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mjmoore's review against another edition
5.0
Black Swan Rising is the first book in a dark urban fantasy series. It’s written by a husband and wife team, which seems to work in its favour. Carol is the novelist, and Lee is a poet, and his influence shows in the writing.
The main character, Garet Jones, is in her 20s, and dealing with problems – she has an elderly father, and they are struggling with debts in a failing economy. When she discovers an unusual silver box to which she seems to have connections, she agrees to try to open it. From this point on, she starts to find her world shifting. She’s introduced to the world of fey, meets goblins, a dragon and a vampire, and comes face to face with the demons of Dispair and Discord.
As a keen YA reader, I expected this to be similar to most other paranormal romance books out there, but it has a more adult feel to it. There is a lot of fantasy, and yet at the same time it seems to remain grounded in the real world. Garet takes time to come to terms with her discoveries, and she takes the reader with her. In addition, the characters aren’t black and white – there’s always that sense that some may not be what they seem, and should not be trusted.
Of course some of the ideas and characters have been done before, I think a totally unique book in this crowded genre is impossible. However, the overall story line is something I haven’t come across before, and there are some great character creations.
It’s a fast paced book, with plenty of details, story threads and characters throughout. Whilst I needed to know what would happen, I was sad to finish and leave the world. Thankfully the 2nd book is already published, so I will be returning soon.
For fans of urban fantasy, this is highly recommended.
The main character, Garet Jones, is in her 20s, and dealing with problems – she has an elderly father, and they are struggling with debts in a failing economy. When she discovers an unusual silver box to which she seems to have connections, she agrees to try to open it. From this point on, she starts to find her world shifting. She’s introduced to the world of fey, meets goblins, a dragon and a vampire, and comes face to face with the demons of Dispair and Discord.
As a keen YA reader, I expected this to be similar to most other paranormal romance books out there, but it has a more adult feel to it. There is a lot of fantasy, and yet at the same time it seems to remain grounded in the real world. Garet takes time to come to terms with her discoveries, and she takes the reader with her. In addition, the characters aren’t black and white – there’s always that sense that some may not be what they seem, and should not be trusted.
Of course some of the ideas and characters have been done before, I think a totally unique book in this crowded genre is impossible. However, the overall story line is something I haven’t come across before, and there are some great character creations.
It’s a fast paced book, with plenty of details, story threads and characters throughout. Whilst I needed to know what would happen, I was sad to finish and leave the world. Thankfully the 2nd book is already published, so I will be returning soon.
For fans of urban fantasy, this is highly recommended.
beckylej's review against another edition
5.0
Margaret "Garet" James stumbles into a strange jewelry store one rainy afternoon and is given a box to open. That evening, her house is broken into and the box is stolen, kicking off a strange series of events that changes everything for Garet.
A fantastic urban fantasy! Lee Carroll is writing team Carol Goodman and husband Lee Slonimsky. Book two is due out fall 2011.
A fantastic urban fantasy! Lee Carroll is writing team Carol Goodman and husband Lee Slonimsky. Book two is due out fall 2011.
kirine75's review against another edition
5.0
One of my favorite genres is Urban Fiction, which is typically heroines moving from one drama to the next at breakneck speed with a 'no fear take no prisoners' attitude. I found myself pleasantly surprised at this book. Keep in mind I'm not familiar with Carol Goodman's work.
Garet James has to be one of the most 'human' characters I've come across in a UF book. She's very atypical of the genre which made her more endearing to me. She has problems, big ones. She's afraid and it's clear her upbringing was less than rosy.
No the book doesn't move at breakneck speed, and does get a little slow at points. Again, it's not your average Urban Fiction. However it's a really great read!
Garet James has to be one of the most 'human' characters I've come across in a UF book. She's very atypical of the genre which made her more endearing to me. She has problems, big ones. She's afraid and it's clear her upbringing was less than rosy.
No the book doesn't move at breakneck speed, and does get a little slow at points. Again, it's not your average Urban Fiction. However it's a really great read!
denizyildiz's review against another edition
2.0
A well constructed and well written novel. But somehow it sort of didn't grip me. Around the middle of the book I ended up reading something else in-between. When i came back to it, I gladly discovering that the second half seemed to be more fascinating. I quite like the story, I really liked the main characters...just some how I don't feel all enthusiastic? I honestly can't put my finger on it, but maybe it is just not my kind of book?
shanna394's review against another edition
1.0
I was really disappointed in the book. I didn’t even finish. Got almost to the end and then had no desire to keep going. I felt like it was all superficial. The love story was not needed and I’ve read better for this type of story and even about John Dee.
morning_midnight's review against another edition
2.0
I enjoyed elements of this book and the world Lee created, but it entire story left me wanting more. Nothing was resolved enough for me in the end. (Even if the ending was left open for a sequel, so many different things were unsatisfactorily explained for me.)
krisrid's review against another edition
4.0
This was a solid five-star read for me, until the ending, which disappointed me a bit by not really feeling like a proper ending.
I loved almost everything about this book. It had characters representing virtually every paranormal creature you can think of, but because of the story, it feels completely natural and absolutely works to drive the plot. Everyone in this story feels like they belong here.
The story itself is one of the most inventive, well thought-out ones I've read in a while. I was totally engrossed and caught up in Garet's story and the adventure she went on, from the very first page. I didn't want to put this book down once I started it, and fortunately as I was on vacation when I read it I didn't have to. I read this in just a couple of days.
The intrigue and drama of the plot was extremely well-paced to keep the reader enagaged. The ups and downs in the events Garet had to face were exciting, but they also engage your mind to try to figure out whether Garet should or should not do this, trust him, go there, etc. I found myself feeling like I was right there with Garet as she tried to navigate the suddenly surreal world she found herself in, and for me, that is the very best kind of book - one that takes me fully into the world the author has created.
The supporting charcters were also unique and whether they were "good" or "evil" (and you never are completely sure with any of them, which category they truly fit from moment to moment throughout the story) all of them were interesting and they all contributed something to the story as it played out, so they were integral to a reader's enjoyment of the story.
Although you could make an argument that this is a paranormal romance, from my perspective, this is more parnormal fiction or paranormal adventure, as the majority of the book focuses on the quest Garet has to go on to do what she decides to do [no more detail to avoid spoilers] and the activities related to that. So there is no actual sex in the story, although we get references that it happened. There is some violence, although I would say they are mild in comparison to much of this genre's offerings.
This is a great book for women who wish they were Harry Potter. If you like magical quests, a variety of paranormal entities and lots of action this could be for you. I loved it. Looking forward to the next book in the series to find out what happens next!
I loved almost everything about this book. It had characters representing virtually every paranormal creature you can think of, but because of the story, it feels completely natural and absolutely works to drive the plot. Everyone in this story feels like they belong here.
The story itself is one of the most inventive, well thought-out ones I've read in a while. I was totally engrossed and caught up in Garet's story and the adventure she went on, from the very first page. I didn't want to put this book down once I started it, and fortunately as I was on vacation when I read it I didn't have to. I read this in just a couple of days.
The intrigue and drama of the plot was extremely well-paced to keep the reader enagaged. The ups and downs in the events Garet had to face were exciting, but they also engage your mind to try to figure out whether Garet should or should not do this, trust him, go there, etc. I found myself feeling like I was right there with Garet as she tried to navigate the suddenly surreal world she found herself in, and for me, that is the very best kind of book - one that takes me fully into the world the author has created.
The supporting charcters were also unique and whether they were "good" or "evil" (and you never are completely sure with any of them, which category they truly fit from moment to moment throughout the story) all of them were interesting and they all contributed something to the story as it played out, so they were integral to a reader's enjoyment of the story.
Although you could make an argument that this is a paranormal romance, from my perspective, this is more parnormal fiction or paranormal adventure, as the majority of the book focuses on the quest Garet has to go on to do what she decides to do [no more detail to avoid spoilers] and the activities related to that. So there is no actual sex in the story, although we get references that it happened. There is some violence, although I would say they are mild in comparison to much of this genre's offerings.
This is a great book for women who wish they were Harry Potter. If you like magical quests, a variety of paranormal entities and lots of action this could be for you. I loved it. Looking forward to the next book in the series to find out what happens next!
macthekat's review against another edition
4.0
The first part of the book sucked me in with in just a few pages. It is really wonderful to read an urban fantasy with an adult main character. Her emotions seems very real especially in the first half of the novel. Carroll creates the most amazing images both of NY and of the more magical sights in the book. During the reading I constantly turned to google to see images of the places Gareth takes you.
The first part of this book is definatly the strongest. The more fantasy part of the book does feel a bit weaker. Not bad just less compelling. In the last half of the book our main character is kind of passive much of the time and there are a lot of description, which make it less interesting when the first part. Gareth just get sweeper along in part of the book which is a shame.
The ending was suprisingly long and melancolic - reminding me of the ending of lords of the rings. I really enjoyed the book.
Defiantly worth reading! And the included first chapter of the next book makes me want to pick it up as well.
The first part of this book is definatly the strongest. The more fantasy part of the book does feel a bit weaker. Not bad just less compelling. In the last half of the book our main character is kind of passive much of the time and there are a lot of description, which make it less interesting when the first part. Gareth just get sweeper along in part of the book which is a shame.
The ending was suprisingly long and melancolic - reminding me of the ending of lords of the rings. I really enjoyed the book.
Defiantly worth reading! And the included first chapter of the next book makes me want to pick it up as well.
eating_or_reading's review against another edition
3.0
First published at Lit Addicted Brit
*sigh* Why do I find it so hard to write about books that I just feel ok about?! Let's find something I can be super keen on to get started...the title! I don't know why I found it so intriguing but a large part of what prompted me to request this on NetGalley was the title. So that's a positive start!
Black Swan Rising saw me venturing back into the distinctly iffy territory of urban fantasy for the first time of 2013. In 2012, I read a few urban fantasy titles and was generally pretty underwhelmed - Darkfever had a ridiculously annoying protagonist and The Name of the Star had a few too many moments of teenage fool-hardiness. Black Swan Rising didn't exactly do a sterling job of convincing me that there was something about recent urban fantasy releases that I've been missing.
The story is a blend of fey, vampires, mythology and magic. Despite what my reviews of urban fantasy might generally suggest, I don't hate any of those things. I would love to read a truly brilliant book about fae, fey or fairies (whatever you want to call them) and I can still tolerate vampires. I *love* mythology and anything fun and magical. You would think that added all together, it would be a recipe for something fabulous. In this case, though, I think everything just ended up diluted. The twists on mythology were my favourite parts by far, I quite liked the fairy elements but the vampire wasn't great.
I liked Garet initially. She's a jeweller and helps her father with running an art gallery. It made a nice change to have a creative, independent female character. Adding in the dash of realism with the money worries was a nice touch but I found myself wanting more. I was quite prepared to love Garet and her strength and personality seemed to wane as she developed other...talents.
And then along came the apparently irresistible vampire to make it all that little bit more irritating. It wasn't necessarily that I didn't like the chap in question. I thought the dynamic and history between Garet and Mr Vampire (I hope you're appreciating my spoiler avoidance tactics!) early on was the promise of something unique. Something where the female character could find someone attractive but continue to challenge him and retain her sense of self. But then for some reason, this seemingly bright and feisty young woman started cavorting about on rooftops in the dark and inviting a predator to help themselves, nearly killing her in the process. I just...why?
After that development, the book had too much ground to make up, I suppose. I still loved the abilities that Garet started to learn and the bad guys really are quite bad and satisfyingly creepy but I was luke warm about the whole thing overall.
Overall: Average. There are some solid ideas but not quite enough to carry the story over into the 'good' category. Cautiously recommended if you're a really die-hard fan of urban fantasy.
*sigh* Why do I find it so hard to write about books that I just feel ok about?! Let's find something I can be super keen on to get started...the title! I don't know why I found it so intriguing but a large part of what prompted me to request this on NetGalley was the title. So that's a positive start!
Black Swan Rising saw me venturing back into the distinctly iffy territory of urban fantasy for the first time of 2013. In 2012, I read a few urban fantasy titles and was generally pretty underwhelmed - Darkfever had a ridiculously annoying protagonist and The Name of the Star had a few too many moments of teenage fool-hardiness. Black Swan Rising didn't exactly do a sterling job of convincing me that there was something about recent urban fantasy releases that I've been missing.
The story is a blend of fey, vampires, mythology and magic. Despite what my reviews of urban fantasy might generally suggest, I don't hate any of those things. I would love to read a truly brilliant book about fae, fey or fairies (whatever you want to call them) and I can still tolerate vampires. I *love* mythology and anything fun and magical. You would think that added all together, it would be a recipe for something fabulous. In this case, though, I think everything just ended up diluted. The twists on mythology were my favourite parts by far, I quite liked the fairy elements but the vampire wasn't great.
I liked Garet initially. She's a jeweller and helps her father with running an art gallery. It made a nice change to have a creative, independent female character. Adding in the dash of realism with the money worries was a nice touch but I found myself wanting more. I was quite prepared to love Garet and her strength and personality seemed to wane as she developed other...talents.
And then along came the apparently irresistible vampire to make it all that little bit more irritating. It wasn't necessarily that I didn't like the chap in question. I thought the dynamic and history between Garet and Mr Vampire (I hope you're appreciating my spoiler avoidance tactics!) early on was the promise of something unique. Something where the female character could find someone attractive but continue to challenge him and retain her sense of self. But then for some reason, this seemingly bright and feisty young woman started cavorting about on rooftops in the dark and inviting a predator to help themselves, nearly killing her in the process. I just...why?
After that development, the book had too much ground to make up, I suppose. I still loved the abilities that Garet started to learn and the bad guys really are quite bad and satisfyingly creepy but I was luke warm about the whole thing overall.
Overall: Average. There are some solid ideas but not quite enough to carry the story over into the 'good' category. Cautiously recommended if you're a really die-hard fan of urban fantasy.