Review: Second Chance

Book Two of The Slayer Chronicles
By Heather Brewer
Available now from Dial (Penguin)
Review copy
Read my reviews of SOULBOUND and ELEVENTH GRADE BURNS and read an event report

Heather Brewer decided to expanded on her popular series The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod with a series of novels about Joss the Slayer that occur between events in the main continuity.  In other words, it's summer in the city.

In this case the city is New York City and it happens to be infested by a group of four serial-killing vampire brothers.  Joss is on the outs with his slayer brethren since he took a private job.  (See NINTH GRADE SLAYS.)  This is his chance to prove himself.  But his budding friendship with Vlad and the non-serial-killing vampires he meets on his hunt are causing him to question his indoctrination by the Slayers.  To top things off, he's getting creepy pasta texts from Kat, who wants revenge for the death of her father.

Brewer pulls off a neat trick in The Slayer Chronicles.  Her fans have spent five books getting to know and love several vampires.  Now, she gives them reason to empathize with a group on the other side of the battle for the night.  She could just focus on Joss, but she gives him a group that treat him like a little brother and a respected ally.  It's hard to believe that most of these people are capable of killing an entire town just to dust a few vamps.

Luckily, she doesn't try to redeem Joss's Uncle Abraham, who pushes his young nephew to his limits because of his own issues.  TWELFTH GRADE KILLS revealed that he was acquainted with Em, Vlad's grandmother.  SECOND CHANCES hints that their past will be revealed in The Slayer Chronicles.  I'm certainly looking forward to that.

SECOND CHANCES is a good choice for those who want a quick read with lots of action.  The blurb promises that The Slayer Chronicles can be read alone as well as with The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod, but I think you'd be best served reading both series.  Brewer isn't interested in rehashing events, so you'll miss chunks of Joss's life (that contain vital character developments) between books.  Penguin does appear to be putting out bind-ups that contain the relevant entries of both series, so you might want to wait for that edition if you aren't familiar with the Vlad Tod books.

Heather Brewer will be at Stonebriar Center Mall in Plano tonight; I may or may not attend.  (Probably not, because it's a long, tolled drive and I think I have a family thing anyway.)  But that Barnes and Noble is fab so you should go if you can.  Her presentation will tie into October's new role as Anti-Bullying Month.

Blogiversary Contest, Winners, and Eleventh Grade Burns Review

LiLi of ChicaReader won the HEX HALL T-shirt.

Sharon of Sharon Loves Books and Cats won the Vladimir Tod and Vampire Academy swag.

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Blogiversary Contest!

Yesterday was my second blogiversary, which means it's past time to announce the contest!

Contest closes 4/19. Open internationally, but any international winners won't get the full prize. (We'll work out shipping and such depending on who wins.)

The prizes include:
THE WITCHY WORRIES OF ABBIE ADAMS by Rhonda Hayter (ARC)
HEX HALL by Rachel Hawkins (ARC)
Vladimir Todd buttons
Penguin Summer 2009 poster
and more to be announced!

To enter, fill out this form:


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ELEVENTH GRADE BURNS



By Heather Brewer
Available now from Penguin
Review copy

I enjoy this series, so I'm happy to see that the fourth entry is just as strong as previous ones. Vlad is maturing; I'm particularly impressed by how he handles Snow. Not every teenage guy would act so honorably when faced with a hot girl who was in love with him. He faces his enemies with the same aplomb. I'm excited that we learn more about the Pravus prophecy, because it seems impossible that Vlad could grow up to be a bad guy.

Heather Brewer ends ELEVENTH GRADE BURNS with a truly evil cliffhanger. I rue the day someone got it into his or her head to invent the cliffhanger. But even without the doozy of an ending, I'd be back for Vladimir Tod's senior year. In a genre (urban fantasy) where I'm feeling an increasing distance from the protagonists, Brewer manages to create a monster I'd like to hang out with.

(Also, since Brewer fills her books with allusions, I firmly believe Dorian is a reference to Dorian Gray. He may not be a vampire, but he does hang out with one in LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMAN.)

Vladimir Tod and Vampire Academy Swag Contest

Yes, the MY SOUL TO SAVE contest is still open.



SPIRIT BOUND, the fifth Vampire Academy novel by Richelle Mead, comes out on May 18th.

I haven't read this series yet, but I've heard good things and I love the other books I've read by Richelle.



ELEVENTH GRADE BURNS, the fourth book in The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod by Heather Brewer, came out today.

This series may be aimed at boys, but I'll admit to liking it. It's fun, and Heather clearly knows her vamp literature.

(You can read about my close encounter with Heather Brewer here.

And you could win a really cool prize back that contains swag for both. It includes:

*Big, signed posters of both covers (and believe me, both covers look awesome big)
*A Vampire Academy Graduate T-shirt
*A Vlad Tod logo T-shirt
*Vampire Academy temporary tattoos
*Vlad Tod buttons

The contest runs for two weeks, until 2/23. The publisher, Penguin, is providing the prize, so I again have to limit it to U.S., non-P.O. box addresses. Don't worry international readers - I'll have a contest for you soon. (By which I mean next week.)

Zombies vs. Vampires (vs. Pixies!)

Zombies vs. Vampires with Cynthia Leitich Smith, Daniel Waters, Carrie Jones, and Heather Brewer
First, a technical note: I wanted to use what I'm learning in school, so none of this is flash photography. I'm also in manual settings. I did use autofocus to take faster shots. (Focusing is one of my weak spots due to my eyesight.)

This panel began with a discussion of how to make fantasy characters work in an urban setting and what they wear. To the right, you can see Heather Brewer demonstrating her powers of imagination by choosing to make Vlad dress exactly like her. (Vlad is Vladimir Tod, the most recent release in the series being TENTH GRADE BLEEDS.)



She did dress for the panel, in a "Zombies Need Love Too" tee, since she was undecided about zombies vs. vampires and feeling generous in the morning. As for integrating her characters, she enjoys mentioning standard things from vampire lore that would be tricky and then subverting them. Besides, not being able to cross running water is just silly.

My favorite question of the panel was, "If the zombie apocalypse comes and you and three other authors are the only ones holding out, who would you choose to be holed up with?" Heather went with her panel members, since they were already with her and would thus survive due to her being prepared for this exact possibility. That sounded good to Carrie Jones, who was pretty sure she'd be dead meat when faced with zombies. (I think she could throw her totally cute shoes at them. It worked for Clara against the Rat King.) However, Carrie did when for most terrifying zombified supernatural, as pixie zombies would be unstoppable. (She wrote the pixie-laden NEED, which I reviewed here.)



Vampires couldn't be zombified, of course, since one must die first and vampires remain undead. Heather proposed that vamp blood could cure zombism, although the audience was divided on the issue. Cynthia Leitich Smith did see on satellite radio that salt can be used to restore zombies to their former humanity. Resident zombie expert Daniel Waters wasn't sure about that, but he said it couldn't hurt to add salt to your zombie kit. (Doubt his zombie credentials? Check out KISS OF LIFE, which I reviewed here.)



Speaking of Daniel, he didn't have a true preference for the three authors he'd take with him. He only knew that they needed to be slower and tastier, rather than more skilled. Cynthia, on the other hand, did have a team picked out. Her ringer? Local author April Lurie, who used to be a nurse. Her medical knowledge would be handy, though she would later disavow her use when told of being picked at a later panel.



Then, when questioned about what they could write about if they couldn't use zombies or vampires, the authors got creative. Cynthia noted that her series, containing TANTALIZE and ETERNAL, had a werearmadillo among many other creatures. Carrie noted that she'd started in contemporary YA . . . and then threatened to write about curtains (among other things). Sitting beside her, skeptical Heather was skeptical. Daniel was less so, but this is the man who admitted he would kiss Tinkerbell (but not a male vampire, whether he be Vlad or Edward).

It was a very fun panel, and Ms. Anderson of BookPeople did a great job moderating. (She also did her own write-up of the panel, which contains many things mine doesn't.) There's a reason everyone was laughing!