Book Reviews
Once Bitten, Twice Shy (Jaz Parks, Book 1) by Jennifer Rardin
Since it was suggested on the ‘Community and how YOU can pitch in’ post I’m offering this book review of the first Jaz Parks Book. It’s not based in SEA but since but since I just finished it and I’m a SEA fan well…
The heroine of the novel is Jaz (short for Jasmine) Parks, a vampire slayer in a world where the existence of vampires is an open secret to the government and intelligence community. Jaz has gone from being the leader of a vampire slaying crew to a covert intelligence agent (read spy) with her vampire partner Vayl. The plot centers around their attempts to track down a terrorist plot and deal with Jaz’s panic attacks from past trauma.
The good things about this novel include a sense of humor, the refreshing lack of sex (if not sexual tension), and a heroine who isn’t perfect. The bad things are an over crowded plot, villains who don’t seem to have read the ‘Evil Overlord List’, heroes who don’t want to poach each others antagonists (“I won’t kill you! You’re the [betrayer/ex-wife/target of revenge] of [insert other hero’s name here]!”), and the complete and utter inability to write a fight scene.
All in all, I wouldn’t recommend this book unless you’re a die hard vampire novel fan - 2/5.
Mind the Gap: A Novel of the Hidden Cities by Christopher Golden & Tim Lebbon
You never know when you'll find yourself falling through one of the cracks in the world...
Jasmine Towne had always thought her mother was paranoid. However, when she comes home from school one day to find her mother dead and the house filled with mysterious men who she has always known as ‘Uncles’, she isn’t so sure any more.
Although her mother had previously accepted money from these ‘Uncles’, she had always made sure that Jasmine knew to distrust them. Now, afraid and on the run, Jasmine escapes into the forgotten tunnels of London's underground network, seeking refuge and the reasons these men are chasing her.
I found this novel interesting if not particularly ground breaking. Much of the plot is taken up with the minutiae of daily life and Jasmine’s struggle to survive, but the conclusion arrives with great rapidity once it begins to coalesce. Atmospherically, it certainly owes somewhat to Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere (a much better book in my opinion) but the characters inhabiting it are much younger and less mature, decreasing the scope of the novel.
A solid piece of work, I suspect this was meant more for the young adult market - 3/5.