I Stand Corrected

March 22nd, 2010

For those of you who have been around for a while you know that I “liked” but didn’t “love” the first 2 novels in the “Evernight” series (“Evernight” & “Stargazer” (3/5)) and while at first I had no intentions of reading any further into the series, I am happy that I did.

One of my biggest issues with “Gray’s” writing in the first two installments of this series was her propensity to be a tad bit flighty and unfocused in areas, and yes… I’m not going to say that “Hourglass” is mutually exclusive of this same complaint, but I will say that it is dramatically less noticeable which makes the plot read much soother than her first two attempts.

“Hourglass” picks up where “Stargazer” ended. Bianca (a half-vamp half human) and Lucas (a vampire hunter) find themselves in full lock-down inside of a Black Cross hide out. (think “warehouse full of Buffy wannabes”)  Life is hard…Bianca has to find a way to eat (aka drink) and Lucas has to find a way to save money (to plot their escape),  but that’s not all;  Ms. Bethany is pissed and she’s out for revenge.  After 1 very misguided attempt to contact her parents Bianca leads a less-than-merry band of vamps right to their doorstep.  Amidst the fighting secrets are revealed and time starts to tick.  Lucas and Bianca find themselves on the run, but what exactly are they running from? Will the Black Cross hunt them down and make an example out of them, or will Bianca’s mysterious dizzy spells finally take precedence over EVERYTHING.

There were definitely chapters that drug in “Hourglass” but in the end, the epic battle scenes and life decisions that seemed to pop up on every corner overshadowed the duller aspects of the plot.  Balthazar was naturally thrown back into the mix (which I personally was happy to see), and the character development in this novel was leaps and bounds over the two previous editions.  Be forewarned however that the book ends abruptly and shockingly and (if you are like me) you will be more than compelled to curse at your Kindle (or book.)

I am however, going to go on record as saying… I just may have been wrong about this particular series… there may be a bigger crowd out their for it than I originally speculated, because this novel was nothing short of a page turner.

There were surprisingly smart guys in Hawaiian print shirts, evil green water guns, a wraith with control issues, an ex-Viking, and several very well written battle sequences.

Get it, Live it, Love it…pass it on.

Happy reading my fellow Wraiths and remember: when in doubt… go with the sneak attack.

Click Image for Complete Details

(4/5)

A Sad form of Deja Vu’

August 22nd, 2009

evernightstargazer"Evernight" started off strong…girl runs away, girl gets tackled in the woods by a cute boy that thinks she’s in some sort of life altering danger, girl returns to private school she despises to live out the rest of the book.  Its just to bad the rest of the book didn’t live up to the first 25%.  Once Bianca is safely back in her over-priced, equally as eery school the whole plot just becomes a big ‘ol mess skipping from thought to thought without actually solidifying. Now don’t misunderstand me.  I had to have enjoyed the book on some unknown level or I never would have picked up its sequel "Stargazer" but in the same light, this book was almost confusing in some parts. It’s as though the author decided to take a nap between chapters 4-6 and not bother to go back and fill in the missing pieces, you are struggling to piece it together yourself, and lets just be honest with ourselves, none of us really have the ability to read minds, we will never be as good as the original intention. So should you read it? Sure, go for it…If you are between the ages of 14-17 knock your lights out, have fun relishing in the Lucas Vs. Balthazar debate, I personally prefer Balty… yes he is lacking the whole "I’m a vampire and he’s a vampire slayer" thrill mark, but at least the 400 year old Vamp has manners, and some stellar Waltzing skills.

(3/5)

For complete book description click image.

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