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Showing posts with label Bloodlands. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bloodlands. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Review: In Blood We Trust
In Blood We TrustAuthor: Christine Cody
Release Date: September 27, 2011
Publisher: Ace Fantasy
Bloodlands Book 3
ISBN:#978-0441020874
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Format(s): paperback (304 pp), e-book
Book Source: Publisher
About the book: |
Only monsters--and lovers--call the Bloodlands home…
They are monsters: Mariah--the reluctant rebel who has become a god to others of her kind. And Gabriel, the vampire, who loves her at his own peril.
Together, they freed the unhuman and inhuman from captivity, to lead them in reclaiming the land. But even Mariah can’t keep the newly liberated monsters from quarreling among themselves.
And then a murder occurs and Gabriel is suspect. Facing a death sentence, the two flee—
Back to the Bloodlands, where their story began. To face the horrors of Mariah’s past and the uncertainties of Gabriel's future. To make a final stand, for their lives—and their love.
What B is talking about: |
After helping to free the “monsters” being held prisoner in the asylum in GBVille, and entering a blood exchange with the maker of all the “Reds” (blood drinkers of all forms), Mariah finds the first real acceptance she’s ever known among her kind. The exchange has made her into something of a “chosen one” among the monsters, turning her into a creature unlike any other in existence in the process. Even with the successful rise of the monsters hanging in the balance, and the Shredder, Johnson Stamp still on their trail, All Mariah wants is the vampire Gabriel.
Gabriel is a young vampire in comparison to many who are helping ensure the monsters’ continued freedom, but his love for Mariah eclipses everything else in their new life, as well as his old one. Unfortunately, his love exists on borrowed time, for the remnants of their human emotions fade all too soon as vampires age, leaving only cool logic behind instead. Can the link Gabriel and Mariah share be enough to defy their natures and save them both?
The Bloodlands series has been a challenge from the beginning for me; my paranormal romance leanings making the stark urban fantasy landscape of Cody’s novels an adjustment. Once in the proper frame of mind, however, the books definitely come alive, just in a different way than I’m used to.
In Blood We Trust is a blood-coated novel, as were the first two in the series, Bloodlands and Blood Rules. This time, though, it was easier for me to see it as simply another part of the story as a whole. The action kept the narrative moving at a brisk pace, and a better familiarity with the characters and the world as Cody has imagined it kept me engaged the entire time.
Mariah and Gabriel aren’t heroes, though they were viewed as such briefly after they and the rest of the Badlanders broke into the asylum there and freed those in captivity. But, when Gabriel gets blamed for the murder of one of their fellow were-creatures, and Mariah’s need for revenge against those who destroyed her family reaches undeniable levels, they find themselves outcasts once again, their love for one another the only thing they have. For as long as it lasts, at least.
I was very much eager for a happier ending to In Blood We Trust, but given the genre and the nature of these novels specifically, I think the ending was fitting. While there are no warm, fuzzy happily ever afters, Cody gives the impression of lingering hope for Mariah and Gabriel, and if given the opportunity to see where the future leads them both, I’d gladly jump back in for another round.
B’s Rating: |
Books in the Series
Blood Rules (A Novel of the Bloodlands)
In Blood We Trust (A Novel of the Bloodlands)
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Monday, September 12, 2011
Review: Blood Rules
Blood RulesAuthor: Christine Cody
Release Date: August 30, 2011
Publisher: Ace Fantasy
Bloodlands Series Book 2
ISBN: 978-0441020768
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Format(s): paperback (320 pgs), e-book
Book Source: Publisher
About the book: |
In the Bloodlands, Sometimes the Monsters Don’t Even Know Themselves….
After the vampire named Gabriel came into her world, Mariah Lyander was forced to face her own true nature and admit to the terrible things she had done--things he could not forgive.
To redeem herself, to recover her own humanity—and Gabriel's love—she sets out on a perilous journey across the haunted land, in search of a rumored cure. And Gabriel, blood-bonded to her, is compelled to follow.
Together—yet not together—they will face danger and death. And what they find is not a place where monsters can be cured—but one where they are born…
What B is talking about: |
When her inability to control the beast within herself threatens the safety of her adopted Were-family, Mariah Lyander decides the best thing she can do for them, and herself, is to leave in search of a rumored cure. Her reluctant blood-mate, the vampire Gabriel, is compelled to come along, and what they discover will plant the seeds for an uprising for all their kind.
This is the second book in the Bloodlands series, and it’s more intense, gory, and outright disturbing at times, than the first. What has happened to society in Cody’s book is truly unnerving. The “hubs” (settlements) are overrun with paranoid shut-ins, “distractoids,” and groups of “runners,” all mindless puppets of the government. In this version of the future, water is the only form of currency, and for some, selling themselves into slavery is the only way to get it.
In addition to the chaos of the hubs, the Shredder, Johnson Stamp, is still after Mariah and her “family,” and, though injured for much of the novel, he manages to stay alive to continue his pursuit. His survival, nevertheless, can be at least partially attributed to the conflicts between Mariah and Gabriel, as they battle their own natures and each other.
Once again highlighting the fact that Blood Rules is certainly not a romance is the ongoing relationship struggles of the two main characters. While Mariah and Gabriel can’t stay away from each other, they can also barely tolerate one another. The latter is truer of Gabriel than Mariah, but the distance between them is significant. By the end of the novel, though, they seem to be reaching for the bond they share more than cursing it.
Blood Rules is a story of survival and complex relationships set against a cautionary tale of just how wrong the evolution of the world could conceivably go. Action-packed and smart, rather than sweet and funny, it took a reread of various parts of the book for me to really appreciate the narrative, but I’m glad I did, as this really is a worthwhile addition to the series. And, despite their struggles and denials, I very much hope for the best for Mariah, Gabriel, and the rest of the “monsters” of the Bloodlands, and am committed to seeing what the next novel in the series might bring.
B’s Rating: |
Liked it, but I had some issues - recommend (B)
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Review: Bloodlands
BloodlandsAuthor: Christine Cody
Release Date: July 26, 2011
Publisher: Ace Fantasy
Bloodlands Book 1
ISBN: #978-0441020621
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Format(s): paperback (336 pgs), e-book
Book Source: Publisher
About the book: |
The New Badlands—a desolate area in the West forged by the terrible events that altered the entire country, where a few frightened citizens retreated underground to shelter from the brutal weather . . . and from a society gone deadly dangerous.
Then the vampire arrived—and they started calling it the Bloodlands.
Not because Gabriel, the so-called monster running from his true self, was searching for his lover’s murderer. Nor because Mariah, the woman who reluctantly took him in, was willing to do anything to survive in the changed world.
No, the Badlands officially became the Bloodlands the moment a gun-for-hire who’d decided to slay every monster left in the country came after Gabriel . . .
What B is talking about: |
Living in the New Badlands isn’t for the weak. It’s the only place left in what was the United States that isn’t under the control of a thoroughly corrupt government. It is the last place to go where there is still a chance at freedom away from dishonest men. For Mariah Lyander, it is her home and sanctuary. Having recently lost her father, she is quietly surviving among a small group of outcasts. But, when a stranger shows up begging for a place to rest while his injuries heal, Mariah takes him in. And her world crashes down around her as she never expected it to again.
Gabriel is a vampire in need of a safe haven. Following the trail of his lost love from the Southeastern part of the country to the New Badlands, he runs into some trouble of his own before trying to make a home for himself among the strangers who have taken him in. When a powerful enemy threatens his new neighbors, he must choose between running and fighting, and realizes he has more to lose than he bargained for.
I’m always excited when I get to read the first story in a new series, and this one didn’t disappoint. Like most novels in this genre, the focus is on the conflict within the plot, rather than the main characters’ chances of a happily ever after. Instead of detracting from the narrative, however, Cody’s restraint as a storyteller makes Bloodlands a compelling mystery as well.
There are, however, many fictionalized warnings about where our society could be headed that are planted throughout the novel. From the consequences of allowing blogs to pass themselves off unchecked as real news, to the majority of the villains who speak “text,” Cody’s visualization of such a future is highly detailed and pervasive.
For all the starkness of the novel, Mariah and Gabriel are wonderful together. So much so, that watching them fall apart was closer to a shock than surprise. Their attraction for one another didn’t in any way feel forced, and I’m very thankful there’s another novel to look forward to in the hope that they get another chance at happiness. Bloodlands isn’t a romance novel, but is a rich page-turner of a story all the same, and I’m eager to find out what Cody has up her sleeves next.
B’s Rating: |
Liked it a lot - recommend (B+)
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