Thurman, Rob-- Slashback informal buddy read starts July 19, 2019

[Moderators of NBRC, Challenger-in-Chief]

This thread is open to discuss Slashback by Rob Thurman.



Synopsis
I stopped and let them circle me, first because it was intriguing and, second, because, honestly, what could they do? Only knives, but all armed, and that made them even more interesting. Interesting. Fun.

Playtime…

Taking on bloodthirsty supernatural monsters is how Caliban and Niko Leandros make a living. But years ago—before they became a force to be reckoned with—the brothers were almost victims of a very human serial killer.

Almost.

Unfortunately for them, that particular depraved killer was working as apprentice to a creature far more malevolent—the legendary Spring-heeled Jack. He’s just hit town. He hasn’t forgotten what the Leandros brothers did to his murderous protégé. He hasn’t forgotten what they owe him.

And now they are going to pay… and pay… and pay.…

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[Devann]

i didn't get started on this today but hopefully will get a few chapters in tomorrow. unless you guys are planning on starting later in the week?

[Claudia]

I opened the book but honestly haven't started reading. I plan to start tomorrow.

[Cathy M.]

Oh good, only got thru the 1st chapter so far but am so tired from reading so much the last 2 days I won't get any further tonight. I'll read more tomorrow!

[Devann]

i'm a few chapters in but i'm just popping into say that child cal absolutely kills me and the part where niko tells him not to use the c word and he asks if he can say 'see you next tuesday' instead makes me laugh every single time.

[Devann]

sooo i accidentally listened to the whole thing today because i had a new laptop to set up and it took me awhile lol but there's a lot of stuff revealed in this one so i'll just wait to comment as you guys catch up. it's amazing how she can fit so much angst and also hilarious child cal moments into a single book

[Cathy M.]

This book seems shorter than some of the others because I'm already thru Chpt 6 & it's at 43%. Or maybe I'm just enjoying it so much the pages are flying by.

That See You Next Tuesday thing was pretty funny. At first I didn't get it but then duh. I am SOOOO loving the flashback chapters. Cal is so freakin adorable as a kid!!!

But oh my god (view spoiler)[they met Robin as kids O.O What?!?!?! That made me think back to the 1st book when Robin was 1st introduced. He didn't seem to know who they were but here it's like he came directly to them. And the whole "gone but not yet come" thing was strange. I absolutely loved how Cal played the poor kid card with the big eyes so Robin gave him his watch.

And since when did cats love Cal? Even at the cathouse they were paying more attention to Niko, though some were licking the milk out of his hair. Don't remember that from the previous books. Would've assumed that Salome would've latched onto him then. (hide spoiler)]

And I'm loving how Cal is acting more Auphe! He's more badass now than ever before.

[Devann]

i think it is a bit shorter, most of them seem to be 10-11 hours on audio and this one was only 9. of course my favorite one is apparently the shortest lol

i think cats liking cal was mentioned before ...maybe not that they were absolutely nuts for him like they are here, but just that dogs hated cal but cats liked him because cats are kind of dicks lol

and the thing w/ robin (view spoiler)[definitely keep paying attention to those hints bc it will come together at the end of the book! but yeah i love tiny cal 'conning' robin and robin is just like 'oh my god look how adorable he is here literally take all my things' lol good job cal (hide spoiler)]

also as i read these all closer together i've noticed that she keeps changing her mind on whether the kin allows female alphas or not. like i think in the first or second book she said females COULD be alphas but they just generally weren't. then in book 5 i think she said that females could be alphas but since delilah was all wolf THAT was why she would never be an alpha. now in this book it's just 'no females can be alphas' and i'm like rob ...please make up your mind???

[Claudia]

@Cathy So I had the sAme reaction to the flashbAck. I was like the wait is thAt Robin? And then when he introduced himself I was like what? But like earlier he made a comment to Nik About how he alwAys chooses the hArd path when he tAlked About his next life so I wonder if that's A thing. like, are Nik and Cal reincArnAted? or is it like hinting to time trAvel? why didn't Nik and cAl remember Robin considering he gave them his name And they got so much money from him? plus the shady offer of a job

[Cathy M.]

Yea at 1st I wondered about the time travel but thought that it would’ve come up before. So am totally going with the reincarnation belief now. Robin slipped up saying “this reminds me of a time when the three of us were in Greece for the bacchanalia” before so somehow I think they are fated to be friends for some weird cosmic reason.

Niko and Cal had so much going on at that time, with the serial killer neighbor and Sophia so maybe Robin didn’t leave as much of an impression. But so did find it funny that the boys gave Robin the idea of being a car salesman.

[Cathy M.]

I didn’t even catch that about the kin. But am surprised there hasn’t been more about Delilah the last couple books. She only made the appearance when they were fighting Beane but other than that only little comments here and there.

[Devann]

haha i think the real reason they all didn't remember each other is because she had clearly not planned all of this out from the beginning - it's pretty obvious if you go back and reread them all - but i guess cal and niko were pretty young and robin is pretty flighty so it's conceivable that they would forget [cal and niko more permanently and robin probably temporarily and then when he did remember wasn't sure how to bring it up again]. at least that's how i justify it ;)

[Devann]

so i've really been enjoying read this series with you guys and since we are getting near the end i was trying to think of another series we could try afterwards if you both wanted to. another one of my favorite urban series is I Bring the Fire (book 1 Wolves) by C. Gockel, although I have only ever read it once [unlike this one lol]. anyway it's very different tonally than this series but it is urban fantasy and it's about Norse mythology with Loki as the main character. She actually put a bundle of the whole series up on Amazon today for 99c [here]. Or if you prefer the individual books then they're all in kindle unlimited and the first one is here.

Just wanted to throw it out as a possibility since she's got such a good price on it right now, although I'm open to other suggestions if you guys want to read something else next. I've just been meaning to reread them for ages and never seem to get around to it lol

[Cathy M.]

Devann wrote: "so i've really been enjoying read this series with you guys and since we are getting near the end i was trying to think of another series we could try afterwards if you both wanted to. another one ..."

Definitely, I'm really enjoying these BRs with you guys too :)

I'm down to try that one. I've also been meaning to go back to Incryptid series. It was a struggle getting thru the 1st half of the 1st book but I started enjoying the 2nd half. Wanted to try more!

Are there any series that you haven't read yet? I feel a little bad that you've previously read all the series that we've read together! First October Daye (the new book is coming out soon isn't it?), now this one.

[Claudia]

@Devann Yeah I was wondering about that and was thinking of going back to reread their interactions in the first book. I'm sure it's like you said that she originally didn't plan it but that's the direction the story went and came up with justifications for the beginning. I think it could be justified by them being too young and forgetting ti with everything else that happened. Either way, I did love this reincarnation plotline.

I also know what you mean about Delilah and the ever-changing rules regarding female alphas. I was a little like what but before..? ugh make up your mind. I think it's just to bring in more drama and remind readers about the Delilah situation even if she's not directly in the book

[Cathy M.]

Okay finished last night & I loved little Cal & Niko so much!!!! When Niko grabbed Cal's body and claimed him as his, not Sophia's or anyone elses, my heart just tore. An interesting turn of events that Niko pleaded with the Auphe to help Cal.

We were on it about the reincarnation. The whole zombies aren't real and then they are, and then angels aren't real and then they are. They got schooled a bit in this one ha! Jack could not have short-circuited Cal's brain for long, right?!?!?! It HAS to be a short term thing right?!?!?!

I'll comment more later when I have a little more time (at work & my boss is about to come in). But another 5-star read for me!!

[Devann]

@Cathy I actually enjoy rereading series so that part isn't a problem for me, and like I said with this Loki series I've been meaning to do a reread and just haven't gotten around to it yet. If you want to do more Incryptid I'd be down with that too although I reread the second one shortly after we did our BR of the first, so you would need to do the 2nd one and then we could pick back up on the 3rd if you wanted to.

I can check my tbr for series that I have on there but i kind of hate to suggest one i haven't read before since i usually only end up reading past the first few chapters of maybe 1 in 4 books i try recently lol. i know i have the dresden files on my tbr but i'm honestly not too excited about that one, basically was just planning on doing the first one since it's everyone's go-to UF rec, but unsure if i would continue with it beyond that.

also i would totally be down for a BR of the new october daye when it comes out, although i would probably want to read it fairly soon so if you guys were planning on waiting awhile [to get it from the library etc] that might not work. i think a whole crap ton of books i am really excited for are publishing on the same day in september though so i guess i will have to push some of them back lol

[Devann]

@Claudia i agree that the whole thing with Delilah and the new 'no female alphas' rule was probably just to heighten the drama factor but it still always causes me to go 'waaaait ...' lol

[Claudia]

Finished!!!

So I actually really enjoyed this book and gave it 5 stars. I especially loved how despite all the usual angst there was a lot of cute moments from their childhood.

(view spoiler)[ I mean the scene where Niko couldn’t help but stare at Cal’s teachers boobs was hilarious mainly because teen Niko didn’t seem to realize he was doing it or stop himself.
The whole scene where Niko decided he was going to have to break Sophia’s arm to teach her not to hit Cal was like whoa and then at the end of the book when he followed through I was like ( ✧Д✧). Their mom totally had it coming though.
When Niko appealed to the auphe to save Cal and then the Auphe did I was like woah. Then Cal keeping it a secret all these years that the auphe spoke to him when it saved him and basically told him they were going to come back for him one day but he kept it quiet to basically protect Niko and the future he wanted for Niko. I was like ugh my heart why must you two be so self sacrificing and codependent and why do I love it so much.
I feel like I should be like angels are real and shocked over the whole Peri’s being depowered retired angels but like that barely even registered for me. I wasn’t surprised at all. Were you guys surprised by that? I think my reaction was more like huh…ok.
(hide spoiler)]

Like Cathy said I feel like this book did go by faster than expected but it was still a good book. There was other stuff but I’m off to go and start getting ready for work so will comment more later

[Claudia]

@Devann I’m down to read the new October Daye book together. I have it preordered on my kindle so I could start like immediately after downloading it.

I’m also okay to try reading the first book in that Loki series. It seems interesting so I’d give it a shot.

@ Cathy I too have been meaning to go back to Incryptid but also haven’t read the second book yet. I could probably knock it out fairly quickly if we decide to go back to it and set a buddy read for the third book.

Have you guys read Hounded by Kevin Hearne. It was recommended to me and is on my to-read list.

[Devann]

@Claudia i agree that the cute moments from their childhood helped balance out all the angst in the present day lol i never really thought about that before. i also like how it's kind of parallel but also opposite narration from the two of them in the different timelines. i feel like this is probably one of the best books in the series from a framing perspective.

the thing where niko is staring at cal's teacher's boobs kills me every time lol and when she's like 'if i take off this top they're gonna drop about four inches' i'm just like #mood. big boob struggles are real

i can't remember if i was surprised by the big peri reveal or not. on the one hand it's like hey you've totally been lying to us for the whole series! but on the other hand i think i kind of always WANTED them to be actual angels so maybe i was less surprised because i had already had it as a headcanon it to start with?

also are you guys wanting to read the last book in the series that is technically part 1 of the 2 parter that never got finished or do you just want to leave off after the next book? i'm okay either way, i know that on one hand it's hard to leave a book unread in a series but on the other hand it has a frustrating cliff hanger and a really paradox-generating time travel plot soooo idk

also hounded is actually on my tbr and i've heard good things about it so i would be okay with trying that. also i can get it on audio so that's nice lol

[Claudia]

@Devann I'm more than likely going to read Nevermore. I will probably regret it but it's a thing where I can't stop myself from making bad life choices. Lol, by which I mean leaving things unfinished even if it tortures me. Also I'm super curious of how bad it is considering everything I heard and read about it.

[Devann]

haha i would be exactly the same way in your shoes so it's totally understandable. i haven't listened to it on audio yet so i am interested to see if that makes it any less awful

[Cathy M.]

Okay - re the angels thing, yea it wasn't a huge revelation but after being told for so many books that there are NOT angels, being told now that there are now it's like okay, so what else is not what it should be then? That probably goes hand in hand with the kin/alpha thing and the reincarnation plot-line. When the author initially started the series, she probably didn't expect to write as many books so didn't have everything mapped out.

Nevermore - I REALLY don't want to read it because I've heard about how much of a disappointment it was and the dreaded cliffhanger with no ending... But there is Robin's POV and the fact that I love this series so much. It's tough. I'm not yet sure if I can stomach it but knowing me, I might give in.

October Daye - I'll get it the day it comes out so I'll be ready!!!

Dresden Files - this is one of my favorite series but it did take me a couple books to get really into it (& the audios are fantastic!). Now that Jim Butcher FINALLY FINISHED PEACE TALKS YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (though we'll have to wait however many more months for it to be published) I do want to do a re-read of the series if you are ever interested.

I Bring the Fire - you like it and they seem fairly short (around 200 pages each at least for the 1st couple books) I'd be down to try it. The Norse mythology angle sounds cool. Reminds me a little of the Soul Eater series which I LOVED! That one had Egyptian gods as characters so this is right up my alley.

Iron Druid Chronicles - I've read all but the last one and wanted to do a re-read of them before getting to the last one. But I must admit I listened to them all on audio so I felt like I missed a lot. It's been a couple years but I did 4-star all of them so I know I did like them. I'll join you if you decide to go with this.

So many choices!!

[Devann]

haha yeah dresden files is such a commitment, although i guess this series is 11 books and october daye is up to 12 or 13 now but i just look at dresden and i'm like '15 books? who has the time!' even though i know i do have the time. i would definitely listen to them on audio though so good to know that those are enjoyable.

so when do we want to read downfall? i can put in the request for a thread for friday - or more likely whenever they see it as it can take a few days. are we wanting to move on right away?

[Cathy M.]

I can do Friday!

[Claudia]

I'm in for Friday.

[Devann]

ok, i requested it although sometimes it takes them several days so idk if it will actually be up on friday lol, hopefully not too long though

[Cathy M.]

we don't have a thread yet for Downfall so thought I'd write here. I started it last night and only read thru Chpt 3. I'll wait to read more - are we waiting for the thread to continue? I just wanted to say that so far I love Robin's POV, and especially love the interaction with Ishiah. But talk about ominous - (view spoiler)[Robin saying Niko & Cal are dying soon. And sounds like there were will be some major resolutions with Grimm, the Virgil, and Delilah? (hide spoiler)]

[Claudia]

I was waiting for the thread so haven’t actually started the book yet. I can start tomorrow though if you guys are already reading though

[Devann]

yeah i requested the thread i think on wednesday and then requested it again last night so i'm not sure if they'll get it put up today or not. i could start it today though and we could just use this thread i guess? maybe they could re-title it to include both books lol

[edit: yeah i just asked them if they could rename this thread to include both books and i'll probably start it here in a bit when i finish listening to this podcast]

[Devann]

re: robin's pov, it actually really annoying me last time i reread this and i'm not sure if it's because of the voice the audio narrator uses for him or if i just become more weary of his 'i know more than everyone else' attitude the older i get lol. but yeah when this first came out everyone was going nuts over robin's pov. i do agree the scenes with ishiah are cute though.

[Devann]

ok so they made the new thread so we can move over there