Servant: The Awakening ~ L.L. Foster

“Gabrielle Cody has the ability to see the demons among us as they really are-and the responsibility to destroy them. She can’t allow anyone to get in her way, even the magnetic Detective Luther Cross. Sensing a malevolent presence watching and stalking her, Gaby is drawn again and again to an abandoned hospital surrounded by an aura of sickness and suffering-and unimaginable evil.”

Servant: The Awakening is a departure from Lori Foster’s other work, hence the pseudonym of “L.L.”; and while the spine says “paranormal romance,” and while the book is shelved in the romance section, I’m not sure that it’s necessarily true to category placement. Don’t get me wrong, there’s an emotional attachment growing between the main character, Gaby, and Luther Cross, but the romance is overshadowed by the monsters, the action, and the body count.

When I first started reading this novel I wasn’t at all convinced I was going to enjoy it or be engaged enough to finish it. But for the second time in the past few months I’m glad I read past the quarter mark, giving the novel a chance to settle, for the characters’ motivations to become at least a little clearer.

My initial concern was that Gaby wasn’t going to turn into someone I could stay with over the course of 300 pages. A twenty-one year old woman, charged by God to neutralize true evil, she was erratic at first. Even seemed a little delusional. She was crass and uncaring. And though she mellowed a bit I still am hard pressed to agree with Elizabeth Lowell’s blurb on the back cover: “One of the most intriguing heroines since J.D. Robb’s early Eve Dallas books.” Gaby and Eve may share the same tough-as-nails, get-out-of-my-way attitude, but that’s where the comparison ends. Even so, Gaby came alive, had much more depth, when paired with Luther in any given scene. True, the romance isn’t overwhelming in this, but Foster has laid a solid foundation for future titles; honestly, I’m looking forward to seeing it develop.

I tagged this book as fantasy and horror because both seemed a little more appropriate than the romance moniker slapped below Berkley’s insignia. On Foster’s site, she states that she sees them more as urban fantasy, but considering the introduction to the story is of a faceless person physically disposing of a comatose patient’s fingertips, well…horror works, too. Gaby’s whole purpose is to destroy individuals who reek of evil, true evil, as in from Hell, and more than one meets his or her end at the tip of Gaby’s knife. So there is blood and glanced upon mutilation, enough at least to make some cringe, while not being so gorey as to repulse.

I would love to know more about Gaby’s calling, her background, all of the pesky why’s and how’s that didn’t get answered in this installment; I hope Foster has taken the time to flesh some of those issues out in the next book, Servant: The Acceptance, which is set to be released this September. I’ll definitely be picking up a copy to see how the arc progresses.

As for the book itself, I got my copy last October on a family vacation in Florida; even though I haul books on any trip, I never seem to leave the destination without another one or two. Or, okay, five. I had heard about this one, some pre-release buzz, and the cover definitely caught my attention. John Blumen’s depiction of Gaby surrounded by humanity’s demons is eye-catching…Too bad it isn’t true to character. The halo of pure golden light around her head is indicative of her mission, but Gaby comments way too many times how she is basically the anti-female, with no curves or attracting features. The Gaby of the cover is rather lush and pretty. One reader chalked this up to being Gaby’s alter ego {she writes/illustrates graphic novels for a living, recounting her encounters with monsters and their like,} but even so…

I’m not sure this would be for everyone; I’m still not sure, in fact, how much I actually enjoyed it overall. But it’s got enough substance to bring me back, as I said. And that, at least, is saying something.

Recent Days

Lots and lots of stuff going on; mostly it’s good, exciting even, but more on that later.

Between working a bit of overtime and applying free time to the current module, which happens to be children’s fantasy literature {so I can’t complain,} I’ve fallen a bit behind on reading for challenges and just because. This’ll sort of be a round-up post of recent days:

Graphic novels were part of this module’s reading though not the focus; that meant that I only had to read two. From the list I chose Will Eisner’s The Last Knight: An Introduction to Don Quixote and Jill Thompson’s Scary Godmother. The latter because I love Thompson’s The Little Endless Storybook; if you’re a fan of Gaiman’s Sandman graphic novels and somehow haven’t found this, well, remedy that soon! Scary Godmother was wonderful, too; I’d love to make reading it on Halloween night a tradition with my family.

I’ve been reading John Bellair’s The House with the Clock in its Walls – again, for my class – and as nice as the story is I have to say that what continues to grab my attention are Edward Gorey’s illustrations. His work is so singular and definitive; I could spend hours looking through his various books, as well as Ascending Peculiarity: Edward Gorey on Edward Gorey. His illustrations could tell the story of Lewis and his Uncle Jonathan without aid from the words.

Let’s see: We had a movie night with our best friends this weekend. We watched Jason Statham in In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale. It was, ah, interesting. Shaggy {Matthew Lillard} should perhaps not have been let loose in a magical Medieval society. Nor Burt Reynolds. And maybe John Rhys-Davies should stay in Middle Earth. Don’t get me started on Ray Liotta. For claiming Statham as its main actor/character, there wasn’t enough action in this film, nor enough substantive magic use {though there was one nice scene towards the end.} I’m afraid we ended up ragging on it a bit throughout; to be fair, though, that increased our enjoyment and laughing with friends is never a waste of time.

Continuing with the Nightrunner Series

Now that I’ve finished Stalking Darkness, book two in Lynn Flewelling’s Nightrunners series, I’ll have to wait a bit before starting the third. Mostly because there’s not a store in my area that has it in stock and I’ve enjoyed the series far too much to consider requesting it through ILL at the library. It’s one I want to own, so I’ll have to wait until I can order a copy*. And it’s not as though in the meantime I don’t have several options as to what to read next. I’m still doing my best to ignore Fire Study, sitting there as it is on my shelf, waiting for me to join up with Yelena again.

To stay on course, though, I think I’m going to begin A Wizard of Earthsea; it came in for me the other day, and it’s tempting. Plus, it’s a challenge read and I’ve had pretty good momentum, completing two in a relatively short amount of time for Once Upon a Time II. Adding to the appeal is that it’s fairly short, which means I should be able to read it through today – and with the weather being rather gloomy, that sounds like a fine idea.

*A couple hours later…We went to another bookstore today and, though I doubted it would be there, I swung by the fantasy section to see if book three, Traitor’s Moon, was on the shelf. And it was!

Luck in the Shadows ~ Lynn Flewelling

…A Once Upon a Time II Challenge

When young Alec of Kerry is taken prisoner for a crime he didn’t commit, he is certain that his life is at an end. But one thing he never expected was his cellmate. Spy, rogue, thief, and noble, Seregil of Rhiminee is many things–none of them predictable. And when he offers to take on Alec as his apprentice, things may never be the same for either of them. Soon Alec is traveling roads he never knew existed, toward a war he never suspected was brewing. Before long he and Seregil are embroiled in a sinister plot that runs deeper than either can imagine, and that may cost them far more than their lives if they fail. But fortune is as unpredictable as Alec’s new mentor, and this time there just might be…Luck in the Shadows.

Last night around nine or so, I was about seventy pages away from finishing Luck in the Shadows. I looked at my husband and asked: “Can we go to Borders? Now? Before they close?” Ten minutes later we were at the store and the second book in the Nightrunner series, Stalking Darkness, was in my hand, ready for purchase.

It’s been too long since I’ve read a bit of sword and sorcery fantasy, but if there was a series to choose to get back into it, this would be it. At least for me and mostly due to the fact that, in large part, the book is character driven. So I’ll start there with Alec and Seregil. Flewelling doesn’t necessarily go out of her way to give up details on these two, but by subtle actions and repeated actions she paints a vivid picture. I was immediately drawn in by the bond that develops between them, the sense of loyalty and trust that is freely – if unexpectedly – given. It is their desire to see the other safe that makes the action so exciting at times. Plus, there are secondary characters that, along with Alec and Seregil, form a fellowship of sorts and, again, that bond is very rewarding.

Center stage in this novel is intrigue. It may be bolstered by magic, but there is definitely a mystery to be solved, a plot to be discovered by our network of spies, and at times even I couldn’t keep up (in a good way, if you know what I mean.) This aspect kept the plot moving forward at a fast pace and doesn’t completely find resolution at the end of the first book.

It’s probably evident, but I really enjoyed Luck in the Shadows; I’m extremely grateful that I found this series at all, really, as the early books were released in the late 90′s. And what makes it even better is that Flewelling is releasing a new book, Shadows Return, this June. {I love Michael Komarck’s cover art for that one, too. —>} There is a whole lot of information on the Nightrunner series on Flewelling’s website that I’ve yet to explore, but as soon as a free moment can be found that’s where I’ll be headed.

Back to my, ahem, Studies

Once again, I just couldn’t resist. The day after I finished Poison Study I bought both Magic Study and Fire Study; because of my class, I figured that it would be easy enough to set them aside in favor of doing actual coursework. Yeah. Right. I spent the majority of Friday lost in the forests of Sitia alongside Yelena and Valek.

I’m not going to do an actual review of Magic Study because I don’t want to risk giving anything away. However, that won’t stop me from saying that I loved the second book as much as the first, that it caught me up again, carrying me along with the wonderful characters Snyder created. And, oddly enough, it’s because of how much I enjoyed the first two that I am going to do my absolute utmost to not read Fire Study for awhile.

Though I’m not sure, I have a sneaking suspicion that these books comprise a trilogy rather than a series, so once I finish Fire Study that’s it. I can’t go back and recapture the feeling of that first time read {though I will go back to them time and again, I’m sure of it,} and there won’t be any new adventures with Yelena to look forward to. So I’ll put off reading Fire Study for as long as I can stand {my track record is a good indicator that it won’t be very long at all, unfortunately.}

On the sorta bright side, though, it looks like Snyder has something new** in the works for her fans. Storm Glass looks to be the first in either a series or trilogy and she has an excerpt/synopsis available on her website. It looks like it’s going to be fantastic. Still, I’ll be hoping and praying that I’m wrong about the Study books, and that there will indeed be more to come!

**Now I see that Storm Glass is related to the Study books, but, still, I want more Yelena and Valek!

Poison Study ~ Maria V. Snyder

…A Once Upon a Time II Challenge Read

About to be executed for murder, Yelena is offered an extraordinary reprieve. She’ll eat the best meals, have rooma in the palace–and risk assassination by anyone trying to kill the Commander of Ixia.

And so Yelena chooses to become a food taster. But the chief of security, leaving nothing to chance, deliberately feeds her Butterfly’s Dust–and only by appearing for her daily antidote will she delay an agonizing death from the poison.

As Yelena tries to escape her new dilemma, disasters keep mounting. Rebels plot to seize Ixia and Yelena develops magical powers she can’t control. Her life is threatened again and choices must be made. But this time the outcomes aren’t so clear…

Forewarned is forearmed, right? So then make sure before you start Poison Study you have Magic Study close to hand. I didn’t and am now chafing at the knowledge that I’ll have to wait who knows how long to see how Yelena’s story continues.

Though vastly different, Poison Study was slightly reminiscent of Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series; they are both grounded in a rich historical atmosphere that occasionally takes precedence over the fantasy elements of the story. In this installment of Snyder’s series, magic takes a backseat to intrigue, tactics and politics; as a result, tension is tight throughout, and the reader wonders along with Yelena if she’ll survive another day. That wonder was only one of many things that kept me racing through this novel.

Adept with characterization, Snyder created a cast that runs the gamut from sympathetic to repugnant; while some are fleshed out better than others, there isn’t one that doesn’t seem to lift from the pages, able to walk in our world as easily as they do in their own. Of particular interest, of course, is Yelena who is a study in contrasting personalities; she is at once believably naïve and cynical, brave yet foolish, intelligent if daunted by things she knows nothing about. In short, she’s human. Also of note is Valek, the Commander’s right hand man and the one responsible for giving Yelena a choice; I don’t want to go into detail here because it would spoil the discovery, but Snyder handled his character with a subtle touch that makes the resolution of the story rewarding rather than unrealistic.

I sat down with this book yesterday afternoon and by midnight it was finished; the problem was I wanted to go back because without Magic Study I couldn’t go forward. Luckily, a quick trip to Snyder’s website revealed a short story that takes up events immediately after the conclusion of Poison Study, focusing on Valek. {If you plan on reading this one, you may want to bookmark the story now.}

Suffice to say, I thoroughly enjoyed Poison Study. What a fantastic and satisfying way to start off Once Upon a Time II!!