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Showing posts with label Corine Solomon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Corine Solomon. Show all posts
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Review: Agave Kiss by Ann Aguirre
Agave Kiss
Author: Ann Aguirre
Release Date: March 5, 2013
Publisher: Roc
Corine Solomon #5
ISBN: # 978-0451465030
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Format(s): Paperback (336 pgs), e-book
Book Source: Publisher
About the book:
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Once Corine Solomon only had the touch—the ability to read an object’s past by handling it. Then she inherited her mother’s magick, and that ended up being a hell of a burden. But if Corine can wrestle a demon queen and win, she can bring back her lover Chance after he’s made the ultimate sacrifice. Can’t she? All Corine knows is that she can’t leave Chance behind if there’s anything she can do about it.
But the clock is ticking—and she still has to deal with debt-collecting demons and a maniacal archangel who’s running a recruitment drive. The stakes have never been so high…and this time it’s truly Corine’s last chance to save the love of her life.
What Gikany is talking about:
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Agave Kiss is the fifth, and final, book in the Corine Solomon series. It is a worthy finale to the series and nicely ties up all of the loose ends from the previous four books. All of the major characters that have made an appearance in the previous four books do so again in this one, and their plot arcs are resolved. I really appreciated this touch.
Agave Kiss picks up approximately one week after the end of Devil’s Punch. Corine is trying to figure out how she can go on after the shattering loss of Chance’s sacrifice. To top it all off, she and Shannon are still stuck in London without passports or any sort of documentation. A call for assistance from Booke gives Corine the opportunity to focus on helping someone else rather than wallowing in her own sorrows.
The blurb that the author provided about Agave Kiss suggests that most of it is about Corine rescuing Chance. It’s not. This is the major thread woven into the background of the book and the plot arc that gives it structure, but most of the novel deals with the consequences of Corine’s choices from both the previous books in the series and those that develop as she tries to help Booke. I love that in this series actions have consequences. An example of this is that Corine has lost her ability to use her mother’s white magic because she channeled too much demon magic in Devil’s Punch.
Another theme that runs through the Corine Solomon series is that doing the wrong thing for the right reason does not make it acceptable. Evil done in the name of good is still evil. Corine’s soul has been scarred by her dealings with demons. Why she chose to do so makes no difference. Ignorance also offers no excuse.
I have really enjoyed this series. In preparation for this review, I treated myself to a reread of the previous books and enjoyed them just as much the second time around. All of the books build on each other and I strongly recommend that you start this series with Blue Diablo, the first book.
Gikany’s Rating:
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Enjoyed - strongly recommend (A-)
Purchase Info:
Reviews in the Series:
Labels:
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Sunday Snippets #106
Devil's Punch
Author: Ann AguirreCorine Solomon Novels #4
Publisher: Roc
Released: April 3, 2012
REVIEW HERE
By the time Greydusk came back, we had tidied up, Butch was done eating and taking his stroll around the patio, and I was decently covered in Chance's shirt.
The demon paused on the threshold, sniffed, and sighed. "It reeks of copulation in here."
"Fire washed my cheeks. "Hi to you too."
"I suppose one must be thankful you have one another with whom to sate these urges. It would be disastrous if you succumbed to a Luren. Gilder or Lash, for instance."
"Disastrous for whom?"
"Everyone. If you take any native as your lover, you make him - or her - your consort here in Sheol, should you ascend."
"Anyone who tries to touch her comes through me," Chance bit out. "I need better weapons, demon."
His eyes were scary-fierce, primal in intensity; I'd seen the last of my hypercontrolled, calculating ex. That genie was out of the bottle for good. I suspected he'd always had these tendencies, carefully leashed, but something in Sheol - demon magick maybe - seemed to draw it out of him. Neither of us might be entirely ourselves, but I didn't regret what we'd done. Not when I felt so good.
Greydusk studied us for a moment longer and then shook its head. "I was afraid of this."
"What's wrong?"
"You've chosen him as your consort. That will affect his thinking. He can't help but respond to the ancient magick."
"Is there anything I can do to stop it?" I asked.
"No. Once chosen, the consort belongs to the queen until death."
"But I'm not the queen."
"Near enough."...
Friday, April 20, 2012
Review: Devil's Punch
Devil’s Punch
Author: Ann Aguirre
Release Date: April 3, 2012
Publisher: Roc
Corine Solomon #4
ISBN: #978-0451464491
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Format(s): Paperback (315 pgs), e-book
Book Source: Publisher
About the book:
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The power swelled inside me, burning, hurting, but I let it center me. Pain means I’m still here, fighting. I envisioned it swelling in my hand in a seething rush, gathering, gathering, and then I sent it out on my resolve like a dark and winged thing riding the magickal wind.
As a handler, Corine Solomon can touch any object and learn its history. Her power is a gift, but one that’s thrown her life off track. The magical inheritance she received from her mother is dangerously powerful, and Corine has managed to mark herself as a black witch by dealing with demons to solve her problems.
Back home, Corine is trying to rebuild her pawnshop and her life with her ex, Chance, despite the target on her back. But when the demons she provoked kidnap her best friend in retaliation, Corine puts everything on hold to save her. It’s undoubtedly a trap, but Corine would do anything to save those she loves, even if it means sacrificing herself…
What G & U are talking about:
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Devil’s Punch is the fourth novel in the Corine Solomon novels. Although it starts out a little slow, it burns to an unbelievable emotional wipeout ending.
The story takes place a bit after the last novel, Shady Lady ended. Corine and Chance are starting over in Mexico. Corine is trying to rebuild her life and her business while learning to master the magic she inherited from her mother. She has accepted the repercussions from the sacrifices and choices she made to save and protect those she loves. Her respite lasts only a few weeks before Shannon, Corine’s “adopted” little sister and best friend, is in trouble and needs her help.
Shannon has been kidnapped by a demon. To save her, Corine agrees to follows Greydusk, a demon guide, to Xibalba, a city in the demon realm Sheol. In this novel we discover both Corine’s and Chance’s true natures.
Devil’s Punch was filled with personal realizations for Corine and Chance. It was an emotionally powerful novel for those with a strong connection to Chance and Corine. The ending is brutally realistic, but it is softened with a glimmer of hope. The relationships between the four central characters were gripping. The journey was about more than just saving Shannon; it was about choices and destiny, and sacrifices and prejudices.
The novel dragged a bit at the beginning, but the pace picked up swiftly once Corine and Chance entered Sheol. One of the most interesting parts of the novel is the description of the various demon castes in Xibalba. The portrayals of the various demons and locations within Xibalba bring Shoel to life.
Corine faces a life-changing event in each book. A significant part of her life ends forcing her begin again in the next novel. How many times can you strip a character to only rebuild and strip them again in the next novel before the audience becomes numb or overwhelmed? It would be great to see Corine truly happy and blessed, for longer than a portion of a novel.
We aren’t sure what will befall Corine in the next novel, but we look forward to seeing it. If anything, we hope the snippet of hope we see in the ending means a glorious reunion in the next novel…somehow. With Corine, anything is possible.
Their Rating:
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Liked it - recommend (B+)
Purchase Info:
Reviews in the Series:
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Review: Shady Lady
Shady LadyAuthor: Ann Aguirre
Release Date: April 5, 2011
Publisher: Roc
Corine Solomon Novels, Book #3
ISBN: #978-0451463258
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Format(s): Paperback (336 pgs), e-book
We received a copy of this book from the PUBLISHER for the purposes of an honest review.
From the author’s website:
I’d spent my whole life settling, trying not to attract attention, and generally doing whatever it took to keep other people happy. I didn’t want to do that again. Not when I was finally comfortable in my own skin. Sure, there were certain challenges, like a drug lord who wanted me dead, and the fact that I owed a demon a debt that he could call due at any moment. But everybody’s got problems, right?
Whenever Corine Solomon touches an object, she immediately knows its history. But her own future concerns her more and more. Now back in Mexico, she’s running her pawnshop and trying to get a handle on her strange new powers, for she might need them. And soon.
Then former ally Kel Ferguson walks through her door. Heavily muscled and tattooed, Kel looks like a convict but calls himself a holy warrior. This time, he carries a warning for Corine: the Montoya cartel is coming for her—but they don’t just pack automatic weapons. The Montoyas use warlocks, shamans, voodoo priests—anything to terminate trouble. And Corine has become enemy number one…
What Gikany & Una are talking about:
First, we are back as a team on this book. Yay!
Secondly, I, Una, read this book as a standalone, because Twimom asked me to review it. However, because Gikany is just as obsessive/compulsive as me (and had the time and money) read the first two books in the Corine Solomon Novels before reading Shady Lady. It made a huge difference! We both strongly recommend that you read this book after reading the first two. It seems, as poor Una found out, much from (especially the first book) previous books are referenced, implied, alluded to, etc. Goodness, poor Una got very confused and frustrated during the first half of this book because of carried over plot lines and romantic entanglements.
As Gikany filled in Una, there is quite a lot that takes place in Corine’s (for those, like Una, who didn’t the first book, her name rhymes with Doreen) life prior to the third book. However to know any of it, you have to read the first two books. So coming into this story without that basic background was profoundly annoying. Una was grateful that Gikany read the previous books because she was able to glean the information from Gikany so that the book made more sense.
Enough of Una’s whining…
This is a very intriguing and fun series. Corine is a complex and down to earth character. She’s taken some hard licks in her life but continues to bounce back. Corine also surrounds herself with gifted and genuinely good people as her distanced support group. The world she lives in nuanced, there is no true black and white; good versus evil. It is a world of varying shades of grey. This aspect is most notably shown through Kel, the “hand of God.” Corine, in order to defeat the greater evil, finds herself making deals with lesser evils. Choices that she consciously knows she will have to live with and may come to regret.
One element that we both greatly enjoyed in this novel that we have seen in other series (like the Allie Beckstrom series) is that magic has a price. Nothing supernatural comes without exacting a price; maintaining a balance in the world. This helps to anchor the characters and the story, giving the novels a foundation and realism necessary to keep the reader hooked. The other element that we both found quite positive is the minor characters. Corine’s supportive friends are the family she has created to replace the blooded family she lost long ago.
The humor and the flow of the story are excellent. The darker elements in the storytelling are balanced out by the clever wit of Corine and the funny banter between her and her friends. That being said, we both were frustrated by the ending, as we say, beyond irritated. As Gikany explained to Una, the first two books did not end with so much left unresolved nor with the feeling of uncharacteristic acceptance by Corine at how things were left. Without giving away the ending, Corine seems to accept a loss that may not be demanded by the fates. The ending was abrupt and somewhat contrived. Corine deserves better and would not just “bend over and take it” (sorry, this is our best way to describe the feeling). We feel cheated that she didn’t try to fight for what was lost. Overall, we enjoyed Shady Lady and will read the next installment when it comes out next year.
Gikany’s Rating (Someone who read the series):
Really enjoyed - strongly recommend (A-)
Una’s Rating (Someone who didn’t read the series):
Liked it a lot - recommend (B+)
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