Newfangled 52 - July Edition

Art by Simini Blocker

Summer Reading had me a blast.....

Sorry, I take back the bad Grease reference but for some reason I couldn't get it out of my head 

How is your summer going? Mine is filled with long walks in the sun, sunburns and heat stroke, catching Pokemon, summer weddings and, of course, reading.

This is what I read so far this summer:

Bride of Death (Marla Mason #7)

by T.A. Pratt

243 Pages (8:46 Hours)

Marla Mason has been a mercenary, chief sorcerer and protector of an entire city, and an occult detective, and now she's a goddess of Death... but only part-time. She gets to spend six months a year living as a mortal woman on Earth, and she's decided to devote those months to hunting monsters for fun and personal redemption. Armed with axe and dagger, with the living severed head of her worst enemy in a birdcage for a traveling companion, she sets off by motorcycle into the American Southwest on a journey of self-discovery and other-destruction.

I love how this series keeps surprising me and keeps making me want to listen book after book. Some series get tiring after awhile, but I find that I continue to enjoy this more as time goes by. I mean, I never really thought that the whole Goddess of Death thing would become as big of a plot as it has and watching Marla trying to "Do Better" is rather amusing to watch. I can't wait to find out what antics she gets up to next.

Avempartha (The Riyria Revelations #2)

by Michael J. Sullivan

378 Pages 

THE SECRET IS IN THE TOWER. THE PROBLEM IS THE BEAST. THE ANSWER IS TWO THIEVES.

When a destitute young woman hires two thieves to help save her remote village from nocturnal attacks, they are drawn into the schemes of the wizard Esrahaddon. While Royce struggles to breech the secrets of an ancient elven tower, Hadrian attempts to rally the villagers to defend themselves against the unseen killer. What begins with the simple theft of a sword places the two thieves at the center of a firestorm — that could change the future of Elan.

This RBA book was unexpected, as I had picked up the first book to read and found out while reading that it was an Omnibus, containing the first two books of the series. Thus it became twice as hard to read it for the challenge. 

This book is pretty fun in a easy sort of way. It's like watching a crappy action movie. The characters don't have much depth and the fight scenes are fun and it encourages me to read the rest of the series.

The False Prince (The Ascendance Trilogy #1)

by Jennifer A. Nielsen

352 Pages (8:14 Hours)

In a discontent kingdom, civil war is brewing. To unify the divided people, Conner, a nobleman of the court, devises a cunning plan to find an impersonator of the king’s long-lost son and install him as a puppet prince. Three orphans are recruited to compete for the role, including a defiant boy named Sage. Sage knows that Conner’s motives are more than questionable, yet his life balances on a sword’s point—he must be chosen to play the prince or he will certainly be killed. But Sage’s rivals have their own agendas as well.

Ever pick up a book on a recommendation based on something you've already read? That was the case with this book. It had been recommended to me through Audible, and I threw it in my wishlist. It came up on sale for a few bucks and I decided to pick it up and listen to it while I waited for my next credit to come in. I should've just gone back to Tower Lord (my in-between audiobook). This was YA but meant more for boys of a younger age. I can see that it would've been something I's have enjoyed when I was a teenager, but I feel too old for it now. The twist was so obvious that I was almost surprised that it was real. Maybe I've just read too much fantasy over the years to not see it immediately. I don't think that I will be getting the next books unless they somehow end up offering them for free.

Robopocalypse (Robopocalypse #1)

by Daniel H. Wilson

396 Pages

They are in your house. They are in your car. They are in the skies…Now they’re coming for you.

In the near future, at a moment no one will notice, all the dazzling technology that runs our world will unite and turn against us. Taking on the persona of a shy human boy, a childlike but massively powerful artificial intelligence known as Archos comes online and assumes control over the global network of machines that regulate everything from transportation to utilities, defense and communication. In the months leading up to this, sporadic glitches are noticed by a handful of unconnected humans – a single mother disconcerted by her daughter’s menacing “smart” toys, a lonely Japanese bachelor who is victimized by his domestic robot companion, an isolated U.S. soldier who witnesses a ‘pacification unit’ go haywire – but most are unaware of the growing rebellion until it is too late.

When the Robot War ignites -- at a moment known later as Zero Hour -- humankind will be both decimated and, possibly, for the first time in history, united. Robopocalypse is a brilliantly conceived action-filled epic, a terrifying story with heart-stopping implications for the real technology all around us…and an entertaining and engaging thriller unlike anything else written in years.

While passing one of the little libraries in my neighborhood, I saw this peaking out. Now my first thought was that it was the novel that inspired Robotropolis, an amazingly bad movie that you have to watch if you ever come across it. Then I remembered that the cover was plastered all over the subways when it came out and the rating for it were really good. I can see why. It was a fun read. I enjoyed the multiple perspectives this showed from people around the world, who made a difference in the war in their own ways and not just one hero's story. 

Fangirl

by Rainbow Rowell

438 Pages

A coming-of-age tale of fanfiction, family and first love

CATH IS A SIMON SNOW FAN. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan... But for Cath, being a fan is her life--and she's really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it's what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fanfiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere. 

Cath's sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can't let go. She doesn't want to. 

Now that they're going to college, Wren has told Cath that she doesn't want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She's got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend; a fiction-writing professor who thinks fanfiction is the end of the civilized world; a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words...and she can't stop worrying about her dad, who's loving and fragile and has never really been alone

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

This book reminded me why I love fantasy so much. It's so much easier to dive into a world that is so unlike our own. And with fanfiction, we can make our favorite characters do as we please. 

This book was harder than I thought it would be to read. It hit me in places I didn't realize were vulnerable. It was hard to escape into when I so badly wanted to escape from the feelings it was making me have, yet it was so good, I couldn't put it down. 

I'm really curious to pick up Carry On and hear the whole story that Cath wrote. I think it's great that Rainbow Rowell actually wrote the whole thing and published it for this reason. That's pretty cool.

Summer with My Sisters

by Holly Chamberlin

352 Pages

Bestselling author Holly Chamberlin’s heartfelt novel, set in a beautiful Maine beach town, tells of three sisters—and one summer filled with revelations…

When Poppy Higgins left Yorktide, Maine, for Boston, she pictured future visits home as brief diversions from her real life in the big city. Fate had different ideas, and at twenty-five, Poppy has been called back to care for her two younger sisters following their father’s death.

Sixteen-year-old Daisy resents Poppy’s long absence and chafes under her sometimes fumbling efforts to be a parent. Violet, now thirteen, is a virtual stranger to her oldest sister. Once a happy, united family, the Higginses seem adrift, and Poppy longs to escape her responsibilities. But when Daisy befriends Evie, an enigmatic newcomer to Yorktide, the young woman will be an unlikely catalyst in the sisters’ journey back to each other. For as Poppy discovers the deep loss in Evie’s life, she awakens to the truth about her own, and about the town, and the people, she’s tried to leave behind.

Filled with the candid warmth of real sisterhood, Summer with My Sisters explores the many forms a family can take, and the unspoken ties that endure, season after season…

After Fangirl, I needed a bit of a fluff book and this was perfect. It was a great example of a book that starts out with imperfect relationships and ends with a happily ever after for everyone. Just what I needed. None of the problems were overly intense as if knowing that I needed something easy. Not to underplay the seriousness of the issues they were dealing with; homelessness, the loss of loved ones, anxiety attacks, prescription drug addiction, are all super serious, but the book handled them with ease and not a lot of intense emotion.

Books that I am currently reading

Tower Lord (Raven's Shadow #2)

by Anthony Ryan

425 of 602 Pages (17:03 of 24:39 Hours)

A Fine Balance

by Rohinton Mistry

65 of 603 Pages

Ascent of Women
by Sally Armstrong
70 of 320 Pages

The Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame
90 of 228 Pages

The Black Prism (Lightbringer #1)

by Brent Weeks 

102 of 661 Pages

Empire of Storms (Throne of Glass #5)

by Sarah J. Maas

471 of 704 Pages (19:38 of 25:23 Hours)

Newfangled 52 - March Edition

Art by Kate Or Die

March is finally over... thank goodness for that. It's my least favorite month of the year. It finally starts to warm up, the snow melts, we go from winter coat weather to sweater weather and the trees begin to bud.... then snow storm.... and my hopes for spring are crushed. Every year I tell myself that I won't get my hopes up, but I always do. This year I decided that my energy was better spent reading than getting worked up over the weather.

Here's what I read this month:

A Thousand Nights (A Thousand Nights #1)

by E.K. Johnston

352 Pages

 Lo-Melkhiin killed three hundred girls before he came to her village, looking for a wife. When she sees the dust cloud on the horizon, she knows he has arrived. She knows he will want the loveliest girl: her sister. She vows she will not let her be next.

And so she is taken in her sister's place, and she believes death will soon follow. Lo-Melkhiin's court is a dangerous palace filled with pretty things: intricate statues with wretched eyes, exquisite threads to weave the most beautiful garments. She sees everything as if for the last time. But the first sun rises and sets, and she is not dead. Night after night, Lo-Melkhiin comes to her and listens to the stories she tells, and day after day she is awoken by the sunrise. Exploring the palace, she begins to unlock years of fear that have tormented and silenced a kingdom. Lo-Melkhiin was not always a cruel ruler. Something went wrong.

Far away, in their village, her sister is mourning. Through her pain, she calls upon the desert winds, conjuring a subtle unseen magic, and something besides death stirs the air.

Back at the palace, the words she speaks to Lo-Melkhiin every night are given a strange life of their own. Little things, at first: a dress from home, a vision of her sister. With each tale she spins, her power grows. Soon she dreams of bigger, more terrible magic: power enough to save a king, if she can put an end to the rule of a monster.

In my search for more fairy tale based stories, I came across this one. I've never really known One Thousand and One Arabian Nights, but I've always been intrigued by it. I really enjoyed this story, although she herself didn't really tell stories like I was expecting. This was more about her time in the palace trying to figure out a way to survive and uncovering the truth behind why so many women have come before her and what she can do to be the last.

The Elite (The Selection #2)

by Kiera Cass

337 Pages (7:42 Hours)

The Selection gets fierce as rivals stake their claim on the Prince.

Six girls, one life-changing prize…

America Singer will leave her pre-destined life for a world of glamour and luxury, if she wins…

But surviving The Selection is tough. Rivals are battling to become Prince Maxon’s bride as the threat of rebel violence just beyond the palace walls escalates into war.

Only six girls are left and sworn friendships are tested to breaking point. America’s feelings for Maxon grow stronger, but she suspects darker mysteries in his royal past. With ex-lover Aspen waiting for her in the shadows, where do her loyalties truly lie?

Although on the outside, this book seems really shallow (and it can be) I'm really enjoying the subplots of this series. What are the rebels after? What is the King really involved with? Is her father all he seems? What else will she learn about the first King of Ilea and how bad was he actually?
I don't really care about the Selection or the other girls involved, other than Marlee (how could you!) and the love triangle left me wanting both guys to abandon her. I almost want Maxon to pick one of the other girls so I'd get to read about her instead.
Oh well, we can only hope that she will make up her mind before the next book is over and since the book series titles pretty much give away who she's going to choose, I can only hope that this triangle will be left behind soon.

Snapshot

by Brandon Sanderson

129 Pages (2:23 Hours)

Snapshot is a Science Fiction detective story following Anthony Davis, a cop assigned to Snapshot Duty. In this vivid world that author Brandon Sanderson has built, society can create a snapshot of a specific day in time. The experiences people have, the paths they follow—all of them are real again for a one day in the snapshot. All for the purposes of investigation by the court. 

Davis’s job as a cop on Snapshot Duty is straight forward. Sometimes he is tasked with finding where a criminal dumped a weapon. Sometimes he is tasked with documenting domestic disputes. Simple. Mundane. One day, in between two snapshot assignments, Davis decides to investigate the memory of a call that was mysteriously never logged at the precinct, and he makes a horrifying discovery.

As in all many stories, Snapshot follows a wonderfully flawed character as he attempts to solve a horrific crime. Sanderson proves that no matter the genre, he is one of the most skilled storytellers in the business.

Another great short story by Sanderson. I find it's sometimes hard to build a new world in a short story and make it both complex and believable without running out of time to tell the actual story, but Sanderson pulls it off masterfully. I can see the appeal of wanting snapshot technology to solve crimes that have already happened. But what would living in that reality over and over again do to you as a person, knowing that you are only seeing shadows of people's lives, but never being apart of their real life? What would it be like for one of those people they reveal themselves to, finding out that you're not real? How would you react?

Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day

by Seanan McGuire

183 Pages (4:37 Hours)

When her sister Patty died, Jenna blamed herself. When Jenna died, she blamed herself for that, too. Unfortunately Jenna died too soon. Living or dead, every soul is promised a certain amount of time, and when Jenna passed she found a heavy debt of time in her record. Unwilling to simply steal that time from the living, Jenna earns every day she leeches with volunteer work at a suicide prevention hotline.

But something has come for the ghosts of New York, something beyond reason, beyond death, beyond hope; something that can bind ghosts to mirrors and make them do its bidding. Only Jenna stands in its way.

This was a neat story about the afterlife. What happens when you die too soon? Ghosts are everywhere, trying to make a living or trying to catch up on their deaths. That time is constantly in exchange between those wanting less and those wanting more. It's a neat concept. I like the thought of Ghosts working at a suicide helpline, trying to help people who don't want to live anymore and knowing what the consequences might be for them.

Mirror Sight (Green Rider #5)

by Kristen Britain

784 Pages

Karigan G’ladheon is a Green Rider—a seasoned member of the elite messenger corps of King Zachary of Sacoridia. King Zachary sends Karigan and a contingent of Sacoridians beyond the edges of his nation, into the mysterious Blackveil Forest, which has been tainted with dark magic by a twisted immortal spirit named Mornhavon the Black.

At the end of Blackveil, in a magical confrontation against Mornhavon, Karigan is jolted out of Blackveil Forest and wakes in darkness. She’s lying on smooth, cold stone, but as she reaches out, she realizes that the stone is not just beneath her, but above and around her as well. She’s landed in a sealed stone sarcophagus, some unknown tomb, and the air is becoming thin.

Is this to be her end? If she escapes, where will she find herself? Is she still in the world she remembers, or has the magical explosion transported her somewhere completely different? To find out, she must first win free of her prison— before it becomes her grave. And should she succeed, will she be walking straight into a trap created by Mornhavon himself?

Mirror Sight is the highly-anticipated fifth installment of the Green Rider series.

I guess they couldn't all be good books. I've really been enjoying this series, but this book made me sad and hurt my eyes, since I couldn't stop rolling them. The back of the book doesn't tell you anything about it other than the first few pages when she wake up.... in the future!
Yes, she's in the future, 200 years to be exact and not only that, but she's in a Steampunk dystopian!

But why? you ask. And that's the same question I asked myself through the whole book.
Why? Why did she have to go to the future? Did it do anything for the overarching plot? Not anything that couldn't have been covered by a short chapter arch of her being swept forward like Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Future like they've done with past events.
But what about all the side characters that you love so much? Don't worry, you get brief glimpses of them and then a 6 month time gap, but everyone's cool about it.

Edge of Tomorrow

by Hiroshi Sakurazaka

266 Pages

When the alien Mimics invade, Keiji Kiriya is just one of many raw recruits shoved into a suit of battle armor called a Jacket and sent out to kill. Keiji dies on the battlefield, only to be reborn each morning to fight and die again and again. On his 158th iteration, he gets a message from a mysterious ally - the female soldier known as the Full Metal Bitch. Is she the key to Keiji’s escape or his final death?

I really liked this movie. For a Groundhog Day-esqe film, it did reliving the same day rather well. When I found the book, I thought it might have been a novelization of the movie, but quickly discovered that the movie was based on the book All You Need Is Kill and then later renamed.
It was a lot better than the movie in a lot of ways. The repeat day is handled better and you get a lot more information about what is happening in the world and to him. It also has a totally different ending that is much less happy and Hollywood than the movie is. I think I might like the Hollywood ending better, but it's certainly not as interesting.

Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass #3)

by Sarah J. Maas

592 Pages (20:18 Hours)

Celaena has survived deadly contests and shattering heartbreak - but at an unspeakable cost. Now, she must travel to a new land to confront her darkest truth - a truth about her heritage that could change her life - and her future - forever. Meanwhile, brutal and monstrous forces are gathering on the horizon, intent on enslaving her world. Will Celaena find the strength to not only fight her inner demons, but to take on the evil that is about to be unleashed?

The best-selling series that has captured readers all over the world reaches new heights in this sequel to the New York Times best-selling Crown of Midnight. Packed with heart-pounding action, fierce new characters, and swoon-worthy romance, this third book will enthrall readers from start to finish.

This must have been the month with let-down sequels. It's not that this book wasn't good, it was, but it wasn't great and that's what I wanted. Celaena spends a lot of this book trying to run away from who she is and her feelings. I understand the hardship of figuring all of that out, but it made the book feel rather stagnant. I appreciated when she finally faced her demons and started to develop as a character once more. The book got much more interesting after that.
It was more of the side characters that made this book for me. I enjoyed Aedon and Chaol's tentative alliance as they search for answers and Dorian's search to end his magic. I'm guessing that the "swoon-worthy romance" they talk about is between Dorian and Sorscha, but I didn't find myself swooning. If any relationship is worth mentioning, it's Celaena and Rowan's friendship. What started as them almost hating one another turned into a rather beautiful friendship that I hope does NOT evolve into a relationship.

Bone Shop (Marla Mason 0.1)
by T.A. Pratt

244 Pages

Bone Shop explores the origins of ass-kicking sorcerer Marla Mason. Long before she became the Witch Queen of Felport, or the Bride of Death, Marla was a teenage runaway with no inkling of the dark magic that underpins the world. Bone Shop chronicles her rough beginnings, her apprenticeship, her years as a mercenary magician, and her eventual rise to power — navigating dangers including supernatural serial killers, cursed artifacts, and doomed young love.

This novella was originally written as a serial on T.A. Pratt's website, as well as some of his other books. I've been meaning to read it for years but didn't realize that it was a prequel and wanted to catch up on the rest of the books.
This book tells the story of Marla's early days that we hear about in bits and pieces in the other books. We finally get to know Artie Mann and how he changed Marla's life, we see how she got the cursed cloak that later causes so much trouble and we see how she rose to become Chief Sorcerer of Felport, but also, we get let in on a few heart breaking pieces of the puzzle that we never knew shaped Marla as much as it did. This story is different from his other works because it spans so much time, years in fact, when we are used to reading about short chunks of Marla's life.

Siege and Storm (The Grisha #2)

by Leigh Bardugo

465 Pages (11:52 Hours)

Darkness never dies.

Hunted across the True Sea, haunted by the lives she took on the Fold, Alina must try to make a life with Mal in an unfamiliar land. She finds starting new is not easy while keeping her identity as the Sun Summoner a secret. She can’t outrun her past or her destiny for long.

The Darkling has emerged from the Shadow Fold with a terrifying new power and a dangerous plan that will test the very boundaries of the natural world. With the help of a notorious privateer, Alina returns to the country she abandoned, determined to fight the forces gathering against Ravka. But as her power grows, Alina slips deeper into the Darkling’s game of forbidden magic, and farther away from Mal. Somehow, she will have to choose between her country, her power, and the love she always thought would guide her--or risk losing everything to the oncoming storm.

Again, not as good as the first book, this book was still pretty good.

This book starts with Alina and Mal on the run from the Darkling and almost immediately they get caught... again.

Rescued by a pirate who turns out to be the second son to the King, Alina decides it's time to go back to Ravka and build an army to fight the Darkling. But in the dark of night she begins to see him in the shadows, yet know one else can. 

He search for more power starts to become all consuming and I'm beginning to wonder if she will end up being a bit of a villain, but I guess I won't find out until the next book.

The Too-Clever Fox (The Grisha #2.5)

by Leigh Bardugo

32 Pages (0:36 Hours)

In Ravka, just because you avoid one trap, it doesn't mean you'll escape the next. This story is a companion folk tale to Leigh Bardugo's upcoming book, Siege and Storm, the second book in the Grisha Trilogy

This story is referenced a few times during Siege and Storm and it's neat to be able to actually read the folk tale. It's a nice extra touch of Bardugo's world building. Now I just need to get my hands on the other ones.

Books that I am currently reading

Vision of the Future (Star Wars: The Hand of Thrawn #2)

by Timothy Zahn

82 of 694 Pages

Tower Lord (Raven's Shadow #2)

by Anthony Ryan

389 of 602 Pages (24:39 Hours)

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (Extraordinary Voyages #6)
by Jules Verne
75 of 394 Pages

An Abundance of Katherines

by John Green

42 of 229 Pages (6:48 Hours)

A Fine Balance

by Rohinton Mistry

30 of 603 Pages

The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard #1)

by Scott Lynch

243 of 502 Pages

Marla Mason Books - A Review

I love to read. I always try and read a bit every day, from the bus to and from work, in a nice hot bath, cuddling with my sweetie on the couch or tucked in bed before I go to sleep.

Because I'm such an avid reader, I have a tendency to run out of books by the authors that I like. I wait patiently for the next installment to come out, and unless it's Wheel of Time, for it to come out in paperback. So in the mean time, I'm constantly looking for new authors to fill the void with.

Some times, nay, most times I end up very disappointed when picking up new books, but every once and awhile, I come across a reading gem and discover a new author that captivates me completely.

This was the case with T.A. Pratt.

I first was introduced to him, via one of my favorite websites Geek Orthodox. He was doing a review on the latest book and I was immediately captured by the cover image.

A few weeks later when I was at The Worlds Biggest Bookstore with my best friend Eric, I saw the cover again and immediately picked it up, only to discover that it was the forth book in the series.

I've been weary about series as of late, due to forcing myself to read a few crappy ones, but after reading the back of Blood Engines (book 1), I found myself intrigued.

Meet Marla Mason-smart, saucy, slightly wicked witch of the East Coast.…

Sorcerer Marla Mason, small-time guardian of the city of Felport, has a big problem. A rival is preparing a powerful spell that could end Marla's life-and, even worse, wreck her city. Marla's only chance of survival is to boost her powers with the Cornerstone, a magical artifact hidden somewhere in San Francisco. But when she arrives there, Marla finds that the quest isn't going to be quite as cut-and-dried as she expected…and that some of the people she needs to talk to are dead. It seems that San Francisco's top sorcerers are having troubles of their own-a mysterious assailant has the city's magical community in a panic, and the local talent is being (gruesomely) picked off one by one.
With her partner-in-crime, Rondeau, Marla is soon racing against time through San Francisco's alien streets, dodging poisonous frogs, murderous hummingbirds, cannibals, and a nasty vibe from the local witchery, who suspect that Marla herself may be behind the recent murders. And if Marla doesn't figure out who is killing the city's finest in time, she'll be in danger of becoming a magical statistic herself.…

Hello Marla, nice to meet you. Wow, you get yourself into some pretty crazy situation!

This series follows the adventures of Marla Mason, an ass-kicking sorcerer who doesn’t wear a leather catsuit, doesn’t suffer from low self-esteem, doesn’t wallow in angst, and is almost always absolutely certain she’s right… even when she’s dead wrong.

It’s got monsters. It’s got sarcasm. It’s got death, destruction, sex parties, ancient gods, wisecracks, artifacts, oracles, dark alleys, and magical daggers. Come and see. - T.A. Pratt

Once I picked it up I couldn't put it down. The suspense and intrigue, the crazy characters, things I just would've never thought of, are all portrayed so well you just want to keep reading.

I read it in 3 days! I then had to scrounge up some money so I could go and buy Poison Sleep (book 2)!

The bad girl of the magical underworld is back and badder than ever.
Someone wants Marla Mason dead. Usually that's not news. As chief sorcerer of Felport, someone always wants her dead. But this time she's the target of a renegade assassin who specializes in killing his victims over days, months, or even years. Not to mention a mysterious knife-wielding killer in black who pops up in the most unexpected places. To make matters worse, an inmate has broken out of the Blackwing Institute for criminally insane sorcerers-a troubled psychic who can literally reweave the fabric of reality to match her own traumatic past.
With her wisecracking partner Rondeau reluctantly in tow, Marla teams up with a "love-talker" whose dangerous erotic spells not even she can resist. Together they're searching the rapidly transforming streets of Felport for a woman who's become the Typhoid Mary of nightmares, infecting everything-and everyone-she touches with a chaos worse than death itself.
 

I was so excited that this book was even better than the first one. I actually think that this is my favorite out of all of them. The concepts in it are just flooring. The melding of the real world, magical world and dream world are flawlessly done. Good guys are bad guys, bad guys are good guys, sometimes the characters are so in depth that you can really feel where they're coming from. People that were only briefly mentioned in the first book actually turn into real characters. I love when books do that.

I read this book in 2 days!!

Now this time I was prepared. I went out the next day and bought the next 2 books.

As soon as I got home I picked up Dead Reign (book 3) and started reading away.

 

Death has come calling, and one woman has what he wants most of all...

As chief sorcerer of Felport, Marla Mason thought she'd faced every kind of evil the magical world had to offer. But she's never faced a killer like this. He's dark, glib, handsome as the devil-and exactly who he says he is. Death-in the flesh. He's arrived in Felport with a posse composed of a half-insane necromancer and the reanimated corpse of John Wilkes Booth, and he isn't leaving until he gets what he came for. Only Marla is crazy enough to tell Death to go back to Hell.
With the Founders' Ball just around the bend, drawing together the brightest, meanest, and most dangerous of Felport's magical elite, the last thing Marla needs is all-out war with the King of the Underworld, but that's exactly what she's got. As the battle lines are drawn, she can count on her hedonistic, body-hopping partner Rondeau…but how many of her old allies will stand by her side when facing the ultimate adversary? To save her city, Marla will have to find a way to cheat Death…literally.

Also a great book. I mean how many books can you think of where the main character actually has to travel to Hell, confront her own demons, and find a way to take back what is rightfully hers. This book gives a lot of depth to Marla, as you finally find out more about her mysterious past that has been hinted about through the last two books. Also, the discovery of what is really hidden inside her magical cloak and the mystery behind her Dagger of Office. Also, there are lots of appearances from old friends and enemies who have been waiting to get back in touch with Marla Mason.

I think this one took me about a week to read. But as soon as it was finished, I couldn't wait to pick up the final book.

I had been waiting to read Spell Games (book 4) since the beginning. Would it be up to my now high expectations?

Brain-eating fungi, wannabe sorcerers, long-lost relations-does even a hard-core witch stand a chance?

Mad sorcerers, psychic vampires, an army of vengeful demons, Marla Mason would rather face them all than a flesh-and-blood ghost from her dysfunctional family past: her con artist brother, Jason. As Felport's chief sorcerer, Marla would ordinarily consider it her duty to protect her town from such an unscrupulous ne'er-do-well. As his sister, things are a lot…trickier. Now, as Marla attempts to train an apprentice oracle whose magical wires have gotten crossed, Jason is setting up an elaborate sting and drawing her ever-so-corruptible partner Rondeau into the ruse.
Their patsy is a filthy-rich wannabe mage and their bait is something so valuable, so dangerous, so sought after, it probably doesn't exist. But now word's gotten out that the Borrichius spores do exist and instead of a sucker Jason and Rondeau have a much bigger-and much deadlier-fish on their line: a reclusive sorcerer whose devotion to the mushroom god and command of vegetal magic could bring a fungal apocalypse to Felport. It'll be the mother of all bad trips unless Marla can pull off the ultimate magical switcheroo…and somehow live to tell about it.

I hate to say that I was a little disappointed in this book. I guess it's only to be expected after loving the other ones so much and my expectations being so high. On it's own, I'm sure I would've enjoyed it more, but compared to the others, it barley holds a candle to them. The characters are still good, but the story is missing something vital. I was glad to have Bradley back, but he was greatly overshadowed by Marla's brother Jason, who I really could've cared less about. The villains were kinda lame and the side characters weren't any better. Also, this book left off on an unresolved note, which had there been another book for me to go out and buy, wouldn't have bothered me so much.

So hurry up T.A. Pratt and write me more books*

Overall rating: 5 out of 5 stars

* I look forward to more books, but please take your time. As a writer, I know what it's liked to feel rushed and I don't wish that on you.