 | Title: In Blood We Trust
Sexual Content: A couple moderately graphic sex scenes. A scene that almost turns into an orgy. Rating:
Okay – A few good points, but with significant flaws. Library/swap/borrow if you want. |
Showing posts with label Christine Cody. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christine Cody. Show all posts
20 September 2011
Posted by
Abigail
at 6:30 AM
Labels: 2 bats, 3rd in series, Bloodlands, Bloodlands Trilogy, Christine Cody, Paranormal Romance, Post-Apocalyptic, Review, Vampires, Weres
Labels: 2 bats, 3rd in series, Bloodlands, Bloodlands Trilogy, Christine Cody, Paranormal Romance, Post-Apocalyptic, Review, Vampires, Weres
19 August 2011
 | Title: Blood Rules
 Sexual Content: A scene of sensuality Rating:
Good - A fun read with minor flaws. Maybe read an excerpt before buying. |
Description
In the Bloodlands, Sometimes the Monsters Don’t Even Know Themselves….
After the vampire named Gabriel came into her world, Mariah Lyander was forced to face her own true nature and admit to the terrible things she had done--things he could not forgive.
To redeem herself, to recover her own humanity--and Gabriel's love--she sets out on a perilous journey across the haunted land, in search of a rumored cure. And Gabriel, blood-bonded to her, is compelled to follow.
Together--yet not together--they will face danger and death. And what they find is not a place where monsters can be cured—but one where they are born…
Review
There aren’t many books who attempt to straddle multiple genres at the same time, and fewer still that actually succeed. Christine Cody’s Bloodlands trilogy is proving to be one of the rare exceptions that manages to blend paranormal, western, romance, and post-apocalyptic genres together in a way that takes the best from each and shows just how good mixing can be.
BLOOD RULES, the second book in the trilogy, picks up shortly after the ending of BLOODLANDS. Mariah and Gabriel are stuck in an uncomfortable situation mixed with guilt, desire, confusion, and resentment. It’s a very tenuous relationship that really comes to life through the shifting POV’s from each character. I only wish more of the story had stayed focused on them and more progress had been made towards a resolution or otherwise a complete break between them.
Once again the worldbuilding in the Bloodlands series continues to impress and astound. We get to movie beyond the little shapeshifter community we met in BLOODLANDS and venture out into the ravaged post-apocalyptic America. New horrors are revealed like the asylums where shifters are experimented on and studied, we learn about indentured water slaves who sell themselves for the precious liquid, and travel to the necropolis where individuals who were disfigured and wracked by the diseases that rose up when the world broke live in isolation from the ‘Healthies’.
But as impressive as the worldbuilding continues to be, what I appreciated most about BLOOD RULES is the mythology development. Werewolves, vampires, mutated creatures, and all manor of shifters from deer to Gila monsters aren’t just explained away by vague references to magic or freak side effects of the planetary changes. There is a fascinating explanation for their origins that looks to only get more fascinating in the next book.
Second books in trilogies are hard. They often serve as little more than setups to the final book and don’t really stand on their own as complete stories. For the most part, BLOOD RULES avoids this pitfall, but it is necessary to have read BLOODLANDS to fully understand and appreciate what happens in this book. It doesn’t have the same impact as the debut primarily because of the multiple point of views introduced in BLOOD RULES and the fact that in expanding the world and mythology, the intimacy that was developed between the characters is somewhat diminished. Despite those minor complaints, I’m already saddled up and ready to revisit this world when the final book in the Bloodlands Trilogy called IN BLOOD WE TRUST is published on September 27, 2011.
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Posted by
Abigail
at 6:30 AM
Labels: 2nd in series, 3 bats, Bloodlands Trilogy, Christine Cody, Paranormal, Paranormal Romance, Post-Apocalyptic, Review, trilogy, Vampires, werewolves
Labels: 2nd in series, 3 bats, Bloodlands Trilogy, Christine Cody, Paranormal, Paranormal Romance, Post-Apocalyptic, Review, trilogy, Vampires, werewolves
19 July 2011
 | Title: Bloodlands
Sexual Content: A scene of masturbation. A scene of graphic sensuality. A graphic sex scene. Rating:
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Description
The New Badlands—a desolate area in the West forged by the terrible events that altered the entire country, where a few frightened citizens retreated underground to shelter from the brutal weather . . . and from a society gone deadly dangerous.
Then the vampire arrived—and they started calling it the Bloodlands.
Not because Gabriel, the so-called monster running from his true self, was searching for his lover’s murderer. Nor because Mariah, the woman who reluctantly took him in, was willing to do anything to survive in the changed world.
No, the Badlands officially became the Bloodlands the moment a gun-for-hire who’d decided to slay every monster left in the country came after Gabriel . . .
Review
Is BLOODLANDS, the first book in the Bloodlands Trilogy by Christine Cody (aka Chris Marie Green aka Crystal Green) a paranormal western? Post-apocalyptic fantasy? Dystopian romance? I don’t know what to call it except good. Very, very good.
The narrating voice of Mariah is immediately the kind that pulls you—even drags you when necessary—into her bleak but fascinating world. Set in a not too distant future, BLOODLANDS portrays a world that has been brought to it’s knees and then kicked for good measure by environmental changes, corrupt governments, and power hungry ne'er-do-wells. Water is more valuable than gold, gangs rove the scorched earth, and monsters are real. Mariah, a deeply suspicious and independent woman, lives underground with a small community of others. Her only companion is a brilliant (literally) dog and a stockpile of weapons. Gabriel is the other protagonist, a broken man without hope, who falls on Mariah’s doorstep half dead.
The story moves swiftly, especially in the beginning when these two characters, both with secrets, circle each other and gradually learn to trust (perhaps not as gradually as I would have liked in Mariah’s case). There are so many nuggets of flat out cool world building that I’m already disappointing that there are only three books in this series. I also loved the succession of surprises that crept up towards the end that I never saw coming. They impacted the story enough that I already want to read it again to experience it in a totally new light.
Overall, BLOODLANDS is a surprisingly romantic story of survival set in a ruined world full of monsters, both human and otherwise, that will leave dust on your skin and a smile on your face after finishing. In an act of supreme kindness to fans who will soon be panting after more books, Ace is publishing all three books in the Bloodlands Trilogy back to back. BLOODLANDS on July 26th, BLOOD RULES on August 30th, and IN BLOOD WE TRUST on September 27th.
|
Posted by
Abigail
at 3:30 PM
Labels: 1st in series, 1st person, 4 bats, Bloodlands Trilogy, Christine Cody, Demons, Paranormal, Paranormal Romance, Post-Apocalyptic, Review, Shapeshifters, Vampires
Labels: 1st in series, 1st person, 4 bats, Bloodlands Trilogy, Christine Cody, Demons, Paranormal, Paranormal Romance, Post-Apocalyptic, Review, Shapeshifters, Vampires
**Visit Dark Faerie Tales today for her Deadly Destination tour of Kendra Leigh Castle’s Chicago’s Mabon from Lily Quinn & a chance to win DARK AWAKENING**
We’re heading out West for today’s Deadly Destinations thanks to Christine Cody's Mariah Lyander from BLOODLANDS (available on July 26, 2011 from Ace books), the first in a new “paranormal Shane meets Mad Max” series of the same name. My review will be up later today, but I’ll tell you right now that I loved it. Three of you will get a free chance to love it thanks to Ace books and one of you will snag an ARC of the next book, BLOOD RULES. Leave a comment and see details below.
Mariah Lyander’s Guide to the New Badlands
by
Christine Cody
So you found me.
Not many people can lay claim to doing that out here in the New Badlands, and far fewer can say that they tinkered with my visz monitor system to contact me underground on a hand-held, two-way visz. You’ve got some guts, but I suppose it took a lot of those to leave the urbans in the first place, especially if you were one of the house-bound citizens who locked herself away from the crime and fear that now fill the urban streets. I don’t know why you left your hub, but I hope you know that life out here won’t be any safer. Not nowadays, in particular.
I suppose I should just introduce myself. Mariah Lyander. As you’ve probably surmised, I live below the desert’s surface, along with my dog Chaplin and a few other settlers whose quarters branch off from the main, root-strewn center. Years ago, before my father took his life, he, my dog, and I left the old Dallas hub we lived in. After the attack on my family…well, we couldn’t stay there, and we built this underground home out here, where we can mine water from an aquifer, grow hydroponic food, and trade with the other settlers who hide from all the terrible things that changed our world.
Down here, we try not to think about how things used to be before ice caps melted and the weather altered the planet, and how the mosquito epidemic wiped out so many people. And as for the paranoia that happened afterward, when all those rumors circulated about a “monster gene” that made certain folks immune to the mosquitos and most other diseases? Hell, the feds started to tell us that those monsters don’t exist—that the government-sanctioned Shredders took care of any and all threats. They say there’re no more monster/parasites who lived off the precious water in our blood. No more reason to fear.
But, if you ask me, humans are even worse monsters.
That’s partly because bad guys have run of the urbans, and they aren’t content to stay in their hubs anymore, either. A whole band of them moved in to a settlement just over the hills, beyond the Joshua trees and loto-cactus plants and scrub. We settlers have been wary of them. They’ve started skulking round, looking in our visz monitors, just as you are right now, although they’ve never approached with an offer of good will, right off the bat, as you did with your promise to get going after I’ve told you how to get to some shelter for the night. I don’t know how you discovered the visz lenses, because all of them are camouflaged well and good, but here you are.
I’m sorry we can’t offer shelter here, but take my advice: there’re caves nearby that you can duck into during nightfall. You should keep your heat-suit on--it helps mask your scent. Then, come dawn, you can make your way to wherever you’re going. I’d leave quick, too, before the sun sets in the New Badlands. There are…things…out here that you won’t want to meet after dark.
Just look behind you if you don’t believe me. See those creatures circling in the air in the distance? Those gargoyle-looking mutants are called shades. Carrion eaters. They’ve honed in on something, so avoid them before they see you. Maybe you should even head for the loom-tree gully off yonder. You’ll know it because there’s a stand of trees with branches like big black webs. I see you’ve got a zoom bike, so you can take off there right now, since the gully’s near an old silver mine that’s sure to offer good shelter.
I hope you fare well, but, again, I just can’t afford to let you in, even if your approach was peaceful. Caution is a matter of survival out here—that’s why I didn’t climb out of my quarters and go outside to talk to you face-to-face, either. In fact, none of my neighbors in our small settlement would do that lightly. But you’ll survive easily if you listen to my final words of advice. For sustenance, there’s plenty of moisture you can get from loto-cactus—stab it with your knife to get at the liquid, but watch out for the prickles. They can grab onto you if you’re not careful. And there’re plenty of smaller creatures you can catch, like sand rabbits and foxes. Don’t let their mutations scare you because most of them are all hiss and spit, and they can be chased down without much effort. You’ve got a knife to kill them—when you approached me on the visz, you laid it out in clear view, just to show that you didn’t mean any harm. I’m glad you have a big blade.
The sun’s starting to go down, and there are things that happen outside that even I can’t face, so be careful, and always look behind you…
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About Christine Cody
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| Want to read more from Christine Cody?
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Christine Cody is the author of the new postapocalyptic supernatural Western Bloodlands series. The first book, Bloodlands, launches July 26, 2011, followed by Blood Rules (August 30) and In Blood We Trust (September 27). 
Giveaway provided by Ace and Christine Cody
3 copies of BLOODLANDS & an ARC of BLOOD RULES by Christine Cody
Available on July 26, 2011 from Ace Books
Description:
The New Badlands—a desolate area in the West forged by the terrible events that altered the entire country, where a few frightened citizens retreated underground to shelter from the brutal weather . . . and from a society gone deadly dangerous.
Then the vampire arrived—and they started calling it the Bloodlands.
Not because Gabriel, the so-called monster running from his true self, was searching for his lover’s murderer. Nor because Mariah, the woman who reluctantly took him in, was willing to do anything to survive in the changed world.
No, the Badlands officially became the Bloodlands the moment a gun-for-hire who’d decided to slay every monster left in the country came after Gabriel . . .
Pre-Order from
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