Dana CameronRezensionen

I like this although I didn't appreciate the cliffhanger. This was a Kindle Unlimited, but I think I'll purchase the Kindle and audiobooks because I know that I'll re-read it sometime in the future.

Looking forward to #3.

I know I read the first two before, but couldn't say when. Fun books, nothing too earthshaking, just decently done light fun.

didn't finish it, could not get into

killer from previous books stalks and attacks, everyone thinks she is crazy begins to doubt, reactions of friends seem strained and implausible

This is the third book in the Fangborn series by Dana Cameron, and I was a bit surprised when I saw it being available. I thought it might be a longer time period to get it out, by I am definitely not complaining! I started reading it as soon as I had a chance. The story pretty much takes off from the end of the second book, with Zoe finding out another new mystery power. From that point, as I got further into the story, my expectations gradually decreased.

The existing struggle between Fangborn and the Order, and bringing the knowledge of the Fangborn to public knowledge, was to be expected. I enjoyed the results of the novel in the conflicts between these two groups. Zoe is a obviously still trying to understand how her artifacts work, and what powers they provide, or with most of them, what they may provide and how to access that power. More artifacts are gained in this telling.

What I didn't care for, was the way I felt while reading, that things were sort of 'crammed' into this book to bring everything to a finish. It seemed some parts were glossed over (details about the Celtic sword - aside from how it was used at the end, finding out about her father, I-Day coming about). I received the impression that this may be a third and final book in this particular part of the Fangborn world, though, there is much that another book (or more) would be open to explaining in more detail (Zoe's powers - how they come about, possible searching for more artifacts, etc.). Overall I was a bit let-down about the 'rush to the finish' feeling I had while reading it, but still a great story. I would definitely be interested in reading more in this series, or even possibly other tales from the Fangborn world.

I received a Kindle version ARC from the publisher, 47North, through Netgalley.com.

I had to stop

My disbelief was stretched to the breaking point.

First, I don’t know if the author is American, but “Federal BI” is not a thing. Either ‘FBI’ or the full name.

Next, an agent of the US government has *NO* authority in a foreign country. Identifying yourself as a ‘government agent’ is meaningless, especially since the agency was never specified. In fact, declaring your presence can be considered a challenge to the local government.

As to world building in general, it was odd that the US has a division that ‘knows’ but none of the European governments are in the loop. It may have been explained better later, but I was confused at how there are separate groups in the US but no European ‘fangborn’ show up to complicate or smooth things.

I simply got tired of nothing being resolved.

The archeology bits were fun.

I am going to read something where the MC has a bit more agency.

I had to stop

My disbelief was stretched to the breaking point.

First, I don’t know if the author is American, but “Federal BI” is not a thing. Either ‘FBI’ or the full name.

Next, an agent of the US government has *NO* authority in a foreign country. Identifying yourself as a ‘government agent’ is meaningless, especially since the agency was never specified. In fact, declaring your presence can be considered a challenge to the local government.

As to world building in general, it was odd that the US has a division that ‘knows’ but none of the European governments are in the loop. It may have been explained better later, but I was confused at how there are separate groups in the US but no European ‘fangborn’ show up to complicate or smooth things.

I simply got tired of nothing being resolved.

The archeology bits were fun.

I am going to read something where the MC has a bit more agency.

The second book follows up right after the first one. Zoe is following her visions to find more artifacts. Along the way she once again gathers allies including meeting up wiht her cousin who has taken a job in a city where her vision has led her. She finds out more about how the artifacts are controlling her and how to use them in turn. There is a new villain or at least new to Zoe since she doesn't know everything about being a Fangborn. The pace is pretty quick and things end on top by the end for Zoe but the overall story arc is far from being completed.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley

Enjoyable start to a new series. Zoe Miller is a likable protagonist. The story is fun, light and well done. I loved Cameron's colonial noir short stories and the Emma Fielding series. Paranormal is not my favorite genre but Cameron pulls this off and I liked the archaeology theme. I listened to the audio version and my only caveat is that the pathos in her voice should have been dialed down.

The finish date isn't when I got to the end of the book, it's when I just couldn't read any more. I let the first few grammar and spelling errors slide. But they just kept coming. On top of that, major plot points and characterizations seemed entirely impossible. It's just not for me.

Meh. Stopped and finished at 250 of 350 pgs. My dislike for the top two female characters became overpowering. The main was doing all of her butting into everyone's biz under the premise that she was just helping her friend who continuously rebuffed her help. They were annoying and very unlikable.

Very detailed and interesting but a little too much "out there" for me. Good character development, storyline, and plot. Very unique.

If I could, I'd give the story 3.5 stars. The book is very busy, which is good, but there's almost too many characters to remember. I also didn't like how the book ended on a cliffhanger. The main character finds herself drawn to ancient fangborn artifacts all over the world while simultaneously running from evil, dodging her own people, and battling protectors.

Interesting adventure with the supernatural, archeology, and greed. Zoe finds out she's not insane and gets dragged into a society she knew nothing about. Good character, plot, and storyline development. My only gripe is that the main character seems to whine a lot.

I have very mixed feelings about this book.

It took me two weeks to go through the first third of the book, and another couple of days to finish the other two thirds. I was tempted to DNF, but then it actually became entertaining.


So, it's good and it's bad at the same time, that's why it's so hard to decide what to write in this review.

Good parts: travelling through so many countries and archaeological aspects of the research, the sheer amount of the players in the field, the constant evolution of the goals in the plot. Zoe travels quite a lot through London - Paris - Berlin - Venice, Greece and Turkey. She's got a lot of people around her that she needs to deal with, and they are pretty interesting characters.

Bad parts: No clarity in the main plot line, which left me feeling confused through the whole book. Most of Zoe's decisions are mysteriously taken from her with people magically appearing at every step she was making to do things that needed to be done for her. First I was annoyed, then it just became ridiculous.

I couldn't get the feel of good and bad guys, they were vague and ambiguous. Someone you thought bad suddenly would turn around and help Zoe, and someone else will lose mental brownie points you gave them.

The ideas are certainly good, but it's the execution and the character depth that suffer in the end. I have a feeling that quality was sacrificed to quantity, but don't just take my opinion for it. I did see good reviews of this book, it just wasn't for me.

The first two books and two novellas of the Fangborn series have been living on my Kindle for a while now, patiently waiting their turn in the spotlight. It’s those Chris McGrath covers that always catch my eye! When Hellbender, Fangborn Book 3, came up for review on NetGalley, I was torn about requesting it. Nell assured me that starting a series with the third book would not cause my brain to explode; so, though doubtful, I agreed I’d give it a try. I’m not totally convinced it was a success, even though my brain is nominally intact.

Main Character: Zoe Miller has had an extraordinary amount of power thrust on her unexpectedly, so it would make sense that she’s struggling a little to come into her own. That shows in Hellbender, as Zoe will one minute be exclaiming that she doesn't know what she’s doing, and the next minute be calmly handling some crisis based on an agenda unknown to the reader. I’m not sure if that was purposeful, though. Either Zoe is a master at “winging it,” or the author wasn't quite clear on her character’s development.

There was a bit with Zoe and Will near the end of the book I really liked that, to me at least, represented the direction Zoe was moving. Zoe is telling her friend, Will, why they cannot be an item. It’s not because she doesn't want him (though I think she wants Adam more); it’s because of everything that’s coming, the danger she’ll put him in, and the suspicion that maybe she has influenced his feelings more than he realizes. She hates that she’s doing it and it tears her up emotionally, but she knows it has to be done. That’s some major stepping up.

Other Characters: Stepping into the middle of a series as I am, I expected there to be characters whose backgrounds I lack. I think I did a pretty good job of keeping track of those folks. But, there are some characters introduced in this book that I wish we’d gotten to know better – the Trips, Fatima, Jason with his crows Jill and Jack, and Max. I really like Max. We don’t get a lot of character knowledge about these people, and they are very interesting. I don’t think we get a lot of background on the villains, either. I know there is some background on the Order I’m missing from the other books; but, when Carolina Perez-Smith is introduced, there isn't much background on her, either. We don’t know why she’s involved in the Order. And then there are the Makers. I’m not sure what to think about them. They seem sophisticated enough to mimic one of Zoe’s favorite college hangouts to make her more comfortable during their talk, but not sophisticated enough to know that screaming in the heads of all the Fangborn will damage and kill some of them and reflect poorly on Zoe? They are supposed to be the Fangborn’s creators and incredibly powerful, but they come off as a bit clumsy and they give up too easily in the end. That makes me suspicious. I LOVE the dragons, though, even when they go crazy for the sparklies.

World: The Fangborn world is really interesting and not quite like anything else I've run across. I like the triumvirate of Fangborn – werewolf, vampire, and oracle. I like the “digs” about the oracles always being forgotten. I like that the vampires aren't your typical vampires, and certainly not sparkly. And I love that the “monsters” are the ones trying to protect humans. I love that Zoe is hunting up all these artifacts that are being drawn into her as a source of power. And I really like that the bad humans are trying to create their own versions of creatures to fight against what they see as a threat. There are some cool ideas here that make me want to learn more.

Story: While there are a lot of neat things happening in this story, they all happen so fast and seemingly without time to process the event and its meaning. I really did feel caught on a runaway train through most of the book, and it was a little confusing. I’m wondering if there couldn't have been three books worth of material here – the fight with the Order, the preparation for I-Day, and the conflict with the Makers. I feel there was a lot of detail sacrificed to move the story along, and I need that detail to understand what is going on in the story and to feel invested. As it was, the story felt very rushed.

There were several things mentioned in the book that didn't seem necessary, either. For example, when the dragons speak, there are many words that are unintelligible to Zoe. When I first encountered that, it made sense but I was expecting it to come back around later. Not only did I assume we’d find out what the words meant, but that they were important. That never really happened, so I wondered why the author bothered. I think it just added to the confused feel.

Overall: In the end, I’d like to go back and read this series from the beginning just to be sure the things that bother me about this book don’t stem from my lack of knowledge. If it’s not, then I have to say the lack of detail and the rushed feeling of the book will keep it from being one of my favorites. I hope it is, though. There are some neat things about this world that I’d love to know more about.

Copy provided by author/publisher in exchange for an honest review. Review courtesy of onebooktwo.com | one book, two reviews.

Now that I've read everything currently published in the Fangborn series, 3 short stories and three books, I can make a few comments. Mostly about linking.

Nothing seems to link the first short story with the others except for being in the same universe, and having shifters. I initially thought nothing linked the second, Sherlock Holmes, story with the rest of the series, until I read the third short story. This one here. A side character in the Holmes story, the landlady/housekeeper woman is in both the Holmes story and in this one. And this third short story links directly to the main book series somewhat obviously - what with it involving the parents of the main character in the book series. Oh, and the Russian from the book series was also in this one.

So. This one was a little too sappy for my tastes. Plus, I already heard a version of this story. Well, with little to no details, but something of this story from the book series. A somewhat nothing story.

The six foot tall red-haired, green eyed lesbian might be interesting to follow, though. Hmms. I don't think she turns up in the book series, though if she did, she did so without me making an immediate connection between book her and short story her.

ETA: bah, there are no page numbers anywhere for this one. mmphs. I see it's something more than 1 hour and 30 minutes in audio length but that doesn't help me any.½

A solid third book in the series. Quick read. Good plot. Good characterization. Quick notes left in this box. I've nothing much to say (I could say it reminds me of another story/series I had read by another author I had started because of his books with an archaeological bent, who also had a fantasy series, though that one was released under a different name; The conclusion of that series reminds me of the conclusion of this one. But since that's all spoiler-y and stuff, I'll refrain from saying much of anything).

Out of all of the stories and books in this series, this one had the closest vibe to Urban Fantasy (as opposed to anything else). Not much in the way of mystery, though, which is both surprising and sadening, considering it's a Sherlock Holmes story.

The story falls into the same trap that I've seen the television show Grimm fall into, though here from the opposite direction. Also a fictional direction, since Grimm lifts a character from real life to 'do this' to. And what am I referring to? One of the things you'll come across if you watch Grimm, maybe just one episode, I forget where exactly this pops up and it could be in the opening credits section. Well, there or elsewhere there is a brief image of Hitler turning into a werewolf (well, technically not a werewolf, but Grimm's version of a werewolf). Implying that, one of the most evil humans of all time, is actually 'something else.' Similarly, this story has Sherlock Holmes, one of the smartest fictional humans, being . . . something else (though here he is a weresnake).

Taking the best and worest humanity has to offer, and saying that they are actually shifters kind of leaves humanity just the middle, eh? Humans are just bland and boring with closed off minds, who are relatively easily lead astray. heh. It's just a glimpse, but I'm still more pissed off than I should be about Hitler-the-werewolf. I don't get the same pissed off vibe in turning Holmes into a shifter. Has a certain amount of cleverness and an interesting vibe to it. But still, it reminds me of the Hitler thing, and I'm back into pissed territory.

The story itself follows Amelia Vernet, a 'cousin' of Sherlock Holmes. Cousin as in also a shifter, though she's a werewolf. There's a third 'cousin' that seems to live in Baker Street, Mrs. . . . um . . I've right lost her name now, though she's the only character in the short stories who appears in more than one of the short stories (this one and the next one about burning rules). A fourth 'cousin' would be Holmes brother, Mycroft.

The mystery isn't much. Though the reason for why Holmes isn't acting all super quick mentally in this story gets explained. Also his reason for experimenting with drugs. All in there, in the short story.

A small village some time in the distant past. In medieval England, a short distance from London. Sir Hugo rules in the village, with the indirect help of his wife Lady Alice.

Villagers come to Sir Hugo with their concerns. Thefts have occurred. A sheep was brutally killed. And a baby has been taken. Sir Hugo has sent his men out to hunt for the missing baby.

Meanwhile, A Robert and Toby suddenly appear in the village. They say that they are their with the permission of Sir Hugo's boss. Um, I mean the guy above him feudally. They are members of the Order who hunt demons. The same order that shows up in the Fangborn series. They have heard of the village problems, and believe a demon is on the loose nearby.

This alarms the priest, Gilbert, Sir Hugo, and Lady Alice. Since all three of them are werecreatures. Gilbert and Alice are weresnakes. Hugo is a werewolf. Naturally they wish to find out what is going on before Robert starts in on the 'torturing everyone to find the demons' trick.

And interesting short story. And easy in and out story. Quite well presented. Good characterization.

Ah joy, love triangles. And sex. Mmphs. I could have lived without either.

Another good book in the series. So good that I'm already somewhere in the middle of the third book, which makes writing anything about this one harder to do.

Let's see let's see. This book opens with Zoe inside a special government facility. Surrounded by friends and loved ones. And strangers. The strangers are the ones who like poking her with stuff to see what happens when they do that. Things change, her friends and loved ones poof. She spends more of her time drugged and tested upon, with some story about how every single one of her friends decided to leave. Without saying bye.

Three weeks pass in this manner. Until two people from the prior book help her escape.

Zoe wanders around, somewhat aimlessly ('go north', she tells the person who drives her away from the facility). Occasionally stopping to attack evil. Sleeping, for no reason I can fathom, in the same bed with this other. You know, I should use names. Right, so, even though they aren't lovers or anything, they share a bed. That horrifies me. The mere thought of having to share a bed with someone else. eww. I mean, it makes no sense. She fled her only boyfriend because she had dreams of rolling over and biting his head off. So . . . a guy who has alternated in being an enemy and helper, and a woman with strange new powers she doesn't understand to go along with the older powers she still doesn't understand and . . . they sleep in the same bed? Seriously? (view spoiler)

So. Zoe continues to wander around. Attacking evil. Getting kidnapped, tortured, wandering nearish 'artifacts', having said artifacts get excited by her presence. And has the Family see her as evil. All in a . . um . . I don't recall how much time has passed in the book. All in an undetermined period of time.

I would again recommend this book, though note that this is falling further and further into the Paranormal category. Because of the sex.

I was on something of an archaeological mystery fiction kick a longish while back. Read a bunch of Aaron Elkins books, Beverly Connor, and others. Roughly 33 books in total. I mention because one of those books was by Dana Cameron. 'Site Unseen'. I liked it and then . . . never read anything else in that series or by Cameron for roughly seven years, for some unknown reason.

Well, so, bouncing around, I don't even recall why now, but I was on Cameron's book page over on GoodReads. Saw that there was a different series than the one I had briefly started, and gazed upon it. Thought the cover looked a little odd for an archaeological book, so I looked closer. Huh. Fantasy. Archaeological fantasy. That's in the Kindle Unlimited program. Naturally I . . . put it in my maybe pile and moved on to reading other things. Getting burned out in "other things" I came back to this book. Gulped it down rather quickly and happily.

It's an interesting book. Young woman has spent her life moving at a moments notice, or I should say, her mother would get a notion to move, and so they did. Up until mother got ill. Took her six years to graduate college, because she kept moving. And having to take courses that didn't transfer.

What were they fleeing? The young woman didn't really know, beyond 'the family is evil.' Her father's family, that is. Her mother made them sound like a quite brutal, vicious, cold-hearted version of the mafia. Family.

Well, book opens with mother dying, then dead. Whispers something about visiting grandma, oh and fleeing. Zoe Miller, the name of this young woman, makes arrangements and . . . then keeps not leaving. That kind of annoyed me as I was reading. I mean, she has to leave. Now. But . . let's wait until after the funeral? Hmms. Well, guess it was a bad mistake, as she's shadowed, then ambushed by Family.

Family in the form of weresnakes and werewolves. Who just want to talk, or something. Zoe, naturally upon seeing such monsters, flees. Helped by the fact that she herself can turn into a werewolf. Course, she didn't actually let herself believe that was what she actually was. Insane with monster delusions, she thought. Started when she was 16. She's 25 (or was it 26? I forget now).

One thing leads to another and her 'cousin' is kidnapped by an insane super rich, super evil guy. He wants her to go to London and retrieve an object for him. Or Danny, the kidnapped cousin, will die. So, she goes.

That's one of those themes I actually didn't think about until after the fact. Because of the nature of the book. The theme of being forced to do something. Of being super tough/strong/intelligent, etc., and having something/person/issue forcing the characters hand, into acting. Most of the time, when I've read this theme in the past, it involved someone in the wrong place at the wrong time who look like the prime suspect in a murder case. And therefore have to try to solve it so they themselves do not get charged with the crime. I always kind of loath this theme, but I barely noticed it until after the fact, and therefore, didn't allow myself time to loath.

An interesting neat twist to shifters. Neat addition of archaeology to the mix. One specific problem I had, though. Vampires. Why the bloody hell were the weresnakes called vampires? Some vampire stories involve having vampires being able to have a certain advanced level of persuasion as one of their 'gifts'. That's the only connection between the vampires in this story, and every other vampire. I mean, I'd be less annoyed if the shifters that called themselves vampire, were werebats. But, no, they are weresnakes. Who recharge in the sun. Have no problems with any of the stereotypical vampire problems like sunlight, garlic, christian symbols, etc. Nor do they feed from blood. So, yeah, I had a problem with these weresnakes being called vampires.

So, this fantasy world - three extra beings added to earth that 'normals' don't know about. Oracles, Vampires, and Werewolves. Oracles aren't directly meet, at least not ones that know they are oracles, until the second book. Vampires are weresnakes - as in they look human, but can shift into snake like shapes. They can heal with their bite. And persuade with their words, and more directly with their bite - including mind control. Werewolves are .. . um . . werewolves. With an urge to kill evil.

Good enough book that I immediately started on the second book. I thought being 37% into the second book by the time I got around to writing this review here would make things harder, but, while it did somewhat, it didn't keep me from finding something to write.

So, why 4 stars? Or, if you look at my shelves, 4.5 stars? Instead of 5? Certain things that crept up that I didn't like. Like how she's a woman who always flees when she thinks she needs to do so, but hung around at the beginning of the book instead of fleeing. Even though she felt the need to do so. Didn't like her friends - mostly Sean. And, the largest reason this is a 4.5 book, would be the romantic parts. I could have lived a much happier life without that addition. And if it had to be included, I'd have been happier if it had been toned down. A lot. (someone reading this book for the romance are probably confused with me now, I assume/suppose - I read this to escape from romances, only to find, horror of horrors, straight romance. Between a man and a woman. eww. heh).

I recommend this book. More if you like urban fantasy than if you like paranormal fantasy, though I haven't shelved this book on either shelf. Mostly because this book was focused more on ruins and artifacts than on creepy crawlies oozing around urban areas. Though cities are wandered through in this book.

I read something somewhere, vague recollection it was in a thread on GoodReads about 'the first urban fantasy', that said something like 'those into noir/mysteries turned to urban fantasy; those into romances, turned to paranormal fantasy'. Well, this one is for those who are into archaeological mysteries. All three of us. Well, I know there are more, I just never could figure out what to call this sub-genre, so . . um . . something.½

I only read Kerrelyn Sparks story and although short, I found it to be an enjoyable contribution to the series with familiar humor and characters. Maggie digs deeper into playboy Don Orlando character at Christmas time.

2.5 stars

The basic plot of this first entry in a new series has a familiar ring. A young woman running from her past & denying her heritage will have to embrace it before facing the bad guys to save a family member by finding a much sought after ancient relic. To make it rise above similar books in the genre, there have to be aspects that distinguish it from the rest. Things like characters you find compelling, well thought out & clever story lines & fresh spins on common plot devices.
In this outing, the author succeeds some of the time. That's all I'll say about the actual story line & instead give my opinion on what worked & what didn't.
The first thing that popped into my head upon finishing was this book could have benefited from a firmer hand in editing. Of course you want elements like secrets, hidden agendas, mysterious clues & action. However, they can't be so numerous as to leave the reader confused & exhausted trying to keep track. At some point, you throw up your hands & hope the ending will clear up the whack of questions that have accumulated.
In terms of the main character & the plot, one got better & the other got worse. At first, I found Zoe a bit of a cliche (socially awkward, insular, hidden past, etc.). She's been sheltered all her life from her father's family by her mother but doesn't know why. Wouldn't you ask? Then, after years of guiding Zoe with info & lessons on how to keep safe, Mom dies. Does Zoe follow her mom's advice? No. So you have to wonder: why wait 'til Mom's death to start questioning everything? She makes some obviously bad choices that had me gritting my teeth & her believability factor plummeted. But as the book progresses, she became more interesting & redeemed herself somewhat. Unlike the plot.
The book starts with some interesting premises. I liked the idea of the Fangborn & the way the vampires were portrayed was a refreshing change from the norm. However, after her cousin is kidnapped & the chase begins, the lack of editing becomes apparent. A veritable horde of secondary characters, constantly shifting alliances (often with no reason or explanation), a plethora of hidden clues & action sequences leave the reader reeling, wondering if they missed something that would make sense of it all. Also, because so much of the above has been packed between the covers, there is little room left for the character development that would have made me invested enough to care more about them. You're left with a book that is superficial on many levels. You know a lot of things but none of them very well, sort of like a B grade action movie.
So you make it to the end, hoping for that "aha!" moment where it all clicks but alas, it doesn't arrive. Little is cleared up & many questions are left unanswered. You expect this to some extent with a book #1 so some of the story lines can be continued in book #2. But instead of feeling like I'd come to the end of the first act, I just felt like I was being set up for the sequel.
The flow is awkward at points but hey, this is a first time author & no doubt this will improve. The mythologies presented are interesting & the writer obviously has a background in archaeology. In the next book, I'd like to see more time devoted to the development of the main characters & fewer story lines so they could be done well as opposed to the "everything but the kitchen sink" approach that bombards the reader here. Zoe has the potential to be a really great character if the author can slow down, ease up on the chaotic plot lines & play the long game.

Si, muy muy bueno!
Pardon me I just couldn't resist. This was my first encounter with this author. I really dug this book, I dug it like a garden. This plot had a very refreshing theory for the paranormal genre. The characters, settings, and conversations were all very well developed. A pity that I'm going to have to wait a while until the next book to come out. I'm left with this outraged feeling.