Most Helpful Customer Reviews
48 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Get yourself strapped in for a rip roaring fantasy adventure!, July 5, 2009
This review is from: Dying Bites (The Bloodhound Files, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)
SYNOPSIS:
Jace Valchek is a very good profiler for the FBI in St. Louis and she has worked very hard to earn her top-notch reputation. Suddenly her entire world is turned upside down when she finds that she has been moved by magic into a parallel universe and that no amount of clicking her heels together will get her back to Kansas. At least, not the Kansas she knows.
OPINION:
Wow, Oh Wow! Just fasten your seat belt and hang on tight for this fantasy excursion into another world altogether. Jace is pulled without any warning whatsoever into a parallel universe because there is a serial killer on the loose and the NSA in that world needs the profiling skills Jace has to help them catch their killer before another murder takes place. Now, Jace is good at her job but she has never faced situations like these before. To begin with let's just take into account the makeup of the population she is now in. The percentages are: 37% vampire, 43% lycanthrope, 9% golem and 1% human. Uh-oh! And, the NSA boss Jace is working with, David Cassius, assures her that the serial killer is not only human, but that this particular human is insane. These ritual killing victims are vampires and lycanthropes alike but all of this seems to be leading to a big picture which is likely to put the entire universe at risk.
This story started out with Jace being called in to help profile the serial killer but went on to get bigger and bigger until it involved Jace trying to save an entire world. As if that wasn't enough for a girl to handle on a good day, Jace is having some very bad days. It seems that her body is suffering from RDT (Reality Dislocation Trauma) and her only option is to drink an herbal concoction called Urthbone, a substance which will help ground her both physically and psychically to her new environment. When she takes the Urthbone it makes her more sensitive to the emotions of some of those around her, when she doesn't she gets so sick that she lands back in the hospital. So, what's a girl to do?
This book is an intense reading experience and definitely not for the faint of heart. The descriptions of the victims of the killings and HOW they were killed are graphic and gruesome. Remember that Jace was dealing with victims who were either vampire or lycanthropes. That meant that special considerations had to be taken into account for HOW to not just kill them, but make them stay dead. Really, really inventive stuff from this author but not for those with a tendency to queasiness. Jace is a fabulous character for me. She is smart-mouthed but funny at the same time, sarcastic, witty, definitely not charming and she doesn't show a lot of sympathy for rules or rule-makers, but her intuition for scoping out another person is usually spot on. I liked her, I liked her a lot.
RECOMMENDATION:
I highly recommend this book. Now, does the above mean that it was a perfect book? Nope, at least not for me. My problems with it may seem small but to me they mattered. First of all, saving the entire universe??? Really? The scope of this book grew to be so large that it became almost overwhelming. It only worked for me because I forced myself to LET it work. I think the adventure went too far too fast for someone who has just landed in that universe. Hey, that's just me, but it is my opinion. Next, the use of abbreviations. I really got annoyed. Pire for vampire, thrope for lycanthrope, vic for victim. Every flippin time I came across one of those my little pea sized brain took a stumble and I had to back up and read the sentence again to understand why we were talking about spires, OH, NOT SPIRES, JUST PIRES. Well, sure, that makes me feel better. To me, the first time I saw vic I thought it was a typo. Then I wondered who Vic was. Oops, vic as in victim. I see by the excerpt from book #2 that these same abbreviations will be present again. Darn! Without those things which annoyed me personally as a reader, I know I would have had nothing but praise for D D Barant who is a new author for me to keep tabs on.
By the way, if you want to know why it is called The Bloodhound Files series, read the book. That's how I found out.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
34 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Definitely a little different, July 9, 2009
This review is from: Dying Bites (The Bloodhound Files, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)
I enjoyed this book. It was a different take on the vampires and werewolves. I did find the other-world kind of confusing; I never understood very well how the two worlds worked parallel to each other, and I would have liked a more thorough explanation.
Jace was an interesting main character, and I really liked her relationship with her golem partner/protector, Charlie. Charlie was probably my favorite character - he made me smile. I didn't like that she seemed to have a romantic connection with so many males in the book. It seemed unrealistic that so many of these men - I count at least 4 - would have a connection with her so immediately. I don't need it to be a romance, with a solid relationship or anything, but by the end of the book, I was wondering WHY everyone was so attracted to her, and I didn't really believe or trust in her connections to anyone.
The world-building was really interesting. When I let go of my confusion about the two worlds together and focused on the one that Jace was in, it was pretty cool. The alternate history aspect was really well done. Jace's boss and his connections to that alternate history was fascinating. I also liked the Urthbone - I was suspicious of it for a long time, but I liked that it gave Jace subtle abilities.
Overall, I liked this book, but there was too much that took away from it for me to love it. I didn't mind the first-person narration, and if you're looking for a fresh urban fantasy, this is an interesting read.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I nearly passed over this book...I'm glad I didn't, August 14, 2009
This review is from: Dying Bites (The Bloodhound Files, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)
Dying Bites - The Bloodhound Files by D.D. Barant
I had this book on my wish list and had been hemming and hawing about it. One of the reasons I was so reluctant was that even though it sounded very good, I wasn't sure I could suspend my disbelief enough to imagine a parallel universe; one that consisted of43% Lycanthropes, 37% Vampires, 19% Golems and 1% Humans. Then last week I received this from a friend of mine as part of my birthday gift. I had finished everything else and said "Oh what the heck." I picked it up,looked at the back cover and shrugged, started it, and couldn't put it back down until I was done with it! Let me tell you that it is one of the two best speculative fiction debut novels I have read in this past 2 months and I'm sorry I waited so long to get to it.
"Dying Bites" starts with FBI Behavior Analyst and Profiler, Jace Valchek in bed and dreaming after getting a little drunk the night before, and it seems like a fairly typical dream...or is she really dreaming ? Nope, she is not asleep; she has been taken from our reality and been plunked down in another that mimics our own except for the previously mentioned creatures!
She is being asked by the head of their NSA, vampire David Cassious, to help profile and catch an insane serial killer, since this universe has no experience in dealing with insanity. Unfortunately, it seems that this killer may be human. Now what is Jace supposed to do? What will happen if she does deliver this human, who may very well be protecting the last 1% of humans left in this universe? But, she has agreed to the contract and the terms state that the contract will be "successfully concluded with the capture or elimination of the target of the mission." Then she can go home.
Jace is a kick butt, smart mouthed, protagonist that seems to spend a bit of time having her own butt kicked by things bigger and badder than she is. She is being teamed with a witty, funny and surprisingly sympathetic group, a Golem, a Werewolf scientist/nerd and a Vampire. This book is in first person but you never seem to have any problems knowing what the others are feeling since Jace has a bit of empathy going for her. There is a lack of profanity, but a huge amount of sarcasm and dry humor, since not everything in our world have been the exact same throughout time! Some things just do not cross over well from world to world. The world is easy to understand and the history is sometimes heart breaking. D. D. Barant, should be applauded for having the power to write something that is fresh, stimulating, exciting and funny.
I cannot wait for "Death Blows" the next book in this series.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192250339_.gif){kind=small}
