aknas22's review against another edition
4.0
Such a frenetic read! So much going on. Dory is a great character and she went through so much growth. Can't wait for the next Chance book!
crystalballer83's review against another edition
5.0
I love the blossoming relationship between Mircea and Dory, as well as between Dory and Louis-Cesare. :)
millie_rose_reads's review against another edition
5.0
Predictability isn't always a bad thing, just like unpredictability isn't always good. Fury's Kiss is predictable, and its a credit to the deliberate groundwork in the storytelling rather than a result of a hackneyed imagination. The conflicts are rooted in established characters and dynamics, and the narrative's pinball machine style of escalation, present in all Chance's books, is handled with more finesse because of it. It's an accomplishment only possible by about the third book in a series, when readers are comfortable with the world but still curious about it and capable of being surprised.
The plots of the last two started off straightforward before hurtling into muddied Fey politics. Here, mercifully, the convoluted politics remains background noise. In Fury's Kiss, Dory wakes up in a horrifying lab filled with cages, experimental abominations, and questionably poor lighting fixtures for such delicate (and monstrous) procedures—with no memory of the last couple hours and her vampire-half, Dorina, aggressively asserting herself. Once its explained to Dory that eleven senior masters died during this failed operation, Dory gives permission to Mircea to delve into her mind to retrieve those lost hours and make sense of such an unthinkable calamity.
While I never believed for the teeniest of tiniest of milliseconds that Mircea's duplicity would be treated as anything more than a particularly maddening character flaw, I am disappointed with how artificial that ambivalent tightrope of motivations on his behalf has become. There was no doubt that Mircea loves Dory; it'd be great if the story caught up to this fact. Chance has pulled every single punch when its come to Mircea's motivations so far—there's always a neat and satisfyingly (to the characters if not the reader) extenuating circumstance—and there's no reason to expect differently now or later down the line. In this respect, whether its Dory or Cassie's story being told, this go-to fake out in relation to Mircea's characterisation remains unchanged.
The most exciting development is the exploration of Dory's vampire/human duality. I loved reading from Dorina's perspective. Her voice is distinct but similar enough to Dory's to not feel too alien. The choice to have Dory empathize with Dorina quite quickly has to be the most gratifying moment in the book. It would have been easy to portray Dorina as simply villainous for a little, so it feels like the more novel choice. And with the reveal that Dorina has a lot more autonomy than previously believed (she literally goes on a killing spree while Dory sleeps, causing chaos in Dory's waking hours), I'm really excited about where this particular plot goes.
Louise-Cesare, Ray, Mircea and Marlowe all get moments to shine, and Claire is also there. I'm not even sure what Claire's role is anymore, or if she should even have one at this point.
I loved Fury's Kiss, and I'm excited to see where it goes from here.
The plots of the last two started off straightforward before hurtling into muddied Fey politics. Here, mercifully, the convoluted politics remains background noise. In Fury's Kiss, Dory wakes up in a horrifying lab filled with cages, experimental abominations, and questionably poor lighting fixtures for such delicate (and monstrous) procedures—with no memory of the last couple hours and her vampire-half, Dorina, aggressively asserting herself. Once its explained to Dory that eleven senior masters died during this failed operation, Dory gives permission to Mircea to delve into her mind to retrieve those lost hours and make sense of such an unthinkable calamity.
While I never believed for the teeniest of tiniest of milliseconds that Mircea's duplicity would be treated as anything more than a particularly maddening character flaw, I am disappointed with how artificial that ambivalent tightrope of motivations on his behalf has become. There was no doubt that Mircea loves Dory; it'd be great if the story caught up to this fact. Chance has pulled every single punch when its come to Mircea's motivations so far—there's always a neat and satisfyingly (to the characters if not the reader) extenuating circumstance—and there's no reason to expect differently now or later down the line. In this respect, whether its Dory or Cassie's story being told, this go-to fake out in relation to Mircea's characterisation remains unchanged.
The most exciting development is the exploration of Dory's vampire/human duality. I loved reading from Dorina's perspective. Her voice is distinct but similar enough to Dory's to not feel too alien. The choice to have Dory empathize with Dorina quite quickly has to be the most gratifying moment in the book. It would have been easy to portray Dorina as simply villainous for a little, so it feels like the more novel choice. And with the reveal that Dorina has a lot more autonomy than previously believed (she literally goes on a killing spree while Dory sleeps, causing chaos in Dory's waking hours), I'm really excited about where this particular plot goes.
Louise-Cesare, Ray, Mircea and Marlowe all get moments to shine, and Claire is also there. I'm not even sure what Claire's role is anymore, or if she should even have one at this point.
I loved Fury's Kiss, and I'm excited to see where it goes from here.
mdlaclair's review against another edition
3.0
The book was good overall. I did have some issues one was with Claire who just sounded like a whining b. the whole book. I just wanted her to shut up and go away since she clearly was not helping the plot any. My other issues is with the continuation of unresolved scenes. In one scene Dory gets teleported for a bedroom to a cow pasture by an blond women. However we Dory get back but there is never any talk about that scene again. I would why but it in if it never going to get talked. I feel like a lot of Ms. Chance's books there is scene jumping where the transitions from one scene to another are often awkward and abrupt.
rclz's review against another edition
5.0
I liked this a lot but I had to back up and go over a couple parts as she jumped from one reality to the next. It was ok once you got the thread of it.
The narrator did a good job. I like her voice and I never had any trouble following her beyond that of the story oddities I mentioned before.
Lots and lots of action and an ending that should be very interesting when we get to the next book.
The narrator did a good job. I like her voice and I never had any trouble following her beyond that of the story oddities I mentioned before.
Lots and lots of action and an ending that should be very interesting when we get to the next book.
lesliethewanderlust's review against another edition
5.0
This book took me awhile to get through. This second last semester of college has been hectic, so I kept picking it up and putting it down. Anyways here's my (short) review, finally!
I loved getting back into the world of Dorina and all the amazing characters like Ray and of course Dorina's somewhat boyfriend Louis-Cesare.
In Fury's Kiss Dorina learns a lot about herself, in terms of her relatioship with her father as a child and the lengths he went to, to protect her from her vampire side. I loved reading about that relationship, and what I hope to be Dorina's willingness to have a better relationship with him in the future.
Overall the book was enjoyable, there was a lot of action and revelations about the characters. I do tend to find Chance's writing to be confusing at times. Just the way some scenes are written/described. At times I have to re-read to understand how a character got from one scene to the next.
Looking forward to a future Dorina book and a Cassandra Palmer one!
I loved getting back into the world of Dorina and all the amazing characters like Ray and of course Dorina's somewhat boyfriend Louis-Cesare.
In Fury's Kiss Dorina learns a lot about herself, in terms of her relatioship with her father as a child and the lengths he went to, to protect her from her vampire side. I loved reading about that relationship, and what I hope to be Dorina's willingness to have a better relationship with him in the future.
Overall the book was enjoyable, there was a lot of action and revelations about the characters. I do tend to find Chance's writing to be confusing at times. Just the way some scenes are written/described. At times I have to re-read to understand how a character got from one scene to the next.
Looking forward to a future Dorina book and a Cassandra Palmer one!
otherwyrld's review against another edition
4.0
Karen Chance writes two series, Cassandra Palmer and Dorina Bharasab. I've always rated the latter lower than the former, not because of the absence of a certain war mage (though this may be part of it) but because I've found the authors take on vampires to be less than enthralling. Dorina is a dhampire - half human, half vampire - and is one of a long line of feisty female outsiders who have to make their way in a rigidly patriarchal society (vampires in this case). As such, she is a pretty one-note character, and I wasn't expecting to give the book anything more than 3 stars, which is my version of OK but forgettable.
It didn't start out great, with a lot of plot points that I simply didn't remember, mostly around a Fae war. The bits about the Fae were a lot more entertaining than a lot of vampire politics.
Halfway through the book, I was forced to change my opinion. There is a battle at this point that is by turns exhilarating, terrifying, and hysterically funny. Who else but Karen Chance could have had our heroine escape from a fight by using an enchanted frozen, floating vampire as an escape balloon? And then have the enchantment fail while she was still several storeys up and have to be rescued by a fallen angel?
Even more surprising is that our Dorina has some honest-to-god character development along the way, and ends the story in a very surprising place.
It all falls apart somewhat towards the end with a denouement that could have come out of Scooby Doo, but the signs for the next book are encouraging. Maybe not quite a 4 stars, possibly a high 3 1/2 but I'm back on board with this series.
It didn't start out great, with a lot of plot points that I simply didn't remember, mostly around a Fae war. The bits about the Fae were a lot more entertaining than a lot of vampire politics.
Halfway through the book, I was forced to change my opinion. There is a battle at this point that is by turns exhilarating, terrifying, and hysterically funny. Who else but Karen Chance could have had our heroine escape from a fight by using an enchanted frozen, floating vampire as an escape balloon? And then have the enchantment fail while she was still several storeys up and have to be rescued by a fallen angel?
Even more surprising is that our Dorina has some honest-to-god character development along the way, and ends the story in a very surprising place.
It all falls apart somewhat towards the end with a denouement that could have come out of Scooby Doo, but the signs for the next book are encouraging. Maybe not quite a 4 stars, possibly a high 3 1/2 but I'm back on board with this series.
amyiw's review against another edition
2.0
Wow, I want to give this a 3 but just can't, it was just OK for me. There were parts that were great but they were few and every time I got to enjoying, I would be thrown into a new idea, action, place, and it would be like starting all over. There is so much going on and thrown all over the place that the wrap up wasn't sufficient. Almost all the scenes start out confusing and just when you think you are getting your head around it, Bam, you are thrown into another confusing scene, and it would drag, drag, drag, with descriptive details or info dumps, or battle scenes, or histories, there were so many of these I cannot even guess at how many though I can think of at least a 1/2 dozen off the top of my head, maybe 20... really.
The over all story, well I think that was the main one but there was a lot of other plot lines going on too, and you don't get to understand that one until the end. So really you don't know where it is heading... ever. Is it her memories, the portals, her other side, the fae?, etc... Yes, in the end they all cross somewhat but it was so painful to get there. But the end story was good but only so and the drag to get there just makes me not able to give this a 3 stars. This story could have been told more cohesively, easily and the writing, for me was painful to the point that I put this down after every 100 pages or so and read some other book, or 2, in between. It took me a month to read a book that I consider to be in one of my favorite worlds, with favorite characters. It pains me to give it 2 stars but for me that is what it deserved. A month to read a book from a favorite... much too much drag.
The good, which is all spoiler worthy And you would think with all the good wrapped up, it would be a 4 or 5. :-( It just wasn't.
My updates showing my disappointment while reading.
--------Updates While Reading------------
15 1/4 of 18 1/2 hours 82% and had to put it down again. Started Kicking It anthology and really liking the first.
Well into 13 hours of 18 1/2 and wish she had cut out a lot of the descriptions. There is so much that's so good then we go into another nod off, either a new plot line that gets over described or a battle (also over described OD from here), or memory travels (OD), confusing relationships (OD). I so want this to be more cohesive because it could be great, great!. The characters and storyline (at least one or two) are so interesting and entrancing but just when she has me again with a twist that is fun, or a scene that shows the characters in great moments, then it goes off in some description or history, explanation, or to a switch over to a new memory scene etc... 5 more hours on and hoping I won't put it down again because it is making it even less cohesive because I have to remember what is going on after reading a book in between.
So since I'm no longer doing updates on progress due to them not fixing the spoilers issue and not being able to edit updates, or even delete them when you find some glaring mistake... I will just put it in my review.
I'm somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 through this, got the audio from hoopla, which the narrator is pretty good as always. My issue is the story telling info dumps. I start zoning out, like where Ray is explaining what was going on with portals and how he had made them. It seemed to go on forever, then suddenly it was really important to listen because here's why he is with Dory and not with his master... well hell, gotta go back 5-10 minutes and re-listen because I zoned out... again. I think that was the 3rd or 4th time. It is info dump, zing, and then some interaction/action, humor. It is swinging from 5 star great to 3 star barely. And I'm not running back to it ever chance I get to start it up. In fact I've gone to other books to listen and talked myself into going back. I think, wow this is good, why did I stop, and then... Oh, that's why. A lot, of a lot, is happening in this book. It starts out incredible. But then it is over load. I'm overloaded just thinking about it. I'm sure these will interconnect, and of course some is just Dorina and her relationships, Clare, Louis-Cesare, and her father, but... I'm stuck at another info dump and going to Jennifer Ashley's MacKenzies for a bit.
Spoiler
We didn't go back to home to see how Clair takes this or even how the house is.The over all story,
Spoiler
Fae combining with black circle mages to over power the senate, all with their own agendaThe good, which is all spoiler worthy
Spoiler
Finally Louis Cesare's place as a boyfriend is firmly established. He shows how much he understands her and her other half when he defers to her after insult. Dory learns more about her other 1/2 and finds that there is some compassion to that crazy vampire side. She comes to terms with caring for her father and him caring for her. The council accepts her vampire 1/2 into the fold whether all the others want to or not, they can go suck it. She's got a side kick in Ray, and hey in some messed up world, she is his master. I liked Ray.My updates showing my disappointment while reading.
--------Updates While Reading------------
15 1/4 of 18 1/2 hours 82% and had to put it down again. Started Kicking It anthology and really liking the first.
Well into 13 hours of 18 1/2 and wish she had cut out a lot of the descriptions. There is so much that's so good then we go into another nod off, either a new plot line that gets over described or a battle (also over described OD from here), or memory travels (OD), confusing relationships (OD). I so want this to be more cohesive because it could be great, great!. The characters and storyline (at least one or two) are so interesting and entrancing but just when she has me again with a twist that is fun, or a scene that shows the characters in great moments, then it goes off in some description or history, explanation, or to a switch over to a new memory scene etc... 5 more hours on and hoping I won't put it down again because it is making it even less cohesive because I have to remember what is going on after reading a book in between.
So since I'm no longer doing updates on progress due to them not fixing the spoilers issue and not being able to edit updates, or even delete them when you find some glaring mistake... I will just put it in my review.
I'm somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 through this, got the audio from hoopla, which the narrator is pretty good as always. My issue is the story telling info dumps. I start zoning out, like where Ray is explaining what was going on with portals and how he had made them. It seemed to go on forever, then suddenly it was really important to listen because here's why he is with Dory and not with his master... well hell, gotta go back 5-10 minutes and re-listen because I zoned out... again. I think that was the 3rd or 4th time. It is info dump, zing, and then some interaction/action, humor. It is swinging from 5 star great to 3 star barely. And I'm not running back to it ever chance I get to start it up. In fact I've gone to other books to listen and talked myself into going back. I think, wow this is good, why did I stop, and then... Oh, that's why. A lot, of a lot, is happening in this book. It starts out incredible. But then it is over load. I'm overloaded just thinking about it. I'm sure these will interconnect, and of course some is just Dorina and her relationships, Clare, Louis-Cesare, and her father, but... I'm stuck at another info dump and going to Jennifer Ashley's MacKenzies for a bit.
audiobookmel's review against another edition
1.0
DNF.
I tried really hard to read this book. I just couldn't get into it. I never did like it as much as the Cassie story. I put it down when I noticed that I was finding new things to clean instead of reading. Part of me thought I was just in a funk. I then picked up a different book and read it in days. So, then I came back to this one and still couldn't get myself to finish it.
I'm not 100% sure what it was that turned me off. I think part was the weird going around in time and in Dory's brain. The story is extremely fast paced as all Karen Chance books seem to be. I just couldn't get myself to want to keep up. I'm sure that there are a lot of people who love this book and that is great. I really wish I was one of them.
I tried really hard to read this book. I just couldn't get into it. I never did like it as much as the Cassie story. I put it down when I noticed that I was finding new things to clean instead of reading. Part of me thought I was just in a funk. I then picked up a different book and read it in days. So, then I came back to this one and still couldn't get myself to finish it.
I'm not 100% sure what it was that turned me off. I think part was the weird going around in time and in Dory's brain. The story is extremely fast paced as all Karen Chance books seem to be. I just couldn't get myself to want to keep up. I'm sure that there are a lot of people who love this book and that is great. I really wish I was one of them.