Twice Bitten (Chicagoland Vampires, Book 3) Review

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Twice Bitten (Chicagoland Vampires, Book 3) ReviewTwice Bitten picks up shortly where Friday Night Bites left off. We find out who was sending Merit those mysterious unsigned invitations (no, I won't hint because it'd be a major spoiler, but I will say it's a cool plotline!) The shifters are coming to town and Ethan tells Merit he needs her help in providing security for them during their convocation. His hope is to convince the shifters to stay and become allies. They believe war may be coming and need the shifters' support. Working as Sentinel for the Cadogan House, Merit continues her training--she's mastered her swordwork but struggling with sparring. The romantic tension between Merit and Ethan really heats up--but an old love of Ethan's shows up on the scene making us wonder what that will mean. Merit and Mallory are not talking following their disagreement, which of course is upsetting to both of them.
I love the heroine Merit--fiesty, smart, fun, honorable, loyal, hardworking. I enjoyed seeing her grow as a character over the course of the series. She starts as a grad student with a closely defined, much smaller world outlook. After she is converted, her world becomes much bigger and she grows to fit into it. I enjoyed seeing her strength in this book--she had many kick b*tt moments, as well as times she effectively showed her smarts. I hope this series continues for a long time to come. I want to see Merit eventually take the test to rise to Master Vampire, and see where life takes her after that. She is a very interesting character--one of the better new characters introduced in the genre recently (and I've read over 400 UF and PNR books!)
I also continue to enjoy the ancilliary characters, including many new ones. Jeff, one of my favorite side characters, has a potential love interest. I enjoyed how the author continues to build out the characters, like learning about how/when Ethan became a vampire, seeing more of his interactions with Merit, etc. I began to understand him better as a character, however I didn't agree with all of the decisions he made--some *really* annoyed me.
The world building continues to be one of the strengths of this series. The informative glimpses we got of vampire life in the first two books are continued in this one. And we also see more of how sorcery magic works, as well as an in-depth introduction to shapeshifters--how they are organized, their magic, their politics, etc. Also, I like how Chicago is so prominent as the setting. The touches of real-life Chicago add color and depth to the story.
If you are a fan of urban fantasy, I highly recommend the Chicagoland Vampires series. It reminds me of a cross between Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson series and Shelly Laurenston's Pride Stories (which is saying a lot since I love both series). Briggs in the way it's an urban fantasy with strong world building; an appealing leading gal as the main character; and good mix of action, mystery, suspense with a little romance. Laurenston in the snarky humor and terrific dialogue. A truly great mix of styles resulting in an original, entertaining series.
It's a lighter urban fantasy than some on the market, which I enjoy as a change of pace--mixing up the lighter reads in between the darker ones. It's nice to laugh out loud from time to time! If you haven't read the series, be sure to read the books in order:
1 - Some Girls Bite
2 - Friday Night Bites
3 - Twice Bitten
If you are on the hunt for more books like this, check out my list of paranormal romance and urban fantasy favorites...
http://www.amazon.com/Paranormal-action-romance-must-reads/lm/R214ESW3HL12HM/ref=tag_lag_rb_munk_lmfull
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Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets Review

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Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets ReviewThus Reggie, a Chicago gang member, warned the author of this book. Thank goodness, Venkatesh wasn't frightened away, and the consequence is this narrative about a Chicago crack-dealing gang.
I first learned something about life in a Chicago housing project when I read David Isay's heartbreaking Our America: Life and Death on the South Side of Chicago (1999), and something about the street drug trade in David Simons and Edward Burns' grueling The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood (1998). Both have become classics. Sudhir Venkatesh's Gang Leader for a Day is, I believe, destined to join them as an on-the-spot narrative of gang culture of Chicago. Some of the people whose lives he tracks--J.T., Clarisse, Mama and Pops Patton, Reggie, Millie, T-Bone--grow on you until you feel as if you actually know them.
While a graduate student at the University of Chicago, weary of cold statistical analysis, Venkatesh began hanging out with the Black Kings, a crack-selling gang who headquartered in the Robert Taylor Homes projects. He wanted to get in touch with the gang subculture through direct observation. He entered into the project pretty naive and just a bit too full of himself. Seven years later, after following the Black Kings and establishing a relationship with their leader, one J.T., the things he'd seen and heard made him a lot more streetwise and a little less cocky.
During his seven-year study, "Mr. Professor," as J.T.'s mother initially called Venkatesh, learned that Chicago gangs, or at least J.T.'s outfit, lived in a culture of violence and machismo, but also functioned in an unexpected way as police in their own territory. From the perspective of society, they were lawbreakers. But at Robert Taylor Homes, they were also lawmakers, keeping a tight rein on adventitious violence and, through acts of "philanthropy," keeping the local economy fueled with drug money.
He discovered about halfway through his research with the Black Kings that he'd witnessed or heard about so many gang and drug deal activities that he'd do well to seek legal advice. When he did, he discovered (to his discomfort) that there was no such thing under the law as "researcher-client confidentiality," and that he was in a vulnerable legal position. At one point during his project, he actually worried that "he was falling into a hole [of criminality] I could never dig myself out of" (p. 250)
He realized that getting wounded in gang violence nine times out of ten meant either that nobody would call an ambulance for you, or if they did, that no ambulance would make a run into the inner city war zone to pick you up.
He learned that there's a city-wide organization and hierarchy when it comes to many Chicago gangs, including the Black Kings.
And from spending all this time with pushers, junkies, gangsters, civilians, hookers, and cops, and learning firsthand about their lives, he learned that it's risky to make holier-than-thou comparisons. When he bade J.T. farewell, for example, Venkatesh mentioned to the gangleader that he wasn't sure he was ready to jump into another longterm research project. J.T. cannily observed that there was little else Venkatesh was qualified to do. "You can't fix nothing, you never worked a day in your life. The only think you know how to do is hang out with n-----s like us" (p. 281).
An excellent, fascinating book, sometimes frightening, at other times unspeakably sad, and at still others funny: but always with the feel of authenticity and never sentimental. Highly recommended, as is his American Project: The Rise and Fall of a Modern Ghetto (2002) and especially his recent (2006) Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor. In fact, the latter book could easily be read as a companion volume to Gang Leader for a Day.
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