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Review: WHISPERS UNDERGROUND

Whispers Underground by Ben Aaronovitch
Read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
Book 3 of the Peter Grant series or otherwise known as the Rivers Of London series
Genre: urban fantasy, police investigation
Format: hardback & audiobook

About Whispers Underground:

A WHOLE NEW REASON TO MIND THE GAP

It begins with a dead body at the far end of Baker Street tube station, all that remains of American exchange student James Gallagher—and the victim’s wealthy, politically powerful family is understandably eager to get to the bottom of the gruesome murder. The trouble is, the bottom—if it exists at all—is deeper and more unnatural than anyone suspects . . . except, that is, for London constable and sorcerer’s apprentice Peter Grant. With Inspector Nightingale, the last registered wizard in England, tied up in the hunt for the rogue magician known as “the Faceless Man,” it’s up to Peter to plumb the haunted depths of the oldest, largest, and—as of now—deadliest subway system in the world.

At least he won’t be alone. No, the FBI has sent over a crack agent to help. She’s young, ambitious, beautiful . . . and a born-again Christian apt to view any magic as the work of the devil. Oh yeah—that’s going to go well.

Source: Info in the About Whispers Underground was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9970042-whispers-underground on 29/12/2012.

Review:

I think this series is growing on me. The more books I read on this series, the more interesting it becomes. I think I'm on my way to becoming a die-hard fan! The story telling quality is becoming funnier and more compelling to me too.... Does this book has some sort of spell or something?!

I wasn't quite sure if Ben Aaronovitch named the organization that DCI Thomas Nightingale and PC Peter Grant is a member of other than that it is called the ECD 9 of the Met Police. Anyhow, an explanation of it's symbols and meanings would be good to know. Just like the way Ben Aaronovitch slowly explained away the little holes in the world building. Hopefully he would do the same and explain ECD 9's insignia.

With Book 1 I complained that the narrator's voice has an "-ish" quality to it which took a lot of getting used to. By this book, I couldn't hear it anymore. Either I got used to it or he took more breaks thus the "-ish" in his voice has disappeared and his reading quality has improved because I now really like the narration. I also really like the way Kobna Holdbrook-Smith made the characters come alive with different accents and his particular brand of pizzazz! Man! He is good!!

At the end of it I enjoyed this book a lot and couldn't wait to read Broken Homes!

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 5
Story itself = 5
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 3
Pace = (10 hrs and 17 mins listening time)
Plot = 4
Narrator = 5

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries


Books In The Rivers Of London Series:

WW28: SACRIFICE

WW28 book offering: Sacrifice by Dakota Banks

The Janjaweed must have decided they wanted nothing to do with the demon of a woman who had flames dancing across her belly.

Scary kind of demon then...

About Sacrifice:

A Sumerian demon's enslaved executioner -- a ravager of lives and souls -- Maliha Crayne has been reborn, willing to sacrifice her immortality for a chance at freedom ... and salvation.

Now she has an opportunity to prevent the death of thousands to help balance the countless lives she has obliterated over the centuries. To do so, she must locate and destroy an evil cabal of madmen in possession of a weapon of unspeakable power -- and survive the immortal assassins who are now after her blood.

But it means reverting to the old ways and surrendering once more to the darkness. And if Maliha dies before the mission is accomplished, the hell she once knew will seem like a picnic compared to the eternal torments awaiting her.

Source: Info in the About Sacrifice was taken from the author's website at http://www.dakota-banks.com/ on 19/11/2010.

WW28
A chance to showcase your favourite!

• First you grab our Wicked Wednesday pic.
• Then you grab a book. Turn to page 28. Take the first sentence. And then you post it in your site with a link back to WW28.
• Come back to Cherry Mischievous - WW28 and give us the url of your post (in a comment at a WW28 post) so that other WW28 readers can find your WW28 offering.

Movie Review: MORTAL INSTRUMENTS

Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones (2013)
Starring Lily Collins, Jamie Campbell Bower, Kevin Zegers, Jemima West, Robert Sheehan, Godfrey Gao, and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Directed by Harald Zwart.

Genre: urban fantasy YA

About Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones (2013):

Set in contemporary New York City, a seemingly ordinary teenager, Clary Fray (Lily Collins), discovers she is the descendant of a line of Shadowhunters, a secret cadre of young half-angel warriors locked in an ancient battle to protect our world from demons. After the disappearance of her mother (Lena Headey), Clary must join forces with a group of Shadowhunters, who introduce her to a dangerous alternate New York called Downworld, filled with demons, warlocks, vampires, werewolves and other deadly creatures. Based on the worldwide best-selling book series. Written by Sony Pictures Entertainment

Source: Info in the About Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones (2013) was taken from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1538403/ on 24/08/2013.

Movie Trailer:

Movie Links:
www.themortalinstrumentsmovie.com
Wiki
imdb
official facebook

Review:

I love the world building in the story! Sure, it is recycled, still fantastic though. But the plot depended loosely on the characters acting stupid to give the story a bit more drama. Not the most sturdy of plots. Clary Fray and Jocelyn Fray are just this side of stupid and quite annoying to watch. It makes me wanna shake them and scream for them to use the brains they were born with. Not having read the book yet, it made me wonder if they are even more stupid in the book than they are in the movie... it does not encourage me to read the book after that thought... And then as if that is not enough, the scenes just looked too contrived. It wasn't very convincing. So you have big, scary demons bearing down on you, so everybody takes 5 minutes to look at each other and look dreamy??? WTF?! If it was in "slow motion" to give a scene emphasis, yes, that I could buy. But the actors to act in slow motion? What was that all about?!? Brought the suspension of disbelief down to the boots! It makes me hope that the next Mortal Instruments movie would NOT be directed by Harald Zwart again because this obviously shows that he does not pay that much attention to detail. Or it could be a lack in the talent department. Either way, he ruins what should have been a good movie. I don't even blame Lily Collins for not giving her character a very convincing performance seeing that she is suppose to be stupid and Harald Zwart for a director. She is beautiful though. Her acting is just not as good as her looks. Now, Jonathan Rhys Meyers... he makes a very good villain! The movie makers got that one right! Another thing this movie aced is the cinematography. They have the most talented CGI (computer generated imagery) team ever! The mixing of the CGI effects and live actors/physical set was seamless! The paranormal elements of the story was brought to life in fantastic ways on the silver screen! And I think that was the best feature of this film.

Empirical Evaluation:
Cinematography = 5
Script/Story Itself = 2
Ending = 3
World building = 4.5
Attention To Detail = 1.5
Plot = 2
Acting = 3

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 cherries

The book from which the movie was based from:

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
Book 1 of the Mortal Instruments series
Genre: urban fantasy YA

About City of Bones:

Don’t miss The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, soon to be a major motion picture in theaters August 2013!

When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder -- much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing -- not even a smear of blood -- to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know. . . .

Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare's ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end.

Source: Info in the About City of Bones was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/256683.City_of_Bones on 24/08/2013.

Review: MAGIC RISES

Magic Rises by Ilona Andrews
Book 6 of the Kate Daniels series
Genre: urban fantasy

About Magic Rises:

Atlanta is a city plagued by magical problems. Kate Daniels will fight to solve them — no matter the cost.

Mercenary Kate Daniels and her mate, Curran, the Beast Lord, are struggling to solve a heartbreaking crisis. Unable to control their beasts, many of the Pack’s shapeshifting children fail to survive to adulthood. While there is a medicine that can help, the secret to its making is closely guarded by the European packs, and there’s little available in Atlanta.

Kate can’t bear to watch innocents suffer, but the solution she and Curran have found threatens to be even more painful. The European shapeshifters who once outmaneuvered the Beast Lord have asked him to arbitrate a dispute — and they’ll pay him in medicine. With the young people’s survival and the Pack’s future at stake, Kate and Curran know they must accept the offer — but they have little doubt that they’re heading straight into a trap…

Source: Info in the About Magic Rises was taken from at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11544421-magic-rises on 01/08/2013.

My Thoughts:

This book is the most emotional of the series yet. It tugged heavily at the heartstrings of the reader. It added an emotional depth to the book which hasn't really been mined in this series thus far. And it also kept it from being "same old, same old". Making this book my favouritest in the series! Having said that, I do have a few nitpicking issues with this book, but, I am willing to overlook all of them for the wonderful reading pleasure that this book delivered! Now I really tried to read this book slowly. Savour it. Make it last. No such luck. Before I knew it, I was already at the end. And then it's depression again for having to wait for the next book for so long! And that is the biggest downside of this book! The waiting... I'm not very good at it. Well, I am obviously an old die-hard fan of this author and the Kate Daniels series, so I could go on and on fan-raving but I won't, I would just say that this book is a 5 out of 5 in a series which is a 5 out of 5!

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 5
Character development = 5
Story itself = 4.5
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 4
Pace = 5
Plot = 4.5

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 cherries


Books In The Kate Daniels Series: