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blodeuedd's review against another edition
3.0
First of all, I should have written this one when I finished it, but I was shocked that there are no more books! I want more :/
Anya is back, being her cool self, investigating fires, keeping track of her guardian/pet Sparky and being in a new relationship. She is always so cool, not kick-ass, just cool. She does not bring a katana to the table, but she can suck in ghosts. And that gives her heartburn.
There is just so much to talk about, so much more it could be. But there are no more books at the present. And I do find that sad, because this world has so much promise. Like what is her connection to Ishtar really? And..something else that I found out and really want to know more about. But for now it ended well, they could all be happily ever after. So no cliffie or so. But yes, more things are hidden, more things could be told. And I hope they are one day.
For now, just read these two books and enjoy a different UF with a ghostsucking heroine and the coolest of side kicks, Sparky, the electricity eating salamander.
Anya is back, being her cool self, investigating fires, keeping track of her guardian/pet Sparky and being in a new relationship. She is always so cool, not kick-ass, just cool. She does not bring a katana to the table, but she can suck in ghosts. And that gives her heartburn.
There is just so much to talk about, so much more it could be. But there are no more books at the present. And I do find that sad, because this world has so much promise. Like what is her connection to Ishtar really? And..something else that I found out and really want to know more about. But for now it ended well, they could all be happily ever after. So no cliffie or so. But yes, more things are hidden, more things could be told. And I hope they are one day.
For now, just read these two books and enjoy a different UF with a ghostsucking heroine and the coolest of side kicks, Sparky, the electricity eating salamander.
tartbarbie's review against another edition
5.0
I received Sparks as part of the blog tour hosted by Bewitching Book Tours in return for an honest review. Anya's days are divided between working as a arson investigator and dealing with out of control spirits. She's not alone in her adventure she's joined by her elemental familiar Sparky who happens to be a salamander plus her ghost hunting group. Anya isn't your typical Detroit girl she's a lantern which means that she can communicate with ghosts as well as she has the gift to eat them ending there existence. However life hasn't been easy with the accident that killed her mother, and being afraid to let anyone close she's had a hard time.
Anya has a new arson case that she's working on which involves spontaneous human combustion leaving very little remains behind. Jasper Bernard was a dealer is magic stuff from swords to bottles with bones in them, and when his all the magical artifacts go missing after his death Anya has more then just a case to solve. Hope Solomon is a celebrity psychic is in town collecting spirits for her own twisted plans. Anya is also trying to keep her relationship with Brian because after the scare in the first book when she almost lost him she's not ready to lose the chance again. Plus Sparkys has new babies thrown into the mix Anya has her hands full just keeping it together.
I really love Anya as a character she's grown so much from Ember and to me she just keeps getting better with age. This is only my second book about ghost but the concept for Anya's character being a lantern I find really unique. Plus she's in not your typical investigator she works for the fire department which is also new for me but I really like seeing a new form of investigator. As with the first book I love Sparky I want my own Sparky that's just like hers. The supernatural world that is created in the book works really well for the series, incorporating a variety of characters that work well. As with the first I found the book well written the story flows along smoothly making it easy to loose track of time while reading. Which this series has done a lot to me but it's that's alright it was worth it. As Sparks progresses we see Anya growing as a character from who she started out as in the first book. I highly suggest if your into ghosts and like a good suspense then you should check out Anya's series. I really hope for a third book because I have questions that still need answers.
texaswolfman's review against another edition
5.0
Excellent book. Where the first book dragged in some places, Sparks was non-stop and great fun!
chllybrd's review against another edition
4.0
reviewed by http://urbanfantasyinvestigations.blogspot.com/
I enjoy this series because its different. Its nice to hit a book that has something completely new and different in it every once in a while. Laura's characters are easy to like. There is none stop action and twists and turns. We get to see some of Anya's past and find out some stuff that even Anya didn't know about which will change her outlook on events she has gone through. I was actually starting to like Brian in the beginning but after some events in the book I just cant get into him again. Anya and Brian definitely have some issues that they need to work out and I'm interested to see how that plays out in future books. Just like in book one the plot is exciting and really pulls you in, the book is well paced. Sparky continues to be an awesome Sidekick and has life changing events of his own going on throughout the book. I cant even begin to guess what Laura will come up with for the next book but I'm excited about this series and I will continue reading it.
I enjoy this series because its different. Its nice to hit a book that has something completely new and different in it every once in a while. Laura's characters are easy to like. There is none stop action and twists and turns. We get to see some of Anya's past and find out some stuff that even Anya didn't know about which will change her outlook on events she has gone through. I was actually starting to like Brian in the beginning but after some events in the book I just cant get into him again. Anya and Brian definitely have some issues that they need to work out and I'm interested to see how that plays out in future books. Just like in book one the plot is exciting and really pulls you in, the book is well paced. Sparky continues to be an awesome Sidekick and has life changing events of his own going on throughout the book. I cant even begin to guess what Laura will come up with for the next book but I'm excited about this series and I will continue reading it.
aphelia88's review against another edition
5.0
Bickle's debut [b:Embers|6610562|Embers (Anya Kalinczyk, #1)|Laura Bickle|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1421562657l/6610562._SY75_.jpg|6748524] impressed me so much that I set out to find this sequel, now sadly out of print.
Although the ending leaves the possibility of more books open, it unfortunately appears that the series has come to an end as Bickle has moved on to other projects.
However, Sparks is a great ride, a real rollercoaster of a book. I love the world Bickle has built in Detroit for arson investigator Anya - who is secretly a ghost-incinerating medium known as a Lantern - and her invisible fire Elemental Guardian, the mischievous salamander Sparky.
The tone is dark and gritty, even a bit darker than the first (which was plenty grim). Barely recovered from the last case that nearly killed her, Anya is forced to stop a dangerous con woman collecting ghosts in special prison reliquaries and forcing them to do her bidding.
Anya's relationship with her ghostbusting DAGR group continues to be strained. Her new romance with the group's techie Brian is jeopardized by his building of an advanced AI powered by nefarious means.
The dark humour that laced the first book has sharpened here, to good effect. When Sparky surprises everyone by laying a clutch of eggs in Anya's bathtub, it's up to Anya - with help from witch Katie and the ghost hunting team - to keep them safe until hatching. Sparky is not a she - he evidently reproduces once every hundred years by the method of parthogenesis. The scene where Katie takes Anya to buy nesting things for newborns at a big box baby store is worth buying the book for, all by itself. It's hilarious!
But the story takes a darker turn when Anya must go to the Underworld, with help from a new ally Charon, to defeat Hope the con woman. A minor quibble: There is a bit of a disjointed feeling to the story, as if Bickle was unsure if this was the last book or not, and didn't know if she wanted to leave the series open or end it decisively. Still, and excellent duology, and an author I will be watching!
Although the ending leaves the possibility of more books open, it unfortunately appears that the series has come to an end as Bickle has moved on to other projects.
However, Sparks is a great ride, a real rollercoaster of a book. I love the world Bickle has built in Detroit for arson investigator Anya - who is secretly a ghost-incinerating medium known as a Lantern - and her invisible fire Elemental Guardian, the mischievous salamander Sparky.
The tone is dark and gritty, even a bit darker than the first (which was plenty grim). Barely recovered from the last case that nearly killed her, Anya is forced to stop a dangerous con woman collecting ghosts in special prison reliquaries and forcing them to do her bidding.
Anya's relationship with her ghostbusting DAGR group continues to be strained. Her new romance with the group's techie Brian is jeopardized by his building of an advanced AI powered by nefarious means.
Spoiler
I did not like Brian in the least, especially the patronizing way he acted toward Anya in this book, so I was very glad to see her move away from him, although the ending does leave everything in Anya's life ambiguous, including their relationship.The dark humour that laced the first book has sharpened here, to good effect. When Sparky surprises everyone by laying a clutch of eggs in Anya's bathtub, it's up to Anya - with help from witch Katie and the ghost hunting team - to keep them safe until hatching. Sparky is not a she - he evidently reproduces once every hundred years by the method of parthogenesis. The scene where Katie takes Anya to buy nesting things for newborns at a big box baby store is worth buying the book for, all by itself. It's hilarious!
But the story takes a darker turn when Anya must go to the Underworld, with help from a new ally Charon, to defeat Hope the con woman. A minor quibble:
Spoiler
The final battle was a little anticlimactic, which was disappointing.lalabristow's review against another edition
4.0
*4 & 1/2 Stars out of 5!
As much as I absolutely love Urban Fantasy, it is not often that a book or series brings something new to the table. When that happens, I can’t help but feel my love for the genre being reignited. I was pleasantly surprised by Embers a few months ago and was really excited about reading its sequel, Sparks. I have to say that Laura Bickle has done a superb job with this book and she has delivered an even better one than her debut.
Sparks starts off 3 months after the events in Embers and we find Anya trying to cope with the happenings of the previous book, while she also gives a shot at moving on and giving her DAGR colleague, Brian, a chance at her heart. I am really loving Anya as a character and I feel that in this book she has evolved a lot. She has to deal with so many trial and tribulations in Sparks and the stakes just keep getting higher and higher.
We get an awful Villain in Sparks and she is just vile! We also get to see Anya learn more about her powers, interact with spirits and even deal first hand with her tragic past, which she has been avoiding for a long time. She also learns the truth about her mom’s death and we get a new mystery in the form of “Who the hell is Anya’s father?”. All the great side characters from Embers are back in Sparks and we even get some new ones that I can’t wait to read more about.
I really enjoyed the plot of Sparks and the set up for future stories just make me want more and more. I’m really rooting for Anya' and Brian’s relationship, but I feel that there will be much trouble ahead and I can’t wait to read about it. I really want my girl Anya to be happy, now, is Brian is her HEA? Well, that is definitely up for debate.
Sparks is such a thrill ride that I did NOT want to get down from! I read the book in one sitting and the pace was perfect and full of non-stop action. I just know now that Laura Bickle is the kind of author that will only get better with each book and I really hope there will be more books in this series. This is an awesome new Urban Fantasy series that you just have to read. I absolutely recommend it!
Also posted on my blog: Welcome to Larissa's Bookish Life
As much as I absolutely love Urban Fantasy, it is not often that a book or series brings something new to the table. When that happens, I can’t help but feel my love for the genre being reignited. I was pleasantly surprised by Embers a few months ago and was really excited about reading its sequel, Sparks. I have to say that Laura Bickle has done a superb job with this book and she has delivered an even better one than her debut.
Sparks starts off 3 months after the events in Embers and we find Anya trying to cope with the happenings of the previous book, while she also gives a shot at moving on and giving her DAGR colleague, Brian, a chance at her heart. I am really loving Anya as a character and I feel that in this book she has evolved a lot. She has to deal with so many trial and tribulations in Sparks and the stakes just keep getting higher and higher.
We get an awful Villain in Sparks and she is just vile! We also get to see Anya learn more about her powers, interact with spirits and even deal first hand with her tragic past, which she has been avoiding for a long time. She also learns the truth about her mom’s death and we get a new mystery in the form of “Who the hell is Anya’s father?”. All the great side characters from Embers are back in Sparks and we even get some new ones that I can’t wait to read more about.
I really enjoyed the plot of Sparks and the set up for future stories just make me want more and more. I’m really rooting for Anya' and Brian’s relationship, but I feel that there will be much trouble ahead and I can’t wait to read about it. I really want my girl Anya to be happy, now, is Brian is her HEA? Well, that is definitely up for debate.
Sparks is such a thrill ride that I did NOT want to get down from! I read the book in one sitting and the pace was perfect and full of non-stop action. I just know now that Laura Bickle is the kind of author that will only get better with each book and I really hope there will be more books in this series. This is an awesome new Urban Fantasy series that you just have to read. I absolutely recommend it!
Also posted on my blog: Welcome to Larissa's Bookish Life
colls's review against another edition
4.0
Anya is an enjoyable character - not too perfect, not too flawed. Her familiar, Sparky is adorable and the ghost-busting crew is a fun ensemble to read about.
schomj's review against another edition
4.0
I have to admit, I broke -- about halfway through, I had to read the ending of the book to find out what happened to Sparky's babies. (I'm a total wuss about that kind of suspense.) I won't spoil it for you, but I will say that while there was some sadness, it was in keeping with the rest of the series in that it left me hopeful enough to finish reading. That could be said of the rest of the story as well: Anya lives in a dying town acting as a shepherd of sorts for the dead-but-not-departed. Sadness permeates her life, but she's able to take action to make things better for others. (Except when her familiar, the salamander Sparky, accidentally sets things on fire, destroying evidence and retail merchandise, among other things.)
The focus of the story is on Anya's work, solving fire- and ghost-related crimes, and her relationship with Sparky. There is a love interest in the form of geeky ghost-hunter Brian, but even Anya has doubts about how well that will turn out. (My reaction: she likes him because he's normal and she needs something stable in her life, but I find him amoral bordering on creepy. I get the feeling that that's intentional by the author, and I kind of worry about what kind of trouble he's going to cause Anya in the future.) That said, if you like your urban fantasy with a heavy dose of romance, this probably isn't going to do it for you.
I'll agree with other reviewers that the villain in this book wasn't very interesting. However, the new character, Charon, and the glimpses we get of Anya's biological father -- those were interesting. I'm very curious about how things will play out in future books.
If you like UF that's a little more thoughtful, with a focus more on scientific investigations of the paranormal than on swordplay, I highly recommend this series. (And if you haven't read Embers first, you probably should.) The humor is light, the language is mostly mild and the sex stays off-screen.
The focus of the story is on Anya's work, solving fire- and ghost-related crimes, and her relationship with Sparky. There is a love interest in the form of geeky ghost-hunter Brian, but even Anya has doubts about how well that will turn out. (My reaction: she likes him because he's normal and she needs something stable in her life, but I find him amoral bordering on creepy. I get the feeling that that's intentional by the author, and I kind of worry about what kind of trouble he's going to cause Anya in the future.) That said, if you like your urban fantasy with a heavy dose of romance, this probably isn't going to do it for you.
I'll agree with other reviewers that the villain in this book wasn't very interesting. However, the new character, Charon, and the glimpses we get of Anya's biological father -- those were interesting. I'm very curious about how things will play out in future books.
If you like UF that's a little more thoughtful, with a focus more on scientific investigations of the paranormal than on swordplay, I highly recommend this series. (And if you haven't read Embers first, you probably should.) The humor is light, the language is mostly mild and the sex stays off-screen.
leydhen's review
3.0
Bastante mejor que el primero. Se nota que las bases del mundo y su mitología ya están establecidas, así que todo transcurre a un mejor ritmo que en la novela anterior. Aunque sigue solucionándolo todo a la carrera en el final y bien podría desarrollar mejor sus tramas para no tener esa sensación de que vamos pasito a pasito, deteniéndonos en detalles casi nimios, para lanzarnos a un galope furioso al final.
Lástima que parece que la autora no ha seguido con la serie (este libro se publicó en 2010), porque empezaba a ponerse interesante.
Lástima que parece que la autora no ha seguido con la serie (este libro se publicó en 2010), porque empezaba a ponerse interesante.
prationality's review
4.0
In my review of Embers I remarked that part of why Anya liked Brian was because of his 'ordinariness'. Brain and tech-geek he may be, but he was rather simple at heart. So of course it couldn't stay that way. Like Anya I'm unsure how I feel about the revelation about Brian's character. I mean considering what they do, it seemed odd that he'd mess with things like that.
Hope Solomon, motivational speaker philanthropist extraordinaire, gave me the creeps. Even before Anya found the dirt on her she made my skin crawl. I understand that there are honest to goodness helpful folks out there. I also understand that for everyone of them there's fifty of the Hope Solomons in the world. Unlike Drake, who truly believed that what he was doing would help (somehow), Hope was purely in it for the greed. Money, power, fame...this lady cared only about herself. So she was the perfect foil to Anya's growing uneasiness about her powers and herself.
Sparky had baby newts! Mind you technically speaking Sparky isn't a he or a she, Anya just labeled him thus, but it gave us a chance to have whacky fun times in a Baby Store and see Anya act like a mother hen. Also fun, all the nifty gadgetry Brian came up with to help Anya out. The whacky fun times in the store though seemed out of place--like this one moment of cheerfulness in an otherwise dark, dark novel. It was kind of jarring, so even though I enjoyed the scene it didn't 'feel' right.
Charon pops up again and has a larger role than just cryptic messenger. I really liked him and sincerely hope he appears in the series again. He didn't beat around the bush, though he omitted certain details to keep things moving along. The ghosts in the museum? They were fun and interesting. Kind of like "Night at the Museum" but with more mayhem.
I wonder at the consequences of this fight on Anya. Not just supernaturally, but personally. She learned things about Brian that were unsettling, the team itself is headed for self-destruct and the news about her father, and the truth of what happened when her mom died? Yeah, let's talk about trauma issues...
Hope Solomon, motivational speaker philanthropist extraordinaire, gave me the creeps. Even before Anya found the dirt on her she made my skin crawl. I understand that there are honest to goodness helpful folks out there. I also understand that for everyone of them there's fifty of the Hope Solomons in the world. Unlike Drake, who truly believed that what he was doing would help (somehow), Hope was purely in it for the greed. Money, power, fame...this lady cared only about herself. So she was the perfect foil to Anya's growing uneasiness about her powers and herself.
Sparky had baby newts! Mind you technically speaking Sparky isn't a he or a she, Anya just labeled him thus, but it gave us a chance to have whacky fun times in a Baby Store and see Anya act like a mother hen. Also fun, all the nifty gadgetry Brian came up with to help Anya out. The whacky fun times in the store though seemed out of place--like this one moment of cheerfulness in an otherwise dark, dark novel. It was kind of jarring, so even though I enjoyed the scene it didn't 'feel' right.
Charon pops up again and has a larger role than just cryptic messenger. I really liked him and sincerely hope he appears in the series again. He didn't beat around the bush, though he omitted certain details to keep things moving along. The ghosts in the museum? They were fun and interesting. Kind of like "Night at the Museum" but with more mayhem.
I wonder at the consequences of this fight on Anya. Not just supernaturally, but personally. She learned things about Brian that were unsettling, the team itself is headed for self-destruct and the news about her father, and the truth of what happened when her mom died? Yeah, let's talk about trauma issues...
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