Review: Hard Day's Knight by John G. Hartness (& Post of the Author!)

Hard Day's Knight by John G. Hartness

(Black Knight Chronicles, #1)

4 out of 5 stars

Has anyone noticed that vampires are always sexy? In contemporary fiction you can tell someone is a vampire when: he sparkles/has enough sex drive to feel the need to hit on anything or anyone that crosses his path/is so damn gorgeous you can't resist him. Now, lets throw that image overboard. You're about to meet the dorkiest vampires in fiction.

When Mr. Hartness was talking about his book on a forum on Goodreads, I knew I had to read this book. The concept of two fanged creatures that have super strength and yet not the perfect physique and countenance we are used to seemed perfect to get a break from all those vampire books out there. He has also been so very kind to tell a bit more about his extraordinary characters in a post below, check that out too!

Jimmy and Greg have been best friends since well, about forever. So logically, when they both are turned into creatures of the night, they rent a basement and live together as private detectives. When a lot of mysterious disappearances start to happen they end up in a mess they had never expected. I won't spoil the plot too much, but it involves zombies in trunks, unreliable witches, fighting some demons from hell and a conversation with God.

I really liked the bantering between our two "heroes". They both seem so.. human. At the end of a long night of doing detective work, they like to kick off their shoes, get a bag of blood and game a bit. They're not super brave and do get scared at times. There even was a tiny bit of romance in the book, which I though was extremely cute and I liked how that turned out.

There's a lot going on in Hard Day's Knight, making this book nicely paced. Action scenes are alternated with talking and other bits and pieces that tell us more about the background of the boys. The sometimes a bit heavy side of the book is brightened by the completely inappropriate commentary of Jimmy. Some of his sarcastic remarks really made my day.

The only critique I would like to point out is that this book is too short. I wanted to know more, hear more background, be more sucked into this story. I really liked these guys, but I wish I could connect to them more. It could be a case of minor FBISD (First-Book-In-Series-Disease), and this problem will disappear in the next book of the Black Knight Chronicles, Back in Black. I would definitely read another book by this author.

Blurb

In the first volume of The Black Knight Chronicles, detectives Jimmy Black and Greg Knightwood investigate a series of mysterious disappearances with the help of the friend, Father Mike. The investigation is hampered by interference from the police, a dozen marauding zombies, a middle-aged necromancer, and the fact that our heroes can only look for clues by night. Because they're vampires. Vampire detectives kicking zombie butt all over town, what could be better?

Where did these guys come from?
Character development by John G. Hartness

I read a lot of vampire novels. And I really, really love the genre. I love the Anne Rice books before they got to be all about witches. I love the rip-your-throat-out fierceness of the Brian Lumley series. I love the kick-ass sexiness of the Anita Blake stuff, although I’ll admit to losing interest when she started getting laid more than me, but that could just be jealousy talking.

But I’m also a raving smartass, and that has the tendency to show up in all my writing. So when I was reading through a bunch of Anita Blake books back to back, one thought kept leaping to my mind - why are all the vampires hot?

I mean seriously, don’t these undead ever bite any fat people? Or any dorky people? With the exception of one dude on a couple episodes of True Blood Season 1, I couldn’t come up with any geek vampires. And since I’m a comic book geek from way back, I decided to write a vampire series for my people - the geeks.

I built Jimmy and Greg as a classic Laurel and Hardy comedic duo - the tall skinny funny guy and the short fat straight man. Then I laid a bunch of my own characteristics on top of them - love of comics, love of science fiction movies, love of cheap beer and video games, that kind of thing. So by the time I was finished, I had a
couple of regular guys who graduated from a state university in South Carolina, got turned into vampires, and decided to live out their Batman fantasies on the mean streets of Charlotte.

I wanted them to be the counterpoint to all the sexy, brooding vampires that seem to fill the bookshelves today. The boys might not be crazy about everything in their life, but for the most part they’re okay with staying up all night, playing video games and reading comic books. And solving the occasional crime to help pay the rent.

Jimmy is the smartass of the duo, while Greg is the more sincere, heartfelt guy. But Greg is certainly the smarter of the two, while Jimmy gets by on wit and wisecracks. I enjoy writing their dialogue, and the supporting cast is a lot of fun, too. Hopefully you’ll all enjoy reading the books as much as I enjoy writing them, and stick around for the ride for a long time!

Reviews you might also be interested in

• The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice (The Vampire Chronicles, #2)
• The Killing Dance by Laurell K. Hamilton (Anita Blake, #6)
• Bloody Bones by Laurell K. Hamilton (Anita Blake, #7)

In My Mailbox

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren.

I'd like to start with the books I've won from Book Lovers Inc. (Yay, I finally won something!)

Then a book I received for review; I'm quite curious whether I will like it, science-fiction is always a hit or miss for me.

And some more titles for review, gained through NetGalley:

I'm really looking forward to read all these books. Comment below and tell me what you've gotten in your mailbox this week!

Review: The Struggle by L.J. Smith

The Struggle by L.J. Smith

(Vampire Diaries, #2)

2 out of 5 stars

When I finished The Awakening, the first part of this series, I thought the book had a severe case of First-Book-In-Series-Disease. All the symptoms for FBISD were there; there is a lot of getting to know each other going on, the plot is rather weak, the whole mission of the book is us getting to know the world and the context. In the next books, the series pick up and the real story-line starts.

Yet it seems I have diagnosed the Vampire Diaries incorrectly. The Struggle picks off where The Awakening stops. And then it continues at exactly the same pace. It took me three-quarter of the book to discover the real story arch. To me, the plot seemed to go nowhere. Elena is still one of the spoiled and pettiest characters I have ever met. She puts on a big "oh I can't trust anyone" fuss and constantly keeps secrets from the great love of her life. That she has a hard time keeping his vampirism from people she knows, I can absolutely understand. But that she can't even tell her boyfriend that someone has stolen her diary is completely beyond me.

There is nothing wrong with the overall concept behind the story or the writing on itself, but the main characters annoy me. (You know something is wrong when you start hoping the girl dumps her boyfriend and ends up with the big bad guy that kills people. At least he has something interesting to do.) The main issue I have with this book is the message it gives. If you have to believe Elena, using people at your desire, even though you're hurting them while doing it, is perfectly fine. You needed them, right? Not being the queen of the entire school is absolutely horrific too. Not having everyone say hi to you when you walk through corridors is disastrous. Sucks to be normal, huh.

In one scene, she almost had my sympathy. When she thinks she has out-smarted said big bad guy, he does the completely logical thing to do as proper villain; go after your family. His target: the little innocent sister. Elena between them as a proper heroine should. Yet her sole thought while protecting her little sister is that she must help her, because she's still a baby! Apparently, it's completely normal to let an older sister fight off the murderer you've send upon them, yet it's unacceptable when the fight is unfair. And there was I hoping for a redeeming quality.

This is not a "bad" book. The writing on itself is pretty good, clear and polished with a smooth dialogue flow. Even the story is not that bad. If only Ms Smith would concentrate on things that do matter. The high-school part of the book was in complete unbalance with the vampire part. It feels like she thought one day "hey, this is just another book about the popular girl at school, lets throw in vampires so it's more interesting!". I wish there was more vampire and less high school. I think I would like the book a lot better then.

Blurb

A Love Triangle of Unspeakable Horror...

Damon: Determined to make Elena his queen of darkness, he'd kill his own brother to possess her.

Stefan: Desperate for the power to destroy Damon, he succumbs to his thirst for human blood.

Elena: Irresistibly drawn to both brothers, her choice will decide their fate.

The terrifying story of two vampire brothers and the beautiful girl torn between them.
 

Reviews you might also be interested in

• The Awakening by L.J. Smith (Vampire Diaries, #1)
• Torment by Lauren Kate (Fallen, #2)

Book Tour: Tami Jackson (Ravena & The Resurrected)

Today I would like to introduce the wonderful Tami Jackson, author of Ravana & The Resurrected! She will talk about the physical abilities of the vampires in her novel compared to those of other books. Enjoy (:

(She made an image especially for NBR! How cool is that.)

Tami Jackson, Author of "Ravena & The Resurrected," [SunTigerMOJO.com] writes from South of Seattle, WA (USA)

First of all, I just like to thank Celine for offering me the opportunity to post here in the Netherlands at nyxbookreviews.blogspot.com. Because this blog focuses on many different kinds of great books, I thought it would be fun to discuss how vampires in my book, "Ravena & The Resurrected," compare to vampires in popular fiction - physically. To learn how they compare to vampires, socially, see the article that was posted here, http://1000plusbookstoread.blogspot.com, on February 20th.

Climb Walls (Literally)

Anne Rice's Vampire Lestat mastered the ability to climb walls better than any rock climber. While that's not a natural ability for all vampires in R&R, some can climb and it's not just because of what's shared in today's comic (their roommate is driving them nuts, emotionally). Some dark stalkers, after they commit a heinous crime and practice vampire cannibalism, learn to climb walls instantly and can even fly. Ravena does not have this talent when she first becomes vampire but she hopes to acquire it, even if it takes a really long time to learn how.

Extra Seeing and Smelling

This natural ability comes from turning vampire, not just in R&R but with most vampires in mythology. Maybe with exception to some vampires in European folklore, most all immortals have this kind of extra sensory power.

Fangs (Retractable)

All vampires in R&R have retractable fangs, just like the vampires in the "Sookie Stackhouse Series," and "Buffy The Vampire Slayer Series." That's also true of "Vampire Diaries" (on television). The retractable-fang-vampire was also made popular by Barnabas Collins, from "Dark Shadows," a soap opera that ran through the 1960s.

Healing

Ravena has a lot in common with "Dracula." Two abilities that he has, which she does not, are the ability to shape-shift and to heal others. While most mythological portrayals of vampires (including modern television series) give vampires extra healing capabilities, Ravena has not noticed any healing gifts of her own. Not yet anyway.

Mind Control
In Ravena & The Resurrected, vampires can mesmerize people and animals alike, but it takes practice to develop this skill. Vampires in the Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood series have this ability, except for when it applies to Sookie, who is fey and therefore immune. Dracula could also use mind control to mesmerize his targeted audience.

Strength

Most vampires from most dark fiction books have extra powerful strength. Vampires are no different in R&R.

Swimming

Unlike vampires of old who could be drowned or burned with water (e.g., Bram Stoker's "Dracula," "Blade," European folklore) Ravena Doomlah learns that she can swim and it feels like she's breathing under water, at least she feels at home there. In one scene, she attempts to escape her advancing, highly motivated enemy, the Assassins, by diving into Puget Sound. Other vampires from popular fiction who can tolerate the water include those from Twilight, Vampire Chronicles and Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

Speed

This is a natural ability that comes from being vampire in R&R. I think most popular vampires have adapted this extra-human ability to move at amazing speed.

Thank you again, Celine, for allowing me to visit your blog today. If any of your subscribers would like to follow along during this author tour, the calendar provides hyperlinks to this blog and others, where I introduce more R&R characters, present original artwork, and share much more: SunTigerMOJO.com/book-tour-author-tami-jackson-blogs.html. Anyone who wants to contact me may search "Vamchoir" on-line or visit the publisher's website: SunTigerMOJO.com

Teaser Tuesday #16

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• Make sure you do not include spoilers
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Teaser Tuesday #16: Neverwhere

There are four simple ways for the observant to tell Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar apart: first, Mr. Vandemar is two and a half heads taller than Mr. Croup; second, Mr. Croup has eyes of a faded china blue, while Mr. Vandemar's eyes are brown; third, while Mr. Vandemar fashioned the rings he wears on his right hand out of the skulls of four ravens, Mr. Croup has no obvious jewelery; fourth, Mr. Croup likes words, while Mr. Vandemar is always hungry. Also, they look nothing at all alike.
 
Taken from the first chapter of the author's preferred text version of Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. First book I've read from this author, I'm enjoying his writing quite a lot.

Review: Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare 

(The Infernal Devices, #1)

4 out of 5 stars

Note: This is the first book I've read by this author. I have no idea how it relates to her other series, The Moral Instruments. The review is solely concentrated on this book. For more information, see Discussion below.

Clockwork Angel is my first venture into the unknown steampunk-territory. In this alternate world, you have the whole supernatural bunch (vampires, werewolves, warlocks, some nephelim thrown in for good measure) living together with the normals in a Victorian-like age. In a time where skirts that show the ankles are considered extremely inappropriate, Tessa travels from New-York to London to go live with her brother. But instead of finding her brother at the pier she is abducted by two lady-warlocks.

After this the book follows Tessa trying to find and rescue her brother that has gotten himself in a whole lot of trouble. In order to do so, she has the help of the Shadowhunters, the warriors that protect the humans and keep the Downworlders from braking the Law.

I really enjoyed this, mostly because of the setting. I love the ambiance of Victorian London and I think Ms. Clare did extremely well portraying this. You can see she has taken the time to research her book and she implements characteristic parts of society effortless. The saying of one's Christian name is a big deal and I especially loved the shock of our properly bred Tessa when she hears a servant talking freely to one of the Shadowhunters.

As for Tessa as a heroine, I'm not so sure what to say of her. She's not really a weak damsel-in-distress kind of girl but you can't call her kick-ass with a straight face either. She's loyal to her brother and slightly protective, but not so much of a sensitive girl that looks after everyone. As main character she's (I'm almost afraid to use this word) a bit dull. I didn't feel that compassionate towards her. The only parts I enjoyed her character where those wherein she interacts with the young Shadowhunter Will. Enter the mysterious love-interest of the book.

Will is the typical mysterious guy almost every young-adult novel has. The sarcastic bad boy shell with a troubled sweet soul somewhere hidden deep inside him, that only the heroine can reach. We've seen it before countless times, in one form or the other. Yet I still like this one. It seems that a lot of people found Will's behaviour offensive or rude but I don't really see why anyone would take offence in his conduct. He cares for his friend-like-a-brother Jem and he does nothing that shocked me with rudeness. Maybe just because I thought his remarks were rather funny. Don't tell anyone though.

The plot was engaging, yet not that surprising. The major oh-my-gosh moment was hinted at so many times that when it finally came it was a bit disappointing. It was fast-paced though and I read the book in about two sittings. There were enough sidelines that keep you interested throughout the story, even though a lot of questions are left unanswered at the end of the book.

I liked this book. I will definitely check out Clockwork Prince, the second part of this series, due summer this year.

Blurb

Magic is dangerous--but love is more dangerous still.

When sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray crosses the ocean to find her brother, her destination is England, the time is the reign of Queen Victoria, and something terrifying is waiting for her in London's Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Only the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons, keep order amidst the chaos.

Kidnapped by the mysterious Dark Sisters, members of a secret organization called The Pandemonium Club, Tessa soon learns that she herself is a Downworlder with a rare ability: the power to transform, at will, into another person. What's more, the Magister, the shadowy figure who runs the Club, will stop at nothing to claim Tessa's power for his own.

Friendless and hunted, Tessa takes refuge with the Shadowhunters of the London Institute, who swear to find her brother if she will use her power to help them. She soon finds herself fascinated by--and torn between--two best friends: James, whose fragile beauty hides a deadly secret, and blue-eyed Will, whose caustic wit and volatile moods keep everyone in his life at arm's length...everyone, that is, but Tessa. As their search draws them deep into the heart of an arcane plot that threatens to destroy the Shadowhunters, Tessa realizes that she may need to choose between saving her brother and helping her new friends save the world...and that love may be the most dangerous magic of all.

Discussion

When I was searching some sites for background info on this book, I came across something that rather surprised me. Apparently author Cassandra Clare (formerly known as Cassandra Claire) has been accused of using inappropriate amounts of quotes from other works in her fan-fiction series featuring Draco Malfoy. Some might say that the writing of fan-fic on its self is plagiarism, yet some take this a little further. There seems to be a whole hate-team that accuses her of using the same characters she has written for Draco in her books over and over again. I can't take either side in this discussion, as I have not read any of these works, or her Mortal Instrument books. If you want to know more about this, check out these posts:

• The Cassandra Claire Plagiarism Debacle on Journalfen
• Kat's review of Clockwork Angel (contains spoilers!)

Other reviews you might be interested in

• Torment by Lauren Kate (Fallen #2)
• Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick (Hush, Hush #2)
• Rampant by Diana Peterfreund (Killer Unicorns #1)

Nyx Book Reviews Networking

After being advised countless times to create a Twitter account, I finally gave in. Why, I really don't know. I'm not sure why I need it. Anyway, I have no idea how it works so it will take a little while to get used to. I've already put it to use though, tweeting about Carmel's massive giveaway!

Feel free to follow me on nyxbookreviews. Don't be mad at me if I don't react on your tweets, I haven't figured out the world of followers and retweets just yet (:

I've also joined Book Blogs, as an experiment. And I found out these people are incredibly nice! You can find my profile over here, I've already joined some groups, and overall I'm having a lot of fun connecting with other book bloggers. Send me a message if you're also a member!