Scan barcode
A review by jaguarrior
Serpentine by Laurell K. Hamilton
1.0
I finished this book last night. The more I think about it, the more it pisses me off. It really feels like the author didn't care, or maybe that it was written by someone else and published under her name. It's so inconsistent with the rest of the books.
The first thing that stood out was the Ardeur. In many of the past books it's been a constant issue and struggle. Everyone constantly checking in with her to make sure she ate food, or fed the ardeur that day. It was a constant worry and always had to be kept in check. This ardeur wasn't even an inconvenience in the slightest. She had to be begged to release it so she could feed.
Big thing number two was Nathaniel's transformation. He went straight from human to cat. In all the past books the change releases a ton of clear goo that is a pain in the ass to deal with. In this book, there was no fluid at all. NONE. It's always been a huge deal because it is messy as hell.
Big thing number three. Why didn't she use any of her powers? She didn't even attempt to use her necromancy to find answers, and that's usually one of the first things that she does. She has all these other bad ass powers as well, but the entire book was her relying on everyone else to do all the work while she sits back. Why didn't she pull from her pool of anger to break the hold Ramkin had on her? That's what she has done in the past, but no, she had to be rescued by Jean Claude. This is not the Anita I know from all the other books. It's completely out of character for her.
The ending, oh the craptastic ending. Nobody used even the slightest bit of their powers or shape shifting to kill the bad guy. They simply shot it until it was dead. No finesse, no real struggle. Just boom.. dead. No explanation to how that creature came to be either, or why they got fused together. Just monster = dead. It really annoyed me at the very end when the answer to everything was that the Lamia could fix it, and it would all be okay. Wasn't that the first thing they tried? She told them over and over there was nothing she can do, but suddenly she has all the answers and a good idea to help fix the issue.
Honestly if you didn't read this book and skipped on to the next one when it comes out, I don't think you would even notice. It reads like a fan fiction or a really long novella.
It was 75% stupid relationship drama that had little to do with what sounded like it was going to be an exciting plot. I was 75% of the way through the book before any of the real action started. It went great for a while, and then suddenly felt like the author got bored and stopped caring. The ending was super fast, and a total letdown after all the buildup leading up to it. There was zero character growth, or anything that would add to the overall story that is going through the whole series.
As much as I love Anita, I'm starting to feel like it might be time for the series to end.
The first thing that stood out was the Ardeur. In many of the past books it's been a constant issue and struggle. Everyone constantly checking in with her to make sure she ate food, or fed the ardeur that day. It was a constant worry and always had to be kept in check. This ardeur wasn't even an inconvenience in the slightest. She had to be begged to release it so she could feed.
Big thing number two was Nathaniel's transformation. He went straight from human to cat. In all the past books the change releases a ton of clear goo that is a pain in the ass to deal with. In this book, there was no fluid at all. NONE. It's always been a huge deal because it is messy as hell.
Big thing number three. Why didn't she use any of her powers? She didn't even attempt to use her necromancy to find answers, and that's usually one of the first things that she does. She has all these other bad ass powers as well, but the entire book was her relying on everyone else to do all the work while she sits back. Why didn't she pull from her pool of anger to break the hold Ramkin had on her? That's what she has done in the past, but no, she had to be rescued by Jean Claude. This is not the Anita I know from all the other books. It's completely out of character for her.
The ending, oh the craptastic ending. Nobody used even the slightest bit of their powers or shape shifting to kill the bad guy. They simply shot it until it was dead. No finesse, no real struggle. Just boom.. dead. No explanation to how that creature came to be either, or why they got fused together. Just monster = dead. It really annoyed me at the very end when the answer to everything was that the Lamia could fix it, and it would all be okay. Wasn't that the first thing they tried? She told them over and over there was nothing she can do, but suddenly she has all the answers and a good idea to help fix the issue.
Honestly if you didn't read this book and skipped on to the next one when it comes out, I don't think you would even notice. It reads like a fan fiction or a really long novella.
It was 75% stupid relationship drama that had little to do with what sounded like it was going to be an exciting plot. I was 75% of the way through the book before any of the real action started. It went great for a while, and then suddenly felt like the author got bored and stopped caring. The ending was super fast, and a total letdown after all the buildup leading up to it. There was zero character growth, or anything that would add to the overall story that is going through the whole series.
As much as I love Anita, I'm starting to feel like it might be time for the series to end.