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Book Review of K.M. Shea’s Red Rope of Fate

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Red Rope of FateI grabbed Red Rope of Fate, by K.M. Shea, from the Amazon KDP list. After finishing The Weight of Blood, which was quite heavy, I needed something light and fluffy to make myself feel better. It did the trick.

Description from Goodreads:
In the epic stories falling in love is often described as a beautiful, wonderful experience. Tari finds it to be life threatening, embarrassing, and nothing but heartache.

When Tari, an elf, is selected to be bound to Captain Arion, a human military officer, in a ceremony designed to promote friendship between their countries it is discovered that the two can communicate with each other in spite of the language barrier. Not everyone is supportive of the change Tari and Arion symbolize, so in addition to attending evening teas and royal luncheons Tari and Arion dodge kidnapping attempts and blackmail plots crafted by powerful political figures.

In spite of the court intrigue, Tari is dumbfounded when she realizes she has fallen in love with Arion, who has the emotional capabilities of a rock. As both human and elf society dictate that an elf and a human can never be together, Tari must conceal her feelings. Unfortunately the taciturn Arion is watchful and attentive to Tari’s well being, constantly pushing her to her limits with his loyalty, friendship, and dreadfully informal habit of touching her.

If Tari and Arion survive, their tumultuous relationship will either strengthen their countries’ alliance, or cripple the human courts of nobility. The deciding factor will be Arion, and his indecipherable feelings for Tari.

Review:
Ok, so that was just plain sweet…exactly what I was looking for. Even before any of the romance emerged Tari and Arion’s interactions were a joy to behold. They both had a certain dry wit about them that I appreciated. I did wonder that Tari could remain quite sooooo oblivious for quite soooo long and how exactly she managed to keep her secret from Arion. But it was still fun.

The two kings had a lot of personality for side characters. The Seer, the soldiers, and the family were engaging, and both Tari and Arion came out with some really funny one-liners. There was the occasional cultural mishap, ok the whole latter half of the romance sort of hinged on one, but it still made me smile. Then there was Arion’s additional confession. That was worth reading the book for all on its own.

The mystery, though secondary to the plot really, was interesting. As was the true role of the Evening Stars. Though I could take issue with the inference that women, even highly trained and skilled women don’t have the heart for real battle, I think I’ll let it pass. You do see the end coming from a mile away but that only heightens the anticipation. You know that HEA is on the horizon and you just can’t wait.

It’s also worth mentioning that this is a standalone book. These feel like they’re getting rarer these days, so I’m thrilled to come across one. I have another of Ms. Shea’s books on my TBR, and I’ll be keeping my eye open for more. She’s definitely made it on my radar.

On a side note Ms. Shea has a promotion running on her blog in which anyone who writes a legitimate Amazon review and then emails it to her can get an additional chapter to the book. Apparently, it falls outside of the timeline of the book, so it really is just a bonus.

The Weight of Blood

Book Review of The Weight of Blood, by David Dalglish

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Weight of Blood

I chose David Dalglish‘s dark fantasy, The Weight of Blood from the Amazon KDP list. At the time of posting it was still free.

Description from Goodreads:
When half-bloods Harruq and Qurrah Tun pledged their lives to the death prophet Velixar, they sought only escape from their squalid beginnings. Instead, they become his greatest disciples, charged with leading his army of undead.

While they prepare, Harruq trains with an elf named Aurelia, to whom he owes his life. She is a window into a better world, but as war spreads between the races their friendship takes a dire turn.

Velixar orders them to fight alongside the humans, changing Aurelia from friend to foe. To protect her, Harruq must turn against his brother and fight the killing nature of his orcish heritage.

To side with one means to turn on another. No matter Harruq’s decision, someone he loves will die.

Review:
The Weight of Blood is some serious Dark Fantasy. I mean dark with a capital ‘D’, maybe even dark with a capital D.A.R.K.. It isn’t a comfortable read. There isn’t a lot of joy in it and bad things happen to a lot of good people. I generally like dark fiction, but this one was almost too much for me.

The two main characters, Harruq and Qurrah, can hardly even be called anti-heroes. There wasn’t enough hero in them, Qurrah especially. The only humanity [for lack of a more appropriate term] left in him seemed to be his affection for his brother and even that was contaminated by manipulating Harruq for his own nefarious ends. But still, I could at least relate to Harruq. I could see that in other circumstances he would have been a kind soul, might even have still had one despite his HORRIBLE, CRUEL, VILE actions. He killed children for goodness sake!

Relate to him as I might, I had a really hard time reconciling his personality with his actions. Don’t get me wrong. I understand that this dichotomy between his natural inclinations and the reality of his circumstances was in large part one of the themes of the book. But his willingness to simply do as told by Qurrah was hard to accept.

The book was well written, though I was left with some very basic questions unanswered. I had a lot of trouble deciding what age H & Q were supposed to be, for example. In the beginning I thought they might be children. Their brotherly attachment was so strong that they felt young, since as people age their social circle tends to broaden and those familiar bonds dilute. Their actions and thoughts quickly made it clear that they weren’t children however, but an age was never given. Somewhere between 15-25 maybe. They may even have been twins since their father was only said to have slept with their mother once, but again, this was never clarified.

This isn’t a book I enjoyed, but this isn’t the type of book one reads to enjoy. Enduring the tragedy of it all is part of the experience, part of removing yourself from your comfortable life to remind yourself what another’s life might be like. Having done that, I think I need to go read something light and fluffy, with an unquestionable HEA.

Demon Possession

Book Review of Kiersten Fay’s Demon Possession

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Demon Possession

I nabbed Kiersten Fay‘s sci-fi romance, Demon Possession from the Amazon KDP list.

Description from Goodreads:
After being enslaved on the spaceship Extarga for most of her life Analia has no memory of her life before, and has lost all knowledge of her people. Her mysterious gift and pointed ears are the only indication that she is different.

Analia is alone, and for all she knows, she’s the last of her kind. By chance Analia escapes her captors, and hides herself on the merchant ship Marada, planning to get off at the very next stop.

Unfortunately for her, there is no next stop. The crew is planning a delivery that could take months, and according to a stipulation in the newly signed contract, no one is allowed on or off the ship until the package is delivered. 

When Analia is found by a handsome demon, and captain of the Marada, she must adapt to her new role on the ship, and try to control her newly awakened desire for the brutal, and devastatingly erotic demon.

Review:
Demon Possession was an enjoyable read. I liked Sebastian’s tortured self-restraint, the way Anya came out of her shell and the interaction of all of the demons. Calic was a particular joy. There was a pretty little twist at the end and even though it wasn’t all that hard to see coming, it was still fun getting there.

I feel compelled to mention that I thought the way Sonya (and by extension Anya) dressed was cheesy, for two reasons. One, it was a little cliché that a ‘demon’ dressed in short, black, leather skirts, corsets and stiletto heals. Second, how is it that we could be millennia in the future, galaxies away and stripper/hooker outfits are still considered the ultimate in sexy? Really, you couldn’t come up with anything better than that? It also clashed with Anya’s innocent persona.

The ending seemed a little rushed. It felt almost like the author wrote the romance between Anya and Bastian, then wrote the lead-in for the second book and then stitched them together. There was noticeable change in pacing, and a lesser change in tone.

A number of other reviewers have made mention of poor editing. I did notice some errors, more prevalent in the last half. Oh, and if I have to read the word ‘chit’ one more time I might scream! Seriously, it’s not flattering and was used a lot. But the editing wasn’t as bad as I expected from the reviews. I have definitely read worse. Maybe I have a later edition.

I did noticed a few linguistic inconsistencies written into the story though. Anya seemed able to converse with ease, for example, but then wouldn’t know the meaning of some very simple word. (A word that would allow for a the development of a plot progressing event. They felt very much like convenient omissions.) I also wondered how Anaya knew how to read and write? I can’t imagine Darius taking the time to teach her that.

I would have happily continued the series to see how Marik fairs, even looked into buying the sequel, Demon Slave. But it was $7.99! That’s just too much for an ebook in my world. Anyone have a Kindle copy to lend?