raemelle's review
2.0
This author has a writing style I don't always get along with. It makes it hard for me to get through these books as quickly as others. Like, a character will express their impression of a situation, but then describe some object or adjective that somehow counters and goes against whatever overall impression they had. Like when Rachel describes David's house as clean, but in the next 'breath' says the carpet looks old. I don't know. It's not a direct contradiction, but it's not something I would mention if I were trying to give the reader the impression of a clean and well kept house.
Or characters will say something that makes no sense, and has nothing to do with the subject at hand. Then there's no explanation for it.
I also feel like, since the author has deviated somewhat from the traditional images of supernatural creatures, and created her own completely new world, she could do a better job explaining the rules of this world to the reader. Maybe she did that a bit in the first book, but that was written years ago! There are these literary laws she's come up with for her world, but since she doesn't always explain them to the reader, I'm left feeling uninformed. It's a bit frustrating.
The writing is sometimes jerky. One action doesn't flow into the next, and I'm left feeling disoriented. A character says something in one 'tone' and in the next sentence they're talking with a totally different inflection. It's just confusing. Sometimes I find myself sitting and staring at a paragraph, wondering how the heck it got to the point it's at. No warnings for a subject change, or emphasis change. If there are enough characters in a scene, it's difficult sometimes to even know who is talking.
I don't know if I'm even making sense, but this was my attempt at venting about my frustrations with this series. I can't read more than one of these books every half a year or so. The writing and characters get old pretty quickly for me. Not to mention I'm just plain tired of this supernatural kick the world seems to be on. I'm pretty fed up with books about romantic vampires and werewolves and witches and fairies. Can someone start a new fad now?
Or characters will say something that makes no sense, and has nothing to do with the subject at hand. Then there's no explanation for it.
I also feel like, since the author has deviated somewhat from the traditional images of supernatural creatures, and created her own completely new world, she could do a better job explaining the rules of this world to the reader. Maybe she did that a bit in the first book, but that was written years ago! There are these literary laws she's come up with for her world, but since she doesn't always explain them to the reader, I'm left feeling uninformed. It's a bit frustrating.
The writing is sometimes jerky. One action doesn't flow into the next, and I'm left feeling disoriented. A character says something in one 'tone' and in the next sentence they're talking with a totally different inflection. It's just confusing. Sometimes I find myself sitting and staring at a paragraph, wondering how the heck it got to the point it's at. No warnings for a subject change, or emphasis change. If there are enough characters in a scene, it's difficult sometimes to even know who is talking.
I don't know if I'm even making sense, but this was my attempt at venting about my frustrations with this series. I can't read more than one of these books every half a year or so. The writing and characters get old pretty quickly for me. Not to mention I'm just plain tired of this supernatural kick the world seems to be on. I'm pretty fed up with books about romantic vampires and werewolves and witches and fairies. Can someone start a new fad now?
ufcasey's review
3.0
Rachel, the heroine of this series, it's quite possibly the dumbest character I have ever read. She literally does not come up with a single smart idea in this whole book. Yet everyone thinks she is sooo great - Ivy and Kisten both are in love with her, Glenn calls her up to help investigate some murders, two Alphas want to hire her as an assassin, some guy wants her to join a super secret group who are into demonic magic, a demon owes her a favor, and Trent wants to hire her to do security for his wedding. And that's all in just this book! It's a bit much. But yet I still continue to read this series. I'm going to give it one more chance to make Rachel become a more palatable character for me. Though I think I said that after I finished reading the last book, so watch me hate-read this entire series despite myself ;)
iffer's review
3.0
It's probably because I plowed through too many of these books at once, but Rachel being "conflicted" is finally getting on my nerves enough that I need a break. While the friend vampire craving for blood instead of only a hot vampire love triangle was at least slightly different, and had hopes for being interesting, it now feels like it's dragging on and not going to resolve itself in a way that I find satisfactory. While these books are fun, Kim Harrison, in my opinion, doesn't write the sad parts compellingly enough for me not to feel like the author is trying to manipulate me by throwing sex, violence, and sexual violence, into the story. Other than Harry Potter, this is one of the few series in which the main character becomes more annoying in angst, making me wonder why her loyal and more interesting friends stick around her yet don't have their own series.
bibliophilelinda's review
5.0
Loved it! All of it! This is a fantastic series that gets better with every book. While the end is heartbreaking, it still has a satisfying ending.
jenner33's review
4.0
This is the darkest story about Rachel. She is growing and evolving. I hope I like where she lands.
bookgoonie's review
4.0
Nick, Nick, Nick and that darn werewolf idol is causing Rachel some grief. She let David, her mack mate, keep it. But it seems it is creating werewolves out of David’s human girlfriends. That might have been ok, but many of them are ending up dead. Not only does this idol cause grief for Rachel on a personal level, but all the major players want a piece of it. Werewolves, Vampires, Elves and Demons. Rachel and her attitude are fun to watch. She mixes it up quite a bit with Al and Trent. Both bits were playful and exciting, except Trent wins the douchebag award in the end. Piscary is his usual psycho self. Kisten. I love this vampire. There are some sexy times. *tears* Rachel does a great job claiming herself and doing some wicked witchcraft when the walls come tumbling down on her.
amaustin's review
3.0
High paced action, which kept me wanting to read late into the night. Probably the best out of the ones so far. In general for the series, the romance is sorta 'meh', but I think the books strengths are in their emphasis on friendships and a few choice rivalries.
lessariel's review against another edition
4.0
A good story I just wish Rachel & Ivy would get it together to save Ivy's soul
susanatwestofmars's review
3.0
I kinda go back and forth on this series. On the one hand, I like the worldbuilding and I care about Rachel and Ivy and Jenks. On the other, the misplaced modifiers and "shit," he swore that repeats through the narrative makes me crazy. And I spend big chunks of time, bored, waiting for things to happen. I have the sense that there's much much more coming down the pike and this installment was mostly a placeholder and the fireworks are imminent. I'll probably pick up the next book to see if the fireworks happen, and if they do, I'll keep reading. But if they don't... well, I make no promises.
tlandrews's review against another edition
5.0
Oh man, the emotions I went through the last 1/4 of this book.