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Voodoo Love and the Curse of Jean Lafitte’s Treasure

Book Review of Voodoo Love and the Curse of Jean Lafitte’s Treasure, by Victoria Richards

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Voodoo LoveI grabbed a copy of Victotia Richard‘s Voodoo Love from the Amazon free list. It is also review number three in my Taking Care of my Own challenge.

Description from Goodreads:
Elizabeth knows what adventure is about or at least she would if her memory would ever come back to her. She’s been told that two years ago she was chased by a greedy thug, Diego Martes, who believed she knew the location to a pirate treasure cursed by voodoo and hidden deep in the sultry bayous of Louisiana. During the process of escaping, Elizabeth’s lover and assassin for hire, Juan Carlos Montoya, drowned trying to save her. Though she now lives in a government arranged marriage to a cop in the small town of Barataria Bay, Elizabeth is still trying to remember the past, remember the danger, and most of all remember Juan Carlos, the dead Latino dreamboat who dragged her into the mess in the first place.

When Elizabeth’s idyllic new life is interrupted by a ghostly visit from a still sexy Juan, she finds herself once again plunged into unwanted intrigue. With his help, her memory of the past begins to come back, along with her memories of their nights of passion. Together they must outwit an insane villain, Diego and go back to where Jean Lafitte’s cursed pirate treasure is hidden in order to lift a deadly voodoo curse that threatens to end their love forever.

Review: **slightly spoilerish**
Pirates of the Caribbean anyone?—More specifically aspects of Dead Man’s Chest and At Worlds End. Elizabeth and Juan could be modern versions of, well, Elizabeth and Will. Euralie could be Tia Dalma. Jean Laffitte makes a credible Davey Jones and The Dead Man’s Ferry could be The Flying Dutchman. There’s even a cursed treasure that enslaves it’s possessors. All we’re really missing is the monkey.

I realise some of this is a case of using the same source myths as inspiration and also probably an unavoidable case of being influenced by what’s around you. I mean, the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise has become huge. It was everywhere for a while. But there are A LOT of similarities. The ship is even in need of a new captain. Sound familiar? Honestly, with the exception of being set in modern times and a change of most of the names I might be tempted to call this fan fiction…fun fan fiction, but still fan fiction.

Enough about that, moving on. This is a fun romp through the Bayou. Elizabeth is a fun, strong willed heroine who manages to find herself in a whole heap of trouble. Juan is her love interest. Normally I’d call him our hero, but honestly he’s in and out and the reader never gets to know him well enough to qualify for a main character tag, in my opinion. He’s a bit of a place holder, really.

I enjoyed the read, but I was confused about a couple things. Why didn’t Eddie just shoot Diego at any of the numerous opportunities he had, for example? Why was his identity as an agent kept secret from Elizabeth? It doesn’t seem necessary. Why would Jean, or maybe Maria, ever even have made a map to their treasure in the first place? They obviously didn’t need it.

I also couldn’t quite stomach the schmaltzy ending. I appreciate a happy ending and all but this was jut a little too…too, “Oh Juan, I love you soooo much” sort of over the top, borderline cheesy, feel good, true love inspired sap that moves from HEA to…to…to schmaltz. Not a fan, me.

For the most part, I thought the writing was fine. The name Elizabeth was said far, far too often to feel natural though. This wasn’t a habit that was used for everyone, but when speaking to Elizabeth, everyone seemed to need to say her name.  I got sick of it after a while. But that was my only real complaint other than the strange episode thing.

Why was broken into episodes? I read the compilation, so it doesn’t really effect me, but I could technically review each of them separately, I read them all. But I simply I don’t understand this whole episodic trend. How does one rate three middle chapters of a book for example, without consideration for preceding or following chapters?

Final say? I enjoyed it. It was a fun read. But that’s about it. Then again, all a reader sometimes wants is a little light fluff to pass the time.

Dark Legacy

Book Review of Dark Legacy: The End of the Kai (Dark Legacy Cycle 0.5), by Domenico Italo Composto-Hart

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Dark LegacyDomenico Italo Composto-Hart‘s Dark Legacy is free at both Amazon and Lulu. This is the second review in my month-long challenge to read only authors I ‘know.’

Description from Goodreads:
The End of the Kai of the Dark Legacy Cycle details the violent end of the Kai Order – an ancient, spiritual guild of warrior guardians and priestesses who have sworn their lives to protect the Oracle Queen of Atlantis – at the hands of Maniok, the being referred to as the “Great Evil” in the age-old Song of the Oracle King.

It is a chronicle of Arkan, the last Kai guardian, and his desperate attempt to save the life of his priestess who carries his unborn son, and his escape from Atlantis.

Review:
I find myself in an odd position here. I picked this book up in good faith, but found that it isn’t what I thought it was. I would say, ‘what it presents itself to be,’ but I’m not willing to allot the blame. So, I’m going with not what I thought.

You see I’ve just discovered that Dark Legacy: The End of the Kai is in fact a brief prequel and then the first three chapters of the book Dark Legacy: Trinity, which is book one of the series.

I hate this kind of thing. I just want to be able to pick up a book and know it’s the book, not part of it or an addition to it, or a snippet of something else. If I wanted to read Trinity I’d have picked it up, not a separately bound (well, digitally bound) portion of it. Seriously people! When did this become OK?

So, at 30%, when The End of Kai ended and Trinity was to begin, I bailed. I’m not about to knowingly start a book that I don’t have the end to. In fact, I resent that the author set me up to be in just that position. It feels like a manipulation and a way to trick readers into buying something. (Granted, The End of Kai is free, so it wouldn’t be a second purchase.) I’m not saying it is a manipulation, just that it feels like one.

So please take note. This review is for the first 30% (~50 pages) of this ‘book’ only. Anything after that would be a different book, or part of one and I neither read it nor am reviewing it. I’m not calling it a DNF, because I finished the prequel. But I didn’t read the last 70% of the file.

I found the writing here, while technically fine, pretentious. Or rather, if I was willing to stretch grammar close to it’s breaking point, portentous. The word really is an adjective meaning, of/like a portent and a portent is a sign or warning that something, especially something momentous or calamitous, is likely to happen. So, grammatically it doesn’t really mean what I’m about to use it for.

But anyone who reads a lot of sci-fi or fantasy will be familiar with the heavy, atmosphere-building tone frequently used during passages of prophecy or symbolically significant events. This whole book reads like that…like it’s a portent, like it has meaning beyond the words on it’s pages, like it considers itself more than it is.

I think it’s because it’s a prequel and designed to be a lead-in to book one. If I’m honest, I’m always a little uncomfortable with prequels. I’m never entirely sure when I’m supposed to read them, before the first novel or after the series as a bonus. Plus, I’ve found that when written after the main book(s) they tend to skimp on details, assuming the reader is already familiar with the world and/or characters.

I can’t accuse this book of that. I thought the world was well defined (and really intriguing). But that’s about all it is. There are no mentionable characters, really. This isn’t a story of it’s own, so much as a, ‘hey look, this happened. Don’t you want to know what happens next?’ The book starts with some random street urchin that plays no significant role other than providing a POV, then we see the world through the eyes of a crow (yes, a crow), meet some dying religiosos, a Darth Vador-like bad guy who has some past relation to a couple of fleeing lovers (none of which we learn). We meet them. That’s all. We pass them by while moving on to bigger, better things. Nothing more.

Now, the writing is lyrical and pretty. And while it worked for 50 or so pages, much more of it would have started to grind on my nerves. It felt very tense. Where does this leave me? It’s well written, an interesting world and what is probably an interesting story…but also almost none of that is enough to make me happy with The End of Kai. It’s not enough on its own and I’m pretty irked by its mere existence. So, not on my recommended list unless you go in planning to read the series.

The Guests of Honor

Book Review of The Guests of Honor, by Cat Amesbury

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The Guest of HonorAuthor, Cat Amesbury sent me a copy of her book, The Guests of Honor. As we recently connected on Goodreads, this is also the first review of my month-long Taking Care of My Own self-challenge.

Description from Amazon:
A woman, a fox, and a magical inn

Honor Desry’s only employee is a magical nudist, her guest list has an abnormal fascination with eels, and a surprising number of household objects are trying to hurt her. 

When Honor’s mother mysteriously disappeared, Honor became responsible for both her younger sisters and the family inn. Now, all Honor wants to do is run the inn, pay the bills, and not get killed by her unusually violent toaster. 

Unfortunately for Honor, the Virtue Inn has more secrets than it does rooms and the Guests are restless. If Honor wants to keep her house –and her head- she’s going to have to learn how to please The Guests of Honor. 

Warning: Contains some violence, profanity, innuendo, and semi-sentient household objects.

Review:
Oh, I just found this a marvellously imaginative ride. It ticked a lot of boxes for me and I truly enjoyed myself. In fact, my fist action after finishing it was rushing off to see if there is a sequel yet. (There isn’t, though apparently there will be.) I could break down each of the individual pleasantries, but the main point is that the book is just a lot of fun.

I thought Honor had a wonderful voice, both as a narrator and as a character. She certainly lived up to her name. Then there was Kay…sweet, gentle, frightening Kay. I adored him. There were also a number of minor characters, but most of them were just background filler.

There are a lot of points left a little hazy, but I imagine it’s intentionally so. I would have especially liked a bit more closure on the possible romantic front. Honestly, I like a little more clarity, but I can appreciate the stylistic difference here.

If I’m honest, there was a point when the book started to push my limits of believability (sentient egg timers and ambulatory tuber-men were just a little too much for me) but eventually I just decided to let go and roll with it. As a result, I was able to appreciate some of the ironic ridiculousness. And you really have to go into it with that sort of attitude, because as a reader you’re given no time to rest and catch your breath. From start to finish, it’s go, go, go.

The writing was a true joy to read (a lot of wit and humor) and it was fairly well edited. I noticed a few glitches, especially in the use of quotation marks. There were a few times when a single character continued speaking but the punctuation suggested a second person was contributing. This was particularly apparent when paragraph breaks were needed. It wasn’t that big a deal though.

As a bonus, the book actually ends. This feels like a rarity in modern books. Though the last page or so introduces the next adventure, this instalment ends nicely.

As to the plot: Imagine Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away with a grown up Chihiro as the inn keeper and Haku as a fox deity instead of a water dragon and there you have it. That’s the plot in a nutshell. (I kind of wonder if Amesbury doesn’t have a Miyazaki thing, really, since the sequel is apparently going to involve a cat god and something similar also features to The Cat Returns, another Miyazaki film. I can’t blame her. I love his films too.) Though unable to put my finger on exactly what it is that reminds me of Japanese mythology, I was definitely left with the impression that it contributed to the development of this story. Of course, as with any mere impression that could be completely wrong.

All in all, a rollickin’ good time. Highly recommended.