Sonya BatemanReseñas

I'm guessing this book was originally written as a serial. Every time we started a new section of the book we got a recap of the previous sections. I get that if there is a significant chunk of time between reading the sections, but I don't think it's necessary when it's packaged together. The story itself was enjoyable although I figured out who the villain was long before the reveal. It wasn't bad, but I don't think I'm invested enough to continue with the series.

This is one of those books that caught my eye but I had a few reservations about, however, I absolutely loved it. The plot can seem a bit flimsy from the synopsis but the universe, characters and writing prove it to be a very witty, interesting and fun read.

Delightful, honestly. Enjoyable characters, decent story, bad guys you hate and no boring bits.

This is book one in a three book series, with a short novella labeled as being between books one and two.

The description pulled me in, and I thought this could be good if the author can figure out how to get a Djinn story going versus the common shifters/magic wielders/fae stories all over the place. It just didn't happen. This is the first car that starts the train derailing from the tracks. There wasn't much character build=up, background (aside from him being a "lucky" thief at times, but unsuccessful at it (??). A Djinn shows up out of the blue with a story of why he there for the MC...kinda sketchy, but okay. All the additional characters? Nothing. There are just wallpaper for the MC to hang on, paint on, kill off when needed... pick something.

The story was a quick read, and does leave the traditional open-ending that there are additional tale(s) going to continue. The lack of substantial world-building just made me feel like "blech". The story description was the 2-minture long movie trailer, that contained every good part of the whole 3-hour movie. Needless to say, I won't be reading any of the other books in this series. The author does have some other series, and I may try one of them, hoping it is not like this one.

Acceptable

Not bad. The writing moves well. The story is consistent. The dialogue is mostly believable and occasionally amusing.

But there is at least one glaring plot hole. And some of the characters don't always react true to form.

A light read, with some cleverness.

I prefer my men to be more dominant so this story didn't work well for me, but others may enjoy. Jazz was a likeable tough woman who can take care of herself and her boyfriend when needed

I don't give many 5 star reviews, and I was a little hesitant doing so with this one, but I decided to round up because it's a well-written, thoroughly enjoyable book from beginning to end. The narrative and dialogue are well-written without a wasted, superfluous word. This is not a roller coaster story with its slow up and crazy, exciting downs. It's more like a rocket car the blasts off and pushes you back in your seat for the entire ride. Editing is very good. I caught a missing opening quotation mark near the end of the book, and that's the only oops I recall seeing. Was it perfect? Of course not. Haven't met the book that is. I felt a slight decline near the end. The enemy is described as this huge, powerful paramilitary force bent on eradicating all non humans. This made the ending a little implausible as it was wrapped up neatly and with relative ease. The bad guys have this big noise machine (I assume it blasts a combination of gangsta rap and jazz) that's supposed to turn non human brains into mush, but they don't bother to use it until the hero is nearby and able to shut it off before it makes his kind extinct. It's also only briefly mentioned and isn't really part of the story until the end. A bit of a plot hole.

Very entertaining and humorous story. And the use of genies (or Djinn) is fairly unique. I look forward to reading the next in the series.

read for #boutofbooks and the seriously seris challenge. Fast and fun, looking forward the second full book!

Full Metal Magic by J.A. Cipriano, James A. Hunter, Pippa DaCosta, and so many more talented authors....is a book of urban fantasy like no other! Wow, nine stories that had me reading late into the night and I loved it. Each unique story is so interesting that I doubt I could come up with a favorite but.....Ok, I will try. Valentine Blues is my favorite, it is a Yancy Lazarus story so of course I had to read this since I am a big fan of his stories. Yancy goes to a town that has kids that aren't kids. Of course Yancy seems tough but he can't let this go, he has to get the kids back and get rid of the monsters. Great fun. All the stories are like this, great fun! Great book, great job all of you authors!!!

This is an urban fantasy. No cliffhanger, no sex, lots of violence but nothing overly descriptive. It’s part of a series and there isn’t exactly a HEA, but everybody lives so that’s a plus.

This story was pretty straight forward. It wasn’t hard to figure out the players and the plot was simple enough. The whole story was an adventure – kind of a death at every turn kind of adventure. This world focused on the OtherWorld. Gideon is the main character and though he is clueless to begin with, it was a sink or swim sort of scenario. If he didn’t figure out the puzzle, he was dead.

The secondary characters were ok. They were put together well enough, but I did have a tough time picturing them. I liked the story and it wasn’t complicated. If you want a good book that is 98% action and adventure, this story would be right up your alley.

Loved it! This book had to perfect amount of comedy and action. I gotta say, Gideon held it together pretty well while learning about this new side of life. And the triangle between Gideon, Sadie, and Taeral is interesting and I can't wait to find out how it's solved.

Being a fan of both Sonya Bateman’s (as yet unfinished) Gavin Donatti series and Lou Harper’s book covers, I was excited to see Wrong Side of Hell. Of course, it’s taken me most of a year to actually get around to reading it. I had purchased it, but ended up requesting it from NetGalley as well just so I had a deadline by which I had to review it. I want to devour the rest of the series right now!

The first book in a series can take a couple of directions—you can go heavy on the world building or heavy on the action. Wrong Side of Hell goes heavy on the action, but there is a fair amount of world building going on as well. We get the sense that Gideon’s world is made up of supernatural creatures and humans who hunt them; we come to understand Gideon’s heritage; and we also get a sense of what his special power is. That’s pretty much all you need to understand this first story.

However, it’s very clear there is more to come. There is still a lot left to explain, such as why a werewolf is so close to a Fae, even though they’re not supposed to get along. Such as why Gideon is the Deathspeaker and what, exactly, can he do with that power, besides force the dead to talk. Even Gideon doesn’t have all the answers yet, which means there is still good stuff left to tell in future books.

Surprisingly, the story is not what I expected from the description. Not in a bad way at all, though. With the premise being “he can talk to the dead,” I expected the story to have more of a PI slant, where Gideon talks to the dead to get clues to a murder or something. I expected the story to rest a lot more on this ability, to start small. But Bateman jumps right into a much bigger tapestry of Good vs. Evil, Human vs. Other right from the first book.

Though I have to agree that Wrong Side of Hell isn’t necessarily anything out of the ordinary in the urban fantasy genre, I enjoyed it a ton. It’s a good UF story with a male protagonist that sets the stage for a potentially great series. I’m really looking forward to reading more.

Gideon, transporter of corpses across New York City, does not lead a conventional life and he certainly hasn’t has a conventional upbringing

But even he wasn’t prepared for the corpses to talk back, a werewolf stalking central park and finding a whole world of Fae, magic and more

And a team of hunters dedicated to wiping them all out – and ready to use him to do it.

This book has a lot of wonderful elements I always love.

We have a very wide world of various supernatural creatures – with lots of hints of complex cultures and histories and different interactions which is definitely something I look for. There’s also a lack of info dumping (though that may be due to other issues later)

I really love how the werewolves are linked to moonlight which is a really original touch which I always appreciate. And bogeypeople? I love the bogeypeople. That’s a scary addition to the supernatural menagerie of this world. It’s fun, it’s broad and it has vast potential.

I also like the twist of the bad guys, the fear of the power they have not from just money and resources – but their knowledge of the supernatural. Normal humans who are determined to figure out every last weakness of the supernatural are considered utterly, unassailably powerful which is definitely different from what I’ve read before

The pacing of this book barely pauses for a second. The action starts very early, there’s very little delay or even introduction before we race into the story. We have lots of action, lots of information and this huge wonderful broad world to absorb as soon as possible. It’s a book that quickly drags you in then has you sprinting none stop all to the end.

We do have a little bit of a Chosen One scenario – because there really is no real explanation for why Gideon has the world changing super woo-woo. To say nothing to the pretty terrible magical-world-building of having Gideon master impossible-for-him-faerie powers with the power of imagination. I generally like Gideon a lot, I like his attitude, his humour, his resilience, his determination and the fact he’s been outspoken without being ridiculously foolish and annoying with it. But super powers just ‘cos is never something that I’m a fan of.

I do think this book was perhaps a little rushed in many way which, in turn, made some elements of it far too hurried.

For example, we get insights into Gideon’s past which was sad and tragic. Of course it was sad and tragic. Isn’t it ALWAYS sad and tragic? But rather than just abusive parents he actually has brothers who hunted and shot him for fun.

Shot him. With a gun. A real gun. Not an air rifle. A gun. Isn’t that just… a bit too quick and extreme? And why is he afraid of having an actual address to hide from, what, 3 poor hunters who kill animals? What, they have access to FBI databases or something? They’re going to hunt you down and shoot you with rifles in New York City?

Or his relationship with Taeral which goes form “cursed human begone” to “brother mine we are united and loyal forever”

Or there’s Gideon’s reaction to the supernatural which is like 2 seconds of blinking (and a really nice shocked reaction to actual werewolves existing) to kind of taking it all in stride

Or there’s the way he gets really really really used to actually killing people.

Read More½

This is not what I was expecting to get when I bought this book. Instead, it's much better.

First of all, it's a relief to find an urban fantasy novel that isn't "paranormal romance" with a little harder edge. The romantic element has absolutely nothing to do with the relationship between the genie and human at the center of the story. Each has his own love interest, set up well before the events of this book, and there's no bothersome love polygon to deal with. This is an action story, not a romance.

This actually holds up well against the early Dresden Files books, with a very fallible hero thrown in over his head and learning how to swim without quite drowning. I have the next novella in the series, and will probably get the second book soon. I can't wait to see how the thief tackles the rest of the forty Ali Babas...

I had to read this book from cover to cover in one sitting! I absolutely loved it! It was well written, the plot was amazing, the characters engaging to this reader, and the scenes gave just enough but not too much as to restrict the flow of the story! Well done, a new favorite author for me!

OK, so I am very green when it comes to this genre, as in this is the first book about a djinn I have ever read. So this may mean I need to come back to this review at a later time to edit. But for now here is what I think. WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!

Alright, my first note is from Chapter 1 page 1 and it reads: "The thief says 'Crud'?? Really?" So after getting into the first 10 pages or so of the story I realize that the protagonist has used the word crud 3 times... So I started a tally. In 376 pages Donatti, aka Thief, (The protagonist)says 'crud' 19 times. He has no issue with using any other expletives but I guess the word 'crap' or 'shit' is just too bad.

Ok that doesn't seem bad? The author used the term lucky/unlucky 39 times in 376 pages... 39 TIMES! She called many charaters 'jerks' (5 times), and talked about how impressed Donatti was (6 times) and referenced how he was going to get 'ventilation holes' aka gun shot wounds. Ahhh!

Another annoyance was that every 3 pages there was a new chapter. (FYI there are 38 chapters) Ok so on average it was every 10 pages, give me a break...

The characters where decent, the plot was a little under developed, and the author tried way too hard to make Donatti out to be clumsy (Who the f*** drops their partner off a 2 story building on accident? p 49). I wish she had used more time to flesh out her characters a bit more and describe what the setting looked like or felt like instead of using generic terms to illustrate how pretty Jazz's eyes were, or how cold the mirror was.

Although the one redeeming factor for this book was that the first half of the novel had some of the best 'worst lines' I have ever read. For instance:

-"I had to think cold thoughts to stop my size thirty-eights from stretching. Snow. Ice. Antarctica. Trevor. That did the trick." p. 28

-"She's tough, but it's better to ease into stuff like life threatening wounds that don't make you dead." p. 37

-"Guards manned the checkpoints at the gate 24/7. Dogs--well--dogged the stretches between the checkpoints." p.57

-"...led to a spacious and richly furnished den complete with indoor colums and full sized dry bar--Trevor's sitting room. There, we found Trevor, sitting." p.60

-"Snug as a bug in a Venus flytrap." p.77

-"Jesus Jefferson Christ." p. 82

-"'What's wrong with you?' Ian whispered. 'Evolution moves faster than this.'" p. 84 (I have to admit I really do love this line and will probably use it...

That is about where the really amusing horrible lines stop. Don't get me wrong, there are more bad one-liners but they are not really noteworthy.

Some more irritating things:

-Chapter 23 we discover, out of nowhere, that Donatti was an orphan. It seems kind of haphazardly thrown into the story as it doesn't really do anything to move the plot along but rather kinds of stops you because it is so out of place.

-Chapter 26 At this point the work luck is mentioned 30 times or so and then they travel through a town called shamrock where Donatti has a full page to go on about his luck or lack-thereof.

-Then there is a bounty hunter, Quaid, who is out to get Donatti and is super sly and the author makes him out to be this super sleuth. It seemed as if the Quaid guy was going to help the story along by being a djinn or serving someone more diabolical than Trevor but no. He just gets in the way at the last minute and then kind of disappears into the story.... Leaving you wondering wtf was he there for in the first place?!

The author confuses stun guns and tasers. Stun guns do not have prongs that eject from the device, a Taser does. And when you are shocked by either device you are not incapable of movement for ten minutes at a time like the characters in the book. I would know. I have been Tased (sadly, or fortunately, it was a voluntary Tase. And although it was the most pain I have ever experienced in my life, I was able to move all by myself immediately after. Don't believe me? Here's the video. I'm the girl...obviously. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFxCACL_wH0). A two minute Google search could have cleared that up.

The torture scenes were descent but like the rest of the story the descriptions were lacking and there was a vagueness clouding the whole book. The visuals just weren't there for me.

Although I am bitching quite a bit, the book was not the worst thing I have ever read. In fact it was a good first attempt. I probably might recommend it to someone.

While I adored "Master of None", Sonya Bateman's first book about theif Gavyn Donatti and his djinn companion Ian, I wasn't quite as enraptured by the second book "Master and Apprentice". The plot was still strong and compelling. Ian and Donatti are hunting down all the Morai, or 'evil' djinn. Gavyn draws the line when they meet a morai named Calvin who doesn't believe in violence and has given up his own personal use of magic. Donatti can't force himself to kill Calvin because he knows he isn't evil. When Ian's wife Akila is kidnapped and possibly murdered, Ian vows revenge unlike ever before seen. From there the book becomes one big journey to hunt down the murdering morai and hopefully rescue Akila, if she is still alive.

For the record this book still read compulsively and was always entertaining. Yet I still had several complaints or annoyances as I read through the tale.

- There is almost too much action in this book, believe it or not. The action is almost non-stop and it doesn't feel like we get many chances to catch or breath and really visit with these wonderful characters. Thats not to say the action isn't well written because those scenes are for the most part engaging and heart racing.

- Ian is troubled through the book's entirity. I mean, anyone with a missing wife would be beside himself but we really don't see the same Ian from the first book and thats a shame. Donatti's trademark sarcastic humor from the first book was also very toned down.

- There were too many instances where someone was severely injured, near dead, and they healed and back to 100% strength in no time. Wow the first time this was incredible but by the eigth or ninth time this same thing happened I was over it and it really stretched believabilty to a breaking point. "Come on," I wanted to shout at the book, "this is too predictable now!"

The story still feels incomplete. I know the author is shopping for a publisher for the next book and I hope she finds one. We are left with some great threads that could continue to the next book. Akila's truly disgusting and horrible father is in desperately need of a murdering. I absolutely adored seeing the new "children" introduced in this book and I really liked the scenes featuring those characters. I think they could add a lot to future installments if there are any. Seeing Donatti's son Cyrus's new abilities was also a treat could be further explored.

I liked this book. There were just some things I didn't care for in this volume. If Bateman is able to continue the series one way or another I will continue to read it and recommend it.

You may also read my review here: http://www.mybookishways.com/2011/03/review-master-and-apprentice-by-sonya.html

Master and Apprentice picks up a year after Master of None ends, with Gavyn and Ian systematically hunting down and killing members of the Morai tribe, the djinn responsible for wiping out the Dehbei, Ian’s clan. The Morai used humans to slaughter the Dehbei, since djinn cannot directly kill humans. A curse, the ham’tari, was put on Ian. If he doesn’t kill every last one of the Morai, he will suffer greatly. This curse also helps to explain the phenomenal bad luck that Gavyn has suffered from all of his life, as it also effects Ian’s descendents. As Gavyn travels with Ian, he realizes that not all Morai are the same, and starts to wonder just how much he can trust Ian. Then they meet Calvin, a Morai, and a monk, who was not involved in the slaughter, and uses the form of a rather charming raccoon. When Akila, Ian’s wife, is taken by a mysterious cult lead by a Morai bent on using Ian for world domination, Gavyn will have to rely on Calvin to teach him how to use his newfound powers (including transformation with a memorable scene involving his sneaker), and get them out alive.

I LOVED Master of None, but if possible, I liked Master and Apprentice even more. The tone is a bit more serious this time around, but Gavyn is still his snarky self (sarcasm is a serious weapon with this guy), and still retains the moral code that makes him so charming and likeable. Ian begins the novel rigid in his mission, but begins to change when he realizes that things may not be what they seem with the Morai. Calvin is a wonderful addition to the lineup, and Tory is back as well to offer help. I laughed out loud at times, and Ms. Bateman’s writing is better than ever! She also manages to create a rather layered story without things getting confusing, a talent which is greatly appreciated by this reader! She puts poor Ian through the ringer in this book, as well as Gavyn, and I found myself flinching in spots, but nothing is too gory or gratuitous, and just makes getting the bad guys that much more satisfying. Every now and then there are books you wanna hug, and this was that book for me. You know, the one you start babbling about the minute someone gives you an opening? Yeah, you know the ones I’m talking about…

If you haven’t discovered this series, run, don’t walk, to grab yourself a copy of Master of None, and for goodness sake, pre-order Master and Apprentice! It’s that good.

Gavyn Donatti was used to being freakishly unlucky as in the worst thief ever, then he met Ian the djinn who is his great-great-great…etc grandfather and the Donatti luck changed to reasonably okay. Especially when they were both on the hunt for the evil djinn tribe that had basically wiped out Ian’s.
Then the luck went to bad and it’s affecting everything in Gavyn’s life. His truck is wrecked after a head one with a moose, Ian starts drinking beer. Absolutely worst of all, his family is driven away, they need to rescue Princess Akila who has been kidnapped by beyond evil half-breed djinn supremacists.

I like watching Gavyn and how he keeps on keepin’ on protecting his loved ones and his responsibilities. Even when the injuries keep on comin’, he makes himself do what needs doing. Sonya doesn’t sugarcoat the injuries either nor make Gavyn into a Superman. He’s injured, he hurts, he stumbles.
He grows with his newfound abilities, learns as he goes and gets tougher even if he doesn’t admit to it.

It may be just me, but I got invested in everything that happened to Gavyn, Ian, Jazz, Akila, Cyrus, the characters I cared most about. I sat at my desk crying at some points and other times wanting to reach inside the computer to wheal on some evil djinn halfbreed asswipes.
That is excellent writing, making the reader give a good goddamn about the characters.

We get more of the history of Ian and Akila’s relationship, too. It’s a lovely story. A romance and love for the ages.

I love Cyrus, Jazz and Gavyn’s young son. He’s a doll. He has inherited his father’s djinn qualities. Jazz realizes she now has to not only worry about potty training, but the fact that Cy has magical abilities like turning invisible. That’s a hard one to deal with in a toddler when all you figure you need to teach is potty-training and don’t poke your finger in the light socket.

And, ohhhh, the WTF moments….absolutely loud ones.

Favorite quotes or bits:
I wasn’t exactly claustrophobic----just allergic to being trapped.

Please see entire review here: http://mybookishways.blogspot.com/2011/01/review-master-of-none-by-sonya-bateman...

Gavyn Donatti is a thief with a problem. He’s lost something, and a thug named Trevor wants it back. Now Donatti’s on the run from the kind of guys that carry trash bags “just in case” they need to dispose of a body on the fly. When Trevor’s thugs finally catch up with him, he also discovers that they’re not the only ones that want him. Now he’s got a bad tempered djinn (genie) named Ian stuck to him like glue, and when his ex girlfriend shows up armed with a huge secret (and a gun), he finds himself on a collision course with fate that could change the future of humanity...

The world-building is complete, the characters are lively and the pace is fast. Personally, I have low tolerance for go-go-go pacing and Chaotic Good heroes vs crazy super-powered villain types of stories. Add to that torture scenes and it's pretty clear to me that this series is not going to be my cup if tea, but it's well done for what it is.

This book was soooo much better than I expected. I really enjoyed it. Review coming soon.

"Master of None" by Sonja Bateman was as suprisingly unique and fun urban fantasy find. Gavyn Donattie is a thief and unfortunately a very unlucky one! When a timely genie (or djinn as Ian prefers to be known)shows up and announces that he has to help fulfill Gavyn's life purpose, Gavyn thinks maybe his luck has changed. Yeah, not so much. I loved the plot of this novel. Gavyn lost something he was hired to find and now his client believes its being kept from him on purpose. This basically leads one huge car chase after another as Gavin and his genie (and maybe a few other friends) try to escape the client with their lives. Gavyn is a likeable guy for a criminal and I thought he was pretty funny. He has some great inner dialogue that had me chuckling to myself. It was very interesting to see how a creative thief and a djinn can get of the jams they get into along the way. The relationships all had a real honesty about them and Bateman has a way with sympathetic but flawed characters. Bateman also succeeds at writing from the point of view of a male character. Gavyn came across as masculine and I never once inadvertantly remembered the author was a woman while reading. The djinn history is the only area in which I have a complaint. I loved the djinn with thier personalities and powers. However, their was too much history presented about the many factions of djinn and too many wars. This all had to be presented because it led up to where we are presently in the story and is therefore important. I just felt it was top heavy and distracting. Nevertheless, I feel Bateman has succeeded witht her debut and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to UF fans. The story is a winner and I am eager to see what comes next.

He's not a bad thief, but his luck pretty much sucks - although it's harder on his partners. Gavyn Donatti is scraping the bottom of the proverbial barrel. He's on the run - literally - after misplacing the item he just stole for a man who's not apt to be at all understanding. Cornered, he finds himself saved by a very unlikely ally, a genie named Ian. But don't be thinking "I Dream of Jeanie" here - Ian's a whole 'nother breed of cat. Gavyn's about to find out that bad luck was by far not the worst thing that could happen to him.

Interesting premise, not bad follow-through.