This review is for those who have read or are familiar with the previous books, Red-Headed Stepchild, The Mage In Black, and Green-Eyed Demon, or don't mind knowing major spoilers for them.
SPOILER ALERT
Now that the threat of war has passed, Sabina Kane is ready to focus on the future. Her relationship with Adam Lazarus is getting stronger and she's helping her sister, Maisie, overcome the trauma of her captivity in New Orleans. Even Giguhl is managing to stay out of trouble thanks to the arrival of Pussy Willow and his new roller derby team. But as much as Sabina wants to feel hopeful about the future, part of her doesn't believe that peace is possible.
Her suspicions are confirmed when a string of sadistic murders threatens to stall treaty negotiations between the mages and the vampires. Sabina pitches in to find the killer, but her investigation soon leads her down dark paths that have her questioning everyone she thought she could trust. And the closer she gets to the killer, the more Sabina begins to suspect this is one foe she may not be able to kill.
It's been a while since I was last in Sabina's world, but it took no time at all to ease myself back into their story and get hooked again.
Being the fourth book in the series, and coming off of such a cataclysmic event last time, it's expected that there would be a bit of a lull in the action this time around. Sure, there was a murder mystery at the beginning, but that was wrapped up almost halfway through. With most events coming off as time wasters (drag shows, a rock concert, roller derby matches, etc.), the majority of the book focused around relationships.
Sabina wasn't as introspective this time around, with most of her issues resolving last time, but that doesn't mean everything's hunky dory. She's still dealing with Maisie's torture and recovery, as well as trying not to show too much fang to Adam after his vamp-related near-death experience. Plus there are complications with her new New Orleans friends, Mac & Georgia, and Pussy Willow. About the only one she doesn't have problems with is Giguhl, but that's mostly because she doesn't spend much time with him with everything else going on.
Actually, her relationship with Adam was the most interesting to explore. She's still hiding her recent fling with Slade from him, and there's a point where tensions finally come to a head. Though, there are also a couple steamy scenes between them, too. More sex than the series has had to this point, but by no means a majority of the story.
More of the story actually focused on her and Maisie's relationship, and helping Maisie move past her trauma. In the process of finding solutions to Maisie's problems, Sabina and Rhea have a bit more time together, though I'll admit I was not so sure of her allegiances at times. She might be older and wiser about some things, but I got a lot of red flags when she decided that drugging Maisie was a good step. Or forcing her to go through a blood ritual she emphatically rejected. And she even tried convincing Sabina to test her powers in some dangerous ways... My scrutiny went down by the end, but I'm still not completely sold on Rhea's benevolence...
This might be a bit of a spoiler, but I feel like I have to talk about it. Mac, the werewolf dating a vampire we met last book, is called to New York to participate in a werewolf mating ritual. Despite loving Georgia, and not being interested in men in general, she is forced to marry and mate with a male from a neighboring pack. And I mean forced. If she hadn't walked herself to the stage, she would have been dragged. That's rape.
..But it never comes up again. There was a lot leading up to the ritual, of Georgia and Sabina trying to convince the Alpha to call things off, but once the night happens there's nothing said about it again. I guess there's some letter that Sabina's supposed to give Georgia, which I assume will happen in the next book, but if you ask me, they should have given more credence to the horror of what happened. Instead, we move straight on to sexy time with Sabina and Adam. And I don't care if it's "werewolf culture", forced marriage and childbearing in the 21st century is just plain wrong. Ugh, I hate that I even have to talk about this.
The series as a whole has never shied away from death - I mean, when you're dealing with vampires and demons it's practically a given - and so we've seen a good number of characters die, good and bad. Still, I was a bit surprised by the number of deaths we were given this time. I get that the stakes are ramping up, but we're running a bit low on people we know anymore.
I'm still interested to know where the series will end. There are a couple novellas I might check out, but more than anything I want to know how things end. Will all our friends make it out okay? Will the rights outweigh the wrongs? Will the end justify the means? I have no doubt that it'll have a "happy" ending, in the sense that the bad guy doesn't win, but will it really be happy for everyone? After the shit that went down in this book, it had better.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
View all my reviews
No comments :
Post a Comment
Let me hear you howl!