Dying Bites

Gotta say, I'm impressed: this contains the shoddiest, most illogical worldbuilding I have so far encountered. Congrats on that!

I'm not currently planning on writing a careful or even remotely fair review for this one, because writing it would probably take more effort than the author put into the book. So sorry, no review; just a rant.

Basically, our protagonist is dragged into a parallel world in which guns were never invented (Barant incorrectly dates their creation to the 12th century and says that history "went differently"), vampires and werewolves fought and won a battle with humans, and despite this, literally almost every single aspect of society evolved in precisely the same way as our own. Every country, every city was show more colonised in an identical fashion. Despite the radical disruption in timelines, practically every invention, institution, and product of our world--Crown Vics, plastic, the internet, servers, the Seattle Needle, the FBI, Prohibition, 401K's, Harleys, even freaking napalm--evolved identically. (That's right--they have napalm and still are considered firearm-free.) hover for spoiler Barant assumes almost every aspect of pop culture and carelessly mentions historical figures and cultural icons of our world (e.g. Hitler, Mussolini, heck, Casablanca, etc), apparently forgetting that all the humans were exterminated and that this should have altered the world. He assumes (at least in the "humor") all of the racial tensions and stereotypes of our world. He loves making fun of political correctness (e.g. a golem who wants to be referred to as a "Mineral-American" or Jace, who claims that she prefers to be called "opinion recognition deficient" rather than stubborn.) This book should win points for its sheer insensitivity. Jace meets a black (the colour) golem who tells her that golems are colour-coded and blacks are enforcers. (How surprised would you be if I told you that light-coloured golems get higher-ranking jobs? And that it apparently never occurred to the author that this might be problematic?) There are two main types of magic; the sophisticated Asian-inspired version is used by vampires while the bestial weres prefer African magic. (Wince.) Barant attempts to throw in nonsensical differences whenever he remembers--their WWII was over something slightly different and ebay is a porn site--and these differences are just as illogical and lazy as the rest.

The sheer amount of infodumping that piles up is impressive in its own right. All of the characters are apparently knowledgeable enough about Jace's world to translate tiny details, except on the random occasions where Barant decides to have them paradoxically ignorant. They also always explain their world in terms of our world; for example, a native of the were world tells Jace, "A selkie is a mythological Celtic creature who can assume different forms." That's right--he refers to an actual creature of his own world as mythological. In another scene, one of the supernatural creatures refers to Jace's gun as "angry white girl voodoo" despite the apparent absence of voodoo from the world and, one would expect, the innate racism that this phrase references. In general, all the in-world characters repeatedly make comments like, "Oh, X is not the same as it is in your world. In our world, it's Y"--despite the fact that either they should be unaware of how it is as X, or there should be more bleed elements from the supernaturals stealing earth culture. Everything about the book is rough, lazy, and illogical, from the immature Jace who apparently passed an FBI psych exam to the treatment of humans in the other world to basically every ineptly drawn aspect of the culture. This may actually be the worst worldbuilding I have ever encountered, which is, in itself, a rather impressive achievement.

Redeeming features? Well, personally, I didn't really find any, but I get hung up on inaccuracies, plotholes, and lazy and inconsistent worldbuilding. This was a perfect example of using a parallel world to try to have your cake and eat it too: radically change certain aspects of the world, but use the "parallel" part to assume that all pop-culture and history evolved identically, all while ignoring the utter illogical absurdity of this. I'm racking my brains for redeeming characteristics, and I realise that I actually do like Charlie, Jace's sidekick, quite a bit. I also though her doctor friend was nice enough. I suppose in general most of the characters are inoffensive urban fantasy stock. If you can overlook all my complaints above (and it's gonna take effort), plus ignore the random offensive racial stereotypes, then it's probably an entertaining enough read.

I tend to choose books based on library availability. I'm beginning to wonder if I should ask myself, before reading, why a particular book is still on the shelf. show less

I could not put this book down. I have read some of the books in this genre and was really sick of heroines that were, well, for the most part passive and, for lack of a better word, weak. Jace is the perfect antidote. She's strong, sarcastic, witty, and she takes no guff from anyone knowing her value as a detective. IN a world where humans make up 1% of the population and in which she meets some very anti-human characters she is more then willing to take them on, even if it means possibly fighting a battle she would be unable to win without her werewolf and golem cohorts. Obviously I like strong heroines, but I also really appreciated the alternate reality that this book was set in and how we got to experience it from inside Jace's show more head - if we were ripped unexpectedly into that world I assume many of us (or at least I) would have similar reactions.

I can't wait for the next book to come out. show less

Between the gore, the first person present narrative, and the please-no-love-triangles mantra I kept chanting, I feel like I shouldn't like this, but I'm a sucker for a competent, smart-ass heroine. Overall, I enjoyed the story and found the alternate Earth the author created to be fascinating -- I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea of vampires being Muslim Shintoists. Another major plus: whenever a character has an accent, be it Japanese or French-Canadian, the author just says that instead of trying to write in dialect (thank you!).

I think my favorite part, though, is Jace's burgeoning friendship with her golem bodyguard, Charlie:

"... where I come from [we have] partners. A partner is a person who watches your back, show more points out when you're screwing up, trusts you completely and occasionally saves your life. They do that for you... and you do that for them."
We glare at each other for a long moment.
"Problem is," he says at last, "we're here, not there."
"Doesn't make a damn bit of difference to me."
He considers this. "You know, that'd be a lot more reassuring if you weren't so damned fragile."
"I'm fragile? At least I don't burst into tears when I'm feeling unappreciated."
"True. You're more likely to shoot something."
"I find it therapeutic. You should try it sometime."
"No thanks. I'll stick to knitting tea cozies and sobbing into my pillow."
"We done?"
"Pretty much."


NB: While the murder victims' deaths are gruesome, the descriptions aren't gratuitous. Also, the swearing is mild and the sex takes place off screen. show less

Very good read, I enjoyed this book a lot and will probably read the sequel. FBI profiler Jace Valchek has just been reassigned -- to an alternate world. The world is populated mostly with vampires, lycanthropes and golems, with humans being an endangered species. But Jace is a specialist in the criminally insane, and this world now has its first serial killer. The world in this book was well imagined and described, and Jace makes an appealing heroine who is tough enough to be believable. Although infected with the usual sarcastic humor urban fantasy seems to be plagued with, it doesn't overwhelm the plot, and some of it was actually funny.

Dying Bites exceeded my expectations! I was immediately drawn in by the world building, which is by far the best part of the story. I loved the concept of an alternate reality in which supernatural creatures have made humans an endangered species. The historical details of this reality are so similar, yet so different from our world - from Hitler’s genocide, to war in the Middle East, everything is slightly off, and I find it fascinating. One major difference I enjoyed is that guns do not exist in this alternate universe. As you can imagine, this presents some interesting and hilarious challenges for our heroine, an FBI agent from our world who is very attached to her firearm.

The story is well written, and the descriptive prose is show more particularly vivid. The protagonist, Jace, is brazen, snarky, and fearless to the point of stupidity... yet likable. It’s difficult not to sympathize with her as she is thrown into a new world and suddenly has to learn how to navigate the supernatural. The ethical dilemmas Jace faces are gut wrenching. In a world where humans are fighting for survival, she can’t help but question who she can trust and whose side she should take. I really felt Jace’s sense of sadness, hopelessness, and inner conflict, which made me root for her despite her occasional dumb behavior.

The supporting cast is well drawn, especially Charlie, a golem and Jace’s new partner. He’s the perfect counterpoint to Jace’s mood swings, and he doesn’t take crap from her or anyone. The plot is fast paced and the mystery intriguing, though I’m surprised that we don’t get to see more of Jace’s profiling abilities since she’s supposed to be a criminal profiler. I also could have done without as much relationship angst, but it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the story. Action packed and entertaining, Dying Bites is a fun adventure, especially as the last few chapters devolve into a furious race to save the world from an insane terrorist. All in all, this was a surprisingly good read, and I’m looking forward to reading Death Blows, the second book in The Bloodhound Files series. show less

Dying Bites: The Bloodhound Files by DD Barant is a good, fun, urban fantasy with a twist: monsters (such as vampires, werewolves, and golems) exist in alternative worlds, and the heroine, Jace, is pulled into one of those worlds. Jace has been deliberately brought into the alternate universe because of her skills. She is a serial killer profiler and the alternate universe needs her expertise to solve a case. It is a very well done cross-over of two of my favorite genres (detective/profiler and urban fantasy). The combination makes the story unique and fresh, and the characters make the story captivating.

The heroine, Jace, is a complex character; she is somewhat jaded, irreverent, and sarcastic. She lives to work and deals with her show more stressful job by laughing it off. She doesn't have much of a social life since a very acrimonious & painful split with her boyfriend. She has a hard time adjusting to being uprooted from her universe and dropped into another one, but gets caught up in the case and begins to adapt. She is helped by a vampire colleague Gretchen, a Golem bodyguard Charlie (who is a wonderful character and a perfect balance to Jace), and the dishy werewolf Dr. Pete. The supporting cast are all complex & authentic characters. Jace herself is completely believable, likeable, and fun -- she struck me as a cross between Kate Daniels and Clarice Starling. The world-building is detailed, consistent; the author has created a very interesting world in which I hope to spend more time. show less

In a crowded genre, Dying Bites is fresh. The premise is so simple that it feels obvious, which is the mark of a really ingenious idea: Jace Valcheck is an FBI profiler pulled into another dimension, a same-yet-different world where humans make up only 1% of the population. In this new world, vampires and werewolves have all the physical advantages and all the political power; humans are barely scraping by.

There are some original twists on vamps and weres - like the spell that allows vampires to reproduce by donating biological years to their child, with the baby growing one year older for each six months the parents age - but the really fun new addition is golems. In Barant's world, the golems are technologically advanced versions of show more the clay statues of legend; a slaughtered animal's spirit is fused with sand and then poured into a plastic casing. The golems don't eat, don't sleep, don't have sex, and can't swim (they're too heavy!). Jace, as a weak human, is assigned a very intimidating golem bodyguard, Charlie, made from the spirit of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. For all his limitations, Charlie is just about the best character in the novel - he has a dry wit, a dapper style, and he's utterly fearless. I didn't expect to find the golems very interesting, but it only took a few pages with Charlie before I was totally sold.

The storyline could be an episode of CSI, with the addition of supernatural beings. The NSA is tracking a serial killer, a human murderer with three victims under his belt. The NSA bigwigs are certain that the guy is crazy, and that's why they need Jace. Vampires and Werewolves are immune to mental illness, and with so few humans around there is little knowledge of such diseases. Her expertise is literally non-existent in this parallel world.

I was really hooked on the plot as Jace pieces together an understanding of the villain's motives and, simultaneously, discovers that she can't trust her own team. The murders are clearly political in nature - a human being outraged at the way his species is treated - and the NSA people don't feel like telling Jace about all the horrors and atrocities fueling the killer's anger. At some point, as the information trickles in, Jace starts to wonder if she's on the right side.

Mixed in with all this good stuff are a few pretty serious flaws. First of all, all the romantic elements here are horribly botched. There isn't one moment of sexual tension that felt real to me. All the men capable of having urges in this book are attracted to Jace - that's annoying. It's especially annoying because these guys give off vibes which seem really low key to me - "That Jace Valcheck, she's spunky and good-looking, wouldn't mind sleeping with her" - but Jace interprets these mild urges as cause for serious drama, which made me think she was a little pathetic.

Which brings me to my biggest problem with the novel: Jace. She is supposed to be a consummate professional but she is not. In the course of this one novel she gets drunk on the job, she sleeps with a colleague, and she goes AWOL repeatedly. In general, if Jace has to choose between calmly taking control of a situation and running off half-cocked, she'll go for the latter. As a character, she felt incoherent to me.

I've been reading urban fantasy for a long time now, and it's harder and harder to hook me on a series. Books that would have put an author on my auto-buy list five years ago don't make the cut anymore. There's just a lot more out there, and fans can afford to have higher standards. This one would have made the cut a couple of years ago. Today? I'm not so sure. show less