kgbooklog

C.T. Adams and Cathy Clamp, Hunter's Moon
Tor Romance (2003) ISBN: 0-765-34913-2
Score: 2

Start of the Tales of the Sazi urban fantasy series, in which a mob hit man (recently turned werewolf) finds True Love and a remarkably strong telepathic link with a suicidally depressed lottery winner. It was nice to see a romance novel with a male protagonist (as well as an assassin who actually makes an effort to ensure his targets never get a chance to fight back), but I'm not sure the Sazi (shapeshifter society) makes sense.

Next Book: Felix Gilman, Thunderer

Greg Keyes, The Briar King
Del Rey (2003) ISBN: 0-345-044066-8
Score: 2

First novel of the Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone, an epic fantasy series in the style of GRRM (but with more overt magic). Good, but had a bunch of petty annoyances for me: big prophecies about the End of the World (actually, it seems to be the end of humanity on this world), invented, misspelled, and archaic words (some I think were used wrongly) that jar me out of the story, and characters getting possessed by the bad guys (something that I never like). It also has lots of POV characters (5 in the first 50 pages; I stopped counting after 10) but several don't survive their section so there's really only four main plot threads.

Simon R. Green, Something From the Nightside
Ace (2003) ISBN:0-441-01065-2
Score: -1

Start of the Nightside urban fantasy series (supernatural mystery rather than paranormal romance), about a hidden section of London where anything can happen and often does (including time travel). I never quite managed to believe in the characters (which I guess makes the ending ironic).

Ann Downer, Hatching Magic
Atheneum (2003) ISBN: 0-689-02783-4
Score: 1

Start of a juvenile urban fantasy series about what happens when a pregnant wyvern (looking for a safe place to lay her egg) goes through a magic portal to modern day Boston. There's also a 13 year old girl who is obsessed with a RPG/collectible card game about wyverns. No surprises in the plot, and I really wish the author had put more thought into the magic system before basing the entire story on it.

Cornelia Funke (trans. Anthea Bell), Inkheart
Chicken House (2003) ISBN: 0-439-53164-0
Score: 1.5

A juvenile fantasy about a girl whose father can accidentally bring items and characters out of (and into) stories when he reads aloud. This is not a good thing.

Kelley Armstrong, "Ascension"
online novella (2003)
Score: 1.5

Another prequel narrated by Clay, in which we see how Jeremy became the Pack's Alpha.

Kelley Armstrong, "Savage"
online novella (2003)
Score: 2

Prequel to the Otherworld series, in which Clayton discusses his early childhood. No real surprises if you've already read Bitten, and contains a spoiler if you haven't.

Next Book: Scott Lynch, The Lies of Locke Lamora

Trudi Canavan, The High Lord
Eos (2003) ISBN: 0-06-057530-1
Score: 1

Conclusion to the Black Magician trilogy. No real surprises here, the titular character's reasons for doing evil are just as lame as I expected. The plot hinges on how magic works, which seemed to be deliberately arranged to force the characters to do things they knew to be wrong (while being somewhat inconsistent with the first book).

Next Book: Kelley Armstrong, Bitten

Jane Lindskold, The Dragon of Despair
Tor (2003) ISBN: 0-765-30259-4
Score: 2

Third Firekeeper book, which mostly resolves the plot threads of the previous books and sets things up for a new conflict. I still think the author is a bit unclear as to what exactly happened in the previous books, but at least the mistakes are mostly irrelevant in this book.

Next Book: Blue Balliett, Chasing Vermeer

Rachel Caine, Ill Wind
Roc (2003) ISBN: 0-451-45952-0
Score: 1

First book in the urban fantasy series Weather Warden. Wardens are the elementalists in charge of secretly protecting humanity from Mother Nature. Fun and exciting with an interesting premise, but the characters were a bit flat and the plot didn't make sense. The ending was nicely unpredictable, but I'm not sure I want to see where this series is heading.

Next Book: Trudi Canavan, The Magicians' Guild