Strom Glass: Maria V. Snyder

This is a great addition to the Poison Study world/series. I really enjoyed reading Opal’s story. Although I will say that if you have not read any of the other books in the series, you may want to check them out. Having read the others the reader gets a solid history going into this novel.

Description (Amazon)
As a glassmaker and a magician-in-training, Opal Cowen understands trial by fire. Now it’s time to test her mettle. Someone has sabotaged the Stormdancer clan’s glass orbs, killing their most powerful magicians. The Stormdancers—particularly the mysterious and mercurial Kade—require Opal’s unique talents to prevent it happening again. But when the mission goes awry, Opal must tap in to a new kind of magic as stunningly potent as it is frightening. And the further she delves into the intrigue behind the glass and magic, the more distorted things appear. With lives hanging in the balance—including her own—Opal must control powers she hadn’t known she possessed…powers that might lead to disaster beyond anything she’s ever known.

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The Hunger Games: Suzanne Collins

I first heard about this book on Ilona Andrews blog (Magic Burns) and I am very glad that I followed her advice and read it. I loved it. I think that I read it through in one sitting. The storyline is strong, the characters are fascinating,  and there is a quality that lures the reader in and won’t let go until the end of the book.

Publisher: Scholastic
Publication Date: September 2008
Format: Print
Author Web Site: http://www.suzannecollinsbooks.com/

Description (Scholastic)

COULD YOU SURVIVE ON YOUR OWN, IN THE WILD, WITH EVERYONE FIGHTING AGAINST YOU?
Twenty- four are forced to enter. Only the winner survives.

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. Each year, the districts are forced by the Capitol to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the Hunger Games, a brutal and terrifying fight to the death – televised for all of Panem to see.

Survival is second nature for sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who struggles to feed her mother and younger sister by secretly hunting and gathering beyond the fences of District 12. When Katniss steps in to take the place of her sister in the Hunger Games, she knows it may be her death sentence. If she is to survive, she must weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

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Rating: Recommend, Series Read: Continue, Hardback Worthy

Shades of Dark: Linnea Sinclair

Shades of Dark is the sequel to the first in the series Gabriel’s Ghost, a fast paced interstellar romance.  Shades of Dark closely follows Gabriel’s Ghost, so if you have not read it I suggest that you read Gabriel’s Ghost first. Gabriel’s Ghost will give you a lot of history that will make the experience much richer.

I really enjoyed Shades of Dark. The action has a quick pace and the characters are well drawn. Watching Chaz and Sully’s relationship evolve along with their characters was very enjoyable. I think that the author did a good job of creating to characters that have baggage and that juggle the baggage to make a relationship work.

Description (Author Website)

Before her court-martial, Captain Chasidah “Chaz” Bergren was the pride of the Sixth Fleet. Now she’s a fugitive from the “justice” of a corrupt Empire. Along with her lover, the former monk, mercenary, and telepath Gabriel Ross Sullivan, Chaz hoped to leave the past light-years behind—until the news of her brother Thad’s arrest and upcoming execution for treason. It’s a ploy by Sully’s cousin Hayden Burke to force them out of hiding and it works.

With a killer targeting human females and a renegade gen lab breeding jukor war machines, Chaz and Sully already had their hands full of treachery, betrayal—not to mention each other. Throw in Chaz’s Imperial ex-husband, Admiral Philip Guthrie, and a Kyi-Ragkiril mentor out to seduce Sully and not just loyalties but lives are at stake. For when Sully makes a fateful choice changing their relationship forever, Chaz must also choose—between what duty demands and what her heart tells her she must do.

Auhor website: http://www.linneasinclair.com

Black Magic Woman

Well, let me start off by saying I have a new series to commit myself to enjoying. Normally I really hate books where a child is injured, but that aspect of this book is necessary to tell the story so I rolled with it. I like the dynamic between Quincey and Libby, the author built a relationship between the two of them that is not romantic. I enjoyed that, it seems that whenever I get a UF book that I think I will enjoy it turns into a romance. Don’t get me wrong, I like the UF romances very much. It’s just a refreshing change, and I hope that it stays that way. The universe is rich and well defined and the story is engaging and intriguing, I can’t wait for more in the universe.

Description

Occult investigator Quincey Morris and his “consultant”, white witch Libby Chastain, are hired to free a family from a deadly curse that appears to date back to the Salem witch trials. Fraught with danger, the trail finds them stalking the mysterious occult underworlds of Boston, San Francisco, New Orleans and New York, searching out the root of the curse. After surviving a series of terrifying attempts on their lives, the two find themselves drawn inexorably towards Salem itself – the very heart of darkness.

Cover

If I had not heard of this book on several blogs before its release, spying this cover in the store would ensure that I pick up the book and read the back for the teaser. To be brutally honest… if I was in a hurry or if my son had made a break for it and I had this puppy in my hand I would just purchase it. I like the color way the composition and the placement of the text (amongst other things).

Website

http://www.justingustainis.com/

As much as I enjoyed Black Magic Woman, the author’s website leaves me cold. It might be my web dev experience or it may just be my web-snobbery rearing its ugly head again. Although, I could say that bout all of the sites that I don’t like. On the plus side he has a website and it looks like it has a lot of information, on the minus…

I am not fond of seeing the author’s bio image as a repeating element on the site. I would prefer the latest release cover. I think that the author’s photo should be on the biography page.

The font colors make the content difficult to read. White is hard to read on any background and the headers of cranberry are too close to the background in tone, so they tend to vibrate rather than stand out as intended (same goes for the blue links).

I see under his links section that he has a separate domain for the Hades Project. It would be nice to see a website for the Quincy Morris novels, since that is a multi book run.