BELINDA CRAWFORD

Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce

August 31, 2012 by Belinda Crawford

Bloodhound is the second book in the Beka Cooper series by Tamora Pierce. The story follows Beka, now a first-year Dog (aka police officer), as she and her partner Goodwin track down a group of colemongers (aka counterfeiters). Along the way she picks up a scent hound named Achoo, falls in love and saves the day.

What I liked and didn’t like

Bloodhound is written in a journal style. I haven’t read many books in this style but I find it very difficult to believe that someone could recount their day with as much detail as Beka does. Perhaps Pierce should have ditched the journal idea and just made it first person?

Beka is the many times great grandmother of George Cooper, a prominent character from The Song of the Lioness series. Generally these types of books, in which characters from previous novels make cameo appearances, drive me batty, but given that there’s a few hundred years between this book and the Alanna series, there wasn’t much chance of that happening.

Katana by Cole Gibsen

August 24, 2012 by Belinda Crawford

Katana is the second book from American author Cole Gibsen. It blends martial arts with the supernatural in a story reminiscent of films such as The House of Flying Daggers and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, except without the teary ending.

The story follows Raleigh, your average teenage skater-chick (not that I’ve ever known any), as she discovers that she’s a reincarnated samurai with supernatural powers.

What I liked and didn’t like

I’m often disappointed with martial arts books and Katana is no exception. I’m not sure what it is I’m looking for in such a novel, but so far I haven’t found it. It may stem from my own involvement with karate, which I’ve been studying for a few years now, or it may be something else entirely.

Writing and the magic bullet

April 16, 2012 by Belinda Crawford

When I started writing for more than just the amusement it provides, I scoured the internet for tips and tricks from established writers, unconsciously searching for a magic bullet (pill, sock, cat or milkshake) to write my book for me. Unfortunately there isn’t one, and what’s more writing a novel (which is a gzillion times longer than a tweet) requires discipline, planning and months, if not years or decades, of your life. Plus you don’t get paid for it.

But while I didn’t find the magic bullet (pill, sock, cat or milkshake) I did find some good advice ((My favourite is in Jennifer Cruise’s post Hello, I’m Your New PRO Columnist: Reflections on the Columns I’m Not Going To Be Writing where she tells readers to forget what everyone else is doing and “go write your good book”. Sound advice. What are you waiting for?)), some of which has informed the way I write now.

After more than two years of trail, error and some fruitless Googling, here’s what works for me and a few tips that might work for you.

Enchantment by Charlotte Abel

March 25, 2012 by Belinda Crawford

The cover of 'Enchantment' — Not so sure about the bike...

A disclaimer before I start; I didn’t read the entirety of this book, so if some moment of literary genius occurs at the end, forgive me. Additionally this book was provided to me, free of charge, by the author for the express purposes of a review.

Enchantment, a YA paranormal romance, is the start of the Channie series by Charlotte Abel.

From Amazon.com

While other girls are wearing push-up bras, Channie Belks is trying to hide the fact she’s a witch.

Sorta hard to do after her parents slap a chastity curse on her for flirting with “dirty-minded, non-magical, city-boys.” She can’t even walk by a hot guy without zapping him.

There’s a way to break the curse; but one mistake could kill her. It’s not worth the risk … until she meets Josh.

Suddenly, the threat of death isn’t such a deal-breaker.

K’Ehleyr – The Targ that ate the canary

March 20, 2012 by Belinda Crawford

Portrait of Ambassador K’Ehleyr — Ambassador K’Ehleyr

Targ – a boar-like creature with spikes along it’s back. Generally considered to be the Klingon equivalent of a cat.

At 5’9” with a forehead that looks like it could deflect a sledgehammer this all-star isn’t someone you’d like to encounter in a dark alley. Half-Klingon, half-human and a good deal more attractive than the former, K’Ehleyr gets to be the first shuttle off my all-star hero rank because it’s hard to go past a woman who can take the piss out of Worf ((She’s also my favourite Star Trek character, but only if you exclude Chris Pine as Captain Kirk.)).

Demon Girl by Penelope Fletcher

March 16, 2012 by Belinda Crawford

Demon Girl, an independently published ebook by Penelope Fletcher, is the first in the Rae Wilder series and, if you’re feeling brave, it’s currently available from ManyBooks.net as a free download.

Originally released in 2010 the ebook is currently being re-edited (praise be to the gods of writing). The new edition, with a shinny new cover and re-titled Glamour, is due for release at the end of March 2012.

This review is in response to the 2010 version.

What it’s about

On a post-apocalyptic earth humans live in heavily fortified compounds, protected from the demons that roam outside their walls by the militaristic Sect.

Rae is different, faster, stronger, quicker to heal, but she doesn’t realise how different until, on one of her forbidden runs outside the Wall, she meets a boy. Breandan is just as strange, if not stranger, than she is and he tells her things, things about herself, that could see her exiled, imprisoned or dead.

Drink, Slay, Love by Sarah Beth Durst

March 7, 2012 by Belinda Crawford

Pearl is a sixteen-year-old vampire… fond of blood, allergic to sunlight, and mostly evil… until the night a sparkly unicorn stabs her through the heart with his horn. Oops.

'Drink, Slay, Love' by Sarah Beth Durst — The ebook version of the cover.

If you like your vampires dark, Goth, not quite soulless and with just the tiniest hint of My Little Pony, then Drink, Slay, Love could be for you. It’s the third work from author Sarah Beth Durst and reads like the opening of a series (although I could find no news of a sequel).

What I liked and didn’t like

Pearl was the best part of the book, confident, arrogant, viewed humans as cattle yet remained vulnerable under all her bluster. It was almost a shame that she grew a conscience because it dulled her superior attitude, which was a lot of fun.

The development of her character was a strong yet subtle thread that ran through the book with none of the long, blah, blah, blah blocks of inner monologue that can pass for character development.

While the first two-thirds of the book were good, maybe even great, the final third did its best to fall in a heap.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

February 24, 2012 by Belinda Crawford

This is my first attempt at a book review. Let me know how you think I went.

Cinder, the first book in The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, is a retelling of the classic Cinderella story complete with cyborgs, plague and a tantalising hint of the Japanese anime Sailor Moon.

Synopsis

Cinder is a cyborg, an orphan with no memory of her past and a collection of gears and wires were an arm and a leg should be. Her adoptive mother resents her, tolerating her only because of her ability to draw a wage, one of her two sisters hates her and the other, who’s actually nice, becomes fatally ill. All of this leads to Cinder being forcibly volunteered as a test subject for plague research where she uncovers her past and discovers hidden talents.

There’s also a prince with a broken android, a lunatic queen, a ball, a fairy god-scientist and a small prosthetic foot.

Plot frustrations

June 27, 2011 by Belinda Crawford

I’m frustrated. I’m on the second re-working of the plot for my novel (the first re-working I consigned 17,000 words to the trash heap) and I’m still not entirely sure what the buggery I’m doing.