Book Synop:

A violent ghost in a world where spirits are rarely mean-spirited is a clue to a deeper mystery in this engrossing dark fantasy debut from comics-writer Carey. Felix Fix Castor is an itinerant exorcist who (like a certain famous group of Hollywood ghost-evictors) alternates between dispatching spooks and doing stage magic at ungrateful children’s birthday parties. When he’s summoned to end a haunting at London’s prestigious Bonnington Archive, he finds a vengeful specter with a blood-veiled face that resists methods for extirpating the usually docile dead. When Castor begins probing more deeply, he quickly finds himself harassed by a ravenous succubus, a belligerent fellow exorcist and a slimy Eastern European pimp.

Mike Carey’s The Devil You Know intrigued me…after I was able to slog through the first 80 pages. At page 20 I was scratching my head. At 40 I was getting mildly annoyed. By 60 I was ready to throw the darn thing up against the wall. But by 80 I was hooked. I typically don’t give a book that long to gel for me. But since this was my first book in months that I sat down to read and since the last few months had been so impossibly crappy, I thought I might have been projecting my feelings onto the book.
A part of me feels that The Devil You Know could have been edited better. it was very dense. Lots of description, lots of ironic internal dialogue, but, that’s the main character, Fix. It’s how he is. A little over the top. A smartass who is inside his head — a lot.
The story was intriguing once the plot actually settled down and began moving. Fix is an exorcist. A good one, who has made mistakes in the past. One mistake in particular has transformed his best friend into a half demon lunatic and Fix suffers from this — boy does he suffer. Anyway, he’s been brought in to get rid of a ghost, but slowly he becomes intrigued as to why the ghost is there and as he investigates the story behind her death, his life becomes more bizarre.
Carey did a wonderful job with the dialogue. Fix has a great personality. He self-deprecating and a little condescending. The other characters were…ok. I liked his friend Pen and I was definitely intrigued by Rafe/Asmodeus but the people that were integral to the actual storyline at the building where the ghost haunted were a little stereotypical and/or a bit annoying. I liked the paranormal mixed in with London landmarks and British humor. I think this might be a solid start to an intriguing mystery series. But I will have to read Vicious Circle in order to get a solid feel for this author.
If the prose could be tamed a bit and the extraneous information strategically taken out, then I will stick with Fix.

Book Synop: Louisiana cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse has her hands full dealing with every sort of undead and paranormal creature imaginable. And after being betrayed by her longtime v ampire love, Sookie must not only deal with a new man in her life-the shapeshifter Quinn-but also contend with the long-planned vampire summit.

The summit is a tense situation. The vampire queen of Louisiana is in a precarious position, her power base weakened by hurricane damage to New Orleans. And there are some vamps who would like to finish what nature started. Soon, Sookie must decide what side she’ll stand with. And her choice may mean the difference between survival and all-out catastrophe.

Fantastic as usual! I listened to All Together Dead: A Sookie Stackhouse Southern Vampire Mystery unabridged on CD. I really enjoy listening to Johanna Parker narrate this story. It continues the saga of Sookie and her new paranormal buddies. I’m not sure how I really feel about Quinn and Sookie dating because I’m partial to Eric, but I’m glad that Sookie is happy.

The vampire summit was a little boring at times, but overall the story was well paced and of course the humor was outstanding. I can’t wait to see if HBO is going to pick up True Blood starring Anna Paquin as Sookie. Now, if only Ms. Harris would write this series a little bit faster….

Synop: (From B&N)
Anita Blake is about to face the challenge of her life. Into her world-a world already overflowing with power-have come creatures so feared that powerful, centuries-old vampires refuse to mention their names. It is forbidden to speak of The Harlequin unless you’ve been contacted. And to be contacted by The Harlequin is to be under sentence of death.

Long-time rivals for Anita’s affections, Jean-Claude, Master Vampire of the City, and Richard, alpha-werewolf, will need to become allies. Shapeshifters Nathaniel and Micah will have to step up their support. And then there’s Edward. In this situation, Anita knows that she needs to call the one man who has always been there for her…

I can’t begin to say how happy I am that the old Anita is (sorta) back in The Harlequin (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, Book 15). I’ve missed her. I felt the series jumped the shark with Narcissus in Chains and I haven’t been the same rabid fan girl since then. I still feel there is waaaaay too much personal therapy being worked through from LKH’s personal life in the pages, but it wasn’t quite as annoying this time around. I do miss the period of time usually covered in the books. I do not like that only a day or so goes by. Couldn’t we have a week? Why can’t the Merry Gentry series be all about the sex and whacked out time periods and Anita could be, well what Anita was the first 8 books or so.

There still is not any significant character growth in The Harlequin. Nobody has grown (I’m not counting Anita getting new powers or new sex partners) in the last several books except Nathaniel. I’ve enjoyed watching him come into his own. But all the other characters are mired in stagnancy. Jean Claude is still the (mostly) unperturbed Master of the City. Micah is still perfect in his every move, gesture and breath. Richard is still the same annoying asshole that just can’t get his crap together.

Speaking of Richard. I want him to die a horrible, painful death. I’ll take my chances with him killing the triumvirate. Really. He is the whiniest most unappealing male ever. Every book Anita and him have the same fights and every time Richard gets his feelers hurt and he must run off and lick his wounds. ENOUGH ALREADY! It boggles the mind that this pansy is King of the Wolves. Or whatever his title is. Kill him, kill him, kill him.

Okay, now that I got most of my gripes out of the way, this was an interesting story. I liked reading about these assassins sent to take care of business with Malcolm’s church. I enjoyed reading more about Marme Noire (I probably spelled that wrong). I liked that the story has a definite beginning, middle and end. And best of all, I liked that Anita no longer has to have sex every fifteen minutes. There’s actually room for *gasp* a story! Now you may be wondering why I gave it a B+. Well, I’m comparing them against the last few books and comparatively speaking, The Harlequin is gold. Compared to other authors, stories, styles and other things typical literature is “graded” on, I’d give it a C.

I wish that I could steer clear of this series. but I liken it to the train wreck that you can’t help but rubber neck at as you go by. Finally, I didn’t feel as though The Harlequin was a total waste of money. I’m actually looking forward to the next one to see if it’s still heading in the right direction or if The Harlequin was a fluke.