Customer Reviews

Biting the Bullet (Jaz Parks)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Jaz Parks and her crew are sent to the Middle East on a mission, teamed with her twin brother Dave and his squad. Their mission is to assassinate the mysterious Wizard in control of a force of zombies. But there is a mole in Dave's team. Can Jaz find the mole, uncover the truth behind the Wizard, fight the reavers sent after her each morning because of a mark on her forehead, and convince her boss not to believe a manipulating psychic?

Whew! This latest Jaz Parks adventure is the most jam-packed yet! With non-stop action and adventure, this fantasy/spy series is not to be missed. With deadly creatures around every corner, Jaz is used to battling the forces of evil. But when her benefactor takes her through hell itself, Jaz is thrown into a whole new playing field. Rardin doesn't disappoint in this latest installment. With plenty of suspense, action, and romantic angst, I'm already impatient for the next in the series.

I really love this series. There's adventure and some serious butt-kicking, but most of all it's populated with strong, likeable characters. It's the characters that keep me coming back for more. Our heroine, Jaz Parks, is an assassin. After her crew was obliterated by vamps (which happened prior to the first book in the series), she gets assigned to work with Vayl. Vayl's a 300+ vampire who also works as an assassin for the government. In the first book we get to know Jaz & Vayl, in the second we get to see the interplay between them and with their new team (a former PI, a gadget genius, and a seer). In this book, the dynamics set up during the second book really get tested. Both Jaz & Vayl must confront their pasts in order to stop their current target, the Wizard. Don't think Dorothy & Toto, but rather dead-raising necromancer in the Middle East. There's also the pesky business of a mole on the team and a group of reavers gunning for Jaz who's been marked for death. All the gangs back, with a few new characters of both the normal and paranormal, dead and undead, persuasion. It's really a great read, and I can't wait for the next one! I recommend that you read the first two books in the series before diving into this one -- you won't be disappointed: Once Bitten, Twice Shy (Jaz Parks, Book 1) and Another One Bites the Dust (Jaz Parks, Book 2).

Finally, Jaz Parks goes where those in the CIA usually go: overseas. From Florida and Texas respectively in the first and second novels, the spotlight is now on Iran...as well as hell.

Jaz's twin Dave is part of a CIA special ops squad, whose big target is the Wizard, whereas Jaz's team's enemy is the Raptor. Here's where I don't quite follow - why the two squads come together, and how the Wizard and the Raptor are linked. The Raptor is part of the series arc, but the Wizard may only be in this episode.

Continuing the theme of screwed-up families, Jaz and Dave haven't talked for years before they're forced into this situation. Neither of them completely trusts the other, whilst back home patriarch Albert is having another crisis. Meanwhile, we finally meet Jaz and Dave's mother, who's in hell.

Romantic complications arise when former private investigator Cole makes clear his intentions for Jaz, but she's still mooning over their boss, Vayl. I'm usually first to stick my hand up for a hot foreigner (Vayl's Romanian), but I'm just not connecting with him. Brooding Vamp with a Troubled Past is a common archetype in fiction, thus making it difficult for one to stand out from the crowd. However, I do fancy Jaz's Spanish spirit guide, Raoul, though I have the feeling Jaz and Vayl will shag before the series is over.

Jaz's out-of-body experiences are often confusing, and though I don't quite follow them I have much respect for the author featuring some creatures not usually found in current novels.

Although this book was okay overall, it wasn't as good as the first two in the series. The pacing slowed down too much at several points in the story due to the introduction of backstory. In previous books, the backstory was woven in at better spots. In this book, it interrupted the action and the flow of the story. I kept wanting to skim to get back to the story. There also seemed to be too many contradictions in the characters, especially Vayl. I don't want to post spoilers, but Vayl was too angsty and more of an "underling" compared to previous books. I just didn't recognize him. I did read the book in one day, which usually means a book is so good I couldn't stand to put it down. This time, however, I kept reading to get past the slower parts, hoping to find the action/tension I encountered in previous books. I did find it from time to time, so I'm giving this a 3.5, rounded up to 4. Not sure if I'll continue the series. Might give it another shot when the Kindle price comes down.

OK, I've now read the first three Jaz Parks books, which I bought sight unseen pretty much on the concept alone, and I have to say I should have bought just the first one and then thought about it.

I thought the first one was average, the second so-so and this one sub-par. Here are some of the problems I have with the series in general and with this book in particular.

SPOILERS FOLLOW
SPOILERS FOLLOW

The setting of the books is very vague. We're in a world very much like ours except magic works, there are vampires, witches and the standard Urban Fantasy types. That's fine, but apparently there are other differences too, which we can't guess, and which we aren't told about. Case in point: Iran. In this book, Jaz spends most of her time in Iran. Apparently Iran in her world is still a nasty, woman-debasing theocracy, but when just when you think you have the general picture, Jaz stumbles into a pagan goddess's temple in the middle of Tehran. Obviously, this would not be tolerated in our Iran, and then you realize: "hmm, Islam has never been mentioned.. Is Jaz's world's Iran some *other* kind of woman hating theocracy? If so, what kind?" This would seem like important information! In book two, we are introduced to Reavers -- mystical bad guys who seem invented for poorly thought out reasons and who don't make much sense. In this book not only do we have Reavers, but Jaz goes to Hell, and we are again left totally without a clue as to how her Hell relates to any religion, if it does at all. Both the depiction of hell and the invention of Reavers to be bad guys without any definite theological underpinnings seem designed more to avoid offending believers of any stripe than for telling a good story. This story also pulls several other concepts out of the author's hat simply because she felt she needed them, not because they made sense. I'm thinking in particualr of the Portals, and of actually visiting Raoul.

Jaz is a CIA assassin who often works in the US. Now the CIA in our world is strictly forbidden from working in the US. Cynics believe that that rule is broken, but it is the rule. Jaz should at least establish that the rule doesn't exist in her world or that she's aware they are breaking it for "the greater good". This is especially true since one of the nicer aspect of the books is an uncomplicated "we are the good guys" stance. I also don't believe in her team, particularly in her 'Q', Bergman, who doesn't even officially work for the agency. There is no way either he or Cassandra would be allowed on missions -- much less to supply equipment directly to agents in the field. Also, Jaz seems incapable of going more than a few pages without calling Vayl her "boss", but he does virtually nothing in planning team operations. In fact, he generally seems to work at her direction.

Vayl's character is a problem as well. He's supposed to be super-hot and I'm sure the overall arc of the series will have him and Jaz becoming a couple, but he is almost totally uninteresting, and seems to drop out of the books totally for long segments.

Vayl and the "ill defined world" collide in this book. He's prepping an Iranian woman to become a vampire, and we're told this is a long involved process wherein the vampire must meditate and be in the right zen state. Further, we're told that unwilling humans can *not* be turned. OK, that's a bit different than standard Urban Fantasy, and is nice -- except that it directly contradicts one of Jaz's ongoing angst-fests about having to kill her sister-in-law after she was turned. It makes absolutely no sense that her sister-in-law was turned willingly, so I'm calling trainwreck on that point.

In a strictly literary sense, the biggest sin of the Jaz books is the insane overuse of flashbacks. I suppose some of it is excusable, especially for events that took place before the series started, but in this book, there are numerous cases of Jaz interrupting the main narrative to flash back to events which took place within *this* adventure. Her trip to Hell is the most jarring and annoying. It could have been much more easily told in sequence. The climactic battle scene in this book commits another literary sin in having the point of view leave our first person narrator (Jaz) for a clumsy "as they later told me" sequence.

Frankly, I'm not sure if I care enough at this point to go to the next book.

Jaz Parks is at it again, this time her brother Dave tags along and well isn't the nicest of all the brothers out there. The whole gang is back adding Dave's team, they are on a mission to assassinate an out of control wizard who is making zombies attack. Jaz has to find out who the mole in their team is, because until then she has to lie to most of the them about the plan to stop the wizard, since he's the one controling the mole, except she wont lie to Vayl of course. Speaking of Vayl Jaz has to convince him that the new psychic is using him for his power. Will Vayl and Jaz's relationship hit a rocky place, Can Jaz stop the Wizard before he hits to close to her?, and what happens when the mole is discovered in the group?

Overall this latest book is full of action packed adventure,zombies who are just plan scary and doesn't dissapoint in romance, magic, and whole lot of Jaz sarcasm. Rardin does a great job in her third book and now I want more!

Biting the Bullet was harder to get into compared to the previous two books. It took awhile before the expected Jaz Parks fun ignited.

I love Jaz Parks. She is a really cool heroine, she's tough, entertaining, and she has some super cool supernatural skills. In this book, Jaz and her team meet up with her twin brother and his team to try to find a mole in his unit and kill an international terrorist. There is plenty of action to go around in this book. We got to see more of Jaz's twin, Dave in this book. Both Jaz and Dave get the chance to deal with their issues and begin to move on from their past tragedies. Jaz has some serious trouble on her plate in this book, she is marked by demons in revenge for killing a reaver, and so, Jaz has a whole lotta extra crap to deal with. I was kinda upset with Vayl in this book....he needs to get with the program and get his priorities in order....anyways, I enjoyed the book and I'm looking forward to reading book 4!

Jaz and Vayl typical missions involving taking down a target as quickly as possible, and then getting the heck outta dodge. Their current mission is a little different as they are teaming up with another team to take down one heck of a whopper necromancer called the Wizard. He's been causing mayhem for year and no ones been able to stop him. Despite this, things would be pretty simple for Jaz and Vayl if they also didn't have to figure out the Mole in the other unit that has been feeding the Wizard info. When you take into account their other problems with the reavers that are bent on revenge and the fact that Vayl's attention is straying towards someone else, that means Jaz is in for one heck of a bumpy ride.

I enjoyed the change of setting for this book. It was set overseas, fitting more into my ideas of where covert operations would be. As in the previous book, they are still working in the team format. Only this time their team also includes Jaz's twin brother David's team as well. I was happy to see them working together, even though it was incredibly strained at times due to the situations from the past. However, things are looking positive for their relationship in the future. Perhaps if David decides to forgive Jaz, then she might be able to take the first step in forgiving herself.

There was some major backtracking in the relationship between Jaz and Vayl, and I couldn't help but be disappointed. However, I do think some good might come out of this distance between them as now that she feels she is losing him, she realizes just how much he actually means. Hopefully this will give her the kick in the butt she needs to finally open herself to him. I'm not really sure what is holding her back at this point other than the fear of losing him. Yet, even if she doesn't have a fully romantic relationship with him, she would still be utterly destroyed if anything happened to Vayl. So, logically she should just make the most of whatever time they are given, and at least take the chance at happiness.

I was really surprised at some of the twist and turns in this book as they really caught me off guard. It can be hard to write without being predictable, so when a book catches me off guard, it definitely impresses me. With each new book that I read in this series I am finding myself more and more eager to read the next, as I just cannot wait to see what happens. The characters are so full of depth that you cannot help but to feel the emotions right along with them, making this a truly fantastic series.

About par for the course for this series; easy to read, not very descriptive, with an appealing heroine.