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Merry Gentry #9
A Shiver of Light
I am Princess Meredith NicEssus. Legal name Meredith Gentry, because “Princess” looks so pretentious on a driver’s license. I was the first faerie princess born on American soil, but I wouldn't be the only one for much longer...
Merry Gentry, ex–private detective, now full-time princess, knew she was descended from fertility goddesses, but when she learned she was about to have triplets, she began to understand what that might mean. Infertility has plagued the high ranks of faerie for centuries. Now nobles of both courts of faerie are coming to court Merry and her men, at their home in exile in the Western Lands of Los Angeles, because they will do anything to have babies of their own.
Taranis, King of Light and Illusion, is a more dangerous problem. He tried to seduce Merry and, failing that, raped her. He’s using the human courts to sue for visitation rights, claiming that one of the babies is his. And though Merry knows she was already pregnant when he took her, she can’t prove it.
To save herself and her babies from Taranis she will use the most dangerous powers in all of faerie: a god of death, a warrior known as the Darkness, the Killing Frost, and a king of nightmares. They are her lovers, and her dearest loves, and they will face down the might of the high courts of faerie—while trying to keep the war from spreading to innocent humans in Los Angeles, who are in danger of becoming collateral damage.
Merry Gentry, ex–private detective, now full-time princess, knew she was descended from fertility goddesses, but when she learned she was about to have triplets, she began to understand what that might mean. Infertility has plagued the high ranks of faerie for centuries. Now nobles of both courts of faerie are coming to court Merry and her men, at their home in exile in the Western Lands of Los Angeles, because they will do anything to have babies of their own.
Taranis, King of Light and Illusion, is a more dangerous problem. He tried to seduce Merry and, failing that, raped her. He’s using the human courts to sue for visitation rights, claiming that one of the babies is his. And though Merry knows she was already pregnant when he took her, she can’t prove it.
To save herself and her babies from Taranis she will use the most dangerous powers in all of faerie: a god of death, a warrior known as the Darkness, the Killing Frost, and a king of nightmares. They are her lovers, and her dearest loves, and they will face down the might of the high courts of faerie—while trying to keep the war from spreading to innocent humans in Los Angeles, who are in danger of becoming collateral damage.
372 pages, Hardcover
First published June 3, 2014
About the author
Laurell K. Hamilton
359 books25.2k followersLaurell K. Hamilton is one of the leading writers of paranormal fiction. A #1 New York Times bestselling author, Hamilton writes the popular Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novels and the Meredith Gentry series. She is also the creator of a bestselling comic book series based on her Anita Blake novels and published by Marvel Comics. Hamilton is a full-time writer and lives in the suburbs of St. Louis with her family.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,671 reviews
July 21, 2014
Do not attempt unless you are proficient at reading while rolling your eyes continuously. This suffers from LKH's habitual lack of editing, and the only thing you can be sure will be consistent throughout are the descriptions of what everyone is wearing and what their eyes and hair and skin look like. These will be re-described for you every time anyone walks into the room, regardless of how many times they have walked into the room previously in this book. I do have to give LKH props for taking the pronounced Mary Sue-ism (or would that be Merry Sue-ism?) of her main character to the only logical extreme...Merry is basically a minor goddess now, and the three babies she gives birth to at the beginning of the book (vaginally, of course, because C-sections are not for goddesses!) are the Most Specialist Babies Ever. LKH apparently has a child, but you would never know it from her descriptions of life with newborns. She manages to get around a lot of realities by making them super-special fairy babies, of course, but I don't know how she gets around the fact that (1) Merry is apparently breast-feeding all of them, (2) this book takes place in the first week of their lives, and yet (3) Merry somehow manages to do things in this book that are not related to breast-feeding triplets. Of all the unrealistic things that have ever happened in an LKH story set in a total fantasy world, this is the most unrealistic.
Most of the unrelated things are, of course, related to having sex with multiple men (non-vaginal-penetration, of course, although we are assured she is healing remarkably quickly and her body is back to looking totally bangin' within hours, apparently. Despite being 5 feet tall and carrying triplets that are each the size of a full-term single baby. Magic!) Her magic also extends to getting orgasms from giving oral sex to other people, and we get a lot of talk about how she screams her own orgasms while in the midst of doing so. I guess this is supposed to be super-sexy? Personally, I can't help but think that it would be super-weird and distracting to have someone screaming incessantly into my private parts. Aside from this, Merry mostly walks around in a near-continuous shower of her Goddess's Rose Petals of Approval, but we never learn whether these disappear on their own when she is not around, or whether there is some poor bastard in her household who has to follow her around bearing the Broom And Dustpan Of Perpetual Sweeping-Up to keep everyone from drowning in dead flowers. She also spends half the book talking about the name of one of her babies, and how it is Cornish for "Rose," (did you know? It's Cornish! It means "Rose." Only in Cornish! It's the most beautiful way to name someone "Rose." By doing so in Cornish!), and having extended conversations on how to pronounce it, and deriving nicknames based on it...and then, at the end, casually tosses off that they're just going to call her "Rose." Glad we spent all of that time talking about the other name, then! Oh, and she also decides to pay a visit to the compound where she houses all the people she thinks are untrustworthy, accompanied by her least-competent guards, and is then shocked when someone takes the opportunity to do something untrustworthy. No one could have foreseen such a thing! Throw in some other inane discussions about whether the whole group should be in a reality tv show (yes, really...and, of course, it's the same discussion several times, never resolved) and boring descriptions of working out (which, apparently, fairies still do, even though they look naturally perfect and have magic and stuff to defend themselves), and that's pretty much the book.
Most of the unrelated things are, of course, related to having sex with multiple men (non-vaginal-penetration, of course, although we are assured she is healing remarkably quickly and her body is back to looking totally bangin' within hours, apparently. Despite being 5 feet tall and carrying triplets that are each the size of a full-term single baby. Magic!) Her magic also extends to getting orgasms from giving oral sex to other people, and we get a lot of talk about how she screams her own orgasms while in the midst of doing so. I guess this is supposed to be super-sexy? Personally, I can't help but think that it would be super-weird and distracting to have someone screaming incessantly into my private parts. Aside from this, Merry mostly walks around in a near-continuous shower of her Goddess's Rose Petals of Approval, but we never learn whether these disappear on their own when she is not around, or whether there is some poor bastard in her household who has to follow her around bearing the Broom And Dustpan Of Perpetual Sweeping-Up to keep everyone from drowning in dead flowers. She also spends half the book talking about the name of one of her babies, and how it is Cornish for "Rose," (did you know? It's Cornish! It means "Rose." Only in Cornish! It's the most beautiful way to name someone "Rose." By doing so in Cornish!), and having extended conversations on how to pronounce it, and deriving nicknames based on it...and then, at the end, casually tosses off that they're just going to call her "Rose." Glad we spent all of that time talking about the other name, then! Oh, and she also decides to pay a visit to the compound where she houses all the people she thinks are untrustworthy, accompanied by her least-competent guards, and is then shocked when someone takes the opportunity to do something untrustworthy. No one could have foreseen such a thing! Throw in some other inane discussions about whether the whole group should be in a reality tv show (yes, really...and, of course, it's the same discussion several times, never resolved) and boring descriptions of working out (which, apparently, fairies still do, even though they look naturally perfect and have magic and stuff to defend themselves), and that's pretty much the book.
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November 27, 2014I can honestly say that this is my favorite series, I love it! What really dampens my mood though is that LKH is sitting on her butt not writing this 9th book... She has 20-something Anite Blake novels and another one on the way! After Anita killed the mother of all darkness, I honestly thought the series could have ended. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the books after that and would never stop reading the Anita books that come out but Merry needs to have this book come out. If you read LKH's blog, she talks about her muse being out of whack and how merry is happy where she is and how she is having a lot of trouble writing another book about Merry. All I can say to this is that LKH should've ended the story in the Swallowing Darkness instead of go off on another irrelevant murder. She really needs to wrap up Merry's story so that her readers won't be so upset with her. I get that writing a whole novel can take time, energy, and lots of effort but she knows what she needs to wrap up in the story...
-King Taranis' rule
-Queen Andais becoming a total psycho after Kel being killed
-Merry birthing her twins!!! (I NEED TO KNOW THE SEX OF THE ONE TWIN THAT WASN't KNOWN)
-What the goddess has in store for Merry and hopefully Merry uniting both Fae courts :)
I can completely understand how wrapping up Merry's store could take more than one book but LKH really needs to step it up and crank out the last bit of Merry's series. I would be soo much happier if she did this, and I wouldn't be desperately looking for a book similar to the Meredith Gentry series to keep me satisfied from not knowing the end of her story :( it pains me.
Sorry for the rant! This just has been bothering me since LKH's 'explanation' post... although I see it as complete BS but oh well! I will still have to wait no matter how I feel. Besides all of this, I recommend this series without a doubt to anyone loving the Fae type realm, it is a truly wonderful read :)
-King Taranis' rule
-Queen Andais becoming a total psycho after Kel being killed
-Merry birthing her twins!!! (I NEED TO KNOW THE SEX OF THE ONE TWIN THAT WASN't KNOWN)
-What the goddess has in store for Merry and hopefully Merry uniting both Fae courts :)
I can completely understand how wrapping up Merry's store could take more than one book but LKH really needs to step it up and crank out the last bit of Merry's series. I would be soo much happier if she did this, and I wouldn't be desperately looking for a book similar to the Meredith Gentry series to keep me satisfied from not knowing the end of her story :( it pains me.
Sorry for the rant! This just has been bothering me since LKH's 'explanation' post... although I see it as complete BS but oh well! I will still have to wait no matter how I feel. Besides all of this, I recommend this series without a doubt to anyone loving the Fae type realm, it is a truly wonderful read :)
July 14, 2014
If Laurell Hamilton ever again tries to tell someone she isn't writing romance, here's your proof that she is.
Exhibit A is what the Anita Blake series has declined into; Exhibit B is right here. This is infinitely worse than any K-Drama or something on Telemundo. Why? BECAUSE ALMOST NOTHING EVER HAPPENS! NOTHING!
Swear to fucking Chthulu, practically nothing fraggin' happens for almost four hundred fucking pages! I have to say almost nothing because there are all of two important events that take place, but you only get to see one of them. I won't even post a synopsis because there's almost nothing to write about. Think I'm joking? Wait 'til you read it.
**MINI-SPOILERS AHEAD**
What's Good:
There's some attempt at humanizing Andais. In what's to me the best scene in the book (!) Merry & Co. are wary of letting Crazy Aunt Andais visit the babies, so they do the magic mirror thing first. During their conversation some intriguing details about the Queen of Air and Darkness are revealed, including some insight into why she's the way she is. It gets touched upon again later in the book when Andais gives Merry some advice on what it takes to make Taranis back off. But alas, it all gets washed away in a tide of love and wangst. Hell, Andais even cries a couple of times. Those crumbs are as good as this thing gets. And shocker of shockers- there's a character death! No, don't look at me like that- someone important dies. And there's a CONSPIRACY behind it! I guess Merry didn't get Hamilton to make the same promise Anita did about not killing people off. Only thing is they get the Haven treatment and it only takes three pages to off them.
What's Bad:
The rest of the book. I've said it before and I have to say it again- ALMOST NOTHING HAPPENS! The babies are born in-between the first two chapters (and since they're now triplets and each baby has two fathers, two more baby daddies get added to the mix), Taranis makes a couple of half-@$$ attempts at taking Merry and someone dies... but it only takes about ten pages to wrap that one up. So what are you gonna fill up the other three hundred fifty odd pages with? You got it- TALKING! And not just any ol' talking but As-You-Know-Bob Infodumps in the classic Hamilton style you've come to know and loathe. Character A exposits on a situation everyone's fully aware of, B adds a little more, C just got there and asks some questions, A and B add more filler to the tune of but-that-was-before-THIS-happened, D asks if this changes things, A,B and C all say no- which renders the whole conversation pointless and circular. Best example of this I can sum up from early sequence discussing what to do about Taranis and Andais:
**It might be ok to let Andais come visit; she seems composed and rational, moreso that she’d been lately. Over the years she knew her infertility damaged the throne so she got more and more unhinged to the point she didn’t care if she lived or died. Guess once Merry got knocked up, she knew she’d be ok. Taranis can’t come near any of us due to a court order plus he’d actually threatened a whole group of human lawyers, so we’re ok there. If he comes near us or our babies, we’ll kill him. No problem. He’s crazy. Yep. And he’s a danger to everyone. Sure you’re right. So we’ll kill him if he tries anything. Gotcha. He raped Merry. So we’ve heard. And he’s infertile and can’t rule the Seelie. Nope, he can’t. So he’s desperate. That seems likely. And crazy. Yeah. And he'll do anything to stay in power, even kill us. Yep. So we’ll kill him first. Ok. So if he makes a move we waste him. Sounds like a plan. Because he’d do it to us. Probably. So let’s get him first. Fist bump me, bro**
Think you can handle it?
What's Left:
All the plot points tossed aside that would make for interesting reading, except Hamilton has no interest in anyone reading them. Especially since some of them make you wonder why they hadn't already happened. A new human ambassador to the Fae gets appointed and it's suggested that envoys be assigned to the Courts, since the Fae are always on their best behavior around humans. Not only would this be standard diplomatic practice, but why hasn't it ever been enacted in all the years they've been here? You telling me NO ONE, not Thomas Jefferson or since, ever thought of having someone keep an eye on the Fae, especially since these powerful creatures are here on sufferance? One of his attacks on Merry leaves Taranis injured by her Hand of Power, which is grounds for getting him deposed as Seelie King (surprise!) and his replacement's on the way, but like JC taking over the American Vampire Council in the AB novels, the coup is only mentioned in passing. No need to see these game-changing events which were supposed to be at the heart of the entire series when you can just go 'oh yeah, by the way'. Might interfere with all the really important endless talk about love. And love.
Since Merry's still recovering from childbirth, there's not so much zexxy zexx happening but hey- something's gotta be done for all these hot menz, right? How's your wrist and gag reflex?
Utterly boring, insipid, vapid, dull, repetitive and lame. I'd ask you to put out the light when you finish but Hamilton already did that.
Exhibit A is what the Anita Blake series has declined into; Exhibit B is right here. This is infinitely worse than any K-Drama or something on Telemundo. Why? BECAUSE ALMOST NOTHING EVER HAPPENS! NOTHING!
Swear to fucking Chthulu, practically nothing fraggin' happens for almost four hundred fucking pages! I have to say almost nothing because there are all of two important events that take place, but you only get to see one of them. I won't even post a synopsis because there's almost nothing to write about. Think I'm joking? Wait 'til you read it.
**MINI-SPOILERS AHEAD**
What's Good:
There's some attempt at humanizing Andais. In what's to me the best scene in the book (!) Merry & Co. are wary of letting Crazy Aunt Andais visit the babies, so they do the magic mirror thing first. During their conversation some intriguing details about the Queen of Air and Darkness are revealed, including some insight into why she's the way she is. It gets touched upon again later in the book when Andais gives Merry some advice on what it takes to make Taranis back off. But alas, it all gets washed away in a tide of love and wangst. Hell, Andais even cries a couple of times. Those crumbs are as good as this thing gets. And shocker of shockers- there's a character death! No, don't look at me like that- someone important dies. And there's a CONSPIRACY behind it! I guess Merry didn't get Hamilton to make the same promise Anita did about not killing people off. Only thing is they get the Haven treatment and it only takes three pages to off them.
What's Bad:
The rest of the book. I've said it before and I have to say it again- ALMOST NOTHING HAPPENS! The babies are born in-between the first two chapters (and since they're now triplets and each baby has two fathers, two more baby daddies get added to the mix), Taranis makes a couple of half-@$$ attempts at taking Merry and someone dies... but it only takes about ten pages to wrap that one up. So what are you gonna fill up the other three hundred fifty odd pages with? You got it- TALKING! And not just any ol' talking but As-You-Know-Bob Infodumps in the classic Hamilton style you've come to know and loathe. Character A exposits on a situation everyone's fully aware of, B adds a little more, C just got there and asks some questions, A and B add more filler to the tune of but-that-was-before-THIS-happened, D asks if this changes things, A,B and C all say no- which renders the whole conversation pointless and circular. Best example of this I can sum up from early sequence discussing what to do about Taranis and Andais:
**It might be ok to let Andais come visit; she seems composed and rational, moreso that she’d been lately. Over the years she knew her infertility damaged the throne so she got more and more unhinged to the point she didn’t care if she lived or died. Guess once Merry got knocked up, she knew she’d be ok. Taranis can’t come near any of us due to a court order plus he’d actually threatened a whole group of human lawyers, so we’re ok there. If he comes near us or our babies, we’ll kill him. No problem. He’s crazy. Yep. And he’s a danger to everyone. Sure you’re right. So we’ll kill him if he tries anything. Gotcha. He raped Merry. So we’ve heard. And he’s infertile and can’t rule the Seelie. Nope, he can’t. So he’s desperate. That seems likely. And crazy. Yeah. And he'll do anything to stay in power, even kill us. Yep. So we’ll kill him first. Ok. So if he makes a move we waste him. Sounds like a plan. Because he’d do it to us. Probably. So let’s get him first. Fist bump me, bro**
Think you can handle it?
What's Left:
All the plot points tossed aside that would make for interesting reading, except Hamilton has no interest in anyone reading them. Especially since some of them make you wonder why they hadn't already happened. A new human ambassador to the Fae gets appointed and it's suggested that envoys be assigned to the Courts, since the Fae are always on their best behavior around humans. Not only would this be standard diplomatic practice, but why hasn't it ever been enacted in all the years they've been here? You telling me NO ONE, not Thomas Jefferson or since, ever thought of having someone keep an eye on the Fae, especially since these powerful creatures are here on sufferance? One of his attacks on Merry leaves Taranis injured by her Hand of Power, which is grounds for getting him deposed as Seelie King (surprise!) and his replacement's on the way, but like JC taking over the American Vampire Council in the AB novels, the coup is only mentioned in passing. No need to see these game-changing events which were supposed to be at the heart of the entire series when you can just go 'oh yeah, by the way'. Might interfere with all the really important endless talk about love. And love.
Since Merry's still recovering from childbirth, there's not so much zexxy zexx happening but hey- something's gotta be done for all these hot menz, right? How's your wrist and gag reflex?
Utterly boring, insipid, vapid, dull, repetitive and lame. I'd ask you to put out the light when you finish but Hamilton already did that.
June 3, 2014
SHAKING AND CRYING ( A Merry Gentry Hysteria Novel)
It's been five years since the last book published and I was so excited unfortunately it was not worth the wait. I don't understand how she can have so many good storylines ideas and instead of developing them she fills the entire book on stupid stupid dialogue. I don't want to hear about money problems they don't solve, what the men look like. There's been six books before this one we know what the men look like give a brief description move on and get to the action. I want to see the action not a build-up then a one sentence climax. Instead of the action it's pages and pages of her crying and then her men comforting her then we get pages of her talking about what the babies look like and then worry about the babies and then more crying. I think we should call the book instead of A Shiver of Light but Shaking and Crying (A Merry Gentry Hysteria Novel) .
It's been five years since the last book published and I was so excited unfortunately it was not worth the wait. I don't understand how she can have so many good storylines ideas and instead of developing them she fills the entire book on stupid stupid dialogue. I don't want to hear about money problems they don't solve, what the men look like. There's been six books before this one we know what the men look like give a brief description move on and get to the action. I want to see the action not a build-up then a one sentence climax. Instead of the action it's pages and pages of her crying and then her men comforting her then we get pages of her talking about what the babies look like and then worry about the babies and then more crying. I think we should call the book instead of A Shiver of Light but Shaking and Crying (A Merry Gentry Hysteria Novel) .
December 14, 2016
***Update 06/12/14: I can't believe I waited 5 years for this. A Shiver of Light read like a first draft. Although I suppose that's only to be expected since it was. LKH didn't finish writing it until the end of February. It seemed like 90% of the novel was needless descriptions, repeated phrases, and long conversations that went nowhere or were about things which were obvious. Plus, the events which were really interesting happened offscreen and the reader was just told about it. The childbirth merited one sentence, but leaving the hospital took multiple chapters. A King is removed and that event also happens offscreen.
I also doubt LKH re-read the earlier books before starting this one. The voice was very much Anita Blake. The character of Merry didn't act like herself. Even the death at the end seemed like something she just tacked on for shock value. This book was definitely NOT worth the wait.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm very close to just considering this series abandoned by the author and walking away from it. It's been 3+ yrs of teases and promises only to deliver nada.
12/30/10 | "Yes, there will be another Merry Gentry novel sometime in 2011. -LKH
http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/2010/...
2/27/11 | "When Laurell said that she was taking 2010 off from writing Merry she also said that she is contracted for 3 more Merry books (with Ballantine Books). My information is directly from Eridine (Jon, Laurell's husband), so I have 100% faith that it's accurate."- Forum Moderator from the author's forum
4/2011 | "Now that I’m at the same publisher with both Merry and Anita... - LKH (4/2011)
This announcement that she had just changed publishers for Merry from Ballantine to Berkley Books proved that the 2/27 announcement on her OWN website was a FIB.
http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/2011/...
5/2011 | Denied she ever had any intention of releasing a Merry book in 2011.
http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/2011/...
Then it was a year of once again getting excited as the author posted on facebook and twitter about Merry talking to her, making pages, and the constant assurances to the fans that she was on track to deliver a new novel in December 2012. Only to announce in June '12 that the series was being placed on indefinite hiatus due to writer's block. The constant yes/no has gotten old.
I also doubt LKH re-read the earlier books before starting this one. The voice was very much Anita Blake. The character of Merry didn't act like herself. Even the death at the end seemed like something she just tacked on for shock value. This book was definitely NOT worth the wait.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm very close to just considering this series abandoned by the author and walking away from it. It's been 3+ yrs of teases and promises only to deliver nada.
12/30/10 | "Yes, there will be another Merry Gentry novel sometime in 2011. -LKH
http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/2010/...
2/27/11 | "When Laurell said that she was taking 2010 off from writing Merry she also said that she is contracted for 3 more Merry books (with Ballantine Books). My information is directly from Eridine (Jon, Laurell's husband), so I have 100% faith that it's accurate."- Forum Moderator from the author's forum
4/2011 | "Now that I’m at the same publisher with both Merry and Anita... - LKH (4/2011)
This announcement that she had just changed publishers for Merry from Ballantine to Berkley Books proved that the 2/27 announcement on her OWN website was a FIB.
http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/2011/...
5/2011 | Denied she ever had any intention of releasing a Merry book in 2011.
http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/2011/...
Then it was a year of once again getting excited as the author posted on facebook and twitter about Merry talking to her, making pages, and the constant assurances to the fans that she was on track to deliver a new novel in December 2012. Only to announce in June '12 that the series was being placed on indefinite hiatus due to writer's block. The constant yes/no has gotten old.
June 12, 2014
Is this book for real? That is a legit question. I can't believe this was published.
Apparently Merry and Anita Blake are the same person now, which is really just an extension of Laurell. The characters (Merry and Anita) are just as pretentious, arrogant, and condescending as Laurell. Which makes them completely unlikable at this point.
If you took out all of the repetitive descriptions, and baiting, instigating, pointless conversations from this book you would be left with about 30 pages. 24 of which were awkward sex.
Merry constantly tried to bait people into being unintentionally faux offensive about her poly relationship. Coincidentally if you read Laurell's trainwreck of a Twitter account she does the same exact thing. Everyone is wrong about their phrasing, pronouns, thoughts and feelings about the poly world except her.
The actual plot advancement in this book could have easily taken less than a dozen pages. Nothing at all really happened. Oh, yes, there was that thing a the end, but that also seemed pointless and rushed. I guess after hundreds of pages of putting your own personal hang ups out there she had to throw something in to make the book seem as if it was actually part of the series and not a blog extension.
Apparently Merry and Anita Blake are the same person now, which is really just an extension of Laurell. The characters (Merry and Anita) are just as pretentious, arrogant, and condescending as Laurell. Which makes them completely unlikable at this point.
If you took out all of the repetitive descriptions, and baiting, instigating, pointless conversations from this book you would be left with about 30 pages. 24 of which were awkward sex.
Merry constantly tried to bait people into being unintentionally faux offensive about her poly relationship. Coincidentally if you read Laurell's trainwreck of a Twitter account she does the same exact thing. Everyone is wrong about their phrasing, pronouns, thoughts and feelings about the poly world except her.
The actual plot advancement in this book could have easily taken less than a dozen pages. Nothing at all really happened. Oh, yes, there was that thing a the end, but that also seemed pointless and rushed. I guess after hundreds of pages of putting your own personal hang ups out there she had to throw something in to make the book seem as if it was actually part of the series and not a blog extension.
July 9, 2014
So, Shiver of Light has finally been released and I am proud to review it for the readers. As you all know, previously the king of the Seelie Court had raped Merry while she was pregnant while all her lovers had been kept safe and the queen of the Unseelie Court had gone insane, torturing everyone after the death of her son at Merry's hands. Well, this book picks up right where that one left off. It is a delight and a tragedy all wrapped into one. This book has all you'd expect from a Laurell K. Hamilton novel: lust, betrayal, death, unexpected additional births, and even a coup! I really enjoyed this book.
However, the plot didn't move along that much. It was a lot of her dealing with her children, some light sex (understandable after pregnancy), and a lot of whining about the King. I really wanted to see this book progress much further than it did. Don't get me wrong. I'm a Merry Gentry fan through and through. It just didn't have the same spark as the other books. The last 30 pages were the most exciting in the whole book! Something to keep in mind when reading it. Don't just quit halfway through. The last 30 pages are a game changer for the series. Hopefully, she'll write some more because I would like to know the Goddess's plans of Merry and her, well, merry band of men and misfits. I would have liked to see more magic transforming those who are dear to the Goddess. All in all, though, really good book. I recommend it to those who love the Fae, LKH, those who love fantasy, and those who enjoy supernatural romance and mystery.
However, the plot didn't move along that much. It was a lot of her dealing with her children, some light sex (understandable after pregnancy), and a lot of whining about the King. I really wanted to see this book progress much further than it did. Don't get me wrong. I'm a Merry Gentry fan through and through. It just didn't have the same spark as the other books. The last 30 pages were the most exciting in the whole book! Something to keep in mind when reading it. Don't just quit halfway through. The last 30 pages are a game changer for the series. Hopefully, she'll write some more because I would like to know the Goddess's plans of Merry and her, well, merry band of men and misfits. I would have liked to see more magic transforming those who are dear to the Goddess. All in all, though, really good book. I recommend it to those who love the Fae, LKH, those who love fantasy, and those who enjoy supernatural romance and mystery.
June 15, 2014
2 - 2.5 ★'s
This book is all about the babies...Merry's babies and who else's? A better question probably would be, who isn't a father?
There's usually two types of readers of LKH...either you love her or you don't. Sadly, I think I'm falling into the second category especially since it took me four day to read this book and every second was a struggle. :(
I had hoped that this series would continue to be written in the same "voice" as before and not be "Anitasized" but unfortunately that's not the case. And what I mean by "Anitasized" is the constant preaching, the ever constant conflict with everyone...and their uncle and the constant repeating. It's not changing and it's not getting better so I either have to accept it or move on.
I'm not sure I can move on because I really love most of the characters and that's what keeps me hanging on. It's hard to let go when you've invested so much time into a series and you NEED to find out what happens to them! It will be really hard for me to not read the next books. Or I can just move on, not read the books but just read the reviews?? That might work. We'll see.
Anyway, back to the story...Merry has the babies and they have to wait for DNA testing to see who the fathers are. She's having to deal with her Aunt and also with her Uncle, who's claiming to be the father.
She's also dealing with some strung out lovers because they've gone without sex for a while. This leads to some interesting solutions.
Merry's also dealing with some crazy dreams where she's called by people from the last battle for help. We don't really get anything else from it at this point besides a lot of rose petals falling from the sky.
Overall, not a lot happens until the last 15% and then the UNFORGIVABLE happens. If I didn't like this character so much, that would be enough to stop me from continuing but now I definitely have to read the next one because It. Just. Can't. Be. True. :'(
Favorite quotes
♥ "Maybe every boy needs a dog."
♥ "You are a terrible romantic, my king."
This book is all about the babies...Merry's babies and who else's? A better question probably would be, who isn't a father?
There's usually two types of readers of LKH...either you love her or you don't. Sadly, I think I'm falling into the second category especially since it took me four day to read this book and every second was a struggle. :(
I had hoped that this series would continue to be written in the same "voice" as before and not be "Anitasized" but unfortunately that's not the case. And what I mean by "Anitasized" is the constant preaching, the ever constant conflict with everyone...and their uncle and the constant repeating. It's not changing and it's not getting better so I either have to accept it or move on.
I'm not sure I can move on because I really love most of the characters and that's what keeps me hanging on. It's hard to let go when you've invested so much time into a series and you NEED to find out what happens to them! It will be really hard for me to not read the next books. Or I can just move on, not read the books but just read the reviews?? That might work. We'll see.
Anyway, back to the story...Merry has the babies and they have to wait for DNA testing to see who the fathers are. She's having to deal with her Aunt and also with her Uncle, who's claiming to be the father.
She's also dealing with some strung out lovers because they've gone without sex for a while. This leads to some interesting solutions.
Merry's also dealing with some crazy dreams where she's called by people from the last battle for help. We don't really get anything else from it at this point besides a lot of rose petals falling from the sky.
Overall, not a lot happens until the last 15% and then the UNFORGIVABLE happens. If I didn't like this character so much, that would be enough to stop me from continuing but now I definitely have to read the next one because It. Just. Can't. Be. True. :'(
Favorite quotes
♥ "Maybe every boy needs a dog."
♥ "You are a terrible romantic, my king."
June 13, 2014
I really hoped that I could at least respect this book. Nope. I didn't. Yet, I can't bring myself to give an LKH book the one star this deserves.
Normally, I can find good points in even the very bad, but I can't do that this time. It's not often an author can make you hate the characters, the plot, and the writing itself of a whole series with just one work, but this crap is one good hammer swing from doing just that.
I finished this novel only five minutes ago and I generally try to wait a full 24 hours before I give a meaningful review, so some of this is pretty knee jerk, but truthful still, and strongly felt, so I'm going with it.
Here are my immediate gripes:
An abundance of pointless description
If I didn't know better, I'd think this novel had to be the first in the series for all of its overkill in description and explanation. I am aware that it's been years since the last Merry book, but you don't have to give us the play by play and post game analysis for every little thing in the story. And you certainly don't need to do it more than once! Some of the descriptions themselves are just poorly done. LKH has a tendency to describe perfectly ordinary things with what I'm guessing is an attempt to bring in new life, avoid cliche and demonstrate "good" writing. Unfortunately, it's starting to sound as if she's trying too hard, it's silly, and an example of "bad" writing my professors used in class. I could probably get over that if there just wasn't so much. I don't care what every character looked like, dressed like, was once called, if they chewed Juicy Fruit gum or had a cat named Jinx when they were 13. Most of it did nothing for the plot and added nothing to the story. I'll forget all of it by morning.
It's a truly boring story
Nothing even remotely interesting happens until you've read 90% (thank you kindle) and that is horrible. Sure, they talk about interesting things that are supposed to happen (ad nauseam), but nothing does happen. Most of this reads as back story LKH always wanted to tell us about this world and pointless thoughts of what a new baby brings a family (pointless because it's so trite, it's belittling to the experience.)
So what?
I didn't care about anything going on for the majority of the book. Most of what is said I could get from all of the previous books and take a stroll down any new mother's section of any store or blog.
What's with the dialogue?
One of the things I loved about these stories was that the speech was in normal everyday American vernacular, even those whose speech wasn't. There was something about this novel that didn't ring true anymore. I can't put my finger on it, but it sounded like LKH couldn't figure out the right cadence anymore, at least not consistently. It just didn't work for me.
Which series am I reading?
As a reader of both Merry and Anita series it is unsurprising that I'd find some crossover between themes, voice, philosophy, etc., but I read this thinking: OK, been here done this. That sucked in the Anitaverse, and still was better. It has the same poly-amorous, MM love (but still hollow and fake feeling) and powers to make someone fall in love and how horrible that is, that are in the Anitaverse. Why, are there the exact same themes here? If this is your only view in the entire world, what is the point of two different series? It's starting to read as lame and lazy. Why, if I was going to get the same plot elements, did I have to wait so long for this story?
Merry made me ill
She annoyed me, she bored me, she disgusted me. I didn't find her as a new mother believable save a few throw away lines, she had no spark and she was repetitive. I don't know if I've liked a heroine less than I liked Merry here, which is saying something as I've felt the same way about Anita too and I've never hated her more than I do now. I was vastly more interested in the men of her life than of Merry. Such a shame.
No spoilers, but...
There are things that happen in every LKH book (of late) that disgusted me. It's been one week since the birth of her children. I find it nearly impossible to believe that this is going to happen for logistical and emotional reasons. I just don't. One, because if Merry has been in the human world long enough to know nuances of that world and the importance of it in her life, then there's no way she would easily go on in that fashion without thinking this is somewhat, probably, in poor taste, even if it didn't actually stop her. I don't buy it. And two, what goes on reads as demeaning to me. At one point this idea that Merry made conquests using womanly wiles is actually said, and that makes her sound like a prostitute. Yes, I know. How middle America of me, but I didn't write this. I don't take credit for reading the words on the page. I expected my idea of that to be pushed and my philosophy to be questioned as I had come to expect from LKH, but instead, I was only reaffirmed.
Memories
OMG! Too much! Too much remembering going on in this book. I'm not saying this information illuminated by all the reminiscing isn't important, though most of it wasn't, but rather, you can't cram all of this crap into one book. There's too much telling and very little showing going on here and that is one of the most annoying things you can do in a book for me. None of these memories sing. I couldn't have cared less about any of them, they did little to shed new light and they were boring.
Bleu or gouda?
There's a cheesy, hokey quality to most of it. I was overcome with the urge to gag at various points in the story. I can't definitively tell you what it was, but I got this sense of "I'm trying to sound like a fairy tale, but a twisted fairy tale" and all the wrong parts were kept. I have never had that feeling when I read this series before, so I was little surprised.
Are we or aren't we?
Most of the story's plot revolves around are we going to kill people who need to be killed, why we won't, but why we should and are we going to do that business thing, but no we shouldn't, but it could be to our benefit, let's talk about family dynamics for hours- blah, blah, blah. I was hoping for a nuclear bomb, by the end.
LKH is starting to read like 50 Shades of Grey
Not in what it does or page after page of pointless sex, but... Is this a personal fantasy, because it doesn't sound even remotely plausible anymore and I'm getting a bored housewife vibe spitting in my face.
Inferiority complex?
What's with the constant breast size discussion (between the 2 series?) I can promise you that great cleavage is not always worth it. Hmm, maybe I was wrong. I'm beginning to think this is a 13 year old boy's fantasy.
Repetitive
Did I mention that this is repetitive? We have the same thoughts, emotions, explanations as we've had in every single book, in basically, the exact same way. There is no way that the same two people would constantly say the same things to each other about the same topic for nine books. There's just no way. Many descriptions are either repeated when someone new comes in or we get the narrative explanation followed by the same explanation given in dialogue to a throw away character. And it's repetitive. Did I mention that already?
Sex as power
Sorry, this just rubs me the wrong way. It cheapens the act, it cheapens all the people in this story and makes me gag.
Unsatisfying pay off
I wait through 90% of the book to get anything to happen and then when it does give me something, that is what she chooses to do with it? You give me nothing really for hundreds of pages, but there's still this sense of hope, love and happiness, right up to that very point (No literally, right up to that point. The best bit of the whole book came in the paragraphs immediately preceding the point) and then you set it all on fire. Horribly, irrevocably on fire. And then you cut open the healing wounds and pour salt in there. I hated the ending. I hated it.
And I have never read an LKH book where the ending didn't redeem the bits I didn't like in the story (at least enough for me to want to read more.)
This is one of the only novels I will ever definitively say: DO NOT READ.
No one.
Ever.
Remember the good, the great, that LKH is capable of giving. Tell others of what she has done.
Promise me one thing, however.
Don't take anything from this story.
Normally, I can find good points in even the very bad, but I can't do that this time. It's not often an author can make you hate the characters, the plot, and the writing itself of a whole series with just one work, but this crap is one good hammer swing from doing just that.
I finished this novel only five minutes ago and I generally try to wait a full 24 hours before I give a meaningful review, so some of this is pretty knee jerk, but truthful still, and strongly felt, so I'm going with it.
Here are my immediate gripes:
An abundance of pointless description
If I didn't know better, I'd think this novel had to be the first in the series for all of its overkill in description and explanation. I am aware that it's been years since the last Merry book, but you don't have to give us the play by play and post game analysis for every little thing in the story. And you certainly don't need to do it more than once! Some of the descriptions themselves are just poorly done. LKH has a tendency to describe perfectly ordinary things with what I'm guessing is an attempt to bring in new life, avoid cliche and demonstrate "good" writing. Unfortunately, it's starting to sound as if she's trying too hard, it's silly, and an example of "bad" writing my professors used in class. I could probably get over that if there just wasn't so much. I don't care what every character looked like, dressed like, was once called, if they chewed Juicy Fruit gum or had a cat named Jinx when they were 13. Most of it did nothing for the plot and added nothing to the story. I'll forget all of it by morning.
It's a truly boring story
Nothing even remotely interesting happens until you've read 90% (thank you kindle) and that is horrible. Sure, they talk about interesting things that are supposed to happen (ad nauseam), but nothing does happen. Most of this reads as back story LKH always wanted to tell us about this world and pointless thoughts of what a new baby brings a family (pointless because it's so trite, it's belittling to the experience.)
So what?
I didn't care about anything going on for the majority of the book. Most of what is said I could get from all of the previous books and take a stroll down any new mother's section of any store or blog.
What's with the dialogue?
One of the things I loved about these stories was that the speech was in normal everyday American vernacular, even those whose speech wasn't. There was something about this novel that didn't ring true anymore. I can't put my finger on it, but it sounded like LKH couldn't figure out the right cadence anymore, at least not consistently. It just didn't work for me.
Which series am I reading?
As a reader of both Merry and Anita series it is unsurprising that I'd find some crossover between themes, voice, philosophy, etc., but I read this thinking: OK, been here done this. That sucked in the Anitaverse, and still was better. It has the same poly-amorous, MM love (but still hollow and fake feeling) and powers to make someone fall in love and how horrible that is, that are in the Anitaverse. Why, are there the exact same themes here? If this is your only view in the entire world, what is the point of two different series? It's starting to read as lame and lazy. Why, if I was going to get the same plot elements, did I have to wait so long for this story?
Merry made me ill
She annoyed me, she bored me, she disgusted me. I didn't find her as a new mother believable save a few throw away lines, she had no spark and she was repetitive. I don't know if I've liked a heroine less than I liked Merry here, which is saying something as I've felt the same way about Anita too and I've never hated her more than I do now. I was vastly more interested in the men of her life than of Merry. Such a shame.
No spoilers, but...
There are things that happen in every LKH book (of late) that disgusted me. It's been one week since the birth of her children. I find it nearly impossible to believe that this is going to happen for logistical and emotional reasons. I just don't. One, because if Merry has been in the human world long enough to know nuances of that world and the importance of it in her life, then there's no way she would easily go on in that fashion without thinking this is somewhat, probably, in poor taste, even if it didn't actually stop her. I don't buy it. And two, what goes on reads as demeaning to me. At one point this idea that Merry made conquests using womanly wiles is actually said, and that makes her sound like a prostitute. Yes, I know. How middle America of me, but I didn't write this. I don't take credit for reading the words on the page. I expected my idea of that to be pushed and my philosophy to be questioned as I had come to expect from LKH, but instead, I was only reaffirmed.
Memories
OMG! Too much! Too much remembering going on in this book. I'm not saying this information illuminated by all the reminiscing isn't important, though most of it wasn't, but rather, you can't cram all of this crap into one book. There's too much telling and very little showing going on here and that is one of the most annoying things you can do in a book for me. None of these memories sing. I couldn't have cared less about any of them, they did little to shed new light and they were boring.
Bleu or gouda?
There's a cheesy, hokey quality to most of it. I was overcome with the urge to gag at various points in the story. I can't definitively tell you what it was, but I got this sense of "I'm trying to sound like a fairy tale, but a twisted fairy tale" and all the wrong parts were kept. I have never had that feeling when I read this series before, so I was little surprised.
Are we or aren't we?
Most of the story's plot revolves around are we going to kill people who need to be killed, why we won't, but why we should and are we going to do that business thing, but no we shouldn't, but it could be to our benefit, let's talk about family dynamics for hours- blah, blah, blah. I was hoping for a nuclear bomb, by the end.
LKH is starting to read like 50 Shades of Grey
Not in what it does or page after page of pointless sex, but... Is this a personal fantasy, because it doesn't sound even remotely plausible anymore and I'm getting a bored housewife vibe spitting in my face.
Inferiority complex?
What's with the constant breast size discussion (between the 2 series?) I can promise you that great cleavage is not always worth it. Hmm, maybe I was wrong. I'm beginning to think this is a 13 year old boy's fantasy.
Repetitive
Did I mention that this is repetitive? We have the same thoughts, emotions, explanations as we've had in every single book, in basically, the exact same way. There is no way that the same two people would constantly say the same things to each other about the same topic for nine books. There's just no way. Many descriptions are either repeated when someone new comes in or we get the narrative explanation followed by the same explanation given in dialogue to a throw away character. And it's repetitive. Did I mention that already?
Sex as power
Sorry, this just rubs me the wrong way. It cheapens the act, it cheapens all the people in this story and makes me gag.
Unsatisfying pay off
I wait through 90% of the book to get anything to happen and then when it does give me something, that is what she chooses to do with it? You give me nothing really for hundreds of pages, but there's still this sense of hope, love and happiness, right up to that very point (No literally, right up to that point. The best bit of the whole book came in the paragraphs immediately preceding the point) and then you set it all on fire. Horribly, irrevocably on fire. And then you cut open the healing wounds and pour salt in there. I hated the ending. I hated it.
And I have never read an LKH book where the ending didn't redeem the bits I didn't like in the story (at least enough for me to want to read more.)
This is one of the only novels I will ever definitively say: DO NOT READ.
No one.
Ever.
Remember the good, the great, that LKH is capable of giving. Tell others of what she has done.
Promise me one thing, however.
Don't take anything from this story.
February 26, 2022
I was dreading this when I started re-reading the series.
On one hand, it is the final book (so far) and on the other hand SHOLTOOO!! Like I mentioned earlier, he is my absolutely favourite character. I was dreading this scene when I started reading this book. I am not ashamed to say that I sobbed like a little girl. I still can't get over the fact.
On one hand, it is the final book (so far) and on the other hand SHOLTOOO!! Like I mentioned earlier, he is my absolutely favourite character. I was dreading this scene when I started reading this book. I am not ashamed to say that I sobbed like a little girl. I still can't get over the fact.
June 23, 2014
1.5 stars
I used to love LKH's writing. I read and reread her early books. Sadly, I gave up on Anita a few issues ago, she just can't stop humping everything/one and has so little story to go with it I got bored and somewhat grossed out. Merry was my last hope she has the Fae and their courts, several very steamy men, and some very complicated family issues. Then she started sexing everyone to give them power, "MORE POWER" and she started to sound just like a very sexed Anita.~ Sigh ~ Really, is there no other way to move forward in life other than using every office, every thought, every moment to act or think of "POWERING UP". What happened to the creativity I saw in the early books ? Did LKH find a formula that sold so she just quit and started filling in the blank moments with boring, endless sex ? This reader feels she has, and I am terribly disappointed after waiting so long.
What happened in this book ? She had her babies. She told us all about the stitches, the flow, the swollen breasts... and other TMI things. We found out what traits the babies shared with several of the men. We found out the babies are powerful, well duh look at the parents. We got to think about what everyone else might be thinking, how they might be feeling, Omg we got to this for more than 1/2 the dang book. Then we got to hear about how after one week she wanted sex so bad, she wanted and she got in a way that was so anti sexy in the description and just imagining after only one week of delivering triplets ?!?!?!?!? Then we got to watch one of the best characters in the series die in only a few sentences, and in such a mundane manor. I almost lost my temper here, I felt nothing but anger at her lack of feeling written into what should have been a horrible event. No it was all about, what Merry thought, what she thought others thought and.... ENOUGH ! Finally the book ended with a semi finality to her dear sweet uncle who raped her and almost nothing else except raising babies who might be super duper powerful and Merry looking forward to bedding more creatures to tie a bond with them. Yippeee, more of the same thing, I can wait, no rush Ms. LKH.
The book was dull. It was gross. The sex was cold and offered no appeal.
Will I read the next book or any book from her again? Not if I have any common sense. I'm done with this author, she disappointed me for the last time.
I used to love LKH's writing. I read and reread her early books. Sadly, I gave up on Anita a few issues ago, she just can't stop humping everything/one and has so little story to go with it I got bored and somewhat grossed out. Merry was my last hope she has the Fae and their courts, several very steamy men, and some very complicated family issues. Then she started sexing everyone to give them power, "MORE POWER" and she started to sound just like a very sexed Anita.~ Sigh ~ Really, is there no other way to move forward in life other than using every office, every thought, every moment to act or think of "POWERING UP". What happened to the creativity I saw in the early books ? Did LKH find a formula that sold so she just quit and started filling in the blank moments with boring, endless sex ? This reader feels she has, and I am terribly disappointed after waiting so long.
What happened in this book ? She had her babies. She told us all about the stitches, the flow, the swollen breasts... and other TMI things. We found out what traits the babies shared with several of the men. We found out the babies are powerful, well duh look at the parents. We got to think about what everyone else might be thinking, how they might be feeling, Omg we got to this for more than 1/2 the dang book. Then we got to hear about how after one week she wanted sex so bad, she wanted and she got in a way that was so anti sexy in the description and just imagining after only one week of delivering triplets ?!?!?!?!? Then we got to watch one of the best characters in the series die in only a few sentences, and in such a mundane manor. I almost lost my temper here, I felt nothing but anger at her lack of feeling written into what should have been a horrible event. No it was all about, what Merry thought, what she thought others thought and.... ENOUGH ! Finally the book ended with a semi finality to her dear sweet uncle who raped her and almost nothing else except raising babies who might be super duper powerful and Merry looking forward to bedding more creatures to tie a bond with them. Yippeee, more of the same thing, I can wait, no rush Ms. LKH.
The book was dull. It was gross. The sex was cold and offered no appeal.
Will I read the next book or any book from her again? Not if I have any common sense. I'm done with this author, she disappointed me for the last time.
December 9, 2014
2.5 stars
See this review and others like it at Badass Book Reviews!
Laurell K. Hamilton is a very divisive author -- people either love her or hate her. Though I have given up on her Anita Blake books, I've always enjoyed the Merry Gentry series. Unfortunately, this book was slow and very little happened. Plus, you see that summary up there? Well, it is a lie! Let's break it down, shall we? Warning: From here on out, there might be slight spoilers.
"Now nobles of both courts of faerie are coming to court Merry and her men, at their home in exile in the Western Lands of Los Angeles, because they will do anything to have babies of their own." Ummmm, big nope right there. No nobles come to "court" Merry and her men unless you count Andais trying to convince her to take the crown again. The only nobles that come to Merry are those that choose to live in exile with her. They might be coming for a chance at having a child, but they are really coming to Merry because they have no where else to go. Not to mention that we really only meet one of these new noble couples, though a few others might have been mentioned in passing, and they are terrible! The woman has no respect for Merry, actually she barely has a brain in her head, and the man goes on to show himself as completely terrible. There is no courting or wooing of Merry; as a matter of fact, Aisling is actually the one offered the Seelie throne at one point.
"Taranis, King of Light and Illusion, is a more dangerous problem. He tried to seduce Merry and, failing that, raped her. He’s using the human courts to sue for visitation rights, claiming that one of the babies is his." Okay, this one is true. Taranis is still around and is trying to sue for visitation rights pending a paternity test. On that note, can anyone tell me how long a paternity test usually takes? Merry and her men go on and on like the test will takes weeks and weeks... or about 300 pages.
"To save herself and her babies from Taranis she will use the most dangerous powers in all of faerie: a god of death, a warrior known as the Darkness, the Killing Frost, and a king of nightmares. They are her lovers, and her dearest loves, and they will face down the might of the high courts of faerie..." There are some confrontations with Taranis in this book, but they all take place in dreams and consist of Merry trying to resist him. There are no confrontation with the high courts of faerie and Merry doesn't send Rhys, Doyle, Sholto, and Frost after anyone --they all spend the whole book talking about Taranis but Merry just keeps saying she won't risk them. They say they will kill Taranis and he deserves killing and he won't stop coming after him and they should be proactive and kill him but they'll wait until he comes after them to kill him. Did you follow all those pronouns? Good, you're going to need the practice. It's all talk about how horrible Taranis is and angst about him being delusional and ruining the Seelie, but very little action. He attacks Merry in her dreams but she is able to use her hand of power there. He attacks Doyle in a dream but all it served to do was to get Doyle to lose himself to his dog consciousness for a while until Merry and Frost snapped him out of it. We don't even know how Taranis did it. These were the only confrontations with him and the final one between him and Merry came with about 5% left of the book. Yes, you read that right... 5%.
"—while trying to keep the war from spreading to innocent humans in Los Angeles, who are in danger of becoming collateral damage." The only humans that are really in this book are Detective Lucy, the new fey ambassador, some of the soldiers Merry helped in the previous books, and a few human nannies that work for Maeve Reed. There's no war spreading to Los Angeles and the humans are in no danger. I get why Lucy comes by and of course there would be nannies, but the ambassador and the soldiers really had no point to this story. They were just little side vignettes that had no connection to the larger story.
See, see, don't go into this book expecting what the back copy tells you. The beginning showed so much promise with the birth of the babies and the twist we find out earlier on. Then there's a little interesting baby daddy drama, but once we're back at the house -- everything just slooooooows down. There's so much talking, usually about the same things Merry and her men have been discussing for the past four books, and flower petals are falling everywhere to prove the goddess is with Merry. I hung in there because I love the characters, but I can honestly see a lot of readers tapping out with this one.
The end was pretty good, but all the exciting, important events literally happen in the last 7% of the book. Someone is murdered, a betrayal is discovered, some of the Merrymen may be becoming mortal, a ruler is defeated, the fathers are proven, the sithen recognizes a new leader... all of it happens in about 30 pages. All of the interesting events that would keep a reader engaged are thrown in at the end in favor of 300+ pages of talking... oh and oral sex. Yes, this one is tame by Merry standards but there are a few scenes. If we hadn't waited about five years for a new book, I would probably have been more forgiving of A Shiver of Light. As it stands, I will probably just end the series with this book if another delay of that length is imminent. There was not enough story progression here to justify it.
Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley for providing an ARC copy of this book!
See this review and others like it at Badass Book Reviews!
Laurell K. Hamilton is a very divisive author -- people either love her or hate her. Though I have given up on her Anita Blake books, I've always enjoyed the Merry Gentry series. Unfortunately, this book was slow and very little happened. Plus, you see that summary up there? Well, it is a lie! Let's break it down, shall we? Warning: From here on out, there might be slight spoilers.
"Now nobles of both courts of faerie are coming to court Merry and her men, at their home in exile in the Western Lands of Los Angeles, because they will do anything to have babies of their own." Ummmm, big nope right there. No nobles come to "court" Merry and her men unless you count Andais trying to convince her to take the crown again. The only nobles that come to Merry are those that choose to live in exile with her. They might be coming for a chance at having a child, but they are really coming to Merry because they have no where else to go. Not to mention that we really only meet one of these new noble couples, though a few others might have been mentioned in passing, and they are terrible! The woman has no respect for Merry, actually she barely has a brain in her head, and the man goes on to show himself as completely terrible. There is no courting or wooing of Merry; as a matter of fact, Aisling is actually the one offered the Seelie throne at one point.
"Taranis, King of Light and Illusion, is a more dangerous problem. He tried to seduce Merry and, failing that, raped her. He’s using the human courts to sue for visitation rights, claiming that one of the babies is his." Okay, this one is true. Taranis is still around and is trying to sue for visitation rights pending a paternity test. On that note, can anyone tell me how long a paternity test usually takes? Merry and her men go on and on like the test will takes weeks and weeks... or about 300 pages.
"To save herself and her babies from Taranis she will use the most dangerous powers in all of faerie: a god of death, a warrior known as the Darkness, the Killing Frost, and a king of nightmares. They are her lovers, and her dearest loves, and they will face down the might of the high courts of faerie..." There are some confrontations with Taranis in this book, but they all take place in dreams and consist of Merry trying to resist him. There are no confrontation with the high courts of faerie and Merry doesn't send Rhys, Doyle, Sholto, and Frost after anyone --they all spend the whole book talking about Taranis but Merry just keeps saying she won't risk them. They say they will kill Taranis and he deserves killing and he won't stop coming after him and they should be proactive and kill him but they'll wait until he comes after them to kill him. Did you follow all those pronouns? Good, you're going to need the practice. It's all talk about how horrible Taranis is and angst about him being delusional and ruining the Seelie, but very little action. He attacks Merry in her dreams but she is able to use her hand of power there. He attacks Doyle in a dream but all it served to do was to get Doyle to lose himself to his dog consciousness for a while until Merry and Frost snapped him out of it. We don't even know how Taranis did it. These were the only confrontations with him and the final one between him and Merry came with about 5% left of the book. Yes, you read that right... 5%.
"—while trying to keep the war from spreading to innocent humans in Los Angeles, who are in danger of becoming collateral damage." The only humans that are really in this book are Detective Lucy, the new fey ambassador, some of the soldiers Merry helped in the previous books, and a few human nannies that work for Maeve Reed. There's no war spreading to Los Angeles and the humans are in no danger. I get why Lucy comes by and of course there would be nannies, but the ambassador and the soldiers really had no point to this story. They were just little side vignettes that had no connection to the larger story.
See, see, don't go into this book expecting what the back copy tells you. The beginning showed so much promise with the birth of the babies and the twist we find out earlier on. Then there's a little interesting baby daddy drama, but once we're back at the house -- everything just slooooooows down. There's so much talking, usually about the same things Merry and her men have been discussing for the past four books, and flower petals are falling everywhere to prove the goddess is with Merry. I hung in there because I love the characters, but I can honestly see a lot of readers tapping out with this one.
The end was pretty good, but all the exciting, important events literally happen in the last 7% of the book. Someone is murdered, a betrayal is discovered, some of the Merrymen may be becoming mortal, a ruler is defeated, the fathers are proven, the sithen recognizes a new leader... all of it happens in about 30 pages. All of the interesting events that would keep a reader engaged are thrown in at the end in favor of 300+ pages of talking... oh and oral sex. Yes, this one is tame by Merry standards but there are a few scenes. If we hadn't waited about five years for a new book, I would probably have been more forgiving of A Shiver of Light. As it stands, I will probably just end the series with this book if another delay of that length is imminent. There was not enough story progression here to justify it.
Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley for providing an ARC copy of this book!
May 6, 2014
Our Review, by LITERAL ADDICTION's Pack Alpha - Chelle:
*Copy gifted in exchange for an honest review
I hadn't realized just how much I missed these characters until they were finally back. This book was an unexpected gift. I had thought the series was over, left to just sort of die out with unanswered questions, and then I saw that book #9 was actually going to be released.
When I got asked to read for review I immediately jumped in. There was a lot to love in this book... Some incredibly sweet moments, a lot of healing and some additional character growth, a bit of action (not quite as much as past installments), some tragedy - yes I cried - and a bit of surprise (though it was mostly hinted at from the beginning). It also brought some closure, and yet left openings for either more installments or a spinoff if Laurell is so inclined.
All in all, I was personally happy with it and very glad us long time fans got the chance to step back into this world!
I'd love to tell you all more, but there isn't much I can say in more detail without there being spoilers about how Merry gets back at her uncle, what happens with her crazy aunt, which of Merry's men end up being the father, where the tragedy occurs, what magical gifts her babies end up having (or how many there actually ends up being), what happens with faery, etc.
So let me say this much... you know I was happy with it. Would I recommend it for MERRY GENTRY fans? 100%! Would I recommend it for new readers, yes, but I do believe that the rest of the series should be read in order before you jump into A Shiver of Light.
*Copy gifted in exchange for an honest review
I hadn't realized just how much I missed these characters until they were finally back. This book was an unexpected gift. I had thought the series was over, left to just sort of die out with unanswered questions, and then I saw that book #9 was actually going to be released.
When I got asked to read for review I immediately jumped in. There was a lot to love in this book... Some incredibly sweet moments, a lot of healing and some additional character growth, a bit of action (not quite as much as past installments), some tragedy - yes I cried - and a bit of surprise (though it was mostly hinted at from the beginning). It also brought some closure, and yet left openings for either more installments or a spinoff if Laurell is so inclined.
All in all, I was personally happy with it and very glad us long time fans got the chance to step back into this world!
I'd love to tell you all more, but there isn't much I can say in more detail without there being spoilers about how Merry gets back at her uncle, what happens with her crazy aunt, which of Merry's men end up being the father, where the tragedy occurs, what magical gifts her babies end up having (or how many there actually ends up being), what happens with faery, etc.
So let me say this much... you know I was happy with it. Would I recommend it for MERRY GENTRY fans? 100%! Would I recommend it for new readers, yes, but I do believe that the rest of the series should be read in order before you jump into A Shiver of Light.
May 20, 2018
After a 5 year wait, the book should have been way better than what we got. To make a long story short, I feel as though this book was incredibly predictable and missed a lot of emotional notes that it was obviously trying to hit.
I do have some questions and concerns:
I do have some questions and concerns:
July 8, 2014
Not with a bang but a fizzle:
Not with a bang, but a fizzle. Not with a bang. But with a fizzle. A fizzle instead of a bang. The sound of the fizzle strikes harder than the bang ever could.
Repetitive? Annoyingly so? Yeah. That could be the crux of "A Shiver of Light." Repetitive inane blather about shit that has already happened or needs to but certainly won't happen in this book! The most important points and scenes happen off screen (but don't worry your pretty head, those types of things are few and far between!) and while we're brought PAINFULLY aware of how Frost's hair always looks like metallic lace and Doyle is made from the Darkness for which he's named, the drive of this book is hurry up and wait.
HURRY UP AND WAIT?
The fans have waited FIVE FREAKING YEARS!! And I would like to point out that I used to be an ardent fan of LKH. I read her Anita books like they were pieces of chocolate I couldn't eat fast enough. All the way to Anita's transformation into an idiotic Mary Sue who sexes everyone left and right while the narrative reminds us that she doesn't feel pretty.
*Head, meet desk--Now repeat!*
I haven't read an Anita Blake book in years and I don't recommend the series to anyone. In fact, it's one of the series that I recommend people to stay away from because it makes such a disappointing decline into trashy vagina-led no-plot patheticness. But Merry was different. I knew that Merry needed to sleep her way to the top. And I was cool with it. And LKH had drawn me in, so even when Merry began to grow her Harem O' Hotties I could accept it and read on.
FIVE YEARS. WE WAITED FIVE YEARS. (SPOILERS AHEAD!)
YET NOTHING HAPPENS. This is a book to lead to other books and it's not written terribly well and it's not worth the FIVE YEARS that we waited to get it.
I half told myself I'd write this stellar review that really captured all of the ways that LKH has done her readers injustice by giving us this book, while highlighting the sparse snippets she gave us that helped move the story along or give us insight into the characters we've grown to root for after all these years.
I considered flipping through the SEVERELY OVERPRICED BOOK that I bought to have quotes and all manner of things. And then as I sat down to write I realized that LKH *CLEARLY* doesn't give a crap for her books, her characters or her fans.
So this is my review, and my warning to those of you thinking about reading Shiver.
I'm glad I read it. It makes me realize that LKH is going through the motions and while there are specks of sparkle and flash mixed in with her word-vomit descriptions and recaps, the things accomplished plot-wise in this book could be condensed into maybe a chapter's length. So just keep that in mind. And maybe try your local library before you shell out your hard earned monies.
Was this the book we should have gotten after FIVE YEARS? I say no, but it's the one we got. And it had it's moments, both good and bad. And even if it was mostly bad, or REDUNDANT, the crumbs she did give us towards a show-down in the future have been dropped. So there's that.
And if you feel a little like Hansel and Gretal in the forest, following breadcrumbs that are swiftly swept away in the mouths of birds, you're not alone. Maybe the next book won't take FIVE YEARS. Maybe the next book will be more about DOING than TELLING.
Just maybe.
Not with a bang, but a fizzle. Not with a bang. But with a fizzle. A fizzle instead of a bang. The sound of the fizzle strikes harder than the bang ever could.
Repetitive? Annoyingly so? Yeah. That could be the crux of "A Shiver of Light." Repetitive inane blather about shit that has already happened or needs to but certainly won't happen in this book! The most important points and scenes happen off screen (but don't worry your pretty head, those types of things are few and far between!) and while we're brought PAINFULLY aware of how Frost's hair always looks like metallic lace and Doyle is made from the Darkness for which he's named, the drive of this book is hurry up and wait.
HURRY UP AND WAIT?
The fans have waited FIVE FREAKING YEARS!! And I would like to point out that I used to be an ardent fan of LKH. I read her Anita books like they were pieces of chocolate I couldn't eat fast enough. All the way to Anita's transformation into an idiotic Mary Sue who sexes everyone left and right while the narrative reminds us that she doesn't feel pretty.
*Head, meet desk--Now repeat!*
I haven't read an Anita Blake book in years and I don't recommend the series to anyone. In fact, it's one of the series that I recommend people to stay away from because it makes such a disappointing decline into trashy vagina-led no-plot patheticness. But Merry was different. I knew that Merry needed to sleep her way to the top. And I was cool with it. And LKH had drawn me in, so even when Merry began to grow her Harem O' Hotties I could accept it and read on.
FIVE YEARS. WE WAITED FIVE YEARS. (SPOILERS AHEAD!)
YET NOTHING HAPPENS. This is a book to lead to other books and it's not written terribly well and it's not worth the FIVE YEARS that we waited to get it.
I half told myself I'd write this stellar review that really captured all of the ways that LKH has done her readers injustice by giving us this book, while highlighting the sparse snippets she gave us that helped move the story along or give us insight into the characters we've grown to root for after all these years.
I considered flipping through the SEVERELY OVERPRICED BOOK that I bought to have quotes and all manner of things. And then as I sat down to write I realized that LKH *CLEARLY* doesn't give a crap for her books, her characters or her fans.
So this is my review, and my warning to those of you thinking about reading Shiver.
I'm glad I read it. It makes me realize that LKH is going through the motions and while there are specks of sparkle and flash mixed in with her word-vomit descriptions and recaps, the things accomplished plot-wise in this book could be condensed into maybe a chapter's length. So just keep that in mind. And maybe try your local library before you shell out your hard earned monies.
Was this the book we should have gotten after FIVE YEARS? I say no, but it's the one we got. And it had it's moments, both good and bad. And even if it was mostly bad, or REDUNDANT, the crumbs she did give us towards a show-down in the future have been dropped. So there's that.
And if you feel a little like Hansel and Gretal in the forest, following breadcrumbs that are swiftly swept away in the mouths of birds, you're not alone. Maybe the next book won't take FIVE YEARS. Maybe the next book will be more about DOING than TELLING.
Just maybe.
May 29, 2014
I am so disappointed in this book, and think that I expected 5 years! Meredith is pregnant, then gave birth to triplets, then she talks about all the the various husbands, then move to re-present to us all the Sidhe who have gone to live with her in the house of Maeve; most of the time the princess complains that she can not have sex because she had a natural birth, and if on the one hand this has saved us a series of threesomes, we cannot be saved from a series of fellatio. The old problem of Mrs. Hamilton, who now fills the books of sex for the complete absence of plot, comeback to bite, then it does not happen absolutely anything in this book up to 20 pages from the end, when, eventually, all this retroactive crying of Merry seems to find a explanation with the death of my favorite husband, so, for this, I will never forgive her. Especially combined with the fact that Taranis disappears from the circulation within two seconds after fighting for/against Merry for at least 5 books. It´s all wrong: the timing, the very poor plot, the three children who have finally arrived and whose fathers are still unknown, but especially the death of whom I cannot say so I don't spoiler.....
Sono cosí delusa da questo libro, e pensare che l'aspettavo da 5 anni!!! Meredith é incinta, poi partorisce tre gemelli, poi ci ripresenta tutti i personaggi a partire dai vari mariti, per poi passare a tutti i Sidhe che sono passati con lei a vivere nella casa di Maeve; la maggior parte del tempo la principessa si lamenta che non puó fare sesso perché ha avuto un parto naturale, e se da una parte questo ci ha risparmiato una serie di ammucchiate, lo stesso ci vengono propinate tutta una serie di fellatio. Il vecchio problema della Hamilton, che ormai riempie i libri di sesso per completa assenza di trama, torna prepotentemente a farsi sentire, in questo libro poi non succede assolutametne niente fino a 20 pagine dalla fine, quando finalmente tutto questo piangere retroattivo di Merry sembra trovare una spiegazione con la morte del mio marito preferito, quindi questa non gliela perdono proprio. Specialmente unita al fatto che Taranis scompare dalla circolazione in due secondi dopo averle dato il cordoglio per almeno 5 libri. È tutto sbagliato, il timing, la scarsissima trama, i tre bambini che sono finalmente arrivati e i cui padri sono ancora una vaga incognita, ma soprattutto la morte di chi dico io, ma non posso spoilerare....
THANKS TO NETGALLEY AND RANDOM HOUSE UK, TRANSWORLD PUBLISHER FOR THE PREVIEW!
Sono cosí delusa da questo libro, e pensare che l'aspettavo da 5 anni!!! Meredith é incinta, poi partorisce tre gemelli, poi ci ripresenta tutti i personaggi a partire dai vari mariti, per poi passare a tutti i Sidhe che sono passati con lei a vivere nella casa di Maeve; la maggior parte del tempo la principessa si lamenta che non puó fare sesso perché ha avuto un parto naturale, e se da una parte questo ci ha risparmiato una serie di ammucchiate, lo stesso ci vengono propinate tutta una serie di fellatio. Il vecchio problema della Hamilton, che ormai riempie i libri di sesso per completa assenza di trama, torna prepotentemente a farsi sentire, in questo libro poi non succede assolutametne niente fino a 20 pagine dalla fine, quando finalmente tutto questo piangere retroattivo di Merry sembra trovare una spiegazione con la morte del mio marito preferito, quindi questa non gliela perdono proprio. Specialmente unita al fatto che Taranis scompare dalla circolazione in due secondi dopo averle dato il cordoglio per almeno 5 libri. È tutto sbagliato, il timing, la scarsissima trama, i tre bambini che sono finalmente arrivati e i cui padri sono ancora una vaga incognita, ma soprattutto la morte di chi dico io, ma non posso spoilerare....
THANKS TO NETGALLEY AND RANDOM HOUSE UK, TRANSWORLD PUBLISHER FOR THE PREVIEW!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 13, 2014
I don't know why I bother with Ms. Hamiltons books anymore.
This one was a collection of angst, angst, pregnancy hormones, crying, more angst, a rapey uncle, more angst, lovey dovey I love you so, but I'm not in love with you, more angst, blablabla angst, blablabla about some holy relic (with EVERY damn appearance of one of "her soldiers" the whole explanation enchilada again), angst, blabla, pouf one of her men is dead, her uncle tried to rape her (in a dream) again, three pages later the book ended. On those last three pages she described more of the story than in the whole book before.
Adding onto the bad storytelling (it sometimes felt like she just copy-and-pasted some of the other "scenes" and just exchanged names) is the bad writing. Apparently Ms. Hamilton doesn't know the use of commas, which makes some of her sentences quite hard to decipher. I'm done with her. She ruined the Anita Blake series and apparently she's lost the mojo for Merry Gentry too.
I. WILL. NOT. READ. A. NEW. HAMILTON. BOOK. AGAIN. Utter waste of money and time.
This one was a collection of angst, angst, pregnancy hormones, crying, more angst, a rapey uncle, more angst, lovey dovey I love you so, but I'm not in love with you, more angst, blablabla angst, blablabla about some holy relic (with EVERY damn appearance of one of "her soldiers" the whole explanation enchilada again), angst, blabla, pouf one of her men is dead, her uncle tried to rape her (in a dream) again, three pages later the book ended. On those last three pages she described more of the story than in the whole book before.
Adding onto the bad storytelling (it sometimes felt like she just copy-and-pasted some of the other "scenes" and just exchanged names) is the bad writing. Apparently Ms. Hamilton doesn't know the use of commas, which makes some of her sentences quite hard to decipher. I'm done with her. She ruined the Anita Blake series and apparently she's lost the mojo for Merry Gentry too.
I. WILL. NOT. READ. A. NEW. HAMILTON. BOOK. AGAIN. Utter waste of money and time.
June 15, 2014
A shiver of light.
I can describe the plot easily enough.
Babies. Cry. Feel doom about nothing in particular. cry. oral sex. brief moments of happiness. Babies. Repeated self reflection with various members of the cast that could easily be swapped between Merry and Blake books. Overuse of the same words, descriptions and thoughts. More oral sex. Cry a bit more. last 10% of the book something actually happens. Cry again and find an easy resolution without any effort from the cast. The end.
I'd been awaiting the next installment in this series for a long time. Laurell K. Hamilton novels and I have an abusive relationship, they continue to batter me with bad writing and torture me with non-existent plots yet I still read them with some futile flower of hope in my heart. This novel let me down once again but there's clearly something that keeps me coming back and I'm sure I'll pick up the next one for my installment of literary masochism.
December 5, 2022
Reread
This series started off pretty good but constant repetition, bad and wayyyyy to frequent sex and a horrible ending just crash landed it for me.
If only life worked like this book.... I'd be able to f**k my problems away 😂
Spoilers ahead, 2 stars for a very disappointing ending to this series
Years ago I started this series but never finished it, as I'm currently on a RH streak I decided to make it from beginning to end this time.
As with any series I read with the same mcs, this review will cover my thoughts on all the books. Obviously as there are 9 books in this series I can't cover everything that happened so just my general thoughts.
*******
This series should've been one of my all time favourites, I actually faked being sick so my family would leave me alone to read 😂 but yet each book (except book 1) isn't rated more than 3 stars. Why?...... It's because....
1) Repetition - one would think much of the world building would've occurred in book 1, maybe even stretch it to book 2 but there were whole chapters that read as if they'd been copy and pasted from each book. This was so frustrating, reading through paragraphs that you LITERALLY read in EVERY book in this series! I think the editor fell asleep
2) Description - listen descriptive words and phrases are fantastic, they paint a picture that allows the reader to "see" the characters and the world that they live in....BUT too much can be a bad thing. In EVERY book of this series we have to wade through wordy descriptions of the men s' hair, clothes and surroundings. Every character's description ran for paragraphs until I started skipping them. The worst part was that we'd already read these EXACT descriptions in previous books or sometimes earlier in the same damn book. Again I think the editor fell asleep
3)The sex- I'm not sure if this was erotica but again it was just WAY too overdone. We actually start off the series with a attempted rape and from there things went to crazy town. Merry is descended from fertility gods so maybe a lpt of sex is expected. She's ordered by the queen to sleep with a few of the guards until she gets pregnant and that worked with the plot....but then it seemed as if EVERY character had to be in some kind of sexual situation with Merry. From her co worker, to the other guards not even in her main group, to the goblins, a female character, the Lord of the Slaugh with his extra bits and even the little people....Merry was getting down with EVERYBODY! Now in the early books it sucked but I digested the reasoning(kinda) but after she was pregnant she was still sleeping with others! Why was it necessary for her to sleep with the twins when they didn't even offer her an allegiance and they'd already served their purpose? The hardest part was that the sex scenes sucked though 😂
4) The men- we get multiple H's throughout the series. They were members of the queen's guard and had suffered for years under her hand. Now I got over(maybe) the fact that they'd slept with her aunt and then were sleeping with her. Honestly Andais was evil so it basically became a non issue. My problem with the guys, specifically Doyle ad Frost was that the author basically emasculated them in the later books. We keep hearing that the Queen's Darkness and her Killing Frost were 2 of the baddest warriors EVER. Doyle was feared for centuries and then the author turned them into pussycats. Frost suffered more mood swings than a pregnant woman, a teen and a menstruating woman COMBINED. I wanted to smack him so hard! Where was the great Killing Frost in this weak character who was forever brooding about the fact that Merry loved Doyle more?!! Doyle wasn't as bad but he definitely did NOT live up to his badass rep as the Queen's Darkness.
5)The Villains - throughout this series there were 2 main Villains, Merry's aunt and her uncle who ruled the different courts of the Sidhe. They were both evil in different ways with her aunt committing many atrocities over the years as she ruled through fear. She abused the guards and turned a blind eye to the horrific deeds committed by her son. She even tried drowning Merry as a child. Her uncle too wasn't better, he almost beat Merry to death as a child and actually raped her in this series YET AFTER all that he suffered a damaged hand and the aunt had a softening of her old ways.....wait what?!!! You don't harp on the evil deeds of the villains for thousands of words and then end the series with a whimper!!! After all we'd been through I deserved nothing less than WAR!!! What the fuck kind of resolution was that? So many of the guards got supposedly great powers and yet nobody uses it!!! Merry herself was touted to have 2 hands of great power but she didn't use all that greatness to secure safety for her children in the years to come? It's like the author expected the series to continue so she just left everything on pause and I hated that
6) The ending - as explained above the ending of this series was truly unworthy but one of my biggest issues was Sholto's death. In essence he was one of the H's,maybe not Merry's great love but still a partial father and a significant character throughout the series. I liked Sholto an honestly felt that after all he'd been through he deserved his HEA and his damn kingdom! I got so pissed at his death!series
7) Resolution- as far as I can tell this is the end? Of this series yet quite a few issues remain unresolved. What happened with the goblins, especially the twins? Who would take over the Unseelie court? Where were they going to live and how? What happened to the DNA results and the court case? I mean her uncle was still alive(unfortunately) so what happened to his claim of fatherhood and her rape case? Many other odds and ends were just dropped including the unsatisfying justice to the King and Queen
All in all this series had some really great moments and I enjoyed it for the most part but the same issues occurred in each book making it a chore to get throughout each book. It's a shame really because the potential is definitely there.
This series started off pretty good but constant repetition, bad and wayyyyy to frequent sex and a horrible ending just crash landed it for me.
If only life worked like this book.... I'd be able to f**k my problems away 😂
Spoilers ahead, 2 stars for a very disappointing ending to this series
Years ago I started this series but never finished it, as I'm currently on a RH streak I decided to make it from beginning to end this time.
As with any series I read with the same mcs, this review will cover my thoughts on all the books. Obviously as there are 9 books in this series I can't cover everything that happened so just my general thoughts.
*******
This series should've been one of my all time favourites, I actually faked being sick so my family would leave me alone to read 😂 but yet each book (except book 1) isn't rated more than 3 stars. Why?...... It's because....
1) Repetition - one would think much of the world building would've occurred in book 1, maybe even stretch it to book 2 but there were whole chapters that read as if they'd been copy and pasted from each book. This was so frustrating, reading through paragraphs that you LITERALLY read in EVERY book in this series! I think the editor fell asleep
2) Description - listen descriptive words and phrases are fantastic, they paint a picture that allows the reader to "see" the characters and the world that they live in....BUT too much can be a bad thing. In EVERY book of this series we have to wade through wordy descriptions of the men s' hair, clothes and surroundings. Every character's description ran for paragraphs until I started skipping them. The worst part was that we'd already read these EXACT descriptions in previous books or sometimes earlier in the same damn book. Again I think the editor fell asleep
3)The sex- I'm not sure if this was erotica but again it was just WAY too overdone. We actually start off the series with a attempted rape and from there things went to crazy town. Merry is descended from fertility gods so maybe a lpt of sex is expected. She's ordered by the queen to sleep with a few of the guards until she gets pregnant and that worked with the plot....but then it seemed as if EVERY character had to be in some kind of sexual situation with Merry. From her co worker, to the other guards not even in her main group, to the goblins, a female character, the Lord of the Slaugh with his extra bits and even the little people....Merry was getting down with EVERYBODY! Now in the early books it sucked but I digested the reasoning(kinda) but after she was pregnant she was still sleeping with others! Why was it necessary for her to sleep with the twins when they didn't even offer her an allegiance and they'd already served their purpose? The hardest part was that the sex scenes sucked though 😂
4) The men- we get multiple H's throughout the series. They were members of the queen's guard and had suffered for years under her hand. Now I got over(maybe) the fact that they'd slept with her aunt and then were sleeping with her. Honestly Andais was evil so it basically became a non issue. My problem with the guys, specifically Doyle ad Frost was that the author basically emasculated them in the later books. We keep hearing that the Queen's Darkness and her Killing Frost were 2 of the baddest warriors EVER. Doyle was feared for centuries and then the author turned them into pussycats. Frost suffered more mood swings than a pregnant woman, a teen and a menstruating woman COMBINED. I wanted to smack him so hard! Where was the great Killing Frost in this weak character who was forever brooding about the fact that Merry loved Doyle more?!! Doyle wasn't as bad but he definitely did NOT live up to his badass rep as the Queen's Darkness.
5)The Villains - throughout this series there were 2 main Villains, Merry's aunt and her uncle who ruled the different courts of the Sidhe. They were both evil in different ways with her aunt committing many atrocities over the years as she ruled through fear. She abused the guards and turned a blind eye to the horrific deeds committed by her son. She even tried drowning Merry as a child. Her uncle too wasn't better, he almost beat Merry to death as a child and actually raped her in this series YET AFTER all that he suffered a damaged hand and the aunt had a softening of her old ways.....wait what?!!! You don't harp on the evil deeds of the villains for thousands of words and then end the series with a whimper!!! After all we'd been through I deserved nothing less than WAR!!! What the fuck kind of resolution was that? So many of the guards got supposedly great powers and yet nobody uses it!!! Merry herself was touted to have 2 hands of great power but she didn't use all that greatness to secure safety for her children in the years to come? It's like the author expected the series to continue so she just left everything on pause and I hated that
6) The ending - as explained above the ending of this series was truly unworthy but one of my biggest issues was Sholto's death. In essence he was one of the H's,maybe not Merry's great love but still a partial father and a significant character throughout the series. I liked Sholto an honestly felt that after all he'd been through he deserved his HEA and his damn kingdom! I got so pissed at his death!series
7) Resolution- as far as I can tell this is the end? Of this series yet quite a few issues remain unresolved. What happened with the goblins, especially the twins? Who would take over the Unseelie court? Where were they going to live and how? What happened to the DNA results and the court case? I mean her uncle was still alive(unfortunately) so what happened to his claim of fatherhood and her rape case? Many other odds and ends were just dropped including the unsatisfying justice to the King and Queen
All in all this series had some really great moments and I enjoyed it for the most part but the same issues occurred in each book making it a chore to get throughout each book. It's a shame really because the potential is definitely there.
February 15, 2020
I love this series and missed it.
my main issue with Lauren K. Hamilton is that she repeat herself too much (even the same joke!). Sometimes the same exact saying a couple chapter apart. The constant recap at the first chapter about the previous book is annoying. It is way too long. Since this story is a saga and CANNOT be read stand alone, it is totally annoying to get a full chapter about how she was raped... the "Bring me my darkness" but he is no longer the queen's darkness explication is definitely old and annoying!!!!
Sometimes she even use the same joke several time during the book.
So yeah, repetition is something Laurel K. Hamilton does a lot.
LKH repeat the same "I cannot be in love with all but I love all my men" as with Anita. I wished LKH could change the pattern with Merry and make her be in love with all. It seems that in LKH' mind, being in love with 2 is the limit. Considering, both heroines have way more lovers than that, it does not seem right: all are in love with the heroine but not them because her heart has limit extension...
All of a sudden, Merry is mortal again? WTH? She was before the goddess picked her, then she became a goddess of love and health... now she is a MORTEL GODDESS?? REALY???? Warriors carry nail with her blood to heal but then her blood kill the immortal still? I thought this issue was solved long ago?
Last book it was only 6 fathers and they were all the daddy, now it is 8 fathers and and each kid has their own fathers????????? LKH is not consistent, she need vitamins for memories and quick because she forgets her characters (bitter memory with cookie monster, fans will remember).
The constant rose's petal is starting to be stupid now and loose its miracle. The clothes, hair descriptions do not bring anything more to the story if it takes a couple of pages in each description.
She cast out the untrustworthy sidhe refugees to athe beach house, yet she goes there and OH SURPRISE something bad happens?
This final book of this serial was definitely a deception. I said it before and say it again. In my opinion, LKH should just make happy ending to both anita and merry and start a brand new series... remain with only 2 guys 1 woman if she strongly believe that a woman cannot be in love with more and stop giving us orgies as if it is the sexiest and hotest thing to write.... sex with no feelings is just porn. IMO - But hey! merry and anita pay the bills, right?
Besides that, I am a masochist because I still like this serial up to book #8.
Regarding Anita. It took 5 years before I started to read it again. I used to just jump on each book like a starving woman, sadly not anymore.
As for Merry Gentry... RIP. Laurell K Hamilton said on her blog that her editor torn her hand to write this book.... wished she never did. Why did she? Stupid move, that is all.
Mary
ETA: after consideration changing the rating to 1...
my main issue with Lauren K. Hamilton is that she repeat herself too much (even the same joke!). Sometimes the same exact saying a couple chapter apart. The constant recap at the first chapter about the previous book is annoying. It is way too long. Since this story is a saga and CANNOT be read stand alone, it is totally annoying to get a full chapter about how she was raped... the "Bring me my darkness" but he is no longer the queen's darkness explication is definitely old and annoying!!!!
Sometimes she even use the same joke several time during the book.
So yeah, repetition is something Laurel K. Hamilton does a lot.
LKH repeat the same "I cannot be in love with all but I love all my men" as with Anita. I wished LKH could change the pattern with Merry and make her be in love with all. It seems that in LKH' mind, being in love with 2 is the limit. Considering, both heroines have way more lovers than that, it does not seem right: all are in love with the heroine but not them because her heart has limit extension...
All of a sudden, Merry is mortal again? WTH? She was before the goddess picked her, then she became a goddess of love and health... now she is a MORTEL GODDESS?? REALY???? Warriors carry nail with her blood to heal but then her blood kill the immortal still? I thought this issue was solved long ago?
Last book it was only 6 fathers and they were all the daddy, now it is 8 fathers and and each kid has their own fathers????????? LKH is not consistent, she need vitamins for memories and quick because she forgets her characters (bitter memory with cookie monster, fans will remember).
The constant rose's petal is starting to be stupid now and loose its miracle. The clothes, hair descriptions do not bring anything more to the story if it takes a couple of pages in each description.
She cast out the untrustworthy sidhe refugees to athe beach house, yet she goes there and OH SURPRISE something bad happens?
This final book of this serial was definitely a deception. I said it before and say it again. In my opinion, LKH should just make happy ending to both anita and merry and start a brand new series... remain with only 2 guys 1 woman if she strongly believe that a woman cannot be in love with more and stop giving us orgies as if it is the sexiest and hotest thing to write.... sex with no feelings is just porn. IMO - But hey! merry and anita pay the bills, right?
Besides that, I am a masochist because I still like this serial up to book #8.
Regarding Anita. It took 5 years before I started to read it again. I used to just jump on each book like a starving woman, sadly not anymore.
As for Merry Gentry... RIP. Laurell K Hamilton said on her blog that her editor torn her hand to write this book.... wished she never did. Why did she? Stupid move, that is all.
Mary
ETA: after consideration changing the rating to 1...
June 7, 2014
I wish I would've saved my money and passed on this book. I gave up on the Anita Blake series ages ago but still had hopes for Merry Gentry. Just like the the Blake series, Hamilton WASTES paper and time having the characters discuss ad nauseum the minutiae of seelie/unseelie culture that does NOTHING to further the storyline. It's so mind numbingly boring that I flip through the book looking for the plot and some action..ANY action...trying to understand useless random pointless scenes. All the other characters blur as the main character god modes her way through the series getting more powerful and leaving the other characters in their one dimensional shadows.
How the hell she keeps selling books and getting publishers to print this self serving CRAP is beyond me. I've read that once an opera singer falls in love with the sound of their own voice, they are unable to project properly and their career is over. I think this has happened to Hamilton. She's fallen in love with her own writing and has forgotten pesky things like the audience and the plot and anything else interesting.
SAVE YOUR MONEY! Don't buy this book! I WANT MY MONEY BACK!
How the hell she keeps selling books and getting publishers to print this self serving CRAP is beyond me. I've read that once an opera singer falls in love with the sound of their own voice, they are unable to project properly and their career is over. I think this has happened to Hamilton. She's fallen in love with her own writing and has forgotten pesky things like the audience and the plot and anything else interesting.
SAVE YOUR MONEY! Don't buy this book! I WANT MY MONEY BACK!
October 22, 2024
Oct 22/2024
YES!! LET’S GOOOOO!! It only took 10 years but only good things come to those who wait lol author just confirmed a new book is coming on her Insta, I’m so freaking excited. Time to do a reread ❤️
Nov 9/2014
Ok so loved it, but it is staying at 4 stars until it is confirmed that there is going to be another book cause if it ends here I will cut someone. The author is super vague about if there will be more for some reason, only stating if the stories keep coming she'll keep writing. Which is awesome, but I'd like maybe a hint of if or when the next one will be. So until I know for sure there will be more I will keep it at 4 and then bump it up when I do :P Also she better fix what she did in this one to a certain character. I am super sad about it and I'm just going to pretend the last 10% of the book didn't happen.
YES!! LET’S GOOOOO!! It only took 10 years but only good things come to those who wait lol author just confirmed a new book is coming on her Insta, I’m so freaking excited. Time to do a reread ❤️
Nov 9/2014
Ok so loved it, but it is staying at 4 stars until it is confirmed that there is going to be another book cause if it ends here I will cut someone. The author is super vague about if there will be more for some reason, only stating if the stories keep coming she'll keep writing. Which is awesome, but I'd like maybe a hint of if or when the next one will be. So until I know for sure there will be more I will keep it at 4 and then bump it up when I do :P Also she better fix what she did in this one to a certain character. I am super sad about it and I'm just going to pretend the last 10% of the book didn't happen.
January 6, 2016
Well, this was disappointing...
I expected so much more from this book! The previous one was really really good, so I thought this will be at least as good. And it started out that way, but then something happened. Good part though, after about 85%, it got back to being good.
On the other hand, I'll really miss this series! I liked the characters and I am curious about what will happen next (although I understood this will be the last book from the series).
Ah well, all in all, I loved the story and I really liked most of the characters. Way too many clothes descriptions (at leas in this last one), but the world builder was amazing for this whole series. And that's one of the things that I appreciate the most in a pnr.
I expected so much more from this book! The previous one was really really good, so I thought this will be at least as good. And it started out that way, but then something happened. Good part though, after about 85%, it got back to being good.
On the other hand, I'll really miss this series! I liked the characters and I am curious about what will happen next (although I understood this will be the last book from the series).
Ah well, all in all, I loved the story and I really liked most of the characters. Way too many clothes descriptions (at leas in this last one), but the world builder was amazing for this whole series. And that's one of the things that I appreciate the most in a pnr.
June 7, 2014
I can honestly say, I've never been more disappointed in reading a supposed 'final' book in a series.
This read too much like Anita's last book.
This read too much like Anita's last book.
June 4, 2014
After a looong wait the book is finally here and not much really happens.
The babies are born, Merry can't have sex for six weeks but the author still manages to fill page after page with repetitive alternative sexytimes. The descriptions are also repetitive in the extreme. And all the talking!
I love LKH's stories and the world she has created. That said, I wish a good editor would get a hold of her and slash all the overblown prose and make her get back to her great action story telling. The action parts, what little there was of them, were great.
Recommend 100% for any fan of the series. First time readers, stay away!
The babies are born, Merry can't have sex for six weeks but the author still manages to fill page after page with repetitive alternative sexytimes. The descriptions are also repetitive in the extreme. And all the talking!
I love LKH's stories and the world she has created. That said, I wish a good editor would get a hold of her and slash all the overblown prose and make her get back to her great action story telling. The action parts, what little there was of them, were great.
Recommend 100% for any fan of the series. First time readers, stay away!
February 2, 2023
1 Star I had originally rated this 1.5 stars, but upon this re-read, I felt this book didn't deserve that last half-star.
This review is from: A Shiver of Light (A Merry Gentry Novel) (Kindle Edition)
Edited for various typos made while in the heat of the moment!
Please forgive my ramble, for that is what this is and less a review -I find that my review is written more like this book was and less like a proper review!
Sooo...we waited 5 years for *this*?
So many frickin' questions left unanswered. It takes big ones to leave your fans with this poop.
A recap of the story with no spoilers ------------------------------->
Discussions of past books...blah, blah, blah.
Discusses the entourages clothing and appearance.
Have babies.
More inappropriate talk about the men.
Some action.
More recap, re-hash, filler, introspective depressing filler.
Some exciting bits with Taranis and the Andais that never get built on.
Being set up as a Deity - again, never gets expanded on---Oh and more re-hash.
A death, a fight, some dream leaping/visiting and questioning of mortality--- yet MORE filler and repetitiveness.
The end. ------------------------->
Annoying parts? Aside from the fact that this book was filled to the covers with c r a p --- there were actually some interesting parts; unfortunately, they had not been expanded on to make a fresh new book. The interesting and plot-building parts seem to be brushed under the carpet, and we, the readers, are left wondering what the heck we waited for.
<-------------------------------------------SPOILERISH---------------------------------------------->
The death was supposed to be horrific, but it just left me with a 'so what' sort of feeling; I didn't feel horror or regret, and I should have; it just wasn't written for me to actually 'feel it.'
The interesting bits with the Queen were perfect, and there should have been more.
Merry bringing mortality to Fairy seems to be an unwise addition to this story - a better plot would have been the Fae, and all its representatives should have brought immortality to Merry.
Could the third baby possibly be the King?
------------------------------------>END SPOILERISHNESS<--------------------------------------------
Merry should have taken care of the King the whole way, not just as far as she took it. But it was interesting to see the Seelie react to Aisling. Unfortunately for us, this leaves the option open for Ms. Hamilton to be repetitive with her next book-repeating (beating dead horses) anything that Taranis ever did to our poor Merry- If I had read one more time, how she was beaten at the Shining Court by the King - I would have pulled my own eyes out! Okay, this is an edit (2021)---it does not look like there will be another book in this series, so we are stuck with this crap as our ending. So many questions are left unanswered. Bah Humbug!
This is the perfect book for the first-time reader who has not read the first books since everything will be fresh for you -for us long-time readers...be ready to beat yourself over the head to keep yourself awake long enough to finish.
Also, be prepared for nothing new or eye-opening.
This review is from: A Shiver of Light (A Merry Gentry Novel) (Kindle Edition)
Edited for various typos made while in the heat of the moment!
Please forgive my ramble, for that is what this is and less a review -I find that my review is written more like this book was and less like a proper review!
Sooo...we waited 5 years for *this*?
So many frickin' questions left unanswered. It takes big ones to leave your fans with this poop.
A recap of the story with no spoilers ------------------------------->
Discussions of past books...blah, blah, blah.
Discusses the entourages clothing and appearance.
Have babies.
More inappropriate talk about the men.
Some action.
More recap, re-hash, filler, introspective depressing filler.
Some exciting bits with Taranis and the Andais that never get built on.
Being set up as a Deity - again, never gets expanded on---Oh and more re-hash.
A death, a fight, some dream leaping/visiting and questioning of mortality--- yet MORE filler and repetitiveness.
The end. ------------------------->
Annoying parts? Aside from the fact that this book was filled to the covers with c r a p --- there were actually some interesting parts; unfortunately, they had not been expanded on to make a fresh new book. The interesting and plot-building parts seem to be brushed under the carpet, and we, the readers, are left wondering what the heck we waited for.
<-------------------------------------------SPOILERISH---------------------------------------------->
The death was supposed to be horrific, but it just left me with a 'so what' sort of feeling; I didn't feel horror or regret, and I should have; it just wasn't written for me to actually 'feel it.'
The interesting bits with the Queen were perfect, and there should have been more.
Merry bringing mortality to Fairy seems to be an unwise addition to this story - a better plot would have been the Fae, and all its representatives should have brought immortality to Merry.
Could the third baby possibly be the King?
------------------------------------>END SPOILERISHNESS<--------------------------------------------
Merry should have taken care of the King the whole way, not just as far as she took it. But it was interesting to see the Seelie react to Aisling. Unfortunately for us, this leaves the option open for Ms. Hamilton to be repetitive with her next book-repeating (beating dead horses) anything that Taranis ever did to our poor Merry- If I had read one more time, how she was beaten at the Shining Court by the King - I would have pulled my own eyes out! Okay, this is an edit (2021)---it does not look like there will be another book in this series, so we are stuck with this crap as our ending. So many questions are left unanswered. Bah Humbug!
This is the perfect book for the first-time reader who has not read the first books since everything will be fresh for you -for us long-time readers...be ready to beat yourself over the head to keep yourself awake long enough to finish.
Also, be prepared for nothing new or eye-opening.
June 6, 2014
Betrayed, as readers fans and customers. After a five year wait, we have all been betrayed by Laurel K Hamilton with this tripe.
Have I not been vehement enough in my dislike if this drivel for you? Please let me try harder. I have read everything Ms. Hamilton has ever written. I waited five years for this book. I re-read the first eight books in less than a week to prepare for Shiver of Light. I paid full price. I waited up to start reading as soon as it was delivered. I am or rather was a die hard fan.
Repetitive, redundant, recurrent, relentless, reiterative...there I have found more ways to describe the plethora of incessant recaps of information from previous books, fashionista freeze frames, and senseless stylistic syntax. Yes, all that alliteration, was meant as a sarcastic show of how easy wording differently truly is. Which is something that is desperately missing in this book.
Unlike when reading her previous novels, I found myself skimming over the details of the minutia. Even when rereading the entire series for the fifth time last week, I did not find the details boring or insignificant enough to begin skimming or even skipping sections of prose. Unfortunately, even a first reading of this prattle was not capable of preventing the need to jump paragraphs, and at one point two pages.
If all of this is not enough to convince you NOT to read this book, though I am loathe to call it that. I will try once more. The plot was....missing. The character development was....nonexistent.
It was so unbelievably bad that I can not find the words to explain it further.
PLEASE... do not bother. Do not waste your time or money. Had I not already wasted more time on this than it warranted, I might drive to St. Louis, find Ms. Hamilton, and throw this piece of crap at her the way she slung this at us, her previously loyal fans.
Have I not been vehement enough in my dislike if this drivel for you? Please let me try harder. I have read everything Ms. Hamilton has ever written. I waited five years for this book. I re-read the first eight books in less than a week to prepare for Shiver of Light. I paid full price. I waited up to start reading as soon as it was delivered. I am or rather was a die hard fan.
Repetitive, redundant, recurrent, relentless, reiterative...there I have found more ways to describe the plethora of incessant recaps of information from previous books, fashionista freeze frames, and senseless stylistic syntax. Yes, all that alliteration, was meant as a sarcastic show of how easy wording differently truly is. Which is something that is desperately missing in this book.
Unlike when reading her previous novels, I found myself skimming over the details of the minutia. Even when rereading the entire series for the fifth time last week, I did not find the details boring or insignificant enough to begin skimming or even skipping sections of prose. Unfortunately, even a first reading of this prattle was not capable of preventing the need to jump paragraphs, and at one point two pages.
If all of this is not enough to convince you NOT to read this book, though I am loathe to call it that. I will try once more. The plot was....missing. The character development was....nonexistent.
It was so unbelievably bad that I can not find the words to explain it further.
PLEASE... do not bother. Do not waste your time or money. Had I not already wasted more time on this than it warranted, I might drive to St. Louis, find Ms. Hamilton, and throw this piece of crap at her the way she slung this at us, her previously loyal fans.
June 5, 2014
As fans of the series know, this book has been a long time coming. Many people, myself included, worried that the series had been abandoned to writers block and wouldn't be finished. Considering the 5 year wait, I think fans are going to be incredibly disappointed. I know I was. I think after this installment I may just leave the series altogether.
I quickly grew tired of how the author couldn't be bothered to come up with a plot, and so has filled the book with sex, the last couple of pages of the book offer some explanation, but this was totally ridiculous. The "plot" is so incredibly rubbish, and you have to squint to find it...and maybe use a magnifying glass.
Merry spends the entire time talking about all of her husbands...gives birth to triplets...but you still don't find out who fathered them. At all. There's a death that's gonna hardcore piss people off. The plot pacing/timing/flow was all wrong. I mean, 5 years waiting for this? What a joke.
The book tried to take you on an emotional journey or whatever, but I pretty much felt nothing except annoyance and boredom the whole way through. The book didn't inspire any of the emotions the author was probably going for. Not to mention it falls in to the category of "so predictable it hurts".
Considering the genre this falls in to and the whole fae thing, it says a hell of a lot when I turn around and say that this entire book is unrealistic. Don't get me started on the babies. Just don't.
I was so bored by this book I took any excuse to put it down. Any excuse. Nothing happens, as I said, there's no plot. It is over 300 pages of nothing. Everything happens and is wrapped up within a couple of pages. I'm seriously not joking. I know I write some scathing reviews, and I know I've done a couple of them lately, but if you read, you will see.
The majority of the books is just huge loads of information that you either don't care about, or started off caring about, but lost the will to live after a couple of pages. I love a good bit of love, but I swear, I couldn't take it in this book. All the time. Anything important was just an afterthought in the dialogue after love.
The book is so damn repetitive you could be forgiven for thinking you where having a hardcore deja vu trip. I think it's best if fans abandon this series, jump ship and let it die. The only thing more terrible than this book, will be the 10th book in the series. If it ever gets published.
I quickly grew tired of how the author couldn't be bothered to come up with a plot, and so has filled the book with sex, the last couple of pages of the book offer some explanation, but this was totally ridiculous. The "plot" is so incredibly rubbish, and you have to squint to find it...and maybe use a magnifying glass.
Merry spends the entire time talking about all of her husbands...gives birth to triplets...but you still don't find out who fathered them. At all. There's a death that's gonna hardcore piss people off. The plot pacing/timing/flow was all wrong. I mean, 5 years waiting for this? What a joke.
The book tried to take you on an emotional journey or whatever, but I pretty much felt nothing except annoyance and boredom the whole way through. The book didn't inspire any of the emotions the author was probably going for. Not to mention it falls in to the category of "so predictable it hurts".
Considering the genre this falls in to and the whole fae thing, it says a hell of a lot when I turn around and say that this entire book is unrealistic. Don't get me started on the babies. Just don't.
I was so bored by this book I took any excuse to put it down. Any excuse. Nothing happens, as I said, there's no plot. It is over 300 pages of nothing. Everything happens and is wrapped up within a couple of pages. I'm seriously not joking. I know I write some scathing reviews, and I know I've done a couple of them lately, but if you read, you will see.
The majority of the books is just huge loads of information that you either don't care about, or started off caring about, but lost the will to live after a couple of pages. I love a good bit of love, but I swear, I couldn't take it in this book. All the time. Anything important was just an afterthought in the dialogue after love.
The book is so damn repetitive you could be forgiven for thinking you where having a hardcore deja vu trip. I think it's best if fans abandon this series, jump ship and let it die. The only thing more terrible than this book, will be the 10th book in the series. If it ever gets published.
January 17, 2016
Sadly, this latest and most anticipated entry into the MG series is both overpriced and overrated. As a follower and reader of all LKH's books, I feel cheated. SoL has absolutely no plot, character development, originality (repetitive descriptions and phrases throughout the book and previous books, including the AB series), or anything remotely resembling a progression in the story. All of the real action/excitement occurs off page! Turn the page, be "told" something major has happened in a sentence or, if lucky, a paragraph, move on like it's no big deal, and that's it. My wallet is lighter and I feel cheated. If you absolutely must read this book because you love the series, I suggest checking it out from the library and saving your money for an author who actually gives a s#!t about her characters, craft, and readers.
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July 11, 2013I just checked the website and it states the next Merry Gentry book is to be out summer of 2014 for sure now. Before there was not a definitive answer. Yay!!!! I can't wait to hear more about all of her hunky guys and find out who the babies take after. Must be a really long gestational period. :)
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