Saturday, January 30, 2010

In Death Challenge Post: January 2010

In Death Reading Challenge

This is the round up post for the first official month of the In Death Reading Challenge. If you read at least one In Death book in the month of January, congratulations on fulfilling your first challenge! If you made a post on your blog, whether it be a review or commentary, please grab the link to your post and enter in the Mr. Linky below along with your name so we can find each other's posts easily. If you're just going to keep a running list of the books as you read them, grab the link to your post where you'll be keeping track of your list and enter in the Mr. Linky so we can recognize your success this month. This will also help me keep track of who's eligible for my challenge giveaway in April. Thanks for participating!

As I stated in my challenge post back in November, I read the first four books in the series in early 2007, nearly two years ago. Two friends of mine generously gifted me autographed copies of the first three books for and I no sooner had them in my hands when I bought a used set of the first 29 In Death books on ebay. So with the first four In Death books under my belt by March 2007 or so, nearly every month since then, I've told myself I should read another book in the series if I were ever going to catch up, and every month I failed to do so. Until this month, that is, thanks to the challenge.

Ceremony In Death by J.D. Robb
In Death series, book 5

This past week, I picked up and read the fifth book in the series, Ceremony In Death, and I was immediately drawn into the futuristic world of Eve Dallas once again, and feeling like I picked up where I left off two years ago as if it were last month. It's so good to be back on track. Hopefully this challenge will help me stay on track this time.

In Ceremony In Death, the story starts with Eve Dallas investigating the murder of one of the police department's own and no sooner does she start her investigation that she then has a string of connected murders to solve, all tied together somehow to two very different religious factions-- a Satanist cult and a Wiccan group.

The murder mystery in this story kept me guessing almost right to the end, which is always good. As for the emotional and relationship aspects of the story, again, this novel did not disappoint. It seemed to brim with interesting developments and dynamics in numerous relationships. As always, Eve and Roarke just live on these pages. One can't help but love the way Roarke loves Eve, cares for Eve, and knows Eve. I love the way her life, her world, her business is unquestionably, irrevocably his as well. He takes charge of taking care of her. Eve's relationship with her senior officer and mentor, Feeney gets tested in this story and what went down between them, what it did to both of them emotionally, and how it came back around, all important to the story and the character development and quite moving, too. A little bit of the same thing goes on between Eve and her aide, which was healthy for their relationship as well. We can't have her aide kissing up to her all the time, now can we? That wouldn't advance either one professionally or personally. I really enjoy all of the characters in this series and look forward to more from them and their world in the next book, Vengeance In Death.


In Death Book Covers

Within the set of used book collection that I bought, I have three books that have a very different cover than the typical In Death book, in that the cover art features an unusual blue lady. My first thought was that these blue lady covers were odd looking and I didn't like them as much as the newer ones featuring a city image or the even more recently issued books that have the more modern lines, graphics and colors. Here's a visual case study of the fifth book, Ceremony In Death in it's different issues. From left to right, The "Blue Lady" cover, The "New York" Landmark cover, and the newer Neon book covers.



I found some interesting information about the covers on the indeath.net/wikiindeath site. It turns out that the "Blue Lady" covers are the original US cover versions for the first seven books in the series, all featuring a lady with blue skin. Later the series picked up with "New York Landmarks" or other backgrounds. The site also indicated that many serious collectors of this series deem the "Blue Lady" covers must haves in a complete collection. So now, of course, I think it's pretty darn cool that I have three out of the seven "Blue Lady" covers and I'll be hanging on to them for sure.

I also wanted to mention there are UK versions to the covers as well, and they are very nice.

Starting with Survivor In Death (book 23), the cover style was changed to the style used today for the In Death reissues and new releases, known as the neon colored covers.

What do you think of the covers?

Do you own any "Blue Lady" covers?

Which is your favorite book cover style?


Challenge Participants:
Enter the url to your January 2010 In Death Challenge blog post with Mr. Linky below

OR

Enter the url to your blog post that contains the list of In Death Challenge books you have read so far with Mr. Linky below.

Thanks for playing!



16 comments:

  1. While I have read every In Death book to date, I don't own them all. I did own one of the blue lady books, but then gave it away and then later went back and bought it again. *g* All the books I do own feature the city scape and the later books with the bright colors. I have to say I kind of prefer the city scapes.

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  2. Sorry Christine I cannot read your entire review of Ceremony in Death until I finish reading it. I'll be sure to come back to this page once I'm done. But I do love the covers - always did. My favorite is the Blue Lady Cover because it looks more dramatic and interesting. Though I only own Naked in Death and it's already with the latest Neon cover. I recently finished "Rapture" and I have the same opinion as to previous books- I enjoyed all of them and I thank you for the Challenge.

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  3. And I'll try my very best to read slower starting on February ;-)

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  4. I read Loyalty In Death this month. The development between Roarke and Eve the best part. She puts her foot in it, and he doesn't let her get away with it. Nice.

    Next on to Witness In Death. Book 10.

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  5. I can't believe it's the first month and I'm already behind! I'll add to Mr. Linky when I get the review up....

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  6. I changed my mind! I needed to read your review even if I'm not done reading with the Novel. My marker is now on page 101 and I can't sleep. Very exciting! I love your review and glad it did not contain any spoiler as well as your research on the different cover designs is very informative. Who said you've forgotten how to write reviews? You still got the IT factor.

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  7. I just posted review this month. Will take part in discussion next time as I leave for a vacation in 2 days and still need to pac. And do a bunch of other stuff (why oh why do I always do this last minute?!??)

    Didn't read your review, Christine because I've only read book 1 but as I catch up with the books I'll come back and read your review! Gearing up for Glory this next month ;)

    Hugs,
    Pearl

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  8. I read Holiday in Death (#7) yesterday. I discovered this series last year and I'm hoping I'll get more books read than those six I read last year. I think I'll try to read at least one book per month and will comment to your challenge post at the end of each month.

    Maija A from Finland

    Ps. I've already started the small story in Silent Night anthology (#7.5) and ordered Conspiracy in Death (#8).

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  9. Okay, you know I didn't read your review. I've only read Naked in Death (posted my review on Mr. Linky) and I want it all to be a surprise. :) But, I did read the rest of your post.

    The book I have for Ceremony in Death has the Blue Lady cover & it's in great condition. (I must thank my book swaping buddy for sending it to me) *g*

    I've been dying to get to Glory in Death, but migraines haven't allowed me to read more than the first few pages this whole week. :(

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  10. I'm in the midst of writing my next In Death review, but I'll link to the ones I've done so far :)

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  11. No In Death for me this month, but hopefully I'll read the latest soon. Oh, and my library has the neon covers.

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  12. Finally got mine done. It's Missing in Death, the most recent novella.

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  13. I've been enjoying reading everyone's In Death opinions :)

    Have all of the In Death books, including the original blue lady covers...which I bought as originals when they were first released.

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  14. This was not my favorite book of the series, but I liked it because of Jamie :D He's a great addition to the series and it's so fun to see Roarke and Eve interact with him LOL. Especially Roarke, who's a bit incredulous that the boy could enter his property haha.

    I've always expected the relationship between Feeney and Eve to be explored a bit more... LOL, I'd like to see Eve with Mrs Feeney actually!!

    As for the covers, hmmm, I definitively prefer the newer covers - either the landmarks or the newer, newer covers ;D Not a fan of the blue lady, but it's really cool for you :D

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  15. Informal entrant: just finished re-reading Kindred in Death, and I'm starting a re-read of Visions. I'm also reading Innocent with my beloved :grin:

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  16. Hello everyone. So sorry that I never responded to all of your comments on January's In Death Challenge.

    I love hearing everyone's take on the different cover styles. I kinda dig the Blue Lady covers because they're so unique and coveted. But the neon ones look so good all lined up on the shelf!

    Maija, please accept my apologies for not welcoming you straight away when you left your comment here over three weeks ago. It's great to have you in the Challenge! We have a lot of great stories ahead of us! :)

    jmc Hi! Thanks so much for chiming in. You have been an In Death fan for a long time if you bought the Blue Lady covers when they were first released! That's impressive!

    **** SLIGHT SPOILER FROM BOOK 6: CEREMONY IN DEATH *****
    nath, I confess I'm glad to hear that Jamie makes future appearances. I liked the way the got to both Eve and Roarke, yet in different ways.

    I know what you mean about Feeney & Eve. I was left wanting a bit more emotional depth from both of them when they reconciled.

    **** END SPOILER *****

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