Melinda Snodgrass

Snodgrass is a favorite author, specifically for her Edge series. But this high-concept, space opera was wonderful. She's a far too little known gem in the world of science fiction. The book takes humankind into the universe as subjugators of other races and worlds, ending up as a strong social commentary for our own times. The narrative infuses much of her New Mexico culture while still maintaining the strong sci-fi concepts. There's corruption and intrigue, all laid over a coming of age show more story. And it's a bitRomeo and Juliet, too - born of Hogwarts, but so much better. I'm really hoping to get to the remaining novels in the series. show less

Fun read from Chick-lit/Romance/Legal/Vampire mix

This is a book to read when your brain needs a holiday. It's a light, fun, fast, slick, self-referential, tongue-in-cheek (I hope) cocktail of every genre you might be looking for.

We have an alternative earth in which Vampires and Werewolves and Fairies (collectively known as The Powers) dominate the law, the military and the entertainment business.

Our heroine graduated at the top of her law class, yet she shows few signs of being really show more bright. She gets her first job working for a White Fang (Vampire reference - not Jack London) Law firm. She achieves outcast status amongst her human colleagues because she was fostered in a Vampire home, falls victim to the office sexual predator, falls into an intrigue that pits her against Werewolf mercenaries who try (repeatedly) to kill her. She falls a lot in fact. And most of the time it saves her life or wins her a case. She may not be the world's brightest lawyer but she is supernaturally lucky.

Although she is often brave, taking on Werewolf assassins and chauvinist bosses with equal enthusiasm, she seems a little damaged - very dependent on "Daddy" both her natural father and her Vampire foster-father.

The book is well plotted and slickly written, with good banter, nice pace and well-choreographed action.

Bornikova raises her game as a writer when she is describing anything to do with horses and she manages a surprisingly (but appropriately) repulsive sex scene.

What I've described so far would have been enough for a pleasant read but probably wouldn't have had me looking for the next in the series (isn't everything in a series these days?)

What pushed me into the "OK, I'll try the next one" camp is the feeling that the damage our heroine sustained in her fostered-childhood and the supernatural luck that follows her and the unusual patronage that she receives from the Vampires, point to a longer, more interesting plot arc and to the possibility that our heroine may get past her daddy issues and end up seeking a reckoning with a set of gelding shears. One can but hope. show less

The third book in Melinda Snodgrass’ Edge Series, [The Edge of Dawn], delivers. After an unsatisfying first-person detour into Richard Oort’s internal dialog, she returns to her strengths – well-crafted and descriptive writing and a broad canvass of unique characters.

Oort is still uncomfortable, and not terribly effective, as Lumina Enterprises’ CEO. But he is scorching the earth, taking the fight back to the magical forces bent on consuming the earth. Easily the best addition to the show more story, and to Oort’s alliance, is a Navajo girl, Mosi, who is immune to magic like him. Snodgrass takes the story, and her writing, to a new level introducing this character. Very few novels feature Indian characters without viewing them either stereotypically or in rose-colored glasses. But Mosi is a rich character, her culture only one facet in a beautifully colored prism.

Another bonus is that Snodgrass’ background in screenwriting makes it a given that each book provides a new and exciting climax. This one culminates in Turkey, and she nails the details for the land and architecture to the muddled cultures in the region.

As I wrote in my review of the first book in the series, [The Edge of Reason], Snodgrass is a gifted writer with a truly poetic command of language. Whether she’s writing film scripts or her high-concept, alien civil war series or installments in the [Wildcards] science fiction superhero series, she brings a keen eye for detail and deeply imaginative mind. She’s a valued and important local treasure

Bottom Line: The Edge Series leaps to another level with the introduction of a wildly interesting new character and hero.

4 bones ½!!!!! show less

I'll go with my initial thoughts:

Strangely, it doesn't suck.

If it sounds like I'm damning with faint praise, I don't mean to disparage; it's that in a genre packed with poorly-written tropes, I've become used to disappointment.

The basic story surrounds a twenty-something woman, fresh out of law school; vampires, Alfar (fae) and werewolves out of the closet; questions of identity, dating, rolling briefcases and shopping; and yet I didn't roll my eyes once. If you've followed any of my show more reviews, you know what an unusual reaction that is. But Bornikova (apparently, a.k.a. Snodgrass, which surely must also be an a.k.a.) takes familiar chick-lit and urban-fantasy elements and writes them well, with a side helping of grrl-power that involves a combination of determination, intellect, justice, solidarity, blind luck and not one single roundhouse kick.

Those familiar elements? They're there, and they didn't bother me at all:
Yep, those were daddy issues, but done in a really unusual way, so I didn't really care. There was an ex-fiance. Didn't care. A gay best friend who was in theater. Didn't care--he was actually in a very loving relationship, not just there for comic relief. There's an obligatory dig about Jersey: "'I've still got to do some work before I get to bed, and I have to go to New Jersey tomorrow.' 'Okay, that's just horrible,' said Gregory. 'You should get a lot of sleep before you face that.'" Didn't really care.

Yep, that was a hint about the next book. And I didn't care. Bornikova seems to be alluding that there is something special about the Brooklyn riding stables, which will no doubt come up in the next book. Don't care. There also seems to be strong hints that Linnet might have spechul snowflake powers. Don't care about that, either. Bornikova can portent her way across my reading any time. There's even some sex, and if I cringed, it was because I empathized with the heroine and her position all too well--or did back when I was twenty-three--not because it was hawt. And damn if she didn't rip that little bit out of trope-land with a display of independence. Sure, perhaps there was even a little too much female bonding at the office, but I wanted to believe in it, so I didn't care then, either. Ladies lunch? Awesome.

Sprinkled through are small bits of humor, not enough to really detract from the emotional tone, but more like the variety of coping skills, or of every-day life getting a chance to be normal:

"I took after Dad, who lied and said he was five foot eight. I put him closer to five-six on a tall day. I also lied, saying I was five foot two."

"The dog rose ponderously to her feet, waddled over to me, and pressed her body against my legs. It seemed like the dog was trying to comfort me. I patted her and felt like a shit. It was one thing to fool a human, but taking advantage of a dog..."

And, as a bonus for the 16-year-old girl in all of us, there are horses. Not magical ones, just unusual ones, and an amazing rider. For once, I didn't mind the accompanying geek-speak that comes with an author's passion (just spare me the guns, please, [a:Larry Correia|1136158|Larry Correia|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1323587082p2/1136158.jpg]). I'm definitely looking forward to comments from my horsey-friends at just how accurate (and dreamy) those scenes were.

Kudos, Bornikova, for making me not care, all while keeping me up past bedtime. I'm even going to read the next one.

Highly recommended for fans of [a:Carrie Vaughn|8988|Carrie Vaughn|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1231952277p2/8988.jpg] (the Kitty Norville series), [a:Chloe Neill|1857564|Chloe Neill|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1370898783p2/1857564.jpg] (Chicagoland Vampires) and [b:Bridget Jones's Diary|227443|Bridget Jones's Diary (Bridget Jones, #1)|Helen Fielding|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1292060045s/227443.jpg|3185154].

Three and a half stars.

Cross posted at http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2013/09/06/this-case-is-gonna-kill-me-by-phillipa... show less