Waiting on Wednesday- Night Terrors by Tim Waggoner

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by Breaking the Spine where we show off books that we want to read but have not been published yet. 

It has been AGES since I've done one of these! I want to get back in the habit, and generally keep up with upcoming releases, so here's the first one in... ages!

Title:  Night Terrors
Author:  Tim Waggoner
Release Date: 29 April 2014
Link to / Summary from Goodreads: It's Men In Black meets The Sandman.
Meet the fine men and women of the NightWatch: a supernatural agency dedicated to hunting down rogue nightmares that escape from other realms when people dream about them, while ensuring that other dream-folk are allowed to live among the regular, human population… as long as they play by the rules.
Why I want it: Tim Waggoner's Nekropolis series is what got me in to horror/fantasy/spec-fic/weird stuff. I have waited FOREVER for new stuff  from him. The fact that this is going to exist makes me very very happy, and I hope for the same  exceedingly high standard of world and story from the Shadow Watch as I got from Nekropolis.

What are YOU waiting on this week?

Book Review- Dark War by Tim Waggoner

Title: Dark War

 Author: Tim Waggoner

Series:  Nekropolis #3

Published:  by Angry Robot

Length: 410 pages

Warnings: violence, sex references 14+

Source: Library

Other info: This is third in the Nekropolis series. It started with Nekropolis, which is reviewed here and carried on with Dark Streets.

Summary : Matt Richter won’t let a little thing like death keep him from cracking his latest case. But there’s a new evil power rampaging through the streets of Nekropolis. The last battle has begun.

Review:  After falling to pieces and getting thorough all of that, Matt Richter really just wants to settle down with half-vampire girlfriend Devona. But, this being Nekropolis. That’s really unlikely. After sorting stuff out in  parallel world, he goes home to find even more problems. The Arcane (witches and wizards) are blaming the Demonfolk for recent Arcane disappearances. The Demonfolk aren’t happy and a war threatens to break out. But there’s something else bugging Matt…

Following my total love for Nekropolis and Dead Streets, of course I had to get hold of this. I like the fact that old favourites are brought back especially Lazlo, his tazi, and Vavara. I didn’t like the return of Gregor, but that’s only because he’s annoying and hard to understand. But he is essential to the plot, so I can’t really complain.

The darkly funny, slightly sarcastic writing style from the earlier books acre carried over into this one. I love Tim’s writing style and there’s always something to make me laugh.

There’s a ridiculously varied cast. From zombie detectives to demon overlords (well, lady. You get the idea) to scarily intelligent oversize bugs- you name it, you’ll find some variation on it.

Plot wise, it’s a bit different, with all out war between (factions? Districts? Denominations?) of paranormal creatures brewing. I like the fact it’s something a bit different, but still believable for this kind of book.

Benny makes a welcome, major-y appearance. I really love Benny in both forms. Because demon-y thingys that shift gender every few seconds are just cool like that. Vavara comes a close second, followed by Matt, Devona and Varney the Vampire (reporter that tags along to everything). I feel really attached to all the inhabitants of Nekropolis now…

The ending. Damn. The really important bit happens in eleven lines, and leaves your imagination to run wild. I can’t spoil it for you, but wow. A whole new world just waiting to be explored. And no news of a fourth book.

Overall:  Strength 5 tea to a strong finale(?) to a series I really love.

Links: Amazon | The Book Depository | Goodreads | Author website | 

End of Year List #4- Favourite Books Read in 2011 published before

I read a lot of great books in 2011. Many of which weren’t brand new, but still. In no particular order, here are the best books that I read this year that weren’t fresh off the press.  Links go to the review on Death Books and Tea.  

• Chain Mail Addicted to You by Hiroshi Ishizaki
• Nekropolis by Tim Waggoner
• Unwind by Neal Shusterman
• Christine by Stephen King
• The Declaration  by Gemma Malley
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (did not review)
• The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
• Boys Don’t Cry by Malorie Blackman
• Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly
• Hetalia Axis Powers #2 by Hidekaz Himaruya

What did you think of all these books? Did you read them when they were out, or only recently, or not at all? Do you agree with me on these?

Book Review- Nekropolis by Tim Waggoner

Title: Nekropolis

 Author:  Tim Waggoner

Series:   Matt Richter

Published:   2004, republished 2009

Length: 416 pages

Warnings:  vampires, zombies, lycanthropes, witchcraft. Just like you'd expect from a book set in the city of the dead. A LOT of profanity. Sex and drug references. 

Source: Library

Other info: There are two more in the series, Dead Streets and Dark War

Summary : My name is Matt Ritcher. Private eye. Zombie. The vampire lords have been running the city are planning to blow up the city. Over my dead body.

Review:  Parajunkee’s Vampire Challenge  Half vampires count. This follows Matt Richter, one of Nekropolis’ (ie City of the Dead) best private eyes. And he’s also a zombie. After walking into a bar and putting a girl’s soul into the body of the lycanthrope that killed her, he is followed out by Devona. Who is half human and half vampire, because her father is the ruler of the vampire’s part of Nekropolis. She wants Matt to help her find the Dawnstone, something fairly important to the ceremony that should be happening soon in order to renew Nekropolis’ equivalent of a sun. It has probably been taken so that whoever took it can rule Nekropolis, which probably wouldn’t be too bad. In addition to this, the restorative spells on Matt that
keep him in one piece are starting to fade. So theoretically, this will be his last case before he falls to pieces.
I love the world building in this. It took a while as each part of the world was introduced one at a time, which helped you remember. As I imagine it, there is the centre bit where the equivalent of the sun is renewed and surrounding it completely are five areas, around it in a circle. One for vampires, one for witches, one for demons, one for lycanthropes and one for the dead, ie zombies and spirits. This is very original, easy to understand and very fun.
Matt, for a zombie who has been dead and reanimated for a couple of years, is an incredibly nice guy. He doesn’t hesitate to help out with anything people ask him, and is always willing to pay cab fares, which is very nice considering said fares include his fingers. Which get eaten.  Devona I didn’t really have an opinion on. She compliments Matt well, but isn’t the most amazing character, although it wouldn’t be the same book without her sass. The rulers of each area of Nekropolis are well thought out with distinctive personalities. 
Waggoner put a lot of work into imagining all the characters. It’s not just your standard zombie and vampire and such and such. This is a zombie with a personality, even if it is one that is incredibly kind and not in any way "I want to eat your brains out". 
It's entirely from the perspective of Matt. It's filled with little sarcastic one liners that you are really funny, well at least for someone with my sense of humour. It's in all in the little things that don't make any sense to the story at  all, but upon reading you'll understand and laugh. 

Overall:  Strength 5 tea to this insanely funny series that the majority of you won't like or appreciate the humour, but I do and therefore this is one of my new favourite series.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website | 

Independence Day and My Favourite Authors.

***DON'T FORGET TO ENTER THE 100 FOLLOWER GIVEAWAY!***

So to all Americans, Happy Independence Day. Have fun partying or whatever it is you do. The reason I'm here today, on this day which is actually very ordinary for people like me, ie those in the UK, to talk about the people for whom it is not an ordinary day, ie those in the USA. And seeing as this is a blog about books, I'm going to talk about the authors who live in the USA. And before we go any further, that failed picture at the top is America from Hetalia Axis Powers. Reading books by American authors. I thought a flag would be boring, I currently have an  obsession with Hetalia, and I was bored, and I couldn’t be bothered to find a picture for it and…anyway, various things lead to that picture. And on to the main bit.


There have been some  good authors from USA (thinks of ravens).There have been some very good authors from USA (thinks of barbecue sauce loving demons). And there have been some very bad authors from the USA(thinks of sparkly vampires). For the purposes of today's blog though, I'm going to focus on the good ones, because heres a list of my personal favourites.