Nightlife (Cal Leandros, Book 1) by Rob Thurman Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Nightlife (Cal Leandros, Book 1)
Book Review: Genre back on track
Summary: 5 Stars
Finally, a book about Sidhe, Fey and creepy crawlies that is not overshadowed or mired down by sex. (Not that reading about sex is bad but lately this genre has been over run with sex scenes. The trend seems to be to add chapter long sex scenes seemingly taking the place of actual plot and character building IMO.)
Nightlife is fun and the characters are nicely quirky. (I really like the Boggle) It also provides a solid foundation for for the next book....which I am impatiently waiting on.
Book Review: Kill That Elf
Summary: 5 Stars
Having grown up with the hippy and new age set, I've always had this dream that I was really something a bit otherworldly - a pookah, or a mage, or even (if I could only become tall and thin) and elf. Something very cool and Tolkien. Imagine if you discovered that you really were an elf, but that far from being the fair folk, elves were down right mean and nasty. I don't mean archly evil, I mean ugly, smelly, critters that like to torture their meals before eating them. That's what happened to Caliban Leandros, and no, being a half-Auphe (or grendel) was decidedly not fun.
Cal is the result of a breeding program, his father an Auphe and his mother a hired receptacle. At an early age Cal was yanked into the Auphe dimension. When he suddenly reappeared he was without his memory and the target of monsters everywhere. In company with his brother Niko, Cal has been running and hiding ever since. Whatever the Auphe wanted him for, it was bad news, and being around Cal for a length of time was frequently fatal. Whatever was going on, it was becoming more intense, and Niko and Cal go on a desperate search for answers that has them team up with a beautiful vampire and a faun named Robin Goodfellow.
Cal isn't even safe inside himself. If being a creature with dark, malevolent urges isn't enough, Cal's mind is seized by a banshee, a darkling and the reader has the unnerving experience of having the narrator stay the same but his personality shift right into the dumps. Now Niko and Robin's problem is how to save the world and save Cal. A tough act in any case made harder by the fact that the new Cal is all for killing everyone, once and for all.
The story is told in that first person, tough and wisecracking style that has become popular lately. The problem with this approach is that it is very hard to do without sounding like a 50's mystery story. Cal and Niko's dialog sounds heavily teenage - more so than you would expect from folks who lived on the edge to total destruction. The story is original though, and my real complaint is the lengths Thurman is willing to go to rewrite the world of the Fae. Bad enough that his elves are all psychotic killers, Darkling is the one and only male banshee (a term that actually means female elf), in written literature. Thurman's problem, you will discover, is not poor writing or plotting, but an irritating lack of familiarity with the Western legends from which he draws his story.
I'll still credit this with being a decent read with a lot of original twists, just be prepared for a few winces at the humor and the twisted fairyology.
Book Review: To kill time...
Summary: 4 Stars
I picked it up because my friend was in the middle of it and was really submerged in the story.
I also found myself sucked into Cal's world of cynical innocence and typical teen angst. Big shocker there. It was a new world in this growing new genre, different enough to distinguish itself.
His ninja-eat-your-veggies-big brother was predictable but still endearing. I found myself enjoying his character...and wishing there was more TO enjoy.
Thurman's chars were fleshed out well...but other then the main char, there wasn't much depth. The story had a few good twists and the ending confrontation felt a little forced, but was still very enjoyable.
Definitely worth the time to sit down and finish.
The potential for a series is defiantly there.
Book Review: I didn't enjoy it.
Summary: 2 Stars
Set in modern day with a sprinkling of different mythical/fantastic creatures, this story takes on the situation of a boy born from a human and demon cross. Exactly why this has happened and what the consequences will be consumes the majority of the story.
The main character is a cynical, self-absorbed, boring twit. I didn't like him and his older brother is so noble and self-righteous that he is not beleivable. The idea for the story is fine, but I didn't like any of the characters, so basically I didn't like the book.
Ultimately I didn't enjoy the book because I need a character that I can identify with or at least sympathize with and the author gave me nothing to work with. It just wasn't up to the standards that I have come to critique this genre against.
Book Review: Excellent Dark Fantasy
Summary: 4 Stars
An Excellent Dark Fantasy. Definitly worth the purchase price. To add a bit of a spoiler, the book jolts you midway through when the main hero of the story becomes the primary villain of the story. Your in for quite a ride with this one.