Urban Shaman

by C.E. Murphy | Romance |
ISBN: 0373802234 Global Overview for this book
Registered by enlith of Charlotte, North Carolina USA on 6/1/2005
Buy from one of these Booksellers:
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14 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by enlith from Charlotte, North Carolina USA on Wednesday, June 1, 2005
Wonderful Book! I really enjoyed this one - I absolutely couldn't put it down! What a great blend of the modern world, shamanism and celtic mythology! Joanne Walker is a fiesty heroine with a kind heart. I love that her stongest gift is healing. Wonderful book! I highly recommend it!

Well, ladies and gentlemen, we have a bookray!
If you're interested, pm me! I had a couple of people ask to be near the end, so we can work with the international shipping if it's a HUGE problem. I would appreciate it, however, if we can all be flexible about this. Just check back here to find whose next and then pm them for their address. If you don't hear from the next person within a week, let me know. We might not skip anyone right away. If you know you won't be around, either send me or the person above you your address ahead of time! Thanks!

sugarnoise Ohio
vannessave California
garnetfairy Texas
mwade78 California
CheriePie Massachusetts
Kyrissaean New Hampshire
firrantello North Carolina
KirjavaPan North Carolina
explorer1118m New Jersey
Luintaurien Nebraska
gypsyrose02 Australia

Journal Entry 2 by enlith from Charlotte, North Carolina USA on Monday, June 6, 2005
Mailed to get the the bookring going.

Journal Entry 3 by noisebloom on Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Starting off the BookRing. Thanks, enlith.

Journal Entry 4 by noisebloom on Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Sent off to vannessave in California this morning.

Journal Entry 5 by vannessave from Los Angeles, California USA on Saturday, July 16, 2005
I got this book yesterday. I am going to start reading the book right away.

Journal Entry 6 by vannessave from Los Angeles, California USA on Saturday, July 23, 2005
I enjoyed the book. I liked the way the magic and the gods were described the most. I mailed the book to garnetfairy yesterday. The delivery Confirmation Number is: 0304 3490 0000 7218 4465.

Journal Entry 7 by garnetfairy from Sugar Land, Texas USA on Tuesday, July 26, 2005
received in the mail today, will begin reading it today. Came at just the right time.

Thanks for letting me in on the bookring.

Journal Entry 8 by garnetfairy from Sugar Land, Texas USA on Thursday, July 28, 2005
I really enjoyed this book! Read in two evenings so it must have been interesting, ha ha. Anyway, dont want to spoil anything but really enjoyed the whole metaphysical stuff. Had a little trouble with some of it but it was interesting.

Mailing to MWade78 today.

Journal Entry 9 by mwade78 from Las Vegas, Nevada USA on Wednesday, August 3, 2005
Picked this up at the post office today. Will get it read and forwarded off to the next person in line asap. Thank you for sharing enlith

garnetfairy: wow, post office was working double time to get this to me, very very fast ship. lol

Journal Entry 10 by mwade78 from Las Vegas, Nevada USA on Thursday, August 4, 2005
Okay, as odd as it may seem, I read this whole book today. lol.
It is very good, lots of humor, great story line, I hated to put it down. And appears that it is the beginning of a series. Even better, since I love series books.

emailing CheriePie for her address, should be able to get out tomorrow to her.

Journal Entry 11 by CheriePie from Campbell, California USA on Monday, August 15, 2005
Received this in the mail today. I've got a few other reads ahead of it but nothing that should hold things up too long. I'll definitely be able to get to this within the next few weeks. :)

Journal Entry 12 by CheriePie from Campbell, California USA on Sunday, August 28, 2005
I liked this book okay, though there were a number of things I didn't like about it as well.

The author doesn't appear to believe in the subject matter she's writing about, in this case Shaminism. All the "you're going to think I'm crazy" and "I can't believe that I'm doing this" got old for me after awhile. I'm not sure why others didn't perceive this too. Or perhaps they did and simply felt the same as the author, as if the subject of Shaminism is a fantasy or myth. I don't know exactly, except to say that I prefer writing where such paranormal events are accepted as the norm, aka Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series, instead of the author constantly trying to convince her audience that the practice of Shamanism is real.

Despite this, the subject matter itself kept me reading on. I was hoping that Joanne, the main character, would finally begin to embrace her shamanistic background and stop doubting and criticizing her abilities, which she did eventually. But the author's hesitancy in the belief of her subject matter still showed through despite this.

Oftentimes, the words or actions of the characters seemed contrary to previous events, making some parts of the story seem somewhat disjointed, though this seemed to even out a bit about half way through the book.

I liked the story line itself though and think the author has a lot of potential going forward as it appers this is going to be an ongoing series. This is after all a first novel for her.

I'll send this out to Kyrissaean sometime this week.

**UPDATE 8/29: Mailed to Kyrissaean on 8/30/05 via Media Mail.


Journal Entry 13 by Kyrissaean from Littleton, New Hampshire USA on Thursday, September 1, 2005
It's here! I've got a one other ring to finish first, and then this will be next!

Journal Entry 14 by Kyrissaean from Littleton, New Hampshire USA on Sunday, September 11, 2005
Overall, I would say this book was good, but not great. My strongest impression was chick lit does urban fantasy!

I really do feel like I just finished a chick lit book! It's the tone of the writing more than the content, really, but I'm rather bemused since even the Wild Hunt didn't shake that impression. Also, the story had a very breezy feeling, and the central theme seemed to be more about Joanne coming to terms with herself and her past -- Cerunnos and company were just part of the package.




***Warning! SPOILER coming up!***




The first part of the book opened very strongly, and I really enjoyed the hunt for Marie. The imagery, the idea of seeing the chase from the plane, searching for a specific church parking lot guided by the remaining street lights, the character of Marie herself... That was very cool and drew me right into the story. I remember being impressed by the realism at that point.

But by about half way through the book, the urgency just sort of dwindled. I felt like we were just waiting for Joanne to accept her shamanistic connections and do a little meditating and everything would work itself out. I wish more had been done with the Marie's character or perhaps the murdered shamans. They added a sense of mystery that was missing once the story moved past them. Everything that happened after that just seemed sort of inevitable. The story was still enjoyable, but I was ready for it to be finished by the time I got to the end. So, yeah, good but not great.

Anyway, thank you so much for including me in this ring! I'll get it out to the next person a.s.a.p.!




Journal Entry 15 by Kyrissaean from Littleton, New Hampshire USA on Monday, September 12, 2005
Mailed to firrantello this morning. Happy reading!

Journal Entry 16 by firrantello on Monday, September 19, 2005
Got in the mail today. Thanks!
Mom's going to forward it to me in a box with several other books and some yarn for my knitting.

Journal Entry 17 by firrantello on Thursday, September 22, 2005
Got to me today. I have 2 bookrings here, so this and the other are first on my TBR list.

=====
9/26/05

I wasn't terribly impressed with this book. It was a slow start, then quickened up just as soon as we meet Marie in the physical, then slows again. The end wasn't terribly surprising, though I did like the twist about Suzy's birth and "family"
All in all, it's ok I guess, but I'm pretty sure I won't be reading the sequel.

Journal Entry 18 by KirjavaPan from Asheville, North Carolina USA on Monday, September 26, 2005
Thank you for adding me in the list, enlith! I should be able to read it by this weekend and send it on. Yay, Luna!

Journal Entry 19 by KirjavaPan from Asheville, North Carolina USA on Sunday, October 2, 2005
I finished Urban Shaman this morning, and I liked it very much. The plot moved well, though some of the details towards the end went over my head. The characters were well developed in a pretty short amount of time, and the (very brief) romance was grin-inducing. Liked it enough that I will look forward to the sequel, but I probably won't buy it. Maybe it will be another book ray? ;o)

The book is being shipped to explorer118m tomorrow morning. Have a wonderful trip to NJ, Urban Shaman!

Journal Entry 20 by explorer1118m from Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey USA on Friday, October 7, 2005
Recieved this yesterday & i'm already half way through. So far i'm really liking it! I'll be done and send it off on Monday.

Journal Entry 21 by explorer1118m from Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey USA on Sunday, October 9, 2005
I found it to be just what i'd hoped for, a fun, quick & easy read. I'll send this out to Luintaurien as soon as i get an address.

Journal Entry 22 by Luintaurien from York, Nebraska USA on Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Got it today. Will read and pass on ASAP. Thank you.

Journal Entry 23 by Luintaurien from York, Nebraska USA on Friday, January 27, 2006
Can't get into it so sending it on.

Journal Entry 24 by Luintaurien at BookRing in Bookring, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases on Wednesday, February 8, 2006

Released 18 yrs ago (2/8/2006 UTC) at BookRing in Bookring, A Bookring -- Controlled Releases

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

RELEASE NOTES:


Journal Entry 25 by gypsyrose02 from Byford, Western Australia Australia on Monday, May 8, 2006
arrived today. have a few before it but will get to it asap.
ta

Journal Entry 26 by gypsyrose02 from Byford, Western Australia Australia on Tuesday, June 20, 2006
cant finish this sorry. shall find a suitable way to release. thanks for including me.

Journal Entry 27 by gypsyrose02 from Byford, Western Australia Australia on Monday, August 6, 2007
reserved for jennymidget

Journal Entry 28 by gypsyrose02 from Byford, Western Australia Australia on Thursday, October 18, 2007
on its way to jennymidget

Journal Entry 29 by jennymidget from Oadby, Leicestershire United Kingdom on Monday, October 29, 2007
Thanks gypsyrose, I'm really excited about this one, I'm so glad you had it up for grabs on your shelf!

Journal Entry 30 by jennymidget from Oadby, Leicestershire United Kingdom on Sunday, December 16, 2007
Agree with most of the other comments above - typical book of this particular genre (think Hamilton, Butcher, Charlaine Harris etc) but didn't do much to set itself out from the pack. ORDINARY comes to mind when trying to describe Urban Shaman.
The most irritating thing for my part was that Murphy swears far too much, there are other ways to make your big bad heroine a big bad heroine, trust me!
I also absolutely refuse to accept that Shamanic (which Murphy uses the whole way through)is a word - it's Shamanistic if you must - if you're going to write a whole book about a sacred native American spiritual precept at least get the terminology right!
Like others, I'd probably read the next book if it crossed my path, but $30? of my own money? I don't think so...

Off to k.kay (Bookmooch)

Journal Entry 31 by delaniamac from Columbia, Tennessee USA on Friday, January 4, 2008
Thanks Jenny, off to tbr mountain.

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