The Dawnkeepers by Jessica Anderson

Before I go onto this review I ask everyone who reads this post to do what they can to help the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. You can Donate online at www.clintonfoundation.org/haitirelief to help provide immediate relief and long-term support to earthquake survivors or Text "HAITI" to 20222 and $10 will be donated to relief efforts, charged to your cell phone bill.

Onto the Review:
I have completed book two in the Doomsday series by Jessica Anderson. "Dawnkeepers" was another complex and busy novel. Almost too busy to be honest. I felt like I was still being introduced to the plot from book one.

This story's focus is, on the surface, about Alexis and Nate.
Alexis has bought into the "Nightkeeper" lore and not only accepts her destiny but actively seeks her place in the hierarchy of the group. Nate is the exact opposite. Not only did his parents die on that fateful day when nearly the entire tribe was wiped out by the Banol Kax but so did his winikin, (guardian) and he was left to the vagaries and dangers of the foster care system. He is hard because he's had to be. He doesn't believe that his life has already been plotted out by the whims of fate. The story also spends a time on the character, Rabbit. He is the son of Red Boar. He was a Nightkeeper who gave his life in the cause in the previous book. I have to say I found Rabbit's story more compelling than I did Alexis and Nate's.

I pretty much knew what to expect from the couple. They fight their attraction. One is needy while the other is distant. They realize they are truly meant for each other and then they conquer the bad guy or spirit. What was unexpected in this part of the story was Ms. Anderson's use of love and nurturing in the form of a Mayan Goddess who bonds with Alexis to really send home the message "Love Conquers All". I connected to this portion of the story. It is a part of me I am trying to use more in this real world of upheaval. I was sorry that it really only took shape toward the end and wasn't more woven through the whole.

Rabbit is different. He was raised to believe in all the stories and magic of the Nightkeepers but he has been taught he isn't a Nightkeeper. He is Red Boar's son. He is among them but because of his mysterious birth he is not one of them. He is a teenager and coming into his own so rebellion is part of this stage of his life but when you can make things burn and mentally pick locks any rebellion can become dangerous real quick. He feels unwanted and he isn't wrong. His father certainly didn't want him and while Strike and Jax care for him they fear him a little too. His story takes some big turns in "Dawnkeepers" and I am very interested in where the saga takes him in the next installment, "Skykeepers".

The story also touches base on Strike's sister and her coming to terms with her own destiny and becoming a seer. She also discovers why she is having such problems in her marriage.
There is a new bad guy in town. He is a Xilbalban which is the evil version of the Nightkeepers.
The married Nightkeepers are having unknown, unnamed problems.
Jax is working through regrets of letting go of the love of his life in order to be true to the prophecies and what he believed was expected of him.
Then there is the whole search for 7 artifacts which once collected will help undo the final prophecy.
WHOOO! Like I said there is a lot going on in this book.

Overall the "Final Prophecy Series" has been an interesting read. I appreciate Ms. Anderson's effort to tell a good story. It is more complex than a regular paranormal romance novel. I think that she is trying to put together a story that appeals across genres and genders. Ms. Anderson has so much she wants to include and I appreciate that but if each story is going to focus on a couple coming together then lets stay there more. If it is about beating the Final Prophecy then I want more suspense and action.
With all that said I will be getting the next one.

I hate when I can't finish them: Killer Summer by Ridley Pearson

I picked up a new author for me the other day.  Ridley's "Killer Summer".  It is a series that takes place in Sun Valley Idaho and features sheriff Walt Fleming.  I picked this installment up because this story takes place during a wine auction. I love wine.  I love wine tastings and I am very fortunate because once a year I get to participate, (as an employee), in an actual wine auction.  I thought to myself: "Cool, a wine auction.  This should be fun and I might learn something.  Fun and education are a great combination!
I read the back flap and saw that Mr. Pearson already had 13 books under his belt including a bestselling crime series featuring a character called Lou Boldt.  I like thrillers and who-dun-its so I picked it up and put it on my stack. 
When I got home I pulled out this book over the newest Merry Gentry novel by Laurell K. Hamilton, the Lisa Kleypas I found and even over the newest Charlie Bone episode.  Why?  Because I thought to myself I should start the New Year off with a new author and hopefully a new compulsive relationship looking for all the rest of his books.  Anyway, I opened the pages and settled in on the sofa.  It started pleasantly enough with Sheriff Fleming fly fishing with his nephew.  A truck goes by and he notices.  He is an observant guy.  Then an accident with the truck and a car takes place which should be the beginning of a race against time to discover who was trying to steal the very old, very expensive Thomas Jefferson to John Adams wine bottles.
It just fell flat for me. This is a series that cannot be jumped into anywhere. There are relationships and histories that the reader must be aware of from the earlier books in order to grasp the importance of the appearance of a character or the absence of another in this one.  Sun Valley and Ketchum are small communities and everyone knows everyone else but me.  That wasn't my problem though.  My problem was how dry the story was.  I don't likely extremely dry wines and this story is as dry as a cheap burgundy.  Now don't get me wrong.  The writing is tight, the characters well drawn but there is nothing deeper.  I feel like we are going through the motions of a great mystery but it never gets to the meat.  I never felt fear for the grad student who finds out she is being possibly followed.  I didn't feel the terror of guests when a bomb goes off in the auction tent.  I just never felt anything.  I was 150 pages in and thought to myself:  "Self, you have several books you can't wait to get your hands on and you are spending Christmas vacation on something that isn't working for you.  Put it down self and go grab Lisa."  And that is what I did. 
Some books are worth keeping at.  Kent Haruf's "Plainsong and Eventide" immediately come to mind. They were books totally worth the effort and I recommend them highly.  Maybe I will try the Lou Boldt series by Ridley Pearson and see if it was just me or if this author goes on my DNR list.

Year End Review

Well it is the end of 2009. It has been one hell of a year. We have anew President, economy, and attitude about what is important in our lives. Personally, I have read a lot of books and reviewed only a fraction of them for this blog. I have worked hard making ends meet and had a lot of fun some of the time. I watched my youngest son graduate from boot camp and welcomed my oldest home from the army. I read through it all. My husband had a close call with his health last spring and I said goodbye to friends and family as they transitioned to the next life. I read through it all. I went cruising on Carnival with the girls and on the Harley with my husband. Yep, I read through it all. (Ok, I listened to books while on the back of the Harley.) I wrote 50,000 words for NANOWRIMO and now I am trying to figure out what to do with all those words. Reading a lot helped me write a lot. I have met some amazing people this year through the blogs and thanks to the BookSmugglers, Bookbinge, RamblingsonRomance and a dozen more like minded bloggers I have been inspired to read Patricia Briggs, Jessica Anderson, Lisa Kleypas, Susan Elizabeth Phillipssand a dozen or more new authors to me. I have doubled the number of my reviews and gotten about 6 more comments than last year so I guess at least 6 more people are stopping by and enjoying my reviews. Life has been challenging, interesting and crappy this year and through it all a book kept me company, distracted me, comforted and entertained me. I have never had more constant, or truer friends than the pages found between the covers of the books I have read or written upon this year. So I thank you 2009
for all your gifts. I bid you goodbye and turn and say hello to 2010 and adventures I have yet to have and the books I have yet to meet. Bring it on!
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Jessica Anderson is a first time read for me and I liked it

I was at the library the other day and amongst my Laurell K. Hamiltons, Nora Roberts and Susan Elizabeth Phillips a new author caught my attention, Jessica Anderson.  She has started a series of paranormal novels based on the next doomsday prophecy of 2012.
According to the ancient Mayans Dec 2012 is the last day of their calendar and it will be the end of the world as we know it.  An alternative prediction is a new world consciousness will come to pass, kind of like the Age of Aquarius. A movie came out last month with the title 2012 so it has become a hot topic. 
Ms. Anderson's first book "The Nightkeepers" came out in June of 2008 before the movie hype which makes her a trendsetter in my book..haha get it?  my book...I make myself laugh.
Anyway, I found "The Nightkeepers and The DawnKeepers" at the same time which I took as the book reading god's signal to read them since I wouldn't have to back track or wait 2 years for the next installment.  Thank you book reading god for the guidance. 
The Nightkeepers are warrior descendants of the Ancient Mayans.  They are the protectors of the world from the demons who would destroy humanity and the world as a whole.  The story begins 30 years ago with a prologue which tells of an attempt by the Jaguar King along with the rest of the Nightkeepers, to permanently seal the barrier between our world and the underworld. By doing so it would prevent them from accessing the higher powers of their Gods but would keep the destruction of the demons from entering this plain.  The attempt failed killing all but a hand full of babies and their caretakers, called winikins.  These survivors scattered across the North American continent.  Flash forward 30 years later and the story picks up in 2008 at the spring equinox.  It is during this time when the barrier between the dimensions is its thinnest and the son of the Jaguar King comes into his power.  Strike, yes that is his name, is the heir apparent and with his inheritence comes the responsibility of protecting the world from the end times.  (Note:  I am not totally crazy about Ms. Anderson's naming convention. It was the one thing in the book that felt too contrived.)
The story moves quickly pulling in all the players to Mexico next to the ancestral home of the Mayans.  Enter Leah.  She is not a Mayan let alone a Nightkeeper but she is evidently the pre-ordained mate for Strike.  She will be integral to helping Strike and the Nightkeepers keep the world safe in 4 years. 
As in any great adventure there are great villains sooo...representing the demons is Zipacna.  He is the human embodiment of the evil demon Makol and he needs Leah to complete his demonic mission. While he seems like a charismatic and ingenious villain he is somehow too sloppy and even a little dumb to be the ultimate bad guy.
This book is complex.  A good 1/3 of the book is busy setting up the characters and the back story.  It got a bit confusing at one point but just as I was about to give up the story started to pickup.  The group of Nightkeepers come together and they fight to defend the world begins.  I wish I could be more specific but then I would spoil the story.
I will tell you Ms. Anderson draws very real characters.  I liked that Strike resented the responsibility foisted on him because of his birth.  I like that Red Boar, one of the only adult surviving Nightkeepers is a dark character and while on the side of good is not himself a very good person.  I loved that while sex was part and parcel of the magic ritual it wasn't the only part and there was more bloody sacrifice going on then group sex rituals.  I liked that I wasn't sure how the bloody thing was going to end until it did and I LOVED the fact that I immediately picked up the next book to see what happened next!