Regular marked price: $6.99Discount Price: $5.59
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How soon does it ship: Normal ship time within one day
Type of bind: Kindle Edition
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
Format: Kindle Book
Label: Bantam
Manufacturer: Bantam
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 368
Printing Date: September 21, 2007
Publishing house: Bantam
Release Date: September 21, 2007
Sale Popularity Level: 6671
Studio: Bantam
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Meet Marla Mason - smart, saucy, slightly wicked witch of the East Coast...
Sorcerer Marla Mason, small-time guardian of the city of Felport, has a big problem. A rival is preparing a powerful spell that could end Marla's life - and, even worse, wreck her city. Marla's only chance of survival is to boost her powers with the Cornerstone, a magical artifact hidden somewhere in San Francisco. But when she arrives there, Marla finds that the quest isn't going to be quite as cut-and-dried as she expected...and that some of the people she needs to talk to are dead. It seems that San Francisco's top sorcerers are having troubles of their own - a mysterious assailant has the city's magical community in a panic, and the local talent is being (gruesomely) picked off one by one.
With her partner-in-crime, Rondeau, Marla is soon racing against time through San Francisco's alien streets, dodging poisonous frogs, murderous hummingbirds, cannibals, and a nasty vibe from the local witchery, who suspect that Marla herself may be behind the recent murders. And if Marla doesn-t figure out who is killing the city's finest in time, she'll be in danger of becoming a magical statistic herself...
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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That is meant as high praise. For those of us who no longer follow LKH, because she got a little too wierd or something, have a new alpha female paranormal anti-heroine to enjoy. Marla shares many Anita traits--not too likeable, relative moral "code" and two fascinating male sidekicks with powers and issues of their own. I was especially impressed by the level of intense, detailed research into Meso-American (Aztec) myths and ritual practices. This is one of those books you can enjoy and feel that you learned some--new--wierd--stuff too. On the down side, this is a grown up book in that there is gore galore and no one to cheer for. I'm glad I "invested" in all the series books at once for future reads. This is one series poised on the edge of best seller/cult status.
Rated by buyers 
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Well, it IS urban.
I guess if you like your main character to have less personality than say, that old rusty beater that just rattled in very first gear down your blighted neighborhood street, then you will definitely like Marla, the protagonist of "Blood Engines". No offense to the car.
Marla is urban and oh so edgy. She knows what a city is supposed to be; polluted, decaying and stinking of human waste. Nature is too "cute" for her. She's tough. At one point, after obliterating a "swarm" of hummingbirds (hummingbirds!!) with a fireball, she kicks one of their burnt little corpses aside with her steel-toed boot. She thinks about how "This was the kind of S**T she lived for, What she got out of bed in the morning hoping for and what she went to bed at night dreaming of".
What a charmer.
But wait! There IS a sympathetic character in the form of an enslaved God who Marla "helps", if you could call working from a point of complete self-interest "helping". He is a part of "nature", not URBAN enough for Marla! He promises to kill Marla later in the book. I kept reading and hoping, ... waiting for it to happen.
Instead, he ends up fighting in "the main event", a poorly written and tired apocalypse, while the poorly defined and nondescript main characters (including Marla) watch while having snacks on a nearby hillside.
How gripping! (*snore*)
I guess I could pick up the subsequent book to see if he kills Marla, .... ummm... but I don't feel like giving T. A. Pratt any more of my money.
WARNING!! --THE WORST BOOK I'VE READ ALL YEAR (save your money)
Rated by buyers -
This is a fantastic book by a new author who is sure to write many more really entertaining books to come. About the protagonist's personality: the main character is hard-edged and cynical, but aware of having a dark side; she is pretty rough, though--this is not a romantic book...it's more like magical action/adventure/business(?)
Being someone who works in a fairly combative industry, I felt completely at home and I loved it. I never felt like I was looking at my watch waiting for the movie to end.
Rated by buyers -
This book is typical urban fantasy with little new or interesting material, but the killing point is the main character. I'm over 150 pages into this book so far, and the main character has no redeeming features. She is arrogant, rude, nasty, and has no empathy at all for anyone else. The secondary characters seem to have potential, but are obviously low in the main character's opinion and thoughts, so the reader doesn't get a chance to get to know them better.
Rated by buyers -
This author was recommended on Kim Harrison's site. I took a chance and was presently surprised.
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