Customer Reviews

Sweet Scent of Blood

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Sweet Scent of Blood is set in modern day London, where it is common place to run into a brownie at the cafe, see pixies running through Trafalgar Square, or walk into the wait area of Old Scotland Yard and come face to face with a goblin. Magic seems to be everywhere you turn in London. The vampires are treated like glamorous A-list celebrities and are a huge money making tourist attraction for London.

This book is told from Genny's point view, her accounts are in vivid detail interlaced with her dry sense of humor. Genny leads a solitary life because she has a past with a secret that she needs to keep to herself. This means she has to avoid the fae and vampires because if she gets too close, they will know what she is trying to hide. If her secret gets out, she risks losing her job with [....] and that means losing the protection against the vampires, that working for the witches affords her. You see being Sidhe fae, Genny is an instant attraction for vampires, who consider her kind a delicacy. So, when a vampire's human father comes around asking Genny to help his son out of a murder rap, she feels like she is caught between a rock and a hard place. But a favor has been called in, so she takes on the case and finds herself in one dark intriguing situation after another, usually involving a vampire or two.

The vampires in this book are reminiscent of the vampires from Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, in that they can be cruel, beautiful and impress upon you a strong sense of danger. Also the fact that they consider other beings not vampire their food. I enjoyed the tension in the dark scenes between Genny and the mysterious vamp Malik, and when Finn, a sexy satyr comes on scene the air literally crackles. I found myself cheering for one then changing my mind and cheering for another. Here's a tasty tidbit of a scene between Genny and Finn.

"I wasn't making a wish, Gen." He crooked a finger at me. "That was a promise." He twirled the finger like he was reeling me in. "Wishes have to be granted." I felt a sharp pull deep in my centre as though hooked on the thorny stems of bramble. "Promises on the other hand." - he touched his lips to his palm, eyes never leaving mine - "when given" - he blew me the kiss - "are a sure thing."

Bet your wondering what happened before and after this scene to cause this bit of conversation, huh?

I got a real thrill out of how Suzanne McLeod threaded magical, fairy tale characters into the book. It's one of the aspects of this book I really enjoyed. But don't be mislead by the mention of fairy tale characters, into thinking this book is a light read because it isn't. This story has several dark moments, some full of tension, others fear. Tidbits of information are constantly being thrown out, reeling you. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in this series, The Cold Kiss of Death, because some of these tidbits are surrounded by mysteries that haven't been solved yet.

This story started off with a lot of promise for me. I liked the characters and the world the author built. As I read on I became more and more unhappy with the execution of the book. Events seemed disjointed and everything felt slightly off. There was also a pov tense change at the end of the book that seemed odd and out of place.

I'm interested in seeing how things will settle with Malik and Finn, but I really don't want to deal with so many unanswered questions again. I really can't tell if the author deliberately left things vague and mysterious or if I was just missing something.

I'd be interested to know more about 3V and exactly why it seems like there's a cure for some people but none for others. Also I really don't understand what exactly is going on with the alter ego and what the specifics are of that. I wish I did. I think I would have enjoyed the story more if I wasn't so confused by everything.

Just when you think you've uncovered all the good urban fantasy writers out there, another one comes along. Ms. McLeod has indeed come along! She is an English writer with an English publisher who has crafted an unusual offering for the urban fantasy world.

The heroine, Genny, is half fae and half vampire, working for a company known as Spellcrackers owned and operated by witches. Witches don't like vampires and vampires don't like witches. In fact, they hate each other. If Genny's bosses were to discover her half-vampire heritage, they'd have her roasted, toasted, and out on the street in a heartbeat.

Genny is a spellcracker, a really good one. This means that she can ferret out spells cast by witches. She can also destroy spells. She is so good with this skill that she is hired to solve the murder of a vampire's fiance, against her own wishes. The vampire has been jailed for killing his fiancee. His father, a human who believes in his son's innocence, wants to know if magic (a spell) was used for the killing and he hires a reluctant Genny to find out. Genny's investigation brings her into close contact with the underbelly of the vampire community and this results in the reawakening of suppressed memories from her childhood. The author carefully weaves Genny's history into the unfolding storyline and the characters involved in the vampire world.

There is a lot of violence and sex in the book. Interestingly enough, though, Jenny is celibate in spite of being pursued by a morally ambiguous half-man, half-goat (descendant of Pan) and at least two majorly bad vampires.

The characters in the Sweet Scent of Blood are neither purely bad nor purely good, including the main character. They are fascinating, though. Everyone sells each other out, making it more difficult to follow the threads of the murder and find the murderer. This is a complex story beautifully told and executed. Each character is real and multi-dimensional. The world is imaginative and numerous subplots are built off the main plot. The writing is superb.

Initially, Amazon listed Ms. McLeod's books, but they were available only through Amazon's second tier sellers at astronomical prices. Being published by an English publisher may make it difficult to find Ms. McLeod's books at a reasonable price. If they aren't available directly from Amazon, give Abe Books a try. Her books there are available at far less expense than the array of sellers on the Amazon site.

When a vamp master calls in a marker, Fae magical troubleshooter Genny ends up trying to clear a young vamp in the murder of his human lover and ends up the prize in a vampire power struggle.

There was quite a bit that I liked in this first Spellcrackers novel: I liked the idea of the Fae heroine, Genny, and magical problem solving agency in this new UF offering, I really thought that Genny's hidden nature was quite interesting. I also liked some of the supporting Fae characters Genny's Satyr boss and her Troll police sergeant friend.

Where the book worked less well for me: an early action scene left me scratching my head to the point that I had to reread it - there were just too many new characters in the same room and I had a hard time keeping track of who was who. I also thought much of the vamp parts of the story felt too cliche' - all of the vamp head games and the prerequisite trip to a vamp nightclub just felt too familiar. And on thinking back on the story there were bits here and there that just didn't hold together - Genny's father allowing Genny's mother to fade when her blood was such a prize, for one.

Still the book held my interest and I would be tempted to take a peek at the next book in the series and might even be inclined to read it if it turns out to be less focused on the vamp part of McLeod's alternate England. I am a bit tired of vamps right now, but the Fae part I would definitely like to see more of.

Genny Taylor and her paranormal London are quite different from the London we know. I loved this opening volume to a new series! Others have covered the plot elements, but I have to say that the writing was excellent, the plot really well done, and the characters are fantastic. Above all, though, I loved the world that the author has built here. It's tough to write in such a well-populated zone as urban vampire fantasy without sounding a bit (a lot?) like everyone else, but this book manages it very well. Sure, there are the inevitable similarities, but this story is refreshingly unique in many ways, and the magic that infiltrates society is different, the vampires are different, and the consequences of being bitten are extremely different. Very good stuff, and I intend to read the sequels as soon as I can snap them up in paperback.

Genny Taylor is both sidhe and vampire, and cracks spells for a living in England. But she can only crack spells or absorb them, and can't actually cast any herself, a flaw in her magic. Though maybe all those bacon sandwiches are to blame...

Investigating the case of a girl supposedly murdered by her vampire boyfriend, Genny's bloody side soon reveals itself. Not that this is much of a problem for her suitors, satyr Finn and vamp Malik.

London is a welcome change from the mostly American settings populating urban fantasy, 3V is an interesting concept, and Genny's cat-like eyes are unique. But my overall feeling is "meh". Admittedly, I read this whilst in a shoddy mood, but it had to be read sometime. If you can't get it from the library, wait for a mass market release, when it will hopefully be more affordable. (I intend to continue the series this way.)

The Spellcrackers consists of good witches whose mission is to defuse evil magic in a world in which vampires have come out of the coffin and are accepted by society although some people believe they are the malevolent predators as legend describes them.

Spellcrackers.com operative Genny Taylor is a Sidhe who distrusts the vamps as she understands the food chain too well. Still in spite of her bias, she investigates the homicide of Melissa the girlfriend of Mr. October, Roberto the celebrity vampire accused of killing her with one bite. As Genny follows the bloody London trail she soon realizes the case is not quite as closed as she and the cops thought. However, she is unprepared for her and Mr. October being expendable tools discarded by two dangerous powerful adversaries who have fought for control of the paranormal communities for centuries.

This is a fast-paced humorous urban fantasy that in some ways will remind the audience of Charlaine Harris' Stackhouse tales; location aside. The story line is fast-paced and the inquiry solid. However, the thriller is owned by the paranormal species that frequent famous London haunts as if they own the city. Readers will enjoy the first Spellcrackers.com thriller as Suzanne McLeod brings life to her supernatural cast as much as her superb plot.

Harriet Klausner

I honestly love this series. What's not to love? Believable characters, interesting plot, unique world building, a touch of romance - everything one, a UF addict such as myself, needs from a good urban fantasy series! Highly recommended.

Suzanne McLeod (from England for those of us in the U.S.) has written a refreshing book about sidhe, vampires and witches, along with some wonderful side characters that are trolls, satyrs, brownies and goblins. Pixies and gremlins are also mentioned in this book. But it all works. In this alternate reality, England has the works. Vampires have used public relations to present themselves as celebrities, even putting out calenders, (Mr. June, Mr October, etc).

The main character, Genevieve Taylor has been coerced into trying to find out the real cause of death of a young woman. From the beginning, complications arise in the form of vampires and witches. They lead Genevieve (Genny) through twists and turns until she gets to the truth. Genevieve has some secrets of her own, that gradually are revealed. Even though I thought I knew what would happen next, I was always surprised. Even at the end, a character that I thought was one person, ended up to be someone else. Nice work. And Genevieve is no shrinking violet. She's tough, though not invincible, and usually uses her head- though there are two times that I wanted to say, come on Genny, think before you run into those wards! She can see spells and wards, though twice, in the heat of the moment, she neglects to look first.

Ms McLeod's writing is excellant, with great dialogue between characters {one of my pet peeves while reading books is "sucky" dialogue. I could rant for a while on that, but what for? Although bad dialogue is enough to make me put a book down for good}. Througout the book we learn bits and pieces about this world, I didn't notice any large info-dumps that interrupts the flow of the book. Although, usually I don't really mind the insertions of that kind of thing, as long as it doesn't take pages, inserted right in the middle of a conversation- where, when the conversation resumes, I'm going "huh", and have to find where the conversation last left off. hehe. I liked the way Ms McLeod handled the giving of information here.

There's quite a few secondary characters, and they are interesting characters, that I enjoyed reading about. You can get a little taste of The Sweet Scent of Blood by reading chapters one or two. {this is from Suzanne's website} I love when authors are willing to put up a taste of their work on their websites. That's how I became so interested in this book. I stumbled on Suzanne McLeod's website (following comments) and saw she writes, then saw her excerpts and loved the writing. I waited as long as I could, hoping to see her books in Borders here in America, but finally just ended up ordering both (there's a sequel-just released) from the Book Depository {no shipping charges!}.

In an alternate world, vampires have come out of the coffin to become the most sort-after of celebrities, but they're not the only ones out in the open, witches are a foot, goblins roam the streets, trolls wear the badges of law, and faeries take paid employment.

Genny is a fae living in London and working for the witch company [...], it's a job she enjoys for she is good with magic, well with finding it anyway. But suddenly Genny has found herself to be in demand, and not just for her magical spell abilities. But as she keeps explaining to everyone, she is not a detective, and definitely not anyone's slave.

Many secrets from Genny's past emerge and are fast returning to haunt her, but Genny has many other secrets of her own that are placing her in danger; she has more then just fae blood running through her veins. There are also romantic complications at work, blackmail, murder, and confused identities.

In this fast paced, action packed, mystery we are given complex characters wrapped in a complicated and intriguing plot. The Sweet Scent Of Blood is imaginative, entertaining and full of surprises; Genny being one of the most original and unique characters around. I can not wait to read more...