Title: Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues

Series: White Trash Zombie #2

Author: Diana Rowland

Published: July 3rd 2012 by DAW

Genre: Adult Urban Fantasy

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Book 1: My Life as a White Trash Zombie

Angel Crawford is finally starting to get used to life as a brain-eating zombie, but her problems are far from over. Her felony record is coming back to haunt her, more zombie hunters are popping up, and she’s beginning to wonder if her hunky cop-boyfriend is involved with the zombie mafia. Yeah, that’s right—the zombie mafia.

Throw in a secret lab and a lot of conspiracy, and Angel’s going to need all of her brainpower—and maybe a brain smoothie as well—in order to get through it without falling apart.

Life should be getting easier for Angel; she has a hot new undead boyfriend, a good job and her father is finally getting his act together. Only life for Angel is never easy. Her boyfriend’s uncle is the head of the zombie mafia, her job is on the line after a body gets stolen from the lab, her parole officer is on her ass about getting her GED, and Ed, the zombie hunter, is back in town. And he may not be the only person who has a score to settle with Angel.

Let’s start with how awesome the covers for this series are. Gorgeous. Vivid. Provocative. Even if I had no idea what the book was about, I would want to read it for the cover alone. Which is actually what happened when I picked up the audiobook for the first book, My Life as a White Trash Zombie. I just thought it would be something interesting, I didn’t think I would discover one of my new favorite series.

This book dives right into the how and why of zombism (zombiism? Zombage?), providing excellent scientific explanation for how it all works. It all sounds very plausible, and it clearly shows Diana Rowland’s knowledge of medical procedure.

Marcus was kind of an ass in this book in that he lets his uncle run too much of his life, and believes too little in Angel. I liked that Angel saw it as well, and as a newly strong, independent, undead woman, she’s not going to take that attitude.

For a while I was worried that the moments of ick that made the first book so delightful would be missing, but no, Diana Rowland manages to slip it in there. And it was icky and awesome and again made me squeal in horrified glee. This book really has all the elements I want in a story.

It even gave me a couple of secondary characters that I really liked, namely Detective Ben Roth, and believe it or not, Ed and Angel’s father. That’s right, the author took the bad guys from the first book and made them awesome.

I can’t wait to read the final book in the series, White Trash Zombie Apocalypse.

Diana Rowland has lived her entire life below the Mason-Dixon line, uses “y’all” for second-person-plural, and otherwise has no southern accent (in her opinion.) She attended college at Georgia Tech where she earned a BS in Applied Mathematics, and after graduation forgot everything about higher math as quickly as possible.

She has worked as a bartender, a blackjack dealer, a pit boss, a street cop, a detective, a computer forensics specialist, a crime scene investigator, and a morgue assistant, which means that she’s seen more than her share of what humans can do to each other and to themselves. She won the marksmanship award in her Police Academy class, has a black belt in Hapkido, has handled numerous dead bodies in various states of decomposition, and can’t rollerblade to save her life.

She presently lives in south Louisiana with her husband and her daughter where she is deeply grateful for the existence of air conditioning.

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Title: Spirit

Series: Elemental #3

Author: Brigid Kemmerer

Published: May 28th 2013 by K Teen

Genre: YA Urban Fantasy / Paranormal

Source: Netgalley

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Book 1: Storm
Book 2: Spark
Book 2.5: Breathless

With power comes enemies. Lots of them.

Hunter Garrity just wants to be left alone. He’s learned the hard way that his unusual abilities come at a price. And he can’t seem to afford any allies.

He’s up to his neck in hostiles. His grandfather, spoiling for a fight. The Merrick brothers, who think he ratted them out. Calla, the scheming psycho who wants to use him as bait.

Then there’s Kate Sullivan, the new girl at school. She’s not hostile. She’s bold. Funny. Hot. But she’s got an agenda, too.

With supposedly secret powers rippling to the surface everywhere around him, Hunter knows something ugly is about to go down. But finding out what means he’ll have to find someone he can trust…

In this book, we finally get the hear Hunter’s story, and it is a heart breaking one. If you don’t want to hug this boy at least once during the story, you do not have a soul.

Hunter Garrity has lost everything. He lost his father, his sense of self, the girl who might have been something if he’d played it differently, the friend he lied to, and now, everyone’s trust in him. Rock bottom is rushing up fast, and there is nothing Hunter can do but impact and get crushed.

For a large part of this book, something felt off to me. I still enjoyed it, I was still riveted, but I didn’t have quite as much love as I had for the previous books. I loved Hunter and his ability to complicate his life and tie himself into knots. I really liked Kate and her take charge, punch a man in the ‘nads way of life. I just… didn’t like them together, I guess. Found myself skimming through the parts where conversation wasn’t involved.

Perhaps it’s personal bias. The Gabriel/Hunter shipper in me being obstinate. Even though Gabriel made it a little difficult by being such a hotheaded ass for much of the book.

I’m a little ashamed to say I kind of punched the air in Chapter 31. And the hospital scene towards the end? RESTORED MY FAITH COMPLETELY. Complete teehee moment. It feels like Brigid Kemmerer put me through the wringer right along with Hunter, but we both came out of it with a sense of hope.

Oh man, it’s going to be a mighty long wait until the next book. Am I the only one who hopes we see more of Silver? I’d especially like a glimpse into his psychotic head. Bettin’ its real interesting in there.

Brigid Kemmerer was born in Omaha, Nebraska, though her parents quickly moved her all over the United States, from the desert in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to the lakeside in Cleveland, Ohio, and several stops in between, eventually settling near Annapolis, Maryland. Brigid started writing in high school, and her first real “novel” was about four vampire brothers causing a ruckus in the suburbs. Those four brothers are the same boys living in the pages of The Elemental Series, so Brigid likes to say she’s had four teenage boys taking up space in her head for the last seventeen years. (Though sometimes that just makes her sound nuts.)

Brigid writes anywhere she can find a place to sit down (and she’s embarrassed to say a great many pages of The Elemental Series were written while sitting on the floor in the basement of a hotel while she was attending a writers’ conference). Most writers enjoy peace and quiet while writing, but Brigid prefers pandemonium. A good thing, considering she has three boys in the house, ranging in age from an infant to a teenager.

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Top Ten

Righto, in no particular order, these are the books where the cover grabbed my attention before I even knew what the book was about. Click the cover to go to the review page (where available) or Goodreads page (where not) if you want to know more.

Title: Scarlet

Series: Lunar Chronicles #2

Author: Marissa Meyer

Published: February 5th 2013 by Feiwel and Friends

Genre: Young Adult Sci Fi

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Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She’s trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she’ll be the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn’t know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother’s whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

I was a little sad at what little page time Kai received, but I was very glad to meet the new characters. There is some great characterization in this series, even the bad guys (and girl) make sense to me. Of the new characters introduced, Thorne was by far my favorite. I hope he has a bright future of crime ahead of him (and maybe a girl or two) and doesn’t get killed off during the coming war.

Which is not to say that I didn’t like Scarlet and Wolf. How could I not? Scarlet was one bad ass Little Red Riding Hood, with her red hoodie and a gun in her belt, and Wolf was… dang adorable, actually. Sweet at times. Shy at times. Ridiculously cute when it came to food. Big Bad Wolf deserves all the cuddles. Then he about faces and nearly rips peoples’ heads off. Mr. and Mrs. Bad Ass, thank you very much. Their relationship is kind of awkward at the best of times and cheesy at the worst. Kind of low key and not at all in your face. Which makes it exactly my kind of thing.

What about Queen Levana? Bad, bad girl indeed. But in a very good way. I love that we got to spend a little time in her scary head.

I live in Tacoma, Washington, with my fiancé and our two cats. In addition to my slight obsession with books and writing, I’m big on road-tripping, wine-tasting, and hunting for antiques. I’m represented by Jill Grinberg.

CINDER, my debut novel, is a futuristic re-envisioning of Cinderella in which Cinder is a cyborg mechanic. Release date: 3 Jan 2012.

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Title: Dead Witch Walking

Series: The Hollows #1

Author: Kim Harrison

Published: July 1st 2004 by HarperTorch

Genre: Adult Urban Fantasy

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All the creatures of the night gather in “the Hollows” of Cincinnati, to hide, to prowl, to party…and to feed.

Vampires rule the darkness in a predator-eat-predator world rife with dangers beyond imagining – and it’s Rachel Morgan’s job to keep that world civilized.

A bounty hunter and witch with serious sex appeal and an attitude, she’ll bring ‘em back alive, dead…or undead.

This book was downright fun.

I love the worldbuilding and mythology surrounding all the fantasy creatures, and I found the characters to be very engaging. I especially like how magic works in this universe, how stirring a spell is a huge effort that most witches would rather avoid, and the ways in which things can backfire. I am a sucker for things going wrong.

Rachel Morgan, our main character and white garden witch, has a sucky boss. One who is all too happy to be rid of her. At least, until Rachel takes the IS’ top vampire, Ivy, with her. Then all bets are off and there is glory to be had for the person (or creature) who brings back Rachel’s head. And they do try. We’re talking werewolf chases, and full scale fairy on pixie warfare. All great fun.

I liked Rachel. She’s not perfect. She gets her ass handed to her on many an occasion, but she’s smart, she survives. Or rather, she’s resourceful and has some great friends, and that’s why she survives. The smart is debatable. I mean, really, if you get caught breaking into some bad man’s house twice, and nearly die the second time, why would you go back for a third round?

The secondary characters are pretty intriguing. You have Ivy, the vamp, who hasn’t touched a drop of blood in three years, but is always struggling against her nature. She wants to jump Rachel bad, and has to take drastic measures to control herself, including giving Rachel advice on how to be less seductive and juicy.

Then is Jenks, the 4” high comic relief. The mouthy little pixie goes everywhere Rachel does, riding on her shoulder, or swinging from her earrings. He’s afraid of nothing and no one, willing to defend his garden to the death, and equally willing to throw burning pixie curses at whomever displeases him. But when danger calls, he’s right there in the thick of it, saving Rachel’s butt any way he can.

Together Rachel, Ivy and Jenks are Vampiric Charms Inc, a sort of supernatural detective agency. They end up adopting mystery man (and I’m guessing future love interest) Nick, who is fully human by all counts, but seems to know a whole lot more than he lets on.

This book also has a very intriguing bad guy, Mr. Trent Kalamack. You have to admire a man who can survive a demon attack, scrupulously kill his employees and still admit defeat gracefully. All while cutting a pretty picture in his immaculate suit.

At this point I am waiting for the obligatory love triangle to show itself. Will it be between Nick and Trent? Or Nick and Ivy? Or is there more hot contenders coming in the *counts* 10 books I still have to go? Only one way to find out. I am pretty excited about it too.

My apologies, Ms. Harrison, for taking so long to pick up your book. Rest assured, I have definitely seen the error of my ways.

Kim Harrison, dark urban fantasy author of the New York Times bestselling The Outlaw Demon Wails, was born and raised in the upper Midwest. After gaining her bachelors in the sciences, she moved to South Carolina, where she has remained since. She is currently developing a new young adult series between working on the Hollows books, and is a member of The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. When not at her desk, she is most likely to be found chasing down good chocolate, exquisite sushi, or the ultimate dog chew.

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Title: Playing Hooky

Series: Paranormal Investigations #1

Author: Rita Webb

Published: January 21st 2013

Genre: New Adult Paranormal Romance

Source: Xpresso Book Tours

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Valentine’s Day.

And my 21st birthday.

Whoop-de-doo.

Just another college day full of classes and more homework than is humanly possible.

…until Jason, my best-friend-since-kindergarten, shows up to take me out for the day.

Like old times: the two of us on a wacky adventure, playing hooky from real life. With his lopsided grin and tickets to a circus full of misfits and monsters, he introduces me to a whole new world—one full of magic and mystery—and turns my reality upside down.

Except nothing goes as planned, and we end up running through the city to find a missing siren before someone brews a love potion with her blood.

Sirens and love potions, witches and elves, and Valentine kisses. Nothing will be the same for me again.

While the relationship between Emma and Jason is sweet in its slow development, I have to say the secondary characters stole the show for me. I am amazed by how much punch is packed into this little book in terms of supporting characters. From sirens that will enslave you, to grumpy dwarves to elves whose magic go awry. And all of them to be found in a paranormal circus. Pardon me while I clap my hands like an overexcited kid. Paranormal. Circus. I love me some of that.

The childhood friend romance is one of my most favorite tropes of all time, and this story hits all the right buttons for it. Emma and Jason have been friends practically forever. They go on crazy adventures together, and they have each other’s back. They are just so comfortable together, but underneath it all, that undeniable attraction lurks.

I am very interested in seeing what the rest of this series has in store.

Leaving the house to go to school, I had schoolbooks spilling out of one hand, the other holding my place in a Nancy Drew novel, and bunny slippers still on my feet. My mom was a wee bit upset.

I haven’t changed much. Still always have a book (or two) in my hand or creating stories in my head, and although I don’t have any bunny slippers, I love writing in my jammies and snuggly slipper socks.

When I grow up (maybe a hundred years from now), I’d like to be a superhero, but for now, saving the day, one page at a time, suits me just fine.

With my husband TJ (my own cuddly werewolf), I home-school our three girls, who keep us busy with art, science projects, books to read, dance classes, and walks about the park.

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Title: Pretty Girl 13

Author: Liz Coley

Published: March 19th 2013 by Katherine Tegen Books

Genre: YA Contemporary

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Reminiscent of the Elizabeth Smart case, Pretty Girl-13 is a disturbing and powerful psychological mystery about a girl who must piece together the story of her kidnapping and captivity.

Angie Chapman was thirteen years old when she ventured into the woods alone on a Girl Scouts camping trip. Now she’s returned home…only to find that it’s three years later and she’s sixteen-or at least that’s what everyone tells her.

What happened to the past three years of her life?

Angie doesn’t know.

But there are people who do — people who could tell Angie every detail of her forgotten time, if only they weren’t locked inside her mind. With a tremendous amount of courage, Angie embarks on a journey to discover the fragments of her personality, otherwise known as her “alters.” As she unearths more and more about her past, she discovers a terrifying secret and must decide: When you remember things you wish you could forget, do you destroy the parts of yourself that are responsible?

Hell, it’s probably not a book I should have read either. Books like these make me want to go all supervillain and destroy the entire human race. We should not be allowed to live if we produce people who can inflict these terrible acts on another. I read a book like this and I am validated in my reasons for never wanting children.

Angie is certainly a strong character, surviving her ordeals as she did. Even if her mind had to shatter to get her through it. The main thing is she survived, and that meant she could start the long process of healing. That said, there were a couple of times I wanted to smack for some of the decisions she made.

The one thing that horrified me most of about this story was that the Little Wife personality, the one who experienced the rape, was referred to as Slut. Not only by Angie and one of the other personalities, but by a goddamn trained Psychiatrist of all things. In front of the girl’s parents. Nobody even blinked an eye. Not cool. So not cool. Angie herself eventually realizes the awful injustice of this, but by then it’s far too late.

Despite the dissociated nature of the story, it was quite emotional at times. I may not have broken down into full on crying, but I did get misty eyed on more than one occasion. My heart bled for the parents, and the way Angie tried to spare them further pain at the cost of her own healing.

Hugs to the author. I can only imagine how must this must have hurt to write. Thank you for writing it anyway. I do think it’s important that stories like these exist.

Liz Coley writes fiction for teens and for the teen in you.

Her first published work was science fiction short stories, published in Cosmos magazine and several anthologies.

Self-published YA novel Out of Xibalba features a contemporary teenager thrown back to ancient Mayan times. The story starts when the world ends.

Pretty Girl-13 from HarperCollins will be released in at least ten languages on five continents, in print, ebook, and audiobook.
There are secrets you can’t even tell yourself.

Liz lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with her husband, her teenaged daughter, a snoring dog, and a limping old cat. When she’s not involved in writing-related activities, she can be found sewing, baking, shooting photos, playing tennis, and singing.

Liz loves reading aloud.

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Oh, hello. Welcome to the Moonlit Grove. My name is Thyme and I guard the trees while they sleep. Come, I’ll take you through a tour and introduce you to my darlings. I love trees, the way they reach their toes into the ground, and stretch their fingers towards the sun. They give shade. Homes. Life. They are magical. The young ones will dance with you in the breeze, and if you listen closely, even in their sleep, they sing to you.

Feel free to stroll through the Grove, there is nothing here that will hurt you. Well, not as long as you steer clear of the deep heart of the woods. Some of the other residents of these trees are having a celebration, and the satyrs are especially frisky tonight.

Would you like a present? Some other visitors to the grove dropped some books. There is magic in those as well, the way they can transport you to another world, or touch your heart. Make your breath race. They are trees immortalized. I just wish they didn’t have to lose their beautiful leaves to do it.

Aww, poor Thyme is sad that books have no leaves or branches. Perhaps you can show her a picture of a tree that does to cheer her up? Any kind of picture would do: a photo, a scratchy pencil drawing, a blobby MS Paint thing, a 3d render, a finger painting done in mustard. As long as it’s vaguely tree shaped, she’ll be happy to see it. Thyme doesn’t judge on artistic merit.

Only one way to enter: Post a link to your tree in the comments and then hit the button on the Rafflecopter (so you don’t have to post your email publically). No brownie points for following, subscribing or spreading the word, though you are, of course, most welcome to do any (or all) of those things.

Thank you for stopping by!

The winner will win one of the following books that either feature trees on the cover, or as an important setting in the story:

The Rules

• Open Internationally (as long as The Book Depository ships to you)
• Prize will be a paperback, unless otherwise stated
• You may choose an ebook from Amazon instead, if you wish
• If there is another book featuring trees that you would rather win than one of those listed above, that’s cool too. We can negotiate
• Must be 13 to enter
• Everyone may enter, even if you are not a follower (though following is always appreciated)
• Winners will be notified via email
• A new winner will be chosen if a response is not received within 48 hours
• Contest ends May 12th, 2013

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Title: Memory’s Wake

Series: Memory’s Wake Trilogy #1

Author: Selina Fenech

Published: June 16th 2011 by Fairies and Fantasy Pty Ltd

Genre: YA Fantasy

Source: Reading Addiction Blog Tours

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Lost in a world full of monstrous fairies, a troubled sixteen year old has to find out who she is and why her memories were stolen before she is found by those who want her dead.

She takes the name “Memory” and knows she has just one goal – to find her way home, wherever that is. But this land is strange. No technology to be seen, and iron is banned, thanks to a pact the humans have with the magical creatures who share their pre-industrial era world. In her t-shirt and torn jeans, Memory knows she’s different, even before she performs impossible magic.

Haunted by her past, chased by a dragon, wanted by the king and stalked by the strange, handsome savage that seems to know her, everyone is after Memory, and she suspects it’s not just for her eye-catching outfit. Her forgotten past holds dangerous secrets that will challenge everything she believes and risk the lives of everyone she loves.

I had a little trouble getting started with the book, but that’s just me, I often take time to warm up to magical lands. It’s that awkward first getting-to-know-you conversation. The story picks up right from the start, and maintains a very fast pace the entire time while it takes you on a journey through town, the woods, a masked ball, murder most foul, vicious kings, even more vicious dragons, magic, and a lot of running.

I will admit, my favorite part of the book were the sketches. Selina Fenech is an amazing artist and the illustrated scenes in Memory’s Wake’s wake are nothing short of beautiful. While I love an illustration in general, there is something especially special about one drawn by the writer herself; you get to see the characters exactly as she imagines them.

If I may tease you with the pretty people from this story:

Born in 1981 to Australian and Maltese parents, Selina lives in Australia with her husband, daughter, and an unnamed cat. During her life Selina has found ancient Roman treasure, survived cancer, had knights joust at her wedding, been mugged for doughnuts, made a living as a visual artist, and shared her imaginary worlds in paintings and now in her novels.

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Title: LARP: The Battle For Verona

Author: Justin Calderone

Published: December 12th 2012 by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Genre: Adult Contemporary Fantasy

Source: Netgalley

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Sometimes even a geek can become a hero.

Dennis and his friends have been LARPing (Live Action Role Playing) since high school. Now, in his 20s, Dennis is seriously considering giving up LARPing for good. He’s tired of dealing with his overzealous friend Mark; he’s tired of his older brother Brad’s constant put-downs; and he’s tired of the fact that he doesn’t have a girlfriend. Check that. Not a girlfriend, but the girlfriend.Alyssa—the one woman he’s been pining over for years.

Dennis and his fellow LARPers have never been considered cool, in their small island community of Verona, located off the coast of Washington State.

But all of that is about to change . . .

While Dennis and his friends are attending a big LARP tournament on the mainland, a rogue terrorist group of Mongolians in medieval garb, led by an American madman, invade Verona and take its citizens hostage—including their families and friends.

When the LARPers find out what’s happening in their home-town, they do what any dedicated LARPer would do: they put on their armor, strap on their swords, and fight their way home—LARP-style!

The execution, however, was not as great as I’d have hoped. I found the story to be very draggy and difficult to get into. It could have done with another round or two of editing, I believe. The exposition is handled pretty heavy handed, and some of the facts about the characters are repeated more times than necessary.

It begins with a false start where the mighty warrior gazes out over his enemies, only to get knocked back to reality, in which he is a twenty something guy realizing that he may not get everything he wanted out of life. Dennis has achieved a certain measure of success in life: he has a degree to his name, a good job, a car, nice place to live, etc. But that’s not enough, because he lacks the two things that will make live worth living: a girl, and his brother’s respect.

Dennis is a member of the local LARP team, along with his two best friends, Fred who is constantly stuck in the middle, and Mark who drives everyone insane because he is just such an annoying power gamer. They have been friends since high school when Dennis stopped hiding behind his older brother’s big man on campus reputation and saved Mark and Fred from a couple of bullies. They then introduced him to the wonders of LARPing. Now, all fully grown, they are still LARPing regularly, but Dennis has not been feeling the love for the last couple of years. The reason for that? Mark being kind of a tool.

As you may expect, during the LARP battle, Mark behaves like we’ve been told he will (i.e. a tool) and gets himself and Dennis’ character killed. Cue Dennis jumping in his car and flouncing out in a fit of temper, vowing to never LARP again. At which point I lost a lot of respect for Dennis as a character. He is a grown man, for goodness’ sake. Did it not occur to him at any point to confront Mark and point out what a bonehead he is? Sure, Mark is the Game Master, but did none of the other players ever decide to step up and take the reigns from him? In what universe do you continue to game with a guy who embarrasses you and himself and makes life unbearable for everyone around? Was there absolutely no one willing to stand up for themselves? And you want me to believe these are the kind of people who will defeat a Mongolian horde? Eish, no.

I’ll admit, I stopped reading at this point. Perhaps the story gets better, perhaps the latter half would have knocked my socks off, but truthfully, these characters were just not people I wanted to spend any more time with.