Bedlam Boyz

I need to stop trying to read urban fantasy, it's clearly not my thing. This one wasn't helped by being (as blazoned on the cover) a prequel, and therefore trying to set up All The Things. Both the LA street gangs and the fae courts felt stereotyped to me, and much of the plot seemed repetitive: Our Heroine is kidnapped by one of the groups vying to use her; refuses to believe in magic even as she's using it to heal elves; is left alone to recuperate and decides to have a quick rest before escaping; is woken hours later by more drama; takes advantage of chaos to escape; is immediately captured again by either the same or a different group; rinse and repeat until she's met all the players and we can have the big showdown.

Also along the show more way she falls in love with one of her kidnappers and by the way she's fifteen and apparently this is very romantic.

But as I say, it may be enjoyed more by people who enjoy urban fantasy. show less

This review has been crossposted from my blog at The Cosy Dragon . Please head there for more in-depth reviews by me, which appear on a timely schedule.

Kayla has run away from home. It's not great, but at least she hasn't gotten into being pimped out yet and she has a home. Kayla has been having increasingly worse headaches though, and when confronted with a bullet wound she discovers that she can heal it. It's a valuble talent in the gang ridden LA district, and Kayla is suddenly hot property.

Kayla isn't really sure what she is doing, except when she is doing it! Kayla quickly has to adapt (yay, character progression) to being able to heal. She has to stop herself healing eventually or she will burn out. I find it fascinating that she show more is able to sap energy from Ramon. How awesome would it be if healing actually worked like that?

The elves in this series, as well as Kayla, feed very nicely into the other books in the Bedlam's Bard series. This book was actually written after Knight of Ghosts and Shadows. Ria and Kayla are both reoccurring characters, although this is the book that really offers the most insight into Kayla's character.

I wasn't convinced that the Unseelie elven queen would have let her go just like that, or that Kayla could have picked up that she was being poisoned from such a long way away. I would have liked a little more depth there, particularly into the Unseelie world. I wanted to know exactly why it was decaying! And why they didn't make more of an effort to save themselves. I'm not sure if these exact eleves appear in the other novels.

This book lacks some of the polish that is seen in other books of this series, perhaps because it is not coauthored by Mercedes Lackey. It's an enjoyable read, even if I found myself skipping over some of the gang perspective parts in favour of Kayla's storyline. I'm disappointed that Guon has not written more novels, but apparently she is quite a weighty force in computer game design, which takes up most of her time.

I'd recommend this book for teens and adults alike. Yes, it has lots of blood, drugs and death, but that is equally weighted against healing and understanding. For someone like me who has never been a runaway, nor considered it (it's a bit harder to do successfully in Australia), it is an eyeopening account for me into some of the US society's flaws.

This book is out of print! I was going to snaffle a hardcopy on ebay, but forgot to bid and then someone else got it. I have a pounce set up on ebay to try grab it - so don't even think about getting my copy! It's probably available from ABbooks if you are from the US or UK, but shipping tends to be prohibitavely expensive to Australia. I've given links for Amazon and The Book Depository, but I don't think they will have them in stock (except as second hand). show less

I am vacillating between two stars and three, so I'm going for 2.5. On the one hand, this was a nice and light read, with nice magic and ok characters. On the other hand, the main character has a serious case of Stockholm syndrome when she gets kidnapped by a drugs gang (they know she can heal people and want to use this to their advantage). I found that seriously annoying, to fall in love with someone who is going along with you being held against your will and being forced to heal people even though it is clearly detrimental to your health. Also, I wasn't too fond of the fairies. Oh, and there were really quite a few shootouts, I could have done with a few less. Other than that, it was fine, though. Entertaining, and it had a cool show more grandma-ghost. show less

Not a good book, but no worse than most fantasy out there. A homeless teenager discovers that she has a magical talent for healing. Unfortunately, this makes her a valuable prize to the gangs of her city--and the fae that control them. Unimaginative in every possible way.
Available at Baen's free library here. But really, if you're looking for elves and healing in the big city, just read John M Ford's [b:The Last Hot Time|268439|The Last Hot Time|John M. Ford|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173289688s/268439.jpg|260231].

Started reading this, realised it was about violent drug gangs and therefore bound to be filled with people being miserable, murders etc. Kidnapping plotline flagged up a few pages in was the last straw for me. I have zero interest in books about gangs.
See other reviewers saying the kidnapping turns into a romance. I am so glad I gave up.

A fascinating prequel to the series Ellen Guon co-authored with Mercedes Lacke; this book gives the story of a minor, but powerful, character in the Bedlam’s Bard series: the human mage Kayla. Kayla is unaware of the existence of magic and is completely unprepared for her magical response to an attack injuring her foster brother. A response that makes Kayla a very desired commodity to a variety of dangerous factions.

I enjoyed this book but clearly there is more to come. At the end I was left hanging as to what would become of the main character with mo assurance as to whether any of the sequels would include her. I may feel better about this book if I find any of the sequels.