REVIEW: CONTROL

Cover by Larry Rostant

CONTROL

SHIFTER SERIES BOOK 2

BY

KIM CURRAN

ISBN: 978-1-90884-415-6

Pages: 350

Publisher: Strange Chemistry

Published: 1 August 2013 (UK)/6 August 2013 (US/Can./e-book)

On the cover:

(From the publisher's website)

Scott Tyler is not like other teenagers. With a single thought he can alter reality around him. And he can stop anyone else from doing the same.

That’s why he’s so important to ARES, the secret government agency that regulates other kids like him: Shifters.

They’ve sent him on a mission. To track down the enigmatic Frank Anderson. An ex-Shifter who runs a project for unusual kids – as if the ability to change your every decision wasn’t unusual enough. But Anderson and the kids have a dark secret. One that Scott is determined to discover.

As his obsession with discovering the truth takes him further away from anyone he cares about, his grip on reality starts to weaken. Scott realises if he can’t control his choices, they’ll control him.

    Last time we saw Scott Tyler come to grips with his new-found power, this time we go a bit deeper into that power and what it can do. I wouldn't consider this a "true sequel" in the sense that you have to read Shift, the first book, before you read this, but you will be missing out on quite a lot if you don't.
   The setting hasn't changed, although it may have Shifted, Scott still has the same job and works together with Aubrey Jones. Some time has passed since we last saw them, so there has been things happening both on a personal and professional level for our protagonists.

   It doesn't take long to realise that the stakes are higher in Control than they were in Shift. This novel is definitely "bigger" in that sense. What I liked about how the stakes are getting higher is how Curran has made this natural. Sometimes you can spot the same sort of sequel trick Hollywood uses, just turn the dial up a notch - make the explosions bigger, I never felt that this was the case here. When things "go bigger" here they do it because that is just how things happen to turn out, it's just natural.
   There's a very good connection to what happened last time here. ARES is the hub of events, and that means we'll see the characters connected to that organization again. We also get a return of others. I'll refrain from going near any details on who, I will say it's done very nicely and that it doesn't fell like it's cheating.

   The pacing of the novel is very good, it moves along quickly but doesn't feel rushed at all. Curran is very good at combining development that gives depth with events that gives movement in the story. And it really does move.
   As a reader you just have time to settle in when things really start happening. Once it does it doesn't really let up. Pages turn fast as you get into what is going on, and Curran's excellent storytelling ability means you really get invested in finding out what happens next. Something that creates quite a lot of suspense.

    Perhaps the greatest strength of the book is that even when you have a mystery that would not exist without the supernatural ability that Shifting is, it doesn't feel like it is constructed to highlight that ability. Curran makes the mystery and the Shifting work together to create high levels of suspense. That a Shift can turn the world "upside down" means that it is hard to see where things are going beforehand. And that creates an extra layer of tension that makes it very tempting to just keep reading, because you are going to want to find out what is going on. Curran creates a really exciting ride that keeps you gripped in for the whole novel.

   I've really become invested in this world. I do care about what happens to Scott Tyler and Aubrey Jones. They are interesting people to follow.They are also surrounded by other characters that hold their own. I find that the whole of Curran's cast heightens the whole of the novel. There really isn't anyone here that suffer from being too stereotyped. And, thankfully, the teenagers in the cast manages to come off as realistic while remaining unannoying.

   All in all this is a really good Science Fiction novel. It keeps the Action Thriller vibe of Shift while adding to the Alternate History aspect created by the Shifts. It's perhaps bordering a bit on Parallel Universe Science Fiction, but that is a feature, not a bug. Straddling so many aspects of Science Fiction should certainly give it wide appeal.
   And this deserves a wide appeal. It's a really entertaining novel that has a lot of depth under the surface. The story is fast-paced and entertaining with satisfyingly high levels of suspense.
   Combined with great writing by Curran that makes for a novel I have no hesitation in recommending. And the Young Adult label should be no means frighten anyone away.

NOTE: I got an e-ARC of this book from the publisher/NetGalley.

REVIEW: Shift

LINKS: Kim Curran  Strange Chemistry

REVIEW: EMILIE & THE HOLLOW WORLD

Cover by Amazing 15

EMILIE & THE HOLLOW WORLD

BY

MARTHA WELLS

ISBN: 978-1-90884-448-4

Pages: 301

Publisher: Strange Chemistry

Published: 2 April 2013

On the cover:

(From the publisher's website.)

While running away from home for reasons that are eminently defensible, Emilie’s plans to stow away on the steamship Merry Bell and reach her cousin in the big city go awry, landing her on the wrong ship and at the beginning of a fantastic adventure.

Taken under the protection of Lady Marlende, Emilie learns that the crew hopes to use the aether currents and an experimental engine, and with the assistance of Lord Engal, journey to the interior of the planet in search of Marlende’s missing father.

With the ship damaged on arrival, they attempt to traverse the strange lands on their quest. But when evidence points to sabotage and they encounter the treacherous Lord Ivers, along with the strange race of the sea-lands, Emilie has to make some challenging decisions and take daring action if they are ever to reach the surface world again.

   So, I'll just get the obvious out of the way first. A novel set in the interior of the Earth will inevitably invoke comparisons with Jules Verne's Journey to the Centre of the Earth. Having read Verne's book I can sum up what they have in common pretty fast: They are both set in the interior of the Earth. That's it really, Although I must admit that loving Journey to the Centre of the Earth when I read it made me want to read this book, they are two totally different stories. -Not that invoking Verne is totally misplaced, this story is part of the same Adventure* tradition that most of Verne's work falls into. But enough about Verne, let's move on to Wells -Martha, not H.G.

   Wells wastes no time in getting the story started. The first chapter is packed with action, and before you know it you have been pulled into the story and is invested in finding out what is going to happen. That you are thrown straight into the action is not a problem at all. We join the story at the same that Emilie does, and find out what is really happening along with her, this is very well done. Information is delivered in a non-intrusive manner and doesn't interrupt the flow of the story.

   The flow of the story is certainly an important element,  and it is a very fast flowing story. From the opening chapter until the penultimate chapter there is hardly any part where the story doesn't have something happening. There are quite a few passages with talking, but they are almost drowned out by all that is happening. This is by no means a bad thing, this is true Action-Adventure in the sense that there is always action and/or adventure waiting just around the corner.

   The journey undertaken by the cast in this novel is in some ways a familiar one, but Wells has made it a very interesting one. And I can't honestly say that I felt that there was any lack of suspense at what was going to happen next. 

   The structure of the story lends itself very well to creating suspense. And there is absolutely no doubt that Wells is very accomplished at putting the reader (, me at least,) in the position of *having* to read "just a little bit more" to find out what is happening next, something which makes this book a quick read. There are several cliffhanger-type events in this story, and the way Wells has gotten the reader invested finding out the resolution to them isn't really something you feel like putting off. So my advice is to set aside the time to read this until the end when you begin.

   Sometimes the characters can drown when there is this much happening in a relatively short novel, but Wells avoids that. We do get to learn quite a lot about the characters as we follow their, figurative and literal, journey through the Hollow Earth, and we get quite close to Emilie.

   Emilie is really an interesting character in her own right. What we learn about her in the course of the story would make her an interesting person to follow in any setting. I especially like how she is resourceful and quick thinking, but without being "superhuman" or too sure of herself. She feels well rounded and realistic, not far off from someone you may meet in real life, and someone who's well worth spending some reading time on.

   There is also some very good supporting characters in this story. Anyone who has more than a walk on role is presented in such a way that we get some insight into what makes them tick. And in all honesty, a couple of them would not be out of place as the main characters in their own stories.

   For me this was really an enjoyable read. I like this type of Adventure, and there is an added Steampunk(y) element that makes it even better. There's really lots of action and suspense here, and combined with characters that are interesting to spend time with, it makes for a very good reading experience.

   This will be an especially great read for anyone who likes "Hidden World" fiction, and it will be a great read for anyone who longs for some action and adventure in their stories. 

NOTE: I got an e-ARC of this book from the publisher/NetGalley.

LINKS: Martha Wells  Strange Chemistry

_____

*I wrote something on what I define as Adventure here (, and that was a long time ago - that post could probably do with a rewrite).

REVIEW: KATYA'S WORLD

 Cover art by Lee Gibbons

KATYA'S WORLD

THE FIRST BOOK OF THE RUSSALKA CHRONICLES

BY

JONATHAN L. HOWARD

ISBN: 978-1-90884-412-5

Pages: 352

Publisher: Strange Chemistry

First published: 6 November 2012

This edition published: 8 November 2012

On the cover:

The distant and unloved colony world of Russalka has no land, only the raging sea. No clear skies, only the endless storm clouds. Beneath the waves, the people live in pressurised environments and take what they need from the boundless ocean. It is a hard life, but it is theirs and they fought a war against Earth to protect it. But wars leave wounds that never quite heal, and secrets that never quite lie silent.

Katya Kuriakova doesn’t care much about ancient history like that, though. She is making her first submarine voyage as crew; the first nice, simple journey of what she expects to be a nice, simple career.

There is nothing nice and simple about the deep black waters of Russalka, however; soon she will encounter pirates and war criminals, see death and tragedy at first hand, and realise that her world’s future lies on the narrowest of knife edges. For in the crushing depths lies a sleeping monster, an abomination of unknown origin, and when it wakes, it will seek out and kill every single person on the planet.

   Howard's world is an interesting one, not because it is a water planet, but because of how society works there. Much of the worldbuilding is done in the prologue, which is essentially a brief history of the planet of Russalka. I really like that approach to avoiding infodumps. It sets up the scene without slowing down the story, and it cuts down on the need for clunky conversations that exist only to impart information in the story. (I wish more writers of SFF would use this approach.)
   Science Fiction worlds that have been colonised but are not fully developed will unavoidably have at least a shade of the American "Old West" feel to them, but here that is absolutely minuscule. Society here is built not on the usual US/Western, or world government that we so often see in Science Fiction, but instead on Russia. This, along with a non-uniform range of settlements and sub-societies, makes the world Howard has created feel far fresher and more original than a quick glance will make it seem.

   This being a Young Adult novel, the heroine is of course a teenager. And Katya being a teenager is in some ways essential to the plot here, the novel would read very differently if she was an adult, and I don't think it would work as well as it does. Katya's portrayal is not in any way unrealistic, considering how she is described as growing up she acts in a way that feels very natural. She doesn't suffer from the "stupid when it serves the story, but super-intelligent when it's called for" disease that many teenage (, and adult for that matter,) characters suffer from. Instead she comes of as a well rounded person that in many ways is not very different from the people you meet in real life.
   The supporting characters in the novel are also well portrayed. They are fully formed human beings, all of them with their own agendas and histories, there's no cardboard cut-outs whose sole purpose is to fill out the scenery.

   The story doesn't waste time, already in the first chapter there's things happening that are not part of the daily routine for the characters involved, and soon after that it becomes very clear that we are in for quite an adventure.
    Once things start to happen they don't take much of a break before you reach the end of the story. There's plenty of action and a lot of suspense throughout, and Howard handles both of those elements very well. Plenty of tension is created by not really having a clue of where the story is headed, although I must admit there were a couple of minor incidents that were a bit predictable. But overall this isn't the sort of novel where all the tension comes from how things are going to happen, the story gives little away and it's not really clear where the story is headed. There's plenty of twists and turns making for a really good read.

   To sum up, this is a great Science Fiction story. It belongs to the Space Opera side of the Science Fiction genre but it doesn't have many implausible elements, making it a good read for anyone who enjoys Science Fiction -whatever their age is.
   Anyone who's come into SFF from Harry Potter and/or The Lord of the Rings shouldn't hesitate to pick this up to discover more of what the Science Fiction side of SFF has to offer.
   For me this was a thoroughly enjoyable read, and I look forward to getting my hands on future installments of Katya's story.

LINKS: Jonathan L. Howard  Strange Chemistry

REVIEW: POLTERGEEKS

Art by Paul Young

POLTERGEEKS

BY

SEAN CUMMINGS

ISBN: 978-1-908844-09-5
Pages:  320

Publisher: Strange Chemistry

First published: 2 October 2012

This edition published: 4 October 2012

On the cover:

(Taken from the Strange Chemistry website)

15-year-old Julie Richardson is about to learn that being the daughter of a witch isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. When she and her best friend, Marcus, witness an elderly lady jettisoned out the front door of her home, it’s pretty obvious to Julie there’s a supernatural connection.

In fact, there’s a whisper of menace behind increasing levels of poltergeist activity all over town. After a large-scale paranormal assault on Julie’s high school, her mother falls victim to the spell Endless Night. Now it’s a race against time to find out who is responsible or Julie won’t just lose her mother’s soul, she’ll lose her mother’s life.

   I was planning to review this book on release, but then I went into my unplanned blogging hiatus. And when it comes to reviewing this book, I'm glad that happened. It gave me time to get a better perspective on the book. You see, I didn't really connect with it. And when I first planned to review it I blamed that solely on the book. Now that I can look at it from a distance of a few months, I've realized that it was actually mostly down to me, and I am capable of giving a much more objective review.

   Lets begin with what I didn't like, or more correctly what made me not connect with the book. There's a romantic angle to the story that is given quite a lot of space. I'm not generally a fan of romance in SFF, and the way it was done here was not to my taste at all. Not because it was badly done, it isn't. Cummings has captured pretty much dead on the awkwardness of teenage/first love. And that was why I had such a problem with it. You see, I'm rapidly approaching forty and am done with that a long time ago. In fact I've turned into quite the cynical bastard when it comes to awkward love, and teenage style drama. (I could go into details here, but this is a book review, not my autobiography.) That it is captured pretty much exactly as it actually is, when seen in retrospect, made it uninteresting to me.

   This problem was magnified for me by the feeling I got that the "love angle" took away from the main story. The "drama" did slow down the other parts of the story, and that was annoying for me considering how I felt about it in the first place.

   But as I said above, this was my personal feeling about something I didn't connect with. Something I perhaps, as someone about twenty years older than the main target audience for the book, wasn't really the right person to connect with anyway. So I'll say again, that this part of the story was both well done, and realistic. So if it is something you like, it will definitively be something that should make you pick up the book.

   The book literally gets off to a flying start. The reader is thrown right into the middle of things without any form of setup at all. This can be a bit jolting, but it works very well in pulling you in and hooking you into the novel. There's an instant "need" to see where this is heading.

   Cummings writes very good action sequences, and the book is at its best when there's paranormal events going on. As you can gather from the title, this events are poltergeistly (, surely that is a word,) in nature for the most part. But we do get to see the main character, Julie Richardson, engage in a more direct confrontation in the later stages of the novel. This is also very well handled, and Cummings manages to convey a lot of tension when he writes the action.

   Being a book with a witch as the main character there's of course some magic in the novel. This is well handled, and has a solid foundation in real magic. But having said that, and having read quite a bit about magic myself, I did feel that it could have been a bit more focus on the hows and whys of magic in this story. There's a slight tendency to it being taken as granted. Or perhaps a better way of saying it, is that I felt like Cummings did take for granted that the reader was familiar with the basics of magic. To me this made the magic in the book a bit bland, it doesn't really have something that sets it apart from other books that contain Wicca style magic.

   That being said, there are some really interesting ideas about magic, especially when it comes directly to Julie, in this book. I expect that to be explored in a follow up volume.

   All in all, this very much has the feeling of a first volume. An introduction, or a set up, for a character. And it does that job very well, you come away with the feeling that this is  a setting, and a set of characters, that you would want to return to at a later date.

   I've mentioned the romantic angle of the book extensively. But despite my problems with that, I think this is a good book. It is worthy of a read, and there's enough in there to keep even the non-romantic interested.

   For those that are interested in witches working in modern times, I would say that this is an essential read. And the above mentioned romance should be perfect for those that like that.

   I know I will be returning to a follow up to this book, and I'm looking forward to see what happens next with Julie. (Hopefully she gets laid before the next book so there's not so much frustrating romance.)

NOTE: And ARC of this book was given to me by the publisher.

Links: Sean Cummings  Strange Chemistry

REVIEW: THE ASSASSIN'S CURSE

Cover by Sarah Coleman

THE ASSASSIN'S CURSE

BY

CASSANDRA ROSE CLARKE

ISBN: 978-1-908844-00-2

Pages: 320

Publisher: Strange Chemistry

Published: US/Can/E-book 2 October 2012, UK 4 October 2012

On the cover:

Ananna of the Tanarau abandons ship when her parents try to marry her off to another pirate clan. But that only prompts the scorned clan to send an assassin after her. And when Ananna faces him down one night, armed with magic she doesn’t really know how to use, she accidentally activates a curse binding them together

To break the curse, Ananna and the assassin must complete three impossible tasks—all while grappling with evil wizards, floating islands, haughty manticores, runaway nobility, strange magic...and the growing romantic tension between them.

   This is a novel that have much in common with Fairy Tales, and its setting is very much reminiscent of A Thousand and One Nights. There's also elements here that are reminiscent of traditional Epic Fantasy. After a beginning that is bound to a single city we are taken on a quest, and this quest blends Epic Fantasy with Fairy Tale in a seamless manner.

   Clarke is very good at getting the Fairy Tale feel of the novel across. It's established early and never lets go as the novel progresses. But these elements don't constrain the novel, and it becomes apparent as the story progresses that it is not a simple Fairy tale re-telling. Instead it is a Fantasy novel that soon takes you on a journey through an interesting landscape.
   I'm always a bit skeptical of the "quest format" of Fantasy, but I needn't have had any worries here. Clarke makes the journey a very interesting one, and the change in scenery as the story progresses makes it a very interesting journey of discovery. From the desert setting of the beginning we are taken to different landscapes that become a great backdrop to this tale.

   Although the story does follow a similar path to other Fantasy novels out there, there is more than enough here that sets it apart, it never feels like it's just following a formula. Clarke's main strength when it comes to the story is making the events that happen along the way unpredictable. Even when you get a sense of where the story is going she manages to get there in ways that were unexpected.
   While the larger through line of the story is interesting enough, there are also many small events here that are really interesting and add to the story a great deal. Clarke is very good at adding great deal of exposition and worldbuilding without bogging the story down. There's lots of little details here that makes the atmosphere of the world in the novel come alive, and that is a world where it is well worth spending some time.

   There's a great deal of magic in the world Clarke has created. And that element of the book is done in a great way. It's certainly not wholly original, but what we are presented with here feels very fresh.
   We do get a good idea of magic's place in this world, and it feels like an integral part of it and not as an afterthought on the author's part. The way magic is done also feels very realistic, which in my opinion is a great strength in a novel like this.

   We also get some very interesting characters here, especially in Ananna - who is also the one telling us this story. Clarke manages to get across early on what type of character Ananna is, and as the novel progresses we get to see her show herself as a well rounded and realistic person. She never become just a vehicle for the story, but stays believable in all she does throughout the story. Ananna does have her flaws, but those only make her become more alive, and they don't make her come off as annoying in any way.

   The other main character, Naji, the assassin, is also very well realised. At first he seems a pretty standard mysterious figure, but as we get to know him better we see that he is much more than that. And despite him not always being the most forthcoming type, he does reveal that he has sides to him that make him feel like he's very much an individual formed by his past.
   We also meet quite a few other supporting characters along the way. Not all of them are as well developed as the main characters, but we do get to know them as more than just extras needed to get the story moving. There's especially one of them that stands out, and I think we may see more to her later. Clarke is very good at getting her characters come alive to the reader. They are interesting, and realistic, and are well worth spending a day with.

   All in all this is a very good Fantasy story. Clarke takes us on a great journey, in very good company. The style the book is told in fits in perfectly with the story and adds to the novel as a whole. The Fairy Tale elements make it a great books for fans of Fantasy based around that, and the quest format makes it worth reading for fans of Epic Fantasy. And it's a novel I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to Fantasy fans of all ages.
   Clarke has managed to create a set of very compelling characters that inhabit a well realised and interesting world. A world it is well worth travelling to.
   I really enjoyed this story, and I can't wait to follow it further in later volumes.

NOTE: An ARC of this book was provided to me by the publisher.

Links: Cassandra Rose Clarke  Strange Chemistry

REVIEW: SHIFT

Cover by Larry Rostant

SHIFT

BY

KIM CURRAN

ISBN: 978-1-90884-403-3

Pages: 416

Publisher: Strange Chemistry

Published: US/CAN/e-book 4 September 2012, UK 6 September 2012

On the cover:

When your average, 16-year old loser, Scott Tyler, meets the beautiful and mysterious Aubrey Jones, he learns he’s not so average after all. He’s a ‘Shifter’. And that means he has the power to undo any decision he’s ever made.At first, he thinks the power to shift is pretty cool. But as his world quickly starts to unravel around him he realises that each time he uses his power, it has consequences; terrible unforeseen consequences. Shifting is going to get him killed.In a world where everything can change with a thought, Scott has to decide where he stands.

   It doesn't take long before this novel goes from its opening of normal teenage life into a completely different direction. There's nothing new with a teenager discovering they have a special power. But from that initial premise Shift moves unto something that is not your normal story, and it moves in directions that are surprising and impossible to predict.

   I like novels that have good central ideas, and shifting is definitely that. Curran manages to use it not only to drive the storyline forward, but also to shape the way the story moves. At times it takes a bit of concentration to wrap your head around what is happening, not because it is unclear but because it is a complex story that frequently moves in unexpected directions.
   Once you get your mind used to how things work in this story Curran ramps up the suspense. Unexpected turns and cliffhanger chapter endings makes this a fast paced and suspense filled read. Curran is very good at hiding what is coming next, and very accomplished at misdirecting the readers thoughts as to what comes next. At times I suspected she was shifting and changing the story as I read it, so that my expectations of what came next turned out to be wrong.

   It takes a bit of worldbuilding in a novel like this to establish how everything works, both as related to our normal world and to the hidden part of the world we are introduced to in the novel. Curran manages to do this in a very good way, by giving us a main character that is clueless at the start of the story and letting us learn with him. 
   It is very refreshing that this is done without resorting to the main character being an idiot. In fact, I felt as confused as Scott Tyler is when the novel begins, and was very glad that we got an explanation as to what was going on. Later revelations also flow seamlessly into the narrative, and Curran gets out all the information  across to the reader without dumping it on them.

   Character wise this is also a very well written book. We get a good idea of the life of Scott Tyler and who he is as early as the first chapter, and from there we follow him as he learns and develops - something he does in a natural way.
   Other characters are also well developed and bring their own stories to the table. And they never feel like cardboard cutouts brought in to advance the story, but rather as people who happen to be involved in the vents depicted.

   Curran's debut is a novel that is hard to put down once you start reading it. It flows at a very fast pace, and Curran's writing sweeps you along. She also manages to create a world, and characters, that you really want to know more about.
   This is a Science Fiction Thriller that doesn't work just for readers in the Young Adult demographic. Both the Science Fiction and the Action Thriller elements work very well, and together they make for a great novel. You really should get your hands on this novel if you like your fiction to take you on a thrill-ride. 

NOTE: An ARC of this book was provided to me by the publisher.

LINKS: Kim Curran  Strange Chemistry

REVIEW: BLACKWOOD

Cover art: Steven Wood

BLACKWOOD

BY

GWENDA BOND

ISBN: 978-1-90884-406-4

Pages: 352

Published by: Strange Chemistry

Published: US/CAN/e-book 4 September 2012, UK 6 September 2012

On the cover:

On Roanoke Island, the legend of the 114 people who mysteriously vanished from the Lost Colony hundreds of years ago is just an outdoor drama for the tourists, a story people tell. But when the island faces the sudden disappearance of 114 people now, an unlikely pair of 17-year-olds may be the only hope of bringing them back.Miranda, a misfit girl from the island’s most infamous family, and Phillips, an exiled teen criminal who hears the voices of the dead, must dodge everyone from federal agents to long-dead alchemists as they work to uncover the secrets of the new Lost Colony. The one thing they can’t dodge is each other.

   I'm a big fan of history, so I was immediately drawn in by the historical connection this novel has. The Lost Colony at Roanoke Island will be familiar to anyone who's ever had an interest in the "mysterious disappearances sub genre" of history, and Bond really does use it to great effect in her novel. I was especially pleased with the appearance of one historical figure who is connected to magic. It seems so logical when you read it, and it brings the supernatural elements from history to the present in a completely natural way.

   The novel doesn't take long to show us the present day mystery that is the main focus of the story, and the novel is "up and running" before the reader has time to get settled in. Bond is great at setting a fast pace, the story moves along so quick that the slower passages feel like a welcome opportunity for the reader to take a deep breath. The fast pace of the novel doesn't mean that it feels rushed, the pace of events flows naturally from the page.

   The fast pace of the novel is not caused by the action, although there is enough of that to satisfy, instead the story is driven by mystery. Bond presents the reader with events that deepens the mystery and suspense throughout the novel. There are a lot of twists and turns to what is happening and although one element is not a surprising revelation that doesn't mean it is predictable. It is very hard to see what is coming, and the answers to mystery we do get doesn't take away from that. Bond manages to keep up the level of suspense all the way to the end, and when all is finally resolved it is a satisfying ending.

   A novel isn't only driven by its story, it has to have characters that you care about in it. Bond has created some really great ones here. The main characters, Miranda Blackwood and Phillips Rawling, come very well to life. Miranda is the protagonist of the novel, she is very well drawn and manages to feel both familiar and original. That there's something special about Miranda and Phillips will not come as a surprise, but the way Bond presents them, it doesn't feel out of place but just as a natural part of who they are.

   The supporting characters are also very well done, and they come with their own stories. We may not get to see it, but they are so alive on the page that you just know it is there. Even Miranda's father, who frankly gives a cliched first impression is shown to be much more than that later in the novel.

   To sum up, this is really a great novel. It has a great supernatural suspense story at it's center, and the pacing of a good action-thriller. The Urban, or in this case rather Rural, Fantasy elements are suitably fantastic while still managing to be realistic. We get great characters whose story is a joy to follow, and who I wouldn't mind seeing again.

   Bond has written a Young Adult novel that shows the strengths of YA, and how good YA can be when done right. Despite not being anywhere near the YA age group I found this a great read, and I can recommend it to anyone who likes Urban/Contemporary Fantasy. 

   This is a great debut novel by Gwenda Bond, and it is a novel that deserves a place on the shelves of any Fantasy fan. And for those that are partial to Young Adult, this is a must buy.

NOTE: An ARC of this book was provided to me by the publisher.

LINKS: Gwenda Bond  Strange Chemistry