Dr. Greta Helsing Series by Vivian Shaw (Books1-2)

Hi guys!
So today I will be discussing (read: spoiling) the first two books of the Dr. Greta Helsing series, Strange Practice and Dreadful Company.  As anyone that has already talked to me about them knows, I liked Dreadful Company, the second book, far more than Strange Practice, number one (the book, not pee).  I thought the plot was better, and the side characters were more well-developed. In each paragraph, I will start out with a basic summary of the book, followed by my thoughts on the plot and characters.

In the spirit of synchronicity, I will start with Strange Practice.  In this book, we meet Dr. Greta Helsing, a medical doctor specializing in supernatural undead beings, such as vampires, demons, werewolves, mummies, and ghouls.  While these beings are mainly hidden amongst the rest of London, some choose to hide in plain sight like vampires, while others prefer to stay completely out of sight, such as ghouls that hide in the extensive tunnels under the city.  The book takes place in London, but it is heavily implied (and possibly stated; I don't remember every word of the book) that they exist all over the world.  This is later confirmed in the second book.  In her normal life, Greta runs a small clinic fixing up diseased and injured supernaturals.  She inherited the desire for this work, as well as many of her clients, from her father, a well-respected doctor to all manner of beings, That is, until the events of this book take place. Her main friends/patients in this book are Lord Edmund Ruthven (vampire), Fastitocalon (demon), Sir Francis Varney (vampyre, a vampire that reincarnates every full moon), and August Cranswell (a mere mortal).  Ruthven is an old-fashioned man with impeccable manners, a beautiful home, and good taste in coffee.  Varney is a darker, more mysterious character that is slowly falling in love with Dr. Helsing.  Fastitocalon has been a friend of Greta's family for years, and has been her protector ever since her father died.  In this book, human monks start attacking supernaturals, although there is no evidence that they are aware that they are supernaturals when they are assaulting them.  The first concern was that someone had figured out that they exist, and was trying to eliminate them, but this was disproven fairly early in the scheme of the book.  Dr. Helsing is attacked, after she begins to question what is going on.  She can sense evil lurking beneath the city, but spends the majority of the novel trying to discover what is going on.  As it turns out, the disturbance is a UV blue light that possesses the human monks to do its bidding.  It is eventually stopped by Greta and her friends, with the help of Samael (the real life devil).  Soooo... the characters get better developed in the second book, but in this book there is just enough character development, humor and compatibility to convince you to read the next book.  As for the plot, I thought the ending could have been something more than "a blue light made me do it."  Moreover, if the blue light possessed human minds in the sewers and tunnels, why didn't it effect the ghouls living there? The cop out answer might be that the ghouls don't like light, so they wouldn't go close enough to it to become entranced, but the book never really addresses it (that I remember).


On to Dreadful Company! In this novel, Greta is at a conference in Paris, and gets kidnapped by a new vampire (vampires that don't really follow the old rules) coven trying to get back at Ruthven for hurting their leader, Corvin.  This book addresses the unofficial vampire code of conduct.  For example, if you turn someone, you are supposed to train them how to be a vampire: how to feed, vampiric diseases, etc.  This comes into play when Greta learns that her captors have been turning people without explaining anything to them, expecting them to simply do as the leader of the coven says.  These vampires are the vampires of story, who kidnap people to throw elaborate parties where they suck them dry and then dispose of the bodies in the morning.  Unless Corvin likes one of them, in which case they get involuntarily turned into the latest member of the coven (breaking another vampire rule, stating that the person must want to be turned into a vampire).  One of these new vampires called Sophira amongst the coven (who have all changed their names to more vampiric ones per Covin's wishes), learns of these vampire rules from Dr. Helsing while she is in captivity. Many of these rules had been broken as they concern her, so Greta teaches her how to be a vampire.  Initially, she seems fairly weak, innocent, and subservient, but her strength of will grows throughout the book.  When one of the other vampires parties a little too hard, Greta is willing to help, despite the fact that they have been holding her captive for a few days at that point.  This vast amount of care for people other than herself helps Grisaille, Corvin's right hand man, to have second thoughts about what the coven has been doing.  Grisaille is portrayed at first as a dark, confident, and (in my opinion) sexy vampire, and as you learn more about him, you see that he is a better person than he initially appeared.  Ruthven and Varney come looking for Greta (Fatitocalon still being on break in Hell after the first book), but she is already well on her way to escape when they finally find her.  Of course they still want to get rid of the coven that has been plaguing Paris from the Catacombs under the city, so they release a hoarde of ghosts to help them fight the vampires.  Side plot time: These ghosts have been displaced from their resting grounds by the grave robbing of Lilith (the previously mentioned sick vampire that Greta helped), who was robbing graves in order to perform a summoning spell to summon supernatural pets to keep her company while Corvin mostly ignored her affections.  So time for the super satisfying resolution...  Dr. Helsing escapes the Parisian Catacombs right into the arms of her boyfriend Varney (yea, they got together) and St. Germain (the werewolf guardian of Paris' supernatural beings), and much to her surprise, Grisaille, who had been leading them to the back entrance to the lair in order to help her.  Of course, they still decide to go after the coven, and that's when the ghosts come in.  Greta makes sure Sophira, who's real name is Emily, gets out safely.  She also tries to help Grisaille with a terrifying wound after Corvin stabbed him in the back (literally).  Meanwhile the others are all fighting Corvin and his minions, while Fastitocalon helps get the ghost attack plan to work.  In the end, Grisaille survives, and is given the option to move in with Ruthven while he recovers, and seems to be planning to stay considerably longer than that in the epilogue.  Emily, who has shown an aptitude for Dr. Greta's work while helping Grisaille, becomes the head of a breeding program for the magical pets summoned by Lilith back in the barn at Varney's house in England.  Like, I said, super satisfying ending, and I would love to see the two new additions to the team in the next book, but I don't have high hopes for it, since the next book takes place at a mummy retreat outside Marseille. 

Up next we have the first two books of the Memoirs of Lady Trent series by Marie Brennan, A Natural History of Dragons and In the Tropic of Serpents.  See you soon-ish. Feel free to leave any comments/questions/thoughts/book ideas in the comments!
Dana

Change of Plans- Dead Boys by Gabriel Squailia

Hi all!
So a couple of my friends pointed out to me that putting a list of 10 books and saying meet back here in a week or two might be a little ambitious (who knew?), so this week I'm going to do a post on a single book that I doubt anyone on here would be particularly interested in.  It's called Dead Boys, by Gabriel Squailia.  It's a book primarily targeted at young men, that I happened to come across during a routine visit to Barnes & Noble.  The book's premise caught my interest: a few fairly young, dead men (their ages range quite a bit, but generally they died before 50) in the afterlife are seeking a way back to the world of the living.  Now, for the interesting parts...

So I want to talk about the three different afterlife cultures represented in the book.  The first group is the population of Dead City.  These people are portrayed as ordinary people who waste away for eternity, mostly gambling and drinking.  There are two things I want to discuss about Dead City and its inhabitants (these are the two reasons I was initially drawn to the book).  The first is the idea of time, which each individual has an infinite amount of, being used as currency.  For example you bet 5 years of your afterlife.  If you lose, you owe 5 years of service to the person or organization you lost the bet to.  This comes into play because some of the characters are debtors (someone that owes time to the primary ruling organization).  However, there is no real good way to tell time, as the realm of the dead is mainly comprised of layers of ruins from the previous generation of deceased (who are actually still living there), and receives most of its goods and members through a river from the world of the living that caries trash and dead bodies.  As you can imagine, a handsome sum of time is given by the ruling organization to anyone that can bring in working watches or pocket watches, and/or batteries for these implements.  The reward, of course, is being served by a debtor (the debtor is usually used to pay off a debt you owe to someone else, so you don't have to serve that time yourself).  There is also a hefty fine for anyone that steals timekeeping implements, which is why one of the main characters is pursued throughout the book.  Another interesting concept exclusive to Dead City is the idea of preservation.  People that can afford it will have what's left of their bodies preserved or what is degraded reproduced, in order to look more lifelike.  Being lifelike in Dead City is similar to looking young in the world of the living, everyone wants it, but only the rich can afford it.  The main character is a well-known preservationist.

The second population is the population of the Plains of War.  There is some mythology regarding the Plains of War, which has evolved into the idea of the "last man standing."  The people here fight to the incapacity (get it, since they're already dead they can only be incapacitated) for the chance to be the last man standing, who is believed to be returned to the land of the living.  People spend their entire afterlives slaving away on the plains, just for a diminishing shot at being returned to the world of the living.  Their chances decrease significantly as they age, because the longer you are dead, the slower you become.  These are the people that are desperate to get back to the land of the living because they have left something dear to them behind.

The third population is the citizens of White City.  These people are portrayed as sage monks that have accepted their position as dead.  While the other two groups try to be, or at least reminisce about being, alive, the people of White City try to make the best of being dead.  They go out into sandstorms to remove all of the flesh from their bones, and it is therapeutic to them.  They have even discovered how to maintain full mobility after death, an ability unheard of amongst other groups.  While it might seem like this is the place to be, it is very difficult to get there.  One must leave Dead City, which appears to be the main drop-off point for dead bodies, raft up the river, and survive either the sandstorms of the desert or the battles of the plains.  I believe the difficulty of this journey is meant to parallel the grief and acceptance suffered by loved ones still in the land of the living.  The drinking and gambling of Dead City represents the grief that immediately follows the death.  The Plains of War represent remembrance for the dead and the importance of memories (after all, they are fighting due to memories of loved ones they left behind).  White City represents the eventual acceptance of the loss and moving on with your life.

So that's my take on Gabriel Squailia's Dead Boys. Let me know what you think, or if you have something to add, feel free to put it in the comments.  Up next will be the first two books of the Dr. Greta Helsing series by Vivian Shaw.  Read up if you don't want the books to be spoiled for you.  See you next week(ish)!
Dana