Tricked by Kevin Hearne

 

Tricked is close to being my favorite book of the year so far. I have been reading up a storm lately, my chosen genre being urban fantasy like this or paranormal if you prefer. This is the fourth title of the series and the latest release and while I personally feel that the previous book Hammered was better this one still managed to impress.

For those who have never picked up the first three let me give you a little break down of the world. Magic is real and gods exists, all of them. If it has ever been prayed too it is real, they just have taken more of a back seat these days as the world forgot about them.Magic users and other paranormal creatures stretch across the globe trying to blend in, rule the world or just cause trouble.

The main character Atticus O’Sullivan is a druid wonder. He has lived centuries fending off angry gods, fae, witches and vampires. In this book we come into a new territory for Atticus which is the Native American culture. In order to escape the fury of the Norse pantheon Atticus has made a deal with Coyote, but this deal is getting Atticus in way over his head. I won’t go any further because I hate spoilers.

The story is well written and flows smoothly. I picked up the book and didn’t want to put it down. I find Hearne’s writing style refreshing. So many books in this category turn into supposedly strong heroines that need someone to do everything for them until the last minute or all out pornographic reads. The characters are designed well, they have a feel to them. Even Atticus faithful hound Oberron seems to be well thought out and purposeful. The humor in the book made me chuckle often and I got to enjoy the next steps in Atticus relationship with Granuaile, which in itself made me laugh more. I don’t particularly go for romance, but it’s always nice to see the good guy get the girl.

This has been a good read for me, I am going to go ahead and give it 4 out of 5 stars and I highly recommend this for anyone that likes wizards, witches, werewolves, anything that isn’t quite normal and wants to skip past the gratuitous sex.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

This book is amazing. It reminded me that Neil Gaiman is not only a genius, but the master.

Shadow is the main character in the story. When the book starts off, Shadow is doing the last few days of his 6 year sentence, in which he would be serving 3, for almost beating to death 3 men where he acted as the getaway driver in a robbery. Before I get any further into this review, let me say that Shadow is so well written, and I really connected with him. I found myself in a whirlwind of emotions, but I definitely was falling in love with him as a character.

Shadow's life, however isn't without complications. A few days before he is to be released Shadow unexpectedly gets called to the warden's office. He tells him he is going home early, Laura, his wife, his everything, died in a car accident. The journey home is where Shadow's life changes.

When Mr. Wednesday, a strange and pale man Shadow meets on the plane ride home back to Eagle Point, and to Laura's funeral, approaches him about working for him, Shadow refuses. He has a job waiting back for him in Eagle Point, as a trainer at the gym he worked for before he got locked up.

Or so Shadow thinks.

When he finds out his employer and best friend was killed with Laura in the car accident, he reluctantly agrees to be Mr. Wednesday's body guard, muscle, errand boy, driver, and whatever else, for a fee of $1,000 a week, a fee which Shadow picked.

Shadow's journey is incredible and heartbreaking, and the sheer strength that he possesses through a dead and adulteress wife, secrets about his own family, encounters with Gods long forgotten and living like pauper humans, new gods that roam the world revered, and the war of ages, Shadow always remains Shadow.

This book left me screaming for a sequel, and not Ananasi Boys whose storyline is based off of one of the characters. I want more about Shadow.

Liquid Soul by Matthew Carter

Liquid Soul by Matthew Carter

Mr. Carter's first novel not only is an impressive offering to the Psychological Thriller genre but is so well written and believable that you almost feel you are reading a nonfiction recounting of events by the actual perpetrator. Very few authors I have read actually succeeded in getting inside the psyche of a serial killer with any amount of believability.

Meet the man with no discernible name, with no discernible features, in no discernible location. He is any man that you may see walk down the street and merely glance over without a second thought. This man however is special, he is addicted to something he calls Liquid Soul.

He starting getting addicted to Liquid Soul when he was mugged and in self defense pulled his pocket knife and cut the man. The moment his blood reached his hands he felt the man's soul leave his body and join with his giving him not only a glimpse into moments in the man's life, but the feeling of becoming the man during the experience.

He knew then he couldn't stop. He had to find others. He had to see what man people tic.

Then came the celebrity, the mother, the boxer, the bodybuilder, the CEO, the child, the old man, the policeman, the psychopath, the homeless man, among a few others. He decided to build his own family, make them apart of something since they shared themselves with him, he had to give something back.

After all, they were still kind enough to talk to him after they died and be apart of this glorious new world he was building with his new found gift.

This book will make your skin crawl and disturb you in ways I can guarantee you that you haven't been before no matter how many other authors you had read in this genre. The only question I have after closing the back cover is when will Mr. Carter thrill me with another offering?