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Book Review: Shadow King, by Susan K. Hamilton

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shadow kingA few weeks back, I (or rather my Sadie’s Spotlight persona) had an Amazon credit that I decided to spend on books written by Twitter followers. Shadow King, by Susan K. Hamilton, was one of those books.

It’s likely to be the last book I read in 2020. There’s a chance I might finish one more before the new year, but not a great one.

about the book

Ambition. Betrayal. Revenge.

Centuries ago, the Faerie Realm was decimated by a vile and corrupt spell. To survive, the different faerie races—led by the Fae—escaped to the Human Realm where they’ve lived ever since.

As the Fae Patriarch of Boston’s criminal underworld, Aohdan Collins enjoys his playboy lifestyle while he works from the shadows to expand his growing empire, until one night when he shares a shot of whiskey with the lovely Seireadan Moore…

A Fae Seer, Seireadan is haunted by a vision of the Fae responsible for destroying Faerie and murdering her family. Common sense tells her to stay away from Aohdan, but his magnetism and charm are irresistible.As their passionate affair intensifies, Seireadan is pulled into the center of the underworld. And while her heart is bound to Aohdan, she cannot let go of her lifelong quest to hunt down the Fae who haunts her visions… especially when she realizes Aohdan might be the key to helping her find him.

But is revenge worth betraying the one she loves?

my reviewThis wasn’t bad, but I think it was a little overly long, the plot could have been tightened up a bit, and there were some super cliched elements. However, having said that, I liked the characters, liked that females (at least females of note to the story) were shown to be as capable, blood-thirsty, and powerful as men, and liked the general world (even if it’s not deeply developed).

All in all, I found it quite readable and would be happy to pick up another of Hamilton’s books.

Lucifer's Daughter

Book review: Lucifer’s Daughter, by Kel Carpenter

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Lucifer's daughter coverI picked up a copy of Lucifer’s Daughter, by Kel Carpenter from Amazon on one of it’s freebie days.about the book

We’ve all heard the story of the Four Horsemen. Harbingers of the apocalypse. Destruction given form. Four of the sexiest—wait no—forget that. You get my point.

So imagine my surprise when I find out everything I’ve ever been told, is a lie.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here. Let’s start from the beginning.

My name is Ruby Morningstar. I run a tattoo parlor in Portland with my bestfriend, have a pet raccoon, a crazy ex that stalks me, not to mention this one little thing… I’m a demon. Half-succubus, to be exact. For the last twenty-three years of my life, that’s the story I believed, but on the day a handsome stranger bails me out of jail my world is turned upside down, and suddenly I don’t know who I am anymore.

Because the Four Horsemen aren’t the bringers of the apocalypse.

I am.

Talk about never catching a break.

my review

I’m going to start off by stating the obvious. Having a female main character who every man wants sexually and isn’t safe to leave her home without someone trying to rape her is beyond painfully cliched. I mean eye-rollingly, seen it a bazillion time cliched. I know there’s no true new idea under the sun, but this has to be one of the most common ever written. So, color me unimpressed with it.

However, outside of that, I liked Ruby as a character. I liked the horsemen, the best friend and even the crazy racoon. The book does end just about the time it gets truly interesting, making it feel more like a serial than a series (and I hate that). But I’d be willing to read more. It’s flawed but also fun.

The Influencer

Book Review: The Influencer, by Alex Grass

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the influencer alex glassI won a copy of Alex Grass‘ The Influencer through Goodreads.

A Romanian sorcerer.
A nudist limo driver obsessed with Back to the Future.
A ten-foot-tall vigilante who mutilates their victims.

…and one old man who has been keeping a secret for half a century.

Out in the desert, a chasm opens that glows crimson below.
The possessed, cellphones drilled into their heads, run wild through the streets of New York.
And, a 24-hour MDMA-fueled dance party surrounding a site of ancient evil.

All this and more, in:

THE INFLUENCER!

Standard ‘elitist’ attempt at erudition that just comes off as smug and self-important instead. It feels very much as if the author expected to throw out a lot of random, drug-fueled ideas and be called the newest Hunter S. Thompson. He takes pot shots at several groups of people, inferring ‘we’re’ smarter than they are and therefore they deserve their horrible fate.

I very much liked Yuma and her relationship with the men of the VFW. But she’s the only positive representation of women in the whole book. And I’ll note she’s very butch, so positively portrayed for enacting traditionally male traits, rather than for actually being female. The only other women of note are literally faceless and included solely for the sexual reward and gratification of a male character. (How very original. *eyeroll*)

The writing and editing are quite clean and the book is easily readable. There are a few stylistic decisions that readers will have to choose for themselves if they like, but they’re consistent throughout. But at 115 pages (the last bit being a preview of part II, though you’ll note that nowhere does this book say part I) this is ~1/3 of an actual story/book. Why do authors do this? It’s the true reason for my low rating. I understand breaking a 1500 page tome into parts for publication, but why a standard, probably 300ish page one? It left me with NO PAYOFF for having read it. No conclusion. Nothing significant learned? No significant desire for more, honestly. What’s the point of giving only the beginning?