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Book Review of S.K. Hart’s Swordmaster Dasan

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swordmaster dasan 1

Swordmaster dasan 2

swordmaster dasan short
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Some time ago I grabbed free copies of S. Hart‘s Swordmaster Dasan short stories. Being the manga addict I am, I adore the covers. I tend to avoid posting about short stories/novellas/novelettes (whatever you want to call them), but these deserve a little attention so I’m making an exception. All three are currently free on  Smashwords and the first is also free on Amazon.

Deciding how to structure this was a little awkward, so just try to bear with me. 

Descriptions:

Book One:
Swordmaster Kyo Dasan is known for both his abilities and bitterness regarding visitors throughout the territory, seemingly comfortable only when alone.

Localem Arada, nicknamed Loki for his tendency to find trouble wherever he goes, finds himself at the mercy of the man he needs totrain him. Despite his reluctance, he agrees to the Swordmaster’soffer regarding alternative means of payment.

Book Two:
It has been three years since Kyo has seen his student when an opportunity to cross paths with him presents itself. He immediatelydiscovers that Loki has gotten into trouble again, and intervenes.

Reviews:

Book One:
I find that I really like Hart’s writing and characters. Granted there is little to this story except A LOT of sex, but hey that’s what I picked it up for so it’s not really anything to complain about. The world building felt a little week, but especially so since there appeared to be some quite detailed races/peoples/societies involved. This book is apparently set in the same universe as Hart’s Playing with Tigers series, which I haven’t read yet. I get the feeling that a lot of the lacking social details are set out in those Tigers books, because the author has obviously taken the time to develop them even if not seen here. Either way I still found the story easily followable and I adored Loki and Kyo.

I had to drop a star because some of the earlier sex scenes felt almost like rapes even if Loki had consented. I had a hard time relaxing into that. That’s just me though. Hart even warns in the introduction that the Swordmaster Dasan books arn’t “meant to display safe or proper bondage practices,” so I can’t claim to have been unprepared. It’s fiction afterall. I can appreciate that. But like everyone, I have my own personal limits.

A fun, well-written read.

(As an aside I actually couldn’t help by imagine Kyo as the Onime-no-Kyo from Samurai Deeper Kyo. They really look nothing alike, but between the name and the constant cruelties my mind made the leap and wouldn’t let it go.)

Book Two:
Yep, it just keeps getting better. Kyo and Loki are wonderful characters. Hart seems to excel at creating situational tension that tugs at the readers heart strings without ever feeling sappy or over played. Often I’m not even certain where it comes from, only that it’s there. Here you really feel both Kyo and Loki’s frustration, even as they steadfastly refuse to acknowledge it. They simply drive each-other to distraction…and are very very hot together.

Loki does seem to have accomplished A LOT in the three years he was separated from Kyo. He seems to have accrued too much experience in so little time. But he also grew up and returned very much a man…very much the man Kyo needs. If only Kyo would get out of his own way on the subject. I love their dynamic.

The writing here is just as crisp and wonderful as in the previous book. I did notice a minor tendency to reuse stock phrases, but nothing off putting or technically incorrect in any manner. The plot thickens up a bit in this volume too, which is nice. The books ends at a fairly natural point, but there is obviously going to be a third book. (There better be a book three and I’m fairly sure I’ve seen mention of it somewhere.) I can’t wait.

Yunan Holliday:

At barely 20 pages there isn’t much to it, but it’s a fun little short to tide us over until book three comes out. Plus, I think we should all start celebrating Divainya Rekeshna.

Review of A.C. Warneke’s Awakening

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AwakeningI grabbed a copy of A.C. Warneke‘s Awakening from the Amazon KDP list.

Description from Goodreads:
THE QUEEN HAS BEEN DEAD FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS

IN A MOMENT OF FIERCE PASSION…

Celeste Hamilton is having one last adventure before her real life begins: a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Europe with her best friend. On her last days in Paris she meets the mysterious Adamanteros Vespari and he makes her feel reckless. She comes alive beneath Adam’s touch, burning for his possession.

ADAM MAKES A FATAL MISTAKE…

Her craving for Adam threatens to consume her and Celeste knows she cannot stay or she’ll cease to exist. Slipping out of his arms in the middle of the night, she makes her escape before she loses herself in him completely. But the world she returns to is no longer familiar and her friends aren’t what they seem.

AND AWAKENS SOMETHING DEEP WITHIN CELESTE…

When Adam comes back into her life she finds that she was lost before she was even born and with his she is finally found.

LONG LIVE THE QUEEN

Review:
Awakening was a fun enough PNR read and a slightly off-centre take on the whole vampire lore. (The Apocritae aren’t actually supposed to be vampires, but close enough.) Warneke created an interesting dilemma, threw out a fairly massive red herring, and actually wrapped the book up before the end–something that seems to be becoming a rarity.

I quite liked a lot of the characters. I especially liked Auberon. I felt really wretched for him. I have no doubt the payoff will come in the next book, Reawakening, and I’m fairly confident that I know how that will happen. I just wish someone would drop the hint to him. Seeing him suffer so nobly was almost painful. Oddly, Adam and Celeste were probably my two least-liked characters in the book. They were far too wrapped up in one another for there to be much room left over for anything else. Their meeting was a stunning example of insta-love/lust and so there wasn’t really any need to get to know each other, so the reader didn’t really get to know either one either. On top of that, I’m not really a bit of a fan of literary hearts and flowers, so their and the narrator’s constant reminders of how in love they were started to tick me off. I got it and could have done without being reminded of it 15 thousand more times.

I do have to say I find it unlikely that Celeste would have really triumphed. I don’t want to post a spoiler, but suffice it to say that her opponent, the overall baddie, could have and really should have killed her at any time. Celeste, after all, was much weaker, untrained, and far too naive. But like so many super-villains, pride and the need to talk until the end drug the whole thing out far longer than was realistic.

Awakening is apparently a sequel to Blight, but I didn’t know that until after I had finished this one. Having read Blight might have given me a clearer understanding of the Apocritae society better. I had no problem following the plot, but until I realised there had been a previous book I intended to comment that the basic world-building seeming a little light. Despite not reading the prequel, I still enjoyed the book. It seemed pretty well written.

Book Review of Bria Hofland’s 42nd & Lex

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42nd & Lex

I grabbed Bria Hofland‘s PNR novel, 42nd & Lex from the Amazon KDP free list.

Description from Goodreads:
A divorce lawyer by trade, I have been soured on love for years. I haven’t had a date in months and now my childhood best friend—you know the über pretty and together one—has hired me to handle her divorce. If she can’t keep a man then there is no hope for me. Then a chance meeting on an elevator changes everything. Lucan O’Reilly is good looking, wealthy, and has an apartment to die for. He always seems to know just what’s on my mind. The perfect man, actually. But is it all too good to be true…

“Shh, I’m ready to tell you,” he whispers and with that I hear him speak a word in my mind. Vampire. Unfortunately, this is the least of my concerns for a new relationship fraught with secret ceremonies, blood hungry enemies, and saving Lucan’s soul. 

Review:
This wasn’t at all what I was expecting. I thought it would be a hot paranormal, if not erotic, romance. It wasn’t. There were a few incredibly mild sex scenes, but the sizzle level was along the lines of ‘we made love until morning.’ Meh.

I did enjoy Abri though. She was a feisty heroine who knew her own mind and didn’t easily bend to the overprotective nature of her literary mate. Said mate, Lucan, was a pleasant surprise in and of himself. He was kind and considerate and even sexy. What he was not was any sort of overbearing alpha male. It was nice to see that mould broken. He was exceedingly wealthy though. (I guess an author can’t be expected to break them all.) An annoyingly large portion of the book was dedicated to showcasing his money–his cars, clothes, jewellery, fancy restaurants, high price real-estate, etc. All of which he, of course, showers her with. After a while it just felt like a plot prop.

The book could do with another round of edits. There are a lot of missing words, mostly pronouns and particles. There are also a few word choice issues. The repeated use of the word least when lest is meant, for example. The story was still perfectly readable, enjoyable even, but it would be hard to miss the mistakes.

All-in-all I found it a sweet little romance novel with a few weak attempts to broaden the plot. The whole Serge drama fell a little flat with me. He didn’t feel like enough of a threat to warrant as much attention as it was given. The whole vampire reveal seemed a bit ho-hum. No one seemed bothered in the least by it. Even the scary high council just felt like cheery geriatrics. Be that as it may, it was still a fun little read.