The Hollywood Librarian

A few weeks ago my library had its Staff Education Day, where we all gathered and got awards and held raffles, and we had a guest speaker who happened to have been interviewed for the movie The Hollywood Librarian: A Look at Librarians Through Film.  Well, OF COURSE I thought that sounded like the most interesting thing ever; I figured it would be a critique/commentary on films starring librarians (hellooo, The Mummy!).  And the back of the case even says, "the history and realities of librarianship in the entertaining and appealing context of American movies."  Can we say YAY?!

No.  We may not.  Because despite the title, this documentary-type film is not about the stereotypes or misconceptions--or truths--of librarians as Hollywood views them.  This is simply a series of interviews, asking librarians and library supporters just what they think of libraries (SPOILER ALERT: libraries are awesome!  And librarians have the best jobs in the world!).  Oh, and those interviews are "intercut with film clips of cinematic librarians."

What I'm saying here is that I'm disappointed with the misleading title, Hollywood Librarian.  I think you would've been much better off as, perhaps, Librarians in a Modern Age or The Importance of Being in a Library or maybe even Librarian: Quest for the--no, wait, that's already a movie.  Sorry.

By the way:

Book Cart Drill Team WORLD CHAMPIONS.

Sponsored by the ALA!

The Book Detective, Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You!

Originally this next post was going to be about a) The Hunger Games or b) the females of urban fantasy book covers (URGH), but a recent conversation at the library (and the realization that I have WorldCat.org bookmarked) has led me to a somewhat obvious solution:

I LOVE finding books for people.  (So it's a good thing I have my heart set on a career at the library, eh?)  

Seriously, I really, truly enjoy finding books for people, whether it's recommendations that people have loved (though I rarely recommend books, given my own, er, "unique" tastes), or--and here's where I think I shine--finding that "lost" book that someone has always wanted to reread but has forgotten the title, author, character's names, setting, or even whether or not it was fiction.  But it had a blue cover!  And cats!  Always cats...

Me, I got Google.  And WorldCat.  Not to mention a degree in history (which means I have mad skillz for research, lemme tell ya), and a tendency toward looking up weird stuff just in my own time.  There is something just AWESOME about seeing someone online saying, "Yeah, been looking for this off and on for three years, here's the deets" and going "Is this it?" and having them say "YOU ARE MY HERO."

...though that may just be the praise.  I'm a sucker for a good word and a pat on the head.

At any rate, I just wanted to let anybody (and everybody, potentially, seeing as this is the internet) know that if you need help finding a book, just ask: I can't guarantee that I'll find it, but I can guarantee that I'll do my damnedest.

Mmmm, parents...

I am not a full-time librarian.  If you want to get really technical, I'm not even a "real" librarian; I just happen to work at a library.  Most of the time, I take parents to the "real" librarians (i.e. our children's librarian or our teen librarian, usually) if they come up to me asking for recommendations; I'm good at finding specific books, but not particularly general, "I need 5th-grade reading level" books.

But sometimes, I do interact with parents.  Sometimes I overhear librarians interacting with parents.  And sometimes a librarian will come into the backroom, frustrated after having dealt with parents.

Bottom line is this: there are certain kinds of parents who I respect more than others.  I treat them all respectfully, of course, but mentally?  Not so much, sorry.

Basically, my beef is with parents who answer questions instead of their child.  Simple as that.  Because it boils down to, "Who exactly is this book for?"

Let me set the scene:

Library, children's room.  Afternoon sun is lighting the room.  Parent approaches, child in tow.

Parent: "Hi, do you work here?"

Me (obviously re-shelving books, wearing a nametag): "Yes I do!"  Yeah, I say it perkily.   Sue me.

Parent: "We're looking for a book."

Me (talking to child): "Sure!  What kind of book do you want?"

Parent: "He wants a mystery."

Me (talking to child):  "Oh, mysteries are fun!  What have you read and enjoyed?"

Parent: "He likes The Magic Tree House."

Me (talking to child): "Those are popular.  Have you tried Encyclopedia Brown?"

Parent: "No, that sounds good!  We'll take three."

...this conversation is all too common.

I have found that the more I look at and talk to the child, the more likely a parent will let said child do the answering, but not always.  I've also found that a child is more likely to accept offered help in finding a book if they're by themselves; and our teen librarian found that he could get more teens to sign up for our Summer Reading Challenge if their parents were elsewhere in the library.  

Honestly, I think some parents just don't realize how much they're controlling their kids' reading lives, and this is not A Good Thing.  Children, especially young ones, should be reading a wide variety of books that they choose, not what Mom and Dad chooses for them.  When they're old fogies in high school and college, they won't have nearly the time nor inclination to read, especially if they haven't been encouraged to find, on their own, books that they enjoy reading.  Heck, I used to carry around seven or eight books at a time, and would constantly max out my library card, and I still slowed down how much I read once I hit sophomore year of high school.  Even now I only have out half the items that I could, and I'm working at a library!!

At any rate.  I'm not saying you should never place restrictions on what your kids read--I know my kids will learn that Mommy's books are not for young eyes--but let them explore, especially when a librarian is right there to help.  We won't steer them wrong.

MUST...READ...

OMG, I'm so going to read this.  Via Amazon:

"Single mom Lachez Baker is a ghetto-fabulous mother of three who seems to have it all, thanks to money from her children’s fathers. But soon, her life of designer clothes, endless parties, and steady cash collides with the man who’s been the target of her carefully crafted paternity fraud."

Also?: 

Because seriously, who wouldn't want to read it with THIS as the opening line to the back summary:

"Tavon, better known as "Sweet," would pimp his own mother -- and he does."

:D

And I may now have the nickname "Hustla" from my coworkers because of my undisguised glee at the thought of reading these books.

Sooo...

...thinking of doing format changes in any upcoming blog posts.  While I can't say it's not been enjoyable so far, I'm not entirely happy with my updating (and lack thereof).

Redwall: The Long Patrol

Every few years, I go back and reread all the Redwall books.  This series is one that slips to the back of my mind, perhaps too often, but as soon as I pick up one book I'm reminded all over again why I loved Brian Jacques as a child and why I still love him as an adult.*  There is so much I could say about his books, and most of it applies to the series as a whole, not just one or two individual books, so I think I'll just talk about one or two points per book, instead of repeating the same things over and over or making one huge massively long post.  I'm not fond of massively long posts, in case you couldn't tell.

The Long Patrol is one of my favorite in this series, and is probably up there in the top three.  I just think Cregga and Tammo and Tansy's storylines mesh very well together, without a crazy amount of running around and riddle-solving.  It's also enjoyable to see how creatures that were young in a previous book--Pearls of Lutra, for those of you not "in the know"--have grown up and grown wiser.

But the singular Redwall-generic point I'd like to make first is FOODOHMYGODTHEFOOD.

Seriously.  I dare you to read a description of a Redwall feast and not start drooling.  I'm actually now in the habit of skipping all those lovely descriptions, because when I read through them I get hungry and go start eating.  I don't even like most the food he describes.  I read somewhere that Jacques--pronounced "Jakes," by the way--speculated that it was because he grew up during WWII in England, when food was scarce.  And if I remember correctly, until he was eight or so, he thought that an orange was a made-up fruit.  I think it's hard for most people to comprehend that level of not-having.

...and now my mouth is watering.  I ate dinner not even two hours ago!  Curse you, Brian Jaaaaacques!  Only not really, because his books are awesome.  And I know he will never see this, but it needs to be said anyway: Thank you, Brian Jacques, for writing these books and sharing with us your world.

*Oh, God, I'm old enough to use the phrase "as an adult."  When did that happen?  I was a teenager just yesterday!

Girl, Stolen

So this was the second book from the 2011 Best YA Fiction list that I read, and I think I actually enjoyed it a little more than Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, despite the fact that I prefer fantasy over contemporary.  Then again, debut novels really aren't my thing.

I picked up Girl, Stolen, by April Henry, because (duh) I thought it sounded interesting: A blind girl currently down with pneumonia is resting in the backseat of a car while her step-mother fills her prescription, when BAM, the car--complete with our heroine, Cheyenne--gets stolen on impulse by Griffin, who was originally just looking for packages.  But really, leaving your keys in the car is like asking someone to please steal it.

At any rate, I did indeed enjoy this book, and I swear it's not just because of my weird obsession with borderline-bad-boys.  (Just me?)  It's very well-written, and gives us the point of view of both Cheyenne and Griffin, and how an accidental kidnapper and a reluctant kidnappee (though I doubt there's any other kind) react to their situation(s).  It was a fairly short, quick read, but if I have to complain about anything, it would be the ending.  I know a lot of people enjoy an open-ended book, where the "rest of the story" could potentially go in many different directions--maybe because of the open-endedness of life or something, I don't know--but unless it's done in such a way as to indicate a sequel, then I'm usually not a fan.

And in case you couldn't tell, Girl, Stolen has an open ending.  Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay...


But if you think it sounds interesting, I do suggest you give it a try.

And Now...Something Completely Different!

Gonna take a quick break from talking about books, to talk about something that without which would make books impossible:

Words.

I love words.  I'm a logophile!  I'm not concerned with whether or not words are sesquipedalian, or requires a lexicographer's intuit to understand (sorry, I had to use some big words in a post about words!).  I just love the way some words sound, and how choosing a synonym of a word can help you be more precise in what you say.

And while I was talking with my mother one day, I began listing off some of my favorite words (does that make me a nerd?), and realized as I did so that I apparently have a favorite letter of the alphabet: P.  There's just something about the way that letter pops when you say it, especially at the beginning of a word.

Plethora.  Palindrome.  Perpendicular.  Precipitate.  Preposterous.  Persistent.  Penultimate.  Pyrrhic.   Prestidigitation.  Pulchritude.  Pusillanimous.  Penchant.  And possibly my favorite: percolate.  There's just something about the "puh" and the "kuh" so close together, and it's a bit longer than perk and perky, which just makes the word sound bubbly, even though it basically means filtering something.  Oh, and "pulchritude" up there?  It sounds so putrid, but really it's quite beautiful.

And of course, there are other words I love that don't start with P, like lickspittle (it's a word!), syzygy, interdigitation, or magnanimous.

...okay, yeah, most of these are sesquipedalian words, but come on.  Say them out loud!  Aren't they awesome?

I even have preferred words for body parts (although a blog post about that may push this into NC-17 territory...).  A SFW example:  I was reading a love scene, when all of a sudden there was a line: "He kissed her tummy."

Wait, what?  Tummy?  Really?  In this love scene (between adults, obviously), you decided to use a word that invokes an image of children?  Because really, to me, "tummy" is what you say to children as you tease them with tickles.  Not adults who are in the process of skoodilypooping.  Even "belly" would've been better, although I think "ab/domen" or even a generic "stomach" would've been the best alternatives.

At any rate: words.  Spread the love.

Llama Llama Mad at Mama

Okay, so confession time: I've been putting off doing this blog, Llama Llama Mad at Mama, by Anna Dewdney, because I wanted to have more than one thing to say.  But really, honestly, the more I thought and worried over it, there was really only that one thing I have ever really wanted to say about this book.

Even llamas don't like llama drama:

Thank you, and good night.

Geronimo Stilton: Lost Treasure of the Emerald Eye

Lost Treasure of the Emerald Eye is the first in a series of...a lot...and is written by, uh, Geronimo Stilton: an anthropomorphic scaredy-mouse journalist and editor of The Rodent's Gazette who would really rather not get caught up in the adventures that his younger sister (Thea), cousin (Trap), and nephew (Benjamin, age 9) are always dragging him into.

Originally published in Italy, there are now 49 Geronimo books (with two more planned for July and October 2012), spin-off Thea books, spin-off Creepella books, special editions, graphic novels, and even a television series and audiobooks.

It's popular, is what I'm trying to say.

And honestly, I'm not sure why it wouldn't be popular.  Because this is what it looks like as you read:

HOW AWESOME IS THAT?!  It's as if a bunch of typographers attacked a novel!  For those with children who are reluctant to read--and who don't want to give them comic books, for whatever reason--then this series is probably what you should slip them.  They get checked out almost as much as The Magic Tree House and Junie B. Jones series, and I'm forever straightening them up after the "hurricane kids" sweep through, plucking out the ones they want to read.

Probably my only complaint would be that Mr. Stilton is a little too scaredy-mouse; I would rather have a more confident main character.  But ah, well; can't have everything we want.

We Are in a Book!

We Are in a Book! is one of the Elephant and Piggie books (why it isn't called Gerald and Piggie, since those are the characters' names, I do not know) by Mo Willems, a very popular children's author who started off winning Emmys on Sesame Street, and is collecting Caldecott Honors.  He has written such books as Pigeon Wants a Puppy, Knuffle Bunny, and--oh, yes--Time to Pee!  


Also, a few days ago I got to work just as a co-worker was reading aloud from The Duckling Gets a Cookie?, and thought that was one of the cutest books ever.  I was also informed that I simply had to read Edwina, The Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She Was Extinct.  So I will definitely be flipping through that at work, and it may turn up in this blog later on.

The Elephant and Piggie books are what are referred to as Easy or Early Readers; and if you want a clear definition instead of a vague idea of what that means, it's simply a book intended for children just learning to read.  Easy/Early Readers are often available for children anywhere from kindergarten (or pre-) to second or third grade (or later!).  This series, as far as I can tell (though I am no expert, so don't take my word!), are more for kindergarten/first graders, with few, short words per page.

And although several of the other books in the series are perfectly adorable, I love this one because it's one of those break-the-fourth-wall, speak-to-the-reader, someone-is-watching-us! kind of books.  Piggie makes the reader say a funny word (that is, assuming the reader is reading aloud), which sends the two of them into peals of laughter.  And then Gerald asks when the book ends, at which point Piggie checks and informs him:

...which then makes Gerald panic, since that means the book is not nearly long enough for his taste.  And of course, the more he panics, the more pages he uses, and the faster the book comes to the end.

...or is it?

Fancy Nancy

I shouldn't have to do much introduction for Fancy Nancy, written by Jane O'Connor and illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser, because insofar as I can tell, it is one of the most popular children's books in the library, and frankly, it is such with good reason.  As with Press Here (ha!, said it right!), it's a wonderfully adorable little book that I like for many reasons, which I will enumerate momentarily.

But first, this is why you should always keep an eye on kids around library books, especially if they have writing utensils in their hands:

Yup, that's the first thing you see when you open up our library's copy of Fancy Nancy.  Just because these books are available to the public doesn't mean that they should look like it.

But as to why I like Fancy Nancy, it's very simple: Nancy is unreservedly in love with all things frilly and sophisticated, and this includes not only feather boas and pearls and tiaras and saying "darling" with your pinky finger raised while eating, but also: words.  Exquisite.  Iridescent.  Ecstatic.  Plume.  Chauffeur.  And speaking of "chauffeur," Nancy loves French words, because "everything in French sounds fancy."  So merci, oui, and an explanation of what R.S.V.P. is short for (Repondez s'il vous plait -- I DID NOT KNOW THIS) are what you can look forward to.  Brush up your French!

Nancy's family is quite wonderful as well, though rather plain comparatively.  When she decides that her family--woefully lacking in any sense of fancy--needs lessons, they join in wholeheartedly, and then all go out to eat in style:

Also, we find out in Bonjour, Butterfly, that Nancy is, quite possibly, one of the single most talented, epicly, wonderfully dramatic sulkers...

...of all time.

And there you have it.

Press Here

This is a children's book, called Press Here, by Here Tullet, and originally published in France under the title Un Livre.  Also, I have a habit of calling it Push Button, which is an entirely different book by author/illustrator Aliki.

I can only assume that this book isn't as popular as I think it should be because it was only first published in English two years ago, and c'mon, we've got to give it some time to gain popularity, right?  At any rate, I think it's a perfectly adorable, lovely little book that children can "interact" with, and though I've only read it to one child (Kate), I'm quite certain that it's her favorite of the books I checked out for her, since she's forever asking me to read her "the button book."

Basically, you open the book and see this:

So you press it, and when you turn the page, BAM!  TWO DOTS!  THERE ARE MAGICALLY TWO DOTS!

Rubbing the dots make them change color, tapping them makes them multiple.  But what may be Kate's favorite part is shaking and tilting the book, which makes the dots all jumbled up and then slide around the page.  Then you can line them all up, and turn the lights on and off, but then there's dark all over the page so you lift it up and blow on it to make it go away, but then you've accidentally blown too hard and most of the dots are off the page so THEN you have to tilt the book some more to get them all back in their proper place in the center of the book.

Then Kate makes me do the next part (I don't know why she won't do it herself):

Yup, that's right: they get HUMONGOBIG when you clap.  They get so big, in fact, that the yellow dot fills up the entire page, and then you have to...well, I don't want to spoil the whole thing, children's book though it is.

I'll say this, though: I don't really read the text on the page, since it's kinda stilted if you're just reading it aloud to a kid.  So instead, I modify it a little, to make it flow better.

But yeah.  If you have a child, or babysit a child, or have a cousin/niece/nephew who is a child, I do recommend this book.

(Though you may be sick of it after a dozen reads.)

Ranger's Apprentice: Ruins of Gorlan

Another juvie book!  Yaaaaaaay!

Actually, these next few books I talk about are going to be juvenile or children's picture books, so if you want some more adult stuff, you'll have to be a little patient.  Sorry!

So this is the first book in the series Ranger's Apprentice by John Flanagan, called The Ruins of Gorlan. I believe it's Flanagan's first book (thus the "debut" in the tags), and apparently was originally a series of short stories for his son, to get said son interested in reading.  And I'll be honest, I was not in the least bit surprised when I found that out, because when I was reading it I thought that it was choppy in places, with the timeline moving along quickly (though that may be because I'm far more used to Tolkienish detailing of the passing of time).

One thing that I really appreciated was that the animosity between our main character, Will, and his pseudo-rival, Horace, did not have the cliched outcome that I was expecting.

But as with Cryptid Hunters, there's not much more than that to say.  I like the characters of Halt and his former apprentice, Gilan, but most of the other characters were pretty forgettable.  It's a good story, though nothing new, and the role/idea of the Rangers is pretty standard fantasy fare, but nothing I was particularly impressed by.  I can see why kids enjoy it, but I won't be hunting after the second book any time soon.

Cryptid Hunters

The first juvie book!  Yaaaaaay!

I picked this up because I've been eyeing its sequel, Tentacles, for some time now, and because it was in a small display we have set up of "books for boys."  I want to be an actual librarian, and am thinking about being a children's librarian, and boys are children, right?  Right?

Okay, mild justification aside, the bottom line is that I picked it up because I wanted to.  So there.

The starring roles of Cryptid Hunters, by Roland Smith, are 13-year-old twins Grace and Marty O'Hara, and fair warning: some of you nit-picking party poopers will point and scream "Mary Sue!  Gary Stu!  AT LAST WE MEET FOR THE FINAL TIME!"  Their parents (who have disappeared, presumed dead by some) are fabulously wealthy, the children themselves are fabulously smart and clever, they get in trouble--well, Marty does, at least--but not too much trouble, and are wily enough to go up against bad guys and henchmen and the dangers of the wild jungle and survive relatively unscathed.

But honestly, it really was a very enjoyable book.  Yes, it's a bit cliched at parts--but "cliche" does not equal "bad," and it's a kids' book.  When kids read, they don't necessarily pick up on the stuff that adults clearly see as cliches, for the simple fact that they usually don't have the years of reading experience that adults have, and therefore don't pick up on it.  ...that was redundant.

And...I think that's all I have to say about it.

The Alloy of Law

...I...I have no idea why it took me so long to read this book.  I checked it out December 1, 2011, and did not actually get around to reading it until, oh, March 25 or so.  Yeah, it's now been renewed five times (three weeks each!), the limit for what my library allows.

But I finally read it!  And I enjoyed it, as I knew I would.  Because, you see, I love Brandon Sanderson, and I don't think he gets nearly enough credit as an author of modern fantasy.  If someone were to come up to me and ask for a epic fantasy novel they could really sink their teeth into, he'd probably be the first on my list.

Yup, even above Tolkien.   I am a heathen.


So, The Alloy of Law, by Brandon Sanderson, is a "sequel of sorts" to his amazingly awesome Mistborn trilogy--"of sorts" because it takes place 300 years after the end of the trilogy, so the characters from those books--Vin, Elend, Sazed, etc.--are legendary figures with religious followings.  Instead, we get two new main characters, Waxillium "Wax" Ladrian and Wayne ("wax" and "wane," geddit?!).  There is also Marasai, an intelligent young woman and possible love interest for Wax, but Wax is stupid.  This is also "of sorts" because it can easily be read as a standalone--so if you're wary about reading an entire trilogy before getting to this one, you can relax.  Go ahead and go pick it up if you want.

I think one of the reasons why I enjoyed this so much is that the world of Scadrial actually had progression in those three hundred years, so while Allomancy and Feruchemy are still the big deal, there are also such nifty little things like guns, electricity, and even horseless carriages (or at least, mentions of horseless carriages--I don't quite remember if any of the main characters actually used one or not).  This makes the world so much richer and more believable, I think--so many fantasies seem to be permanently stuck in an idealized Middle Ages, which, yes, can be very fun, but once you really think about it, it's kinda boring with all the "same ol', same ol'."

Also: Sanderson has said there "might" be a sequel to this "sort-of sequel," to which I say, Mr. Sanderson, you are fooling yourself if you think you won't eventually write a sequel.  Yes, I know you've got a billionty-and-one other books in the works right now, but your ending was so blatantly set up for continuation that I think your subconscious may not be entirely in tune with the rest of your plans. You may want to look into that.

Hexed

This next book, Hexed, by Kevin Hearne, is due back at the library in a few days, so I figured I would go ahead and talk about it.

This is actually the second book in the Iron Druid Chronicles (the first is Hounded, the third is Hammered).  I have read the first (although it took a while in the bookstore to figure out which one it was supposed to be), so what the hey, I'll talk about that one too:

...even in pictures it's kinda obvious which one belongs to the public library.

Overall, both books were pretty good.  The quote on the cover(s) reads, "A page-turning and often laugh-out-loud funny caper through a mix of the modern and the mythic" (Ari Marmel, author of The Warlord's Legacy).  I wouldn't quite agree that it was page-turning--I found myself putting them down to do something else, and not in an omg-forgot-to-feed-the-dog! kinda way--but they were certainly engaging enough that it was only a day or two between picking them up again, not weeks.  And I hardly ever genuinely laugh out loud at something I read, but they certainly have their moments.  

I like the fact that the main character, Atticus, is a druid who predates Christianity, and I like the fact that he's on friendly terms with the incarnation of Mary that we meet in Hexed, who in turn seems to genuinely like him, and in fact assists him in his endeavors.  There's also an implication that he's gotten together with Jesus to chat and share a beer, on more than one occasion.  A lot of times (it seems to me, anyway), Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular seem to really get the short end of the stick, even in urban fantasy novels where Catholic rituals/beliefs are what works best against vampires or demons or what-have-you.  

What I did not particularly like was how blase he was about the deaths of a few humans in the first book, Hounded.  He essentially tried once to convince the Morrigan that she shouldn't kill a couple of frat boys, and when she said, "tough luck," he basically shrugged and thought, "oh, well."  

UGHNNNNNN.

I understand that Hearne's setting up the Morrigan as a badass who even the big bad Druid doesn't want to mess with, even a little, but COME ON.  Druids are supposed to be clever little buggers, right?  And the Morrigan is supposed to be at least somewhat fond of him, what with her always telling him of any death omens she sees pertaining to him.  Couldn't he have said something like, "Their deaths could cause trouble for me here"?  She knows next to nothing about the modern world, and apparently they were last seen alive in his shop so IMHO it is entirely possible that she could've brought trouble down on his head with her actions.

But no.  Atticus just says, "They won't provide much sport," and that was IT.  Next order of business, please!

Honestly, that one little scene--barely more than a paragraph--stuck with me throughout the rest of the book, and I wasn't even planning on picking up its sequel, mostly because of that scene.  Luckily, nothing in the second book rubbed me the wrong way in the same way, and I may even pick up the third one now.

And there you are.

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer

So the first book that I recently read was Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, by Lish McBride.  I only partly picked it up because I was interested in it; I mostly picked it up because one of our librarians--who works a lot with the teen volunteers--sent us lists of the 2011 Best YA Fiction and 2011 Graphic Novels for Teens and asked us to read one novel from either list.  Necromancer was pretty much the only novel that both sounded interesting and was currently in our collection (I also read Girl, Stolen, by April Henry a few days ago).

It's the author's debut novel, and you can kinda tell that from the writing.  However (and I'm not sure you can read it in the picture) it was nominated for the William C. Morris YA Debut Award, and you can also tell why.  Once I got into it, it was a really gripping, enjoyable read.  The reason why I wasn't immediately engrossed--it took about 80~100 pages in--was because I have a pet peeve: I get so annoyed when an author switches back and forth between first and third POV*, and as far as I can tell, primarily amateur authors are the ones who do it.  And yes, the chapters alternate first and third person.

But there really isn't anything to complain about other than that.  I felt like McBride was trying to emulate Jim Butcher's style: the main character was a bit predictably snarky, things got worse and worse for our protagonist as the book progressed, and the sentence structure in general was similar, I thought, to Butcher.  And I'll be honest, I skimmed the scenes where he was learning necromancy; it was mostly stuff about closing protective circles with willpower, using blood to make certain spells stronger, etc.--the same stuff you'll read about in any urban fantasy novel, and I've read a fair number of them by now, so that was all old hat to me.

*I also can't stand second POV or present tense, which means books like Aura, by Carlos Fuentes, are really on my shit list.