Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Books | The Obsessive Bookseller

Title: Endgame

Author: Ann Aguirre

Series: Sirantha Jax #6

Genre: Science Fiction

Rating: 5/5 stars!

The Review: This particular book is the last of a six book series, and I am truly sad to see it end. I’m a fairly scattered reader, and often bounce around to other series before picking up sequels. Therefore, it is a true testament to how much I enjoyed this series that I actually read them all one after another.

Aguirre’s books have a fine balance of being both character and event driven, which I think really allows the reader feel involved in the story. Told in a unique writing style (first-person present tense), it made for a great deal of suspense and excitement. The only, and I mean only, complaint I have throughout all six books is that there were a few places in the first book that were a bit under-descriptive. That said, I didn’t have any problem with that moving forward; each book added an incredible momentum to the series and just kept getting better.

While the characters were dynamic and storyline was great, my favorite part of the series was the alien interactions. Particularly in “Doublebind” the third novel, we get immersed into a highly intelligent and fascinating alien race. This, along with other factors, made that book my favorite and solidified my love of the series as a whole.

Overall this series was fast-paced, well-written, clever, and totally absorbing! And different – I’ve never read anything quite like it.

Recommendations: Although the novels are set in space, they read more like urban fantasy than science fiction. Readers who dislike strong language an sexual content may want to skip this recommend.

Other books you might like:

“Stray” by Rachel Vincent (MA)
“Moon Called” by Patricia Briggs
“Survival” by Julie E. Czerneda
“Beholder’s Eye” by Julie E. Czerneda
“Dead Witch Walking” by Kim Harrison

by Niki Hawkes

Title: Blood Rights

Author: Kristin Painter

Series: House of Comarre #1

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Rating: 4/5 stars

The Overview: Born into a life of secrets and service, Chrysabelle’s body bears the telltale marks of a comarré — a special race of humans bred to feed vampire nobility. When her patron is murdered, she becomes the prime suspect, which sends her running into the mortal world…and into the arms of Malkolm, an outcast vampire cursed to kill every being from whom he drinks.

Now, Chrysabelle and Malkolm must work together to stop a plot to merge the mortal and supernatural worlds. If they fail, a chaos unlike anything anyone has ever seen will threaten to reign.

The Review:

I’ll admit that I initially picked this up solely because it had a cool cover. Much to my delight, I found it to be a highly original and fascinating read. What’s more, it’s clear from the few first chapters that Painter is an exceptionally talented writer. Her smart “no words wasted” writing style, along with the overall concept of the story were my favorite elements of this book.

This is a highly character-driven novel, and I admit I would’ve prefered to see a little more action. That said, the basic storyline was good, and some of the characters were fantastic: the main protagonist was well developed, and there were even a few minor characters that stole the show on occasion and really helped bring the story alive. Overall, it was an extremely interesting read, and I will definitely be picking up the second book.

Recommendations: Painter has published a novella called “Forbidden Blood” which expands on a story between two characters eluded to throughout “Blood Rights.” I thought it was a nice addition to the story, giving it an extra bit of depth.

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