Switchblade Goddess [Mass Market Paperback]

Lucy A. Snyder (Author)

Book Description

Release date: December 27, 2011

This is the third book in the Jessie Shimmer series from Del Rey ... the first two books in the series, in order, are Spellbent and Shotgun Sorceress.

Switchblade Goddess picks up right where Shotgun Sorceress ended.

Hell hath no fury like a goddess scorned.
When Jessie Shimmer traveled to a nightmare underworld to save her lover, Cooper Marron, she gained magical powers . . . which soon seemed more like curses. Her beloved familiar, the ferret Pal, became a monster. Her enemies multiplied like demons. Worst of all, she hasn't found a moment of peace to be with the man she adores.

Now a switchblade-wielding demigoddess commanding a private hell stocked with suffering innocents is after her. The blademistress' vengeance sends Jessie and Pal on a dark journey through strange, perilous realms. Their quest for salvation will push her newfound abilities--and her relationship with Cooper--to the breaking point . . . and beyond.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for Lucy A. Snyder
 
“[A] hard-hitting and rather offbeat urban fantasy series . . . It’s a wild ride. . . . Lots of fun.”—Locus, on Shotgun Sorceress
 
“[A] thrilling trial-by-fire debut . . . constantly surprising.”—Christopher Golden, author of The Lost Ones, on Spellbent

About the Author

Lucy A. Snyder is the Bram Stoker Award–winning author of Spellbent and Shotgun Sorceress, as well as the story and poetry collections Sparks and Shadows, Chimeric Machines, and Installing Linux on a Dead Badger. Her writing has appeared in Strange Horizons, Weird Tales, Hellbound Hearts, Doctor Who Short Trips: Destination Prague, Chiaroscuro, GUD, and Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet. A Texas native, she lives in Worthington, Ohio, with her husband and occasional co-author, Gary A. Braunbeck.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey; Original edition (December 27, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345512111
• ISBN-13: 978-0345512116
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 0.9 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #803,936 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lucy A. Snyder is the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of the novels Spellbent, Shotgun Sorceress, and Switchblade Goddess. She also authored the collections Sparks and Shadows, Chimeric Machines, and Installing Linux on a Dead Badger. Her writing has appeared in Strange Horizons, Weird Tales, Hellbound Hearts, Dark Faith, Masques V, Doctor Who Short Trips: Destination Prague, Chiaroscuro, GUD, and Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet.

She was born in South Carolina but grew up in San Angelo, Texas. She currently lives in Worthington, Ohio with her husband and occasional co-author Gary A. Braunbeck.

Lucy has a BS in biology and an MA in journalism and is a graduate of the 1995 Clarion Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers' Workshop. She has mentored students in Seton Hill University's MFA program and coordinates the writing workshops at the annual Context conference.

You can learn more at her website: www.lucysnyder.com

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Crazy and so much fun! January 11, 2012

By Karissa Eckert

Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is the third book in the Jessie Shimmer series. It was a wonderful book. It ties up a lot of things that started in the first two books and was just a lot of fun to read. I really loved the first two books in this series as well and I think if you enjoyed those books you will enjoy this book.

The book is broken into two parts. The first part has Jessie fighting the demon that has possessed the demigoddess Miko; Miko is the demigoddess who devastated a small town in the second book. Jessie and Pal end up fighting in Miko's own Hell in an effort to both save the innocent souls Miko has taken and free Miko from possession. The second part of the book deals with Jessie fighting her own possession and trying to find a way to heal Pal; she is also trying to make it back to her father. Cooper is in the story some, but is away dealing with other issues for large portions of the story. This story is really about Miko, Pal, and Jessie.

As I have said in previous reviews this series is not for everyone. It is incredibly dark and gritty and at times just plain nasty. If you are a fan of the Sandman Slim series I would recommend this as a good read for you. That being said this is a very creative and off-the-wall series and that is why I enjoy it. So just to be clear there is swearing, goriness, many offensive things said, strange sex scenes, and general yuckiness. There is also a very creative magic system, an absolutely crazy world, lots of action and butt-kicking, and incredibly complex characters.

Jessie is awesome. She is in bad shape for most of this book, but she keeps on going to protect those she loves. Despite all the violence and craziness she endures throughout she is incredibly loyal to her loved ones.... She has gained some magical abilities in her last trip to the underworld, they have stunted her ability to do some white magic which complicates things for her. She also has a wonderfully dark sense of humor which makes the story a lot of fun to read.

The other awesome character is Pal, Jessie's familiar. He is in rough shape throughout the book as well, and like Jessie goes above and beyond to try and assist her and aid her.

I really like most of the side characters too. Cooper wasn't in the story much, but the time he was in the story was pretty intense. We learn more about Cooper's back story and why he is how he is. My only character complaint was that I didn't feel that Miko was filled out very well; we do gain some sympathy for her and learn some of her background but I still felt like I didn't understand her character all that well.

The book is well written and I enjoyed reading it. It was engaging and easy to read, I had trouble putting the book down.

Overall I really, really enjoyed this book in the series. I have enjoyed all of the books in this series. I think if you are a fan of dark and gritty urban fantasy you will find a lot here to love. As I mentioned above this is not a series for everyone; there are a lot of disturbing things in here, lots of swearing, it is gory and just plain yucky at points. That is part of what I like about this series though...you never know what to expect; it is incredibly creative, incredibly strange, and very different from every other urban fantasy I have read out there. If you are a fan of dark and gritty urban fantasy you should check this series out. If you liked the first couple books in the series you will love this one. I would recommend this to fans of the Sandman Slim series by Richard Kadrey. Read more ›

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Freaking awesome! January 4, 2012

By rantboi VINE™ VOICE

Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I absolutely love this series. It's full of action, magic, and violence. This book was so messed up at certain points that I couldn't believe what I was reading. Fans of S & M will find much to admire. I'm not usually a fan of that kind of thing, but this book went so over-the-top with it, that I couldn't help but love it. The first 100 pages of Switchblade Goddess were fairly interesting, but the book really picked up after that, when Jessie first stepped into Miko's hell. After that I absolutely loved it and couldn't wait to find out what twisted thing was going to happen next. Jessie Shimmer must be the most bad-ass heroine I've read about. Some of the things she has to go through are unbelievable.

If you're in the mood for an action-packed, twisted dark urban fantasy, Switchblade Goddess definitely delivers. But I definitely recommend reading the first two books in the series, Spellbent and Shotgun Sorceress, first.

I certainly hope there are more books to come in this series, and I'd definitely be interested in anything else this author decides to write. Highly recommended!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Jessie Shimmer goes worldwide January 5, 2012

By Scott Slemmons

Format:Mass Market Paperback

This new book kicks off almost immediately after the end of the previous one -- Jessie Shimmer, with her magic stone eye and magic hellfire arm, has temporarily stopped the diabolical soul harvester Miko -- that's the clothing-bereft knife-slinger on the cover above -- but Miko's not down for the count, and Jessie needs to figure out a way to stop her, rescue the people whose souls she's stolen, save her lover Cooper and her familiar Pal, and still escape the wrath of the magical and highly powerful Virtus Regnum. Can she do it? Maybe, but it won't be easy, and it sure as heck won't be painless.

This book takes on a much more global flavor, thanks to Jessie and Cooper discovering some portals that let them travel almost anywhere they want to. So we get to follow Jessie's adventures on a tropical island, in the Louisiana swamps, at a ritzy European castle -- and after spending the previous book mostly stuck in a little dead-end Texas town, that's definitely a welcome change, just so we can see what other kinds of magical chaos can erupt in all these other settings. But a lot of the action here takes place inside Jessie's mind, because after a certain point, any time Jessie falls asleep, Miko gets to torture her -- as in not-for-the-squeamish flaying-you-alive torture. Luckily, it's all in Jessie's head, so there's no physical damage -- but the mental and emotional scars do some serious damage. And to top it all off, Miko also wants to sleep with Jessie and induct her as her loyal lieutenant -- and Jessie would probably prefer the flaying-alive stuff instead....

This book is a great deal darker than the previous one (which was a lot darker than the first book in the series, too, come to think of it) -- there's uncomfortably graphic torture, barely-consensual sex, terrors and betrayals that strike at the emotional heart of anyone who's ever been in a relationship. Large swaths of the plot are more cringingly terrifying than anything you'll find in mainstream horror novels.

I think where this book -- and the entire series, actually -- really shines is in its characters. Not just the main characters, not just Jessie, Cooper, Pal, the Warlock, and Miko, but minor characters and walk-on parts often have some really fun, vibrant personalities that make you wish there were other novels that would follow what else these people were up to. Snyder clearly loves creating cool characters, whether they're major roles or cameos, and dangit, I love reading that kind of stuff.

This isn't something you can just pick up blind -- if you wanna really enjoy this book, you're gonna have to read "Spellbent" and "Shotgun Sorceress" first. But that ain't too rough a requirement -- all three books are just eight bucks apiece, and it sure wouldn't hurt you to read all three in the trilogy. Read more ›

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars 3 1/2 Stars...Not bad but not my favorite January 3, 2012

By S. McCullough TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This series is one of my favorite. I loved both "Spellbent" and "Shotgun Sorceress". I was eager to read this installment. In fact I had a gift card from Christmas and I ordered 19 books. This is the first one I grabbed to start reading when that package came in the mail. These books have been progressively becoming darker and more twisted. I am okay with that but I did realize that I don't necessary care for the concept of torture in the 'hellement' or a mental plane in which the person can just wake up and be unscathed in the real world. And a few times the magic just seemed too easy. Oh we have such and such a problem but wham! We can use this magic that has never been mentioned before to make it all better!

I don't mean to sound like I am picking on this book because I really did enjoy it. I was very happy to see the Miko perspectives which were handled so beautifully and gave quite a lot of substance to the villain. In fact, she could have had an entire book about her past. I also loved the scene where Jessie tries to save the souls that Miko has taken. I was also super pleased with the characters. I love these character so much and I believe that they are why this series stands out above so many others for me. Pal, Jessie's familiar, is present most of this book and I just love him. I also like the Warlock a lot and wish he had been more in this book even though he did play a good part. I have not been a big fan of Coopers. I haven't ever gotten a sense of why he is good enough for Jessie. Jessie is a kick-butt heroine with a good heart. She needs a strong good man. I am not convinced Cooper is the man for her but he does make great strides by the end of the book....

I know the author plans to do more with these characters but I strongly hope that there will be another installment of this series. I feel like there is a lot more that can be done with this wonderful world and its inhabitants. I wouldn't mind if some of the darkness lets up at least enough for some more of the sass and humor that was so strong in the first novel. I also think the hellement part has been done to death and I am ready for Jessie and the gang to find something new to become involved with. Read more ›