Journal Entry 1 by MarysGirl from Brooklyn, New York USA on Monday, March 03, 2008

Natalia Lincoln is a new and exciting voice in dark fantasy/sf. I read this book straight through. I went through a "vampire stage" several years ago reading all the stuff by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro and Anne Rice until I burned out. This rekindled my appreciation of the genre - it grabbed me with its new twists and excellent writing. The characters are compelling and tortured, the plot advances at breakneck speed and the ending delivers. I read and write historical fiction and Lincoln did her homework in the Medieval sections. The historical and modern detail is vivid and accurate, making the brooding castles of Eastern Europe and the gritty streets of modern New York characters in their own right. Highly recommend this book.

From the back of the book:

"A vivid dark world of punks, demons and blood, of red velvet and black leather dusters. Driven by necessity, dread, and love, these characters carve their names on our hearts so we will never forget." -- Jeanne Cavelos, Editor, The Many Faces of Van Helsing

"...an exciting variation on the vampire theme. A true storyteller, Natalia Lincoln expertly weaves a mysterious tale of a powerful vampire disarmed by the dreams and memories of his intended victim. Her poetic, musical style and beautifully drawn characters hold the reader spellbound....You will not be able to put this book down." -- Linda Addison, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Consumed, Reduced to Beautiful Grey Ashes 

Journal Entry 2 by MarysGirl from Brooklyn, New York USA on Monday, March 03, 2008

Reserved for possible book ray. 

Journal Entry 3 by MarysGirl from Brooklyn, New York USA on Thursday, March 06, 2008

The US Book Ring is a go. Here's the line up so far:

1.LadyKnightNiko
2.JennyC1230
3.BooksnBeer
4.Guinneth
5.Stacers1973
6.Aramena
7.Back to me *COMPLETED - THANKS TO EVERYONE!*

Any one who would like to join, please PM me. The usual rules apply - please don't keep the book for more than a month, journal when you receive it and when it's on its way, contact the next person on the list for their mailing address. Last person please send it back to me

Thanks and enjoy! 

Journal Entry 4 by MarysGirl from Brooklyn, New York USA on Tuesday, March 11, 2008

In the mail to LadyKnightNiko. Enjoy! 

Journal Entry 5 by LadyKnightNiko from Liberty Township, Ohio USA on Friday, March 14, 2008

This arrived today and I'm really excited to start it! In fact, I'm going to as soon as I put some laundry in the wash.

Thanks again for including me and mailing me this ring! (Forgot to mention, thanks also for the postcard. :) ) 

Journal Entry 6 by LadyKnightNiko from Liberty Township, Ohio USA on Saturday, March 15, 2008

I'm sorry to say I didn't really like this one. The only character I could feel any emotion for was Slain, and the story jumped around too much for me to really care about the outcome. Lincoln's writing was apathetic when she described her characters or the situations, so I couldn't feel anything more than apathetic as well.

Sadly, this one was a disappointment. Thanks for including me anyway, and I'll mail it to JennyC1230 later today. 

Journal Entry 7 by LadyKnightNiko at by mail in To the next participant, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases on Saturday, March 15, 2008

Released 4 yrs ago (3/15/2008 UTC) at by mail in To the next participant, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:

On to JennyC1230! 

Journal Entry 8 by JennyC1230 from Woodstock, Georgia USA on Monday, March 17, 2008

This book arrived today! I will start it as soon as I finish the one I am reading now. Thanks for sharing your book Marysgirl and to LadyKnightNiko for sending to me!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  

Journal Entry 9 by JennyC1230 from Woodstock, Georgia USA on Saturday, March 22, 2008

This book was very different from anything I have read before. I've read a lot of vampire books, but none of them were like this. I guess this was more fantasy, most of the ones I have read were horror or romantic types of books.

I have Booksnbeer's address from another bookring, so I will mail it to her this week! 

Journal Entry 10 by JennyC1230 from Woodstock, Georgia USA on Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Mailed to Booksnbeer today via Media Mail. USPS Delivery Confirmation #03070020000022364290 

Journal Entry 11 by BooksnBeer from Annandale, Virginia USA on Monday, March 31, 2008

Received this in today's mail. I look forward to a new Author and a new twist on a old subject. 

Journal Entry 12 by BooksnBeer from Annandale, Virginia USA on Thursday, May 22, 2008

Well – I finished this one – but, I can’t say I really liked it. I found the violence mixed with the fairy tale not working for me, in this book. Also, the flow of characters was disjointed, for me. It seems that women died became undead and then had normal children??? The story had as spent a lot of time in the past. But, the story still seemed undeveloped.

Oh well, I will move this on as soon as I get the next address.
 

Journal Entry 13 by BooksnBeer from Annandale, Virginia USA on Wednesday, May 28, 2008

This is on it's way today - I hope the next person likes it more than I did. 

Journal Entry 14 by Guinneth from Manchester, New Hampshire USA on Friday, May 30, 2008

This arrived today; as it turns out, another ring book was nestled in the mailbox with it. I flipped a coin and will be reading The Kite Runner first, but will get to this immediately after I finish that one. (Oddly enough, the originator of THIS ring is the same BCer who mailed THAT one to me.) :)

I look forward to reading this! 

Journal Entry 15 by Guinneth from Manchester, New Hampshire USA on Friday, June 06, 2008

Oh, dear.

I got 70 or 80 pages into this and just couldn't take it any more, so I began to skim to see if the writing/story/characters got any better/more interesting/more likable. Sadly, they did not. (In fairness, I had just finished one of the best novels I've read this year - see above JE - so that would have been a tough act for almost anything to follow. Still.)

I found the writing somewhat amateurish, and I think the author spent too much time listening to Evanescence and reading mediocre dark fantasy novels. Honestly, there's only so much pseudo-goth melodrama one person can take! The historical sections did not feel genuine to me at all. And finally, the characters had some of the silliest names; it really irritated me. (Who wants to spend 300+ pages mentally stumbling over the five-syllable moniker "Miercurea"?)

I'm sorry to say that this one did not work for me at all. I do appreciate the chance to try it, though, so thank you for sharing it, MarysGirl. (And think how boring the world would be if we all shared the same reading tastes.)

I'll be moving this along as soon as I have an address for Stacers1973. 

Journal Entry 16 by Guinneth from Manchester, New Hampshire USA on Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Mailed to Stacers1973 today. I hope you enjoy the book more than I did! :-)

Del. conf.# 0306 2400 0002 0785 7712 

Journal Entry 17 by Stacers1973 from Gladstone, Oregon USA on Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Got the book in the mail today, Thanks!! Should get to it pretty soon, looks good :) 

Journal Entry 18 by Stacers1973 from Gladstone, Oregon USA on Monday, June 23, 2008

I really enjoyed this one, I liked it all from Mari in modern day to Miercurea's history. Deep, dark, gritty ... the vampire's *victim* is so much more than that. This book delivered on many levels that were unexpected and unique. Gothic, ancient and modern all weaved together with the grace of a great storyteller. Thanks again, for sharing :)

Sent on to Aramena this morning ...
USPS Confirmation # 0307 1790 0000 7983 6640 

Journal Entry 19 by Aramena from Moore, Oklahoma USA on Monday, June 30, 2008

Arrived today! 

Journal Entry 20 by Aramena from Moore, Oklahoma USA on Friday, August 15, 2008

Well, I finally finished this book! It took me awhile, but mainly because we got really busy at work and then I also had family visiting from out of town, so I just haven't had as much time to read as I usually do. That being said, however, it was also slow going for me anyway. I had trouble getting into it. As someone else mentioned, the hard to pronounce Mierwhatever (I don't want to look up how to spell it) irritated me. I really enjoyed the section about Ava, but the rest of it just didn't really do anything for me.

This is going home to MarysGirl today, and thanks for letting me jump on the ring! 

Journal Entry 21 by MarysGirl at Prospect Park South in Brooklyn, New York USA on Monday, October 20, 2008

Released 3 yrs ago (10/19/2008 UTC) at Prospect Park South in Brooklyn, New York USA

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Journal Entry 22 by MarysGirl from Brooklyn, New York USA on Monday, October 20, 2008

This made it home in August. Thanks to all in the ring who read and commented on the story!