You know how many urban fantasy series I've read over the last few years? Thirteen. Yeah, that's right, THIRTEEN. And that's only the stuff I remember at least vaguely. There's a whole bunch more that I can't even retain, cause they were so boring or generic. And after a while, with that many books rattling around in my brain, they sort of start to merge together. And because I'm a geek, I've even made a table about it.



Now which one of these boxes will The Better Part of Darkness check? Why, a More...

4.5 stars
Charlene Elizabeth Madigan, you and I are going to become best friends!

For all of you who still haven’t read The Better Part of Darkness, I have but a single question: What the hell are you waiting for?!

Charlie Madigan is a detective and a single mom, doing her best to balance the two and make her pre-teen daughter happy in a world that’s beyond crazy. So let’s talk about that for a little while: Surely every single parent (or any parent in general) tries to do the same every day. We a More...

Thoughts:

The Better Part of Darkness was huge talk around the book sphere last year when it made it's debut. When its sequel, The Darkest Edge of Dawn, came out this year even more praise started to pour in. Clearly it was a no brainer to finally read my copy of The Better Part of Darkness. Let's say I am not disappointed, I'm practically whispering sweet nothings to this book.

Dark gritty, with one heck of a kick booty heroine, what's not to love. Sure I'll confess I had some doubts about my ki More...

THE BETTER PART OF DARKNESS was a weird book because I liked it and didn't like it. There were times where it was slow and I didn't really get what was going on and part where I was completely into what was going on. The characters were great and I really enjoyed them, but the plot bored me to a point where I was skimming through parts of the book.

Charlie has the personality of a lot of my favorite Urban Fantasy Heroines. She's very stubborn sometimes and she has a temper on her, but you love he More...

Simply put - this book kicks a**! I devoured it. I read it in two days. I read it when I should have been eating, sleeping and bathing. I couldn't put it down. I didn't want to put it down! And when it ended - I was sad. I wanted more, more, more! More Charlie and all her bada**ness. More Hank with his heavenly beauty. More Emma. More Bryn. More Will. And not just the characters. I want more background, more history, more of the fantasy![return][return]I have to be honest. I'm a fantasy/sci fi j More...

This is the first book in the Charlie Madigan series. It wasn't great (as most first books aren't) but it wasn't bad either and there was enough there to interest me to read more. Charlie is a likeable enough heroine. She's 31 so that differentiates her from most of the twenty-something heroines in the genre, plus she's a single mother to a 12 year old daughter. Eight months post divorce and post a total death experience guarantees that Charlie is not without her fair share of baggage.

The settin More...

I'm still wavering between 3 and a 4 star. I can't make up my mind :(

This is a pure urban fantasy book. The book starts off by dropping you in a midst of action. Charlie Madigan was dead for 2 hours eight months back when she was somehow bought back to life by an (almost) mad scientist. This incident seemed to have untold effects and will turn to be a pivotal point in her life.

Gay's new urban fantasy series seems to have aliens in the book. I as unaware while going in the book. Since the book ba More...

1.5 stars, because I did finish it (albeit with a LOT of skimming through the second half). This is one of those books that makes me wonder why I even bother to read UF anymore. So few of them are actually any FUN these days. While this book might have had a few interesting characters and world-building ideas, and the plot was solid enough, nothing felt truly original, and I didn't want to spend 390 pages with the heroine. I've said it before and I fear I will say it again: if, when describing a More...

4.5 stars. This book had just about everything I look for in a book: great characters, excellent world building, surprises/twists, and just a dash of humor. It was while reading this book that I realized I love it when an urban fantasy series sets up a nice team to fight the bad guys. I think I prefer having an eclectic team rather than the lone hero fighting the good fight.

Even though it was a super exciting book to read, I knocked off a half star, because I didn't really think about the story More...

There is something about Charlie that I find appealing. Her life is a mess in so many respects, but she, herself, is a really decent person. Kelly’s writing is, of course, alpha and omega in making the series work and helping me like it. I find it amazing that this is actually Gay’s writing debut.

The Charlie Madigan series is an urban fantasy one. They are meant to entertain. There are issues that come up in the books that are important ones, but like most novels out there on the market this is More...

I liked the way this ended, but I tell you what, I hated Charlie for more than half the book. She's probably the most depressing heroine I've ever had the misfortune to read. I hated her to the point where I even hated her kid. Which isn't totally surprising (to me) because I generally don't like other people's kids (hell, I can barely tolerate my own most of the time). A little past the halfway point, however, she became a little more likable. But the things that really irritated me about Charl More...

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Verushka

*Beware of possible spoilers*

The plot of this novel can be summed up like this: Charlie Madigan is a divorced cop with a daughter, who is tasked with finding the source for a new drug that is overtaking Atlanta. Being as this is an urban fantasy, she comes with supernatural powers she is only just understanding after dying some months before the events of the novel.

Fairly standard for the urban fantasy genre, but what makes this different is the details of More...

I think it's quite sad that we as humans have managed to find boredom in things that don't exist. I can't help but acknowledge the irony when ever I hear the phrase “Standard Fantasy Setting”. You don't hear people saying “Standard Serial Killer” - well maybe you do but those people are generally thick - so why is it that people say the former phrase all the time? I don't know but I'm bored of it so I figured it was time to try and step into “Urban Fantasy”, which brings me onto The Better Part More...

Heroines with an attitude problem are as common in Urban Fantasy as sand on a beach. Some call them "kick-ass" or "strong", I call them bratty and annoying. Whether this book is for you will largely depend on which of these two groups you are part of, because Charlie is yet another one of the anti-authoritarian and run-head-first-through-the-wall-instead-of-thinking heroines, and I simply can't relate to this kind of characters. Charlie's narrative voice is very unlikeable as well. She is selfis More...

There I am, at my first RWA® conference in Orlando, Florida, a total stranger in the line gathering for breakfast at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Resort Pikabu restaurant. Ahead of me is a lady wearing a conference lanyard and nametag. So, what do I do? I say g'day and strike up a conversation.

This is how I first met Kelly Gay, urban fantasy author, and double finalist for a 2010 RITA® Award. We sat together and shared a very pleasant hour or so talking about writing, publishing, the industry a More...

I read THE BETTER PART OF DARKNESS and its two currently-released sequels, THE DARKEST EDGE OF DAWN and THE HOUR OF DUST AND ASHES back to back, and my comments in this review will be spoiler-free but cover all three.

I'm used to books where the scrappy hero/heroine saves the day against incredible odds - Charlie Madigan limps away from most confrontations having lost more than she's gained. When the going gets rough, Charlie caves. When the big baddie attacks, her first comment is, "Uncle!"

This More...

Lately I left a lot of books unfinished. So when I start reading “The Better Part of Darkness” I promised myself that no matter what, I will end it. And I did. But I suffered through every page.

I picked up this book for two reasons:
1)Charlie Madigan is a detective.
And I love to read procedural crime solving books.
2)Charlie Madigan has a eleven-years-old daughter.
So I expected there to be some parental issues, some upbringing problems, and some funny situations about being a parent.

I didn’t ge More...

While I have been reading a lot in the fantasy and thriller genres, in urban fantasy I often find myself looking to a couple of reader buddies to be my guiding lights. One such series was the Charlie Madigan “Darkness” series; Bastard has always praised it for its action, world building, and the authorial ruthlessness with characters. So while Bastard reviews the third book The Hour of Dust and Ashes. I’ll be reviewing the first two books here.

The first book The Better Part of Darkness opens the More...

The Better Part of Darkness is a great example of the urban fantasy genre, featuring a tough-as-nails heroine in a complex and unique world. The paranormal element was very cleverly realised and the characters were all interesting and well drawn.

The book ticks quite a few of the boxes one comes to expect from good urban fantasy these days - feisty heroine who pisses off a lot of people, but has a core group of allies who will walk to hell and back for her; a unique ability that makes her stand More...

Plot: 4.5 Stars
I loved the idea of the alternate dimensions of heaven-like Elysia and hell-like Charbydon. It was a very fresh take on the genre. There were many paranormal creatures that are often forgotten about: jinn, sirens, mages, gargoyles. I enjoyed how the nobles from Elysia and Charbydon tried to integrate themselves into the politics of Earth. I hope we see more of these alternate dimensions in future books.

Pace: 5 Stars
There was never a time when I wanted to put this book down and tak More...

Summarize the book without giving away the ending.
Ugh... a hard one. Well so, Charlie is a detective/cop, she's a mom who is divorced (with due cause). Her sister is a magical user and other humans in this day and age are. There also are ghouls, demon like creatures and angelic creatures that walk around on earth. They both came from two other dimensions discovered by some brilliant scientist. Anyways, at a school (Charlie's daughter is enrolled there) a student, (whom Charlie knows) is found un More...

I give credit to Kelly Gay for an original world and a definite uniqueness to this debut urban fantasy series. Just about everything about the idea of underground Atlanta and the denizens of both dimensions were fascinating. And the concept for the story was also a winner. Integration Task Force detective Charlie Madigan has lived for thirteen years in a world that has acknowledged the existence of the inhabitants of two diametrically opposed worlds - Elysia, the "good" world full of happy shiny More...

A few things push this book from good to great. First, the main character is one I can empathize with. She is not super tough. She has flaws but she is not whiny or overly sensitive. Unlike most urban fantasy heroines she has a child and is a very loyal and devoted mother. Her history is interesting and really drives the novel. I wanted to know what happened when she died and came back to life and I planned to keep reading until I found out. Everything was very well presented. The mystery was pr More...

Plot:

It has been over 10 years since the big revelation, that there are two other dimensions, what we used to call heaven and hell. But things are not that easy and not everything is black and white. Charlie Madigan is a cop, and single mum. She works on a special task force together with her partner trying to keep the city clean because the off-worlders do not always play nice. She also died 8 months ago and something is wrong with her, but what? Someone is selling a bad drug to the people of A More...

After divorcing her childhood sweetheart and trying to raise a somewhat precocious daughter about to enter that feared stage known as “teenager” Charlie Madigan has had a rough year. At work, she’s the tough Atlanta cop, ready to service Justice no matter who (or what) stands in her way. Especially after she technically died a year ago. After she was brought back, Charlie has been experiencing strange symptoms – headaches, nightmares, and a smattering magical powers that keep popping up that Cha More...

Better Part of Darkness worked for me and didn't work for me. It worked for me in that our protagonist, Charlie, makes a lot of mistakes and she pays dearly for most of them. She's not naive, or even particularly idealist honestly, and she knows that the world is in a horrible place, but that doesn't mean she shouldn't keep trying. She also makes choices that aren't usually seen of the 'hero'. All that was very refreshing and interesting for me. Apparently even I have limits on how many heroes/h More...

Charlie Madigan, ITF Officer, divorced mother of a preteen daughter, and recently resurrected strong female, is a a great character.

I loved that the author found a way to have her be a real mother, and still make sure her daughter wasn't around for all the violence and bad stuff. I love that the divorce and her relationship with her daughter was central to Charlie Madigan's development.

The alternate world of Atlanta in this story, with Elysian and Charybdinian otherworlders suppressing themselve More...

Review courtesy of: http://escapebetweenthepages.blogspot...

The cover is appealing, as it definately has the urban fantasy look to it, giving the impression of a confident and strong woman in a dark and grungy world.

The story starts off strong. Charlie Madigan arrives at her daughter's school, after she overhears a call for paramedics being needed. (As a mother myself, I can relate to the urgency, to make sure that her daughter was alright and safe.) Once there, she discovers the body of her da More...