Fortune tellers and hippies are dying in large numbers in Oregon – only noticed by one man. A man sworn to protect the city, a hero in his own mind, a man who knows the secrets of the supernatural

Hal, a Dogcatcher, And he wields a mean catchpole.

I just… can’t even begin to express my opinions about the protagonist, Hal. On so many levels he’s a parody of awfulness. He’s clueless, arrogant and ridiculously full of himself and his abilities and his roles. He is also skilled, talented, brave and in some ways every bit the hero he thinks he is. At the same time, while he’s an appalling joke, he’s constantly treated as that – he’s often terrible and ridiculous but, at the same time, I think we’re fully expected to see him as that. He’s awful, but I don’t think we’re meant to ignore the fact – hence his constant abuse of poor cyclists for example. I don’t think we’re expected to see his truly epic fighting skills and not think that he’s also totally a cool person which he clearly isn’t.

And I can’t deny that he’s funny. His interactions with the people around him, his ridiculous belief that he’s not just a superhero but that everyone fully knows about it. His firm refusal to deal with reality, his happy poking of corpses… it’s funny, it’s really really funny.

I just don’t know with this guy. I alternate being repelled and amused by him – and I think that’s intentional

It helps that some of the characters around him – especially the two other main characters: Nicka and Galahad - is pretty amazing and hilarious. They are both yokai, kind of reverse were-animals, animal that become human during the day. So we have a cat, with all the immense sarcasm that requires, and a wolf – who can easily be distracted by a well thrown squeaky toy (of course, the cat can easily be fascinate by a bell as well).

The three of them make for a hilariously combination. And I like the idea if were animals that aren’t you classic human-to-animal because why not have both? I’m not so sure about calling them “yokai” though, especially in a setting that has no Asian characters.

I also like what Hal is, an animal control officer. I like the idea of a world setting where the supernatural is hidden and the question has to be asked, who would know? Who would know the reality of the world and, yes, a dogcatcher is a good example of someone who would probably know.

I hate the relationship between Hal and Desdemona. In some ways it starts well. Yes, is creepy and a stalker – and he is labelled as that. I actually liked how we repeatedly see him be revolting and disgusting to Desdemona and she keeps calling him. He’s ridiculous and awful and stalkery and disgusting and she treats him appropriately for that – insulting him, rejecting him, trying to drive him away. In a genre – and media in general – where this kind of creepy, stalkery, disgustingly predatory behaviour is repeatedly held up as romantic.

Read More

I finished some books for my holiday Bingo reading challenge

I don’t feel like doing full reviews for, so I’m borrowing the mini review post idea.

Dark Harvest - Norman Partridge - 1 Star.

Quite possibly one of the worst books I have read this year. In a word - lame. One of my favourite guilty pleasures is bad horror movies. Usually ones where the plots are terrible, the acting is atrocious and the story lines make no sense whatsoever. But I do find them very enjoyable. And a bad B horror movie was just what this book sounded like. Small town with a horror that awakens every Halloween where all the boys in the town band together in some stupid race where no laws apply go after this thing. This is a backwater town where no one hardly ever leaves and everyone lives very dull monotonous lives.

The winner can escape when he catches and destroy’s the October Boy. So we’re lead to believe. It started out pretty good, the writing style was a little weird, told like someone’s telling the story of what happened back on that Halloween date in whatever year it was, sometime in the 60s. Its told almost like (and I’m paraphrasing) Mike chases the thing into the corn field, thinking he’s gonna get the sucker but we all know what’s really gonna happen, don’t we? It got very tiresome and came across as very arrogant and annoying. While the concept was fairly interesting, and there was actually a pretty good twist when you find out what the October Boy really is. But it descended into to ridiculous violence and stupidity. Not smart or clever. Just bad.

Crosses of the Square - Set on Halloween

Darkly Dreaming Dexter - Jeff Lindsay - 5 Stars.

I’ve had this book on my shelves for ages, after seeing one or two episodes of the Dexter tv show, I thought ooh, I like this and bought a 3 series box set (and still not seen more than maybe 3 episodes) finding the book on sale at the supermarket it was another must have. But its sat on my shelves for a long long time untouched. Until I saw Holiday Bingo had a serial killer square. So I finally read it. And absolutely loved it. Its slightly weird routing for the serial killer, I know, but there is something very likable and almost charming about Dexter. He makes no apologies for what he is, he even has a sense of values (he goes after bad guys only) and can make the reader understand why he does what he does.

The first book another serial killer moves in on Dexter’s territory and throws him out the water. Its utterly gripping and fascinating as the normal unflappable Dexter tries to figure out just what the hell is going on. The reveal is a little bit obvious towards the end of the book of where its going. But its still a fantastic and fun read.

Crosses off the Square - Serial Killers

Black Dust Mambo - Adrian Phoenix - 3 Stars

Yet another book I’ve had for ages and not got round to reading. This one I have in my iBooks Urban Fantasy library. This one centres around voodoo and magic of that sort of nature. A kick ass heroine who wakes up to find herself in bed with a dead body, a powerful hex that was intended for her, (not her unfortunate bed-mate) and a whole host of fun characters - sexy voodoo ladies, family secrets creepy root doctors, revenge plots, foul mouthed lady leprechaun, a very sexy nomad. Set in New Orleans against a magnificently dark and complex magical voodoo world building.

Crosses off the Square - Set in New Orleans.

The Dream Thieves - Maggie Stiefvater - 5 stars

Just finished this morning. As I read The Raven Boys for the first Bookish Bingo card that had a birds on cover square, it seemed a very good idea to read The Dream Thieves for this card’s Birds on Cover square. I love love love this series. I did find the second book much easier to get into as I had a much better grasp of who all the characters were and what the plot was. Other than Kavinsky who needs to die a horrible horrible death I don’t think there’s a single character in this book I don’t like. I even wound up actually quite liking The Gray Man who is introduced as a baddie at the start of the book. Noah needs a hug, Adam and Ronan occasionally need punching, and I want to bring Gansey and Blue home with me. Or I would be more than happy to pack up my books and my cat and go live in 300 Fox Way. The storytelling is absorbing, the writing is amazing. I can’t say enough about how much I have fallen in love with this series.

Crosses off square - Birds on Cover.

And with The Dream Thieves finished, I made a bingo!!

With the end of the Summer bingo reading challenge, I signed up for the Holiday Bingo edition. Covering Halloween, Christmas and Thanksgiving and other fall themed stuff. See my Summer Wrap up post here

Last time I was so excited I did a huge plan for everything I wanted to read for each square, but never quite stuck to my plan. So I may or may not do that. I usually have an idea what I want to read for each square, but more often than not it changes depending on my mood. 

I've picked 6 to start with

Darkly Dreaming Dexter - the serial killer square

Alice in Zombieland - black cover

Black Dust Mambo - set in New Orleans

The Elite - red cover

If I Should Die - Orange Cover

The Dream Thieves - birds on cover (I read The Raven Boys for the last birds on cover square so it seems fitting to read the sequel for the next birds square.) 

Let's see how I do with these to start with.