Urban Fantasy Archives - Page 2 of 4

Angelfall by Susan Ee

Posted on February 27, 2018February 27, 2018 by Michelle Huss

(3 / 5)

Penryn & the End of Days #1
Angelfall is a post-apocalyptic urban fantasy, where the remains of humanity are fighting for survival against angels who descended with a wave of destruction. I was quite intrigued by the concept; I’ve always been a fan of angel/devil mythos and enjoy stories that bring these judeo-christian ideas to life (Supernatural anyone?). We don’t get to delve as deep into the mythos in this book as I would like, and in fact it doesn’t seem like anyone really knows why the angels descended (not even the angels themselves). We do get a snippet of it at the very end, so I’m hoping that there will be more in the books to come.

It took me a long time to get into Angelfall. I was kind of underwhelmed by the main characters, whose personalities were pretty one-dimensional and uninteresting. Frankly, I found the first half of the novel kind of boring and didn’t really start to get into it until well after halfway through. For me, I think part of the problem is that apart from Raffe (and a quick cameo in the beginning), we don’t really interact with any angels until the end of the novel. Being that the big draw for me was the angels themselves, I think I was disappointed in the survivalist journey that made up the majority of the story. Once we got to the aerie, I became much more engrossed and the story finally started to grab me.

Overall, an okay start but I’m hoping that the rest of the series delves a bit deeper.

Talon by Julie Kagawa

Posted on January 30, 2018June 16, 2018 by Michelle Huss

(4 / 5)

Talon #1
While I expected to enjoy Kagawa’s latest series, I was surprised by how much the story drew me in. I’m not sure how much of that was Kagawa’s story, and how much of that was the amazing performance by the narrators of the audio version, but I quickly became hooked! I love how the story is told from multiple points of view, which was made even better by having a separate narrator for each point of view in the audio version.

While there isn’t anything novel about the structure of Kagawa’s work, she uses some common and predictable tropes, her character’s always seem to draw you in. At its heart, Talon is really a supernatural romance, but I can’t help but root for these star-crossed lovers. I mean a Dragon masquerading in human form, falling for a undercover member of a dragon-slaying cult…what’s not to like?

Overall the story is fun and quick and I find the character’s endearing. I look forward to seeing how this series progresses (and I hope there is more from Dante’s POV in the sequels).

Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu

Posted on January 11, 2018January 11, 2018 by Michelle Huss

(3.5 / 5)

DC Icons #2
This book wasn’t quite what I was expecting, but I can’t say that I was disappointed. Having watched the batman cartoons growing up, and having seen every Batman movie of the last 30 years, I was expecting the caped crusader running around and beating up bad guys. What I got from Lu was much more cerebral. Much more about the psychology of reading people and understanding who they are. About digging deeper than what you see on the surface, and finding out what lies underneath.

If I were to have a complaint about Nightwalker, it’s that the pacing is a little slow for the “superhero” genre. Though it was there, I felt that there wasn’t quite enough ass kicking for it to feel like a superhero book. Also, I don’t feel like it took Bruce’s character quite far enough to give me the “Batman” feel. Where I was expecting a Batman origin story, I instead feel like we just got a snapshot of the journey…and I didn’t get the journey’s end that I was looking for.

But the characters and the plot were great. I was surprised by how much I came to enjoy the interactions between Bruce and Madeleine, even as I knew he was playing with fire. And seeing other cannon characters, such as Alfred, Lucius Fox, and Harvey Dent, was great. Overall, a fun read.

Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo

Posted on December 18, 2017January 8, 2018 by Michelle Huss

(4 / 5)

DC Icons #1
While I am a big fan of the superhero genre (in movies and cartoons), this is my first time reading it. I really enjoyed Bardugo’s take on Wonder Woman and her first foray into modern society. Diana was just what you would expect from a budding superhero: hungry to prove herself, yet still unsure of her abilities. The cast of support characters was great: Alia, Jason, Nim, and Theo all had their little quirks and idiosyncrasies, which made them unique and believable. The concept of the Warbringer was interesting, weaving moments of true history into the supernatural tale. The pacing was quick and fun, a great action-adventure read. As a stand alone, the plot is simple enough to be well-contained to this book, but still touched on some broader topics to give the book depth and character. There were a few things that I didn’t love about the ending, but I can’t speak much to them without major spoilers. Overall, a great read.

Spoiler

While I didn’t love Jason’s double cross at the end, I think that had a lot more to do with the fact that Bardugo did such a good job of making him a likeable character that I didn’t “want” him to be evil. What I “want” isn’t exactly what’s best for the story and it made the villain into someone more human, so it’s forgivable. What did bother me, however, is Diana’s death and subsequent rebirth as a “true” amazon. I just felt disappointed that she died at all. She should have been better than that! She should have been able to persevere without the gods intervention! I just felt like that cheapened her character and she would have come out as a stronger heroine without the “oops, do-over.”

Shadowshaper by Daniel Jose Older

Posted on December 4, 2017December 23, 2017 by Michelle Huss

(3 / 5)

Shadowshaper #1
There are some things are really loved about Shadowshaper: the fact that the heroine and supporting character’s were persons of color, the whole spirit and shadowshaping mythology, and art’s connection to the spirits. Unfortunately, there was just nothing unique about the story arc to draw me in. The details were different, but the overall story followed the same path as many others that I’ve read: girl discovers supernatural world running alongside her own, girl discovers big bad guy out to do evil things, girl discovers great power within herself and defeats big baddie. It’s a story I’ve read many times in many different iterations, and I just didn’t feel that there wasn’t anything new or innovative about Older’s story.

But I am happy that this book exists. I found the idea of Shadowshaping interesting and I feel like there is a lot more that could be explored. I’m curious to see where the story goes from here. I also have to give a cheer for having a heroine of color, we need more of them. This leads to some great social commentary about racial profiling and inequality. It’s introduced subtly so as not so smack you in the face with it, but is present just enough to make the reader think and start the conversation.

I hope that in the next book, Older stretches the boundaries of the plotline a little bit, and gives us something we aren’t expecting. I’m looking for a plot with a few more twists, turns, and surprises, and not one that just follows a standard formula.