{"id":1643,"date":"2010-03-08T21:47:05","date_gmt":"2010-03-09T02:47:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=1643"},"modified":"2021-05-31T07:09:28","modified_gmt":"2021-05-31T11:09:28","slug":"roadkill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1643","title":{"rendered":"Roadkill"},"content":{"rendered":"

Road Kill<\/a><\/em> (2010) Rob Thurman<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I love<\/strong> this series.<\/p>\n

I’d specifically not wondered where baby revenants came from when we’d gotten out of the Jeep. And here I was finding out anyway. Ain’t that life? Life and pained eyeballs I suddenly didn’t want anymore.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Love it.<\/p>\n

Yes, Cal is an asshole. But considering that he’s half monster, and reviled by almost the entire supernatural community, that’s understandable.<\/p>\n

And he has redeeming qualities–namely that his brother Niko loves him, and Cal will do anything–absolutely anything–for Niko. <\/p>\n

Cal was just getting used to settling into (for him) a somewhat normal life, that allowed him to live in one place and stop running and hiding from the Auphie, when the elderly head of the Sarzo gypsy clan (who all but caused the death of Niko earlier) comes to them with “a small job.” <\/p>\n

Things get ugly almost immediately.<\/p>\n

I’m not even sure I can coherently list why I love this series and this book.<\/p>\n

Cal feels like a real–yet surly and cranky–person. But seeing as he has every reason to be cranky, it’s hard to hold it against him. And the relationship between Cal and Niko feels real. They fight. They bicker. They argue. But most importantly, they love each other. And (to get all sappy here for a moment) it’s an unconditional love, and it feels true and real.<\/p>\n

“I’m a man? Yeah? Do I get a bar mitzvah?”
\n“The bris comes first. Do you want to borrow my tanto? I sharpened it this past weekend.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And Cal may have powers, but he knows his limits–and is reminded of those limits not just by Nico, but by seemingly everyone.<\/p>\n

I went to the passenger side and was greeted by fangs shown in a cheerful greeting, jack-o-lantern eyes, and a ruby collar with a gold ID tag around a hairless neck. I opened the door and Salome, who was sitting upright, reagal, and ready for her ride, didn’t move. I opened my jacket and showed her my gun. She opened her mouth and I watched her already-visible fangs slide farther out of her gray gums and double in size. I closed my jacket and got in the backseat with Robin.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How often does the hero get put in his place by a mummy cat? Not often enough I say.<\/p>\n

And as a note, the Cal on the cover has gone back to matching the Cal inside the book. Not sure what happened with Deathwish, when there seemed to be an attempt to make Cal look hunky. But here were back to the surly and sullen Cal we know and love. Yay!<\/p>\n

So yes, I loved Roadkill<\/em> just like I’ve loved every previous book in this series. Could you start here without having read previous books in the series? Yes. Would you want to? No. You instead want to start at the beginning and work your way forward. It’s worth it. I promise.
\nRating: 9\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Published by ROC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Road Kill (2010) Rob Thurman I love this series. I’d specifically not wondered where baby revenants came from when we’d gotten out of the Jeep. And here I was finding out anyway. Ain’t that life? Life and pained eyeballs I suddenly didn’t want anymore. Love it. Yes, Cal is an asshole. But considering that he’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13,2,291,16,34],"tags":[295,294],"class_list":["post-1643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-10","category-fantasy","category-paper","category-supernatural","category-urban-fantasy","tag-cal-leandros","tag-rob-thurman"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/siQkW-roadkill","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":278,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/278","url_meta":{"origin":1643,"position":0},"title":"Nightlife","author":"Michelle","date":"July 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Nightlife (2006) Rob Thurman This book starts the action right on page one: It was the touch of a much warmer liquid on my fingers that let me know differently. It was blood. My blood. I tightened my hand over the one that held the knife handle. The blood covers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Nightlife","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Nightlife-184x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":359,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/359","url_meta":{"origin":1643,"position":1},"title":"Moonshine","author":"Michelle","date":"March 30, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Moonshine (2007) Rob Thurman Moonshine is the sequel to Nightlife. Now that Cal and Niko have defeated the monsters who were trying to possess Cal, they have moved onto the more mundane task of simply living their lives--something they were never given the luxury to do when they were constantly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Moonshine","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.klishis.com\/Books\/images\/moonshine.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2859,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2859","url_meta":{"origin":1643,"position":2},"title":"Doubletake","author":"Michelle","date":"March 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Doubletake (2012) Rob Thurman I believe I've made my love of Rob Thurman's Cal Leandros series well known. I love the relationship between Niko and Cal, and how Niko keeps Cal human, despite everything. And how Cal remains human, because of Niko. Cal has changed a lot over the course\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Doubletake.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":527,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/527","url_meta":{"origin":1643,"position":3},"title":"Madhouse","author":"Michelle","date":"March 5, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Madhouse (2008) Rob Thurman I've been eagerly awaiting Madhouse for months. I have loved the previous Cal Leandros books, and couldn't wait to read more about Cal and Niko. Although I enjoyed this book as much as the previous two, I was very unhappy with the last three paragraphs. In\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1945,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1945","url_meta":{"origin":1643,"position":4},"title":"The Grimrose Path","author":"Michelle","date":"September 16, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The Grimrose Path (2010) Rob Thurman I think I love Rob Thurman. Seriously. I've only read one book of hers I rated lower than an 8, and that one lost points for a cliff-hanger type ending. (Aside from the ending, it was an otherwise excellent book.) The Grimrose Path is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/grimrose_path.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2734,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2734","url_meta":{"origin":1643,"position":5},"title":"Nightlife","author":"Michelle","date":"January 8, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Nightlife (2006) Rob Thurman This is a reread, because I was talking about it to someone else, and I just couldn't resist going back to the start of this series. There are so many things I love about this book, and this series. First and foremost, is the relationship between\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Nightlife.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1643\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}