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The Bloodhound Files #1
Dying Bites
Her job description is the “tracking and apprehension of mentally-fractured killers.” What this really means in FBI profiler Jace Valchek’s brave new world—one in which only one percent of the population is human—is that a woman’s work is never done. And real is getting stranger every day…
Jace has been ripped from her reality by David Cassius, the vampire head of the NSA. He knows that she’s the best there in the business, and David needs her help in solving a series of gruesome murders of vampires and werewolves. David’s world—one that also includes lycanthropes and golems—is one with little knowledge of mental illness. An insane serial killer is a threat the NSA has no experience with. But Jace does. Stranded in a reality where Bela Lugosi is a bigger box office draw than Bruce Willis and every full moon is Mardi Gras, Jace must now hunt down a fellow human before he brings the entire planet to the brink of madness. Or she may never see her own world again…
Jace has been ripped from her reality by David Cassius, the vampire head of the NSA. He knows that she’s the best there in the business, and David needs her help in solving a series of gruesome murders of vampires and werewolves. David’s world—one that also includes lycanthropes and golems—is one with little knowledge of mental illness. An insane serial killer is a threat the NSA has no experience with. But Jace does. Stranded in a reality where Bela Lugosi is a bigger box office draw than Bruce Willis and every full moon is Mardi Gras, Jace must now hunt down a fellow human before he brings the entire planet to the brink of madness. Or she may never see her own world again…
304 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 30, 2009
106 people are currently reading
6148 people want to read
About the author
D.D. Barant
22 books474 followersPseudonyms: Don DeBrandt & Donn Cortez & Dixie Lyle
DD Barant lives in Vancouver, BC, and loves monsters, chocolate, animals, reading, comics and lying naked on the beach, while hating bullies, narrow-minded people, Sea Urchin Sushi and gluten. He has stated that DD Barant is a pseudonym, and that it is not the only pseudonym under which he writes.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/ddbarant
http://ddbarant.com
DD Barant lives in Vancouver, BC, and loves monsters, chocolate, animals, reading, comics and lying naked on the beach, while hating bullies, narrow-minded people, Sea Urchin Sushi and gluten. He has stated that DD Barant is a pseudonym, and that it is not the only pseudonym under which he writes.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/ddbarant
http://ddbarant.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 466 reviews
January 10, 2012
I'm going to be very honest. I didn't get very far into this one.
The world building and the premise was interesting but I couldn't stand the main character.
That's a problem if it's first person narrative. For a criminal profiler I found her extremely close minded and prejudice (shooting first, making derogatory "jokes" that were actually thinly veiled insults etc), demanding and incredibly bitchy.
Maybe she gets better. I don't know. I didn't care enough about her to find out.
Cassius sounded a bit like a punk and the only characters that I did like in my short jaunt through this world were Pete, Gretchen and Charlie.
Take my advice, ignore this one.
You're welcome.
The world building and the premise was interesting but I couldn't stand the main character.
That's a problem if it's first person narrative. For a criminal profiler I found her extremely close minded and prejudice (shooting first, making derogatory "jokes" that were actually thinly veiled insults etc), demanding and incredibly bitchy.
Maybe she gets better. I don't know. I didn't care enough about her to find out.
Cassius sounded a bit like a punk and the only characters that I did like in my short jaunt through this world were Pete, Gretchen and Charlie.
Take my advice, ignore this one.
You're welcome.
May 29, 2018
This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life in Books.
I liked this book but I didn't love it. I have had a copy of this book for years and finally decided to dust it off and give it a try. There were some things about the book that I really enjoyed and other things that made me question why things happened the way that they did. This was a pretty fast listen for me and I did enjoy the overall story.
I liked the overall premise of the story. Jace is an FBI profiler that is pulled into an alternate reality to help solve a crime. The alternate reality is filled with vampires, shifters, and other interesting beings with humans as a small minority. The paranormal beings in this reality are not prone to mental illness but there is a killer on the loose targeting the paranormal population that happens to be human so Jace has been enlisted to help.
The population of these realities are so different but I was amazed by how much everything looked like our world. Language was mostly the same. Cars developed in the same manner. There were some difference but I really would have thought that there would be a whole lot more since these really were different worlds. According to the story, the worlds became different when guns were invented in our world and not used in theirs. It just seemed strange to me.
I did think that the story was exciting. The murders were quite interesting and I was really interesting in learning who was responsible. There were several surprises along the way that I did not see coming. I liked the characters in the book well enough. Jace was tough and smart but I kept thinking that she adjusted to everything a whole lot faster than could be expected. I really liked Charlie, her golem assistant, and thought that many of the other secondary characters were equally well done.
One of the reasons that I decided to pick up this audiobook was Johanna Parker's narration. I am someone that listens to audiobooks at regular speed and don't like to speed things up. I immediately felt this book was going really fast so I check to see if I had changed a setting on my device since the narrator seemed to be talking really fast. I decreased the speed of the narration and was able to enjoy the story much more from that point forward. I did like the range of voices that she used in this book although I did have a bit of trouble keeping everyone straight for a time.
I would encourage anyone interested in the series to give it a try. I thought that it had a lot of unique points and found it to be rather entertaining. I am not sure if I will continue on with the series at this point but I am glad I gave this one a shot.
Initial Thoughts
I liked this book but I didn't love it. I listen to audiobooks at 1x speed and almost never make any changes. Shortly after starting this book, I had to check to see if I had changed the setting because the narrator was talking so fast. I ended up slowing things down a bit and it worked much better for me after that. I have listened to and enjoyed Johanna Parker quite a bit in the past so that was a bit of a surprise. I did have a bit of trouble keeping track of all of the characters in this book but eventually got things figured out. I thought it was strange that this alternate world that was different in some ways could be so similar in most others. There was quite a bit of excitement and I was really curious about how things would work out. It seemed to me that Jace took the way things ended way too easily which just seemed odd.
Book source: Audible purchase
I liked this book but I didn't love it. I have had a copy of this book for years and finally decided to dust it off and give it a try. There were some things about the book that I really enjoyed and other things that made me question why things happened the way that they did. This was a pretty fast listen for me and I did enjoy the overall story.
I liked the overall premise of the story. Jace is an FBI profiler that is pulled into an alternate reality to help solve a crime. The alternate reality is filled with vampires, shifters, and other interesting beings with humans as a small minority. The paranormal beings in this reality are not prone to mental illness but there is a killer on the loose targeting the paranormal population that happens to be human so Jace has been enlisted to help.
The population of these realities are so different but I was amazed by how much everything looked like our world. Language was mostly the same. Cars developed in the same manner. There were some difference but I really would have thought that there would be a whole lot more since these really were different worlds. According to the story, the worlds became different when guns were invented in our world and not used in theirs. It just seemed strange to me.
I did think that the story was exciting. The murders were quite interesting and I was really interesting in learning who was responsible. There were several surprises along the way that I did not see coming. I liked the characters in the book well enough. Jace was tough and smart but I kept thinking that she adjusted to everything a whole lot faster than could be expected. I really liked Charlie, her golem assistant, and thought that many of the other secondary characters were equally well done.
One of the reasons that I decided to pick up this audiobook was Johanna Parker's narration. I am someone that listens to audiobooks at regular speed and don't like to speed things up. I immediately felt this book was going really fast so I check to see if I had changed a setting on my device since the narrator seemed to be talking really fast. I decreased the speed of the narration and was able to enjoy the story much more from that point forward. I did like the range of voices that she used in this book although I did have a bit of trouble keeping everyone straight for a time.
I would encourage anyone interested in the series to give it a try. I thought that it had a lot of unique points and found it to be rather entertaining. I am not sure if I will continue on with the series at this point but I am glad I gave this one a shot.
Initial Thoughts
I liked this book but I didn't love it. I listen to audiobooks at 1x speed and almost never make any changes. Shortly after starting this book, I had to check to see if I had changed the setting because the narrator was talking so fast. I ended up slowing things down a bit and it worked much better for me after that. I have listened to and enjoyed Johanna Parker quite a bit in the past so that was a bit of a surprise. I did have a bit of trouble keeping track of all of the characters in this book but eventually got things figured out. I thought it was strange that this alternate world that was different in some ways could be so similar in most others. There was quite a bit of excitement and I was really curious about how things would work out. It seemed to me that Jace took the way things ended way too easily which just seemed odd.
Book source: Audible purchase
January 20, 2014
**edited 01/18/14
Gotta say, I'm impressed: this contains the shoddiest, most illogical worldbuilding I have so far encountered. Congrats on that!
Basically, our protagonist is dragged into a parallel world in which guns were never invented (Barant incorrectly dates their creation to the 12th century and says that history "went differently"), vampires and werewolves fought and won a battle with humans, and despite this, literally almost every single aspect of society evolved in precisely the same way as our own. Every country, every city was colonised in an identical fashion. Despite the radical disruption in timelines, practically every invention, institution, and product of our world--Crown Vics, plastic, the internet, servers, the Seattle Needle, the FBI, Prohibition, 401K's, Harleys, even freaking napalm--evolved identically.
...
Due to my disapproval of GR's new and highly subjective review deletion policy, I am no longer posting full reviews here.
The rest of this review can be found on Booklikes.
Gotta say, I'm impressed: this contains the shoddiest, most illogical worldbuilding I have so far encountered. Congrats on that!
Basically, our protagonist is dragged into a parallel world in which guns were never invented (Barant incorrectly dates their creation to the 12th century and says that history "went differently"), vampires and werewolves fought and won a battle with humans, and despite this, literally almost every single aspect of society evolved in precisely the same way as our own. Every country, every city was colonised in an identical fashion. Despite the radical disruption in timelines, practically every invention, institution, and product of our world--Crown Vics, plastic, the internet, servers, the Seattle Needle, the FBI, Prohibition, 401K's, Harleys, even freaking napalm--evolved identically.
...
Due to my disapproval of GR's new and highly subjective review deletion policy, I am no longer posting full reviews here.
The rest of this review can be found on Booklikes.
December 25, 2011
So this is a mystery/thriller/fantasy/paranormal/romance-y hybrid. I like the idea of this a lot, an FBI investigator woman transported into an alt universe where humans are the minority, vamps and werewolfs and golems are the majority. It's just the execution is spotty because the world is just unbelievable in some of the building blocks. And unfortunately the deeper you get into this series the harder it is to have your disbelief suspended because of some of those worldbuilding aspects as well.
-Liked the main character, pretty standard tough-girl but not too forced, so I liked her. I liked that she got involved with a dude and it wasn't "WE ARE MEAN TO BE TOGETHER FOREVER". More realistic and I appreciated that
-Loved the Golems, thought that was the cleverest part of the book and made it different from typical Vampire/Werewolf stories.
-Hated the whole gun rationale, it was just ridiculous. And the whole drug thing that she had to take and, well, a few other things like this took me out of the book, which is my basic overall negative. Building worlds from scratch is hard, and this one has a few potholes.
Overall this satisfied my itch for an urban paranormal book on the beach!
-Liked the main character, pretty standard tough-girl but not too forced, so I liked her. I liked that she got involved with a dude and it wasn't "WE ARE MEAN TO BE TOGETHER FOREVER". More realistic and I appreciated that
-Loved the Golems, thought that was the cleverest part of the book and made it different from typical Vampire/Werewolf stories.
-Hated the whole gun rationale, it was just ridiculous. And the whole drug thing that she had to take and, well, a few other things like this took me out of the book, which is my basic overall negative. Building worlds from scratch is hard, and this one has a few potholes.
Overall this satisfied my itch for an urban paranormal book on the beach!
August 27, 2012
I love the show Criminal Minds, so a book about a FBI profiler + Vampires/Werewolves/Golems = Greatness!!
Dying Bites has an awesome plot, so no complaints there. My major problem is that I'm not sure if I like Jace (the main character). At the start of the book I had the impression that she was the typical sarcastic, kickass heroine-which I love. Then about 30% in she started annoying me and that pretty much continued until the end of the book. She makes pretty dumb mistakes and she says really insensitive things.
I love her partner, Charlie! This is the second series I've ever read with golems so it's nice to have one as a main character. There seems like there could be a bit of a romance in later books-not with Charlie.
Also, throughout the whole book I kept hoping that she got bitten or scratched, but I guess that would ruin the whole her being in the minority thing...
Great book, recommended! Looking forward to the next book in the series :)
Dying Bites has an awesome plot, so no complaints there. My major problem is that I'm not sure if I like Jace (the main character). At the start of the book I had the impression that she was the typical sarcastic, kickass heroine-which I love. Then about 30% in she started annoying me and that pretty much continued until the end of the book. She makes pretty dumb mistakes and she says really insensitive things.
I love her partner, Charlie! This is the second series I've ever read with golems so it's nice to have one as a main character. There seems like there could be a bit of a romance in later books-not with Charlie.
Also, throughout the whole book I kept hoping that she got bitten or scratched, but I guess that would ruin the whole her being in the minority thing...
Great book, recommended! Looking forward to the next book in the series :)
April 12, 2014
This is a title that kept me going “Heck yes!” throughout the whole read. With “Oh, no she didn't!” Then at the end I was a little shocked that more of my reading friends had yet to read this one! A lot have it on their TBR piles, yet no read. The few that read it are giving it glowing ratings and praise! Dying Bites is the perfect intro for The Bloodhound Files.
Jace ends up getting pulled over to an alternate world from our own earth. They don't have any one with job description is the “tracking and apprehension of mentally-fractured killers.” They try to pull it off that they don't have such killers like we do in our world, but the truth comes out. What they don't have is too many humans, and they need a human view point to solve this. Vampires and werewolves are dominate and in the last world war it wasn't Hitler trying to purify the world from Jews, it was Vampires and Werewolves trying to turn the human populace. Soon after that Jace is faced with the chilling reality that humans face as the food source to vampires. Some try to protect them on reserves, and others just want to farm them. Humans are weak and at the bottom of the food chain literally.
Jace is investigating ritualistic killings being done by a human. The victims are vampires and werewolves. It soon becomes apparent that these aren't just random killings. Each murder site has power and in some way shows Jace horrors that occurred to the human race in this new world. The killer wants to wake up a god to make the world anew. It's beyond refreshing to see the moral conflict that Jace is going through. As she has to decide whether or not to take sides with the “monsters” or the humans. Because I certainly identified with the humans, and at times I could see where they were coming from. What's more is how the magic works in this world. Especially magic so powerful that guns and other such weapons are magically spelled out of everyone. Jace is the only one who can handle her gun and everyone else is still stuck using swords and arrows. Which makes you wonder who would have spelled that to happen, especially since modern weapons is what would even the odds for humans.
Even better is how certain things changed in this alternate reality. From wars to musicians. The way that vampires and werewolves changed some of the basic things in life. Such as full body suits to avoid the sun for vampires, and how a werewolves smell can be admissible in court.
So it's clear that I adored this world. Even better is that I adored the cast of characters introduced, it was great being presented with vampires and werewolves that showed humanity. Then the heinous ones that made you want to bear arms with the the human extremists (AKA Free Human Resistance). My favorite character actually ended up being Jace's Golem sidekick. The mythology behind Golem's is awesome, since they're the weapon advancement since modern weaponry as we know it doesn’t exist. The Golem is witty funny, and at times the most human thing in Dying Bites. Which brings to question what really makes a human, well, human?
This is told in first person so readers can sink straight into Jace's mind. It's refreshing to see such a strong woman faced with the reality that in this world she's fresh meat. I look forward to her duking it out with the bad guy, discovering more of this world, some of the romances kindling up, and of course time with my favorite Golem. The Bloodhound Files is definitely a Urban Fantasy that everyone should add to their collection. After reading the first book I made sure I owned all following books. That good, my bookworms. That good.
Sexual Content: Jace has sex, and she’s not conflicted! Yes. Sexual humor and some darker themes.
5/5- Fabulous, a beautiful obsession!
Orginally reviewed at Book Whispers.
Jace ends up getting pulled over to an alternate world from our own earth. They don't have any one with job description is the “tracking and apprehension of mentally-fractured killers.” They try to pull it off that they don't have such killers like we do in our world, but the truth comes out. What they don't have is too many humans, and they need a human view point to solve this. Vampires and werewolves are dominate and in the last world war it wasn't Hitler trying to purify the world from Jews, it was Vampires and Werewolves trying to turn the human populace. Soon after that Jace is faced with the chilling reality that humans face as the food source to vampires. Some try to protect them on reserves, and others just want to farm them. Humans are weak and at the bottom of the food chain literally.
Jace is investigating ritualistic killings being done by a human. The victims are vampires and werewolves. It soon becomes apparent that these aren't just random killings. Each murder site has power and in some way shows Jace horrors that occurred to the human race in this new world. The killer wants to wake up a god to make the world anew. It's beyond refreshing to see the moral conflict that Jace is going through. As she has to decide whether or not to take sides with the “monsters” or the humans. Because I certainly identified with the humans, and at times I could see where they were coming from. What's more is how the magic works in this world. Especially magic so powerful that guns and other such weapons are magically spelled out of everyone. Jace is the only one who can handle her gun and everyone else is still stuck using swords and arrows. Which makes you wonder who would have spelled that to happen, especially since modern weapons is what would even the odds for humans.
Even better is how certain things changed in this alternate reality. From wars to musicians. The way that vampires and werewolves changed some of the basic things in life. Such as full body suits to avoid the sun for vampires, and how a werewolves smell can be admissible in court.
So it's clear that I adored this world. Even better is that I adored the cast of characters introduced, it was great being presented with vampires and werewolves that showed humanity. Then the heinous ones that made you want to bear arms with the the human extremists (AKA Free Human Resistance). My favorite character actually ended up being Jace's Golem sidekick. The mythology behind Golem's is awesome, since they're the weapon advancement since modern weaponry as we know it doesn’t exist. The Golem is witty funny, and at times the most human thing in Dying Bites. Which brings to question what really makes a human, well, human?
This is told in first person so readers can sink straight into Jace's mind. It's refreshing to see such a strong woman faced with the reality that in this world she's fresh meat. I look forward to her duking it out with the bad guy, discovering more of this world, some of the romances kindling up, and of course time with my favorite Golem. The Bloodhound Files is definitely a Urban Fantasy that everyone should add to their collection. After reading the first book I made sure I owned all following books. That good, my bookworms. That good.
Sexual Content: Jace has sex, and she’s not conflicted! Yes. Sexual humor and some darker themes.
5/5- Fabulous, a beautiful obsession!
Orginally reviewed at Book Whispers.
November 17, 2019
Jace Valchek is an FBI profiler with a proven track record for hunting psychopaths. When a possible mentally ill human starts killing supernatural beings in their world, vampire NSA head David Cassius takes Jace from her world to come to his and solve the case. If she fails, she may never see her own world again. But the human she seeks offers to be her ally instead-does she ally with a fellow human to overthrow the government who brought her here by force and cause humans to live in fear, or does she betray her rebelling species instead?
Jace is a tough agent who deals with scumbags on a daily basis and her life isn't exactly full of joy in her own reality. She drinks too much, throws everything into her work and has no real friends who would care if she vanished forever. She is naturally angry at being kidnapped but soon realises that it is in her best interests to cooperate and get the job done. Now she has to get her head around a world with no guns, limited numbers of humans and a dominant population who are capable of killing or turning her. She is unwilling to rely on her new allies, unsure if they are telling her the truth and soon she becomes aware that they are keeping details from her. I like that she is angry about her situation, confused by her very different surroundings and makes quite a few mistakes. Who wouldn't in those circumstances? And the doubts she had about what side she was really on gave it an interesting twist.
I liked seeing a different version of our world where the population is 37% vampire, 43% lycanthropes, 19% golem and 1% human. A great war destroyed the human population who ended up killed or turned against their will in Nazi concentration camps and now a group of angry humans are fighting back, determined to bring down those who rule. You can certainly understand why the humans want revenge but it is their methods that are questionable and this is what leads to Jace being unsure what side is right. In this world there are no guns except what Jace has. All objects and creatures have a spirit within them that can generally communicate with those trained to talk to them, meaning that a patch of moss or piece of stone at a crime scene can perhaps have useful information. I found this to be a really interesting twist and it certain makes crime scene examination more interesting. Jace is constantly finding differences in music and TV too, and some of the popular programme are twists on things that a lot of us watch. Knowing that Bram Stoker was also Jack the Ripper in this world, killing vampire prostitues was a fun addition.
The characters were really interesting. There is Cassius who is cool, attractive and just a little sinister if you get on the wrong side of him, but I liked him. He has a soft spot for Jace but has not done anything about it, at least in this book. Gretchen is a vampire on the case who acts as liason for Jace. She is like a sort of snarky grandmother who tries to watch out for Jace and Jace thinks of her as a predatory Mary Poppins. I liked Gretchen's comments and observations. There is also the nerdy forensics man Damon Eisfanger, a hybrid dog wolf shifter. He is smart enough to do forensics and talk to the variety of witnesses on the case ie the moss, but he is hopeless at talking to his colleagues. He is kind of endearing and awkward. Smooth werewolf Tanaka, their Japanese werewolf liason and werewolf Dr Pete are also interesting characters. My favourite had to be Charlie, the part T Rex Golem bodyguard with his sand jokes, smart suits, fedora and alligator shoes! He is snarky and funny and won't take rubbish from Jace. I kinda had an image of The Thing from Fantastic Four in my head!
“I look over at him. He stares straight ahead. "So," I say. "Golem, huh?"
"I prefer the term 'Mineral-American.”
This book has a bit of everything really-Japanese Yakuza, werewolf bikers in Alaska, human serial killer, alternative history, twisted murders, entertaining world-building, magic, Irish shape-shifters, Gods, humour,and a group of interesting colleagues working together in a group dynamic, something I always enjoy. It was interesting for the human to be stranded in a world where she is in the minority and in constant danger, which has Jace on edge the whole time. I also liked the way the people of the two worlds were fascinated by each others technology and strange ways. The book cleverly mixes our world history into a supernatural context ie what happened to vampires, humans and werewolves in Nazi style camps, plus we had the serial killer story as well. For those who like a bit of romance, there was a one night stand for Jace that was off camera so to speak but there are several potential love interests for Jace in future books. I very much enjoyed this book.
Jace is a tough agent who deals with scumbags on a daily basis and her life isn't exactly full of joy in her own reality. She drinks too much, throws everything into her work and has no real friends who would care if she vanished forever. She is naturally angry at being kidnapped but soon realises that it is in her best interests to cooperate and get the job done. Now she has to get her head around a world with no guns, limited numbers of humans and a dominant population who are capable of killing or turning her. She is unwilling to rely on her new allies, unsure if they are telling her the truth and soon she becomes aware that they are keeping details from her. I like that she is angry about her situation, confused by her very different surroundings and makes quite a few mistakes. Who wouldn't in those circumstances? And the doubts she had about what side she was really on gave it an interesting twist.
I liked seeing a different version of our world where the population is 37% vampire, 43% lycanthropes, 19% golem and 1% human. A great war destroyed the human population who ended up killed or turned against their will in Nazi concentration camps and now a group of angry humans are fighting back, determined to bring down those who rule. You can certainly understand why the humans want revenge but it is their methods that are questionable and this is what leads to Jace being unsure what side is right. In this world there are no guns except what Jace has. All objects and creatures have a spirit within them that can generally communicate with those trained to talk to them, meaning that a patch of moss or piece of stone at a crime scene can perhaps have useful information. I found this to be a really interesting twist and it certain makes crime scene examination more interesting. Jace is constantly finding differences in music and TV too, and some of the popular programme are twists on things that a lot of us watch. Knowing that Bram Stoker was also Jack the Ripper in this world, killing vampire prostitues was a fun addition.
The characters were really interesting. There is Cassius who is cool, attractive and just a little sinister if you get on the wrong side of him, but I liked him. He has a soft spot for Jace but has not done anything about it, at least in this book. Gretchen is a vampire on the case who acts as liason for Jace. She is like a sort of snarky grandmother who tries to watch out for Jace and Jace thinks of her as a predatory Mary Poppins. I liked Gretchen's comments and observations. There is also the nerdy forensics man Damon Eisfanger, a hybrid dog wolf shifter. He is smart enough to do forensics and talk to the variety of witnesses on the case ie the moss, but he is hopeless at talking to his colleagues. He is kind of endearing and awkward. Smooth werewolf Tanaka, their Japanese werewolf liason and werewolf Dr Pete are also interesting characters. My favourite had to be Charlie, the part T Rex Golem bodyguard with his sand jokes, smart suits, fedora and alligator shoes! He is snarky and funny and won't take rubbish from Jace. I kinda had an image of The Thing from Fantastic Four in my head!
“I look over at him. He stares straight ahead. "So," I say. "Golem, huh?"
"I prefer the term 'Mineral-American.”
This book has a bit of everything really-Japanese Yakuza, werewolf bikers in Alaska, human serial killer, alternative history, twisted murders, entertaining world-building, magic, Irish shape-shifters, Gods, humour,and a group of interesting colleagues working together in a group dynamic, something I always enjoy. It was interesting for the human to be stranded in a world where she is in the minority and in constant danger, which has Jace on edge the whole time. I also liked the way the people of the two worlds were fascinated by each others technology and strange ways. The book cleverly mixes our world history into a supernatural context ie what happened to vampires, humans and werewolves in Nazi style camps, plus we had the serial killer story as well. For those who like a bit of romance, there was a one night stand for Jace that was off camera so to speak but there are several potential love interests for Jace in future books. I very much enjoyed this book.
October 16, 2009
From what I seen on goodreads, not too many liked this overly much, and frankly I don't know why not. I really enjoyed it. I took to it almost instantly, you just know once you start reading that this can be a great book or you have to warm up to it, I knew from the begining it was going to be interesting. I was in teh mood for one of these books which helped also.
I found the characters written great and they were really fun to read. Jace Valchek is the protagonist in this book. She's strong, whitty and can kick butt. She almost reminds me a an Anita Blake type characters, she's also short and excoticlly pretty.Her job is a FBI behavior analyst and profiler. Jace being called in to help profile the serial killer in another world not much like her own.
I took to Charles easily. He's known as a Golem(Mineral-American) and he's now her partner when she is mysterously ported into another world. Charles world is filled with monsters. They aren't all monsters but most humans would think so considering we are cattle to them and have been left with less than 1% of your human population because of them. "They" are Vampires, Weres and other supernatural creatures. Don't get me wrong, not all are bad, some are very nice and become friends with Jace but in a world so different from our own, it's only natural that there are some cultural and personal differences. I really enoyed this book and would recommend this to any supernatural lovers. I found it face paced and intertaining. I'm looking forward to Death Blows with is the second installment in the series. I think DD Barant is going to be a new favorite for me. :)
I found the characters written great and they were really fun to read. Jace Valchek is the protagonist in this book. She's strong, whitty and can kick butt. She almost reminds me a an Anita Blake type characters, she's also short and excoticlly pretty.Her job is a FBI behavior analyst and profiler. Jace being called in to help profile the serial killer in another world not much like her own.
I took to Charles easily. He's known as a Golem(Mineral-American) and he's now her partner when she is mysterously ported into another world. Charles world is filled with monsters. They aren't all monsters but most humans would think so considering we are cattle to them and have been left with less than 1% of your human population because of them. "They" are Vampires, Weres and other supernatural creatures. Don't get me wrong, not all are bad, some are very nice and become friends with Jace but in a world so different from our own, it's only natural that there are some cultural and personal differences. I really enoyed this book and would recommend this to any supernatural lovers. I found it face paced and intertaining. I'm looking forward to Death Blows with is the second installment in the series. I think DD Barant is going to be a new favorite for me. :)
September 22, 2009
I could not put this book down. I have read some of the books in this genre and was really sick of heroines that were, well, for the most part passive and, for lack of a better word, weak. Jace is the perfect antidote. She's strong, sarcastic, witty, and she takes no guff from anyone knowing her value as a detective. IN a world where humans make up 1% of the population and in which she meets some very anti-human characters she is more then willing to take them on, even if it means possibly fighting a battle she would be unable to win without her werewolf and golem cohorts. Obviously I like strong heroines, but I also really appreciated the alternate reality that this book was set in and how we got to experience it from inside Jace's head - if we were ripped unexpectedly into that world I assume many of us (or at least I) would have similar reactions.
I can't wait for the next book to come out.
I can't wait for the next book to come out.
December 18, 2015
i really enjoyed reading Dying Bites. i found that jace's humor was really funny and i loved the way she acted, she has major gonads. some parts where pretty gory, but otherwise i thought this book was a great read with a interesting end, cant wait till i read the next one :)
December 28, 2011
4 1/2 stars, brilliant and vastly entertaining.
I FOUND AN INTERVIEW WITH D.D. BARANT on from April 2010 on Amberkatze’s Book Blog, where he (I understand that D.D. is one of three pseudonyms used by this author) talks about this book and the world it is set in:
The Bloodhound Files is about a world where the supernatural races—vampires, werewolves and golems—are the dominant civilization. Human beings make up just one percent of the population and are considered a federally protected endangered species. The main character, Jace Valchek, is an FBI profiler from our world, specializing in deranged killers. She gets yanked into this parallel universe for her skills—the supernaturals are immune to mental diseases as well as physical ones, so they have no experience with craziness.
We meet Jace in bed, nursing a hangover after yet another social faux pas – drinking tends to make her somewhat inhibited when it comes to sharing details about her work, most of which is not suitable for cocktail party small talk. She falls back asleep and has a weird dream that turns out to be no dream at all; she is being pulled into a parallell universe in order to assist the National Security Agency, NSA, profile and apprehend a serial killer.
World building can be tricky – you don’t want to infodump your reader, but at the same time enough details must be provided to make the story believable. I prefer the kind of books where details about the surroundings – especially if they are new to the main character – are provided where it fits the story best. And I think it is done in that manner in Dying Bites. Jace’s reaction to the information about her whereabouts, the existense of (go)lems, (lycan)thropes and (vam)pires – the short versions used regularly in the book – feels natural, as does her curiosity and acceptance of things that are different compared to our/her real world.
Jace is a tough cookie, after all she is one of FBI’s best profilers. And even though she is extremely unhappy about the situation she finds herself in, she is a professional and gets to work to solve the murder case/s – it is, after all, her only way to make sure she will be transported back again.
She is chasing a human, perceived to be psychotic. The thrope and two pires who are the victims by the time Jace is forced to take on the case, have been killed in extremely gruesome manners, meant to send a message both to the dominant species and to the remaining human population. A monster is a monster, but Jace cannot help contemplating the crimes that humanity have be subject to – especially during this world’s version of world war II. I won’t go in to details here, but as the story progresses, Jace finds out more and more, information kept from her by her new boss Cassius.
Every detective needs a partner, and Jace’s is Charlie Aleph – a golem. Thropes and pires look mostly human, but lems… not so much. Cassius first describes golems to Jace thus: ”… a golem is an artificial person, usually man-shaped but sexless. Basic animist magic: shape a humanoid form and charge it with life force”. This makes Jace expect Charlie to basically look like a sack of sand. But this is her first impression:
…a broad-shouldered figure a little over six feet tall, wearing a very sharp pin-striped suit of dark blue, matching fedora, and polished black leather oxfords. His skin is darker than his shoes, and just as glossy; his features seem sculpted out of black chrome. His tie appears to be alligator skin.. He stops in front of our table and looks at me. At least, I think that’s what he’s doing; he doesn’t seem to have actual irises or pupils, just eye-shaped indentations. It’s like looking at a mask, one with strong, angular features: square chin, heavy brow, Roman nose with a pronounced hump to it.
Jace also works closely with Damon Eisfanger, a lab thrope, and Gretchen Petra, a pire who works with intel. All the characters introduced feel three dimensional. Their individual traits and quirks become apparent as Jace gets to know them better and they grow on her (and the reader).
As mentioned, Jace is tough and in the beginning she comes across as a little too angry. But then, as you get to know her, you understand where it is coming from. She has a sense of humour and does realize quickly when she has made an error of judgement – she can be very hasty at times. One thing that is frustrating to her is that her gun (until it is somewhat modified) neither scares nor affects the pires or thropes significantly. In a showdown with a Japanese oyabun, this is very apparent:
I’ve got the drop on Isamu, but of course that doesn’t mean anything to a target who isn’t afraid of guns. He leaps straight at me, probably intending to rip my arms off and beat me to death with them, and I shoot him many times. Many, many times. He refuses to explode in a disgusting display of gore and instead is merely propelled backward to his starting point. This produces a look of intense irritation on his face, which just doesn’t work for me. I was hoping for something a little more satisfying—fear, horror, maybe the dawning realization that he is well and truly hooped.
Oh, well. You take what you can get.
If you like Ilona Andrews’s books about Kate Daniels, there is a very good chance you’ll enjoy Dying Bites. I am already reading book #2 in this series!
I FOUND AN INTERVIEW WITH D.D. BARANT on from April 2010 on Amberkatze’s Book Blog, where he (I understand that D.D. is one of three pseudonyms used by this author) talks about this book and the world it is set in:
The Bloodhound Files is about a world where the supernatural races—vampires, werewolves and golems—are the dominant civilization. Human beings make up just one percent of the population and are considered a federally protected endangered species. The main character, Jace Valchek, is an FBI profiler from our world, specializing in deranged killers. She gets yanked into this parallel universe for her skills—the supernaturals are immune to mental diseases as well as physical ones, so they have no experience with craziness.
We meet Jace in bed, nursing a hangover after yet another social faux pas – drinking tends to make her somewhat inhibited when it comes to sharing details about her work, most of which is not suitable for cocktail party small talk. She falls back asleep and has a weird dream that turns out to be no dream at all; she is being pulled into a parallell universe in order to assist the National Security Agency, NSA, profile and apprehend a serial killer.
World building can be tricky – you don’t want to infodump your reader, but at the same time enough details must be provided to make the story believable. I prefer the kind of books where details about the surroundings – especially if they are new to the main character – are provided where it fits the story best. And I think it is done in that manner in Dying Bites. Jace’s reaction to the information about her whereabouts, the existense of (go)lems, (lycan)thropes and (vam)pires – the short versions used regularly in the book – feels natural, as does her curiosity and acceptance of things that are different compared to our/her real world.
Jace is a tough cookie, after all she is one of FBI’s best profilers. And even though she is extremely unhappy about the situation she finds herself in, she is a professional and gets to work to solve the murder case/s – it is, after all, her only way to make sure she will be transported back again.
She is chasing a human, perceived to be psychotic. The thrope and two pires who are the victims by the time Jace is forced to take on the case, have been killed in extremely gruesome manners, meant to send a message both to the dominant species and to the remaining human population. A monster is a monster, but Jace cannot help contemplating the crimes that humanity have be subject to – especially during this world’s version of world war II. I won’t go in to details here, but as the story progresses, Jace finds out more and more, information kept from her by her new boss Cassius.
Every detective needs a partner, and Jace’s is Charlie Aleph – a golem. Thropes and pires look mostly human, but lems… not so much. Cassius first describes golems to Jace thus: ”… a golem is an artificial person, usually man-shaped but sexless. Basic animist magic: shape a humanoid form and charge it with life force”. This makes Jace expect Charlie to basically look like a sack of sand. But this is her first impression:
…a broad-shouldered figure a little over six feet tall, wearing a very sharp pin-striped suit of dark blue, matching fedora, and polished black leather oxfords. His skin is darker than his shoes, and just as glossy; his features seem sculpted out of black chrome. His tie appears to be alligator skin.. He stops in front of our table and looks at me. At least, I think that’s what he’s doing; he doesn’t seem to have actual irises or pupils, just eye-shaped indentations. It’s like looking at a mask, one with strong, angular features: square chin, heavy brow, Roman nose with a pronounced hump to it.
Jace also works closely with Damon Eisfanger, a lab thrope, and Gretchen Petra, a pire who works with intel. All the characters introduced feel three dimensional. Their individual traits and quirks become apparent as Jace gets to know them better and they grow on her (and the reader).
As mentioned, Jace is tough and in the beginning she comes across as a little too angry. But then, as you get to know her, you understand where it is coming from. She has a sense of humour and does realize quickly when she has made an error of judgement – she can be very hasty at times. One thing that is frustrating to her is that her gun (until it is somewhat modified) neither scares nor affects the pires or thropes significantly. In a showdown with a Japanese oyabun, this is very apparent:
I’ve got the drop on Isamu, but of course that doesn’t mean anything to a target who isn’t afraid of guns. He leaps straight at me, probably intending to rip my arms off and beat me to death with them, and I shoot him many times. Many, many times. He refuses to explode in a disgusting display of gore and instead is merely propelled backward to his starting point. This produces a look of intense irritation on his face, which just doesn’t work for me. I was hoping for something a little more satisfying—fear, horror, maybe the dawning realization that he is well and truly hooped.
Oh, well. You take what you can get.
If you like Ilona Andrews’s books about Kate Daniels, there is a very good chance you’ll enjoy Dying Bites. I am already reading book #2 in this series!
Read
March 2, 2019DNF at 50%. This is not funny. Her comments are racist/speciest, insulting, and rude. I liked the plot but her running commentary severely detracts from my enjoyment of the story as a whole. This is the first book I have read by this author and I’m afraid that if this type of humor runs through other series then they are not for me.
May 20, 2015
FBI profiler Jace Valchek is awoken in the middle of the night and told to grab her three most essential tools because she is being transferred to a new top secret division. Jace does end up working for a new government agency but one in a parallel universe - a world in which vampires, lycanthropes and gollums make up the majority of the world's population. Before Jace can return home, she is tasked with tracking and apprehending a human serial killer who is bent on changing the balance of power in the world, even if it means destroying it.
Barant doesn't waste anytime diving into the story and the reader, along with Jace, must quickly learn the rules of the world he has created. The problem is that as a guide, Jace would not have been my choice. Jace plays the typical tough girl to hilt, verging into belligerent and rude more often than not. Jace screams and throws tantrums making it hard to believe that she is an FBI profiler. At times, I found myself actively questioning her stability. There is also the issue that there is little connecting Jace to her former world. Jace's parents are dead (big surprise there) and she has few close friends.
Jace is brought to the parallel world because the NSA is chasing down a serial killer they believe to be insane and since Lycanthropes and Vampires have immunity to such human frailties, they have no experience dealing with the mentally ill. Here's the thing, given everything that the supernaturals have done to humans, it seems absolutely rational to me for humans to want to fight back. In the alternate world history, humans were enslaved, treated like cattle and drained, imprisoned and dismembered. It's worth keeping in mind that though lycnathropes and vampires have their immunities, they are longer lived, stronger and faster than the average human. With the human population reduced to one million why wouldn't someone step forward?
The antagonist plans to release an ancient God to fight against the lycanthropes and vampires. This makes perfect sense to me because the vampires and lyncanthropes unleashed an ancient God on humans killing 6 million of them. At any rate, Jace of course foils his plans but the limited exposure to the release of the God, still leaves the 150,000 of the affected supes with schizophrenia, irrational phobias, and multiple personality disorder. The implication is that they will be violent and difficult to deal with because this society has no experience with mental illness. All in all the portrayal of mental illness in this book is terrible because to be mentally ill in Barant's world, is to be a violent killer capable of atrocity.
Because Dying Bites takes place in an alternate world but parallel world Barant made some changes to world history unfortunately, most of the changes were either extremely problematic or simply didn't make any sense. For instance, vampires, werewolves and humans battled for control of the earth and the supernaturals won. Fine, I can accept that, what I cannot accept is fact that the world evolved in virtually the same way without human intervention. Why is that? Why did colonization take the exact same form across the globe? When Barant does include real world events the appropriation is horrific.
We are told that the axis powers fought for racial purity in WWII.
Hitler declared that lycanthropes were being tainted by mongrel blood, introduced by humans deliberately to weaken the race. Mussolini agreed with him, and the Emperor - a hemovore - saw it as an excuse to rid the islands of all lycanthropes once and for all. Most camps were in Europe ... but not all.
"The strategy of purificationw as threefold. First, all dogs were executed. Second, lycanthropes of impure blood were rounded up and gassed. And third, unenhanced humans were arrested and imprisoned, accused of participating in some vast ill-defined conspiracy. To ensure their loyalty, they were turned against their will."
Read More
Barant doesn't waste anytime diving into the story and the reader, along with Jace, must quickly learn the rules of the world he has created. The problem is that as a guide, Jace would not have been my choice. Jace plays the typical tough girl to hilt, verging into belligerent and rude more often than not. Jace screams and throws tantrums making it hard to believe that she is an FBI profiler. At times, I found myself actively questioning her stability. There is also the issue that there is little connecting Jace to her former world. Jace's parents are dead (big surprise there) and she has few close friends.
Jace is brought to the parallel world because the NSA is chasing down a serial killer they believe to be insane and since Lycanthropes and Vampires have immunity to such human frailties, they have no experience dealing with the mentally ill. Here's the thing, given everything that the supernaturals have done to humans, it seems absolutely rational to me for humans to want to fight back. In the alternate world history, humans were enslaved, treated like cattle and drained, imprisoned and dismembered. It's worth keeping in mind that though lycnathropes and vampires have their immunities, they are longer lived, stronger and faster than the average human. With the human population reduced to one million why wouldn't someone step forward?
The antagonist plans to release an ancient God to fight against the lycanthropes and vampires. This makes perfect sense to me because the vampires and lyncanthropes unleashed an ancient God on humans killing 6 million of them. At any rate, Jace of course foils his plans but the limited exposure to the release of the God, still leaves the 150,000 of the affected supes with schizophrenia, irrational phobias, and multiple personality disorder. The implication is that they will be violent and difficult to deal with because this society has no experience with mental illness. All in all the portrayal of mental illness in this book is terrible because to be mentally ill in Barant's world, is to be a violent killer capable of atrocity.
Because Dying Bites takes place in an alternate world but parallel world Barant made some changes to world history unfortunately, most of the changes were either extremely problematic or simply didn't make any sense. For instance, vampires, werewolves and humans battled for control of the earth and the supernaturals won. Fine, I can accept that, what I cannot accept is fact that the world evolved in virtually the same way without human intervention. Why is that? Why did colonization take the exact same form across the globe? When Barant does include real world events the appropriation is horrific.
We are told that the axis powers fought for racial purity in WWII.
Hitler declared that lycanthropes were being tainted by mongrel blood, introduced by humans deliberately to weaken the race. Mussolini agreed with him, and the Emperor - a hemovore - saw it as an excuse to rid the islands of all lycanthropes once and for all. Most camps were in Europe ... but not all.
"The strategy of purificationw as threefold. First, all dogs were executed. Second, lycanthropes of impure blood were rounded up and gassed. And third, unenhanced humans were arrested and imprisoned, accused of participating in some vast ill-defined conspiracy. To ensure their loyalty, they were turned against their will."
Read More
July 31, 2009
http://bibliophilicme.blogspot.com/20...
THIS ONE BITES
No, it's not a pun.
I have no accurate number of books that I have read in my twenty years, and I probably wouldn't get anywhere near the true count. I do know that I personally own what is probably about 1,500 books, and I have read at least twice that. At least.
So when I say there are few books I dislike, and even few still that I don't finish, I mean it. If I start a book, I am pretty much guaranteed to finish the book, even if I don't care for the book. Perhaps because I don't like the book. I have a stubborn tendency to force myself to read the book to its conclusion, in case it gets better. Most don't, and I rue the stubbornness. But I have a dislike based on a fairly solid (if still subjective) logic.
This book, I've given up on. Twice.
It's a book that really bites the dust.
(*snicker*)
Anyways, to being serious again. I've tried several times to find that certain captivating something in D. D. Barant's novel Dying Bites, but I'm having trouble. The blurb caught my eye, as the main character is a member of the F.B.I.'s Behavioral Analysis Unit, who's caught up in the supernatural world's hunt for a supernatural serial killer. Perfect! Combine my two greatest loves in one book? We have ourselves a winner, now pick that up and buy it.
Nuh-huh.
I can't quantify exactly where the book went wrong. I managed to get through about 70 pages before tossing it aside and moving on. I did do a heavy skim through the rest, and read the ending, but still... Nothing is drawing me back. The only reason I would try this book a third time would be to make absolutely, positively sure that I didn't miss something. It got good costumer reviews on B&N, even good editorial reviews. Surely I'm missing something?
But I believe that is the problem. I'm missing the connection to the main character, I'm not invested in the world or the conflict or any of the normal draws like character relationships. I'm missing all that.
Plus, I really hate alternative reality situations, but that's a whole 'nother post. I mean, parallel worlds? But one that is sooo close to our own that I can't keep the logic straight? Yeah...
RATING:
1 out of 5 stars
Re-readable out of sheer stupid stubbornness
Don't buy it so you don't have to toss it out
Right Now:
What I'm listening to: "Knowing Me Knowing You" by ABBA
What I want most: the next Kris Longknife book
THIS ONE BITES
No, it's not a pun.
I have no accurate number of books that I have read in my twenty years, and I probably wouldn't get anywhere near the true count. I do know that I personally own what is probably about 1,500 books, and I have read at least twice that. At least.
So when I say there are few books I dislike, and even few still that I don't finish, I mean it. If I start a book, I am pretty much guaranteed to finish the book, even if I don't care for the book. Perhaps because I don't like the book. I have a stubborn tendency to force myself to read the book to its conclusion, in case it gets better. Most don't, and I rue the stubbornness. But I have a dislike based on a fairly solid (if still subjective) logic.
This book, I've given up on. Twice.
It's a book that really bites the dust.
(*snicker*)
Anyways, to being serious again. I've tried several times to find that certain captivating something in D. D. Barant's novel Dying Bites, but I'm having trouble. The blurb caught my eye, as the main character is a member of the F.B.I.'s Behavioral Analysis Unit, who's caught up in the supernatural world's hunt for a supernatural serial killer. Perfect! Combine my two greatest loves in one book? We have ourselves a winner, now pick that up and buy it.
Nuh-huh.
I can't quantify exactly where the book went wrong. I managed to get through about 70 pages before tossing it aside and moving on. I did do a heavy skim through the rest, and read the ending, but still... Nothing is drawing me back. The only reason I would try this book a third time would be to make absolutely, positively sure that I didn't miss something. It got good costumer reviews on B&N, even good editorial reviews. Surely I'm missing something?
But I believe that is the problem. I'm missing the connection to the main character, I'm not invested in the world or the conflict or any of the normal draws like character relationships. I'm missing all that.
Plus, I really hate alternative reality situations, but that's a whole 'nother post. I mean, parallel worlds? But one that is sooo close to our own that I can't keep the logic straight? Yeah...
RATING:
1 out of 5 stars
Re-readable out of sheer stupid stubbornness
Don't buy it so you don't have to toss it out
Right Now:
What I'm listening to: "Knowing Me Knowing You" by ABBA
What I want most: the next Kris Longknife book
December 22, 2010
Jace has never really fit in with her peers due to her job and the mindset she must be in to catch the really nasty criminals. However, she never thought her particular skill set would make her attractive to another reality, much less an almost completely supernatural one. She is ripped from the world as we know it into a world where less than one percent of the population is human. She is tasked with finding a psychotic killer who is human, but is preying on the supernatural community with a vengeance. She must find and stop him for his capture is her ticket home, there are no ruby slippers for this Agent.
The world building in this book is amazing. The whole idea of our world having a parallel version of it, but with supernatural aspects is really intriguing. Even more so is the fact that this other version knows about ours and has the means to transport people across the boundary. I think the characters are well thought out, and Jace's struggles yet almost easy acceptance works well with her personality. Very few people could have just accepted her circumstances and been able to almost instantly cope. I feel the author did an amazing job at crafting a realistic character for this part.
I'm typically not a fan of books that have absolutely no real romance in them, nor do I really like a book that is almost 100% romance either, I prefer a happy mix. However, this one is definitely an exception to the rule. Yes, Jace does "hook" up with someone for a one night stand, but that's really the furthest it treads into the romance category. The story was so complex and kept me completely engrossed that I didn't miss its complete lack of romance at all. I cannot remember the last time I enjoyed a non-romantic book as much as this one.
This book was really intriguing and kept me hooked the entire time. While it wasn't incredibly fast paced, it had no trouble holding my attention. The characters are all well thought out, and really fit the world and plot. I look forward to reading more about Jace and her struggles, as well as accomplishments in this new world. I highly recommend for any Urban Fantasy fans as well as anyone who enjoys reading about anything paranormal.
The world building in this book is amazing. The whole idea of our world having a parallel version of it, but with supernatural aspects is really intriguing. Even more so is the fact that this other version knows about ours and has the means to transport people across the boundary. I think the characters are well thought out, and Jace's struggles yet almost easy acceptance works well with her personality. Very few people could have just accepted her circumstances and been able to almost instantly cope. I feel the author did an amazing job at crafting a realistic character for this part.
I'm typically not a fan of books that have absolutely no real romance in them, nor do I really like a book that is almost 100% romance either, I prefer a happy mix. However, this one is definitely an exception to the rule. Yes, Jace does "hook" up with someone for a one night stand, but that's really the furthest it treads into the romance category. The story was so complex and kept me completely engrossed that I didn't miss its complete lack of romance at all. I cannot remember the last time I enjoyed a non-romantic book as much as this one.
This book was really intriguing and kept me hooked the entire time. While it wasn't incredibly fast paced, it had no trouble holding my attention. The characters are all well thought out, and really fit the world and plot. I look forward to reading more about Jace and her struggles, as well as accomplishments in this new world. I highly recommend for any Urban Fantasy fans as well as anyone who enjoys reading about anything paranormal.
July 26, 2016
This book started out good, got better, became ridiculous and then the ending didn't make any sense. Jace has been practically kidnapped into an alternate Earth where vampires, were-animals and golems are the majority of the inhabitants and humans are in the minority. She's brought over to try and find a human who may be insane that's torturing and killing the vampires and weres because she's a psychological profiler kind-of and the supernatural don't have insanity. Jace's comments through most of the book are that she wants to go back. She does find the guy and stop his evil plans. Also, because she didn't actually finish all the things she was supposed to, she can't go back to her Earth. Instead of lunging at her boss when he tells her this, she asks for a job title, an office, plants and someone to look over the plants. That's the extent of her freaking out. They smile and it's on to book #2. I do not understand this.
So because of the spoiler and the ending, I gave the book 3 stars.
So because of the spoiler and the ending, I gave the book 3 stars.
September 13, 2009
I enjoyed this book and found myself wishing I had the next one in the series to pull off the shelf and start reading right away. I liked the alternate-reality setting that makes humans the rare and special creatures, I thought that was definitely a unique and welcome twist on the average paranormal storyline. I grew attached to nearly all the characters and definitely want to spend more time with them, hence my desire to get to the next book right away. Too bad it isn't out yet -I hate that! Anyhow, this story was a paranormal/urban fantasy/horror/mystery/police procedural casserole that was pretty much to my taste and I think I'll make a spot for it on my keeper shelf.
June 1, 2010
Just when all the urban fantasy worlds are starting to run together for me this book comes up with an old scenerio (transported to a parallel universe) and tweaks it and really creates a fresh weird world. Love it and loved the protag--the bloodhound.
I also really enjoyed the bringing to life of the "lums" You'll see what I mean. Brought whole new meaning to the term, "lost his marbles".
I also really enjoyed the bringing to life of the "lums" You'll see what I mean. Brought whole new meaning to the term, "lost his marbles".
November 29, 2012
Jace Valchek is a profiler for the FBI, a loner, someone whose humor is never quite understood, or appropriate. Then one night, after a few too many drinks, her life is turned upside down, when she is snatched from her bedroom into another dimension. Her job skills are needed in this alternative reality. Earth’s history changed significantly in the 12th century, and now the world is populated by vampires (37%), werewolves (43%) and golems (19%). The werewolves are a bit diluted by dogs though. Yes, humans are down to less than 1% of the population, less than one million humans left on the planet.
Mental illness is a human disease, something virtually unknown on this earth. And as a human psychopath is killing vampires (pires) and lycanthropes (tropes) in some really gruesome and inventive ways, Jace’s help is needed in catching him. She will be working for the NSA, and her boss is a vampire. Of course she doesn’t believe all this at first sight, but when she shoots him a few times, and nothing really happens to him, but some shredded clothes, she will have to. She also faints, and when she wakes up, she is in some kind of hospital. As she is not from this world, she needs to drink a special potion to adjust herself to this new reality. The added benefit, or curse, is that she will become more empathic.
Jace is told more about this world by her doctor, who is a werewolf. And if she feels his emotions clearly, very attracted to her. He also introduces her to her new partner/bodyguard Charlie, who is a golem (lem). Or, politically correct, mineral-american. They are creatures of plastic in the form of a human being, filled with sand and/or small rocks, and enlivened by a spell. Originally this was Jewish magic, but now it is common all over the world, and they are used as drones, soldiers and law officers. Vampires drink animal blood, but in the end, they will need humans to survive as a species, to make new vampires out of.
Jace is not stupid, and she wants to know why she, a human, would help the supernatural community to catch one of her own. If not, she will never be able to return home. That takes powerful magic. What her bosses don’t tell her, the vampires and lycanthropes are not capable of doing magic like that, only the humans can do that.
And so Jace reluctantly agrees. She visits the murder scenes, except the first one, which is in the secret McMurdo Station in Antarctica. But the killer did post a video of the murder, and she can study that one. A vampire is killed by sled dogs, who have their teeth painted with silver, so he can’t heal, and are given something to make them vicious. The second murder is a lycanthrope in Australia, and the third murder is a female vampire in Asia. Jace has to find out the significance of the locations, and the methods of the murders. Which is not going to be easy, when her bosses and the local law enforcement people don’t want to tell her everything.
The stakes are getting higher when the murderer wants her to change sides, and work with him and his group, trying to free earth from the supernaturals and make it a home for the humans now. As it is, they are an endangered species, hunted by vampires for their blood.
The story is completely told by Jace, something that is not my favourite writingstyle to read. It is a bit dry, although she has an unique sense of humor, and she grew on me. I liked how she did not back down from anything or anyone, but I also could not relate to her. She asked so little questions, she accepted the strangest things and she did not really freak out or anything. She does a one night stand with one of her new acquaintances, who happens to be a werewolf. But that is only told after the fact, and without any details. She was drunk, too empathic, and did not remember much.
Jace did not really connect or bond with anybody, though almost all the werewolves she encounters are interested in her. She does take charge of the investigation, and she knows some martial arts, which comes in very handy fighting does many times stronger than she is.
I also did not connect with or fall for one of the male characters in the book, I never saw them as potential love interests. I did like the geeky scientist type with his dead rat skull who could use some kind of magic to talk to things.
Okay, now I am going to sound very chauvinistic: when I found out that D.D. Barant is a man, by the name of Don DeBrandt (thanks Twitter!) I figured out that is why I could not really connect to the story or the characters. Even though it was a bit suspenseful at times, I could not feel it. A man just has a different point of view, a look at life, than a woman, which is why I prefer female authors.
Still, the story is certainly intriguing and original, and I will read the rest of the series, though I am not in a hurry to finish all the books.
O if you are wondering, why this series is called the Bloodhound Files, that is because that is Jace’s nickname from the other NSA agents, as she is like a bloodhound and does not give up when she is on a case. She is not changed into one.
7 stars.
Full review on my blog, www.boeklogboek.blogspot.com
Mental illness is a human disease, something virtually unknown on this earth. And as a human psychopath is killing vampires (pires) and lycanthropes (tropes) in some really gruesome and inventive ways, Jace’s help is needed in catching him. She will be working for the NSA, and her boss is a vampire. Of course she doesn’t believe all this at first sight, but when she shoots him a few times, and nothing really happens to him, but some shredded clothes, she will have to. She also faints, and when she wakes up, she is in some kind of hospital. As she is not from this world, she needs to drink a special potion to adjust herself to this new reality. The added benefit, or curse, is that she will become more empathic.
Jace is told more about this world by her doctor, who is a werewolf. And if she feels his emotions clearly, very attracted to her. He also introduces her to her new partner/bodyguard Charlie, who is a golem (lem). Or, politically correct, mineral-american. They are creatures of plastic in the form of a human being, filled with sand and/or small rocks, and enlivened by a spell. Originally this was Jewish magic, but now it is common all over the world, and they are used as drones, soldiers and law officers. Vampires drink animal blood, but in the end, they will need humans to survive as a species, to make new vampires out of.
Jace is not stupid, and she wants to know why she, a human, would help the supernatural community to catch one of her own. If not, she will never be able to return home. That takes powerful magic. What her bosses don’t tell her, the vampires and lycanthropes are not capable of doing magic like that, only the humans can do that.
And so Jace reluctantly agrees. She visits the murder scenes, except the first one, which is in the secret McMurdo Station in Antarctica. But the killer did post a video of the murder, and she can study that one. A vampire is killed by sled dogs, who have their teeth painted with silver, so he can’t heal, and are given something to make them vicious. The second murder is a lycanthrope in Australia, and the third murder is a female vampire in Asia. Jace has to find out the significance of the locations, and the methods of the murders. Which is not going to be easy, when her bosses and the local law enforcement people don’t want to tell her everything.
The stakes are getting higher when the murderer wants her to change sides, and work with him and his group, trying to free earth from the supernaturals and make it a home for the humans now. As it is, they are an endangered species, hunted by vampires for their blood.
The story is completely told by Jace, something that is not my favourite writingstyle to read. It is a bit dry, although she has an unique sense of humor, and she grew on me. I liked how she did not back down from anything or anyone, but I also could not relate to her. She asked so little questions, she accepted the strangest things and she did not really freak out or anything. She does a one night stand with one of her new acquaintances, who happens to be a werewolf. But that is only told after the fact, and without any details. She was drunk, too empathic, and did not remember much.
Jace did not really connect or bond with anybody, though almost all the werewolves she encounters are interested in her. She does take charge of the investigation, and she knows some martial arts, which comes in very handy fighting does many times stronger than she is.
I also did not connect with or fall for one of the male characters in the book, I never saw them as potential love interests. I did like the geeky scientist type with his dead rat skull who could use some kind of magic to talk to things.
Okay, now I am going to sound very chauvinistic: when I found out that D.D. Barant is a man, by the name of Don DeBrandt (thanks Twitter!) I figured out that is why I could not really connect to the story or the characters. Even though it was a bit suspenseful at times, I could not feel it. A man just has a different point of view, a look at life, than a woman, which is why I prefer female authors.
Still, the story is certainly intriguing and original, and I will read the rest of the series, though I am not in a hurry to finish all the books.
O if you are wondering, why this series is called the Bloodhound Files, that is because that is Jace’s nickname from the other NSA agents, as she is like a bloodhound and does not give up when she is on a case. She is not changed into one.
7 stars.
Full review on my blog, www.boeklogboek.blogspot.com
March 12, 2011
FBI profiler Jace Valcheck has literally been ripped from our world and dumped in a new one. If that wasn't strange enough, she's quickly informed that while this world still has humans, they only form 1% of the population. The rest is made up of vampires (called hemovores), lycanthropes and golems. Jace has been pulled into their world to deal with something they rarely see - a mentally unstable human serial killer. And if Jace ever wants to make it home, she'll have to catch the killer first.
I'd heard good things about this and after seeing mostly positive reviews for it I decided to pick up a copy. I really enjoyed it, although it reminded me a little of Mark of the Demon because of the police work focus. It's not something I come across often in urban fantasy, and I haven't read a book where the heroine is ripped into a different world before so this is a pretty unique read.
The plot is well paced, but not particularly fast moving. However this actually helps the book to avoid info-dumping as we explore Jace's new world with her, and it means each species is carefully introduced. The tension does build towards the end, but this does lead into another book so don't read it expecting the storyline to be completely concluded. The romance aspect of the book is minor, but I actually appreciate the focus on developing the story.
I like Jace as a lead character as she's smart and snarky, and the snark and sarcasm shine through the narrative. Her bodyguard/partner Charlie is hilarious, and is a great way to get to understand golems especially as they're pretty rare even in paranormal fiction. They have some great snarky interactions. There are possible love interests in Japanese were Tanaka, vampire boss Cassius and sweet were-doctor Pete. As I said before there isn't much romance so each is developed more as a supporting character.
One thing did bother me - just after Jace meets Tanaka he is referred to as a vampire for part of a chapter. It annoyed me a bit, especially as that really should have been caught in the editing process.
All in all, this was a great read and I'm looking forward to reading the sequel Death Blows.
Plot: 10/10
Characters: 10/10
Ending: 10/10
Enjoyment: 8/10
Cover: 9/10
Overall: 47/50
I'd heard good things about this and after seeing mostly positive reviews for it I decided to pick up a copy. I really enjoyed it, although it reminded me a little of Mark of the Demon because of the police work focus. It's not something I come across often in urban fantasy, and I haven't read a book where the heroine is ripped into a different world before so this is a pretty unique read.
The plot is well paced, but not particularly fast moving. However this actually helps the book to avoid info-dumping as we explore Jace's new world with her, and it means each species is carefully introduced. The tension does build towards the end, but this does lead into another book so don't read it expecting the storyline to be completely concluded. The romance aspect of the book is minor, but I actually appreciate the focus on developing the story.
I like Jace as a lead character as she's smart and snarky, and the snark and sarcasm shine through the narrative. Her bodyguard/partner Charlie is hilarious, and is a great way to get to understand golems especially as they're pretty rare even in paranormal fiction. They have some great snarky interactions. There are possible love interests in Japanese were Tanaka, vampire boss Cassius and sweet were-doctor Pete. As I said before there isn't much romance so each is developed more as a supporting character.
One thing did bother me - just after Jace meets Tanaka he is referred to as a vampire for part of a chapter. It annoyed me a bit, especially as that really should have been caught in the editing process.
All in all, this was a great read and I'm looking forward to reading the sequel Death Blows.
Plot: 10/10
Characters: 10/10
Ending: 10/10
Enjoyment: 8/10
Cover: 9/10
Overall: 47/50
February 7, 2011
I know I'm currently in the middle of like a ton of books and it was kind of dumb to start a new one, but seeing as to how, not only did I start, but finish it before going back to the others, it says a lot about how good I thought this book was.
Jace Valcheck is your regular kick ass kind of girl. She is a Psychological profiler for the FBI (or some other gov agency) and she gets sucked out of her world to a parallel dimension where Vampires, Wares and golems are the ruling classes. They have brought the human population down to 1% of the world population. In this universe humans are referred to as OR (original recipe) and they are viewed as pet like or food. Well, Jace is yanked out of our normal world because she is damn good at helping to catch psycho serial killers and this world doesn't know how to deal w a string of killings targeting the supernatural. Since supernatural beings are immune to illness, mental health issues are not something they know how to deal with.
The NSA and her new boss, Cassius, a zesty but cold and calculating vamp who looks like a california surfer, contracts her to help catch the madman in return for a one way-cruise back home. I don't want to give to much away in case someone wants to read it, but I'll say this, Jace has to now figure out who is behind these murders and why, she has to deal with all kinds of cross-culture inter-dimensional weirdness from this new world inhabited by monsters, such as Moondays, the underground blood market, and a world with NO GUNS, but at least she has some company. The easy-going doctor who helps her try to acclimate and survive, Dr Pete, who happens to be a werewolf. The smart and kick ass kind of girl herself, Gretchen, who also happens to be head of intelligence at the NSA and is the closest thing Jace has to a girlfriend on this universe, even if she is a vamp. And the sarcastic but deadly Golem, Charlie, her partner and bodyguard.
I was surprised to find out D.D Barant is a guy, he really got into the female head pretty well, if you ask me...or maybe Im just screwed up. Whatever. This book had all the elements I look for in a book. It had crime and mystery, it pissed me off in sections, it had a little romantic tension, it has a heroine who kicks butt, included the 3F's (fur, fanged, and fey), and was a fun read. Can't wait to start the next one.
Jace Valcheck is your regular kick ass kind of girl. She is a Psychological profiler for the FBI (or some other gov agency) and she gets sucked out of her world to a parallel dimension where Vampires, Wares and golems are the ruling classes. They have brought the human population down to 1% of the world population. In this universe humans are referred to as OR (original recipe) and they are viewed as pet like or food. Well, Jace is yanked out of our normal world because she is damn good at helping to catch psycho serial killers and this world doesn't know how to deal w a string of killings targeting the supernatural. Since supernatural beings are immune to illness, mental health issues are not something they know how to deal with.
The NSA and her new boss, Cassius, a zesty but cold and calculating vamp who looks like a california surfer, contracts her to help catch the madman in return for a one way-cruise back home. I don't want to give to much away in case someone wants to read it, but I'll say this, Jace has to now figure out who is behind these murders and why, she has to deal with all kinds of cross-culture inter-dimensional weirdness from this new world inhabited by monsters, such as Moondays, the underground blood market, and a world with NO GUNS, but at least she has some company. The easy-going doctor who helps her try to acclimate and survive, Dr Pete, who happens to be a werewolf. The smart and kick ass kind of girl herself, Gretchen, who also happens to be head of intelligence at the NSA and is the closest thing Jace has to a girlfriend on this universe, even if she is a vamp. And the sarcastic but deadly Golem, Charlie, her partner and bodyguard.
I was surprised to find out D.D Barant is a guy, he really got into the female head pretty well, if you ask me...or maybe Im just screwed up. Whatever. This book had all the elements I look for in a book. It had crime and mystery, it pissed me off in sections, it had a little romantic tension, it has a heroine who kicks butt, included the 3F's (fur, fanged, and fey), and was a fun read. Can't wait to start the next one.
July 21, 2010
3.75 Stars
Jace Valcheck, a criminal profiler who works for the FBI, thinks she is still dreaming when she is transported in to another universe where vampire, werewolves and golems make up most of the population and human beings are a rapidly decreasing minority. However, David Cassius, the vampire head of the NSA wants Jace’s expertise to track down a human killer who is performing grisly murders on vampires and werewolves, but as she digs further in to her new world, things aren’t as simple as they seem and Cassius maybe hiding some old and dark secrets.
This book is written in first person and present tense, so straight away you get into Jace’s head and straight into the action. The main character herself was tough, sarcastic and smart, and to be honest I found her a bit irritating with her constant smart ass attitude; however, she had her funny moments. But the other characters in this I did like, most especially her golem partner Charlie, whose dry humour were a good and amusing counterpoint to Jace. Jace also has a romantic tension with a few characters which have been set out in this book and I look forward to seeing the development of in the next one.
The plot in this was very good, and for me much better than the characters, the world that Jace finds herself in and the essential differences and secrets are what kept me reading. I want to know what happens, and what the various people are hiding. The mystery is fairly complex, and although you abhor what they are doing, it is very grim, you also understand it, giving the book a moral complexity, and I found myself emphasising with the villain as well as the “good guys”.
I would definitely recommend this book and will be seeking out the next one in the series. If you enjoy urban fantasy with bad ass heroines then this is something that you will enjoy.
Jace Valcheck, a criminal profiler who works for the FBI, thinks she is still dreaming when she is transported in to another universe where vampire, werewolves and golems make up most of the population and human beings are a rapidly decreasing minority. However, David Cassius, the vampire head of the NSA wants Jace’s expertise to track down a human killer who is performing grisly murders on vampires and werewolves, but as she digs further in to her new world, things aren’t as simple as they seem and Cassius maybe hiding some old and dark secrets.
This book is written in first person and present tense, so straight away you get into Jace’s head and straight into the action. The main character herself was tough, sarcastic and smart, and to be honest I found her a bit irritating with her constant smart ass attitude; however, she had her funny moments. But the other characters in this I did like, most especially her golem partner Charlie, whose dry humour were a good and amusing counterpoint to Jace. Jace also has a romantic tension with a few characters which have been set out in this book and I look forward to seeing the development of in the next one.
The plot in this was very good, and for me much better than the characters, the world that Jace finds herself in and the essential differences and secrets are what kept me reading. I want to know what happens, and what the various people are hiding. The mystery is fairly complex, and although you abhor what they are doing, it is very grim, you also understand it, giving the book a moral complexity, and I found myself emphasising with the villain as well as the “good guys”.
I would definitely recommend this book and will be seeking out the next one in the series. If you enjoy urban fantasy with bad ass heroines then this is something that you will enjoy.
August 9, 2011
3.5 stars
Between the gore, the first person present narrative, and the please-no-love-triangles mantra I kept chanting, I feel like I shouldn't like this, but I'm a sucker for a competent, smart-ass heroine. Overall, I enjoyed the story and found the alternate Earth the author created to be fascinating -- I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea of vampires being Muslim Shintoists. Another major plus: whenever a character has an accent, be it Japanese or French-Canadian, the author just says that instead of trying to write in dialect (thank you!).
I think my favorite part, though, is Jace's burgeoning friendship with her golem bodyguard, Charlie:
NB: While the murder victims' deaths are gruesome, the descriptions aren't gratuitous. Also, the swearing is mild and the sex takes place off screen.
Between the gore, the first person present narrative, and the please-no-love-triangles mantra I kept chanting, I feel like I shouldn't like this, but I'm a sucker for a competent, smart-ass heroine. Overall, I enjoyed the story and found the alternate Earth the author created to be fascinating -- I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea of vampires being Muslim Shintoists. Another major plus: whenever a character has an accent, be it Japanese or French-Canadian, the author just says that instead of trying to write in dialect (thank you!).
I think my favorite part, though, is Jace's burgeoning friendship with her golem bodyguard, Charlie:
"... where I come from [we have] partners. A partner is a person who watches your back, points out when you're screwing up, trusts you completely and occasionally saves your life. They do that for you... and you do that for them."
We glare at each other for a long moment.
"Problem is," he says at last, "we're here, not there."
"Doesn't make a damn bit of difference to me."
He considers this. "You know, that'd be a lot more reassuring if you weren't so damned fragile."
"I'm fragile? At least I don't burst into tears when I'm feeling unappreciated."
"True. You're more likely to shoot something."
"I find it therapeutic. You should try it sometime."
"No thanks. I'll stick to knitting tea cozies and sobbing into my pillow."
"We done?"
"Pretty much."
NB: While the murder victims' deaths are gruesome, the descriptions aren't gratuitous. Also, the swearing is mild and the sex takes place off screen.
February 12, 2011
Jace is a FBI profiler, hunting mentally unstable serial killers. One night she is yanked out of her reality and finds herself in a parallel dimension. This new world is inhabited by vampires, werewolves and golems and humans comprise only a very small minority. Cassius, vampire and head of the NSA, has picked her to find a killer, who murders his supernatural victims in gruesome ways and is apparently human and insane. Insanity is a concept that is not at all understood on this world, as it pretty much doesn't exist, which is where Jace comes in. She gets a golem partner, Charlie, and a tech savvy lycanthrope, Eisfanger, as her partners and will only be sent back to her own world once the killer is caught. The only problem is that the killer might have a very good reason for doing what he is doing and as Jace finds out some dark secrets about her new boss, she has to decide which side she wants to be on.
This was a great start to a new series. Jace is a kick-ass and smart mouthed heroine who I really came to like. Charlie, her golem partner, is quite funny at times and was soon a favourite of mine. The rest of the characters were well thought through as well and I'm looking forward to finding out more about them. There wasn't much romance yet, but there are a few possible love interests for the upcoming books.
The story had a few twists and turns and went into a direction I didn't quite expect and kept me interested. I'm sure to pick up the second instalment.
This was a great start to a new series. Jace is a kick-ass and smart mouthed heroine who I really came to like. Charlie, her golem partner, is quite funny at times and was soon a favourite of mine. The rest of the characters were well thought through as well and I'm looking forward to finding out more about them. There wasn't much romance yet, but there are a few possible love interests for the upcoming books.
The story had a few twists and turns and went into a direction I didn't quite expect and kept me interested. I'm sure to pick up the second instalment.
June 7, 2012
Okay, despite my early grumblings about the heroine, Jace Valchek, I did end up liking her well enough by the end. She's dealing with a lot of change in a very short time, being snatched from her own dimension and plunked down in a similar but alternate dimension. The secondary characters we're introduced to seem likeable enough but I feel like we never really got to know any of them very well. This book wasn't great but as a first book it wasn't bad either. The resolution to the problem at hand was a bit simplistic considering what they were dealing with and it smacked a bit of deux a machina to me. However, there are definite things to build on and I'm curious enough to go ahead and read the next book.
There was not a lot of romance in this book so if that's your main draw to a book then this probably won't do it for you. There are three male characters that Jace meets that could be potential love interests but we don't really get to spend much time with any of them - or rather Jace doesn't get to spend much 1:1 time with any of them - to really matter. This goes back to the author needing to flesh out the secondary characters better and hopefully this will happen in the next book. Jace does have sex in this book but it happens off the page so...yeah.
But, like I said, there are areas to build upon and improve and I'll be checking out book two to see how it fares.
There was not a lot of romance in this book so if that's your main draw to a book then this probably won't do it for you. There are three male characters that Jace meets that could be potential love interests but we don't really get to spend much time with any of them - or rather Jace doesn't get to spend much 1:1 time with any of them - to really matter. This goes back to the author needing to flesh out the secondary characters better and hopefully this will happen in the next book. Jace does have sex in this book but it happens off the page so...yeah.
But, like I said, there are areas to build upon and improve and I'll be checking out book two to see how it fares.
September 2, 2016
I am now hooked on another series (I need another series like a need a hole in the head)...I really enjoyed this one both the audio and the book. I like the parallel world, and how the histories are the same people (mostly) but different situations....I like the characters and Jace is pretty kick ass...this had everything I like, snark, humor, mystery, adventure...and Cassius....while he appears to be a "good guy" I'm still holding judgement on him...still need more background before I decide...and some of my favorite lines:
Because, as we all know, nothing solves insomnia like a nice warm glass of regret, depression, and self-loathing.
“You can bring three things with you,” the man says. He has no accent, but somehow that just reinforces the idea that he’s a foreigner. In fact, I’m sure this is the first time he’s ever been to my country. “The three things you feel are most instrumental to you doing your job. Choose carefully.” I’m pretty straightforward. I grab my handgun, my laptop, and the carton of ammunition I keep under my bed.
Ah. If whisky is the water of life, coffee is the whisky of Nirvana. “Brain . . . activating,” I mutter. “Will to live . . . returning.”
“I look over at him. He stares straight ahead.
"So," I say. "Golem, huh?"
"I prefer the term 'Mineral-American.”
“Stubborn, too?” “Yes, ma’am,” he says with a smile. “Though I prefer the term ‘option recognition deficient.’
Plausible deniability ain’t just a river in Egypt.”
Because, as we all know, nothing solves insomnia like a nice warm glass of regret, depression, and self-loathing.
“You can bring three things with you,” the man says. He has no accent, but somehow that just reinforces the idea that he’s a foreigner. In fact, I’m sure this is the first time he’s ever been to my country. “The three things you feel are most instrumental to you doing your job. Choose carefully.” I’m pretty straightforward. I grab my handgun, my laptop, and the carton of ammunition I keep under my bed.
Ah. If whisky is the water of life, coffee is the whisky of Nirvana. “Brain . . . activating,” I mutter. “Will to live . . . returning.”
“I look over at him. He stares straight ahead.
"So," I say. "Golem, huh?"
"I prefer the term 'Mineral-American.”
“Stubborn, too?” “Yes, ma’am,” he says with a smile. “Though I prefer the term ‘option recognition deficient.’
Plausible deniability ain’t just a river in Egypt.”
April 18, 2012
I finished this the second time around. The first time, a year ago, I only managed to get around 1/3 part, then put it aside. This time, I was able to reach the last page, but to be honest, it's not exactly smooth sailing either. I kept being distracted with other books (not exactly a good sign) and I admit that I skimmed the book almost 3/4 of it through the end.
My biggest issue, I think, it's that I'm not exactly fond of the main heroine, Jace. I think she's ungrateful and well, bi*chy most of the times. Most of the characters I like are the supporting casts (Charlie the golem bodyguard, Dr. Pete the thrope doctor, and Eisfanger, the thrope forensic guy). I'm not charmed with the supposedly snarky things that come out from Jace's mouth.
I also find the action part to be uninspiring. Some of it feels like happening behind the screen. Others doesn't feel like it packs enough punch.
I do like the idea of parallel world ... I think the world building is quite good.
I always think that I need to make some kind of reservation for book #1 in a series -- since usually by book #2 or #3, it can get better. I do have series that I love after book #3. So I think I will still see if I can enjoy the next one.
My biggest issue, I think, it's that I'm not exactly fond of the main heroine, Jace. I think she's ungrateful and well, bi*chy most of the times. Most of the characters I like are the supporting casts (Charlie the golem bodyguard, Dr. Pete the thrope doctor, and Eisfanger, the thrope forensic guy). I'm not charmed with the supposedly snarky things that come out from Jace's mouth.
I also find the action part to be uninspiring. Some of it feels like happening behind the screen. Others doesn't feel like it packs enough punch.
I do like the idea of parallel world ... I think the world building is quite good.
I always think that I need to make some kind of reservation for book #1 in a series -- since usually by book #2 or #3, it can get better. I do have series that I love after book #3. So I think I will still see if I can enjoy the next one.
September 26, 2009
Not bad... I picked this one at the library on a whim but I'm glad I did. It was unique concept. The main character Jace (is a criminal profiler) thinks she's dreaming when someone in a suit walks into her bedroom and asks her to take 3 things with her that she could never leave behind. She then walks through a door and end's up in a man's office and realizes that in fact she's not really sleeping but fully awake. Cassius explains that she is now in an alternative universe where humans only account for 1% of the population and the rest are vampires, lycanthropes and golems. Someone is on a killing rampage and since no one in that universe knows much about humans, or knows anything about human "madness" they had to bring Jace over.
Too bad she can't leave until she figures out who's killing, why and stops it all before more things die.
I just thought it was a unique perspective in the urban fantasy genre. It was a fast read, and I like Jace's character. She doesn't take anything from others even if they may turn into big scary animals when pissed off.
I'll definitely read the next book Dying Blows when it comes out.
Too bad she can't leave until she figures out who's killing, why and stops it all before more things die.
I just thought it was a unique perspective in the urban fantasy genre. It was a fast read, and I like Jace's character. She doesn't take anything from others even if they may turn into big scary animals when pissed off.
I'll definitely read the next book Dying Blows when it comes out.
October 31, 2012
As an introduction to a new series this was pretty good. I enjoyed listening to this and even though the narrators voice took a little getting used to I enjoyed her work with the book.
Jace has been pulled into another universe against her will. In this world vampires, wares and magic are all very real! Only you can't call them that 'cause it's apparently rude... Humans are considered an endanger species and only 1000000 of them remains. Now in order to get back home Jace has to help the NSA catch a crazy killer who murders wares and vamps in unusually gruesome ways and then uploads a video of it on the net. Jace though doesn't think the killings are random. Going from scene to scene she's trying to connect the dots and complete the mission that will send her home. In her quest though she finds out more about the people that "summoned" her and the world they live in. And then she has to pick her side...
I still haven't found a character I can relate with in the series, but it was a good book I enjoyed listening to.
Jace has been pulled into another universe against her will. In this world vampires, wares and magic are all very real! Only you can't call them that 'cause it's apparently rude... Humans are considered an endanger species and only 1000000 of them remains. Now in order to get back home Jace has to help the NSA catch a crazy killer who murders wares and vamps in unusually gruesome ways and then uploads a video of it on the net. Jace though doesn't think the killings are random. Going from scene to scene she's trying to connect the dots and complete the mission that will send her home. In her quest though she finds out more about the people that "summoned" her and the world they live in. And then she has to pick her side...
I still haven't found a character I can relate with in the series, but it was a good book I enjoyed listening to.
November 6, 2009
A wonderful debut of a new paranormal series that is full of snark! I love snark. This is probably more urban fantasy than romance with a great deal of action that won't take you long to read this one. The world building for this series is quickly done and believable. Jace has quirks and I couldn't imagine anyone saying half the things she does, but I wish I could say some of those lines. She has such a smart mouth it is surprising that she just isn't killed for it, but then that is what makes this so much fun. I can't wait to see what happens in the next one
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