Fantastic Hope – Book Review

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Fantastic Hope

edited by

Laurell K. Hamilton

and William McCaskey

★★★★

Expectation

I was very interested in reading these urban fantasy stories and was mostly in for it for some of my favorite authors. This is a relatively new book for me since it is published earlier this year and I managed to fit it into my N.E.W.T.s Magical Readathon for August! Also I was anticipating to read some great stories with characters I already know and love. Stories I was most interested in were Asil and the Not-Date by Patricia Briggs and Zombie Dearest by Laurell K. Hamilton. All the rest of the authors were mostly unknown to me. When I read the foreword I was pleasantly surprised by the general theme of the stories being something happy and something to make the readers feel good. We need more of those kind of stories in the world!

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Summary

• Twilight Falls by Jonathan Maberry ★★★★★

Lately I’ve been watching some spy thriller conspiracy TV dramas and this story fit right up that alley. I was surprised at how much special operatives language and protocols felt familiar to me. I enjoyed this short story quite a bit! It was a good opening into the collection.

• Not in this Lifetime by Sharon Shinn ★★★

I must admit this story was a bit cheesy for me. Too many things were too convenient in the end. I liked the little group of characters a lot though.

• Mr. Positive, The Eternal Optimist by Larry Correia ★★★★★

This story has everything I like in my urban fantasy: some supernatural elements, some humor and something for me to connect with. The tone of the story is very endearing and I liked the action parts as well.

• No Greater Love by Kacey Ezell ★★★★

I was surprised by religious content of this story. It made me thread very carefully. I ended even more surprised by liking this story a lot.

• Broken Son by Griffin Barber  ★★★★

Science fiction and space themed stories are really not my thing. But this one was really nice. It reminded me a bit at Vorkosigan saga by Lois MacMaster Bujold. I genuienuly liked this story against all odds.

• Heart of Clay by Kevin J. Anderson ★★★

I could describe this story as a really wild ride. There were too many supernatural elements and quirks for me to be able to really enjoy this story. I liked the humor that reminded me of works of Robert Asprin. I can point out some of the characters and ideas that were really engaging but as a whole I thought it was a bit too much.

• Reprise by John G. Hartness ★★★★★

So far this story was the easiest to get into. Considering I have never read anything by this author I might have to change that in the future! It’s a vampire themed and intriguing. I loved the slightly melancholly feel of the story combined with demons and slightly changed alternate history setting.

• Asil and the Not-Date by Patricia Briggs ★★★★★

This is one of the two stories in this collection I was most interested about. It is from Alpha and Omega book series. First, it was written by a favorite author and second, it is set in a world full of lovable characters I already know. Asil is not exactly a favorite character but it is quite endearing and releateable for me. I was scared this story would be a sappy one but I was pleasantly surprised to see that it wasn’t. Loved the ending!

• In the Dust by Robert E. Hampson ★★★

Style of this story was more a series of short scenes than a traditional short story. Even with all that the emotions and the characters were very well done. This one is a bit science fictiony and thst is the only reason it was not that good for me.

• Fallen by L. E. Modesitt, Jr ★

Finally a story I did not like at all. The theme, the execution, the flow – it was all very unsatisfactory to read. The little screenshots from history were not picked out with care at all. Pseudo religious content left a really bad aftertaste for me.

• Working Conditions by Patrick M. Tracy ★★★★

This story is an excellent example of a sweet urban fantasy vampire story. And, yes! I am biased when it comes to vampires in urban fantasy! I like the simplicity and the kinda sad theme. It was very light and made me want to read more about the setting and the vampires in it.

• Last Contact by M. C. Sumner ★★★★

There was someting about this story that I liked and I can not pintpoint what it was. Theme is thoughtfull and has some aliens in it.

• Ronin by William McCaskey ★★★★

This one is a tear jerker! The story is a lovely blend of urban fatasy and harsh reality. It was a very endearing story.

• SKJOLDMOĐIR by Michael Z. Williamson and Jessica Schlenker ★★★★★

Earlier this year I’ve read two different interpretations of nordic myths and this story made me want to read more of them. T has a certain epic quality mixed with subtle pathos of the main characters. I liked it a lot!

• Bonds of Love and Duty by Monalisa Foster  ★★★★★

Another story that surprised me in a good way! The theme was totally science fiction but it I loved it. It is definitely something I could keep on reading.

• Zombie Dearest by Laurell K. Hamilton  ★★★★★

This story fits into Anita Blake Vampire Hunter book series. I was very interested in this story and was not disappointed! I loved that this story has a little JC in it! Finally it is something that connects to one of the previous books. The idea that it represents is quite outrageous though. Loved reading it!

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Conclusion

There were sixteen stories in this collection and about half of them were really excellent for me. Only one story felt underwhelming for me. All the rest were good and mostly surprised me in a good way. I found a few authors I will keep an eye out in my future reading and my two favorites were excellent. Zombie Dearest by Laurell K. Hamilton was especially bittersweet to read since the new book in the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series – Sucker Punch, just came out and I will have to wait until next year for mas market paperback to come out to get it and read it! I am glad I got this collection!

Favorite cover artist – Daniel dos Santos

 

Few years back I made a post on pretty book covers of one of my favorite book series by Patricia Briggs –  you can check it out HERE.  I’m still a great fan of Patricia Briggs books and I’m happy to report that her collaboration with artist Daniel dos Santos is still going strong. He makes book covers for the US editions of both of her Mercy Thompson book series and Alpha & Omega book series. The series crossover from time to time and the visual representation on the book covers does them both justice.

 

Daniel dos Santos is an American artist well known for making fantastic book covers depicting strong women. For more information on the artist you can check his official page – The Art of Dan dos Santos. He even made a guide for the latest Patricia Briggs book in the Mercy Thompson series Smoke Bitten which you can check out HERE.

I collect mass market paperback editions and once I got interested in this series some seven years ago after seeing these beautiful covers I was completely hooked. The strong female leading characters of the booth series are portrayed quite realistically. The go trough hard times and they are flawed but the way they deal with their problems is inspiring. I have one short story collection he made a cover for as well!

While there are some covers I like more than others I really cant decide which is my favorite one! I’m still behind one book in the series that came out this year for Mercy Thompson – Storm Cursed and I loved the next one announced already for Smoke Bitten!

Here are three of the books I own in mass market paperback that tie for favorite cover for me. Silence Fallen is the latest that book cover that woowed me at first sight. Silver Borne I have very fond memories of reading and I like the fact that Mercy holds a book on the cover! Bone Crossed was one of the strongest books in the series for me and I love how Mercy is portrayed in profile in the rain.

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Dan dos Santos has made some other of my favorite characters and book scenes come to life trough his art and here are some of the ones I like the best! First one is from The Dresden Files series. Second picture is for the Graphic novel edition of Serenity and the last one is for Deluxe edition of graphic novel Fables.

There is something very subdued in the ways Daniel dos Santos book cover art and I find it a great fir for the urban fantasy genre. I love his art and his covers are an added bonus and value for the books I already love. Book covers matter to me and when I can I will pick the edition with this amazing cover art!

I think it is amazing when an artist and a book author make such strong partnership on more than one book series. I wish more artists and authors would do this. It makes me feel a lot better when buying a book series to know that the cover art was picked out with great care and will continue in the same style. I have a few book series that make me groan just by looking at them on the shelf because their discontinuity in the book design and cover art can be seen from a distance. #justbookishthings

Reading in first half of 2019!

I’m gonna make a breakdown of the books I’ve read in 2019. up until today. Thanks to the Goodreads site I can track the books much easier and I need all the help I can get to win in this apathy struggle I’ve gotten myself into.

For some reason reading takes more effort for me as of late. I’ve set the bar for reading books challenge relatively low and the results are even lover that that so far.

There are only 15 books I’ve read this year and I will go trough them one by one:

First book I’ve finished in 2019 was a graphic novel Perzepolis by Marjane Satrapi.

I’ve often used graphic novels and mangas to cut corners at getting my reading numbers higher. But the truth of the mater is that I honestly enjoy graphic novels and mangas. While I will not jump at a book with a more serious topic, graphic novels with documentary or biographical theme interest me. I love the visual representations that provide me with more honest and personal understanding on the topic and I choose graphic novels often for that same reason.

Second book of 2019. was a book club assignment Pohvala starosti by Pavao Pavličić.

The title loosely translates into ” the praise to getting old”. The beginning promised some humor but the book was mostly frustrating since I did not agree with most of the things author wrote about. For every promising idea and thought provoked there were another 4 that just irritated me since I could find real life cases to dispute the author. It made for a good book club discussion in general because it gave some general topics on the process of growing old and elderly in general. Did not enjoy the reading experience because I found the book not serious enough to tackle the topic and not humorous enough to be entertained.

The third book of 2019. was Burn Bright (Aplha & Omega Series) by Patricia Briggs.

This is one of the book series that made me love and enjoy reading in my free time. Urban fantasy genre just simply does it for me! I love when an author can tackle an urban setting and characters with relatable shortcomings and flaws while keeping it up with technological and other more modern issues. I loved this book and the glimpses into so many characters that did not have the opportunity to shine in previous instalments. I love the character growth and plot advancement.

The fourth book of 2019. was The Reader by Bernhard Schlink.

While my reading in the book club has been highly irregular in the last year or so this was one of the books I was very excited about to read and discuss. It is a thought provoking book with plethora of moral issues to talk about and it gives ample opportunity for the reader to think about the past, the present and the future. While some issues are specific to the aftermath of World War II, this book offers a new perspective to our own human judgemental nature and pride.

The fifth book I’ve read in 2019 was a short story collection Aleph by Jorge Luis Borges.

This book had a certain reputation and standing among my fellow students while I was in college. It took me a decade after graduation to actually get to reading the book. I was surprised it was a short story collection. The themes were interesting but I did not enjoy the multitude of names and references I was not that familiar with. I had a hard time separating the South American and Muslim references in particular and following the metaphors. It was a very difficult and challenging reading experience. The documentary style was not something I particularly enjoyed and made the short stories hard to follow.

The sixth book of 2019. for me was the All Souls Complete Trilogy by Deborah Harkness.

I’ve read the first book sometime last year so I can freely enjoy the TV adaptation on HBO. After a few months pause I decided to watch the TV series again and got inspired to read the book series trough. I had some issues finding a second book in the edition I wanted so one night I finally caved and got myself the whole trilogy Kindle edition. It took me a few months to finish it all up due the considerable number of pages but I’m happy and pleased to have it finished and I’m awaiting for the second season of the show guilt free!

The seventh book of 2019 by my Goodreads account is The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness

While I’ve read the whole series as a trilogy I’ve found the third book on my TBR list on Goodreads and went to fix it. In an attempt to motivate myself at not failing the reading challenge this year like I failed last year I went back and added it as a separate book in my Read books section. Is that cheating or not I do not know or care. As far as I’m concerned I’ve read three books and put down only two and I’m still one book short for the counting purposes if need be!

The eighth book in 2019. was Comme un roman by Daniel Pennac.

“A well-chosen book saves you from everything, including yourself.”

The English title of this book is The Rights of the Reader and it’s taken from the second part of the book where the Rights of the reader are listed. This is not a story but more a testament to reading. It is my big wish to find this book in Croatian and buy it but sadly there was only one edition in the nineties and they are very hard to come by. It is a book that inspired a many librarian’s projects and helped to promote and understand reading as an activity, life choice and necessity.

Ninth book I’ve read in 2019 was The Treasure Keeper (Drakon book 4) by Shana Abe.

I have the best boyfriend ever and one day he decided it is time to raid my Book Depository wishlist. Among the book we ordered was The Treasure Keeper the fourth book in the Drakon series I have only nice memories of. It is for once a fantasy series in a sea of urban fantasy I usually prefer. I like the idea of dragon shape shifters and how this author writes them. It might not be the best fantasy out there but it is a guilty pleasure of mine! I would have loved to have bought the edition with the cover on the left instead the right one. The shiny and gaudy is very much part of the charm for these books!

The tenth book I’ve read this year is Girl Online by Zoe Sugg

This was a bit unusual pick for my mostly very serious book club. And it came from one of the more serious book club members. This book made me feel old and tired at times. The truth is I love YA books and while the fast paced dialogues and witty remarks that go with them I had trouble with keeping up with the account of a teen life in the age of social networking and mostly well off western teenager to young adult view on life. I had a revelation that I prefer my books and stories a bit more darker and angstier that this one was…

The eleventh book in 2019. was The She-Hulk Diaries by Marta Acosta

I’ve got my eye on this book ever since it came out and one of my friends at Goodreads loved it. I liked the idea of actually reading about She-Hulk and some other Marvel heroes in a book as opposed to watching the movies and reading graphic novels. The book had it’s bright moments at that but in the end it was more in lieu of Bridget Jones Diaries than expected Marvel hero action. I sure like the design and the cover. The spine and the rest of the book is bright green and it poops out nicely on the shelf!

The twelvfth book in 2019. was Pretty Reckless ( All Saints High book 1) by L.J. Shen.

This one was another Kindle spur of the moment buy that provided much needed dose of drama and angst for a period of PMS and opened a door to a period of more reading for me. I’ve checked out the rest of the books in the series but I’m not all that interested in them as of now. Looking into this book on Goodreads I realized that I’ve missed to count another short story that came out as a prequel to this book series!

Thirteenth book and one I missed in the first count was Defy ( All Saints High book 0,5) by L.J. Shen.

A short and smutty prequel to the All Saints High book series. The main characters are actually the parents of the main character of the Pretty Reckless book. Most of the books that feature the characters who are into sports are not that appealing to me and I still have trouble visualizing all that comes with American football. In my country people play soccer…

Fourteenth book I’ve read in 2019 was Devil’s Daughter ( The Ravenels book 5 ) by Lisa Kleypas

This one was a must have since it features my favorite characters. I am very picky when it comes to historical romance as a genre. In case of Evie and Sebastian I do not miss the opportunity to read more about them and their children and grandchildren in this case. I’m very happy with how the author finds ways to revisit favorite characters and include them in the new books. It inspired me to once again read the source material as well!

Fifteenth book I’ve read in 2019. was Devil in Winter ( The Wallflowers book 3) by Lisa Kleypas

One of my favorite books ever and the characters I like to revisit each year. While I rarely choose to reread books with so many unread on my TBR already this is the book that has found a way to my reading schedule at least once a year. While the last reading was inspired by reading the newest book by the same author it has also inspired me to finally but the physical copy in English. I already poses the said book in Croatian but I prefer reading it in English.

And by the corrected counting the last and the sixteenth bok I’ve read in 2019 so far is
I, Strahd: The Memoirs of a Vampire (Ravenloft book 7) by P. N. Elrod

From all the editions of this book and theme I’ve seen so far this one is the most hideous one. I was not at all pleased with the cover of my edition – the artwork looked very much in the opposition with the main character and it bothered me a lot. As for the story – I enjoyed learning the story behind Strahd von Zarovich. It all inspired me to go back to my Ravenloft RPG books and get ideas for a some campaign that will probably never come to life …I am now even more interested in the rest of Ravenloft novels! There are few things that were missing in this book! The most important one was a map for me to enjoy the geography of Ravenloft and Barovia. I hate when the production of the book is not well made!

I am currently playing around with some creative ways to inspire myself to make more choices for reading books instead of some other activities. Soon I’ll post more about that!

Sorry not sorry about the long post!

Book series I love and read

I am a great fan of book series!

 

Once I really get into the story the thing I start to care about are characters. Sometimes it is the likable villain or sometimes it is a quirky comic relief. And then I want to know more about those characters. So much more that sometimes I make up stories and situations for them to go trough. I never write them down but I admit to have this weird habit.

So without further ado here are some of the book series that grace my shelves. These are the book series I love and buy to own in case somewhere down in the future I manage to find the time to read them again again! On this list there are ten of them and these are just those with most books in a series.

First let start with the proverbial Guilty pleasures…

Anita Blake Vampire Hunter book series

by Laurell K. Hamilton.

I have already made few post on this series. I put it here since it is the longest book series I own. I own 23 books of this series ( buying new ones when they come out as paperback editions) and have read some of them repeatedly. This series came to my attention over a decade ago while I was reading other book series by this author. I bought the box set of first four books in the middle of my college exam season and paused all studying to read them. I read all four books in four days! This series has had a few e-book only novellas and a graphic novel edition by Marvel for first three books.

The Hollows book series

by Kim Harrison

This is one of my favorite urban fantasy book series. It is also finished and counts altogether thirteen books. I have ten of them and I am currently reading tenth one. This book series has all kinds of supernatural creatures: witches, elves, vampires, shifters, pixies and some really weird ones. Even though it has dystopian elements I will always see it as urban fantasy. It makes for perfect Halloween reading material! Also there is graphic novel version, few novellas and a book series guide.

 

Immortals After Dark book series

by Kresley Cole

This is a perfect book series for mature readers. It is mostly paranormal romance and erotic themed series of books with abundance of back up characters. Every book is about two different characters and underneath it all is one long story about a really rich world. Personally I find the romantic element inspiring since in every book two characters are destined for each other and are put trough some crazy and soul searching trials. The message of this series is that there is someone for everyone, no matter how weird or strange they may be. I found the first book to be the weakest and I’m glad to say that this book series keeps getting better for me. I’m missing the last two books that came out but have read all that I could put my hands on!

Mercy Thompson book series

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Alpha and Omega book series

by Patricia Briggs

What I really love about this one is that the author has all her covers made by the same artist Daniel Dos Santos. It gives the whole series some kind of glow and I hope they keep their cooperation. I wish more authors would do this. The series is rich urban fantasy with plenty of characters to love and hate. The major characters simply shine trough the series with how well written they are. I love characters that work their flaws to their advantage. This is a book series that makes you grow with their characters. Mercy Thompson was the book series that came first but since the author has created so many strong characters what started as a short story about one of the back up characters soon turned into a book series on its own. Both book series keep expanding the world that the author created and it is amazing to read how one book series reflects and changes the other.

Kushiel’s Legacy book series

by Jacqueline Carey

This book series is made of three trilogies. Each trilogy has a different main character. This is quite serious book series with lots of epic elements concerning religion, philosophy and matters of personal belief. It is a fantasy afterall, but lots of elements from these books bugged me. All the books are in the chubby category and are 500+ pages. Content is mostly adult and it requires a certain perspective from the reader. I’ve read first two trilogies and own all of them. Yes it annoys me that the first two trilogies I have are American paperback editions and the last on is British paperback edition that is also larger in size.

Vorkosigan Saga book series

by Lois McMaster Bujold

This is the only truly science fiction book series I have on my bookshelf. It is a favorite book series for my boyfriend witch just gave me an excuse to buy it. We own the Croatian translation and all covers were made by Esad. T. Ribić. All other book cover editions look really colorful and shiny.  I read only few books out of sixteen we have. I never thought I would like it since I’m not really a fan of space opera genre. Strangely I loved it. What it makes it different from most books of the genre is how well the characters are made. Even though the futuristic and technology filled world they live in characters are surprisingly human and easy to relate to. I never expected to find so much emotions in space action book series. I thought all the technology and aliens would somehow clog the elements I usually love in books. I’m glad I was wrong.

Vampire Chronicles book series

by Anne Rice

This is one of the book series I started collecting since I wanted to read it all one day. I’m never really sure how many book there are in this series since I started collecting all things Anne Rice including some of her more exotic work. She actually has more than one pseudonym as a writer. I don’t have all the books in this series and I know I’m missing the third one Queen of the Damned. This book series is what I think to be mandatory reading for everyone who considers themselves reader of vampire fiction. This is the author that wrote about vampires for a living when they were not mainstream cultural quirk. I started reading the first book in the series but could not concentrate enough to separate it from the movie I watched many times. I postponed it for reading when the movie gets a bit less fresh in my mind. What I read was nothing like the movie and I think I know why the whole fiasco with the author complaining about movie versions of her books was about. I hope I get started on this series soon!

Angélique book series

by Anne and Serge Golon

This book series I inherited from my family. It is the only other on this list that I have in Croatian translation. It is a romantic adventure with historic elements. It has had a movie adaptation in the seventies and one last year. I have read the first book when I was in high school. It is one of the trashy romantic books that generations have read and now I think it is a classic. Some might even consider it to be porn for women all around the globe. I’m also scared of finding out how many of the historical and political elements were real and how many were just adapted to the books.

Southern Vampire Mysteries book series

by Charlaine Harris

 

This is one of the book series I started reading long before the TV show based on it became a fad. Tru Blood had its perks but I really loved the books. Some characters were better adapted to the TV version but the main characters were better in the books for me. When I first heard about the title Southern Vampire Mysteries and it kept coming up in my Amazon account as a recommendation I was not interested or impressed. After I started reading I got hooked. When the TV show was in full swing I kinda started losing interested. What really annoyed me is that I started buying the British edition and the publisher decided to change book cover style in the middle of it due to popularity of the TV show. I read all but last two books in the series. I still need to buy the last two and I plan to finish this book series some day.

Iron Druid Chronicles book series

by Kevin Hearne

This is one of the last book series I started collecting. It is a book series I read with my boyfriend. One of the rare we can both enjoy reading. The best parts about this book series are mythology and comedy. Entertaining read! I read all but last two books and I still need to buy the last one that comes out next year!