Kerry Allen's Blog

Dec 14 2007

Holy Smokes by Katie MacAlister

Tag: Must read — Kerry Allen @ 5:19 am

holysmokes.jpgHoly Smokes by Katie MacAlister
Mass Market Paperback, 341 pages
ISBN: 9780451222541
Available Now
Retail Price $7.99
Fourth in the Aisling Grey, Guardian series

I’m not even going to do one of my half-assed, tangential reviews, and here is why:

1. It’s fourth in a series and WHOADAMN does it not stand alone. Aisling and Drake you could jump into just fine, but without the political history of the septs, the Guardians, the princes of Abadon, at least two other organizations Aisling has run afoul of in the past, you might as well read the foreign-language portions of your DVR manual for all the sense this story would make.

2. Describing the events in any Aisling book will cause your audience to wonder what you’ve been smoking. Chica is living ma vida loca in a big way.

I finished it in one sitting, and it did elevate both my mood in a general sense and my reading blahs. Jim, the demon Newfoundland, is as irreverent as ever (particularly hilarious toward the end—I had to read that part out loud to explain my gut-busting laughter). Drake’s “Eyebrows of Extreme Displeasure” cracked me up, too. Fiat’s still a rank bastard, and Uncle Damian is just freakin’ awesome (I want one of those).

I predict having Chuan Ren in proximity to Bael is going to be bad news.

I was so disappointed in MacAlister’s last vampire novel, I was worried what would happen with this book, but I’m happy to say it upholds the fine tradition of nuttiness I’ve come to expect from this series.

Book One: You Slay Me
Book Two: Fire Me Up
Book Three: Light My Fire

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