Deeply Odd

Deeply Odd is the newest book in the Odd Thomas series, written by Dean Koontz.  Odd Thomas has the ability to communicate with restless spirits and help them find their own peace.  In this novel, Odd meets a sadistic truck driver and receives a vision of three innocent children burning as the truck driver sets them on fire.  Odd must intervene and save them, by figuring out who the children are and where they are being held, before the truck driver acts out his crime. When the help of Alfred Hitchcock's ghost and a few kind strangers, Odd rushes down the Interstate, using his psychic abilities to pursue the truck driver and his innocent quarry.  What Odd eventually finds is a world running parallet to his own, and a place so sinister, he may not return.  Odd Thomas is a strong character, a hero who is a "regular joe," and has had his own share of troubles.  Odd is sincere and humorous and he is in touch with the darker side of humanity.  I thoroughly enjoy reading about Odd Thomas' character and his books are always entertaining to me.  These books must be read in order, as the sequence of actions in each book builds upon the last one.  The first one is Odd Thomas.

Blood Wyne

I know you have heard me talk about this author before, but I have to tell you...every one of her books that I read just gets better and better! Yasmine Galenorn's newest book, Blood Wyne is the newest installment in the Otherworld series. Blood Wyne is told from the point of view of Menolly, one of the three D'Artigo sisters who ae half-Fae and half-human and are living Earthside instead of in the fairy realm. The three sisters are each a different type of supernatural beings--Camille is a witch, Delilah is a shapeshifter who turns into a cat and a panther and Menolly is a vampire. They live with Iris, a house sprite, are raising a baby gargoyle named Maggie and have a wide assortment of supernatural beings as friends and lovers. The basic premise of the series is that the three sisters are fighting against Shadow King, a very nasty demon, who is trying to find all of the spirit seals and open a permanent portal between Earthside and Otherworld. In this installment of the series, Menolly is helping to track down a vampire serial killer who is targeting young women and threatening to make Earth very intolerant of vampires! The stories are based in Seattle and it is refreshing to read descriptions of places I have visited and visualize where the stories' action is taking place. Galenorn's writing is magical--her characters are fascinating and the world she weaves is very believable. I look forward to reading the next installment in this wonderful series! If you'd like to "try" reading the Otherwold series, start with the first one, Witchling. The stories can be read alone, but since the characters lives build throughout each book, you will be less lost if you start with book one! Plus, the library has purchased these books in paperback so they are very handy and can be slipped into your purse for convenient "reading-on-the-go!" Yasmine Galenorn is the author of several other series, including the Indigo Court Series, several Berkley Prime Crime titles and casmetic-focused series she writes as India Ink. Check out her website at http://www.galenorn.com/ or follow her at www.twitter.com/yasminegalenorn.

Except the Queen

I recently read the oddest, most wonderful book! I was caught first by the title, Except the Queen, and the intriguing cover art which depicts a young woman with an intricate tattoo on her neck and a tortured expression on her face, with a huge moon and a murder of crows. This seemed like a book I would like! Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder have writtern an incredible fantasy novel about faeries, a mean-spirited fairy queen, and the differences between the mortal and fairy world. The basic plot of the story is this: Meteora and Serana are fairies (and sisters) who like nothing more than being with each other, playing tricks on mortals and prancing around the fairy world of Greenwood. Their lives take a turn for the worse when they witness the Fairy Queen committing an unspeakable act and in return, she banishes them to the mortal world. In fairy land they were young, beautiful, nimble and blessed with magical powers; in the mortal world they are dumpy old women who live apart from each other, have no powers, and must figure out how to survive in this harsh place. Mysterious things begin happening to the sisters--are they more than mere coincidences?--and Meteora and Serana must figure out what they must do in order to return to life in fairy land. This book is a strange and wondorous piece of writing---I especially enjoyed the sisters figuring out how things work that we take for granted (i.e., snail mail--they call it "eagle mail" because the man with the eagle on his pouch picks it up from their houses every day). The sisters also meet several equally mysterious beings while on their journeys of discovery. This book is a fast read as once you begin it you will find it hard to leave! This book is a perfect read for both young adults and adults and while there are enough "battle scenes" to make it interesting for boys, I believe teen girls will like the story the best. I hope this author collaboration will result in other book of this type, very soon.