Thirst No. 4 The Shadow of Death Review

Thirst No. 4 The Shadow of Death
by Christopher Pike
Genre: YA, Paranormal
Format: Owned Paperback
Midnight Minute: Sita/Alisa is back, with a new body and old enemies that she's determined to destroy.
From Goodreads:

 Alisa is a five-thousand-year-old vampire, stronger and more cunning than her adversaries. But now she's trapped in the body of a newborn vampire and at the mercy of a terrible thirst. Worst of all, she's facing enemies whose fierce desire for domination grows ever stronger.

The immortal race the Telar is threatening to release a virus to decimate humanity. But Alisa and her friends can't take down the Telar on their own, and they must turn to the mysterious organization the IIC for help. But the IIC has secrets of its own and may have ulterior motives.

With two rivals and no one to trust, Alisa must rely on her dark side to defeat them. But it could cost her life, or her soul...

Midnight Thoughts:

~ Sita has more lives that a damn cat- she will always come back.  If Pike ever truly decides to kill Sita off it's going to be like Elvis- lots of people will still believe she's out there somewhere.  And I'm sure lots of fanfiction would pop up with clever ways for Pike to bring her back, again.
~ Sita and her Scooby gang are up against a clock- they need to stop the Telar from releasing a devastating virus on the human race, but...
~ They also have to contend with the IIC and their deadly Array. Rock, meet hard place. 
~ Our last vampire, Sita, tries hard not to kill innocent people, but in a new body her thirst is overwhelming, and so she does some bad, bad things.  
~ Despite the fact that everyone that ever gets close to Sita dies, she's mellowed some and has an actual circle of friends.  Her friends are a source of both strength and weakness for Sita, because she will always be more vulnerable because of how strongly she cares for others.
~ I get that Matt is all upset over Teri, but I'll admit, I was hoping that he and Sita would hook up.  I'm shallow that way.
~ I admire how Christopher Pike never dumbs down his YA novels.  Mysticism, ESP, complicated weapons, ancient gods?  Pike brings it all, and introduces quite a few topics you just don't see in YA these days. 
~ The gang soon learns the Array isn't the weapon they must fear- it's The Cradle! Dun dun duuuun!
~ Uses for Vampire Blood #909: Decoding secret passages in journals.  Human blood does not work, I know this because like Sita, I added a few drops of my blood to a spray bottle and sprayed it on the pages of my Harry Potter books, in the hopes that J.K. Rowling had some secret message only for me.  But she doesn't. :(
~ In order to defeat the Telar, Sita wants to join up with the IIC, which quite frankly I thought she should have done in the last book (because then maybe she wouldn't have gone all cannibal like she did in Thirst No. 3). 
~ So, at some point Sita is dealing with the evil Telar, the corrupt IIC, and then she gets this freaky, creepy familiar.  Can this vamp ever catch a break?  She doesn't even take a day off to watch movies or veg around the house.  This makes me sad, what's the point of immortality if every day is full of People/Ancient Races/Aliens/Creepy Children you must kill in order to have a day off? Sita needs to start a vampire union...
~ At times, reading this book is like the scene out of Pulp Fiction when Uma Thurman's character overdoses and gets a shot of pure adrenaline to the heart- the action is intense.  Pike balances this with down time, but Sita goes through A LOT in this fourth book.
~ Sita is an interesting character, for all of her strengths she has a lot of weaknesses, she can be stubborn, she can be impulsive.  It would have been easy to make her a Mary Sue because of all her abilities, but Sita is still very much human at heart. 
~ There is a decision that Sita makes in the end that left me cold, and I kept hoping it would turn out not to have happened, but I understand her reasoning even if I can't support it. 
~ I feel that there were some loose ends involving the police detective and his doctor wife that Sita tangles with early in the book, but again, there's a lot going on in this book- I'm glad I took notes! 
~ I am not in love with the cover model for Sita, she looks nothing like her. Not that I'm knocking the model's looks, since the only chance I have of making a book cover is if they ever use my picture for one of those People of Walmart books... The male model is tasty though.

Timeless Characters:

SO MANY CHARACTERS- I wish I'd had this list, because it's been awhile since I read book 3!
Sita- the last vampire, has a target on her back.
Seymour- Sita's very human, very brilliant writer friend.  I wish he'd get his own book!
Teri- Sita's great-great-a thousand times great-granddaughter and Olympian, her role is pretty small in this book.
Matt- Teri's boyfriend, the object of my lust, and half-vampire, half-Telar hottie. 
Shanti- telepath and part of Sita's gang.
Lisa French- teacher who is on the edges of Sita's gang, but the one who originally informed Sita of the IIC.
Paula- mother of John and possibly a modern day version of the Virgin Mary.
John- possibly a reincarnation of Christ or Krishna, plays a lot of video games.
Cynthia Brutran- leader of the IIC and all around bad ass woman.
The IIC- a billionaire company that uses psychics to make money, gain power, and kill.  
The Telar- ancient, immortal race who want to destroy humanity because they don't see them as worthy to walk the earth.  
Umara- Matt's Telar mom, and wife of Sita's lost love, Yaksha.
The Source- the high ranking jackwagons who run the Telar.
Professor Sharp- the man who mentored Cynthia and the other founders of IIC before his technology was stolen by them. 
Freddy- hippie, and ex-boyfriend of Cynthia, used to be part of IIC before things got so heavy, man.
Mary- Freddy's amazing partner who's got some big secrets.
Jolie- psychic and psycho daughter of Cynthia.
Lark- leader of the children that make up the Lens of The Cradle- sociopath of the highest order. 
Haru- leader of the Telar- related to Umara.
Yaksha- yeah, he's been dead awhile, but his memory looms large in this book.

Midnight Moment:

I found several scenes in the book midnight-able.  I enjoyed Professor Sharp's explanation of how the IIC began and the ESP trials, I found it fascinating. Also, I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 100- what is it? 

When Sita comes back to life, she can't remember what happened to her in the afterlife, and I really enjoyed the chapter that dealt with what went down.  It was very Greek mythology-ish, and I loved it!

Stop The Clock:

Honestly, if you've already read the first 3 books, then you just need to keep going.  Sita is never boring! 


Christopher Pike— Website |Simon & Schuster's Page (his official site is still under construction)

Thirst No. 4 gets a Midnight Book Rating of: 

Challenges: A-Z challenge, Christopher Pike reading Challenge, TBR and Mt. TBR challenge. 

Possess Review

From Goodreads

Possess
by Gretchen McNeil
Genre: YA
Format: Kindle E-Book
Midnight Minute: A darkly humored YA novel meets The Exorcist.
From Goodreads:

 Rule #1: Do not show fear.
Rule #2: Do not show pity.
Rule #3: Do not engage.
Rule #4: Do not let your guard down.
Rule #5: They lie.

Fifteen-year-old Bridget Liu just wants to be left alone: by her mom, by the cute son of a local police sergeant, and by the eerie voices she can suddenly and inexplicably hear. Unfortunately for Bridget, it turns out the voices are demons – and Bridget has the rare ability to banish them back to whatever hell they came from.

Terrified to tell people about her new power, Bridget confides in a local priest who enlists her help in increasingly dangerous cases of demonic possession. But just as she is starting to come to terms with her new power, Bridget receives a startling message from one of the demons. Now Bridget must unlock the secret to the demons' plan before someone close to her winds up dead – or worse, the human vessel of a demon king.

Midnight Thoughts:

~When writing a book about the Catholic Church, exorcisms and the ability to speak to demons, you have to tread carefully between being offensive to Catholics and coming off as preachy on religion.  Somehow, with both humor and awesome characters, McNeil not only balances on that tightrope, she practically dances across it. 
~Bridget is friends with all boys and it's not a big deal.  The boys are all very different from each other, but Hector was by far my favorite, and here's why:

Hector avoided confrontation like it was a herpes flare-up.

Me too, Hector, me too.
~Matt is totally a teen age dream, and like his dad, he's a Good Guy.  Which I have to say is a wonderful change from the dark, tormented bad boys that plucky heroines usually banter with before completely giving up all their own kick ass qualities to angst over whether or not the bad boy loves them.
~Two gripes: one the dig that Bridget makes at Coldplay, but I will forgive it because there is both a reference to Buffy and Teen Beat in the book.
~Second gripe: Peter kind of goes off the tracks with his crazy behavior.  Bridget had a lot to deal with, true, but it was clear something was really wrong with her friend.
~One of these days, I wish the Hubs would take me on a date to a mental hospital (you know, without checking me in).  I know that Matt and Bridget's "date" might seem unconventional, but that's the magic of it.
~As funny as this book is, it's also creepy.  The cover alone freaked me out, so that's why I bought it for my Kindle.  I don't think I'd want that cover staring at me from my bookshelf...
~McNeil uses the word whackadoo to describe Father Santos.  I both love and have been called this name.
~Mrs. Pickleman's Tiny Princess Doll Shoppe- warning, it will give you nightmares! Also, almost 30% of the lines I highlighted on my Kindle come from the time spent inside the doll shop.  So yes, creepy, but also hilarious.
~This is a stand alone book.  I could totally take more of Bridget, but it's also nice to have a paranormal YA book that doesn't stretch out over 70 books.

Timeless Characters:

Bridget Lui- our snarky heroine.  Unlike a billion other YA heroines, Bridget is half Chinese-half Irish, all smart ass.  I loved her!
Monsignor  Renault- Bridget's  mentor in all things exorcism, only he calls it "banishment".
Father Santos- A warrior priest who (in my mind) looks like a young Philip Seymor Hoffman.  Kind of bumbling, yet suspicious at the same time.
Hector- Bridget's best friend, who is both overweight and homosexual.  He had a lot going on, would have liked to have seen more of him, because what I saw I loved.
Peter Kim- Also B's friends, only he's obsessed with her in a very unhealthy and obvious way.
Brad-  Another friend, he's a bit cooler than the rest of the group, and he's a jock.  Hector has major crush on him.
Matt Quinn- childhood friend, hottie and recent ex-boyfriend of  Mean Girl Alexa.  He wants to play white knight to Bridget's damsel in distress, but Bridget is pretty good at taking care of herself.
Alexa- she's a Mean Girl and is not happy when Matt starts hanging out with Bridget.
Sammy- Bridget's adorable little brother.

There's also some parents, a mental patient and a ghost cat, but you'll have to read the book yourself to find out.

Midnight Moment:

The best part was in the doll shop, surrounded by creepy, possessed dolls.  It's also where Bridget first gets an inkling of the bigger picture.

Stop The Clock:

Possess is a perfect October read!!  I may have only read two books so far by Gretchen McNeil, which may be because that is the number of books she has thus far published, but I am officially a fan for life.  The book is scary enough for those that love thrills, and humorous enough for those of you who don't like to be scared- just read with the lights on!

From the author's blog

Gretchen McNeil—  Blog |Seanchai

Possess gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

How has this not been made into a movie yet?!

 And don't forget that I'm co-hosting Bloggers Dressed in Blood all this month, stop by and participate and you could win a whole slew of creepy books and a Kindle Touch!  Check it out!

Witch World Review

Witch World 
by Christopher Pike
Expected Publication:
From Goodreads:

Witches are real—and each of us may be one—in this all-new paranormal suspense novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Christopher Pike.Heading off for a weekend in Las Vegas with her friends, Jessie Ralle has only one worry—how to make it through the road trip in the same car with her Ex, Jimmy Kelter. The guy who broke her heart five months ago when he dumped her for no reason. The guy who’s finally ready to tell her why he did it, because he wants her back.



But what Jessie doesn’t realize is that Jimmy is the least of her problems.

In Las Vegas she meets Russ, a mesmerizing stranger who shows her how to gamble, and who never seems to lose. Curious, Jessie wants to know his secret, and in response, alone in his hotel room, he teaches her a game that opens a door to another reality.

To Witch World.

Suddenly Jessie discovers that she’s stumbled into a world where some people can do the impossible, and others may not even be human. For a time she fears she’s lost her mind. Are there really witches? Is she one of them?

#1 Bestselling author Christopher Pike offers up another classic edge-of-your-seat thrill ride that keeps you guessing right until the last page.

Midnight Thoughts

"What if they torture me? You know, I just graduated high school, I'm not psychologically prepared to have my fingernails slowly ripped from my hands"
     ~Jessie, ARC edition.

~A new Christopher Pike book always feels like a birthday present!  Thank you, Mr. Pike. 

~I've mentioned this a few million times, but I really love Christopher Pike.  So much.  In a way that probably would be a problem for him if he wasn't such a recluse.

~Witch World starts like old school Pike, the main character has a semi-hopeless crush on her ex-boyfriend, her friends are funny and witty.  There's a road trip.  Then come the witches!

From Goodreads

~The witches aren't typical incense burning, spell muttering witches, and they aren't even that close to the witch in Christopher Pike's earlier book Witch.  Witch is just a name those with powers adopted.

~Pike is not afraid to bring up deep issues or complicated science in YA books- part of the reason I respect him so much.  However, because science was my absolute worst subject in school, I don't know if those who actually have science-y knowledge would have a problem with Pike's theories.  But it sounds sufficiently complicated to me. ;)

~Jessie is our main girl, ex-boyfriend Jimmie is the love interest.  Her best friends are Alex, Debbie and Ted.  Debbie and Ted get a bit lost in the book, which took some of the potential fun away.  I really thought Ted was going to have a larger role.  Maybe in the next book!

~Witch world is a parallel world to ours (or vice versa?) and the rules are intriguing, even if they're a bit confusing.  Except: Jessie is Jessica in Witch world, Russ is Russell, Jimmy is James, and so on.  Can you still exist in both worlds if you don't have a nickname? With all the changes P. Diddy has gone through, exactly how many freaking alternate worlds does he exist in?

~This book has some mature themes.  It explores the question of sacrificing the few to benefit the many.  Julius Caesar and President Eisenhower- are they heroes for the lives they saved, or barbarians for the lives they took?  And there's sex and teen pregnancy.  Obviously if you have lots of witch genes you don't just take your sex partner's word for it that they've got the birth control covered. 

~The book is a fast paced read, but there's a lot going on, so you are going to need your thinking cap.  Mine is purple with green paisleys on it.  What does yours look like?

~Favorite characters- Kendor and Al.  I would have no problem with the CW picking this series up and hiring a bunch of hotties to play them.  Although, this could probably fit in with HBO or Showtime, just amp up the sex and curse words.  {side note: does it sometimes feel like everyone on cable series are suffering from some form of Tourettes or is it just me?}

~I hate the names of the opposing forces in Witch world- Tar and Lapras.  Tar is the worst though.  I'm not admitting to being shallow enough to pick sides based on name alone, but Team Lapras does have nicer ring to it then Team Tar.  And the Tar are the good guys... I think...

~While I like the cover, the girls look like they have blonde hair.  Which bothers me, because Jessie has reddish hair. Yes, I realize that the cover is all red and black, but still, it just looks to much like Sita from the Last Vampire books.  Still, I dig the redness. 

~Kendor has some of the best quotes, but here is my favorite:

"You want heroes who only perform noble acts.  But the greatest heroes often make the most bitter decisions."

~If you enjoy The Last Vampire series then no doubt Jessie and gang with satisfy your Pike needs.  Although I will always prefer Pike's earlier books (Weekend, Chainletter, the Final Friends series), he still entertains the hell out of me. 

Witch World gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

**Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through Around the World ARC tours in exchange for my honest review.  All opinion, snark and wit are my own.  The book was, sadly, only mine for a week  before I passed it on to the next blogger.**

Carnival of Souls Review

Carnival of Souls 
by Melissa Marr
From Goodreads:

In a city of daimons, rigid class lines separate the powerful from the power-hungry. And at the heart of The City is the Carnival of Souls, where both murder and pleasure are offered up for sale. Once in a generation, the carnival hosts a deadly competition that allows every daimon a chance to join the ruling elite. Without the competition, Aya and Kaleb would both face bleak futures--if for different reasons. For each of them, fighting to the death is the only way to try to live.

All Mallory knows of The City is that her father--and every other witch there--fled it for a life in exile in the human world. Instead of a typical teenage life full of friends and maybe even a little romance, Mallory scans quiet streets for threats, hides herself away, and trains to be lethal. She knows it's only a matter of time until a daimon finds her and her father, so she readies herself for the inevitable. While Mallory possesses little knowledge of The City, every inhabitant of The City knows of her. There are plans for Mallory, and soon she, too, will be drawn into the decadence and danger that is the Carnival of Souls.

From Melissa Marr, bestselling author of the Wicked Lovely series and "Graveminder," comes a brand-new tale of lush secrets, dark love, and the struggle to forge one's own destiny.

Midnight Thoughts

~One of the main characters, Mallory, and her relationship with her father totally reminds me of the movie Léon: The Professional and Natalie Portman's relationship with Léon, the hitman, played by Jean Reno.  Which of course made me like her immediately.

From AllMovies.Com

 ~The book is bloody, and it's bloody early on.  It stays bloody.  I had no problem with that.

 ~Aya is kick ass.  Seriously, I had trouble thinking of her and Belias as older teens, because they are so much cooler than most YA characters.  While Mallory and Kaleb might be the characters the teen readers connect with the most, Aya and Belias could seriously have their own adult series.  I really think paranormal romance lovers would eat them up.  I know they'll be the reason I pounce on the next book in this series!

~Aya is stubborn.  I get why she keeps secrets, but since I immediately liked Belias, I had a hard time with what she did to him.  But it's not like I could have offered up a better solution, and it definitely makes Aya a controversial character.

~Here be Witches and Daimons.  I hated when demons is spelled with an "ai"  I can handle it spelled "Daemons", but when I see it as "Daimons" my brain wants to call them Day-mons.  Although, since Marr has created a demons that felt more like a were-creature, maybe that's the way I'm supposed to pronounce it?  Confused.

~I was really surprised by how much I liked this book, because I don't always dig the paranormal aspect of some YA books, and I did have some problems with it here.  It's explained several times, by several characters, about the fight between the witches and the daimons, and the resulting wild woods that grew, constantly threatening the city. 

~There was an aspect to the fights I just didn't get: Strong daimons are needed to fight the witches, so why have them kill each other all gladiator style?  I get that it was an incentive to the curs, their one chance to move up in status, and maybe men, especially daimon men, just need to fight.  I mean, I don't get why people want to be boxers either.  So it all could just be me.

~While I wasn't crazy about the mythology of the book, I really liked the characters and all the conflict.  Carnival of Souls has crazy action and the character's are given a real purpose and drive.  Basically I wouldn't care if they were giant Bunnies and talking Toadstools, because I was so intrigued by Aya, Belias, Mallory, Kaleb, Zevi, Marchoias, Adam and Evelyn.  I would totally invite them to my Halloween party.

SPOILERISH

~There is a marriage that takes place in the book without the bride present, so a proxy bride stands in her place.  Fairly old fashioned custom that I didn't have a problem with, but then the marriage is consummated in front of people.  Um, not particularly the stuff of YA, but this book is definitely geared towards the older YA set and adults who read YA, like me.  My big question though, did the actual bride lose her virginity by proxy?  Inquiring minds want to know!

~The relationship, "pact", that Kaleb and Zevi formed was... ambiguous?  I really thought it was sexual in nature for about half the book.  And I'm still not 100% sure, which is fine if confusing.  I look forward to learning a lot more about Zevi in the next book!

END Of SPOILERS

~Overall I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the book.  I will definitely be looking forward to reading other Melissa Marr books, and I'm really glad this got to be my first read by her!

Carnival of Souls gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

**Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book at BEA 2012, all opinion, snark and wit in this review are my own. **

Fathomless Review

Fathomless 
by Jackson Pearce

From Goodreads:

Celia Reynolds is the youngest in a set of triplets and the one with the least valuable power. Anne can see the future, and Jane can see the present, but all Celia can see is the past. And the past seems so insignificant -- until Celia meets Lo.

Lo doesn't know who she is. Or who she was. Once a human, she is now almost entirely a creature of the sea -- a nymph, an ocean girl, a mermaid -- all terms too pretty for the soulless monster she knows she's becoming. Lo clings to shreds of her former self, fighting to remember her past, even as she's tempted to embrace her dark immortality.

When a handsome boy named Jude falls off a pier and into the ocean, Celia and Lo work together to rescue him from the waves. The two form a friendship, but soon they find themselves competing for Jude's affection. Lo wants more than that, though. According to the ocean girls, there's only one way for Lo to earn back her humanity. She must persuade a mortal to love her . . . and steal his soul.

  

Midnight Thoughts: 

 

"Maybe it's true we're stronger together, but either way, I don't want to be weak if we're broken apart. "*

~Jackson Pearce is one of the few author's who could get be to read a "mermaid" book.  I don't know what I have against them (or angel and fairy books for that matter) though.  Hell, I wanted to be a mermaid when I was a kid.

~Disney's The Little Mermaid, with it's super happy ending, doesn't stay faithful to the Hans Christian Anderson tale that I remember.  Fathomless doesn't either, but there's a similar darkness that is found in old fairy tales.  And since I'm morbid, it appeals to me. ;)

~Main characters- Celia, the youngest of gifted triplets, Lo, a kind of mermaid, and Jude, the scruffy guitar playing boy that the Celia and Lo save from death by water.

~In the original Little Mermaid Tale, the mermaid saves the boy she loves and then another girl comes to his aide on the beach.  I always hated this other girl (in Disney's version she's actually the evil sea witch in disguise), but Fathomless taught me to feel sad for her.  The prince in the fairy tale only loves this girl because he thinks she's the one that saved him.  It's kind of bs, isn't it?  Love should be deeper, you know, based on looks and wealth too. ;)

~Celia has a gift, she can see a person's past when she touches them, her sisters, Jane and Anne, can see the present and the future.  Celia thinks her gift is useless when it fails to her her father, suffering from Alzheimer's, to remember his daughters.  Because I work with so many Alzheimer's patients, I couldn't help but thing how much Celia's gift would delight them.  So many of them love hearing about their past and talking about it.

~There's a moment in the book where Celia realizes that she's been blind to the fact that Jane and Anne's powers of sight must be unpleasant at times too.  I wanted to congratulate her for finally getting it!  It's so nice in YA for main characters to really grow and wise up. 

~Lo is not the mermaid's original name, it was Naida.  Which I am clueless as how to pronounce.  Like Nadia?  Na-i-da?  Nayda?  I don't know.  I am willing to learn this, but for the purpose of reading without straining the old brain too much, I thought of it as Nadia. 

~I loved trying to uncover how Lo and the other water girls ended up in the ocean, and who their "angel" really was.  My mind seized on the possibilities and just like that I had a hundred crazy theories, although maybe not as crazy as the author's version.

~I love that when Celia knows the 'Hey Jude' song by The Beatles, and how relieved Jude is too. 

"Oh good, I don't have to start hating you."  Let this be a lesson, Midnighters, know your Beatles songs!

 SPOILERISH

 ~I had one major problem with the plot.  I am not sure what wolves have to do with the ocean, but okay, what the frak ever.  And it's never really explained, which of course bothers me because this is not really a "sequel" book.  Fortunately, Pearce already had me well invested in the book, because I was all "WTF?"

~When Lo follows an old one to see where she goes, my heart was thumping with fear and anticipation.  It truly shocked me.

END of SPOILERS

~A thunderstorm popped up during the last 30 pages or so of this book whiles I was reading it on a screened-in porch.  It was perfect- matching the mood and the setting of the end of Fathomless.  It felt primal- like Lo and her sisters.  If you get the chance to read this during a storm- do so!

~This was a one day read.  I'm so glad I had the time to read it, because I was able to fully immerse myself into Celia and Lo's world.

Fathomless gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

The one part I had a problem with really kept this from being a perfect read, but ultimately it wasn't enough to ruin this book for me.

"-and the way she talks... It's disconcerting, like she is a very old person in a young body." *

* all quotes are from the ARC of Fathomless and subject to change upon final publication.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of Fathomless through the Around the World ARC Tours in exchange for my honest review.  All opinion, snark and wit are my own. 

Odd Interlude Review

Odd Interlude
by Dean Koontz
From Goodreads:

Nestled on a lonely stretch along the Pacific coast, quaint roadside outpost Harmony Corner offers everything a weary traveler needs—a cozy diner, a handy service station, a cluster of motel rooms . . . and the Harmony family homestead presiding over it all. But when Odd Thomas and company stop to spend the night, they discover that there’s more to this secluded haven than meets the eye—and that between life and death, there is something more frightening than either.

My Thoughts:  Odd Interlude is a novella in three parts that includes more ties to the Moonlight Bay books. As I may have mentioned, possibly in every blog post I've ever written, I love Odd Thomas.  I also possibly have a crush on David Aaron Baker, who narrates the Odd Thomas books, and soon I will no doubt be obsessing over Anton Yelchin, who will be playing Odd in the upcoming movie.

From IMDb: Anton Yelchin (aka Odd)

 
Odd has become a slight obsession of mine, or may in fact be a full fledged obsession, I'll let you be the judge of that.  And yes, I am aware that some of you reading this are the same bloggers that I begged at BEA to help me get my grubby fan-girl hands on a copy of Odd Apocalypse. My crazy worked though, Kim helped me accost a Power Reader to get a copy.

So even though I got a copy of the ARC for Odd Apocalypse, I couldn't read it right away. No doubt you think I'm insane, but in my defense I wanted to read the novella Odd Interlude that was releasing in 3 parts over the last month or so.  I may have loosened up some in regards to reading series out of order, but I couldn't do that to my Odd one.

In Odd Interlude, Odd and Annamarie are still fleeing frome the events of Magic Beach, so the story picks up immediately after Odd Hours.  Odd and his strange abilities are drawn to Harmony Corner- a family owned motor-court and restaurant.  Things in Harmony Corner are not very harmonious though.  There aren't any ghosts or bodachs here, but there is some crazy evil that Odd must battle with, which he does in true Odd fashion.  He's still a reluctant hero, but as always he is compelled to help those in need.

We also meet twelve year old Jolie, who is a typical preternaturally smart Koontz kid.  Unlike the other Odd books, some of the chapters in the novella are told from Jolie's POV, which I loved.  I think Jolie and I are going to start the Odd Thomas fan club.  She sees Odd through the same rose-colored glasses that I do.

Odd Interlude has plenty of action and mayhem- mutant creatures, super computers, families held hostage, secrets, car jacking and other hijinks are perpetuated on and by Odd.  Fortunately Annamarie plays a small role in the story, because her mysteriousness has begun to wear thin on me.  I don't remember disliking her in Odd Hours, but she was definitely annoying me with her Yoda like answers in this novella.  She'd better start giving some answers in Odd Apocalypse!  She's like and enigma wrapped up in a pregnant riddle.  I do like her dog though, so that's something, right?

So is Odd Interlude worth it?  For Odd fans it's a must!  I don't think you have to read it before Odd Apocalypse, but it's just another chance to be looped in with the Odd one. ;)

Odd Interlude gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

The Spindlers Review

Image from Goodreads

The Spindlers
by Lauren Oliver
Expected Publication: 10.01.12
From Goodreads:

Looking across the breakfast table one morning, twelve-year-old Liza feels dread wash over her. Although her younger brother, Patrick, appears the same, Liza knows that he is actually quite different. She is certain that the spindlers-evil, spiderlike beings-came during the night and stole his soul. And Liza is also certain that she is the only one who can rescue him.

Armed with little more than her wits and a huge talking rat for a guide, Liza descends into the dark and ominous underground to save Patrick's soul. Her quest is far from easy, and the road to the spindlers' nests is riddled with danger. She must brave tree snakes, the Court of Stones, and shape-shifting serpents before facing her greatest challenge in the spindlers' lair, where more than just Patrick's soul is at stake.

My Midnight Musings:  As much as I love Oliver's YA novels, The Spindlers, along with her previous middle grade book Liesl & Po, have cemented my love for her writing.  The Spindlers is a wonderful mix of Alice in Wonderland, Labyrinth, and Oliver's wonderful imagination and originality. 

Liza, as a main character, is relateable to all readers, no matter their age. Her parents aren't the normal cardboard cut outs, although Liza's adventures underground are done without their knowledge it isn't because her parents are bumbling idiots.  Like many parents today they are struggling to pay bills, and so it's a bit easier to understand that they don't see that their son's soul has been stolen by evil spider like creatures.

A word about the spindlers, and that word is shudder.  The idea of spiders that grow in all kinds of sizes, have human hands at the end of their legs and can steal our souls, planting their little spindler babies in our soulless husks until they hatch out and destroy us is disturbing and nightmarish to say the least.  Honestly, Ron Weasley would be crapping himself is he had to deal with Liza's foes.  Prepare to be freaked out by insects for quite awhile after reading this book!

Despite the fear of the spindlers, Liza is determined to save her brother's soul.  She teams up with Mirabella the rat, who dresses and paints herself up like a cross between a very special Project Runway losing outfit, constructed out of items salvaged from a dumpster, and a drag queen caught in a torrential downpour. Mirabella is Liza's guide and companion as they encounter cute,but sensitive glow worm like creatures, a bizarre market where you can buy all manner of things with pretty colored paper, and through a court case that's both terrifying and ridiculous, until finally Liza must confront the evil Spindlers.

My favorite parts of the books was Liza herself.  She is already a strong character at the beginning, but she really grows up and embraces the strangeness she encounters.  And as a fan of the weird, I appreciate that.    Plus I absolutely love the way Oliver has explained where dreams come from, but I'll let you discover that for yourselves.

There isn't anything groundbreaking in this book, the plot is a tad predictible but I was still anxious for Liza and enchanted (and terrified) of the world.  I think it would make a wonderful addition to any library, and perfect for the next 24 Hour Readathon in October (see, the publication date coincides nicely, take it as a sign!). 

The Spindlers gets a Midnight Book Rating of:

The cover gets a Midnight Book Cover Rating of:

Like so many other of us book bloggers, my head is easily turned by a pretty book cover, and this one is perfect.  My only complaint is that the spiders on the cover are clearly not spindlers, since they do not have human hands, but that it probably for the best as the image is truly disturbing.

**I received a copy of this ARC at BEA.  All thoughts, opinion and snark are my own.**