Reading in Reykjavík

Originally published in March 2005, on my original 52 Books blog. This is the third installation in the Anita Blake - Vampire Hunter series. Blake is an Animator whose job it is to raise zombies from the grave, along with other duties: the occasional execution of murderous rogue vampires and work as an adviser to the police in cases where her expertise is needed. In this case, the action starts when Blake is called out to a murder scene where a man has been attacked by a pack of vampires. Blake herself soon runs into them and has a narrow escape. She soon meets an ancient vampire who wants to return vampiredom to the old order: no integration, no citizenship, just a few clever and powerful vampires against humanity, with the weak and the stupid destroyed. She plays an important part once the battle for the city - between the “civilised” vamps and the “wild” vamps - begins. Her hate/desire relationship with master vampire Jean-Claude continues to intensify, and she meets a living man i...

Originally published in June 2004, on my original 52 Books blog. Original Spanish title: Las Piadosas Author: Federico Andahazi Translator: Albert Manguel Year published: 1998 (original), 2000 (translation) Genres: Fantasy, gothic horror Where got: Public library The story: In the wet summer of 1816, five people arrive at the Villa Diodati on the shores of Lake Leman: Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, Mary Godwin and her stepsister, Claire Clairmont, and John Polidori, Byron’s secretary. Upon arriving, Polidori finds a mysterious letter in his room, written by a monster who proposes a deal with him: something of his in exchange for literary fame. Polidori, who has suffered much humiliation at the hands of his employer, accepts the deal, but not before further humiliations and events that convince the others that he is going mad. Technique and plot: The translation is fluid and beautifully done and the book comes across as if it had been written in English. The style is remi...

Originally published in July 2004, in 2 parts Book 25 in my first 52 books challenge. I have edited this review slightly for the sake of clarity. I think it's fitting to post this now, since I am again taking an interest in paranormal literature. Author: Christopher Frayling (author & editor), et al. Year published: 1991 Pages: 429 Genre: Literary theory, literature Sub-genre(s): Vampire stories Where got: Public library I had considerable interest in vampire stories when I was studying English literature at university, and even wrote a final essay on Dracula for an interesting course I took on horror literature. I used this book as one of my sources, but never read it all the way through, only concentrating on the first part, which traces the history of vampires in literature. The contents of the book: The first part of the book is Frayling’s dissertation on the vampire in literature. Although vampire stories owe much to folk-tales they made the jump into l...

The new girl in town arrives and makes friends among the school outcasts: a geeky girl who has an unrequited crush on the nerdy guy who develops an embarrassing crush on the first girl. She antagonises some of the popular kids and meets an older man who assumes the role of her mentor, even if he can’t quite keep her wild impulses and independent spirit under control. Then strange things start happening, and she meets a mysterious, sexy guy who appears to be a few years older than she is but is in fact, much, much older than he looks. She is attracted to him but knows she shouldn’t be, because he is part of her job calling. Sound familiar? It should – I’m talking about Buffy, right? Wrong. I am in fact referring to Shadowland by Jenny Carroll (pseudonym of Meg Cabot, later re-published under that name) Year published: 2000 Genre: Urban fantasy, young adult Series and no.: The Mediator #1 Setting & time: California, USA, contemporary On her first day at her new school, psychic ...

I bought this book yesterday, started reading it once I got home, and didn't put it down until I had finished. Year published: 2010 Series and no.: Kyndred, #2 Genre: Urban fantasy, romance Setting & time: New York city, USA; 2000’s Shape-shifter Rowan Dietrich arrives in New York, almost as if drawn there. She’d had an unhappy childhood there, first with abusive foster parents and then as a street child, and really just wants to visit the graves of some old friends before heading onwards to Boston and the job that awaits her there. A motorbike accident throws her in the path of alluring and mysterious chef Jean-Marc Dansant, who (not entirely out of the kindness of his heart) gives her a job at his restaurant, lends her an apartment and arranges to have her neighbour, the sexy but hostile Sean Meriden, repair the bike for her. Rowan finds herself drawn to both men, but finds it hard to decide which one she wants more, and so the tension between then begins to mount. Meanwhi...

When the publishing date of this book was pushed forward, it left Lynn Viehl’s publisher unable to print and send out advance reading copies (known in the publishing industry simply as ARCs), Lynn decided to take matters into her own hands and offered the readers of her blog, Paperback Writer a chance to read the book by sending out e-ARCS, in exchange for reviews (the offer has now expired). This book will be in bookshops on October 6th. This is the first book in a spin-off series from the Darkyn books by Viehl, featuring some characters readers of that series will be familiar with. Year published: 2009 (coming in October) Genre: Urban fantasy Series: The Kyndred (#1) Setting & time: (mostly) Atlanta, Georgia; contemporary. For those who want to be totally surprised by this book: potential SPOILERS coming up. …. … .. . .. … …. The Story: Jessa Bellamy has a psychic talent that has helped her build a business that screens job applicants for companies, but someone has discover...

Year published: 2005 Genre: Supernatural mystery thriller Setting & time: The USA, Europe and Turkey, 15th to 21st century Warning: minor SPOILERS ahead The Story: The story is narrated by a historian who tells the story of a desperate hunt for Dracula. Mysterious books have been delivered to several people, mostly librarians and historians, that suggest that someone wants them to know that Dracula lives. But once they begin searching for clues as to his whereabouts, they are warned off (or are they? - I suspect they are being tested rather than warned) by a mysterious force that they suspect is Dracula himself. The hunt covers several centuries, through the research the searchers have to do to uncover the truth, but the main story begins in the 1930s and spans the middle decades of the 20th century and tells of three generations of historians who race against time to discover the secret location of Dracula's tomb and just what it is he wants with them. Technique and plot:...

Genre: Paranormal romance Year of publication: 2004 Setting & time: Toronto, Canada; present day Some themes: Love, jealousy, madness, sex Story: Rachel Garrett has been stuck on the night shift in the morgue for three years and thinks it sucks. A madman is stalking Etienne Argeneau and trying to kill him, 1) out of professional jealousy and, 2) because Etienne is a vampire and the stalker has watched too many episodes of Buffy . One night, after a nearly successful assassination, Etienne is brought to the morgue with a bullet in his heart and Rachel saves his life by pulling it out. The second time they meet is when he is again brought in, and this time the stalker has followed and when he tries to behead Etienne, Rachel gets in the way and is mortally wounded and Etienne turns her into a vampire to save her life. At first she is incredulous and thinks she must be comatose and dreaming, but then she begins to accept what has happened and she and Etienne enter into a sexual re...

Author: Mary Janice Davidson Year published: 2004 Pages: 255 First in a series. The Story: Elizabeth “Betsy” Taylor is a talkative, shallow shoe-addict with an attitude that comes her in good steed but also causes problems when she is struck by a car and rises two days later as a vampire (read the book to find out why). The discovery that her stepmother has stolen all her designer shoes and intended to bury her wearing a pink suit (a colour she hates) and cheap shoes initially upsets her more than being dead. Everything indicates that she is the new Queen of the vampires: she can enter churches, touch crosses and say “God” without any discomfort; instead of burning her, holy water only makes her sneeze; daylight just makes her sleepy; and dogs and people are attracted to her like iron filings to a magnet. Not to mention that men get horny just looking at her, something she has never experienced before. She soon discovers that there are two vampire clans in the city: Nostradamus’s c...