The London Seance Society

 The London Seance Society by Sarah Penner 352 pages

When I teach fiction writing, one of my classes is devoted to the first sentence. If the author doesn't grab the reader's attention right away, there is a slim chance the reader will continue.  I love the first sentence in this book: "At an abandoned chateau on the outskirts of Paris, a dark seance is about to take place, led by acclaimed spiritualist Vaudeline D'Allaire."  That a beaut, isn't it? However, that was the best part of the book.

D'Allaire is the toast of Paris and London when spiritualism is at its height. Her specialty is conjuring murder victims to tell her who killed them. 

Lenna Wickes is mourning the death of her younger sister, Evie. She has come to Paris to enlist Vaudeline's aide. Lenna becomes Vaudeline's understudy.

Meanwhile, back in London, a powerful men's organization is also trying to uncover the murder of their president.  Oddly enough, the two murders happened on the same night, October 31.

The novel is interestingly told by two voices, but it's odd.  Lenna's story is told in third person, while their contact at the Society, Mr. Morley, is told in first person. I found it jarring. It takes a while for the reader to figure out exactly what the connection between the two dead people are, but the story does finally come around to a smooth conclusion.

Vaudeline and Lenna go back to London and try to solve the cases. Sometimes the plot was intricate, sometimes simple. There were times the story was a page-turner and times the story plodded along. Many times, I was able to figure out what was going to happen well before t did.

I was disappointed in this second outing by novelist Sarah Penner of The Lost Apothecary. Here's hoping that her third book returns to the skillfulness she displayed in Apothecary.  The London Seance Society receives 3 out of 5 starts in Julie's world.

Ghost Eaters

 

Ghost Eaters by Clay McLeod Chapman 304 pages

 

Want to get haunted? That is the new phrase in Richmond. Instead of getting high, teens and young adults want to get haunted.

 

What does that mean? Instead of getting high and the munchies…or hallucinating gosh know what…takers of a new pill, GHOST, can actually see dead people. Not those they want to see necessarily, but all those who are around them. Considering its past with slavery and the Civil War, there are a LOT of ghosts tethered to the Richmond area.

 

Erin’s small band of friends, of people she trusts---most of the time---includes her ex-boyfriend, Silas, Tobias and Maura. Erin cannot let Silas go. She wants to, but she runs anytime he needs/wants her. She also has a habit of pulling him out rehab when the going gets tough. After all, says Silas, “rehab is for quitters.” When she rescues (?) him this time, he turns up dead under an overpass, and Erin is consumed with guilt.

 

Tobias tells Erin about a new drug, GHOST, that he and Silas have created that enables a person to speak to the dead. Erin leaps at the opportunity to see Silas again…and a whole bunch of other zombie-like creatures. He takes her and Maura to an abandoned subdivision so that the ghosts will have a place to haunt. The séance is successful; Erin can see and talk with Silas.

 

However, the Silas-sighting is only temporary, but the other dead follow her, trying to get close to her, trying to swallow her life force. There are times that these descriptions border less on horror and move the needle to the high-gross factor. I retched on more than one occasion.

 

Erin wants that experience again. She needs that experience. She begins to take more and more pills, desperate to have Silas reappear. Her life spirals out of control while more and more ghosts try to get close to her. They follow her wherever she goes.

 

It's been about a month since I finished this book, and yet it still haunts me. I felt like Erin---I didn’t want to finish, but I had to see what happened. This book is the grossest, not the scariest, book I have ever come across, but it is well done. The things that happened had to happen—a sign of a great plot. Ghost Eaters receives 4 out of stars in Julie’s world. I can still hear Silas say, “Want to
get haunted?”

 

 

Foxglove Summer

Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch.325 Pages  "When two young girls go missing in rural Herefordshire, police constable and wizard-in-training Peter Grant is sent out of London to check that nothing supernatural is involved. It's purely routine--Nightingale, Peter's superior, thinks he'll be done in less than a day. But Peter's never been one to walk away from someone in trouble, so when nothing overtly magical turns up he volunteers his services to the local police, who need all the help they can get. But because the universe likes a joke as much as the next sadistic megalomaniac, Peter soon comes to realize that dark secrets underlie the picturesque fields and villages of the countryside and there might just be work for Britain's most junior wizard after all. Soon Peter's in a vicious race against time, in a world where the boundaries between reality and fairy have never been less clear...."  The series remains strong and leaves the reader waiting for the next book.  What I enjoy about the books is that the hero of the story doesn't go through beating after beating and yet overcome the odds.  Peter Grant just steadily does his job and sometimes he ends up on top and sometimes gets his heinie handed to him.

Blood Work and Blood Crime

Blood Work and Blood Crime by Kim Harrison, 169 and 166 pages

I didn't find out until I started reading Blood Crime that this was part of a larger series and in fact I was reading the second book in this new graphic novel adaptation. Luckily I found out within the first 30 pages or so and was able to get Blood Work sent to me. I know not every book series has to be read in order but for this one is certainly helped.

Blood Work follows the life of a living vampire detective named Ivy Tamwood as she gets paired up with a witch named Rachel Morgan. But the partnership is not everything it seems to be and in fact might be part of a sinister plot

Blood Crime continues where Blood Work left off and further develops the partnership of Rachel and Ivy while they hunt down who is trying to kill them.

Both of these graphic novels are well written and illustrated. I enjoyed reading them and when I found out that they are a spin off for a much larger Hallows series I was thrilled. I fully expect I will be reading more of these and parts of the original series in the coming year.

The Revolutions

Revolutions by Felix Gilman
413 Pages

Arthur Shaw is caught up in a freak storm that hits London, causing tremendous damage. On the bright side it brings him into contact with Josephine who soon becomes his fiancee.  However the storm also causes the paper that Arthur works for to close permanently  leaving him desperate to find a way to make money and pay off his debts so the couple can marry.  Through Josephine, Arthur meets a man who offers him what seems to be an accounting job but soon becomes work that makes Arthur's fellow workers go mad.  The couple are quickly sucked into a magical battle between two competiting societies and when Josephine's conciousness is lost on Mars, Arthur must battle to save her. 

Part historical novel, part steampunk, the book begins strongly but get muddled and confusing in the middle.  2 stars out of 5.

California Bones

California Bones by Greg Van Eekhout
302 Pages

In this fictional universe, magic reigns in the state of California which is no longer part of the United States.  The magic used the most is osteomancy which gets power through the bones of ancient and extinct creatures. The Hierarch is an osteomancer and periodically he cleans house of other osteomancers who might be able to challenge his power.  Daniel Blackland is an outlaw osteomancer who was trained by his father who was killed in one of the Hierarch's purges.  Now Daniel is part of a group seeking to steal rare bones from the Hierarch's vault while avoiding capture.

A well-fleshed out plot and universe make this book a pleasure to read and leaves the door open for a sequel.  Part fantasy, part dark noir, part heist-story, the book has something for everyone with engaging characters and devious bad guys.

Severed Streets

The Severed Streets by Paul Cornell
401 Pages


This is the second book of a series where a investigative team who was exposed to the occult London continue to learn to use their new ability of second sight to investigate a series of murders that make it seem as if Jack the Ripper has come back from the grave and is killing rich white men. 

While the story is interesting, I think since I hadn't read the first book, I lost some of the character building of the investigative team.  As a result I found the group dynamics to be lacking in this book.  Perhaps if I had the back story it would have been a better read. 

Styxx

Styxx by Sherrilyn Kenyon  

837 pages

Having read Acheron, where I was first introduced to the character of Styxx, it was interesting to read his story.  Because they were twins, and the first half of the book, Acheron, focuses on his human life, as does the first part of Styxx, some of the story is the same, but since each is told from the perspective of the main character, the stories end up being very different, especially since the twins were separated when they were seven years old.  Although we find out about some of the abuse Acheron endured, we also get to see how much abuse Styxx also endured.  The story moves pretty quickly and is pretty typical of Kenyon’s style, lots of violence, some sex, and a little humor thrown in.  Based loosely on Greek, Egyptian, And Atlantean mythology, fans of her other books should like this addition.

Winter People

Winter People by Jennifer McMahon
317 Pages

When Sara Harrison Shea's daughter dies in 1908 she will do anything to bring her back, regardless of the the outcome.  She leaves behind a diary which supposedly tells of how to bring your loved one back.  Unfortunately it is incomplete.

Generations later the area is known for mysterious disappearances.  Nineteen-year-old Ruthie and her sister, Fawn live in Shea's old house and when their mother goes missing, they start to uncover a strange and terrifying mystery.

A well written thriller, you'll stay up all night to finish and find out what exactly is going on.