nubecula Female, 24, Single. New York, NY, USA

I've been hunting and hunting for a new fantasy series to read and anticipate. And I’ve found one with Warded Man! While definitely part bildungsroman, I never once found it hackneyed or cliché, which is a terribly hard thing to pull off with these coming-of-age tales. Classic tropes were used in refreshing ways and the action never once let up! (Or if it ever did, I didn’t notice…I was waay too engrossed in the story.)

This is a must-read for 2009!!!!!!

(My ARE was courtesy the publisher at the 2009 NY Comic Con. I even met the author, who just happened to celebrate his b-day that day!)

An interesting take on the Arthurian legends from a romance genre point-of-view. We all love an uber-powerful, prince-of-darkness, alpha male lead in romance novels...but Kerrigan just doesn't do it for me. Too big, too bad, too quick of a personality change in the last couple of pages. I could have done without the epilogue. Furthermore, Seren reeks of Mary-Sue and the love scenes were tepid. I expected a few more fireworks from Ken--er, I mean MacGregor's pen.

I've only read the first couple of books in Sands’ Argeneau Vampires series, so I could be off about the entire flow of the series, but I feel Sands should have stayed with the straight working girl/working boy formula since her focus is the blooming attraction between Sam and Mortimer. I felt teased with distracting suspense elements and found the follow-through disappointing.

I'd give this two-and-a-half stars if I could—that would be the mid-point and I felt this was mostly an average book where the fun banter and witty scenes balanced the tepid, rogue-hunting plot device. (My copy was courtesy the publisher at the 2009 NY Comic Con.)

In a nutshell: Life in the fray as a peon.

It’s easy to forget that there’s a person behind the helmet (whether in Star Wars or real life). Traviss certainly reminds her readers of that fact with these characters. She’s done a good job making us sympathetic towards the green Jedi and the child-commando—and why should we not be? At times Etain is gratingly naïve and Darman a little too wise and accepting, but by the end you realize that it’s all necessary, that they are just two people swept up in a large wave and unable to do anything but cling to their guns and get washed along.

(My copy was courtesy the publisher at the 2009 NY Comic Con.)