A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

Historian Diana Bishop is researching a collection of manuscripts in the Bodleian Library in Oxford when one of the manuscripts seems to glow at her touch.  Being a witch, Diana isn’t quite as flummoxed as some mere human might be, but it’s definitely something very strange.  She decides to quietly send the manuscript back until she can make sense as to what has just happened.

But this incident hasn’t gone unnoticed.  Diana has just attracted the attention of a number of witches and other creatures, including a vampire--a very alluring vampire.

I’d heard a lot about this book, the first in a trilogy, and even more after it was turned into a well-reviewed TV series.  Harkness does a marvelous job of creating a world filled with strong non-human characters and complex societies.  There are three basic groups:  witches, vampires, and daemons, most of who regard other creatures as suspect at best and deadly enemies at worst.  There is a ruling council composed of three representatives of each species, and they are in charge of interpreting the rules and policing behaviors that might be detrimental to the creatures’ existence.  Most of the rules are in place to keep humans from finding out that the various creatures do exist. Running afoul of the Council can lead to severe consequences, including death.

Harkness also does a splendid job of incorporating history into the books.  Given that vampires can live a very long time, there are characters who can claim acquaintance with, say, Shakespeare, and who can remember what it was like to live through historical time periods from the Black Death to Nazi Germany.

While some would find it odd, there’s also a strong scientific thread running through the book as some of the characters seek to find reasons why the various creatures are failing to reproduce. And of course, vampires are always very interested in blood….

Besides the historical and the fantastical, there are romances and complex family connections. The characters are passionate, devoted, loyal, devious, and occasionally frightening.  As a reader I got caught up in their worlds and was up early turning pages to see what would happen next.

The second book is Shadow of Night, followed by The Book of Life.  There is a fourth book set in the same world with some familiar characters, Time’s Convert.

The Hunger by Whitley Strieber

Reviewed by Christy

            John is dying. His long time love Miriam expected it but not so soon because, after all, John is only around two hundred years old. Though the word is never mentioned, Miriam and John are vampires, together for centuries. Miriam has been through this before. Her companions will begin to age rapidly, become more ravenous with time, and eventually experience “eternal death”. Usually they can live anywhere from four to eight hundred years. But not John. So Miriam sets out to find a new companion to take his place.

            Miriam has her sights set on a young scientist named Sarah Roberts. Sarah believes she may have discovered the antidote to aging, which is what catches Miriam’s attention. The Hunger is not exactly action-packed but a slow, quiet horror. It doesn’t shy away from blood but also doesn’t overindulge in it either. I did feel like I was pushing myself to finish it at times but overall it held my interest enough to keep going. One thing I particularly appreciated about Strieber’s take is that there are new rules on the old vampire lore. They can go out in sunlight, and they don’t have to be invited in to enter your house. Though it is never stated explicitly, it is hinted at that Miriam was born a vampire, and that her species is going extinct. She can turn humans into her kind but, unlike her, they do not actually live forever. (A fact she chooses not to share with them.) And I don’t want to spoil anything but finding out what “eternal death” entails is pretty horrifying.

            I also really liked the little glimpses into Miriam’s past throughout the ages. I don’t know if I would recommend The Hunger to a reader who wants a fast-paced horror. I do, however, think it’s a solid read with a very dismal ending that packs a punch.

Kiss of Steel by Bec McMaster

Reviewed by Ambrea

Honoria Todd grew up in the shadow of blue blood society.  Daughter to a famous inventor, she was privy to many of the secrets the ruling vampire class would prefer to keep secret—and that may very well be her undoing.  When her father is killed and one of the dukes of the Ivory Tower puts a price on her head, Honoria has no choice but to hide herself and her siblings in Whitechapel in the hopes that the blue bloods—and the diabolical master of the rookeries—won’t notice her.

I was intrigued by this novel and, starting out, I fell in love with the unusual, complex world of verwulfen, blue bloods, vampires, and mechanical creatures.  There’s an unexpected depth to this story.  I mean, on one side are the blue bloods—not quite vampires, not quite human—who basically run society from their Ivory Tower, trailed by human consorts and blood thralls; and then, on the other side, one finds verwulfen (werewolves), humans, and others who live outside the blue bloods’ pristine city, living on the very fringes of “respectable” society.

Except it’s not that clear cut.

Blade, said diabolical master of the rookeries, rules Whitechapel, and even the Dukes of the Ivory Tower are hesitant to cross him.  Honoria is one of the many humans caught in between, but she’s also the daughter of an Institute scientist and a chemist in her own right.  Humans, blue bloods, verwulfen, and more living together in one city, but it’s a tenuous relationship at best.  A variety of variables come into play:  blood taxes, drainers, Humanity First insurgents, house rivalries, Slasher gangs and turf wars, and Queen Alexandra, thrall of the Prince Consort.  It all hinges on how far one wants to push the boundaries, because anything could tip the balance and bring London—and Britain—crashing to its knees.

I found all the detail fascinating and, honestly, I wish I could have had more.  Like I was curious to hear about France, which endured a completely different Reign of Terror in which blue blood aristocracy were put to the guillotine; Spain suffered a second Inquisition, in which blue bloods were hunted rather than witches or religious dissidents; Germany didn’t have so much a blue blood ruling class as a massive verwulfen population; China saw the initial outbreak of the craving disease, the first symptoms of vampirism; and America is still a colony of the British Empire.

It’s a curious reworking of historical events that I found captivating.  And that’s not even including a close look at the precarious situation of the Fade and the course of the craving disease.  Blue bloods are vampires, as we traditionally view them; however, it’s different in Kiss of Steel.  Blue bloods are in control of their hunger (for the most part), but as they age they come closer and closer to the Fade, in which they slowly lose all human aspects and slip closer to an unstoppable, insatiable hunger for blood.  They essentially begin to rot, losing all traces of the person they were previously and they become monsters—they become vampires.  It was a fascinating concept.

However, despite enjoying Kiss of Steel immensely, I realize that it could have been better.  Like so much better.

I love a little romance mixed in with my adventure stories, but I like to have more of a balance.  That is, I don’t like romantic entanglements to overshadow the rest of the novel.  I may like romance novels, but I do like my stories to have depth, rather than lots of awkwardly steamy moments or gratuitous amounts of explicit material.

Like with Blade and Honoria.

I understand these moments are going to happen, considering how desperately they crave each other.  I mean, their relationship is practically incendiary.  But I would have liked to have learned a little more about Honoria’s father, her time among the blue bloods, and their shared experiments in the Institute labs.  Honoria is a smart girl; in fact, she’s frighteningly smart in some respects—and, personally, I would have loved seeing her flaunt that intelligence a little more.  I would have enjoyed seeing her continue her father’s research, seeing her find, if not a cure, a way to stop the progression of the craving disease.

Don’t get me wrong, she’s a pretty great character.  She’s smart, she’s determined, she’s handy with a pistol, plus—and this is a big one—she’s not some shrinking violet, damsel-in-distress type when faced with danger.  Before the end of the story, she’ll face down a fully turned vampire not once, not twice, not even three, but four times.  She may not be a swift and skilled as Blade, and she might not be as strong as her verwulfen companion, Will, but that’s not to say she’s not powerful in her own right.

I just had this little, lingering wish that she could have done more.  I know that sounds funny, considering she does quite a lot in regards to protecting her brother and sister, and she even saves Blade’s life on a couple of occasions.  I just wish she could have been featured more prominently in the search for a cure or, at least, a treatment, rather than her intellectual pursuits becoming secondary.  I wish I could have learned more about it and a little more about her.

Overall, I enjoyed reading Kiss of Steel.  It’s a blending of science fiction, paranormal, steampunk, horror, and fantasy, and it develops an intriguing story—an intriguing world—that kept me captivated.  Once I was hooked, I found there was no going back.  I had to find out what happened with Honoria and Blade—would she be captured by Vickers, Duke of Lannister, and killed?  Would she find a cure that her father had so desperately sought?  Would Blade, who lurked on the fringes of the Fade, finally succumb?

I had to have an answer and I was, more or less, satisfied with the conclusion.  Granted, it’s only the first of a series—book one of five (Heart of Iron, follows next, and then My Lady Quicksilver, Forged by Desire, and Of Silk and Steam)—so I have quite a bit more to read if I want to shore up the story and delve a little deeper into this steam-powered world of dangerous creatures.

Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs by Molly Harper

Reviewed by Ambrea

Jane Jameson is just an average, everyday nice girl.  She works her tail off as a children’s librarian, she loves small, fluffy animals, and she adores Southern food.  But when her horrible boss fires her and hands her a gift card to a local bar, rather than a severance check, Jane decides she doesn’t want to be a nice girl anymore.  Her day just couldn’t get any worse—until, not surprisingly, it does.

Mistaken for a deer, shot, and left for dead on the side of the road, Jane wakes up with a terrible hangover and an unexpected thirst for blood.  Thanks to a stranger she met at the bar—after buying potato skins and chugging neon cocktails—she’s now part of the Undead community.  For better or worse, her life is changed forever.  With her recently deceased aunt as a ghostly roommate and a series of vampire murders inexplicably connected to her, she decides it’s definitely time to stop being such a nice girl if she wants to survive this ordeal.

I enjoyed Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs pretty well.  I like that it had a sassy, self-sufficient female lead.  I mean, how can I not like her?  She’s a librarian, for crying out loud, and she’s a genuinely nice (and, dare I say it, funny) narrator.  I was perpetually intrigued by what would happen next—and I couldn’t wait to see the author’s take on vampires as they come out into the open and try to live normal, fulfilling lives.

Yes, I realize this idea has been used before—Sookie Stackhouse, anyone?—but I actually enjoyed Molly Harper’s novel a little better than Charlaine Harris’ series.  Perhaps that’s blasphemy, considering the outrageous popularity that True Blood found on HBO; however, there’s something about Harper’s style of writing and Jane Jameson’s character that I simply found more appealing.

Jane is a little more fleshed out than the more popular Sookie Stackhouse, I thought, and she strikes me as being a lot brighter if a little clumsier.  Sookie struck me as too perfect, self-deprecating and unrealistic with her heavy, affected Southern accent; Jane is clumsy and, one might say, goofy, but she’s equally intelligent and, while she has an intense love of Southern food and makes note of her accent, it isn’t forced.  Her character seems more natural.

And I liked her better for it.

Admittedly, I will say it isn’t a great story.  I mean, it has a decent plot and enjoyable characters, but I wasn’t thrilled or holding on to the edge of my seat the entire time.  It was fun while it lasted—and I certainly liked that Harper played with the vampire myth a little more, utilizing both traditional and pop culture ideals; however, I wasn’t smitten with the series.  I could keep reading it, but it’s sort of a paperback guilty pleasure:  lots of fun, good characters, just not a whole lot of substance.

Overall, Nice Girls Don’t Have Fangs was an enjoyable book.  It’s a short, quick read, which I finished within a matter of hours, and it’s a short series that builds on the local vampire population without overwhelming me with information—or, more importantly, confusing me with all the vampire rules.  I was able to comprehend and enjoy the story without feeling like I was missing something.

The Clockwork Scarab by Colleen Gleason

Reviewed by Jeanne

When Miss Mina Holmes, niece of the renowned detective Sherlock, receives a mysterious summons to the British Museum at midnight, she does what any self-respecting Victorian ingénue would do:  she dresses in trousers, takes a Steam-Stream gun for protection, and sets out to see what’s behind the missive.  She finds she is not the only one to receive an invitation:  Evaline Stoker, teenage sister to the would be novelist Bram, is also at the meeting which has been called by none other than Irene Adler.  She tells the girls there is danger afoot: society girls are going missing.  One has turned up dead with a strange mechanical scarab as a clue.  She calls upon the girls to do their patriotic duty to Queen and Country and to solve the mystery before more girls go missing.

As one might guess from the above description, this is a Young Adult novel with an alternate universe setting.  Electricity has been outlawed as dangerous; steam runs everything, including a good number of amazing gadgets from moving Night Illuminators to eyelash curlers.  The book is narrated in turn by Mina and Evaline, who are both self-assured young women who don’t exactly hit it off as friends.  Mina is very much a scientist in the mold of her uncle, but like him and her father Mycroft, she isn’t exactly a social butterfly—and even less since her mother left abruptly.  Orphaned Evaline, on the other hand, cuts quite a fashionable figure and is much more aware of social nuance even if her nocturnal activities aren’t exactly ladylike:  she’s the latest in a line of vampire hunters.   Buffy—er, Evaline—also has superhuman strength but tends to be a bit impulsive in contrast to the more analytical Mina.

A good part of the fun is in the narration and the description of a steam-punk London, which is only enhanced when a strange young man wearing very odd clothing and shoes turns up in the Museum.  He has a lighting device which he claims, quite improbably, is a communication device.  He is also American and seems astounded by all the steam driven devices.  The book is cognizant of various Victorian enthusiasms, such as Egyptology, and observes some of the era’s sensibilities. There are various flirtations with a handsome but infuriating policeman and a handsome but infuriating street-smart young man and the handsome but peculiar and yes, infuriating,  American. References to Sherlock, Bram Stoker, the Royal Family, and much more enliven the narrative. 

 If you’re curious about steampunk, this book is a good introduction to the genre.  This is only my second book with those trappings, and I found it was much smoother read.  The author made the gadgets an easy part of the narrative.  The one book was a bit self-conscious about pointing out the various mechanicals. My biggest complaint was that -- as alluded to earlier-- Evaline owes a great deal to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. While this is definitely aimed at the YA crowd, many adults would enjoy it as a good bit of fun. This adult certainly did.

Note: this is the first in the Holmes & Stoker series.