Robots and Vamps

From Tor, we received a copy of The Girls With Games of Blood by Alex Bledsoe.  Matt read Blood Groove, so I know he is looking forward to this one.

Dust Jacket Summary: Listen to what I tell you, son, every word is true

The sisters haunt the night, and might fight over you

Nothing can steal your soul and stamp it in the mud

Like being the new play-pretty for the girls with the games of blood . . .

The old song warns of the beautiful Bolade sisters, Patience and Prudence, whose undying rivalry was said to stretch even beyond the grave. But Count Rudolfo Vladimir Zginski has never heard the song. A suave Continental vampire, staked to death more than sixty years ago, he has risen to stalk the Southern nights of Memphis, Tennessee, circa 1975. Although new to the modern world, he has quickly developed a taste for its hot blood, willing women, and high-speed automobiles.

Yet the seventies are not without their perils, even for so cunning and ruthless a predator. Zginski’s insistent pursuit of a cherry 1973 Mach 1 Ford Mustang soon brings him into conflict with a legendary redneck sheriff with a short temper and a big baseball bat. His dangerous fascination with an enticing undead chanteuse and her equally seductive sister, threatens not only his own ageless existence, but that of the small group of modern-day vampires he has grudgingly taken under his wing. Zginski has already escaped limbo once, but can he free himself from the tangled web of the girls who play games of blood?

Alex Bledsoe, author of Blood Groove, returns to he world of the undead with a tale of fast cars and vengeance that never dies. . . .

About the Author:

I grew up in west Tennessee an hour north of Graceland and twenty minutes from Nutbush. I’ve been a reporter, editor, photographer and door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman. I now live in a Wisconsin town famous for trolls and mustard, write before six in the morning and try to teach my two sons to act like they’ve been to town before.

Author’s website: The World’s of Alex Bledsoe

It is time for the first annual RaV awards, where we run down our top 5 favorites for the year in several categories. The only criteria is that the book had to be read in 2009 but does not necessarily need to be published in 2009.

Limiting the  selection to only 5 books was really tough as there were so many great reads this year.  By my count I have read 87 books this year.  The biggest surprise to me was how strong the fantasy genre novels were compared to the Sci-Fi.  I usually love my Sci-Fi novels but there are no series out there right now that have me really excited.

I ranked novels on a pure enjoyment level.  How much did I did I enjoy reading the novel? How much did I get involved in the plot? And finally, did it leave a lasting impression?  Maybe not the most analytical but it is my list.

Honorable Mention:   Troublesome Minds (Star Trek) by Dave Galanter

Quotes from review: “Mr. Galanter does an excellent job in handling the classic characters, Captain Kirk, Spock and Dr. McCoy. His dialogue is spot on and you can hear their voices as you read the novel.” and “This is excellent addition to the Star Trek universe that harkens back to the glory days of the original series.”

This is easily one of the better tie-in type novels that I have read in a long time.  It does what any good Sci-Fi / Star Trek story must do, it causes the reader to think and entertain at the same time.  I am hoping to see more Dave Galanter Star Treks in the future.

5th Place: The Sword-Edged Blonde by Alex Bledsoe

Quotes from review: “it takes a pretty special book for me to become completely absorbed into and ignore the other novels. The Sword-Edged Blonde by Alex Bledsoe easily fits into this category.” and “this book is just plain fun from the beginning to the end.”

This was truly one the the surprise novels of the year for me.  I honestly expected a standard paint by the numbers noir type of mystery but set in a fantasy world.  But the second half of this story just absolutely grabbed me to the point I could not put it down.  The emotional roller coaster of past revelations of Eddie LaCrosse’s life and how it related to the current events really hit an emotional nerve that was hard to shake.  It is very rare for a novel to evoke this type of reaction from me but this one did it.

4th Place: Ice Song by Kirsten Imani Kasai

Quotes from the review: “this a truly incredible and totally unique novel. Books like Ms. Kasai’s are why I like having a book review blog as it gives me a chance to read novels that normally I would pass on.”, “The plot is kept tight and focused and more importantly moving forward.” and “Her imagination is astonishing but is balanced by well crafted plot that will have you thinking about this story for years to come.”

Ice Song is probably the most under rated novel of the year.  If the author would have been Ursula K. Le Guin instead of Kirsten Imani Kasai then it is my opinion this novel could have garnered awards and received much acclaim.  It is that good.  The story is a very usual and at times complex but Ms. Kasai an excellent job of detailing her strange universe.  As I noted in my review, the thing I liked most is that Ms. Kasai kept the plot moving forward.  There is a lot of travel in this novel but it does not bog the story down as it happens way too often in fantasy literature.  Ice Song is easily the most creative novel of the year and I sure hope that more people take a chance by reading it.

3rd Place: Steal Across the Sky by Nancy Kress

Quotes from the review: “Let me start off by saying that this is an absolute brilliant novel. To me, this novel harkens back to the great Sci-Fi books of the 1970′s…” and “This novel hooked me from the first page to the very last page. The dust jacket notes that it is a Sci-Fi Essential book and for once, they are correct. As a secret a wish, I hope that Ms. Kress is planning a sequel as it would be interesting to come back to this world several hundred years later and find out was the result.”

I love big-idea concept novels and Steal Across the Sky is easily the best one since Robert Charles Wilson’s Spin.  The plot hooks you from the beginning when the Atoners make a request for volunteers to uncover the great crime against humanity.  Ms. Kress reveals what the crime is and how it relates to the Atoners about half way through the novel.  The rest of the story is spent with the characters dealing with these revelations.  Nearly a perfect execution of a great story by Ms. Kress and the best Sci-Fi novel of 2009.

2nd Place: Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

Quotes from the review: “Warbreaker has easily vaulted to one of the top books that I have read this year and is in competition with The Warded Man as the best novel of the year.” and “The strength of this high concept fantasy novel is the characters, dialogue and the ingenious magic system. Mr. Sanderson is able balance all three and shows what a great author can accomplish when he is at the top of his game.”

This was a long novel, almost 600 pages in hardback form, but when I picked up this novel I was mesmerized from the first page all the way to end.  Mr. Sanderson explained on his website that  his goal was to introduce people to his work by releasing this as a free novel in hopes that they will be impressed and buy his other novels.  I think it worked out very well for Mr. Sanderson.  As of right now this a stand alone novel and I hope readers don’t bypass this novel for his Mistborn trilogy or his Wheel of Time concluding novels.  It deserves to be read because it is a solid story all the way through.  As I said in my review and I stand by it today, “This is the type of book that is just a pleasure to read and should be soon considered a hallmark in the fantasy genre.”  Plus the cover art is just flat out cool.

Matt’s RaVon winner for best novel of 2009: The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett

Quotes from the review: “I cannot even begin to put into words how much I loved this novel. It is a simple idea but complex in it’s tones. This is the type of book breathes air into the fantasy genre and puts the joy back into reading.”; “I can say with fair certainty that Mr. Brett will be hating life in the next few years with fans that will be constantly pestering him about when his next book in the series will be released.” and “The best damn novel ever written on a Smartphone”

I read this book back in March 2009 and it had many challengers as the year went on but there was not one novel that I enjoyed as much as The Warded Man.  This is truly a “all night novel.”  Meaning, you will be up all night reading at a furious pace to get to the end.  Mr. Brett is able to balance 3 characters through out the story and made each one equally interesting to the reader.  Each of the character’s story is poignant and fascinating to the point I would have enjoyed a separate novel about each one.  This novel has sat with me since I put it down in March and has become my Best Novel of 2009.

Reviewed by Matt

Disclosure: The reviewer received an ARC from the author.  Thanks.

Burn Me Deadly is the second book in the Eddie LaCrosse series by Alex Bledsoe. The first book, The Sword-Edge Blonde, was one of my biggest surprises this year and I eagerly anticipated the next in the series. The only real minor quibble I had with The Sword-Edge Blonde was that it started out a little slow before it picked up. But the last half of the book was an emotional roller coaster that just blew me away. This would be a tough act to follow for Burn Me Deadly.

Burn Me Deadly has no delay before the action starts and the reader is thrown right in the middle of it along with good ole’ Eddie LaCrosse. He is riding the horse that he acquired from the first novel through woods when he is surprised by a distraught female. He agrees to give her a ride back to town. She explains that she just escaped from several men who were torturing her and that she is on the run. When they reach the edge of the forest they are attacked and dragged back to a cabin in the woods. They are then tortured and left for dead in a ravine. When Eddie wakes up he finds that the girl is dead and so is his horse. This part kinda pissed me off as I really liked his horse from the first book. So now it is time for Eddie to get all Clint Eastwood and start mowing down the bad guys.

Eddie is nursed back to health and he burns to go after the people who did this to him. There is one problem though, the only information he has to go on is that girl’s name was Laura Lesperitt and one of his attackers had a dragon on his boots. He also soon discovers that a cult of Dragon Worshippers have moved into the local whorehouse. To make matters worse the cult is in league with the Gordon Marantz. Gordon is the defacto mob boss of the area and someone you don’t want to get on the wrong side of or likely you will end up dead. To make it even stranger,  the cult is expecting the return of a dragon but Eddie knows full and well that dragons are just a myth or are they?

As I said in the 100-page preview Mr. Bledsoe has struck gold with this series by effectively combining crime fiction with fantasy. But, Burn Me Deadly has more of a gritty western type movie flavor to it than The Sword-Edge Blonde did. Since I a big fan of westerns this made me like the story even more. I did not become as emotionally involved in the story like a I did with The Sword-Edge Blonde but Burn Me Deadly is more of complete story with a solid beginning, middle and end.

I hate to compare the Eddie LaCrosse novels to the Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files series but they have much in common. The most important item they share is a strong main character. Both authors take care in developing their protagonist and making them fully fleshed individuals that a reader can imagine existing in the real world. They also seem to love beating the crap out of them as they are usually a walking corpse by the end of the story. Most of all, Eddie LaCrosse and Harry Dresden always do the right thing in end even though it may cost them the things that they love the most.

The other strength of this novel is the atmosphere.  The western style border town that Eddie has taken up residence in is well visualized and the side characters are also a very important part to the story itself.  I love the setting Mr. Bledsoe has created in his world because it reminds of the type of town life that I used to watch every week on Deadwood.  Except that no one is going to get shot but there is a good chance you may get a knife in the back.

I am definitely sold on Alex Blodsoe’s Eddie LaCrosse series and cannot wait for the next novel to be published. Burn Me Deadly has all of the critical elements, good story telling, characters, great atmosphere etc. that any great novel should have but more importantly, it is a pleasure to a read. You will not be disappointed.

Author’s website: …from down in Lucky Town

About a month ago I came across a pleasant surprise when I read Alex Bledsoe’s The Sword-Edge Blonde. For me, books like this one do not come around very often. You have no expectations when you start reading but once you do then you are up at 3:00 AM because you totally lost track of time. Mr. Bledsoe successfully combined crime fiction and fantasy into a highly entertaining novel with The Sword-Edge Blonde. See my review here.

After seeing my review, Mr. Bledsoe sent me an email asking me if I would be interested in the next Eddie LaCrosse adventure, Burn Me Deadly. After doing a happy dance around the house I quickly and smoothly replied…sure, I would love to. So, Mr. Bledsoe graciously sent me the ARC. Thank you again.

After the reading the first 100 pages, it is my opinion that Alex Bledsoe has struck gold with this series. The minor quibble I had with the first novel was that it started out a little slow before it picked up. Not so with Burn Me Deadly. It starts with Eddie LaCrosse riding his special horse from the first novel through woods when he is surprised by a distraught female. He agrees to give her a ride back to town. She explains that she just escaped from several men who were torturing her and that she is on the run. When they reach the edge of the forest they are attacked and then dragged back to a cabin, tortured and left for dead in a ravine. When Eddie wakes up and nursed back to health, he burns to go after the people who did this. There is one problem though, the only information he has to go on is that girl’s name was Laura Lesperitt and one of his attackers had a dragon on his boots.

Wow, no wasted time before jumping into story this time around. So far it is excellent story and I am enjoying it immensely. Along with combining crime fiction with fantasy, Burn Me Deadly also has gritty western type movie flavor to it.  Ok, I do have quibble with the story so far, one of my favorite “characters” from the first novel is killed early on when they are thrown off a cliff and it kinda bummed me out.

Burn Me Deadly is due out on November 10, 2009. So there is plenty of time to pick up a copy of The Sword-Edge Blonde before it arrives in stores. I recommend both novels very highly. I will have a full review closer to the publishing date.

Reviewed by Matt

To my wife’s dismay, I have always been a person who is reading several books at once. She wonders how I can keep plot lines separate between novels. Sometimes it is easy, sometimes it is not. The reason I do this is that after so many pages of a certain book I need to take a break. So I switch to my other novel or two. So it takes a pretty special book for me to become completely absorbed into and ignore the other novels. The Sword-Edged Blonde by Alex Bledsoe easily fits into this category. After I bought the novel at the bookstore on a Friday I read a few pages and I was totally hooked. It sucked me in the same way as Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of Wind did. In fact, I would consider The Sword-Edged Blonde to be The Name of Wind lite. Both involve strong main character building while the story follows them through tragic events that occurred early their lives but have huge consequences to the current adventure. The Sword-Edged Blonde is only about half as long but the emotional attachment to the main character, Eddie LaCrosse, is just as strong.  Plus, this book is just plain fun from the beginning to the end.

Eddie LaCrosse is sword jockey whose office is located above a tavern in the small town of Neceda. When someone needs help with a problem they hire a sword jockey to investigate or solve their problem. The story begins with Eddie being hired to track down a daughter of minor royalty who has either been kidnapped or has voluntary fallen in with a band of border ruffians. This is like shootin’ ducks in the barrel for Eddie and he easily tracks down the girl but before that situation is able to resolve itself he is pulled away to a more urgent case.

It seems that King has made a request for Eddie’s special skills in solving a puzzling murder. Since the King is Eddie’s childhood friend and Eddie used to date his sister, this is a personal request. Making it even more personal is that the King’s sister was brutally murdered while on Eddie’s watch. Eddie has not been back to kingdom since the horrible tragedy and is regretting digging up the old memories.

At first blush the case is pretty open and shut. The Queen is accused of killing her infant son. The Queen was found locked inside the nursery, passed out with the remains of her child all over the floor. No one else remembers anybody going into the nursery that night. The King is steadfast that his wife is innocent but the facts are not in favor of the Queen. We also learn the Queen has a mysterious past. The King had found her laying naked on a patch of ground while out hunting one day. The Queen has no memory of what happened prior to the day she was found.

When Eddie is allowed to interview the Queen he discovers that she reminds him of someone from his past. The pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into place as to what really happened. The only problem is that Eddie’s thinks he knows what happened but the information is doled out slowly to the reader. At points, I thought I missed vital clues and had to re-read passages only to discover that wasn’t the case.

I only had a couple of minor quibbles with the novel. The first was use of real world measurements and terminology. For example, the characters are trying to track the Queen’s movements on the night of the murder.  They learn that it took the Queen from 10:00 to 10:30 to walk the nursery. The Queen was left alone in the nursery from 10:30 to 11:30. Using standard time was somewhat strange and kinda took me out of the story.

The other quibble is that the first half of the novel was somewhat slow and a little paint by the numbers. What I mean is that Eddie goes from point A to point B and uncovers a clue, then moves onto point C. But at about the half way point in the novel it moves very quickly and is as engaging as any novel I have read in long time. This is when we start to really explore Eddie’s past and how it relates to the case he is working on.

Alex Bledsoe is attempting to combine mystery noir and fantasy in his novel. At first this sounded a little hokey to me and was probably the main reason I held off reading it. This was my loss as the story is very powerful especially as the revelations continue to unfold until all is revealed at the end. Also, Mr. Bledsoe is able to move beyond the confines of the real world and interject fantasy elements into the story to keep the reader guessing.

This novel was a very delightful surprise and one I highly recommend. If Mr. Bledsoe can continue at this high level in the future volumes then this will become a cherished series for years to come.

Author’s website: …from down in Lucky Town

To discuss this book, please visit Robots and Vamps Book Club