Black Magic Woman by Justin Gustainis"Occult investigator Quincey Morris and his "consultant", white witch Libby Chastain, are hired to free a family from a deadly curse that appears to date back to the Salem witch trials. Fraught with danger, the trail finds them stalking the mysterious occult underworlds of Boston, San Francisco, New Orleans and New York, searching out the root of the curse. After surviving a series of terrifying attempts on their lives, the two find themselves drawn inexorably towards Salem itself - the very heart of darkness."
Author Jim Butcher said, "Black Magic Woman is the best manuscript I've ever been asked to read." I guess he should read more manuscripts. I found this book to be pretty dull and written with no flair at all. Just words on a page...nothing more. I picked it up because I heard someone say that they really cared about the characters and that they were interesting. Well, I found that not to be the case. The characters were cliche' and uninteresting. All in all, this book was just flat. It just kinda laid there.
I haven't seen anything exciting or different in this genre for a while. I guess I'm just getting bored with it. But I can't seem to find anything else interesting to read. If anyone has any suggestions, I'll be glad to hear them.
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2 comments:
hi. becca's sister beth, again. have you read anything by patricia briggs? she's got this trilogy out starting with moon called. that's the only one i've read yet but i liked it. interesting characters... the death of a character at the beginning startled me--i thought he was going to be a major character. alas. also, have you found wen spencer. if you do and you hate her, i'm sorry because i *love* her. she's got two series. first there's the ukiah, oregon one. our main character has some peculiar habits and abilities... i'm not going any further 'cause i don't want to give it away. the others are about tinker, a genius trapped in an eighteen year old body. anyway. i highly recommend. there's a one-off by wen that's not as good as her series work. i also like karen chance, but becca hated it, so don't read it. i'm probably channeling betty boop. have you read any of laurell k. hamilton? i like her earlier stuff, before it gets to be all about sex. how about charles delint? i love his work, but becca doesn't. just a warning. anyway, good luck in your search. i feel like i'm in the same boat. where's the next brilliant flash of genre?
:) Found Beth's comments and laughed! I think you might like Wen Spencer's Ukiah Oregon stuff, though. They are modern urban with a twist. Not really fantasy, but not quite sci-fi, either.
I feel your pain!
Honestly, lately I've been reading plain old mysteries. I haven't found much fantasy I'm even interested in trying right now... I'm trying some stuff from the library 'cuz it's totally safe to check something out, read 2 chapters, say yuck and turn it back in. I hate spending money on books I end up hating! Even half-price makes me sad.
So, off to the library I go.
If you find something you do like, please let me know.
Also, I know you've told me the name of your favorite book by Richard Bachman twice (isn't that right? something about 'Boy's Life'?), but I don't have it written down. I'm trying a couple of Stephen King's another friend recommended, and I thought I'd try the Bachman, too. :) Would you send me the title one last time, please? Thank you!
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