J.N. DuncanCritiques
Auteur de Deadworld
Critiques
Deadworld par J. N. Duncan
Urban Fantasy. The Kobo copy I read could use a little more editing, however that proved more a minor distraction than actually painful. What was painful was the lack of a good underlying plan. The structure of the world-building feels a bit weak (like details are added for punch without thinking through the consequences) and the characterization feels like we threw in conflict for dramatic structure without fully grasping the implications of the dramatic elements we selected (major life trauma changes who we are - that isn't made clear in the presentation).
overall 50%
It was kind of a neat idea in a lot of ways, but it kept shooting itself in the foot. The world is ours in every respect except in a few details. The first is that Laurel, one of the two FBI agents is a psychic. That's OK. Her partner knows & respects her power, which is also OK, but no one else seems to know she's one. At least the sheriff in the beginning doesn't & no one else ever says she is. Kind of a big deal is made out of it. BUT then they find out some weird stuff about some people & all the agents, including the hard, tough boss FBI guy all seem to accept it without a problem. I'm not talking minor weird stuff, either. Major, I-don't-believe-in-this-crap, sort of stuff is accepted off stage, seemingly without a problem.
Details here, but it is a
All through the book there were a lot of revelations that I thought were cheap shots like a mysterious character who is about to tell his story & then we switch to another view point. When we pick him back up, he's finished with the story & we're slowly getting it as the book progresses. That didn't work for me at all. Worse,
Fantasy writers can & should stretch my imagination, but please have the courtesy to have a logic that works within the framework of the book. I kept stumbling over problems from the very beginning & tried to push through them. I made it to about page 250 of 440 & just couldn't take it any more.
this book was very interesting . i couldnt put it down. i had to finish it ... it had interesting characters. i cant wait to start the next one in the series
This book is a DNF for me. It starts with some very unlikeable characters and gets worse from there. I finished about 20-35% of the book.
I'm not sure why so many fantasy books go this route. I had expected a lot more of the series. I also expected a lot more than the start of the book being how to get dressed for Thanksgiving dinner while whining and how to screw up a relationship because you don't know how not to be a drunk. There is a reason AA says nothing new for a year at least after getting sober and that includes relationships. Jack seriously needs AA and a good hospitalization psychic abilities aside. And that is a bad thing for the main character in the book to be when the book is NOT about her getting it together.
Former Chicago FBI agent Jackie Rutledge is now working for Special Investigations and trying to come to terms with her new freaky abilities acquired when she crossed over into Deadworld with a vampire and a ghost to stop a psycho vampire. Unfortunately, she died there before being revived back in the normal world. So while she’s waiting for her former boss to get funding for a special FBI paranormal unit, she’s heading up a private paranormal group, figuring out her abilities and attending therapy for the loss of her FBI partner and for things she’d like to leave in the past. Then an old note in a cold case file gets them interested in a small town called Thatcher’s Mill. They decide the unusual ghost activity noted in this town is worth investigating, so they have their first case. Oh boy, does it turn out to be a doozy.
Fast-paced and well-written this story keeps you turning the pages trying to figure out what the heck is going on in this small very weird town. Favorite characters from previous books are back and Jackie seems to be making some headway in being less prickly, damaged and unlikeable. Progress! The plot is interesting and completely crazy. Loved it! The ending was totally unexpected and I hope to see Book 4 soon because I’m really liking Jackie’s world.
*Many thanks to Kensington for providing me with a review copy. Please see disclaimer page on my blog.
The writing is good and the plot is fast. Our favorite characters are back and we get a new agent. We don’t learn a whole lot about Jackie’s new abilities, but we do learn a bit and Jackie isn’t quite as unappealing in this book as in Deadworld. She’s still stubborn enough I want to smack her occasionally, but she is slowly growing and adapting to her new circumstances. The whole ghost possession arc is fascinating, but boy is Rosa a piece of work. Yikes! All-in-all I’m enjoying this series very much and look forward to the next case that lands in Jackie’s lap.
*Many thanks to Kensington for providing a review copy. Please see disclaimer page on my blog.
Jackie Rutledge is a Chicago FBI agent. Laurel, her partner of five years, is a psychic. Like any other FBI agent they hunt down and put away bad guys. However, whenever something supernatural is involved then Jackie and Laurel are the team to lead the way.
When a twelve-yr-old boy is found not just murdered, but drained of blood Laurel says that something evil is going on. Evil and pertaining to Deadworld. Their investigation leads them to a private investigator named Nick Anderson. Nick and his partner Shelby Fontaine know more than what they’re telling Jackie and she intends to get to the bottom of it. But when she finds out the truth will she believe it or dismiss it? And will she survive the coming battle between Nick and the killer?
As a first book in a new series this isn’t a bad start. Well-written with a fairly fast plot, well-developed characters and an interesting world it keeps the reader engaged to the end. I will say I’m not much of fan of Jackie. Some of her actions are annoying and her personality needs work. I do appreciate that she is a flawed heroine, but she’s really hard to like in this first book. She’s not so bad that I don’t want to continue with the series though and I’m looking forward to reading Book 2, The Vengeful Dead.
*Many thanks to Kensington for providing me with a review copy. Please see disclaimer page on my blog.
Quick & Dirty: Dark Urban Fantasy with a unique twist on vampires and ghosts. Jackie finally undergoes some growth as a character. An entertaining plot but slow pacing really drags the story down.
Opening Sentence: Jessica Davies’s face was numb.
Review:
The Lingering Dead is an urban fantasy that feeds its energy off of its heroes. The tragic nature of Jackie and Nick’s past bleeds into the characters that they are. Nick was present when his entire family was slaughtered by a vampire and was forced to watch as he was transformed into a vampire. He is still the cowboy sheriff he once was but has finally moved on from his tragic past. Jackie was molested and possibly beaten by her step-father and that has really developed how she deals with relationships. She is filled with hate towards other people and she doesn’t trust people much at all. Jackie begins The Lingering Dead pretty much the same way she was in the previous two novels in this series, self-deprecating and whiney but she ends the novel a little more comfortable with herself, able to trust more than she thought and not near as bitchy.
The novel begins not too long after the events of The Vengeful Dead. Jackie is now the Operations Leader for Special Investigations, a civilian company that is attached to the FBI but is entirely funded by Nick. The FBI sends them cases that they believe have paranormal elements at work. Special Investigations decide to investigate a tip made by an FBI agent about too many ghosts in a town. Thatcher’s Mill is a unique little town that never grows or shrinks in size. It is a perfect, peaceful little town. But it’s not. An evil vampire, Charlotte, has mind-controlled all the inhabitants to keep the town as it once was in the 1890’s but the town has modernized over the years. She wants nothing more than to recreate her family as it once was and the many lingering ghosts are a victim of her madness. Unfortunately Nick and Shelby, both vampires, cannot get close to Charlotte because she can tell when a vampire is nearby.
Special Investigations travels back and forth from Thatcher’s Mill and Chicago by plane, sometimes making several trips in one day. Jackie is also being followed by a strange green monster in the Deadworld plane, no one knows what it is or why it is following her. Charlotte enlists the help of the townspeople to help stop Special Investigations. Jackie and Nick must stop Charlotte before she kills again and release the ghosts she is unwittingly holding captive.
The plot is tension filled at times and then it becomes sluggish at other points. The Lingering Dead has enough of a unique plot that keeps me entertained but at the same time is just okay. There are definitely better dark urban fantasy books out there; Stacia Kane’s Downside Ghosts is one of them.
Jackie is one of those characters that I just have a hard time rooting for. Jackie is off-putting most of the time. Nick has grown into a more likeable character but unfortunately not much of this book is from his point of view. Jackie dominates the POV but the evil Charlotte gets her fair share as well. Charlotte is one of those tragic characters who don’t truly believe they are evil. Her actions are justified in her mind. She is a powerful vampire but she has been uneducated in her powers so she is truly not unstoppable. Charlotte is a sadistic evil villain but I wasn’t too sure that she could top the bad guy from the first book, Deadworld.
The Lingering Dead is best read with the series. Deadworld doesn’t see too much action in this book and it really isn’t explained. Jackie and Nick’s backstory doesn’t really get explained either and some of the minor characters aren’t really explained as to how they fit in with the story. There may be plenty of questions to a new reader of the series.
Overall, The Lingering Dead is an enjoyable read if you like your heroines damaged or tortured from their pasts. Jackie finally undergoes a much needed change in character. The Lingering Dead is an enjoyable enough read but not enough so that I would recommend it.
Notable Scene:
“She’s charming you, Jackie! Stun her. Get the hell out.”
Laurel leaped out as Jackie staggered back, flying right at Charlotte with a scream that would impress any banshee. She did little to Charlotte, other than pass directly through her, but the moment was enough to startle, and that broke the icy vice that had clamped down on Jackie’s brain.
She dropped the grenade, releasing the handle and bolted. Fist fights, gun battles, even the previous craziness holding baby ghosts in her uterus were all preferable to having the dead, wonky eyes boring into her soul. That was a line that no longer got crossed.
One-point-eight seconds later, the ground shook and a wall of air slammed into Jackie, throwing her forward. She tucked her shoulder, turned into a roll, hit the gravel with a thud, and was back on her feet, ears ringing so loudly, she could not hear Nick’s voice yelling in her ear. At the bottom of the hill, she could see a pair of headlights coming up the drive. Without looking to see what had happened to Charlotte, Jackie ran like hell.
A high-pitched, childish scream pierced the night air. There was no pain in the sound, only rage. Jackie knew there was no chance in hell of outrunning Charlotte. She only hoped that she could reach the Explorer before Charlotte reached her. A hundred feet down the drive, Shelby slid to a stop, swinging the car around 270 degrees. Nick leaped out as she approached, eyes ablaze.
“Get in!” shouted Nick.
Jackie practically dove in, bouncing off the back of the front seat. Behind her, Jackie heard a chilling word, from a voice turned down an octave from the cute, fourteen-year-old she had just talked to. The petulance and haughtiness from before had turned into something Jackie did not recognize.
“You!”
The Deadworld Series:
1. Deadworld
2. The Vengeful Dead
3. The Lingering Dead
FTC Advisory: Kensington Books provided me with a copy of The Lingering Dead. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
Quick & Dirty: This dark urban fantasy contains a good ghost story, but a stubborn, whiney character slows the story down.
Opening Sentence: Detective Thomas Morgan threw the empty pill bottle out of his cruiser into the manicured hedge separating a pair of half-million-dollar Sterling Heights homes.
The Review:
The plot in The Vengeful Dead is pretty straightforward. The story picks up two weeks after Jackie survives being thrust into Deadworld, a plane where ghosts reside. Unfortunately for Jackie her trip into Deadworld, left her with some new psychic abilities. Along with her new abilities, Jackie is still mourning the loss of her friend and FBI partner, Lauren, and is in the middle of a mandatory leave from the FBI when Nick and Shelby take Jackie to the scene of a murder to determine what she can do. At the scene they discover a vengeful ghost that is determined to go after her murderers and she will not stop until they are dead. Jackie finds herself locked in a battle for her body while trying not to find herself permanently locked in Deadworld.
The Deadworld plays a major part in the story and the world building of this ghost world is explained in more depth than in Deadworld. I like J.N. Duncan’s take on ghosts and the world that the spirits go to either move on or stay as restless spirits. There are two things that I don’t understand about the human world though. One is how some people seem to be so accepting of the supernatural and the use of the paranormal “abilities” yet they make sure it stays hidden so others cannot find out about its use. The other thing I really don’t understand about this series are the vampires, except for the facts about how they are created, nothing else about the vampires has really been explained. The fact that two of the characters are vampires really just seems like it is a side note to the story. I would like to see more development there.
For the first 200 pages, Jackie is an annoying, whiney, stubborn and self-deprecating character. She also comes off very selfish. Every time she complains it really slows down the story. If you can make it past that to the last 200 pages, Jackie really tries to change herself. Her character finally grows and if she can keep at it, I may see her character in a more favorable light. Nick, the cowboy vampire, is more strongly developed. He has been able to move forward from his past and become a more positive person. He does treat Jackie timidly at times when I think he should be more forceful about his feelings towards her. I really would like to know more about his vampire side.
The Vengeful Dead does contain action and suspense but there is a lot of filler in-between the action scenes that also seem to slow the story down. I could have done without a lot of Jackie’s self-deprecating ways. There is quite a bit of build-up to the climax, but if you are familiar with Deadworld, the battle may be a little predictable but not overly so. There is 40 pages of filler after the final battle, that helps set up the next book in the series, The Lingering Dead, and shows quite a bit more character development. That actually didn’t bother me, since I do like the story to wrap itself up instead of just being “battle’s over, see you next installment with the aftermath”.
Overall, The Vengeful Dead, is a so-so ghost story. Jackie finally grows into a more bearable character, which I really hope continues into The Lingering Dead.
Notable Scene:
Jackie stepped over to the basement door and squatted down on the balls of her feet. Nick smiled down at the finger that hovered in the space between with the slightest tremble. She glanced back at him with a worried little furrow between her eyes. “I touched blood the last time, but I could hear the baby before that.”
“Likely because it still lingered at the scene. The blood allowed you to turn up the volume, so to speak.”
“Does it always work like that?”
“I find there are no absolutes,” Nick replied, “with the living or the dead. All you can do is try and see. We’ll go from there.”
Jackie laid her hand down flat on the door, covering some of the blood spatter. A moment later her body went rigid, frozen in place, eyes wide, staring at nothing. Nick could feel the urge coming through from the other side, a wash of energy flooding back through the doorway that had been closed for several hours now, but at the touch of her finger had sprung open. No effort at all. Astonishing. She cried out, stumbling away from the door.
Nick stepped forward, using his leg to block her backward motion and scooped his arms down around her waist. Something not remotely close to surprise or fear boiled up out of her throat.
“Jackie!”
“I . . . will . . . kill you!”
She turned in his grasp, and Nick was so startled by the twisted snarl that warped her mouth and pulled the lines of her face into something he could have scarcely imagined, that he did little more than take a stunned half-step backward. Consequently, his reactions were all too humanly slow and the swinging roundhouse from her small, but effective fist caught him square in the mouth.
The Deadworld Series:
1. Deadworld
2. The Vengeful Dead
3. The Lingering Dead
FTC Advisory: Kensington Books provided me with a copy of The Vengeful Dead. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
I'm not much of a reader of fantasy novels, and I picked this one up only because it was for a while free on promotion for the Kindle. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised! The book was fluff - not particularly heavy on the language or complex, but it was entertaining for all that. The plot had some obviously traditional themes but the author managed to make them interesting by a few non-traditional choices; and though the diction wasn't complex, it was reasonably engaging. This one is a female-centered mystery, and as a female reader, I appreciated that. I enjoyed it enough I may well add one or two more of Duncan's works to my next airplane-reading stack!
Reviewed By http://urbanfantasyinvestigations.blogspot.com/
Jackie is an extremely angry and jaded person. She had an abusive childhood and now has intimacy and alcohol issues. Nick was ok for a male love interest. He hides a lot and is a bit frustrating to read about but he wasn't boring. The other characters were not anything special. Most were hard to get to like. There was a bit of action. I found the writing to be a bit over worded and the pace was slower then I would have liked it to be. Honestly a week after I read the book I had to go back to the description to remember what the book was even about so I could write my review. I like the cover but DEADWORLD just wasn't anything special to me and I would borrow from the library before purchasing it.
Quick & Dirty: Deadworld misses the mark with an unlikable heroine and a forgettable supporting cast. As far as urban fantasy novels go, this one isn't a great success.
Opening Sentence: A misty rain swirled down into the darkness between the two brick buildings.
The Review:
FBI agent Jackie Rutledge and her psychic partner, Laurel, have been assigned to a new murder investigation. There is nothing normal about the crime scene or the way in which the victim was killed. As luck would have it, Nick Anderson, a private investigator, is already working hard to track the killer. Jackie, Nick and their rag-tag group of supernatural friends set out to stop the killer.
The introduction to this urban fantasy world isn't particularly well executed. The world-building is superficial and the foundation for a compelling plot never materialized. Urban fantasy tends to be character driven, but I was unable to connect with any of these characters. The narrative is tedious and the meandering plot developed far too slowly, causing me to lost interest. The characters fall flat and I just didn't care about any of them.
I think many readers might find it difficult to really connect with Deadworld's protagonist, Jackie. She lacks an authentic female voice. With a simple find and replace command you could quickly change the gender of the protagonist and no one would notice. Jackie isn't the type of dynamic urban fantasy heroine that I enjoy reading about. I don't mind reading about a flawed heroine with baggage, but if the personality and attitude are off - it just doesn't work for me. For a character with so many flaws, Jackie isn't remotely interesting or likable. Jackie's damaged past translated into some pretty outrageous behavior. Sleeping around with random strangers and getting drunk seem to be her favorite pastimes. Jackie comes off as brash, immature, bitter, miserable, and angry with no self respect. These are some pretty deplorable attributes for anyone, especially an FBI agent. I just couldn't find any redeeming qualities and I think her character really lacked authenticity.
Overall, Deadworld isn't partially exciting and mostly unoriginal. This story doesn't know what it wants to be. It straddles the line between hard-boiled detective fiction and urban fantasy and ends up being Dresden lite. The characters didn't feel authentic, the plot lacked depth and certain aspects of the story were revealed too slowly.
Notable Scene:
Nick reached over and grabbed the mudroom door's handle. "Be wary. We're walking into a trap." She nodded, and Nick opened the door. At that moment, the ringing thrum of Deadworld began to abate. "He's stopped feeding."
The heavy, metal basement door was unlocked, and Nick shoved it open and leaped down to the landing. Jackie tried to run after.
Summoning up the bit of extra strength he could, Nick braced himself for the landing so he would keep from slamming into the opposite wall. He had both guns out pointing out across the basement floor when his feet touched down.
A single fluorescent light burned in the middle of the room, an all-too-familiar setup. Its blue-white glare cast a ghostly cone of light down on the cadaver's table, upon which the Agatha lookalike lay. She was still clad in Winnie the Pooh pajamas, and her listless arm hung over the side of the table, fresh blood dripping from the small puncture in her arm.
The Deadworld Series:
1. Deadworld
FTC Advisory: Kensington provided me with a copy of Deadworld. No goody bags, sponsorships, "material connections," or bribes were exchanged for my review. In addition, I don't receive affiliate fees for anything purchased via links from my site.
Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy
Jackie Rutledge made a bad first impression on me which didn’t improve over time. Chapter one opens with Jackie arriving on a murder scene where a little boy has been discarded like trash in a park and her response is all about her hangover: “She absently rubbed at her throbbing temple. There should be laws against committing crimes on Mondays...’Why can't killers keep better hours?’” I don’t care how tough and jaded she is after years with the FBI, that’s never the kind of response someone should have at seeing a dead kid. And sadly, Jackie was just the first in a string of uninteresting, unsympathetic characters.
Jackie and her partner Laurel wanted to come across as the next Rizzoli and Isles. Jackie as the tough cop and Laurel as the softer influence in her life. Not so much. Laurel barely registers and Jackie was obnoxiously hard-nosed. Predictably, she had an abusive childhood that turned her into a promiscuous man-hater. She gets drunk and goes home with strangers most nights. One night in specific triggers a flashback while in the middle of rough sex. The situation was seedy to begin with as she’s begging some guy to hurt her, but then she reverts back to a horrific episode from her childhood and it got ugly enough that I almost stopped reading. I kept going only so I could write this review.
That scene and character aside, the writing was equally lackluster. Redundant and overly tedious are the words that come to mind. This book should have been half this length. At 400+ pages, it came across as bloated with a sluggish pace that did nothing for its rather flimsy plot.
Overall, I really wanted to like this book. The description sounded like it might be the next great police procedural urban fantasy with a dash of romance, but DEADWORLD failed on just about every level for me. Unlikeable characters, weak yet overly eager writing, poor pacing, and a plot that wasn’t nearly strong enough to support a book of this size. Not even the ghosts and vampires could redeem this one for me. I reserve my one bat rating for books that I find offensively bad. Since DEADWORLD only qualifies as not good, it scrapes out a 2 bat rating. Barely. The next Deadworld book, THE VENGEFUL DEAD, will be published in October 2011
Sexual Content:
References to homosexuality, rape. An BDSM sex scene that triggers and abusive flashback that might be considered rape.
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