Beletseri’s #CBR V Review 11 First Truth by Dawn Cook

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I have a bad habit of buying books that have covers I like. Sometimes that works out in my favor and I read Polterheist, but usually it doesn’t work. That’s the story on this book. When I worked at Borders this book was on the top shelf of the “C”s in Sci-Fi Fantasy and I used to walk by it all the time. When Borders closed it’s one of the books  I picked up towards the end.

First Truth by Dawn Cook is pretty standard fantasy fair. The main character is Alissa. Once she reaches a certain age her mother believes that she has to go to the Hold, a magic school where her father was from. Alissa doesn’t really believe in the magic and since her father mysteriously died during his last journey, there aren’t any real answers. Her mother boots her out of the house and she goes on this long fantasy journey. She meets up with a wandering musician named Strell. Strell has recently found out that his entire family was killed in a flood, he’s kind of morose.

Malin’s #CBR5 Review #9: Ever After by Kim Harrison

Rating: 4.5 stars

SPOILER WARNING! This is book 11 in a series, and as such, not the best place to start reading Ms. Harrison’s books. This review may contain spoilers for earlier books in the series, so if you’re new to this author, skip this review, and go start at the beginning with Dead Witch Walking. You can come back and read this review once you’ve worked your way through books 1-10. It’ll still be here.

Just as Rachel Morgan thinks that she’s finally starting to get a semblance of stability in her life again, something comes along to turn everything on its head again. As various human and witch authorities stop trying to hound, trap and/or kill her due to her unique genetic abilities, Rachel finds herself on trial in the Ever After, the demon realm parallel to our own. The Ever After is rapidly shrinking, and the majority of the demons feel it’s all Rachel’s fault. She has only a few days to prove that it’s a setup by the psychotic and extremely powerful Ku’ Sox (who kills people and eats their souls for fun), who’s tampered with the rift where the realm appears to be leaking, and on top of everything, he’s kidnapped Rachel’s goddaughter Lucy and her friend Ceri. Ku’ Sox claims that the rift will close automatically once Rachel is killed, but Rachel knows that with the destruction of the Ever After, no one would have the power to control him.