduated from Montana State University with degrees in history and German and she worked for a while as a substitute teacher. Currently, she lives in Montana with her husband, children and six horses and writes full-time, much to the delight of her fans.
www.patriciabriggs.com | facebook | twitter | goodreads | Amazon

FTC Disclosure:
This book was purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.

THE GETAWAY GOD

The Getaway God by Richard Kadrey
Book 6 of the Sandman Slim series
Read by MacLeod Andrews
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook & audiobook

About The Getaway God:

Sandman Slim must save himself — and the entire world — from the wrath of some enraged and vengeful ancient gods in this sixth high-octane adventure in the New York Times bestselling series.

Being a half-human, half-angel nephilim with a bad rep and a worse attitude — not to mention temporarily playing Lucifer — James Stark aka Sandman Slim has made a few enemies. None, though, are as fearsome as the vindictive Angra Om Ya — the old gods. But their imminent invasion is only one of Stark's problems right now. LA is descending into chaos, and a new evil — the Wildfire Ripper — is stalking the city.

No ordinary killer, The Ripper takes Stark deep into a conspiracy that stretches from Earth to Heaven and Hell. He's also the only person alive who may know how to keep the world from going extinct. The trouble is, he's also Stark's worst enemy . . . the only man in existence Stark would enjoy killing twice.

Source: Info in the About The Getaway God was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18456381-the-getaway-god on 11/01/2015.

My Thoughts:

In this book Richard Kadrey brought us back to Stark's origins which I wasn't expecting and was a nice surprise. The past came to haunt him and almost got him too. But of course our bad-ass hero survived. Not necessarily win... but survived. However I didn't like the way Stark lost the ability to shadow-walk... That one is a bummer... and that was one of his major advantage against his enemies. Now I wonder how the author is going to spin the story next and let Stark still survive enough for several more books down the line for this series... Probably beat the sh**t out of our hero... Anyway, this book still has the same good story telling quality which has always been true for this series. However, having said that, it still took me a very long time to finish this book. I'm not sure if its me, or the book is just slow. And compared to the other books I've read in this series thus far, this is my least favourite. I guess it gotta happen sometime... But that doesn't mean that I am no longer a fan of this series, because I still very much am... Fingers crossed that Kadrey gets his mojo back with the next book.

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 3.5
Character development = 4
Story itself = 3
Ending = 4
World building = 5
Cover art = 2
Pace = 1.5
Plot = 3.5
Narration = 5

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 cherries


Books In The Sandman Slim Series:

 

FTC Disclosure:
This book, in all its formats, were purchased with private funds.
No money received for this review.