The Chapters Sale

I wandered into Chapters the other day, and found out that they had extended their annual Buy 3 Books and Get 1 Free sale until Sunday. And me being me, I had to go and take advantage of it, even though I definitely do not need any more books! I phoned a friend up, and we planned to make an evening of it, hanging out and choosing books. But when we got there, we had about 20 minutes to choose our books because the store was closing! (Chapters used to be open until 10pm on Friday nights, but they're now open until only 9pm). Needless to say, I was able to choose my four books pretty quickly. I bought Dust by Elizabeth Bear, Raven's Shadow and Raven's Strike by Patricia Briggs, and Fallen by Tim Lebbon. I'm kind of excited about the Lebbon book, as I've never read anything by him before. My friend loved Dust, and really recommended it to me, so hopefully it will be good. And the two Briggs novels sound really good; I'm hoping to fly through them like I did the Mercy Thompson novels.

Of course, this brings the List back up to 125 novels. I am definitely still buying them faster than I'm reading them! But I'm in the middle of a really good book, so hopefully I'll be able to breeze through a bunch, bringing the List down to 100 before summer's end!

Iron Kissed

Well, here I am. It's almost 5am and I just finished the last of my three Mercy Thompson books. Like the first two, Iron Kissed was awesome - so awesome that I couldn't put it down!

Iron Kissed picks up where Blood Bound left off. To deal with the Vampires, Mercy had needed the help of the fae. So in return for their help, she now owes them a favour. So Mercy's mentor, Zee, calls her in to help them investigate some murders on the local fae reservation. But Mercy has to walk a fine line. The fae are extremely secretive, and will kill to remain so.

After investigating, Mercy is shocked to discover that Zee has been arrested for murder and no one is willing to help him even though he is innocent. And so it is up to Mercy to clear his name while avoiding the wrath of the powerful fae lords.

As is fitting for a story that deals with fae, Iron Kissed is, in many ways, a lot darker than the previous two novels. While it deals with some rather tough subjects, it was still a really good read and I highly recommend it! Now I can't wait to get my hands on Bone Crossed...

Blood Bound

I finished Patricia Briggs' Moon Called last night and immediately started reading Blood Bound, which continues the story of Mercy Thompson. This time, Mercy gets asked to help her vampire friend Stefan out, as payment for his help from Moon Called. Mercy accepts, and finds herself the coyote accessory for Stefan's intimidating costume as they investigate an unknown vampire in the area.

But this vampire is not just a vampire; he is a demon possessed sorceror. With him rampaging around the Tri-City area, the werewolves agree to help the vampires stop him. But as the mayhem escalates, and the demon-hunters are M.I.A, Mercy refuses to sit on the sidelines any longer. But what can a lone coyote do against the powerful vampier-sorceror?

Like Moon Called, I couldn't put Blood Bound down! I wanted to know what happened to everyone, especially those who were taken by the sorceror. This was another good read, and I can't wait to start book 3!

(On a side note though, I think these books are okay as stand alone novels, so I should be okay if I wait awhile before getting a hold of book 4. This also means that while it's better to read them in order, it's okay if you don't).

Moon Called

As is tradition, after my final exam I had a book waiting for me in my car; when the exam was over, I read the first page before heading home. This year, I chose Moon Called by Patricia Briggs for the honour. I bought Moon Called back in March; while at Chapters I skimmed the first page and found it really interesting, so it seemed like the logical choice. So true to tradition, I read the first page. . .and then didn't touch the book for a couple of days! I'm not entirely sure what happened, but my best guess is that I just really needed a break from reading after all of the English books I've read over the last few months. But then I brought Moon Called to work with me, and got hooked!

Mercy Thompson is a mechanic who works in the Tri-City area. Recently, the Lesser Fae have revealed their existence to the world, but a lot of supernatural still have not. Mercy is working on a vampire's VW, and her neighbour is a werewolf. Mercy knows all this because she's not human herself - she's a walker, a shapechanger who can turn into a coyote. She was also raised with a pack of werewolves, so she knows their ways.

Mercy decides to hire a newly made werewolf in order to help him out. But some men have come looking for the kid, seeing him as their valuable property. After things go horribly wrong, Mercy has to take her neighbour, the local werewolf Alpha, to her foster family for help.

I absolutely loved this book - the characters, the plot, the world, everything! This is the first book in a long time that I couldn't put down! In fact, I loved it so much that I went out and bought the next two earlier today! I can't wait to read more!