Blood Magic by Matthew Cook
I got a couple of recent releases from Juno last week and finished Blood Magic by Matthew Cook last night.
I've been complaining for awhile now that there isn't enough gritty type fantasy, especially with the strong female protag that I like to read, but this is the second of two from Juno that I read cover to cover. (The first was Wind Follower by Carole McDonnell)
Kirin, and that isn't even her name, it's her dead twin sister that lives in her head's name, is the kind of anti-heroine that you're not sure, exactly, why you love her, but you can't help but hope she continues to overcome. She's made bad decisions and done bad stuff, and basically justified most of it one way or another, and the tough part of it is that you can understand why she's doing what she is, even if you don't like it. - and yet she still manages to do good on both the smaller scale and the larger - and YET the good and evil seem inexorably mixed. -- and these are the deeper themes that draw me so deeply into a world.
Kudos to Matthew Cook for writing this and also to Juno for publishing it.
6 comments:
Hmm, reminds me of a certain flawed Amazon warrior ...
I really enjoy Jim Butcher's The Dresden series -- okay, it's a hero not heroine, but there are great strong woman second characters interwoven throughout these books. One especially great female cop who's risen to the top of the ranks against all odds. This gal takes on real-life monsters and more than her share of creepy, crawly can't-be-explained ones as well. Through it all, she just plain kicks butt. Great authors write great characters and what a pleasure they are to read.
I'll look for Matthew Cook. Thanks for the tip.
Hey, I just saw where my blog pops up on your blog. That is so cool. We'll you let me in our your secret? I'd love to return the favor.
Leah! hehe! Yes! A couple of the elements I really liked were the (usually) contradictory themes of trying to take care of yourself, trying please others and trying to do what's right - all with consequences ;)
Sandra. I've heard good things about the Dresden files, but I haven't picked up the set yet.
I do have to say that Blood Magic is not in any way a romance (I probably should have said that in the initial post because I know I get a lot of romance readers surfing through here). I'm trying to think of anything along similar lines. Wind Follower, which I mentioned in the post. Patricia Briggs' Dragon series but more along the lines of Holly Lisle's Talyn. (and I got Hawkspar in the mail the week and can't wait to dig into it!!) But it's a grittier kind of fantasy set in darker worlds. There is never a pretty bow at the end. What characters are left are bruised and bloody and gasping at the impossible victory. I guess where a lot of people say they like to read to 'escape' to a nicer world, I like to be able to come back to a nicer world - however strange that makes me! :)
oh! almost forgot. the blog thing. Blogger added it as a utility. If you have a blogspot, you should be able to 'add element' to your page (but I'm not sure how that would work with your custom template). It's super easy to use, and updates from the blog feeds. I have about 30 or so listed and it reorders them according to the most recent post.
Aren't you crafty, Sue, taking advantage of the new Blogger bling? Looks great here, and what a teaser reading through all the first lines.
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