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Review of Mage of Legend, by Jennifer Amriss

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I received a copy of Jennifer Amriss‘ Mage of Legend for review.

Description from Goodreads:
Dimensional Rifters Were Nothing But Legends.
Until now…

Ages ago, one of the old gods threw Minuvel, the last Ivari, into a dimensional prison. She was too powerful to kill, and too dangerous to let roam free. But her vault was lost.

A Spoiled King and A Skilled Hunter.

After a beautiful stranger saves his life, Xastrian, the new Dragon King, owes Velithor a life-debt. But as the two join forces to battle the crazed Ivari who shares their prison, he discovers he wants so much more. Soul-bonding with the shy, resourceful hunter would be worth anything. Even facing death a second time.

Trapped and Hunted.

Xastrian must rely on Velithor’s knowledge of the forest. Velithor must help Xastrian regain his power. And one of them must tap into the magic of legend to become a dimensional rifter before the Ivari drives Xastrian mad and ruins their chances of ever finding their way home.

Review:
Spoiler warning for the first couple pages of the book

Oh man, I hate giving a book a poor review when it doesn’t have very many others to balance it out, but this book and I had some serious difference. It starts out well. We meet Xastrian, the new king. He shows himself to be a strong-willed guy you can respect. You meet his fiancé of a thousand or so years. There’s an assassination attempt. It’s all very exciting. I was hooked, wanted to see how this all played out.

Cut to the next day, Xastrian decides to go off on his own, as one does just after an assassination attempt. Who needs guards, right? Then the WHOLE rest of the book is Xastrian playing house in the woods with Velithor. THE. WHOLE. BOOK. The reader never gets back to court, never finds out what happened to the fiancé (after an extended courtship I think that deserved a little closure), never finds out who attempted the assassination. Xastrian and Velithor never even tell the rest of court (or Xastrian’s family) the king is still alive once they make it back. In fact, they never bother going back to the palace at all. That whole very important part of the story is just glossed over and ignored COMPLETELY.

Then there is the deus ex machina magic. I won’t add a spoiler, but it pops up out of nowhere and the person can use it instinctively, doing on without thought or knowhow what others have to train hundreds of years to do. Sure, that’s believable and satisfying….no.

And what of Minuvel you ask. Oh well, she pops up being vaguely threatening on occasion, is evil for no reason except that she is crazy and evil and is vanquished with such ease I barely considered her a subplot. Seriously, the pets get more play than she does.

The romance is basically two men being repeatedly awed at each other. It got repetitive early on, so 300+ pages of it was painful. The two men take turns devolving in to children. (We never again see that strong confident king after the first scene.) The dialogue is stilted and there are a few writing quirks that drove me nuts. Like the constant use of ‘he perked an eyebrow.’ It was overused in general, but as far as I know people tend to quirk an eyebrow. Might not actually be wrong, but it sure grated on my nerves.

The book isn’t a total failure. It is sweet, after all, and outside of a few rough editing patches, the dialogue, and some anachronistic language the writing isn’t bad. But that exciting sounding blurb…no, that must be some other book. It just isn’t this one.

Coexistence

Book Review of Coexistence (Human Hybrids #1), by Clare Solomon

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Clare Solomon sent me a copy of her novel Coexistence for review. There is also a prequel available on her website and a second book available if you sign up for her newsletter.

Description from Goodreads:
Scientists have genetically engineered five human hybrid races known as werewolves, vampires, dragons, sensers and wendigoes. The first four races coexist with humans in relative peace. The fifth one wants to butcher the others and they are getting stronger.

Jaspal ‘Pal’ Khatri is nearly killed and forced to leave his home with a werewolf pack in Oxford, England when the local HyCO group leads a mob of anti-hybrid rioters against them. He travels to the Highlands of Scotland for a fresh start and meets Brand, a werewolf still grieving after the murder of his lover, Kye, a year ago. He and Brand find a dead vampire and Pal is suddenly in the nightmare situation of being accused of the murder. There is a link between this death and that of Kye and Brand works for another branch of HyCO so, to prove his innocence, Pal must join the organisation he loathes and try to ignore his growing feelings for Brand as they work to uncover the real killer. Can they solve the case in time or will they become the murderer’s next victims?

Review:
Umm, no, this did not work for me. It’s too long, provides the same information over and over again, is far too heavy on the tell vs. show, has a ‘love’ that is rejected for ridiculous reasons and then has a sudden and unbelievable turnaround, a mystery that is solved with far too much ease and a second that drags on eternally, a doctor that never doctors and a world with five types of humans that isn’t really explored beyond wendigos bad everyone else good.

Solomon has a good idea here and I liked the characters. The book even starts out really well. But in the end the writing, editing, pacing and plotting wore me down and I was just glad to finally finish it.

Book Review of Blood Stained Tea (The Yakuza Path #1), by Amy Tasukada

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I was sent a copy of Amy Tasukada‘s Blood Stained Tea for review.

Description from Goodreads:
A bloody past haunts him. A devastating present calls him back…

Nao hides from his violent past in the Japanese mob by opening a teahouse in Japan’s cultural center, Kyoto. His past comes flooding back when he discovers a gravely injured man with a tattooed chest, a bloody knife, and a Korean business card.

Saehyun would’ve died if not for Nao’s help. He knows nothing of his savior’s connection with the local mafia, but Saehyun has his own secrets. He commands the Korean mafia, the mortal enemy of Nao’s former syndicate.

As Nao and Saehyun grow closer, so does the strength of the Korean mob. A shocking murder pulls Nao back into a past he’d all but abandoned. War is looming, and Nao must choose between protecting Saehyun or avenging the honor of his old mafia family.

Review:
Blood Stained Tea was a fun book to start the year with. I really appreciated that it contains a romance featuring a Japanese and Korean man, one of which is bi-sexual. Plus, being set in Kyoto, Japan is a nice change. Overall, I quite enjoyed it. I liked both the main characters, appreciated the difficult positions they found themselves in and was left wanting more when it ended.

However, Nao’s logic often made no sense to me, nor did his constant assumptions about Saehyun. In fact, they were made so frequently and asserted so firmly that I felt very much like the author was trying to convince me of something I should be able to sense without being told (repeatedly). It was like they were both keeping themselves willfully ignorant and I’m afraid that just wasn’t something I could buy into, considering how much both of them had at stake. Even when all but incontrovertible proof was presented, the two of them (Nao especially) somehow remained clueless. I just couldn’t believe it, which meant a lot of the plot felt contrived.

Similarly, the decision and twist at the end was utterly unbelievable for me.  When the book was presented to me for review it came with this note: “…this is a m/m thriller. Though there is a love story throughout the novel it’s NOT a romance, nor is it for the faint of heart. Lots of bloody violence and death.” So I get that this event at the end is what makes the book a thriller rather than a romance. But I think the story tried too hard to straddle the genres and compromised itself. It would have been stronger, in my opinion, to pick one or the other. Especially since so many readers will be disappointed. Romance lover will be let down by the ending and thriller fanatics will likely be put off by the romance. Because for 99% of the book the romance is front and centre, even if it is practically an insta-lust.

Honestly, if not for the ending, I would call it an M/M romance using the Yakuza and Jo-pok for plot. Admittedly, a romance of the tragic, Shakespearean sort—very Romeo and Juliet—but a romance all the same. In fact, I’d call this a mix of Romeo and Juliet and The Godfather. Nao makes a very convincing Michael Corleone.

The writing is pretty good. The first chapter or so is a bit rough, but it smooths out fairly quickly. The editing also never grabbed my attention, which is what editing should do, and it was well-paced. All sex is off-page, so it’s not particularly steamy, and the book has an awesome cover. Lastly, I totally agree with Nao about Oolong tea. It’s my favorite too, especially the darker, heavily oxidized ones. Yum. I look forward to reading more of Tasukada’s work.