Hardin’s Aurora of the Northern Lights follows Aurora on her quest to find a place to belong after loosing both of her parents to illness. Aurora, being half-human and half-Northern Elf, is subject to a cold reception when she approaches the nearby town after her parent’s death. She is instructed to find people of her own to live with. Amongst the Woodland fey she receives the same chilly reception before finally finding her way to the Northern Fey where she finds a home amongst her people. Along the way Aurora is helped out by kindly folk who even give her gifts to make her traveling easier.

There was one thing about this book that disappointed me slightly. Despite being billed as a tale for Christmas it lacked the feel of a holiday tale. There are holiday aspects woven into the tale, such as the name of Aurora’s mother, her mother’s kin, gift giving, and even the presence of Santa Claus himself. And yet, despite that, I felt the story’s emphasis was more on the journey that Aurora took to find the place she belonged. It felt misleading, to me, that the story is referred to as a Christmas tale and that the selected recommendations on the back cover also suggest this. That is not to say it detracted from the story, merely that I feel labeling this tale exclusively as a holiday tale is to do it a grave injustice.

Aurora of the Northern Lights is a lighthearted and warm tale that will delight children, no matter what season it is, and is also a joy for adults and parents to read as well. The illustrations are colorful and engaging and will make the tale that much more enjoyable. The story also succeeds in getting numerous messages out to readers, both young and adult, without coming across as overbearing which will make it an enjoyable read for children outside of the recommended age group of 9 to 12.

Joana’s Rating: (4 out of 5 stars)

Special thanks to author Holly Hardin for providing a copy for review.

After finishing Frost’s Halfway to the Grave, my only regret is that I did not get a chance to read it sooner. Frost introduces us to a new heroine in the urban fantasy genre by the name of Catherine Kathleen Crawford, a lanky redhead with a rather sad and tragic past, a vicious temper, and damn good aim with throwing knives. What sets Cat apart from other heroines in this genre is her refusal to wallow in her past, her desire to move forward, and her ability to find the humor in any situation without loosing focus. And did I mention that killer aim?

Cat has spent her life knowing she was different, and being the product of a rape was really just the tip of the iceberg. You see, Cat’s not entirely human, she’s half-vampire in fact, and she spends the evenings trolling for the fiends that turned her mother’s world upside down. Then one night she’s captured by a vampire bounty hunter named Bones whose convinced that she’s being hired by the very vampire he’s spent eleven years hunting – Hennesy.

Cat’s convinced that all vampires are scum of the earth, and really, since she’s only got her mother’s experience and her own from hunting them to go by you can’t really blame her. Bones, however, throws Cat’s perceptions out the window and forces her to reevaluate her findings. Is there such a thing as a good vampire? Cat’s not entirely sure anymore. Together this duo set out to take down a ring of vampires who are nabbing human girls off the streets and selling them at a pretty penny. It becomes apparent soon enough though that there is more going on than the dirty dealings of vampires, there’s law and politics involved as well and that’s never a good thing.

While Frost’s world doesn’t really contribute anything to the genre in terms of originality when it comes to vampires, ghouls, and ghosts, the story itself is still a fun and enjoyable read that will have readers hooked from start to finish.

The entire book was rife with humor, be it dry witty banter, sarcastic repartee, biting asides, or just good old slapstick humor. Even the most tensest of scenes was lightened with a bit of humor. Now, sometimes that isn’t always a good thing, however Frost does an excellent job of injecting lighthearted humor without completely killing the mood or inducing the gag reflex. Take, for example, this scene: Cat and Bones are staking out a club looking for Hennesy and his crew when Cat’s looser of an ex-boyfriend wanders up to her and attempts to “catch up”. Bones persuades the guy that talking to Cat is a bad idea however. On the way out Cat and Bones have this exchange:

[…] Apparently we still had some issues to discuss over good killing versus bad. “Oh I have feelings for him, all right. I’d like to put him in the ground myself, believe me. Still, it would be wrong. Promise me.”
“Fine, I promise I won’t kill him.”
He said it too easily, my eyes narrowed.
“Promise me right here and now that you will also never cripple, maim, dismember, blind, torture, bleed, or otherwise inflict any injury on Danny Milton. Or otherwise stand by while someone else does as you watch.”
“Blimey, that’s not fair!”
Guess it was good I hadn’t just accepted his first agreement. (p253)

The ending was a bit of a surprise for me, I must confess. I very much expected this novel to follow the same annoying trend that a good majority of paranormal romances and urban fantasy books have been adhering to as of late. I’m sure you know the one I’m talking about; the good guys kick butt and take numbers, the cops arrive and it looks like it’s curtains for our heroes. Then, in one or two chapters, everything is nicely summarized and we’re told that the police have nothing to tie our heroes to the crime. Perhaps it’s due to the fact that after the nasty critters die their bodies disintegrate, thus no bodies no crime. Maybe instead some memories were messed with. Whatever the case, the heroes get no more than a “we know you did something, don’t know what, but we’re watching you” and then we go to more pressing matters – relationships! Sometimes we even get served a “good job, we’ll turn a blind eye for you” from the boys in blue.

It’s a nasty trend that tends to leave me dissatisfied, and I’m sure I’m not the only one. It may be a work of fiction, but it’s always nice to see some cold-hard reality in there. Needless to say Frost delivers on this and she does so with much gusto. Cat has been tied to a homicide, kidnapping, with a strange corpse thrown in by the human authorities. Cat uses this to draw the police to the vampire hideout as a sort of “cavalry” and in the process digs herself deeper in their eyes. Add to that she’s seen killing multiple people, attacked two officers of the law, evaded arrest, and murdered a politician. Frost doesn’t cheat her readers by pulling a deus ex machina and contriving a cheap ploy to magically make everything sunshine and roses for Cat. Instead Cat faces a very real and very daunting reality, in the law’s eyes she’s nothing but a murderer.

The story does not end there, nor does it end with Bones coming to the rescue and whisking Cat and her mother to safety. Instead, while hospitalized, Cat is approached by a government agent and offered a chance. They know what her “victims” really are, they know why she did what she did, and they know what she is. She can sign up with them, train their men to hunt down the vile creatures known as vampires, and become their best weapon in this war on the undead and unholy. Or she can die for her “crimes” and her mother can be left out where any vampire seeking revenge can get her. The choice is completely up to her.

With her mother’s life in her hands Cat realizes that this is battle she can’t win, at least not yet. I personally love a good conspiracy theory and I’ve been looking for a good series that boasts a government agency and the supernatural in an otherwise modern-day setting. I didn’t find that in Russe’s Darkwing Chronicles but I think Frost’s Night Huntress series just might have hit the nail on the hammer. In any case I find myself eager to read the second book in the series, One Foot in the Grave.

Joana’s Rating: (3 out of 5 stars)

At long last, fans of Rowling’s Harry Potter series, who aren’t extravagantly rich, are able to not only read, but also get their very own copy of the book of wizarding fairy tales that was willed to Hermione in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows entitled The Tales of Beedle the Bard. The book contains five short wizarding fairy tales that all have a lesson and moral to the story. The introduction is “penned” by J.K. Rowling and explains how this copy came into the hands of muggles. Following every tale is commentary that was written by Albus Dumbledore before his untimely demise. One can choose to believe that the commentary was written before Dumbledore knew the truth of the Deathly Hallows, or that he chose to refrain from revealing the truth of them.

Fans who have not yet had a chance to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows do not have to worry greatly about spoilers in this book. Aside from some very minor details and hints dropped in the introduction, which you can easily skip, there are no real spoilers in the book that would ruin the 7th book for readers. Even with the presence of the last, and most important of Beedle Bard’s tales “The Three Brothers”.

The five tales contained in this collection each carry a message and, in a similar fashion to the Grimm fairy tales, do not worry so much about making the tales completely and utterly rated G. That is not to say that the tales are all gruesome and horrid things, merely that they are, in a sense, real to the readers. Rowling even takes the chance to poke gentle fun at the various writers and translators in real life who have gone to painstaking lengths to censor and doctor up the fairy tales we all know today. In the Dumbledore’s commentary following the first tale, “The Wizard and the Hopping Pot”, Dumbledore mentions a witch by the name of Beatrix Bloxam who rewrote a variety of old stories (including some of Bard’s) in a book of her own. The sugary-sweet drivel that Dumbledore quotes will give your gag-reflex a workout.

My favorite tale in the collection is, without a doubt, “Babbity Rabbity and Her Cackling Stump”. In this tale a muggle king, out of fear of the unknown, issues that all witches and wizards be hunted and he alone be the sole magic user. He then employs a “wizard” to teach him. Unfortunately for him, the wizard is a charlatan. To save his own neck, the charlatan bullies a real witch into aiding him before turning on her. Babbity, in the end, manages to not only convince the king to stop hunting wizards and witches, she also forces the charlatan to confess to his misdeeds, and she does so by using their own flaws against them. Pettiness, spite, and ignorance become their downfall.

Rowling’s The Tales of Beedle the Bard is, without a doubt, a quick but enjoyable read that will allow all Harry Potter fans to gain a new insight into the “Wizarding World” while at the same time revisiting the old. Rowling expertly writes each tale with her usual flare, and that spark that was missing for the most part in HP: DH, is certainly back. Accompanying each fairy tales are illustrations drawn by Rowling herself, and while not the work of an artist extraordinaire, are certainly not poorly crafted stick figures either. Not to mention the fact that many a reader will, without a doubt, find great amusement in some of the more witty and bitting commentary that Dumbledore provides. His remarks regarding Lucius Malfoy’s request of a certain tale to be removed from Hogwarts’ shelves alone will have readers chuckling.

Joana’s Rating: (4 out of 5 stars)

Pst! Click here to find out how you can Win a Free Copy of J.K. Rowling’s The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

Despite my dwindling interest in the Anita Blake series by Hamilton, I still enjoy her Meredith Gentry series. I suspect it’s because the gratuitous sex fits Merry’s character and doesn’t seem quite as “thrown in to stretch the book” as is the case with the Anita Blake books. However, that’s not to say that this series is without faults.

A Lick of Frost picks up where Mistral’s Kiss left off, although the appearance is given that it’s a few months or so between the events, the author isn’t very clear on this. On top of this, the annoying trend that began around A Stroke of Midnight continues on. I am talking about the entire events of the book taking place in only a day, give or take a few hours. Upon completion of the book I always feel a bit cheated. First there is the size, the hardbacks for the Merry Gentry series are about half the size of an Anita Blake novel. That, combined with the fact that everything occurs within the span of the day, gives the story a very rushed feeling. If the author had just allowed the events to fully play out without worrying about keeping them all within the span of twenty-four hours the story would have been all the better. Not to mention, there would have been other avenues that could have been pursued as well instead of being left hanging out there or revealed through the unbelievable candidness of some characters.

At long last the race for the Unseelie throne comes to an end, Meredith is with child – twins to be exact – and the father is Doyle, Frost, Galen, Rhys, Mistral, and Sholto. Hamilton backs up the possibility of this happening by referencing two old tales that even the sidhe thought might be more myth then legend – the tales of Cerridwen and Clotho. The first to illustrate that not just intercourse was necessary to impregnate Meridith and the second to validate the possibility of a child being fathered by more than one man. All of which felt much too convenient for my liking. After all, Merry didn’t want to loose any of her favorite men, even if she didn’t love them all equally. How convenient that her favorite men are safe from Andais’ wrath given that they are the fathers of the children. Even Frost, who has a less than stellar twist thrown his way, is safe from Andais and will return someday.

This raises the question of how the hell there can be, technically, six kings. While Frost is not around at present and no return-date has been figured out for him, the fact remains, he is still a father of one of the children and thus king. How can a land, a people, be ruled and governed by that many monarchs? Doyle has always been captain of the guard and the ravens follow his lead. Yet Sholto is a ruler himself – how can this possibly work? That is a question that will [hopefully] be answered in Swallowing Darkness, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. Hamilton has shown she has no qualms about making her readers wait a few books before answering questions.

As a fan of Frost, I cannot say that I am all that pleased with his fate. The event that leads to Frost’s departure did, however, give Hamilton a means to give a jolt of life to the story that had begun to flounder. And while said event does reveal critical information like: the political state of the Seelie court, the King’s lack of sanity, the King’s powers, the event does feel like another convenient deus ex machina. After all, Meredith’s power and abilities, as well as that of her guard, seems to have just leap frogged yet again.

There was a decent amount of character growth and development for Merry and some of her guard, Frost, Merry, and Rhys in particular, however the vast majority of Merry’s guard and Cel’s former guards who chose to follow her into exhile than stay with him, are nothing but faces and names floating around in the background to me. No depth and certainly not real to me.

In short, while the book, and the series itself, continues to have it’s moments and holds a good deal of promise, there are many flaws and aspects of this book that will keep it from being anything more than a passable read.

Joana’s Rating: (2 out of 5 stars)

The Hodag is a creature with the head of an ox, feet of a bear, back of a dinosaur, and a tail of an alligator. He’s forty feet tall and his eyes glow like fire, but don’t be afraid, the Hodag has a preference for wild blueberries. Not to mention, he’s great friends with lumberjacks.

One day as the lumberjacks are heading home from a hard day’s work in the woods they come across a group of men setting up camp. The men reveal that they are animal catchers and are there to capture the Hodag in order to bring him to a zoo. What ensues is the amusing adventure of a group of lumberjacks, led by Olee Swenson, as they lead the animal catchers on a merry goose chase before eventually running them off.

The Terrible Hodag and the Animal Catchers is an original tale told by Caroline Arnold and is based off the legendary characters of Olee Swenson and the Hodag. Legends of the two have been told in logging camps for over a hundred years and made popular campfire tales at the summer camp in Wisconsin that Arnold attended. The book is intended for audiences between the ages of 9 through 12 (grades 2 through 4). Younger audiences though will enjoy having this tale read to them and perhaps even challenge themselves so that they may read it.

The Terrible Hodag and the Animal Catchers is an amusing and fun-filled fantastical adventure that teaches the importance of friends and teamwork. The mean animal catchers are thwarted in their plans to abduct the Hodag, who really isn’t terrible at all, only because the lumberjacks value their friend. And it is with the combined effort of the lumberjacks and the Hodag, that their traps and diversions succeed. Unlike other children’s stories I’ve seen, The Terrible Hodag and the Animal Catchers does not harp on the underlying themes nor does it try to pound the message into the audience’s brain either. Arnold subtly weaves these themes in with the story and the end result is a story that will captivate the minds and imaginations of the readers.

Joana’s Rating: (4 out of 5 stars)

At the dawn of the new millennium everyone was concerned with the threat of Y2K. Instead of computers crashing worldwide however, vampires and other so-called mythical creatures stepped out of the shadows and into the spotlight. During this time, Delilah was growing up in the custody of the state. She was found as an infant and was named after the street she was found on – Delilah. Mystery is, there are no “Delilah” streets in Wichita. Her pale skin attracts vampires like a magnet and Delilah spent most of her traumatizing childhood trying to avoid becoming someone’s dinner.

Now, years later Delilah is an investigative reporter working the paranormal beat on the television station, WTCH TV, in Wichita, KS. She has a Lhasa Apso named Achilles, is dating the vampire anchorman of her television station. In short, all is going well for her – not!

Her life in Wichita begins to go belly up one evening after she tunes in to a new episode of CSI and sees her naked [dead] body lying on a cadaver table and being autopsied. The body is identical to hers down to her nose stud and painted toenails. All to freaky. Later that evening her vampire boyfriend rigs the flowers he gives her with razor blade-thorns in order to get a taste of her blood. Her faithful dog Achilles runs him out after delivering a swift bite to the ankle. Just when it seems as though things can’t get any worse, they do. Turns out her boyfriend was seeing the station’s weather witch on the sly. Her paranormal beat is taken away and she’s bumped to social hum-drum reporting, her dog dies due to being poisoned by the vampire’s blood, and the weather witch decides dropping a tornado on Delilah’s house is fun.

It’s spur of the moment, but Delilah decides that since she wants to know what’s up with her body double anyway, why not pack what remains into her vintage car and head on over to Las Vegas, Nevada. Sin City, home of CineSim productions and Nightwine. She wants answers and Las Vegas has them. And this is where things just become hectic to follow. Delilah’s obsession with everything vintage has her making off the wall comments that reference anything and everything that can be considered vintage. This often leads to Delilah’s commentary and inner-monologue running off on unrelated tangents that left me wondering why we were at point X when we should be at point B.

Werewolves basically own and run Las Vegas, and given the title of the book, I knew that werewolves were going to play an integral part in the plot. And hey, since we have witches and vampires, why not werewolves? However we also suddenly have to contend with the existence of zombies, faeries, and whatever the heck Nightwine and Delilah are. Because folks, despite what Delilah thought, she’s not human and neither is Nightwine; a loose end the author has left dangling for us readers. The author’s initial description of this post-Y2K world leads us to believe that only vampires, witches, and werewolves (on account of the book’s title) exist. Yet there is more out there and they just pop out at the author’s whim. The author never truly establishes ground rules for the supernatural beings that exist and the forces that drive this world. This suspends the believability of the author’s world, and coupled with the disjointed narrative, makes for a jarring and headache-filled read.

To add to the unbelievability, after spending the entire novel harping on Delilah’s unknown origins, her lousy childhood, and her quest for answers, Delilah just gives up on the search for her twin. I have a very hard time believing that an orphan, who never got adopted out of the system, who has no friends or social life, and who has always questioned her origins, would just give up the search for a possible sibling in the face of a romantic interest. A romantic interest who doesn’t even get much “screen time” so to speak.

I picked this book up because it had supernatural elements and a strong female character. Now, while Delilah is an enjoyable character and is indeed every bit the strong character I thought she would be, the disjointed writing detracts from the story greatly. The author’s attempts at being witty and sarcastic begin to fall flat as the tangents pile up, and eventually, completely confound the reader. For example, at one point Delilah mentions an “inner-girlfriend” and initially I honestly couldn’t tell if she was trying to be witty or serious. That is very sad. I thought this series had a great deal of potential, but the aforementioned problems will likely keep me from pursuing this series any further.

In the end it was as if nothing was solved. Dangling ends abound, and while I understand that it’s important to keep some avenues open for a sequel, leaving all of the major avenues unexplored makes a reader question why they even bothered reading the book to begin with. This, coupled with the fact that Delilah’s inner-monologue and narration was disjointed and confusing for the most part, left me with a rather bitter taste in my mouth, come the conclusion of the book. Where was the book that I read all the rave reviews about on Amazon? It certainly wasn’t Dancing with Werewolves by Carole Nelson Douglas, that’s for sure.

Joana’s Rating: (2 out of 5 stars)

As the title might suggest, Francesca Lia Block’s The Rose and the Beast takes some of the most popular of Grimm’s fairy tales and plops them down in modern-day Los Angeles. The tales are reworked to fit a modern day world, but the lessons, both new and old, behind each tale have not been lost in the least.

Now, much like the original Grimm fairy tales, these tales have not been sugar-coated in the least. While the author refrained from outright telling the readers what some of the heroines were going through, the vivid pictures Francesca Lia Block paints with her words leaves no doubt in the reader’s mind as to what they are witnessing. Sexual abuse, rape, molestation, murder – these are just a few of the things that plague the protagonists of these fairy tales.

Unsurprisingly, the more popular and well known fairy tales, such as “Snow White”, “Beauty and the Beast”, “Sleeping Beauty”, “Little Red Riding Hood”, “Thumbling”, and “Cinderella”, make their way into this collection. However, a couple of the lesser known tales can be found as well. I must confess to being rather disappointed with just how many of the more popular and well-known fairy tales made it into this book. While they were well written and enjoyable, they’re tales I’ve seen rewritten and redone numerous times. Just about every author who sets out to rewrite a few fairy tales picks one or two of the popular tales and rewrites them. Seeing not one but six of them in a collection of just nine tales was very disheartening to say the least.

Lia Block’s version of Bluebeard, entitled “Bones” in her book, is one of the few lesser-known fairy tales included in the collection, and also one of my favorites from said collection. A young girl stuck in a dead end job waiting, dreaming, and hungering for something better to come along, receives an invitation to a producer’s party one night. She’s alone in the world and unsure of her place in things – a perfect victim because she won’t be missed. The producer, Derek Blue, takes an interest in her and invites her to stay after the party. Like the original tale, the heroine is presented with a key, however there is no need for her to wander into the forbidden room as the villain is more than happy to tell her about all of the other girls who have suffered the same fate that awaits her.

Now, what I liked most about this tale was the heroines’ ability to fight back and escape all on her. Rather than fall down in a heap of despair and terror, the story’s heroine acknowledges that there will be no brothers running to her rescue and instead fights off her would be murderer with a pocket knife and runs for her life. Unlike trite horror movies, this girl has some common sense, so instead of running up the stairs or into the woods she makes a beeline for her car and escapes. Instead of the stereotypical bimbo we’re treated with a young girl who makes mistakes but has the wits about her to get out fast – I loved this.

The author’s renditions of Thumbling/Thumbelina (“Tiny”) was amusing and interesting to see adapted to a modern day environment, but was an overall unoriginal take on the classic tale. Likewise I found the renditions of Beauty and the Beast (“Beauty”) and Snow White (“Snow”) to also fall short of the mark. I was impressed with the author’s version of Little Red Riding Hood (“Wolf”) however and how she cleverly weaved a tale of child abuse and domestic violence into the classic storyline and adapted it for modern times. The abused runaway daughter as little red riding hood, and the abusive father as the big bad wolf was absolutely perfect.

I would also like to point out that the author seems to have an addiction to hyphens and run on sentences. If you’re the type of reader who cannot stand to see a work published, or deliberately written, with several grammatical mistakes then this novel is going to grate on your last nerve. Frankly, I didn’t find that the run ons, and over hyphenated sentences added anything to the story. One might even say they detracted a bit. And when it comes to grammar and punctuation, I am certainly far from perfect, yet even I was tempted to bust out with the red felt-tip pen.

In short, while the author provides an interesting and unique spin on many of these fairy tales, the appearance of widely known, and thus widely-retold, stories will be a let down for anyone looking for a truly unique retelling of fairy tales. The fact that the bulk of these fairy tales are made up of commonly retold fairy tales also takes away from the enjoyment factor.

Joana’s rating: (3 out of 5 stars)

Aerie is the final book in Mercedes Lackey’s Dragon Jousters series. After the culmination of events in Sanctuary it seems hard to believe that there would be any way for the story to really continue without it seemingly going on and on forever without end, somewhat akin to daytime television. Lackey does a nice job of of tying up all of the loose ends and unfinished thoughts of the previous three books.

Aerie is set approximately a year (or so) after the events of Sanctuary. Ari and Nofret are the Great King and Queen of Alta and Tia, now called Altia, and rule together from the new palace. Sanctuary itself has become a priestly city with priests from Altan and Tian temples alike setting up shop and hammering out details together. Because of the influx of priests to Sanctuary, Kiron and the dragon riders have relocated to Aerie, the dragon city, and are in the process of making it livable. Supplies are limited, conditions are harsh, and it takes a lot of work to get the place in order. Here, former Tian and Altan Jousters who have now raised their own dragons from eggs are working together, and are under Kiron’s temporary command.

Kiron, being younger than many and not of noble birth and lacking in traditional Jousting and combat experiance, does not seem to be an ideal leader in the eyes of the high born and former Jousters and this is starting to cause some friction. But Haraket, being a former overseer (remember, he oversaw the Tian compound in Joust) is even less favorable as Lord of the Jousters. To make matters worse, many are starting to question the Jouster’s place in things. They are not the army and it takes quite a bit to provision them, with Alta and Tia at peace what purpose do they serve? Kiron finds the answer, and subsequently earns the respect of the former Jousters, when they begin to patrol the borders and trade routes of Altia to protect merchants, traders, and the Bedu from bandits. Alas, a new enemy is coming.

The new enemy was well thought out, and readers will likely to be thrilled to just what the former oppressors of Tia, whom Ari mentioned in the first book Joust, have been up to and what their plans for Altia are. The mystery as to who is responsible for the disappearance of an entire village and magics used to block the priests from seeing this was well done, but the conclusion of the book and the solution that the main cast arrived at to defeat the enemy seemed a little too predictable to me. Perhaps it was due to my love of Greek mythology, but I found it no surprise that the Gods of Alta and Tia were becoming one and ended up contributing to the final battle. I suspected that we might see something akin to the battle of Troy, in that the gods would be fighting alongside the mortals, and I was correct. I’m still not sure whether I’m disappointed with that fact though. It was an exciting and riveting conclusion, but a little too predictable for my comfort.

Another thing of interest to note here is that Lackey allows the tale in Aerie to be told, not just from the point of view of Kiron, but from several other characters as well. The point of view switches from Kiron, Aketen, and Peri-en-westet, a new character to the story. While a good portion of the story certainly couldn’t have been told without the point of view changes since the events were spread out at various locations and Kiron certainly couldn’t have been everywhere at once, I felt that Aerie lost some of the aspects that made the previous three books in the series integral.

For starters, Peri-en-westet, despite having her tale told and considerable effort given to delve into her character, was essentially the female character tossed in to cause trouble between the protagonist and his love interest. This is evidenced by that fact that, aside from being the one to bring Kiron’s mother to the dragon compound while he was there (by sheer accident however) she played no integral role.

We also saw a change in Aketen’s character that was certainly most unwelcome. Gone was the dignified, stubborn, but lovable Aketen from the previous books. Instead we have a paranoid, foolhardy young woman who is green with envy and sees challenges where none lay. There were several moments where I wondered what had happened to the Aketen we knew and if it might not be better for Kiron if he turned to Peri instead. As for Kiron’s mother, such a disappointment there, though not in the character or writing of her, but in what has become of her due to the death of her husband and the breaking up of her family at the hands of Tian soldiers.

Despite the drawbacks of this book, it was still rich with Lackey’s style of writing. The detail and thought giving to the setting, the culture of the people, and the characters truly brought the story to life and before this reader’s eyes. However, in comparison to the previous three books I found it to be of lesser quality.

Joana’s rating:

As a cat lover I always look forward to fiction that revolves around or is told from the point of view of cats. I’ve yet to find any that fall in the Children’s Literature genre that are of worthwhile interest though. Hopefully The Secret Diary of Adrian Cat will be different. I’lll be adding this book to my “To Be Read” (TBR) pile and you can expect a full, in-depth review on it soon.

Official Statement:

“The Secret Diary of Adrian Cat” – a hilarious account of one-year in the life of Stuart and Linda Macfarlane’s cat has just been published by DNA Press.

SUMMARY: The secret lives and loves of cats are revealed in this adventure novel, entitled “The Secret Diary of Adrian Cat” that peeks into a year in the life of the mischievous feline Adrian Cat. Adrian is having trouble keeping his new year’s resolutions (especially “I will not be condescending to my humans”), and he’s also adjusting to the fact that his humans have a new baby, his best friend needs constant help, and he’s in love for the first time—with the angelic-seeming Snowball. But Snowball turns out to be less than perfect and tries to lead Adrian into organized crime. She forces him to join the evil cat Killer’s gang. After numerous misadventures he realizes that he does not love the beautiful but power-crazed Snowball and really loves the scruffy yet tender alley cat named Gypsy. After Killer’s gang runs Gypsy out of town, Adrian is forced to make some strange friends, fight the evil Killer and travel a rough road in order to convince Gypsy of his love.

PRESS RELEASE BODY: The DNA Press team is happy to announce the publication of “The Secret Diary of Adrian Cat”, by Stuart and Linda Macfarlane of Scotland.
“The Secret Diary of Adrian Cat” relates one year in the life of the extraordinary cat Adrian. At the start of the year Adrian makes his New Year Resolutions but soon finds that they are not easy to keep – especially the more testing ones like ‘I will not be condescending to my humans’ and ‘I will not maul the vet’.

The Adrian Cat book is modeled on “The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole – Aged 13 1/2″, the book that made its author Sue Townsend the best-selling novelist of the 1980s. “I have always been a great fan of Sue Townsend and have read many of her books,” said Stuart Macfarlane. ‘The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole’ provided the inspiration to write our book in a diary format. I loved the idea of a cat keeping a secret diary of all his adventures, worries and aspirations. ‘The Secret Diary of Adrian Cat’ started out as a working title for the book but Adrian took on such a powerful character that when the book was complete we could not bear to change his name. We spent hours trying other names, but none were right – Adrian was Adrian and refused to be called anything else.”

Added Linda Macfarlane, “The book is about all the things Adrian could be getting up to; trying to become famous, looking for the love of his life, promoting peace between dogs, cats and mice, getting involved with an evil gang, saving the life of a fox, treasure hunting with a pirate parrot and, of course, looking after his human family.”

When Adrian spots a beautiful white Persian walking through his garden he immediately falls head over paws in love. Her name is Snowball and though she appears angelic she turns out to be a power-crazed feline who will do anything to get what she wants.
In an attempt to win Snowball’s heart, Adrian is forced to become a member of the Cosa Nostra gang – run by the evil cat, Killer. As a member of the gang he becomes involved in many mischievous activities such as housebreaking and raiding the fish shop. As Adrian becomes more influential Snowball unexpectedly announces that they are soon to marry.
When Adrian finds an injured fox Snowball refuses to help saying, ‘The only good fox is a dead fox. When it dies, bring me its tail – I need a new cushion’. By good fortune a cat ‘of no fixed abode’, Gypsy, offers to help and through her knowledge of herbal medicines and tender care the fox is saved.
Being jealous of the amount of time Adrian is spending with Gypsy, Snowball gets Killer to run her out of town. It is only then that Adrian realizes that it is not the beautiful Snowball but the rather scruffy Gypsy that he loves. After days of searching he finds Gypsy and eventually persuades her to marry him.
Of course much more than this is happening in Adrian’s complex life, for he has a human family to support and a best friend, Lucky, who constantly needs help and advice. This ensures that there is not a day without crises, adventure, and of course lots of food to eat and as much sleep as Adrian can cram in. But the appearance of a noisy new human kitten in Adrian’s family makes it difficult for him to sleep and when an outbreak of ‘Nappy-Rash’ makes the noise unbearable, Adrian has no choice but to move in with an elderly human, Old-Grey-Fur. However, he discovers that she sleeps even more than he does and he soon moves back with his humans. On a day to day basis Adrian has the training of his young humans, Brat and Brat-2, to attend to in addition to fighting for a spot on his favorite chair, and of course attempting to fulfill his resolutions to, ‘become the world’s most famous cat’, and to ‘promote world peace between cats, dogs and mice’.
Summing up the year Adrian exclaims, ‘I’ve fallen in love for the first time and fallen out of love for the first time. I’ve married the best girl in the world. I’ve added a new human to my family. I’ve made friends with a robin, a fox and a pirate parrot. I’ve been the enemy of an evil gang leader, best friends with him and then his enemy again. My one regret is that there just hasn’t been enough time for sleeping.’

This post was sponsored by the Authors/Advertisers of the book.

The seventh and final installment in the highly lauded series Is not much longer than its predecessors and yet the sheer number of events and subplots makes it all that much more dense. Because of this it has taken me quite some time, upon finishing the book, to sit down and order my thoughts and feelings regarding this last installment before compiling this review. I must say that while there were many aspects and points that I felt were exceptionally well thought out and executed, there were also bits that left me with a bit of a foul taste in my mouth.

Before we continue any further I must advise you that this review will undoubtedly contain some spoilers, as I will allude to specific events and occurrences in the book to support my claims. I will however attempt to refrain from divulging the entirety of the book.

To begin, let’s recap where book six, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince left off. At the end of the book it was revealed that Voldemort had split his soul into seven horcruxes in an attempt to master death and ensure that he could not be defeated. Dumbledore had already destroyed one, Harry had unknowingly destroyed another in his previous adventures, and it was revealed that a mysterious “R.A.B” had beaten Harry and Dumbledore to the third, a locket. In the book’s conclusion Severus Snape, the Order of the Phoenix’s spy had killed Albus Dumbledore and fled with his fellow Death Eaters in what seemed like the ultimate betrayal of Dumbledore’s trust.

Here now I’d like to address the subject that was the main focus of Harry, Hermione, and Ron’s quest for nearly the first half of the best – the search for and the destruction of the locket that R.A.B found first and the identity of R.A.B. It seemed to take unnaturally long for the book’s heroic trio to discern the initial location of the locket and the identity of R.A.B. I’m not even going to bother with dancing around the identity of R.A.B because everyone and their grandmother who have the read the book, came to the immediate conclusion of just who R.A.B had to be and then subsequently attempted to reject the idea because it was far too easy and obvious.

It took one hundred and eighty-six pages for the trio to discern that R.A.B was none other than Regulus Artiurus Black, and although we did not know his middle name until now, there isn’t a reader out there who didn’t arrive upon this conclusion upon the finale of the previous book, and sadly enough it took another three pages before the trio realized that the locket had been in front of their faces all along in the case of “dark artifacts” that had been disposed of during the cleaning frenzy at Grimwauld Place.

The true kicker here folks lies in the fact that Harry only realized the truth after looking at the name plate on Regulus’ bedroom door at the Black house. Odd how no one seemed to notice the name plates or comment on them in any of the previous books, but suddenly there is a very pompous name plate with Regulus’ full name on his old bedroom door. Hermione I’m disappointed in you, you’re supposed to be the brains of the operation and yet you failed to make the obvious connection? Tsk tsk.

One good thing did come of this scene however, the further development of Kreacher’s characterization as well as the development of the bond between Harry and Kreacher. I was rather touched how Harry and Ron revised their thinking of Kreacher and saw him as more than a talking appliance but as a person as well. I was thoroughly impressed with the level of maturation that was shown here but that level of maturity was short lived and tended to give way to utter idiocy on the part of Ron and Harry at times.

The question that plagued many a reader’s mind, was Snape good or evil, was at long last answered when Harry was gifted with some of Snape’s memories in order to explain himself and to instruct Harry on what his final steps should be in defeating Voldemort. I confess to not being surprised here honestly. Snape’s childhood, his motivation for joining the side of the light, even why he asked Dumbledore to never tell any of the Order members why he switched sides just did not come as a surprise. Despite it being well written and moving, it was also a large letdown as it was not only a theory hashed out in hundreds of fanfiction but it was also terribly cliche.

On top of this minor disappointment was the fact that, aside from the true nature of Dumbledore’s relationship with Grindelwald and the Deathly Hallows themselves the book’s events really weren’t that surprising. Granted, this is the final book and the pieces should all be fitting into their proper places at long last, but they lacked the element of surprise and suspense. This is what slowed down the tone of the story greatly as many of the events were not only predictable but also glaringly obvious which resulted in many “it took them how long to see this coming” moments for this reader.

While Harry and the trio searched for the locket and then subsequently continued their search for the other horcruxes and a means to destroy them the book dragged, horribly so. There were instances where one’s adrenaline began to rush, no doubt about that, but for the most part it dragged until Harry, foolishly and arrogantly, bumbles into the Death Eater’s hands. Then of course things begin to move along quite nicely. That is however more than halfway through the book though.

As for Dumbledore, I am glad that, in a sense, Rowling did not attempt to mimic the Gandalf-scenario here as that might very well have been the nail in this book’s coffin. However Dumbledore’s family history and his motivations and subsequent decisions might shock some readers. I for one wasn’t shocked simply because I’ve long seen Dumbledore as not nearly kind and benevolent as he appears and so the revelation of a sort of puppet-master-Dumbledore did not take me by surprise but merely confirmed my long standing suspicions.

Despite much of the book’s predictability and the fair number of cliched motivations and plot devices Deathly Hallows does have some good surprises in store for the reader, not to mention the fact that the death of many well-liked, popular, and even loved characters will have quite a few gasping in shock. If I’ve counted correctly there were at least fifteen character deaths that will sadden loyal readers, not including muggles and characters that were only mentioned for the first time in this book to serve as cannon fodder if you will.

Rowling ended this tale with a bit of a time jump so that we could see how the survivors had fared in life if you will. I was very disappointed with this bit actually. Despite the fact that throughout the whole series Dumbledore proclaimed that the four houses of Hogwarts had to stand together as they were all equal, nineteen years in the future shows that the previous generation has continued to pass on those same narrow-minded and prejudice beliefs to their children, which is evidenced when one of the children raises a fuss over the possibility of being sorted into Slytherin and his family and siblings continue on about the virtues of being a Gryffindor. Oh granted, the father of said child attempts to correct that logic, but the fact that it still persists is disheartening. And the reaction of the fathers of these children upon seeing an old face isn’t very encouraging either. It would appear that history here in the magical world is doomed to repeat itself eventually. Also on that note is the lack of Slytherins who participated in and fought on the good guy’s side in the final battle and McGonagal’s surprising lack of ability to rally the troops to unite. So much for Hogwart’s unity.

Before I wrap it up I’d like to add one final comment. I find it to be rather disturbing that this book is being marketed as a children’s book when the language and content is not exactly something most parents want their young children exposed to. The death count is staggering to say the least, there are numerous British and American explicits, and there is a remarkable amount sexual innuendo as well. A waitress murmuring a suggestion to Ron of where he could stick his “wand” when he complains his pants are too tight being just one of several such comments.

And then there is the torture and disfigurement of some characters, and the implied rape/extreme brutality of another. Initially these books started off light enough but the series grew much darker and maturer and as such I feel, as a whole and especially this final installment, should all be moved and classified as “Young Adult”. I don’t consider myself overly conservative or prudish but even I have to raise some objections to children under ten years of age absorbing some of this.

Over all this book was an entertaining read but I can’t help but to be relieved that Rowling has brought the series to a close. The way in which Rowling tied up the lose ends and brought everything to a close showed that this series had drug on just a bit too long. Despite this book’s confirmation of Dumbledore’s character, which I felt oddly vindicated in seeing, and the revelation behind Severus Snape’s past, motivations, patronous, and true intent, this is definately not one of my favorite books in the series and not one of Rowling’s better efforts.

Joana’s rating: