Far From Reality

Storm Front
Author - Jim Butcher
Series - The Dresden Files #1
Genre - Urban Paranormal
Pages - 322

While texting my friend and talking about books, he mentioned the Dresden Files. I had seen the first episode on Netflix and liked it so I decided to give it a shot at his behest.

What can I really say about the book? I did not love it, but I did not dislike it either. It was sort of a middle ground for me, a solid 3 stars. The idea of a magical p.i… overdone. However, the book did keep me interested enough to finish it. Harry Dresden (I will not say his full name, it’s too long) is a wizard, the only wizard in his area, unfortunately he is broke. Because of this he decides to take a case from Monica Sells, her husband is missing. It is this plus the inclusion of a case from the cops that send Harry on a harrowing nightmare of cat and mouse for his life.

Alright, I made that sound better than it actually is. The book is quite stagnant. Nothing really happens, there is action but its pretty one-note. Harry gets his butt kicked, he gets out of bad situation by use of magic, rinse and repeat. Have I mentioned the other characters? No? well, you are not missing much. None of the other characters I really cared for. Not to say they are bad, they are just one-dimensional.

The love interest only comes on scene for a few pages and then disappears until the end, I forgot to also mention how dreadfully bad Harry is with women, Dreadfully. Freaking. Bad. I could go on and on, and I want to but ill end it now, Ill read the next book and possibly the rest, I just hope they get better. Although I heard the second one is the worst, I really hope I can get past it and get to the good stuff.

1. Grab your current read
2. Share two sentences from a random page, you can share more but not too much!
3. No Spoilers Please

Art by WhiteSpiritWolf

• Associated with Fire
• Features of the Hellhound can include black fur, sharp jagged teeth, fiery glowing red eyes, phatom-like abilities and may even be able to talk 
• According to legend if you stare into its eyes 3 times, you will definatly die
• Cerberus was a Hellhound
• Hellhounds were also a part of The Wild Hunt in Celtic mythology

Art by TheTyro

Nightlife
Author - Rob Thurman
Series - Cal Leandros #1
Genre - Urban Paranormal
Pages - 339





Nightlife starts off narrated by Cal (Caliban) a half human/half Grendel and his brother Niko. What is a Grendel? A monster, an ugly, mean and vicious little beast. Cal and Niko have been running from Grendels for a very long time, but this time is different. Everything changes for them and now they are fighting for their lives, and the lives of the entire world

. The author did a pretty good job with the book, this being her first. There were a few hiccups here and there, some characters were mentioned, but came and went and I wanted more. The female characters especially, the only one the author spends any true time on was Meredith and that wasn’t anything special. I wanted to know more about George and Promise, perhaps in the next book we will but in this one the females were stinted at best.

Now the male characters? They had personality, sure it’s a bit cookie-cutter, Niko is too perfect in body, mind and spirit but hes a terrific older brother and when he cut his hair I was devastated, when I found out why, I broke down and cried. Cal is a punk, not the cool kind with mohawks but hes sort of the ‘I don’t care, lazy, world-beaten’ type. He acted like his life was one big burden, sure I get hes been running but have a little enthusiasm and stop being so sarcastic! Robin was an interesting character as well, a little sex crazed and arrogant but hes a good guy at heart. I want to know more about him as well as Rafferty and Chaser.

 Besides Niko and Cal the other characters just fell short on backstory or description. However, I did fully enjoy this book, while not having an abundance of action it did keep me interested and entertained and I do look forward to when I start the next book (more George please?!)

Blood Cross
Author - Faith Hunter
Series - Jane Yellowrock #2
Pages - 321







For some reason I thought I had read the first book in this series (Skinwalker) but I had not, I will not read it however since the author does give enough back details to figure out what happened and not be lost.

 Blood Cross was an okay book, it wasn’t spectacular but it wasn’t horrible either, definatly less action than I like though. Jane Yellowrock is a skinwalker, she can shift into animals at will (painful as it is) but she really likes her mountain lion form the most. Beast, her inner big cat can talk to her and when she shifts she takes over as alpha, I liked Beast and I liked that she talked in short, clipped sentances it really felt cat-like, a big hunter dosnt need to waste time on words. Jane also hunts vampires, rogue young ones to be exact but she isn’t above killing the adult one or two if they get in her way or try to kill her, which happens from time to time.

 Jane is a good character, strong and independent but knows when she needs help. The other characters are good as well, I am really interested in Angelina and her powers, also im interested in Rick and how their relationship will develop, him being human and not knowing what Jane is. I will read the next book in the series and I hope it is better, it just seemed like I drudged through this one, without really letting it sink in and stick with me.