Review: The Cranes Dance by Meg Howrey

Title: The Cranes Dance

Author: Meg Howrey

Genre: contemporary, general fiction

Series: N/A

Pages: 386 (Nook ARC edition)

Published: expected May 15, 2012

Source: publishers via NetGalley

Rating: 3.75/5

 I threw my neck out in the middle of Swan Lake last night.
So begins the tale of Kate Crane, a soloist in a celebrated New York City ballet company who is struggling to keep her place in a very demanding world. At every turn she is haunted by her close relationship with her younger sister, Gwen, a fellow company dancer whose career quickly surpassed Kate’s, but who has recently suffered a breakdown and returned home.

Alone for the first time in her life, Kate is anxious and full of guilt about the role she may have played in her sister’s collapse.  As we follow her on an insider tour of rehearsals, performances, and partners onstage and off, she confronts the tangle of love, jealousy, pride, and obsession that are beginning to fracture her own sanity. Funny, dark, intimate, and unflinchingly honest, The Cranes Dance is a book that pulls back the curtains to reveal the private lives of dancers and explores the complicated bond between sisters.

Are all ballerinas crazy? Or at least the ones being published in both YA and general adult literature? After having read the young-adult Various Positions and the more adult-centric The Cranes Dance, I have to say that all signs point to yes. Done exquisitely and ubiquitously in the 2011 movie The Black Swan, each subsequent ballet novel I've read has had a character that danced the knife of madness, talent and.....dance. (Various Positions's Georgia might argue the point, but trust me, I think she was crazy as a maypole..) The Cranes Dance is the slightly long-winded story of ballerina Kate Crane and her sister Gwen, also a ballerina in the same company in New York. This ended up being a lot more than expected - there's humor and warmth but also mental illness, drug abuse, self-harm and family issues. While some things weren't executed as fully as they could have been or ended up dragging on too long, this ended up surprising me with its honest emotion. This one came so close to a 4-star read, but it was slightly too long. I also really like that the title works on multiple levels: there is an actual Cranes Dance (thanks Wendy) but it also refers to the elaborate and intricate give-and-take between the two talented sisters.

Dancers may all be crazy in fiction, but they're not all as funny as Kate. My sense of humor must be similarly twisted because what Kate found funny, I found funny. This is a mixed-bag of a novel: there's some genuinely funny humor, darkness and even drug abuse - the book definitely isn't afraid to venture under the pretty makeup and leotards. I liked Kate immediately (though she did use "retarded" as a negative insult once..); her voice is fresh, lively and pretty damn amusing.... when the book beings. By about page 275, Kate's appeal had begun to break down. As the blurb suggests, Kate's hold on life and sanity waxes and wanes, and for a while things gotta kinda dull and preachy. Kate is a complex character and at least I can say she's never stagnant as a character. This is definitely not a plot-driven book (plot? what plot?) so the strength must rest on its characters, namely its principle and sole POV. Kate mostly holds up under the strain, and if this had been slightly less long, I doubt I would've been bored at all by her stream of thoughts- but I can only read so much about dance and worry and Gwen and life and rehearsal before something new/different needs to happen.

The author evidently spent a lot of time putting this together. I'm not a dancer and never have been, but the details supplied in The Cranes Dance for the ballets and choreography are minute. I didn't mind because the author doesn't get lost in the ballet aspect but keeps in touch with what attracted me to this in the first place: the complex bond between Gwen and Kate. While Kate delivers on her end of the scale, Gwen unfortunately leaves a lot to be desired. It's easy to be interested in what happened to her since it's shown more than told (yay!), but not easy or fast to invest in her character because she's such a remote character for 90% of the book - why do I care about Gwen if I know nothing about her? Though the frequent flashbacks interjected as Kate progresses show a little more to her, they usually reveal more about Kate and her state of mind <SPOILER>unreliable narrator!<spoiler> than her unstable sister.

This was good. Don't let the 3.75 out of 5 stars rating fool you - I very much enjoyed the majority of this quick read of a novel. Though it is long at 386 pages and too long for its story, The Cranes Dance is a layered and intricate look at ballerinas and sisters. Meg Howrey is impressive and her characters, especially Kate and Roger, loveable and memorable. Though I'm sure I'll read more ballet books in the nearish future, this one will stick out in memory for the unique way it handled the aspects of the story - and for Kate's sense of humor.

Review: Wonder Show by Hannah Barnaby

Title: Wonder Show

Author: Hannah Barnaby

Genre: young-adult, historical fiction

Series: N/A

Pages: 288 (Nook ARC edition)

Published: March 20, 2012

Source: publishers via NetGalley

Rating: 4/5

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, friends and neighbors, allow me to change your lives! Step inside Mosco’s Traveling Wonder Show! You’ve read about them in magazines, these so-called human curiosities, this tribe of misfits—now come and see for yourselves. We’ve got a gent as tall as a tree, a lady with a beard, and don’t miss your chance to see the Wild Albinos of Bora Bora! Ask Madame Doula to peer into your future (only two dollars more if you want to know how you’re going to die).

And between these covers behold the greatest act of our display—Portia Remini, the strangest of the menagerie because she’s a ‘normal’ among the freaks, searching for a new beginning on the bally, far away from McGreavey’s Home for Wayward Girls, where Mister watches and waits. He said he would always find Portia, said she could never leave . . .

Oh, it’s not for the faint of heart folks. If you’re prone to nightmares or you’ve got a weak ticker, you’d best move on. Within these pages lies a tale of abandonment, loss, misfortune for the rich and glory for the poor (and a little murder doesn’t hurt). It’s a story for the ages, but be warned: once you enter the Wonder Show you will never be the same.

I knew pretty early on that I was really going to enjoy this fairly short novel - and I was repeatedly proven right while reading this charming debut. Though Hannah Barnaby and therefore Portia's tale is a bit short on action and long on character (like another recently released circus themed novel...), I was hooked from chapter one and Portia herself. I felt that the final conflict lacked a bit of emotional pull or immediacy but nearly everything else from this look into Mosco's Traveling Wonder Show was pure fun to read. I'm happy to say that Hannah Barnaby emerges from her first novel as a solid and compelling storyteller with a flair for the dramatic and the unique - just like her indomitable lead.

Portia is a flawed but very likeable protagonist; though her story is mostly told in third-person omniscient and occasionally oddly features other first-person perspective important characters, Portia is the strongest, most developed character of the lot. While I truly disliked the shifts between first and third perspectives it's easy to fall into any narrative in the story, be it P's or the Jackal, or Gideon or even Mosco. Portia made me laugh, but mostly and most importantly, Portia made me care about her story; made me invest in her happiness and actively cheer for her success and lament over her losses. Her inquisitive nature and love of words ("Stories came easily to Portia. Lies came even more easily and more often." - p. 13 ARC) endeared her to me rather quickly and her adventures with Aunt Sophie and subsequent misadventures at the McGreavey Home for Wayward Girls only impressed me with her spirit and liveliness.

While the 'freaks' advertised for the Gallery of Human Oddities didn't quite live up to the hype of the synopsis and blurb, I am not disappointed; rather instead, I believe that is the whole point of Wonder Show - that those who society considers freaks are really just people like us, living the hand they are dealt. In fact, the only truly freakish character within the entirety of Wonder Show is The Mister - someone not hidden away and hated on principle but someone trusted with power and the futures of young girls. The other characters, thoguh they don't compel like Portia or creep you out like Mister, each have believable and distinct voices. Like Portia, the population of the Wonder Show is at large on the run from something/time/one they'd like to forget, or change. While no two characters plot was the same  outside of Portia I found the Jackal and the deteriorating Marvel family to be the most accessible. In fact, while I was far from a fan of the weirdly switching POV's used to alternate character inner monologues (not person to person but 3rd omniscient to 1st), I wouldn't have hated an even longer look into those characters.

Though I was expecting to be more involved and invested in the ending, I felt it was solid but very much not the climactic, epic tête-à-tête I had been craving because Mister needed his ass kicked anticipating. And I have to admit that though this is a middle-grade novel, it doesn't read like one and I feel that people of all ages would enjoy the adventures and marvels that make Wonder Show so fun to read in the first place. This is a quick read with a large reward for your minimal efforts; full of charm and adventures, Wonder Show is welll... quite wonderful indeed.

Author Interview: The Sister Queens' Sophie Perinot

 

I'm very pleased to present my very first author interview for Ageless Pages Reviews and am very happy with how it turned out. I read  (and loved) The Sister Queens so it was a rare pleasure to get to virtually speak with such a talented new author.

1. Both women experience a wide variety of events throughout their lives - wars, regencies, children, affairs - but which do you think of the two were happier with her Queenly lot in life? Eleanor with her doting husband but bad King, or Marguerite with her pious husband and marital problems?

Of course when it comes to something like happy we can never know for sure, especially with people who have been dead more than 700 years, but I personally would say Eleanor was happier. She had considerable political influence in her court, she had personal wealth, she had members of her Savoyard family to support and advise her, and she built an incredibly close nuclear family. If the measure of happiness is being loved and loving in return (and that’s my personal measure) then Eleanor had every reason to be content. Yes, I am doing a little projecting—I know I would rather be Eleanor than Marguerite so I assume she was happy, but I also think we have some historical indicators of the sisters’ relative happiness. I’d like to present two—one for each sister—taken from the ends of their husband’s lives.

Historically we know that Henry’s care for his wife endured to the very end of his days. When he knew he was dying in the autumn of 1272, he once again thought of Eleanor’s future (this time without him), granting her custody of Windsor castle. And it was there – the sight of so many happy memories from their thirty-six years of marriage—that Eleanor went immediately after Henry’s death, to grieve for him and to find a respite from sadness by being with her grandchildren.

In contrast, we have powerful evidence that Marguerite remained angry with Louis even after his death. Almost immediately after Louis perished (on an ill-fated second trip to the Holy Land which Marguerite had opposed) proceedings were begun to canonize him. A committee of clergymen gathered at St. Denis to collect testimony on Louis’s saintliness. All of the royal family and the most important French nobles came forward to testify, but Marguerite steadfastly refused, even when her testimony was solicited by her son the King. If you want evidence of an unhappy married life I would say that qualifies.

2. Was there a particular character you enjoyed the most while writing their perspective? Or one who harder to articulate?

I love both sisters. That is one of the things that made writing this book such a joy. Who I loved the best at any given moment depended on who I was writing.

I think that to write a character in the first-person convincingly (and I hope I’ve done that) you really have to become that person just as an actor becomes a character. So when I was writing Marguerite I was fully immersed in her struggles and found many things I could identify with. Ditto the more outspoken and mercurial Eleanor.

Outside of the sisters themselves, I have a real soft spot for Jean de Joinville. Even though he is never the narrator in the novel I could hear his voice very clearly in my head, and I always looked forward to those portions of the book where he popped up. When he appeared in the garden while Marguerite and Louis were recruiting knights for crusade surprising the Queen I don’t know who was happier to see him Marguerite or me.

3. Who would you say is the better Queen for their time? Unassuming Marguerite who takes a backseat and accedes to the will of her lord and husband easily or the more involved, headstrong Eleanor?

Certainly Marguerite was more beloved by her subjects (who seemed to appreciate her considerably more than her husband did). And, besides being poised, she was capable of strong and determined action—as we see when she moves decisively to ransom Louis in the Holy Land. I wonder what she could have been and could have done had she been accorded more influence at her husband’s court (or subsequently at her son’s).

While Marguerite was revered in France, Eleanor (and her Savoyard uncles) made easy scapegoats for the English Baron’s. These noblemen doubtless resented the Savoyard influence over Henry—influence they would have preferred to wield themselves. I personally think that Henry’s rule would have been even less effective without Eleanor and the other Savoyards, but I don’t think that was recognized at the time. Rather, as you suggest, Eleanor was viewed as “virago” – which meant overbearing or domineering—in her own period. It’s not clear that we would think of her that way now. Probably the words we would use would be “ambitious” and “self-assured.” Or maybe not, the world sometimes still uses some downright unpleasant words to label powerful women who aren’t afraid to speak their minds.

4. I know the Count of Provence had four daughters, why did you choose to focus only on the oldest
two sisters?

The relationship between Marguerite and Eleanor moved me. I am a “big-sister,” and my relationship with own sister defines me and has since the day she came home from the hospital. Marguerite and Eleanor were the closest of the four sisters, despite being separated by the English Channel for long stretches of time, and their relationship of mutual support, tinged with rivalry, really spoke to me.

I wanted my book to examine the early reigns of these important queens (both France and England were major powers at the time), while they were finding their feet in strange lands and establishing roles for themselves as queens, wives and mothers. Therefore, my novel (which, as you know, covers a twenty year period between 1234 and 1254) actually ends before either Sanchia or Beatrice had achieved crowns of their own. So that effectively limited the roles of the younger sisters to supporting players.

5. What decided you on the endpoint of the novel, with the women only halfway through their long
lives?

I am not going to lie, book-length entered into my decision. Getting a five-hundred page novel published as a debut author is pretty extraordinary. Getting a thousand page novel published –well, it never would have happened. Given that I couldn’t put the sister’s entire lives into one book, I thought that their reunion after nearly twenty-years of supporting, counseling and consoling each other from opposite sides of the English Channel made an excellent place to end my novel. The Christmas visit of 1254 brought closure to many strands of my story and saw each of my sisters coming to terms with some big issues in her life. The meeting also gave them a chance, in person, to reaffirm their sisterly loyalties. At the same time this gathering of the royal families laid the foundation—with the sister queens’ help—of a lasting understanding between the crowns of France and England, so it was a political milestone as well.

6. Any considerations for returning to these two sister-queens for a follow-up novel down the line?

I would love to do a sequel if there was demand for one. There are plenty of adventures left in life for both Marguerite and Eleanor.

*******

My thanks to Ms. Perinot for taking the time to write such lengthy, considered answers. This is a lovely book and one I heartily recommend to anyone fond of strong women in historical fiction. There are still more stops yet on the book tour for the Sister Queens, so don't miss those as well!

Screaming Good Deals on Nook and Kindle ebooks!

I don't know how long these awesome prices are going to last, but in the last week I've bought the following for less than $4 each. There are some in here I am tremendously excited about (my first Marchetta! Shades of Milk and Honey is another one I've wanted for a whiile) and some utterly new to me that I couldn't resist (A Madness of Angels), but they're all a great buy.

A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin - Nookbook currently $2.99 ; Amazon Kindle currently $2.99

For Matthew Swift, today is not like any other day. It is the day on which he returns to life.

Two years after his untimely death, Matthew Swift finds himself breathing once again, lying in bed in his London home.

Except that it's no longer his bed, or his home. And the last time this sorcerer was seen alive, an unknown assailant had gouged a hole so deep in his chest that his death was irrefutable...despite his body never being found.

He doesn't have long to mull over his resurrection though, or the changes that have been wrought upon him. His only concern now is vengeance. Vengeance upon his monstrous killer and vengeance upon the one who brought him back.

A Long, Long Sleep by Anna Sheehan - currently $3.99 for Nook ; currently $3.49 for Amazon Kindle

It should have been a short suspended-animation sleep. But this time Rose wakes up to find her past is long gone-- and her future full of peril.

Rosalinda Fitzroy has been asleep for sixty-two years when she is woken by a kiss. Locked away in the chemically induced slumber of a stasis tube in a forgotten subbasement, sixteen-year-old Rose slept straight through the Dark Times that killed millions and utterly changed the world she knew. Now, her parents and her first love are long gone, and Rose-- hailed upon her awakening as the long-lost heir to an interplanetary empire-- is thrust alone into a future in which she is viewed as either a freak or a threat.

 Desperate to put the past behind her and adapt to her new world, Rose finds herself drawn to the boy who kissed her awake, hoping that he can help her to start fresh. But when a deadly danger jeopardizes her fragile new existence, Rose must face the ghosts of her past with open eyes-- or be left without any future at all.

Another cover because I like it:

 Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal - currently $2.99 for Nook; $2.99 for Amazon Kindle

The fantasy novel you’ve always wished Jane Austen had written
Shades of Milk and Honey is exactly what we could expect from Jane Austen if she had been a fantasy writer: Pride and Prejudice meets Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. It is an intimate portrait of a woman, Jane, and her quest for love in a world where the manipulation of glamour is considered an essential skill for a lady of quality.

Jane and her sister Melody vie for the attentions of eligible men, and while Jane’s skill with glamour is remarkable, it is her sister who is fair of face. When Jane realizes that one of Melody’s suitors is set on taking advantage of her sister for the sake of her dowry, she pushes her skills to the limit of what her body can withstand in order to set things right—and, in the process, accidentally wanders into a love story of her own.

Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta: currently $3.99 for Nook; currently $3.49 for Amazon Kindle

 At the age of nine, Finnikin is warned by the gods that he must sacrifice a pound of flesh to save his kingdom. He stands on the rock of the three wonders with his friend Prince Balthazar and Balthazar's cousin, Lucian, and together they mix their blood to safeguard Lumatere.

But all safety is shattered during the five days of the unspeakable, when the king and queen and their children are brutally murdered in the palace. An impostor seizes the throne, a curse binds all who remain inside Lumatere's walls, and those who escape are left to roam the land as exiles, dying by the thousands in fever camps.

Ten years later, Finnikin is summoned to another rock—to meet Evanjalin, a young novice with a startling claim: Balthazar, heir to the throne of Lumatere, is alive. This arrogant young woman claims she'll lead Finnikin and his mentor, Sir Topher, to the prince. Instead, her leadership points them perilously toward home. Does Finnikin dare believe that Lumatere might one day rise united? Evanjalin is not what she seems, and the startling truth will test Finnikin's faith not only in her but in all he knows to be true about himself and his destiny.

Again, I don't know how long these great deals will last, so grab 'em while you can!

Blog Watch Wednesday!

Reviews Posted:

The Last Song by Eva Wiseman - 2.5/5 stars - historical fiction

Divergent by Veronica Roth - 4/5 stars - dystopia, young-adult

Darkest Knight by Karen Duvall - 3.5/5 stars - supernatural fiction, urban fantasy, pnr

The Other Life by Susanne Winnacker - 3/5 stars - post-apocalyptic, horror, young-adult

Fun Stuff:

Incredibly interesting: this is your brain on fiction.

This is an amazing photo of the Milky Way above a monsoon storm.

Free, customized "Go Away I'm Reading" bookcovers for Lord of the Rings, The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Twilight, etc. I want the Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and Hunger Games ones!

Jason Russell, one of the brain behind Invisible Children's "KONY 2012" campaign was caught naked and masturbating in public. Go ahead and say it: Bony 2012!

Coinciding with Russell's news, people in Uganda are not happy with the way IC is presenting their situation. This is a reaction video from Ugandans about the KONY 2012 movement.

TUMBLR OF THE WEEK: Trolling Chris Brown.

Did you know your own ISP is going to be spying on your internet activities come June? Trufax, people. This is our government at work. 

Here's more on the "six strikes" policy going into effect.

The 15 Best Lines from 50 Shades of Grey. My favorite: "My inner goddess is doing the merengue with some salsa moves." WTF?

This is the (amazing) story of how a trained dog is keeping a three-year old girl alive, day-to-day.

This is a cool site that lets you explore in detail, famous journeys. Options for travel information include rel journeys (Magellan, Amelia Earhart) as well as literary ones (Pequod from Moby Dick, Jack Kerouac's On The Road, etc.)

Want to know what a black hole sounds like? Well, here you go. There are also whalesounds, stormsounds, and dinosaursounds. The internet is fun!

A day in the life of Karl Lagerfeld.

Sales for HBO's first season DVD set of Game of Thrones has broken records. 350,000 in a week; that's more than Sex and the City, the Sopranos and True Blood!

Shadow and Bone is a Russian-inspired fantasy due out this year (that I LOVED - review out in May!) and the author has posted a video of images that inspired her novel.

25 Kick-Ass TV Heroines. (Go Daenerys and Deb!)

One of my favorite authors, Gail Carriger, has revealed the ARC cover for the first book in her newest Finishing School series, Etiquette and Espionage.

These Game of Thrones posters for season two are gorgeous.

Cracked Weekly Roundup:

• 5 One Hit Wonders Who Deserve Your Respect
• 6 New Age Cures That Aren't As Full of Crap As You Think
• The 5 Most Insane Examples of Chinese Counterfeiting
• 6 Iconic Things You Won't Believe Began As Publicity Stunts
• The 5 Most Spectacular Landscapes on Earth (That Murder You) 
• 7 Awesomely Insane Guns People Actually Used

Review: The Other Life by Susanne Winnacker

Title: The Other Life

Author: Susanne Winnacker

Genre: horror, post-apocalyptic, young-adult

Series: The Other Life #1/ The Weepers #1

Pages: 320 (Nook ARC edition)

Published: February 2012

Source: publishers via NetGalley

Rating: 3/5

3 years, 1 month, 1 week and 6 days since I’d seen daylight. One-fifth of my life.

Sherry and her family have lived sealed in a bunker in the garden since things went wrong up above. Her grandfather has been in the freezer for the last three months, her parents are at each other’s throats and two minutes ago they ran out of food.

Sherry and her father leave the safety of the bunker and find a devastated and empty LA, smashed to pieces by bombs and haunted by ‘Weepers’ - rabid humans infected with a weaponized rabies virus.

While searching for food in a supermarket, Sherry’s father disappears and Sherry is saved by Joshua, a boy-hunter. He takes her to Safe-haven, a tumble-down vineyard in the hills outside LA, where a handful of other survivors are picking up the pieces of their ‘other lives’. As she falls in love for the first time, Sherry must save her father, stay alive and keep Joshua safe when his desire for vengeance threatens them all

Post-apocalyptic zombie novels are rapidly becoming somewhat of a, unexpected favorite of mine. I'm a swelf-avowed wuss when it comes to scary movies and creepy books, but the recent influx of zombie books had me curious, so I caved. (Also, did you know that there is a weird theory/correlation that when Democrats are elected President, more vampire novels are published and when Republicans are, more zombie novels/movies are created. The articles are a bit dated [except this one], but weird.). I started last year having read none, but that ended with Dark Inside, which despite prevalent opinions among my GoodReads friends, I loved. That was the beginning of my search: I've sought out several zombie post-apocalyptic novels since but none, neither YA or not, have had the appeal and tension that I found so deliciously creepy and involving in Dark Inside. This is a rapidly exapnding subgenre so while I didn't find my reading experience of The Other Life to be particularly revelatory or moving, it was decent. Fair. Not bad. I don't mean to damnwith faint praise but I liked several things about this, and loved none. I could've done without entire subplots (the Sherry/Joshua love connection springs to mind) and would've appreciated a stronger presence from the Weepers mentioned.

Sherry is not a main character to wax philosophically on. I found to be rather one-note and often flat in her narration. The story has an easy rhythm to it, but Sherry herself is not the most original or outstanding main character. Her method of constantly counting as a means of distancing herself emotionally from things, while at first innocuous and understandable (I'd fixate on what I lost too) soon became tiresome and overdone, lacking the impact the author seemed to be trying to impart. The flashbacks to before, to the other life for which the book is named, felt often random in their selection, not really connected to the plot of the book. I get that the author was trying to show the stark dichotomy of Sherry's life before and after, but flashing from a maybe-zombie-rabies cut to Sherry getting grounded? All it did for me was lose any dramatic tension built into the previous scene. I don't have much to say for Sherry herself; she was there, she did her job but I wasn't "wowed" by her. She came off as naive and immature several times and I can only hope she will grow a bit in book number two.

And while I admitted just the previous paragraph that The Other Life does indeed contain a nice rhythm and decent pace, does nearly every single chapter have to end in a cliffhanger? I got tired of that authorial trick years ago, when George R. R. Martin started pulling it in order to avoid actually providing answers and forward momentum, and I don't like it any better here. The Weepers themselves also leave a lot to be desired; they're intelligent. not mindless beasts, which is always much more fun to read about than shambling hunks of corpses. However, they rarely present any form of real threat to the characters. <SPOILER>I mean, does anyone important die? No. Grandpa Edgar and Grandma ClickClick both bite it, but one is offscreen before the book begins and the other dies also not in any kind of dramatic way.<SPOILER> I mean, if I am going to read a book about zombies rabies-infected-mindless-cannibals, I want some tension, I want some fear and I want to believe the threat they pose to the heroes.

I wish some authors would realize that some situations, like maybe when the world is ending due to <SPOILER>man-made variations of rabies</SPOILER>, a romance really isn't necessary or wanted for the characters. We're already supposedly emotionally invested in just seeing this loving desperate family make it alive from the bunker to Safe-Haven to wherever, and with all that, is a romantic drama really an essential addition? And the answer for The Other Life is: no - it's entirely superfluous. Joshua is a nice, smart kid, and while I liked that he was more defined and sure of himself than wishy-washy Sherry ("Oh no! I'm about to be eaten but how can I shoot these poor things that were once just like me?!" over and over) he wasn't a remarkable character. I don't see why he had to be involved with Sherry; I felt no spark, no chemistry between them. It just felt forced, added in just to foment more tension done the line when really, that job should've been done by the zombies waiting to murder and eat everyone.

The book ended rather abruptly and it is a short book, with the plot for book three quite obvious from the last chapters contained and most plotlines left yawning wide open. While I will probably read the inevitable and forthcoming sequel, it's mostly die to the last 30% or so of the book. Some pretty interesting twists were pulled off by the author, to my surprise, and much like Monument 14, jumped this up to a higher rating than expected.

Review: Darkest Knight by Karen Duvall

Title: Darkest Knight

Author: Karen Duvall

Genre: fantasy, supernatural fiction

Series: Knight's Curse #2

Pages: 336 (Nook ARC edition)

Published: March 20 2012

Source: publishers via NetGalley

Rating: 3.5/5

"Betray your sisters or your lover. You choose."After the warrior she loves saved her from a murderous gargoyle, Chalice watched helplessly as Aydin turned into a gargoyle himself. Now, free from the curse that enslaved her, Chalice pledges to join her sister knights in The Order of the Hatchet—and do whatever it takes to regain Aydin's humanity…and his love. What she encounters within their hallowed sanctuary is pure intrigue.

Someone—or something—is murdering her sisters in their sleep, provoking fear and suspicion among the order. Meanwhile, Aydin, unable to stay away, starts haunting Chalice's dreams, urging her onward. Ultimately, Chalice will be faced with an agonizing choice—one that will tear away at her newfound identity and force her to choose between duty and desire….

This is the second novel in Duvall's creative series centered around Chalice, a member of an order of knights (The Hatchet Knights) who have been around since the Crusades and mate with the Arelim, the lowest form of angel, to propagate their order.  The same original and quirky ideas for magic present in the first are contained here in second, but I have to say that overall, Ms. Duvall definitely got off on a better foot with this second effort in her UF/PNR offering. While the plot I thought would be the center of Darkest Knight (restoring Aydin back to humanity from his cursed gargoyle form) wasn't at all what this novel was about, I wasn't disappointed. The antagonist created for the events of book two neatly tied in with the mythology and lore of the first and was on the same malevolence level as the previous antagonist, the evil sorcerer-kidnapper Gavin. And while I wasn't as surprised as I could've been at the "reveal" of the Big Bad of the book and the heart of the murders/mystery, I thought it left an interesting possibility for the plot of the sure-to-follow third installment.

I felt tepid and 'mehhh' about the first (Knight's Curse) when I read it last year and a large amount of my dissatisfaction had to do with and centered around the main character Chalice. I liked it well enough, was certainly entertained by it but the knight had a way of frustrating very simple situations, either by not listening or assuming she knew all the answers. Chalice in book two is a bit more aware, a bit more intelligent and a whole lot easier for me to like. I despise when heroines are convinced they shouldn't let allies into their plans because only they can do it, only they know the risk, etc and so on! And while Chalice was like that in the first, I found that her uneasy relationship with guardian-angel Rafe brought out a more mature side to her. While I still didn't wholly invest in Chalice or closely identify with her, I do like several aspects of her personality: her independence, her openness to magic finally, her fighting abilities; I love a heroine that can fight well and Chalice is one those few. Her martial skills complement her prickly personality quite well. One of the few major issues I had with Chalice here in this was her "instructing" the new squires of her order when Chalice has been a knight for less than three months, known of the order for only that long, has never had any formal training herself and there are older, more indoctrinated knights able to do the job....so why pick the newbie who is clueless to teach new members?

What also improved my experience the second time around is the romance of the novel. Or, to be perfectly clear, the lack of stressing the romance and love between Aydin and Chalice. I didn't buy their almost insta-love connection from book one and since they're separated more often in Darkest Knight, I actually got to see them on their own for extended periods of time. They both actually have to work for the relationship (and get over their dumb decisions, like Aydin's particularly stupid rejection in the beginning), and work together to fix Aydin's curse. It brought out another dynamic to their relationship and also helped to flesh out Aydin a bit more independently. I truly like that both people fight and struggle for the other: Aydin wants Chalice just as much as she wants him. Another bonus originality point for this series? Aydin is the swoon-worthy love interest and he is not a typical WASP. Diversity brings a lot to the table and for Aydin especially, it sets him apart from the thousands of UF/PNY love-interests out there. The whole 'gargoyle' thing doesn't hurt, either.

Back to the mythology of Darkest Knight: the world Duvall has created for her novels is a potent one. There are charms, magic, sorcerers, gargoyles, curses, guardian angels and Fallen angels - all with their own conduct, rules and uses. While the lore behind the angels can be confusing sometimes, it is unique and presents an interesting structure for the Hatchet Knights to find mates within. While the charms didn't impress me as much as the creativity shown in the first seems to have waned a tad (except for a pen with ink that makes the writer invisible - not the words being written. That's creative.) with a few exceptions: the "soul-stain" (which reminded me of Lord Denbury's condition in Darker Still), the non-dead non-living "life" of St. Geraldine, the half-sylph half-necromancer exorcist that I picture as an English man who says things like, "My dear chap, I daresay I couldn't possibly...." I also really liked that that the plot of the second book could be found mentioned/hidden within the first; there are references within Knight's Curse that, in hindsight, seem to set up the stage for book two perfectly.

The abrupt ending seemed slightly rushed to me, but definitely did not pull any punches. Characters die, lose their powers, fight and have an all-might brawl that made this quite hard to put down. This is action-packed and though some of the fights seemed redolent of earlier clashes (Evan and Zee, both specifically seemed to pop up for an altercation one too many times - especially Zee!) the pages turn quickly and Chalice's story is amusing for an hour or two. Though I found the uncovering of the Hatchet murderer to be too drawn out and arduous for how obvious it was <SPOILER>(C'mon now guys: who has acted weird and sketchy and arrived just before the murders? Who repeatedly lies and sneaks around, getting into forbidden areas and trinkets? Come on now, it shouldn't take 300 pages!)</SPOILER> Darkest Knight is a fun and enjoyable read. The ending leaves several key plotlines open for a continuing third volume and since this is one of the few series where I've liked the second more than the first, I can guarantee I'll be on the lookout for more from Chalice, Aydin, and my favorite: Ruby.