Melanie's Week in Review - July 13, 2014

Dear Authors

I am writing to apologize for not reading your books sooner. I have no excuse for missing the release other than my overly jam packed TBR. I have been making a concerted effort to pay more attention to my unread books and came across your novel. I thoroughly enjoyed it. For what I really thought read on.

I promise to try really hard not to miss the release of your future novels but if I do please forgive me.

Your humble reading servant

Melanie

I started my week by finishing Seven Kinds of Hell which is the first in the Fangborn series by Dana Cameron. Qwill reviewed this same book back in March 2013. I was quite lucky that I was able to receive a copy from NetGalley even after all this time.

I enjoyed this novel but I think I have over indulged in urban fantasy where the heroine has a hard, deprived/abusive upbringing. This story's heroine, Zoe Miller has had just that upbringing. A transient lifestyle, always on the run, struggling to make friendships but when she does something evil jeopardises it all. She was believable and it was easy to empathize with her and her situation. I also had a hard time imagining what some of the characters looked like, especially the snakelike vampires. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't read so much urban fantasy recently. I will still continue with this series but give it a couple of months before I tuck into Pack of Strays.

A few months ago I requested book 3 of the Everness series by Ian McDonald from NetGalley. I realised after I requested it that I should really do the series justice and read book 2 so I bought Be My Enemy a couple of weeks ago. I really liked Planesrunner (book 1) and thought it was one of the few series aimed at younger readers that was accessible to adults. Book 2 starts immediately after the events of book 1 with Everett and the crew of the Everness alone in a frozen, alternate version of Earth trying to find his Dad. We are also introduced to Everett M who is an alternate Everett that has been by turned into a cyborg boy by the evil Charlotte Villiers in order to locate the real Everett and steal back the Infundibulum. Multiple alternative universes, 2 Everetts, some seriously evil baddies - this book has it all.  The action is almost non-stop and there is further development of Everett (the original) but more so of Sen, his teenage shipmate. This is great for any age.

I rounded out my week with Ack-Ack Macaque by Gareth L. Powell. How have I missed this book?  I LOVED IT! Qwill also wrote a review of this book back in 2012. What have I been doing for the last 2 years to have missed out reading it? Powell has everything  - great characters, a fantastic plot and an interesting world. I could wax lyrical a bit longer about Ack-Ack and friends but I can't think of anything new to say that Qwill hasn't already (and in a much more eloquent fashion).

That was it for me. I am hoping to update you next week on everything I have read but I am off to Edinburgh with my sister and brother-in-law and may not get my WIR written. In case you don't hear from me Happy Reading for the next fortnight.