Elitist Book Reviews

Celia has been asked to be a bridesmaid at the wedding of the century: her siren cousin the princess Adrianna is marrying the king of Rusland. Celia has been chosen not simply because she's Adrianna's cousin, but also because the bride-to-be has already survived one attempt on her life and Celia's bodyguard experience may just save the day.

You see, not everyone in Rusland is pleased about the upcoming nuptials, and are convinced that Adrianna has bewitched their king using dark siren magic. And they'll do anything to stop the wedding.

But that isn't the extent of Celia's problems: she's on the outs with former co-worker John Creede, her boyfriend Bruno's ex-girlfriend is determined to get him back, and her own gran is hiding an unpleasant secret from her. Celia does what she can to get by, but it seems that life is ganging up on her.

THE ELDRITCH CONSPIRACY is book 5 of the Blood Singer novel series by Cat Adams, and continues the story of Celia Graves, who does bodyguard work for a living, but as of book 1 being attacked by a vampire changed her life: she's not only part-vampire, but her siren abilities were  awakened.

The opening chapter is confusing, and I had to re-check the series order to make sure I didn't miss a book. Her relationship with John Creede has become strained and we find that her relationship with former flame Bruno is back on. I felt like I was dumped into the middle of the story, and the love triangle isn't ever really addressed in this book--here's hoping it will be in the next, because it's the development of such things that lady readers want mapped out in a series like this.

I also had a hard time keeping track of characters, it's been over a year since I read the last book (EBR review for ISIS COLLAR here) and I got lost easily with not only the characters, but also events from past books. A little refresher here and there would have helped, but maybe it's just me.

The good thing about this particular book is that plot itself is handled better than even previous books, the progression of events felt more natural and less arbitrary. Also, Adams' characterization across the series is well done, with Celia's progression and even the progression of secondary characters: they grow and change, for better or worse.

The series is only now growing on me, and here we are on book 5. It's taken a while to get to this point, when I'm usually the kind of person to drop a series if the first book doesn't pique my interest--but that's the concession we EBR reviews make for our readers. I will be reading TO DANCE WITH THE DEVIL soon and hope that ELDRITCH is a sign of things to come.

Recommended Age: 16+
Language: A handful of instances
Violence: A few fights, nothing gruesome
Sex: Referenced

The books in the Blood Singer series:

BLOOD SONG

SIREN SONG

DEMON SONG

THE ISIS COLLAR

THE ELDRITCH CONSPIRACY

Celia's life hasn't been easy since she was turned into an abomination in BLOOD SONG--not quite human, but not quite vampire, either. At the same time her siren abilities manifested, giving her supernatural skills she only wished she had in a profession (bodyguard) that needs all the advantages she can get.

Be careful what you wish for.

THE ISIS COLLAR starts out with a bomb at an elementary school. Someone really despicable wants to cause a pandemic with a magical necrosis that essentially turns people into zombies. Despite a tip-off, Celia couldn't stop the bomb and is infected, but her vampire side is having trouble beating the infection. It becomes a race against time to find the source of the bomb and an antidote--for herself and for those even less resistant to the disease.

Like before, Celia is a great protagonist with the right amount of attitude and kick-butt skills, who's still a girlie at heart. I enjoyed Celia's romantic entanglements that she can't seem to resolve through no fault of her own. She attracts these men not because she's a fair maid in danger, but because she's a good person trying to do the right thing, who takes her friendships seriously, and is the kind of woman you want fighting in your corner. However, by this point in the series the cast is a little unwieldy. There are new characters with ties to people Celia knows, there are several people from previous books, and even more with back story--all of this would make new readers feel lost.

For some reason Tor never sent DEMON SONG (boo! And I wanted to read it!), although they sent the first two in the series, BLOOD SONG and SIREN SONG . Either way THE ISIS COLLAR is a bit of a letdown after the clean writing of books 1 and 2. We're caught in subplots carried over from previous books that interfere with the pacing. There are also some seemingly random events that matter later in the story, but aren't explainable and still feel random. Heck, we don't even know what the Isis Collar is until the last quarter of the book and it's the title! Adams tries to tie everything together, but the novel still felt like a random sequence of events, making the pacing a little off, even if there was consistent forward movement.

It's less the plot than it's the characters and the setting that will keep readers hooked. It's a world of vampires, sirens, mages, witches, demons, and everything in between. It's a world that's familiar to us and yet very, very different. Adams adds fun details to this world, such as the Isaac's store, where Celia gets her gear altered to hide her guns, but to also purchase magic charms, a special brand of spray holy water, and anything else a girl would need to defend herself from the supernatural.

If you liked the previous books, ISIS is more of the same: same Celia and friends, same pacing and exciting storyline. If you haven't read any, start with BLOOD SONG. As for the series, despite its flaws, its interesting characters and engaging setting is what will keep me reading in the future.

Recommended Age: 16+
Language: A handful of harsher language, but still average for Urban Fantasy
Violence: Plenty of danger from bombs, demons, witches--with the zombie descriptions being the grossest part of the book
Sex: Innuendo and references without detail

The books in The Blood Singer Series:
BLOOD SONG
SIREN SONG
DEMON SONG
THE ISIS COLLAR

In BLOOD SONG, Celia was attacked by a vampire, but not turned completely. Instead she's an "abomination", a sort of vampire limbo, with both perks and disadvantages. She also learned that her great-grandmother is a Siren—yes, the magical variety who can sing men to their deaths—and since being bitten it appears that these traits have finally manifested for Celia. The perk: men come when she needs. The disadvantage: women hate her.

One would think that having some supernatural abilities might make life a little easier. Not for Celia, who's convinced that everyone thinks she's a monster: the Sirens, the vampires and the humans. It's all a big mess. And because of who and what she is, someone wants her dead, and will do anything, even call up demons, to finish the job.

SIREN SONG begins with a big action scene right off the bat. After the events in BLOOD SONG, Celia was being taken to an institution that would make sure she's safe to be roaming among the general public. On the way her and Dr. Scott are attacked, physically and mentally. They survive, but her relationship with the good doctor is irrevocably damaged, and she's no closer to discovering the assailants' motives.

Unfortunately, that opening scene consists of the majority of the book's excitement for the first three-quarters, and the story moves forward much slower as Adams builds up the piecemeal plot. The pace hiccups in places, as Adams tries to move quickly from scene to scene, event to event, making the pacing less consistent compared to the first book. Fortunately, the sundry information and events finally tie up nicely in an exciting conclusion.

In the meantime Celia must deal with her new abilities. It's rare for abominations to live as long as she has, because usually their sires turn or kill them soon after they're first bitten—fortunately hers is dead. She refuses to drink blood, but she's limited to a liquid diet, and watching her try to deal with it can be amusing. Add to that her Siren abilities and no man can really trust her and all women hate her. She handles these wrenches in her life with aplomb...mostly. At this point it's just getting through it day by day, but she refuses to give up. We see few other characters from book one (alas very little of the sexy werewolf and Celia's Italian former boyfriend), other than a big scene with the ghostly Vicki. We instead get to know others better, including John Miller, the mage who owns a bodyguard firm (potential romance?); Bubba, the bail bondsman whose office is on the same floor as Celia's (fisherman, tough guy...Mensa member?); and Celia's Siren relatives.

In fact the entire second half of the book deals with the Sirens. We get to see their culture, with their queens and their island isolated from the rest of the world. It doesn't feel like anything special, though, and not particularly interesting other than to learn about Celia's origins. It turns out, though, that it's a good thing Celia goes, because it appears that their role in all of these events, even the ones in BLOOD SONG, may be deeper than first thought.

We see more of how mage magic works, which was interesting and well done. The roles of magic in this world are important—from the everyday variety to creating protective wards to how they fight with it. Adams used clairvoyants a lot in BLOOD SONG, and they were interesting and affected the plot. This time around there are several clairvoyant 'prophecies' but they're vague and pointless, which was frustrating.

For a middle book in a series, SIREN SONG is rather mediocre, and not worth trying to read as a standalone, because the story depends a great deal on what came before. Despite this, at least we're clearer who the bad guys are, and their motives—which was my big frustration in BLOOD SONG. Still, the world building, character progression, and cast is what keeps me interested, and I'm looking forward to reading the conclusion, DEMON SONG.

Recommended Age: 16+
Language: A couple handfuls, not as much as in BLOOD SONG
Violence: Lots more peril than BLOOD SONG, and the couple of fight scenes are as exciting and detailed as the ones from the previous book
Sex: Referenced, with only minor details

Celia is in vampire limbo. She hasn't joined the ranks of the undead, but she's no longer human. She's got fangs, a taste for blood, and superhuman strength; but at the same time she's awake during the day and can withstand sunlight, holy water, and other vampire repellents.

You see, a security job for a foreign prince who wanted to enjoy the night life on a visit to L.A. turned deadly. During the chaos Celia was attacked by an old vampire—and it's only the oldest vampires who can create new ones—but the process was interrupted. Instead of dying or being turned, Celia became what's known in vampire circles as an abomination.

But that's not the worst thing. Her sire plans to finish the job, and she must find and kill him before he does.

I just want to get something out of the way. I really enjoy Urban Fantasy (for several reasons that I won't bore you with). I've read my share of the kick-butt female variety, and a lot of times it's frustratingly unrealistic. Often these women are really only men with boobs (can I use that word on this blog?), who are loud, obnoxious, and unsympathetic, who have an emotional breakdown thrown in to make them feel more feminine. Fortunately, BLOOD SONG doesn't have this problem. Sure Celia could kick your butt, but really it's nothing personal. It's her job. She's a professional bodyguard, and she has the lifestyle, attitude, and skills to prove it. But it doesn't change the fact that she's still a girl who's having a really bad day.

Set in present-day Los Angeles, this is a world of vampires, werewolves, warrior priests, mages, telepaths, and a variety of mythological creatures. Religion does matter. But so does an education in the supernatural. Adams makes sure we understand how things work in this world, what magic is used for, and how the human public deals with the things that go bump in the night. But since Celia isn't magically gifted, she has to use her smarts, and some trusty gadgets to keep her in the game.

Cat Adams is the pseudonym for the writing duo of C.T. Adams and Cathy Clamp, and they have quite a few books under their belts—and it shows. The plot progression proceeds at a great clip, we're introduced to the large and varied cast without being overwhelmed, the location/magic all make sense and are explained without boring info dumps, and the first-person PoV narrative is engaging and fluid. However, even the most experienced writers can have trouble with a story, and in BLOOD SONG the storytelling suffers from a few hiccups and the plot can get convoluted—while Adams explains things, I still had trouble following who exactly the bad guys were and who/why/what they were up to.

The best thing about this book is the main character Celia, who is likable and interesting. The next best was that the story didn't go where I expected it to. Sure, like I expected, more things go wrong, we meet more of her friends, learn more of Celia's history and what makes her tick. But then other characters throw a wrench into the story and Celia has to react. She does the best she can to control what's going on, but too many times even the best-intentioned people have other ideas; yet others want to use her for their own purposes; and even her own family has surprises in store.

Eventually Celia does take matters into her own hands. But watch out, because this chick refuses to be jerked around.

Recommended Age: 16+
Language: It's liberally sprinkled
Violence: Vampires=blood and gore
Sex: There's a scene at a strip club; Celia gets a little hot and heavy with the ex; a few references other than that

There will be more to see in my review for SIREN SONG, the next book in the series.