When I was a child we spent several years in Spain. I remember being stuck one summer in an old country house with family and friends, and at one point finding the small library of children’s books. There were a few in English, which I suppose were imported from England so the former children of…
Magic Bites (Kate Daniels, Book 1) Magic Burns (Kate Daniels, Book 2) Magic Strikes (Kate Daniels, Book 3) As far as background characters, Crest is a good example of this issue: in the first book he’s a polite, apparently well meaning, pleasant seeming man who is romantically interested in the protagonist. He goes out of…
Magic Bites (Kate Daniels, Book 1) Magic Burns (Kate Daniels, Book 2) Magic Strikes (Kate Daniels, Book 3) Speaking of literary heroines in general within this genre, and Andrews’ (so-called) heroine in particular, I’d like to add two corollaries to my commandment against Stupidly Wrong Gender Tropes, which I’d like both the authors and their…
Magic Bites (Kate Daniels, Book 1) Magic Burns (Kate Daniels, Book 2) Magic Strikes (Kate Daniels, Book 3) This leads neatly into my next personal commandment for urban fantasy: Enough already with the perverse, nonsensical gender-based tropes! I know this isn’t unique to this genre, but come on now — can we please finally get…
Magic Bites (Kate Daniels, Book 1) Magic Burns (Kate Daniels, Book 2) Magic Strikes (Kate Daniels, Book 3) First and foremost, the number one commandment for a good urban fantasy (or, I suppose, whatever writing you wish to do) is: Thou shalt… Do. The. Research! This extends to the character as well as the author….
Magic Bites (Kate Daniels, Book 1) Magic Burns (Kate Daniels, Book 2) Magic Strikes (Kate Daniels, Book 3) I’ve always had a fondness, even well before it was popular, for the genre of urban fantasy. I adored the The Chronicles of Narnia stories as a child, but I still daydreamed with excited bemusement of what…
Bitten (Women of the Otherworld, Book 1) Tails up This is the author’s first novel, and as such it’s technically well done. The paragraphs and concepts are well composed and laid out, and the story moves along at a good pace. Ideas are clearly communicated and not repetitive. The author has a nice grasp of…
Bitten (Women of the Otherworld, Book 1) A human’s-eye view In essence, this book is yet another romance novel. It is also therefore a good example of one of the current themes running through modern romantic literature: in order for there to be politically correct sexual tension in stories such as this, the heroine must…
Bitten (Women of the Otherworld, Book 1) A wolf’s-eye view I also wish the author had done a bit of research on both logic in particular, and wolf behavior in general. For example, Elena comments more than once about how any truly horrible acts performed by werewolves are emotionally due to their human parts —…
Bitten (Women of the Otherworld, Book 1) by Kelley Armstrong Originally posted January 2006 Credits: For George, who was nice enough both to lend it to me, and to give me fair warning — and for Lou, who helped me think things through. ;) I was set to really enjoy this story, as I’ve always…