Monday, September 14, 2015

#Monday Review - Box Office Poison by Phillipa Bornikova (Urban Fantasy)

Series: Linnet Ellery # 2
Format: Hardcover, 320 pages
Release Date: August 6, 2013
Publisher: Tor Books
Source: Library
Genre: Urban Fantasy

What happens when exquisitely beautiful elves start getting all the roles in Hollywood? Human actors sue, that’s what. In a desperate attempt to keep the squabbling inside the Screen Actors Guild from going public, the president of SAG forces the two sides into arbitration.

Enter Linnet Ellery, a human lawyer working for a vampire law firm, to serve as arbitrator. Linnet discovers that there are sinister forces at work in Tinsel Town determined to shatter the fragile peace between elves, vampires, werewolves, and humans. Someone has been coercing famous elven actors into committing sudden and terrible acts of violence against humans in a series of tragedies that could turn the tide of public opinion against all the supernatural Powers.

During the course of her investigations Linnet realizes that a puzzling secret surrounds her, and that a strange power has been affecting the very course of her life.




Box Office Poison is the second installment in the Linnet Ellery series. Having just recently finished reading This Case Is Gonna Kill Me, I was happy to see that my local library also had the sequel. 27-year old Linnet Ellery is a recent top of her class graduate of Yale Law school. She was fostered by a vampire patronage for 10 years, before being given an opportunity of a lifetime to become a lawyer with the prestigious white fang Law Firm in NYC. Linnet isn't a supernatural with badass abilities that stand out. 

She's pure human as far as I've discovered. In the previous installment, she managed to avoid being killed several times over either by shear luck, or something even more puzzling perhaps protecting her. In this installment, Linnet and her boss David Sullivan, who saved her life in the previous installment, are chosen to fly to LA-LA land to arbitrate a lawsuit between human and Fey actors and actresses. Evidence has been presented that Alfar/Fey actors are getting more opportunities and an advantage due to their use of glamour and natural beauty over human actors. 

Linnet seems to always be at the wrong place at the wrong time. She arrives just as a famous actor is being chased down the highway by police after killing his wife. Shortly thereafter, she arrives at a movie studio just in time for a famous actress to go on a bloody shooting spree that somehow manages to miss hitting Linnet entirely while leaving a bloody path in its wake. Linnet often finds herself digging a bit too deeply, and when that happens, the villains of the story always find a way to make things interesting for her. 

Will this actually be it for her this time, or will someone shockingly appear out of the haze of death and once again save her life? Although Linnet makes some silly mistakes, it is often her bravery, and determination that wins out in the end. I still don't what is so special about Linnet. She's either really, really lucky, or has a guardian angel watching over her. 
  • I am curious about the horse Vento who Linnet agreed to ride and take care of in the previous installment. Without spoiling the story or series, Vento is very intelligent, and unique horse and I demand answers to what makes him special! 
  • I want to know how Linnet and the horse are so compatible to the point where they are nearly inseparable, and what part is supposed owner plays in all of this. 
  • I am happy that David and Linnet are a team. I am. Linnet needs someone by her side to keep her out of trouble which always seems to find a way to jump up at the most unexpected moments. I don't see a romance brewing, but stranger things have happened.
  • I am disappointed that nothing has moved forward in finding a solution for John O'Shea's situation in Fey. Since Linnet is still pining for him, she can't fully move on until that issue is resolved. 

Apparently, it's going to take several years before we see what happens next, and whether Linnet gets her answers from Joylon or not. That's a long wait between books. According to Goodreads, the third book in this series, Publish and Perish doesn't release until 2017. Anyone else think that this is a bit on the strange side? What's the delay?

Other Books in Series:



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