Book Review: No Mercy

No Mercy by Sherrilyn Kenyon

No Mercy by Sherrilyn Kenyon is another exciting book that ties both Kenyon's Dark-Hunter and Were-Hunter world.  While in all of her books since she has included the three different types of hunters there is usually a mention or involved in one of the books, but this is the first time that two different types were involved romantically.  Again Kenyon brings her love of history, mythology, humor and suspense with a spice of romance into another one of novels.  This is of course a romance novel but Kenyon has through the years kind of underplayed it and had made it more suspenseful.

The story follows two of Kenyon's characters who have either have had a part of have been mentioned in previous books.  These are characters that we were already familiar with and loved.  The two characters are Dev and Samia.  Dev is a were-hunter who is a bear and Samia is a Dark-Hunter.  These two should never mix in a romantic setting but unfortunately it has happened.  Which is a common theme in the Dark-Hunter series by Kenyon.  Dev is a Were-Hunter who is of mix breeding, his father is an Arcadian and mother is a Katagarian.  He is special because he was chosen by the fates to be a Arcadian sentinel.  Which means he is supposed to hunt the Katagarians.  Because of this knowledge Dev has always been weird and different.  Samia is an ancient Amazonian Queen murdered by her own sister, wishing to take her crown.  As she watched her husband and toddler daughter get murdered she vowed revenge selling her soul to the very goddess Artemis that she served in her mortal life.  Like all Dark-Hunters she was given a gift, but her gift is more her curse than anything else.  She can see a persons past just by touching them.  Because of this her sex life had been seriously lacking.  Dev is special to her because when she touches him she gets nothing making him a safe zone.  With the addition to the romance between Dev and Samia, there are up against what is called a super daimon.  Which is a daimon that has adapted to be able to go into the sunlight, which leaves the Dark-Hunters at a large disadvantage because they aren't allowed to go into the sun still.

Again when it comes to Sherrilyn Kenyon it's hard for me to be objective.  But I do have to say, this book wasn't nearly as memorable as some of her other books.  It was still good and I enjoyed reading it, but almost two months after finishing it and finally writing the review, there really isn't a whole lot of parts that sticks out to me.  One of the few parts that I do remember is in all honestly is the tale of Dev and Samia's pasts.  They are both heartbreaking and you definitely feel their pain, Sherrilyn Kenyon is a very good story teller when it comes to expressing painful experiences.

So in the end, I still enjoyed the book, but like I said, it wasn't as exciting as some of Kenyon's other books, but if you're a fan of the Dark-Hunter Saga by Sherrilyn Kenyon this is a definite must to have to read and to have in your collection.

Rating:
3.5 out of 5

On Deck:
Death at Seaworld by David Kirby
The Warrior by Kinley MacGregor
Keeper of the Crystal Spring by Naomi and Deborah Baltuck

So just as a quick note, I was thinking about doing video reviews to go with my written review.  Tell me what you all think.

Book Review: Thristy

Thirsty by M.T. Anderson

So I know I was supposed to be reading a different book, but I'm having a hard time get into so I switched to this book.

Anyway, Thirsty is a young adult novel written by M.T. Anderson.  This is the first book that I've ever read by this author but I got the book from when I worked at the book store.  This book is in the horror genre and is vampire themed, and no they do not sparkle.  The book was published in 1997 and a lot of the language and descriptions are very much set in the late 90's.

The basis of the book is Chris is a high school freshman and all he wants to do is hang out with friends and date Rebecca Schwartz.  Unfortunately life isn't going to be that simple for Chris.  He goes with his brother to a Lynching (which is where the court house executes a vampire) and starts to feel funny.  He feels thirsty.  A few days later he is contacted by a celestial being who needs his help to hold the Vampire Lord Tch'muchgar in his prison and he needs Chris to do it.  With the promise that Chet the celestial being will reverse the vampirism Chris helps him.

Now I have to say I also had a hard time getting into this book because I had a really hard time following the lingo that was used in the dialogue.  Plus the main character Chris is your stereotypical whiny teenage so I had a hard time liking the character.  But about halfway through the book the plot twists and that got my attention.  You find out that Chet the celestial being isn't a good guy and Chris was tricked.  In fact it was hilarious how Chris get getting fooled.  And in the end, he is still a vampire who is heading towards a lynching of his own.

One thing that did put me off though is that there was really no explanation about what was really going on with the vampire vs human aspect.  You pretty much read the book not knowing whats going on and how things came to be.  The author concentrated mainly on Chris and his want to be human and his need to "help" the world but in the end he was tricked and even though he did essentially save the world by killing Tch'muchgar it was what Tch'muchgar paid Chet to do.  So in the end there is really no resolve to the book, it just is.  This book doesn't have a sequel so you're left to assume that Chris will eventually be lynched.

Thirsty was a pretty quick read but I was also hard to get into because a lot of the pages consist of Chris's whining and that got on my nerves.  But I do have to say that it was nice to read a book where the main character isn't really a hero so that was a bit different.  It was an all right book but it isn't something that will be going into any future bakers dozen's anytime soon.

Rating:
2 out of 5

On Deck:
Confessions of a Sociopathic Social Climber by Adele Lang
Invincible by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Bad Boys to Go (anthology)
Return of the Warrior by Kinley MacGregor

Baker's Dozen 2

So I'm back with another installment of my baker's dozen

Demon in my View by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes is on this list because it was kind of a first for me.  And just as a word of warning, a lot of the books on this list aren't necessarily fantastic literary giants, but are first for me so they have a lasting impression.  This book is one of those.

This book was one of the books that I read after I had gotten burned out on V.C. Andrews books, and this was also my very first young adult novel that I had ever read.  Actually no it wasn't.  In the Forest of the Night by the same author was actually the first book that I had ever read in this genre, but this one has more of a lasting impression that the first one.

Now the book itself is only about 170 pages so it wasn't a very long book, but I was fourteen when I read this book.  I think what first interested me into reading this book was that I saw some review or snippet about the book and I read that the author wrote her first book when she was 14 and this one when she was 16, and because I was close to that age and at the time had dreams of being a published author I thought 'I need to read this.'  And I'm glad I did.  After reading probably 20 or so V.C. Andrews books, I was kind of burnt out of reading the same thing.  This was completely different than anything that I have ever read before so it helped renew my love for reading when I was younger.

This book is about Vampires, yes, people wrote about vampires in the young adult section long before Twilight, and this held a little bit of romance but not too much that as a young teen I would have been grossed out.  Atwater-Rhodes wrote her vampire tales in the classic idea of the breed, their violent, search for blood and are the ultimate apex predator.  But she also wrote about how they are essentially a family and they wish to keep their secrets hidden.  They can go out in sunlight, go to church, aren't terrified of garlic (though the smell is very pungent to their keen sense of smell.)  But I liked how the author wrote out the whole history and family in such a small book.  And looking back at it as an adult now, I'm very impressed that she wrote so beautifully at such a young age.

Now I mentioned that there was a bit of romance in the story but it wasn't over blown, and that it true, essentially what happens is that Jessica is human and Aubrey is vampire (sound familiar huh?).  But Aubrey has every intention of killing Jessica because she is a published author and wrote a story about Aubrey without realizing that it is true.  But in the end they fall in love and become mates, and Jessica becomes a vampire.  But I think what pulled me into the story wasn't the love it was how detailed the author was about who the character Jessica was, how she came to be, what her past was, how she was tied into the vampire book from birth.

This is a stand-alone book, but the character Aubrey has a brief appearance in In the Forest of the Night but you never hear from the characters again in any of Amelia Atwater-Rhodes following vampire books (now I've read that she has released more books that are kind of sequel's to some of her other vampire books so maybe she will have more on this couples story) so she ends the book in a way that you aren't left guessing what's going to happen to the characters.  You get the feel that their going to be ok.

Although this book is relatively simple and easy to read I had to put this on my list simply because it was a first for me.  It was my first young adult novel that I had ever read and it was also my first vampire themed book that I read.