Dead on the Delta: Stacey Jay

picture from goodreads.com

I Love, Love books set in alternate settings when they are done well. Maybe some catastrophe has happened, maybe a nuclear blowout. All I ask, is for the author to just make it believable.

Dead on the Delta does just that. This book is set in a world where fairy venom is dangerous even deadly to some. The cities are surrounded by iron, to keep out the mosquito-sized bad guys. There are a few people out there who are immune to fairy venom, those people do the dirty jobs that may take them into areas filled with fairies.
Enter our protagonist; Annabelle Lee. A sassy, red headed border-line, okay across the line, alcoholic. Her abilities find her helping the right side of the law, and in the arms of her main love interest, a detective in the Bayou's police department.

The story is set in the Bayou of Louisiana. Jay does a great job of capturing that dirty charm the South has to offer. Living in the South myself, I feel like I knew these colorful characters. The bitchy sisters, the charged racial tensions, the drug runners, the rapscallions. I've met them, grew up with them, befriended some,  oh hell I'm related to most of these types of folks.

Annabelle Lee is flawed, she's far from perfect and she stumbles through life. I like this. Where many authors don't let their main character get dirty and make mistakes, Jay gives her character a breath of realism. Many heroines are so perfect, so very moral. Annabelle Lee, is not confined to those constraints.
This book brings you drug addiction, sassiness,  two sexy love interests, a murder investigation and a feeling that even in the gritty bayou, things may be dirtier than you first imagined. Plus a good dose of Paranormal otherness that makes this book stand above other Urban Fantasy type books.

I know some of these elements I mentioned sound familiar. But rest assured, Jay doesn't follow the rule book in Dead on the Delta. Her writing is entertaining, the pace is great and you don't feel like your treading water waiting for something to happen. I absolutely recommend this book if you like a little grit in your reading catalog. 

Lucky for us, there is a sequel in the works!

My Rating: A solid A-

I need to find a new author who rocks my socks off

Last year when I found Patrick Rothfuss' series, I was elated. I was a kid in the proverbial candy shop. I have rarely found an author whose books I have enjoyed as much as I did this series.

There is a list of books that have moved me. A list of books that have caused me to reexamine my life and perhaps my way of thinking. Soon, I'll publish that list. It needs to be out there. I think most people would be surprised that one of my favorite books is about a Russian Jew who went through tons of torture during Czarist Russia. One of my other favorite books centers around a tart citrus tree and it's various benefactors throughout the ongoing Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

(If someone can guess those books, I'll think of something cool to give you. Maybe I'll buy you a book via amazon or bn? Or I'll make you a bookmark. something.)

But I need a new book, I need one that moves me, makes me question the world in which I live. I need to find someone with such a distinct voice that it pushes me to be a better writer, to write something so prolific that I could be satiate my wayward literary soul, if only for a moment.

suggestions?

My turn for a 2011 recap.

Well, like Dianne said, this has been a lot of fun for us this past year. I am of a like mind with her that we should expand to reviewing just about everything we read, and not just things that we would highly recommend. This past year, there seemed to be a theme of mostly urban fantasy to our reading list. The fact of the matter though is that we both read books from just about every genre, so expect to be seeing a wider variety of books reviewed here in 2012.

Now for my recap:

Favorite new find
Kevin Hearne-Iron Druid Chronicles. Between the very entertaining story line and the awesomeness of the author, this was my favorite new find of 2011 and also my favorite storyline of the year.

Favorite addition to a long running series.
Jim Butcher-Ghost Story. This latest installment of the Dresden Files was really good. I enjoyed finding out some more of the back story related to the characters and Mr. Butcher did a good job of writing a “dead” character.

Biggest disappointment
Terry Goodkind-The Omen Machine. I'm not even sure what to call this book. Its either the latest installment, re-installment, or post-installment. I say this because the story was ended. Wrapped up, done, kaput. And it was finished beautifully. This is from my all time favorite series of books, The Sword of Truth series. See my previous post about The Omen Machine for more details.

Favorite epic story
Patrick Rothfuss-The Name of the Wind. These books are just great. Mr. Rothfuss is definitely a master wordsmith. I started out reading these books thinking that they were kind of slow, however, I could not put them down. The pace that he writes and the way he writes is almost hypnotic. I just cant explain it.

Well, there's my short recap of 2011. I've had fun with my meager contributions here and really hope to contribute much more in 2012.

Best and Worst of 2011 and what to expect in 2012

I know my bro will weigh in later, but i wanted to throw down some literary thoughts for 2011 and tell you what you can expect for 2012. This has been a fun project for Del and I to partake and I plan on making this blog much more dynamic in the coming months.

What does that mean?

More reviews. I've read tons of books this past year and I'll be honest, I haven't found but a handful that I felt I would want to put on here. That I would even recommend that you read. But I see now that this kind of thinking is short sighted. I should just give my opinion on whatever I read. So from now on, that's what's going to happen. If I do not like a book enough to actually give it a rating, I'll just not rate it and give you my general opinion of the book. As I've stated before, I'm not here to rip someone's work apart. I'll be honest, but I'm not going to crucify someone. It'll be a simple recommend/do not recommend.

on to my favorites:
Best new author/great find
Kevin Hearne :  Iron Druid Chronicles
Guys, this series is super entertaining. The author is super nice, he actually interacts with his fan base. I have two, count em two, different things signed by him. One was a gift from my brother and the other was a prize I won, just for being a fan. How awesome is that?

Best Epic Book I read this year:

Patrick Rothfuss: The Name of the Wind
This book was so entertaining, I felt smarter after reading this novel. It's long, but don't let that scare you, the journey, you're allowed to tag along for is amazing and well worth your time as a reader. Give it a shot.

Best continuation in a series:

Ilona Andrews: Magic Slays Book 5 in the Kate Daniels Series.
I love this series, I've been reading it for a few years now. I love a bad ass female heroine with humor. She's authentic and you don't read the book and think to yourself "hmm, they seem to be trying to make her into some alpha butch woman who secretly needs rescuing" like so many other books with a female lead. Kate Daniels kicks ass and it's as simple as that.

Biggest Flop of the Year:
It would have to be the latest Sookie Stackhouse book. I know, shoot me, whatever. I don't care. I am not the writer and I am not the type of reader that gets pissed when an author does something and demand that they change it. blah blah. (Chicagoland series, I still love them even when she killed off a main character) But as a reader i have the right to not like where you're going, or how you've utterly changed the main character from a spunky, fun survivor to a defunct, somewhat sad shell of her former self character. I just didn't think it was a good book. I didn't find that humor that normally makes me like these books. It just is, what it is. I've stuck with this series, because I loved them. But it has just progressively gotten sadder and less dynamic with each book. I hope the next one turns it around.

See I feel like an ass for even posting that, b/c I really do enjoy Ms. Harris' writing, I just did not enjoy the last three S.S. books. oy.

anyway, that's my list for 2011. I'm sure Del will add more. Also in 2012, I plan on releasing chapters here and there for my latest book. So keep an eye out and I promise we'll be much more active in this coming new year.

your literary hound,
Deeds

Ominous Truth(Sword of, that is)

As the Sister mentioned in an earlier post, we are both huge fans of Terry Goodkind's, Sword of Truth series. I have been in love with this series for years. The moral, political and philosophical stances that are reflected really hit right on with a lot of my personal views. And hey, who can help but love a story where the hero overcomes after lots of trials and tortures and does so with some really awesome female companions who can kick some major butt on their own?
Goodkind is one of the few authors, in my humble opinion, who has successfully written and wrapped up a rather long series of books. When he "ended" the SoT series, everything was complete, he did an awesome job of tying up all the bothersome loose ends and the conclusion was pleasantly cathartic. While I hated to see the journey of my well-loved characters come to an end, he ended it well. Hobbits would sing of them in song if they were in a Tolkeinverse. But........
He wrote another book in the series. The Omen Machine. It picked right up from where the last book left off, which is nothing new in that regard, he did that with most of the series. It works well for the storyline. However, this story felt weak to me. There was a lot of stuff going on with nothing really happening. The story had a very pointless feeling about it. Now, I am NOT going to slam Mr. Goodkind, I love his story and it is his. However, this story didn't have good direction, there was a lot of filler "stuff" going on and whats worse, it had no completion. Even though his stories have always led into one another, they always felt like a complete story. The Omen Machine just felt incomplete. I was not riveted by his writing this time around and it was very hard for the book to keep my interested. I was able to stick to previous books in the serious even when reading one for the 4th or 5th time. With The Omen Machine, it was almost painful to keep reading. However, without giving out spoilers, the ending, which really felt like the book just stopped, definitely gave him a chance to redeem the story. I don't see anyway that there is not another sequel already in the works.

Before I sign off here, I just want to reiterate that I completely love the SoT series. And even though I was somewhat disappointed in the latest installment, Mr. Goodkind won me over years ago, and I still feel, for now, anything he publishes is worth the read. As for now, I'll patiently wait to see where he takes Richard, Kahlan and the most awesome Mord Sith next.

Squee!

I've mentioned Kevin Hearne several times in this blog. His Iron Druid Chronicles series, is awesome. Super entertaining, smart, and all around enjoyable. I can't even express how excited I was to find out that he is coming to Nashville in June 2012. You see, Nashville is just a couple hours away, and I know I am so going to be there. It's funny, as soon as he posted his summer travel schedule, the brother and I both were like "THERE!".

Needless to say, you should all go to his website and check out his tour schedule. Also, if you haven't you should check out his books.

Drink Deep: Chloe Neill Chicagoland Vampires

If you've never picked up the Chicagoland Vampire, series you really should. This is book five in the series. Ms. Neill was just contracted out for five more books, I believe. So lots of fun to be had. You follow the lead character in the book, Merit, from her transition from an Academic to a unwilling vampire soldier. She's smart, she's funny and can kick ass. One thing I really love about this series, is the pace. It has a lot of banter and is loaded with edgy quips. It keeps you on your toes.

Let me tell you a little about Merit's world. She has an awesome best friend (blue hair and all), an adorably loving grandfather, her relationship with her parents is strained (Chicago nouveau riche) and of course a hunky male lead. I'm not here to review the other books, because that would take forever. I'll just give you the short run of it, I loved them. I'd give them between and B+ and an A.

Ahoy, Avast (other pirate speak) There be Spoilers Ahead.....

Book 4 in this series left me distraught. I was in tears and quite upset at where she left the series. Killing a main character (not Merit). How could you? If it had been a paperback book I was reading and not a nook, that book would have been tossed across the room. No Lie. I was iffy about this book. What if my heart was still broken months later and she has done nothing to heal those wounds for me?

It was like going somewhere that you knew you run into an ex. You have to go to that place, but you would rather not. That was the type of hesitancy I had before diving into this book. OK maybe not that much, since I did read it at 1am (as soon as the book was downloadable). But for dramatics, think I was having some existential crisis over it. Okay?

Well Merit is on the mend. She's doing her thing, she's.... well she's hanging out with Jonah, another vamp a lot. She's avoiding some other vamps and just existing. That was the book for me, she was just there. The pace was not what I was used to from Ms. Neill. I'd like harangue her and bitch about that... But I can't. I understand the purpose of this book. This book is what happens after closing a big arc. she had to give Merit time to heal a bit, get her bearings and start in a new direction.

Which is exactly what this book has done. We are introduced some new issues, resolved some old and given a new big bad. I wasn't surprised with the big bad, she's been foreshadowing it for a while.

that is on thing I'm sort of "eh" about. Her foreshadowing. She does it too much. Give the reader some credit. There's a difference between leading someone to water and ya know, water boarding them. Just sayin'.

Back on topic, the heart break is resolved. When I first read the book, for that right there I was willing to give her all the accolades in the world. You brought back my favorite male lead (yes over Vampire Eric) from the dead. I was content. But giving a starving person a single oreo, isn't the same as buying them groceries for a whole month. The momentary joy/elation I had from that revelation (that was foreshadowed to hell btw) was fleeting. It doesn't really change my "meh" about the rest of the book.

While I did have one emotional "Yippee", that was about it. I get it, this book was needed. We have different villains, hunky Ethan back, the house starting back to some normalcy, and Merit is on a new mission, with Ethan (squee) by her side.

I give this book a B-.