Recent Reads

Right, school and other inconveniences have kept me from my blogging again, but here are some of the books I've worked on lately.

Jim Butcher: Storm Front and Fool Moon, books one and two of the Dresden Files

Now, I must admit to being something of a sexist reader. I prefer books written by women, hard to say why, I just do. Something about the tone, I suppose. I'd heard good things about Butcher's work, so I decided to give the Dresden series a whirl. Storm Front seemed to start a bit slowly and I needed to really work to keep reading, but then suddenly I couldn't put it down. The same happened with Fool Moon. Slow build, that's the word. Mr. Butcher does it well. Harry Dresden is an old-fashioned, flawed hero and really quite a great guy. The mystery part of the plots was well-written and the action was nonstop once you got to it. Another admirable thing about Butcher's writing is that he's not afraid to have bad things happen to good people or to back his hero into corners. It makes for good suspense writing and great action scenes. Not my favourite series in the urban fantasy genre, but a solid good read. Will probably look further into the series in the future.

M.C. Beaton: Snobbery With Violence

The murder mystery/comedy of manners featuring Lady Rose Summers and Harry Cathcart was a subtle, but very amusing and interesting read. Set in Edwardian time, the intricacies of the social world and a juicy murder mix in a manner most entertaining. I'd read a few mysteries from Ms. Beaton's Hamish MacBeth series before and found them nice enough. This series is probably more my cup of tea. I already have the second book in the series ordered from my favourite bookshop.

J.R. Ward: Crave and An Unforgettable Lady

Crave is the second book in the Fallen Angels series and I'm still sitting on the fence about the series. I like the leading man Jim Heron and his sidekicks, I'm not sure about the others. Still a good read, to be sure. I'd just go with the Black Dagger Brotherhood books if I had to recommend something by Ward.

An Unforgettable Lady is an old book which found its way to reprint when the BDB made a splash. It's a contemporary romantic suspense novel, and a good one, really, but like the Fallen Angels, it plays second fiddle to the BDB. Still, if urban fantasy isn't your bag, you can get a look at Ward's cool style of writing from this one. Her distinctive voice isn't quite at its current level yet in this earlier novel, but it's getting there.