I Wish I'd Written That

"Half Human, Half Monster, All Attitude"

I mentioned Rob Thurman a while back – she (yes, she) is the author of my favourite urban fantasy series starring Cal Leandros (pictured above) and his half-brother, Niko. It’s such a good story and the characters are so brilliantly portrayed that I actually drop whatever else I’m reading when the latest volume is released. Eight are on my shelf and I’ve heard that the ninth is to be the last, but that’s okay. They’re good enough to read more than once. I can say that because I’m on the second round as we speak and none of it has paled for me.

She has totally nailed the first person narrative. Cal is the primary voice and he is … gods, how does one describe Cal? He’s dark, he’s surly, he’s street-smart, he’s scary, he’s hysterically funny, he’s loyal, augh, he’s fabulous. He’s so great that I wish I had written him. Truly. Characters like Cal are not a dime a dozen; I would happily pop him into my top five favourites. I might even put him in the top three.

Cal’s world is as uniquely special as he is. Yup, it’s a paranormal, homicidal, kill-or-be-killed kind of world and all the while he’s trying to stay one step ahead of the real monster within himself. I read these books with my heart in my mouth, they’re action-packed and freakish in the horror department, yet the characters – always the characters – make it, well, not exactly fun, but … yeah, they’re fun. I can’t imagine that they are written slowly; they read as if Cal is running and talking at the same time, and he’ll be the first to tell you that grammar holds no place in the survival game so proper English has been pretty well abandoned. He gets his point across with pitch-black humour, loads of cursing, and the aid of his prized Desert Eagle.

I—love—this—guy.

That’s it. I just wanted to rave about a series so dark and villainously twisted that I’ve developed a serious case of writer’s envy.