What do you think?
Rate this book
Gillian Key, ParaDoc #1
Key to Conflict
While in Romania to counsel a master vampire, Gillian Key, a paramortal psychologist and a secret operative, uses this opportunity to infiltrate local vampire factions, becoming caught in a war between those who favor a peaceful co-existence with humans and those who see them as food. Original.
325 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 29, 2007
8 people are currently reading
336 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
November 13, 2011
I did not finish Key to Conflict. I stopped at around the 100 page mark. This is the kind of book that makes people think "urban fantasy" is a euphemism for "badly written erotica."
In the first sentence, we are introduced to: "Gillian Key, United States Marine Corps Captain, Special Forces Operative, former flower child, wiseass extraordinaire, also legitimately known as Dr. Gillian Key, Paramortal psychologist," and that sets the stage for Gillian as a character. She's all over the place. Not only does she have more training and degrees and honors than seem plausible for her age, but the different aspects of her character seem clumsily cobbled together rather than parts of a whole. One minute she'll be caring and empathetic, and the next minute she's flying off the handle. Her "Marine" status seems mostly like an excuse to lose her temper, which doesn't fit what I know of the actual military. While her career as a psychologist to vampires, ghosts, etc. could have been an interesting angle, her therapy scenes are told rather than shown. There's barely any dialogue during these scenes. They're told in more of a summary style.
The writing and editing are poor. Head-hopping is rampant; the point-of-view switches around dizzyingly. At one point, a character is thinking about Dracula, and we randomly end up in Dracula's head for about one sentence. Gryphon also employs the annoying technique of capitalizing too many terms. In this book we don't have vampires and ghosts and humans, we have Vampires and Ghosts and Humans. People don't talk about their country; it's their Country. Vampires who commit suicide are Facing The Sun. Then there's the word "Count," which seems to be used as a term for "vampire" rather than a title in any coherent peerage system.
The book is also oversexed. I'm not against sex in books. What I don't like are books where a huge bevy of hot people are paraded into the story and the protagonist lusts after every single one. At the point where I stopped, Gillian was lusting after three "pantie-wetting" men ("panty" is the singular form, by the way) and was having sex with one of them � a creepy misogynist who spanked her, not as foreplay, but to put her in her place as a woman... and then she still embarked on an affair with him afterward.
I considered finishing Key to Conflict just to see if it got sillier, but then I decided my time would be better spent reading something good. I don't recommend Key to Conflict; it gives an inaccurate idea of what this subgenre is all about.
In the first sentence, we are introduced to: "Gillian Key, United States Marine Corps Captain, Special Forces Operative, former flower child, wiseass extraordinaire, also legitimately known as Dr. Gillian Key, Paramortal psychologist," and that sets the stage for Gillian as a character. She's all over the place. Not only does she have more training and degrees and honors than seem plausible for her age, but the different aspects of her character seem clumsily cobbled together rather than parts of a whole. One minute she'll be caring and empathetic, and the next minute she's flying off the handle. Her "Marine" status seems mostly like an excuse to lose her temper, which doesn't fit what I know of the actual military. While her career as a psychologist to vampires, ghosts, etc. could have been an interesting angle, her therapy scenes are told rather than shown. There's barely any dialogue during these scenes. They're told in more of a summary style.
The writing and editing are poor. Head-hopping is rampant; the point-of-view switches around dizzyingly. At one point, a character is thinking about Dracula, and we randomly end up in Dracula's head for about one sentence. Gryphon also employs the annoying technique of capitalizing too many terms. In this book we don't have vampires and ghosts and humans, we have Vampires and Ghosts and Humans. People don't talk about their country; it's their Country. Vampires who commit suicide are Facing The Sun. Then there's the word "Count," which seems to be used as a term for "vampire" rather than a title in any coherent peerage system.
The book is also oversexed. I'm not against sex in books. What I don't like are books where a huge bevy of hot people are paraded into the story and the protagonist lusts after every single one. At the point where I stopped, Gillian was lusting after three "pantie-wetting" men ("panty" is the singular form, by the way) and was having sex with one of them � a creepy misogynist who spanked her, not as foreplay, but to put her in her place as a woman... and then she still embarked on an affair with him afterward.
I considered finishing Key to Conflict just to see if it got sillier, but then I decided my time would be better spent reading something good. I don't recommend Key to Conflict; it gives an inaccurate idea of what this subgenre is all about.
July 21, 2009
In all honesty, I picked up this book because of the flame-thrower on the front. It had a seemingly interesting premise (ex-Marine works as psychologist to the supernatural) and some decent reviews from other authors.
I realized it was terrible about 7 pages in.
Don't get me wrong...the idea is still very interesting. It's the execution that's the problem. The book falls into the Laurell K. Hamilton imitation arena (there is, incidentally, a plug for Ms. Hamilton's books in this novel, by which I can only assume the author intends to direct people to a more interesting author in the genre). The men are all gorgeous, most perternaturally so, except one (he's also pretty much the only one that would really rather kill her than sleep with her, so there you go). The heroine plays extremely fast and loose with her professional morals and character consistency (as, for instance, when she has sex with her vampire patient's vampire brother on the side of a mountain, although they met scant hours before, she was furious with his chauvanistic attitudes and his decision to spank her not 15 minutes earlier, and, I repeat...his brother is her patient. And she's attracted to him, too. But apparently this just doesn't matter, because the guy is very hot). The editing is atrocious, enough to make one suppose that either the initial editor has no grasp of basic grammatical rules, or something went horribly wrong in the proofing stage. Words are used in this book which DO NOT exist in the English language - not even in Buffy-speak. Commas are missing, verb tenses don't agree, parallel structure is undermined, and random, inappropriate capitalizations are used.
Continuity of events is also a problem. The first few pages mention a "Human/Paramortal War", but little else is said about it. Toward the end of the book, the protagonist is most anxious to prevent any serious conflict between humans and "Paramortals," because the initial revelation just went so well that there are very few people prejudiced against the vampires, lycanthropes, fey, and ghosts (as anyone who even vaguely studies human nature will tell you: yeah, right. Fairytale monsters are real, but everyone's ok with that, cause they're just so darn cute...). Why call something a war if there was no serious conflict? Was it like the Cold War? Because when a "bad-ass" ex-Marine Special Forces uses a word like "war," I'm expecting something pretty serious.
The protagonist is too much of a cipher. We are told that she is cool, beautiful, stacked, and bad-ass, with a tendency toward violence and unexplained commitment phobia. She also happens to look exactly like the gold-digging bitch the hero used to be in love with (a fact which should come out in his therapy, surely?). Her actions, in the main, do not show us the capable, clever woman she is supposed to be. Instead, she comes off as unprofessional, defiant of authority (which, to the author's credit, several of the other characters call her on, wondering how she lasted as a soldier if she wouldn't take orders. Not that it's ever explained.), spoiled, pouty, foolhardy, and, worst of all for this type of heroine, whiny. Yes, she has some funny lines, an interesting former unit, and some moments where she lives up to what the author tells us she is, but they are few and far between. I don't even think the author likes her very much. She has her spanked twice (in the toddler-acting-up-in-a-store sense), threatened with premeditated physical harm both by the bad guys and the ones who are supposed to at least like her, and placed in dangerous situations that we don't care about, because the spanking and a drugged kidnapping are the worst examples of physical damage she sustains while dealing with all of these creatures that could snap her in two with their pinkies. She is also remarkably mentally resilient, until she's not because we need a touching scene showing how the hero's protective side is ok, rather than outdated and jerky.
Precious little is shown of her profession, though we are repeatedly told that she is "legitimate" and good at her job. In the course of doing said job in the novel, she is unhealthily attracted to one patient, stalked and metaphysically molested by another, and nearly eviserated by a third. She provokes those around her for no better reason than showing how tough she is, a trait that would be less than desireable in a therapist, though expected in a Marine. Her own supernatural power (come on, you know she has one) is empathy...which only rarely kicks in if it's telling her something other than how pissed off or horny the hero is. For instance, she is one room away from a place where people have been recently tortured and killed...and the empathy is nowhere to be felt. Maybe it shuts down in moments of extreme stress, though you would think, like other senses, it would do the opposite. Guess we'll never know.
Speaking of characters, when writing vampires, you have to decide and stick with one very important idea: how are they going to talk? Will it be formal and extremely correct, or will it be more modern? You can't switch in the middle (and no vampire should ever say the words "vampire sugar daddy" without a heavy dose of irony). It's like rewriting Austen and having Darcy say "Ok." It does not and never will work.
The novel also plays fast and loose with time. She can't pursue a relationship with the client she has the hots for for a year after the end of his therapy. Weeks pass, we are told - apparently more weeks than we expected, because suddenly there are 6 months left. A chapter or two later, more weeks pass, and suddenly there are only 3 months left. What the hell are they doing in the meantime?
I don't think this author ever learned the difference between telling and showing. The novel is mostly telling, even down to things similar to (not exactly, but I swore I'd never pick that book up again after the second time I read it, about which, more below), "She was confused. 'I'm confused,' she said." It would be much better to have the characters' words and actions speak for them, rather than having the narrator tell us what's going on and how we ought to feel about it. I honestly think there are at least 2 chapters in that book with no dialogue at all...just the narrator telling us how they feel. This is fine, to an extent, but don't say things like "He felt both frustrated and confused by the tiny, delicate woman" (again, not a direct quote, but not far off). Describe the character's actions...don't tell us he's frustrated and confused, show us the picture of a man who is frustrated and confused.
While we're on the subject: REPETITION OF SENSORY PERCEPTIONS IS NO ONE'S FRIEND! I do not, for instance, need to know what the heroine smells like every time an interested male nearby feels like taking a sniff. I get it: snow, sunlight, clover meadow (occasionally, sun, snow on meadow, clover). You do realize that sunlight and snow don't have smells unless you have brain damage or are hopped up on PCP, right? But at any rate...unless her scent changes for a reason valid to the story (and intercourse, while apparently one of her very favorite pursuits, is not really valid to the story), do not mention it over and over again. Twilight handled the whole slightly-creepy vampire-smelling-you thing much more elegantly. Similarly, I don't need to read about the character's "Nile-green", "silvery", or "golden" eyes every time he or she looks at something intently. Once was enough.
Alternatively, don't go describing things we don't need. She gets all dressed up for a party, and the hero thinks she's really hot, and we have to read about everything, including her eye makeup. She is, of course, not really going to the party, and within 20 minutes of arrival has changed back into fatigues. So why the big description? So we know the hero thinks she's hot, which we knew already because he thinks it every time he sees her, and so she could later accidentally flash her naughty bits at a ghost who, unbeknowst to her, has been molesting her in her dreams (But it's ok, she later tells us, because she wasn't unwilling while she was unconscious). It serves no purpose but to make it clear that she is desirable, something most of us probably got pretty clearly during the "sex-on-the-mountain-with-the-deadly-supernatural-creature-you-just-met-and-had-a-screaming-violent-argument-with-that-ended-in-you-being-turned-over-his-knee" scene.
And, to add insult to injury - SHE NEVER USES A FLAME-THROWER!
So, with all these problems, why did I finish it? Because I have finished books I hated much more. Because the idea really is good, if only the author would write about that character, rather than focusing on the "I'm a former soldier, you can't tell me what to do" portion. Because there are some funny lines (Vampire: "I shall drink your blood and rip out your throat." Friend of protagonist: "And I shall fuck up your knee." [shoots him in knee with crossbow:]).
And why did I read it twice? So I could mark it up with red pen and mail it back to the publisher. I'm on tenterhooks awaiting the response...
I realized it was terrible about 7 pages in.
Don't get me wrong...the idea is still very interesting. It's the execution that's the problem. The book falls into the Laurell K. Hamilton imitation arena (there is, incidentally, a plug for Ms. Hamilton's books in this novel, by which I can only assume the author intends to direct people to a more interesting author in the genre). The men are all gorgeous, most perternaturally so, except one (he's also pretty much the only one that would really rather kill her than sleep with her, so there you go). The heroine plays extremely fast and loose with her professional morals and character consistency (as, for instance, when she has sex with her vampire patient's vampire brother on the side of a mountain, although they met scant hours before, she was furious with his chauvanistic attitudes and his decision to spank her not 15 minutes earlier, and, I repeat...his brother is her patient. And she's attracted to him, too. But apparently this just doesn't matter, because the guy is very hot). The editing is atrocious, enough to make one suppose that either the initial editor has no grasp of basic grammatical rules, or something went horribly wrong in the proofing stage. Words are used in this book which DO NOT exist in the English language - not even in Buffy-speak. Commas are missing, verb tenses don't agree, parallel structure is undermined, and random, inappropriate capitalizations are used.
Continuity of events is also a problem. The first few pages mention a "Human/Paramortal War", but little else is said about it. Toward the end of the book, the protagonist is most anxious to prevent any serious conflict between humans and "Paramortals," because the initial revelation just went so well that there are very few people prejudiced against the vampires, lycanthropes, fey, and ghosts (as anyone who even vaguely studies human nature will tell you: yeah, right. Fairytale monsters are real, but everyone's ok with that, cause they're just so darn cute...). Why call something a war if there was no serious conflict? Was it like the Cold War? Because when a "bad-ass" ex-Marine Special Forces uses a word like "war," I'm expecting something pretty serious.
The protagonist is too much of a cipher. We are told that she is cool, beautiful, stacked, and bad-ass, with a tendency toward violence and unexplained commitment phobia. She also happens to look exactly like the gold-digging bitch the hero used to be in love with (a fact which should come out in his therapy, surely?). Her actions, in the main, do not show us the capable, clever woman she is supposed to be. Instead, she comes off as unprofessional, defiant of authority (which, to the author's credit, several of the other characters call her on, wondering how she lasted as a soldier if she wouldn't take orders. Not that it's ever explained.), spoiled, pouty, foolhardy, and, worst of all for this type of heroine, whiny. Yes, she has some funny lines, an interesting former unit, and some moments where she lives up to what the author tells us she is, but they are few and far between. I don't even think the author likes her very much. She has her spanked twice (in the toddler-acting-up-in-a-store sense), threatened with premeditated physical harm both by the bad guys and the ones who are supposed to at least like her, and placed in dangerous situations that we don't care about, because the spanking and a drugged kidnapping are the worst examples of physical damage she sustains while dealing with all of these creatures that could snap her in two with their pinkies. She is also remarkably mentally resilient, until she's not because we need a touching scene showing how the hero's protective side is ok, rather than outdated and jerky.
Precious little is shown of her profession, though we are repeatedly told that she is "legitimate" and good at her job. In the course of doing said job in the novel, she is unhealthily attracted to one patient, stalked and metaphysically molested by another, and nearly eviserated by a third. She provokes those around her for no better reason than showing how tough she is, a trait that would be less than desireable in a therapist, though expected in a Marine. Her own supernatural power (come on, you know she has one) is empathy...which only rarely kicks in if it's telling her something other than how pissed off or horny the hero is. For instance, she is one room away from a place where people have been recently tortured and killed...and the empathy is nowhere to be felt. Maybe it shuts down in moments of extreme stress, though you would think, like other senses, it would do the opposite. Guess we'll never know.
Speaking of characters, when writing vampires, you have to decide and stick with one very important idea: how are they going to talk? Will it be formal and extremely correct, or will it be more modern? You can't switch in the middle (and no vampire should ever say the words "vampire sugar daddy" without a heavy dose of irony). It's like rewriting Austen and having Darcy say "Ok." It does not and never will work.
The novel also plays fast and loose with time. She can't pursue a relationship with the client she has the hots for for a year after the end of his therapy. Weeks pass, we are told - apparently more weeks than we expected, because suddenly there are 6 months left. A chapter or two later, more weeks pass, and suddenly there are only 3 months left. What the hell are they doing in the meantime?
I don't think this author ever learned the difference between telling and showing. The novel is mostly telling, even down to things similar to (not exactly, but I swore I'd never pick that book up again after the second time I read it, about which, more below), "She was confused. 'I'm confused,' she said." It would be much better to have the characters' words and actions speak for them, rather than having the narrator tell us what's going on and how we ought to feel about it. I honestly think there are at least 2 chapters in that book with no dialogue at all...just the narrator telling us how they feel. This is fine, to an extent, but don't say things like "He felt both frustrated and confused by the tiny, delicate woman" (again, not a direct quote, but not far off). Describe the character's actions...don't tell us he's frustrated and confused, show us the picture of a man who is frustrated and confused.
While we're on the subject: REPETITION OF SENSORY PERCEPTIONS IS NO ONE'S FRIEND! I do not, for instance, need to know what the heroine smells like every time an interested male nearby feels like taking a sniff. I get it: snow, sunlight, clover meadow (occasionally, sun, snow on meadow, clover). You do realize that sunlight and snow don't have smells unless you have brain damage or are hopped up on PCP, right? But at any rate...unless her scent changes for a reason valid to the story (and intercourse, while apparently one of her very favorite pursuits, is not really valid to the story), do not mention it over and over again. Twilight handled the whole slightly-creepy vampire-smelling-you thing much more elegantly. Similarly, I don't need to read about the character's "Nile-green", "silvery", or "golden" eyes every time he or she looks at something intently. Once was enough.
Alternatively, don't go describing things we don't need. She gets all dressed up for a party, and the hero thinks she's really hot, and we have to read about everything, including her eye makeup. She is, of course, not really going to the party, and within 20 minutes of arrival has changed back into fatigues. So why the big description? So we know the hero thinks she's hot, which we knew already because he thinks it every time he sees her, and so she could later accidentally flash her naughty bits at a ghost who, unbeknowst to her, has been molesting her in her dreams (But it's ok, she later tells us, because she wasn't unwilling while she was unconscious). It serves no purpose but to make it clear that she is desirable, something most of us probably got pretty clearly during the "sex-on-the-mountain-with-the-deadly-supernatural-creature-you-just-met-and-had-a-screaming-violent-argument-with-that-ended-in-you-being-turned-over-his-knee" scene.
And, to add insult to injury - SHE NEVER USES A FLAME-THROWER!
So, with all these problems, why did I finish it? Because I have finished books I hated much more. Because the idea really is good, if only the author would write about that character, rather than focusing on the "I'm a former soldier, you can't tell me what to do" portion. Because there are some funny lines (Vampire: "I shall drink your blood and rip out your throat." Friend of protagonist: "And I shall fuck up your knee." [shoots him in knee with crossbow:]).
And why did I read it twice? So I could mark it up with red pen and mail it back to the publisher. I'm on tenterhooks awaiting the response...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 7, 2011
God knows I tried to finish this, but I just ... can't ... not only was it so poorly written and the characters so utterly bizarre (and not in a good way); but I also felt guilty while reading through this. It feels like I'm intruding on someone's thinly-disguised vampire fanfic erotica filled with Mary-Sues and Gary-Stus. I have no objection to sex scenes, I promise. But this book and all it's references to wet southern regions and the smell of your unmentionables really makes me uncomfortable.
Narrative
1) Infodumps
Paragraphs upon paragraphs of us being fed the protag's history, or side stories, or other irrelevant expositions. I can't give examples; the entire book is an example. They're written in ginormous clumps of paragraphs that I won't have room for my review. It was so bad that I found myself skipping clumps and clumps of passages, hoping to find something worth while between the texts.
2) Voice
It changed without rhyme nor reason from Gillian's perspective to other characters'. This might have been forgivable if it was done with good style and good reason, but always - ALWAYS - it was done simply to show us how much these other characters are getting hard for Gillian Key. Or how transfixed they were as she slept while "opening her deep pink sex to his hungry gaze" and how "the tangy scent of her orgasm" was "hardening him to a painful ache."
Am I making you uncomfortable yet? No? Well you're one tough cookie or it's just me.
More on that later.
3) Show vs Tell
Balance is the key. Unfortunately, this novel consisted of all the wrong showing, and all the wrong telling. We'd be shown multitudes upon multitudes of small, irrelevant descriptions. And can I just comment on the overuse of descriptors? I mean... please stop abusing adjectives.
... meanwhile all the things that should've been described were simply forced and told to us.
Gillian Key
1) Her. As a Character
This.
...when all he did was walk up to her. So like any other rational person, his response was:
And her response to that?
Did I miss something?? Who the hell is doing the bullying around here? What on earth is up with her irrational, childish behaviour?
I'm telling you, this woman goes from (trying to be) professional to bad cop in three seconds.
What the fuck kind of "renowned" psychologist is she?? What. The. Fuck. Freud was an asshole; but he did not treat his patients with zero respect nor behave like a bipolar twelve year old in front of them, either.
But but but ... whatever she's doing seems to work.
I am actually offended at how simplistic and easy the portrayal of psychological help is manifested in this book.
Really? You didn't know that you didn't have to exist in hate and remorse? Is that really all it takes? Fuck it what have I been studying a master's in Clinical Psychology for for all these years?!
Yet another reflection of her unbalanced character: she was offered a place as a Marine because - get this - she threw a golden cross that was gifted to her by a Vampire delegate right back at his face and told him to "Go fuck yourself sir." And this incident occured when she was supposed to be working as security for a Peace Talk. You know, something that would require this thing called diplomacy and controlled behaviour? I'm sorry Marines, but my respect for you, if I had to judge accordingly to this book, just went down a notch.
2) The fact that everyone's lives revolves around her
...despite being an annoying, irrational, and by far unremarkable, childish woman.
The only thing other characters are talking about, or thinking about, during the oh-so-often cut scenes we get in their perspective, is Gillian Key. Just if we're not clear on how awesomely hot and desirable she is.
Everyone has a nickname for her... piccola, caressima, little doctor, little warrior ... and they fall for her "charms" almost immediately for no apparent reason that I can see. Even the big, bad, dangerous vampires or the big, bad, dangerous ghost. It's ridiculous.
Plot
I just ... I don't even know what the plot actually is!! Everything else distracted me from it - I literally wanted to cry as I read this, not because it was such a touching book, but because of the sheer Mary-Sue-ness of the main character. Because of the complete Roman-God-Blueprintness of the male characters. Everyone in the book was "lovely" and "beautiful" and "gorgeous" with "silvery eyes" and "hard cocks" and all they wanted to do was "protect her" because she's so fucking tiny this book Just Makes ME WANNA AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
So I'm very sorry but I can NOT finish this.
Narrative
1) Infodumps
Paragraphs upon paragraphs of us being fed the protag's history, or side stories, or other irrelevant expositions. I can't give examples; the entire book is an example. They're written in ginormous clumps of paragraphs that I won't have room for my review. It was so bad that I found myself skipping clumps and clumps of passages, hoping to find something worth while between the texts.
2) Voice
It changed without rhyme nor reason from Gillian's perspective to other characters'. This might have been forgivable if it was done with good style and good reason, but always - ALWAYS - it was done simply to show us how much these other characters are getting hard for Gillian Key. Or how transfixed they were as she slept while "opening her deep pink sex to his hungry gaze" and how "the tangy scent of her orgasm" was "hardening him to a painful ache."
Am I making you uncomfortable yet? No? Well you're one tough cookie or it's just me.
More on that later.
3) Show vs Tell
Balance is the key. Unfortunately, this novel consisted of all the wrong showing, and all the wrong telling. We'd be shown multitudes upon multitudes of small, irrelevant descriptions. And can I just comment on the overuse of descriptors? I mean... please stop abusing adjectives.
He was tall, very tall. Ebony black hair fell in waves over his broad shoulders and silvery gray eyes appraised her from beneath elegantly arched brows placed on a harshly beautiful face.
... meanwhile all the things that should've been described were simply forced and told to us.
Gillian Key
1) Her. As a Character
This.
Deliberately, she took another drag on the cigarette while staring straight up into those shimmering golden eyes, and blew the smoke into Tanis’s surprised face. Snarling audibly, she crossed the professional etiquette line without another thought. Hell with it.
“You pretentious prick, who do you think you’re talking to?�
...when all he did was walk up to her. So like any other rational person, his response was:
“What did you say to me?�
And her response to that?
That did it. Gillian did not take to being bullied by anyone.
Did I miss something?? Who the hell is doing the bullying around here? What on earth is up with her irrational, childish behaviour?
I'm telling you, this woman goes from (trying to be) professional to bad cop in three seconds.
“I have called you, Dante Montefiore, to ease your pain, to help your suffering end. I have called you, Dante Montefiore, to bring you a measure of peace, the hope for an end to your torment. I have called you, Dante Montefiore, to be your guide and your counselor.�
(...)
The Ghost hissed with anger, spattering her with blood from his ruptured lungs and torn throat. “You cannot give me back my life, woman.�
(...)
She’d tried “polite�; now she went for “bitch.� Feeling the first stirrings of anger, she affixed him with green eyes that were as cold as his aura when she replied.
“No, I can’t, but what I can do, you dumb son of a bitch, is help you over your issues so you can be a nice Ghost instead of a grotesque, drippy, bleeding one with a pissy attitude.�
What the fuck kind of "renowned" psychologist is she?? What. The. Fuck. Freud was an asshole; but he did not treat his patients with zero respect nor behave like a bipolar twelve year old in front of them, either.
But but but ... whatever she's doing seems to work.
“I was merely so enthralled by the simple explanation that you have given me…so happy to know that I do not have to exist in hate and remorse, that I quite forgot myself.�
I am actually offended at how simplistic and easy the portrayal of psychological help is manifested in this book.
Really? You didn't know that you didn't have to exist in hate and remorse? Is that really all it takes? Fuck it what have I been studying a master's in Clinical Psychology for for all these years?!
Yet another reflection of her unbalanced character: she was offered a place as a Marine because - get this - she threw a golden cross that was gifted to her by a Vampire delegate right back at his face and told him to "Go fuck yourself sir." And this incident occured when she was supposed to be working as security for a Peace Talk. You know, something that would require this thing called diplomacy and controlled behaviour? I'm sorry Marines, but my respect for you, if I had to judge accordingly to this book, just went down a notch.
2) The fact that everyone's lives revolves around her
...despite being an annoying, irrational, and by far unremarkable, childish woman.
The only thing other characters are talking about, or thinking about, during the oh-so-often cut scenes we get in their perspective, is Gillian Key. Just if we're not clear on how awesomely hot and desirable she is.
“That is the most complicated, infuriating, beautiful
woman I have ever met. I confess, Aleksei, I have to admire her spirit(...)"
-Says the guy who minutes ago just spanked her for pissing him off.
When she smiled, Dante was smitten. He was overcome as her face transformed from merely pretty to lovely when her lips turned up in a genuine grin. Even to his jaded eyes, the transformation was amazing.
Everyone has a nickname for her... piccola, caressima, little doctor, little warrior ... and they fall for her "charms" almost immediately for no apparent reason that I can see. Even the big, bad, dangerous vampires or the big, bad, dangerous ghost. It's ridiculous.
Plot
I just ... I don't even know what the plot actually is!! Everything else distracted me from it - I literally wanted to cry as I read this, not because it was such a touching book, but because of the sheer Mary-Sue-ness of the main character. Because of the complete Roman-God-Blueprintness of the male characters. Everyone in the book was "lovely" and "beautiful" and "gorgeous" with "silvery eyes" and "hard cocks" and all they wanted to do was "protect her" because she's so fucking tiny this book Just Makes ME WANNA AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
So I'm very sorry but I can NOT finish this.
February 1, 2008
If there was a negative rating, I would give it to this book. I actually couldn't even finish this one. I'm having a hard time believing that someone in their late 20s can be the top paranormal psychologist as well as a seasoned marine. The character was really too stupid to live as well as being incredibly unprofessional. Within less than 100 pages, Gillian sleeps with the brother of the man she is supposed to be counseling. Everything in this book was cliche. If it weren't for the fact that the author was actually serious, it would have been so incredibly funny.
February 1, 2009
This is going to be a lengthy rant.
First of all, I am appalled that writing this bad got published. Seriously. All the rules of good writing were ignored. I am dizzy from the head-hopping, I am stunned by the lack of developed characters -- let alone the inconsistencies in the characters, I am left empty with the lack of resolution of the conflict, and I am pissed that the author deems her readers so stupid that she feels it necessary to describe the same physical aspects of characters over and over, in addition to "telling" the reader about events that should be happening in the present tense.
Too much in this book was glossed over. A case in point: Main character Gillian Key is supposed to be a Marine and a paramortal psychologist. It wasn't until 300 pages in (the book is roughly 350 pages) that I became clear on the fact that she is a FORMER Marine, retired from Active Duty.
Furthermore, why is an ex-Marine who is "perfectly capable of taking care of herself" always needing to be rescued like some damsel in distress? Why is a licensed psychologist -- one who is also a skilled empath -- prone to flying off the handle, shooting people and inflicting pain on others? And WHY is a man constantly referred to as being a "chauvinist" for simply wanting to protect and look after the one he loves? Oh, excuse me; I thought that was a natural and beautiful trait that men have.
I would not recommend this book to anyone unless you are a glutton for punishment, or looking for an exercise in how NOT to write.
Ms. Gryphon, I sincerely recommend you take a few creative writing classes at the nearest college. They would do you a world of good.
First of all, I am appalled that writing this bad got published. Seriously. All the rules of good writing were ignored. I am dizzy from the head-hopping, I am stunned by the lack of developed characters -- let alone the inconsistencies in the characters, I am left empty with the lack of resolution of the conflict, and I am pissed that the author deems her readers so stupid that she feels it necessary to describe the same physical aspects of characters over and over, in addition to "telling" the reader about events that should be happening in the present tense.
Too much in this book was glossed over. A case in point: Main character Gillian Key is supposed to be a Marine and a paramortal psychologist. It wasn't until 300 pages in (the book is roughly 350 pages) that I became clear on the fact that she is a FORMER Marine, retired from Active Duty.
Furthermore, why is an ex-Marine who is "perfectly capable of taking care of herself" always needing to be rescued like some damsel in distress? Why is a licensed psychologist -- one who is also a skilled empath -- prone to flying off the handle, shooting people and inflicting pain on others? And WHY is a man constantly referred to as being a "chauvinist" for simply wanting to protect and look after the one he loves? Oh, excuse me; I thought that was a natural and beautiful trait that men have.
I would not recommend this book to anyone unless you are a glutton for punishment, or looking for an exercise in how NOT to write.
Ms. Gryphon, I sincerely recommend you take a few creative writing classes at the nearest college. They would do you a world of good.
January 4, 2011
Whenever I read a book by a new author, I really don't like reading previous reviews, because I really like to go in with zero judgement read it, then rate. But this is one of those books that I really thought
that I should have read the reviews beforehand and save me a lot of disappointment and wasted time.
Key to conflict is a book where I couldn't find a good point: not the plot, nor the characters, not enthused by the writing, wasn't a fan of the narration and came to a point where I had to go down and walk my dog to prevent me from throwing it into the fireplace.
The story starts of with Gillian, an decorated marine who has fought all over the world, who is also a PhD, an empath and God's gift to Men. From this point on, I really couldn't find anything else that called my attention towards this character. For an ex-marine she shows an incredible lack of self-control, discipline and honor. She's described as: delicate, beautiful, everybody wants to protect her of spank her (I honestly wanted to spank her myself and get it over with!) Come on people! When you're basing your character to a specific mold of character (aka The Marines OORAH!) at least try and research it first. If you didn't want to fully base your character to reality, try getting the best points and convert them into your unique point of view, giving it a twist that makes it believable without actually basing it to a specific area. As an author, you have the responsibility in delivering such facts, as a lot of people can get offended and take into consideration that your story telling can influence people on how these characters (a Marine for example) can be. I mean, for an ex-marine, she is so damsel-in-distress the whole time that she needs the help of her harem (we'll get to that) to save her because God forbid that she uses any of her training to actually do some of the saving herself. Let's face it, The Marine Corps fulfills a vital role in national security, and a woman who underwent their rigorous training can't even save herself without the help of the "big-macho-men of her life?! With her supposed training, she can probably kill a person with her lipstick, no better yet, or a hairpin... but sadly, you'll not be seeing that anywhere at all.
Let's not forget her persona as a "psychologist" (here I use that term sarcastically and loosely). For a person with this type of medical training, I highly doubt that she didn't sleep her way into graduation, because she shows no work ethic (or any ethic for that matter). Can you imagine? You go to a psychologist who yells at you (short of bullying) tells you to shut up and suck it up then tells you in a non-negotiable manner how you have to do things (aka her way). If she really did exist, I swear that I would sue her for 20 million dollars, have her licence taken from her, publicly flogged and banned from even giving directions to the next gas station. And to think that she's also supposedly an "empath"... I don't see any empathy anywhere. There is absolutely not humanly (or inhumanly) possible to even like this character. She's rude, obnoxious, irrational and just plain hateful.
At any rate Gillian is asked to provide her supposed shrink skills for a vampire in the Carpathian region (BTW, didn't Christine Feehan discover this lovely vampy spot in her book ?!) There she meets Aleksei Rachlav who suffers from fangxiety and during their first session where she lusts none stop to this guy in her head makes me wonder how she can even concentrate on the session itself... Must be one hell of a multi-tasker if you ask me!) she yells at him and just plain abuses him verbally and he gets a hard-on (rolling my eyes here!) Because she's such a bad-ass therapist, she basically cured this fangxiety in JUST ONE session! Talk about quality people! If this were true, nobody can plead "temporary insanity" anymore, because just one talk with her and you're so going to be walking on sunshine! She then she simultaneously inspires erections in every single male she encounters, even those who dislike her (now we can head off and talk about her harem.) and they don't even know why! I'm guessing she's throwing some major eff-me pheromones big time because there is no other explanation for that... Oh wait a second! I totally forgot that she's God gift to men! She's sex on stick.
Here we can see Gillian bringing her kink on between Alexei and his brother Tanis as well as a ghost named Dante who can temporarily become solid and give our Gillian some luvvin'... We now have our founder-co founder and #1 fan of her personal harem. When talking about the sexual pairings of all the characters as well as the "Mates", it was arousal+lust+anger at first sight and beyond that, there was basically no character development.The sex scenes are just plain laughable. I specially loved the part of her invisible lover, when Tanis walked into her humping the air without knowing that Dante (the ghost) is actually the one doing the humping... I so thought that I was going to see some m/m action!! I found it aggravating the genitalia obsession of the author, where it's described as: emanates some kind of sensual perfume and Gillian's constantly leaking, clenching, and unclenching private parts. It's sex straight out of a bad B-grade movie where the heroine has to has sex with her men subs (as in submissive because I don't see any dominance) or somebody will croak!
Throughout it all, Gillian is a spectacularly useless and stupid heroine, constantly getting into all kinds of absurd situations from her stupidity, where I don't even understand why she went to train in the Marines when she can't even help herself out!
Guys sorry for the negative review, but I really couldn't find anything to like in this book. I finished it out of pure spite and I feel sorry for my cousin who bought me the whole set because I'm so not going to read the other books (books that I'm definitely going to donate to my local library/used books store) If there is any of you who does have a more positive approach on this book, let me know and we can compare notes.
that I should have read the reviews beforehand and save me a lot of disappointment and wasted time.
Key to conflict is a book where I couldn't find a good point: not the plot, nor the characters, not enthused by the writing, wasn't a fan of the narration and came to a point where I had to go down and walk my dog to prevent me from throwing it into the fireplace.
The story starts of with Gillian, an decorated marine who has fought all over the world, who is also a PhD, an empath and God's gift to Men. From this point on, I really couldn't find anything else that called my attention towards this character. For an ex-marine she shows an incredible lack of self-control, discipline and honor. She's described as: delicate, beautiful, everybody wants to protect her of spank her (I honestly wanted to spank her myself and get it over with!) Come on people! When you're basing your character to a specific mold of character (aka The Marines OORAH!) at least try and research it first. If you didn't want to fully base your character to reality, try getting the best points and convert them into your unique point of view, giving it a twist that makes it believable without actually basing it to a specific area. As an author, you have the responsibility in delivering such facts, as a lot of people can get offended and take into consideration that your story telling can influence people on how these characters (a Marine for example) can be. I mean, for an ex-marine, she is so damsel-in-distress the whole time that she needs the help of her harem (we'll get to that) to save her because God forbid that she uses any of her training to actually do some of the saving herself. Let's face it, The Marine Corps fulfills a vital role in national security, and a woman who underwent their rigorous training can't even save herself without the help of the "big-macho-men of her life?! With her supposed training, she can probably kill a person with her lipstick, no better yet, or a hairpin... but sadly, you'll not be seeing that anywhere at all.
Let's not forget her persona as a "psychologist" (here I use that term sarcastically and loosely). For a person with this type of medical training, I highly doubt that she didn't sleep her way into graduation, because she shows no work ethic (or any ethic for that matter). Can you imagine? You go to a psychologist who yells at you (short of bullying) tells you to shut up and suck it up then tells you in a non-negotiable manner how you have to do things (aka her way). If she really did exist, I swear that I would sue her for 20 million dollars, have her licence taken from her, publicly flogged and banned from even giving directions to the next gas station. And to think that she's also supposedly an "empath"... I don't see any empathy anywhere. There is absolutely not humanly (or inhumanly) possible to even like this character. She's rude, obnoxious, irrational and just plain hateful.
At any rate Gillian is asked to provide her supposed shrink skills for a vampire in the Carpathian region (BTW, didn't Christine Feehan discover this lovely vampy spot in her book ?!) There she meets Aleksei Rachlav who suffers from fangxiety and during their first session where she lusts none stop to this guy in her head makes me wonder how she can even concentrate on the session itself... Must be one hell of a multi-tasker if you ask me!) she yells at him and just plain abuses him verbally and he gets a hard-on (rolling my eyes here!) Because she's such a bad-ass therapist, she basically cured this fangxiety in JUST ONE session! Talk about quality people! If this were true, nobody can plead "temporary insanity" anymore, because just one talk with her and you're so going to be walking on sunshine! She then she simultaneously inspires erections in every single male she encounters, even those who dislike her (now we can head off and talk about her harem.) and they don't even know why! I'm guessing she's throwing some major eff-me pheromones big time because there is no other explanation for that... Oh wait a second! I totally forgot that she's God gift to men! She's sex on stick.
Here we can see Gillian bringing her kink on between Alexei and his brother Tanis as well as a ghost named Dante who can temporarily become solid and give our Gillian some luvvin'... We now have our founder-co founder and #1 fan of her personal harem. When talking about the sexual pairings of all the characters as well as the "Mates", it was arousal+lust+anger at first sight and beyond that, there was basically no character development.The sex scenes are just plain laughable. I specially loved the part of her invisible lover, when Tanis walked into her humping the air without knowing that Dante (the ghost) is actually the one doing the humping... I so thought that I was going to see some m/m action!! I found it aggravating the genitalia obsession of the author, where it's described as: emanates some kind of sensual perfume and Gillian's constantly leaking, clenching, and unclenching private parts. It's sex straight out of a bad B-grade movie where the heroine has to has sex with her men subs (as in submissive because I don't see any dominance) or somebody will croak!
Throughout it all, Gillian is a spectacularly useless and stupid heroine, constantly getting into all kinds of absurd situations from her stupidity, where I don't even understand why she went to train in the Marines when she can't even help herself out!
Guys sorry for the negative review, but I really couldn't find anything to like in this book. I finished it out of pure spite and I feel sorry for my cousin who bought me the whole set because I'm so not going to read the other books (books that I'm definitely going to donate to my local library/used books store) If there is any of you who does have a more positive approach on this book, let me know and we can compare notes.
August 9, 2011
This book is so poorly written that it reads like a really long joke. Characterization is thin to begin with, and then personalities change in an instant, going completely against hundreds of pages of build-up when the plot (or "plot") requires it. The premise is interesting, but the book somehow manages to make both paranormal psychology and a protagonist who is a soldier/psychologist seem mostly boring. The sex scenes are pretty decent, but Gillian is too much of an incoherent mass of neuroses (psychologist, heal thyself!) for her romances to be very compelling.
Tanis and Aleksi read like they were created using the European Alpha Male character generator that I thought was strictly the province of Harlequin novelists. Sure, they're hot, but what else do they have to offer but outdated gender stereotypes and cliches that were old before the author was born? How seriously can I take a book where the main character is seriously spanked TWICE (and not in a sexy way) when she goes against the dictates of two vampires? And who actually agrees that they were correct to lift their hands to her?? Not at all, folks.
I read this while at work, when I needed something to do to stay awake, but couldn't afford to get too absorbed in a book. With this novel, that was never a possibility. I'm really glad that I borrowed this from the library, because I would have been really unhappy with myself if I'd bought it.
Overall, this book is a huge disappointment, but the ideas behind it were at least fresh and worth considering.
Tanis and Aleksi read like they were created using the European Alpha Male character generator that I thought was strictly the province of Harlequin novelists. Sure, they're hot, but what else do they have to offer but outdated gender stereotypes and cliches that were old before the author was born? How seriously can I take a book where the main character is seriously spanked TWICE (and not in a sexy way) when she goes against the dictates of two vampires? And who actually agrees that they were correct to lift their hands to her?? Not at all, folks.
I read this while at work, when I needed something to do to stay awake, but couldn't afford to get too absorbed in a book. With this novel, that was never a possibility. I'm really glad that I borrowed this from the library, because I would have been really unhappy with myself if I'd bought it.
Overall, this book is a huge disappointment, but the ideas behind it were at least fresh and worth considering.
August 31, 2016
Normally with a book this bad, I would stop reading it and get rid of it. But I kept reading this in the hopes that it would get better. It didn't. Every cliche sci-fi/paranormal/fiction character you can imagine made an appearance in this book and NOT positively.
Gillian Key is annoying and appropriately described as TSTL by another reviewer. She's obnoxious with a chip the size of grand canyon on her shoulder. Everyone wants her and all I can think is that they must be masochists to want something so obnoxious.
It was repetitive writing. Every male was beautiful, breathtaking, gorgeous, amazing, and perfect. It was tiresome to read nearly the same description for every person in the book. Each scene with Gillian was a repeat scene. Gillian gets pissy, some vampire wants to discipline her, and then she gets pissier and they give in.
I get that she's supposed to be a strong independent woman but she acts like a spoiled child. It's painful to read about her temper tantrums when she doesn't get her way or someone says something that upsets her.
It's not possible to give this 0 stars so 1 will have to do it. Unfortunately I can't get my time back though I can sell this book.
Gillian Key is annoying and appropriately described as TSTL by another reviewer. She's obnoxious with a chip the size of grand canyon on her shoulder. Everyone wants her and all I can think is that they must be masochists to want something so obnoxious.
It was repetitive writing. Every male was beautiful, breathtaking, gorgeous, amazing, and perfect. It was tiresome to read nearly the same description for every person in the book. Each scene with Gillian was a repeat scene. Gillian gets pissy, some vampire wants to discipline her, and then she gets pissier and they give in.
I get that she's supposed to be a strong independent woman but she acts like a spoiled child. It's painful to read about her temper tantrums when she doesn't get her way or someone says something that upsets her.
It's not possible to give this 0 stars so 1 will have to do it. Unfortunately I can't get my time back though I can sell this book.
July 4, 2013
I've read several of the reviews for this novel. Also I haven't been able to read the rest of this particular series. But I do have one thing I would to say. The reviews I have read, yes, their negative, but keep in mind they're YOUR opinion not other peoples. I've only read the first novel in this series and I can say from a novelist's point of view and the view of a high school graduate who has read probably more books than I'd like to mention. This particular series is very unique in it's own way. I can agree with some points of interest that some people have but other things I don't particularly agree with. My opinion is just that. I'm not stopping anyone from reading it or buying it. This book is amazing and quite interesting if I say so myself.
August 2, 2008
Wow, that was a complete waste of my time. After about a fifth of the way into the book, I finally decided to quit reading it and just casually skim through the rest of the story. It made things only fractionally better. That was one of the more poorly written things I've ever read. I would give it less than the one star I've currently rated it if only Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ allowed for these situations.
July 18, 2018
Made it to page 57 and was impressed I lasted that long. The inconsistent points of view within sections that were supposed to be one character’s POV was bad enough, but then we have a full-blown seduction with essentially no build-up combined with poorly-defined characters whose personalities shift at whim. No thank you. In my mind rocks have fallen and everyone died the end.
February 25, 2009
Do not touch this book, lest you be contaminated by its suckitude.
August 8, 2014
This book is the Sharknado of bad books: you spend the entire experience of consuming it in a fugue of incredulity and come away wondering how much was meant to be terrible and how much just turned out that way.
Somewhere along the line in reading this book, I realized this book is full of candy bars.
, who’s relatively well-known for lots of writing advice, defines “candy bar scenes� as the fun ones you’re just dying to write, the ones you really look forward to. I feel like this entire book is Talia Gryphon’s Halloween basket full of sweets occasionally laced with the razor blades of incompetence and the poison of misogyny. The only thing holding them together is the fact that they’re in the same ugly plastic bucket.
Gillian is a mess of contradictions. I'm sure I'm supposed to like and admire her, but she is such an idiot, so incredibly terrible at what she does, and in such terrible need of anger management classes, that I can't feel anything more than exasperated irritation for her. She's supposed to be both a compassionate, sensitive empath and a badass killer Marine, and she fails spectacularly at both. She does absolutely nothing but wobble between chapters making boneheaded decisions. The only times she ever takes action on her own, it's as a rebellious teenager would do: against all reason or sense, regardless of consequences. It's a damn good thing (for her, not so much for the reader) that she's got on a set of titanium Plot Armor, or she wouldn't have survived the second chapter.
And yet, I can't quite say she's the worst character I've ever experienced, simply because of the way the world is set up. No one ever allows Gillian a modicum of opportunity to be competent, so it's no damn wonder all she can do is react with screaming and cursing and rebellion.
Sexual politics
The universe Gillian inhabits has some truly repulsive sexual politics. It's everything that's terrible about our own world, mashed into a leaky, soggy PNR box and left to rot in the cupboard. If you're going to write about sexism, awesome. Seriously, I'm all for some feminist PNR, but it needs to be actually feminist, not some bullshit that masquerades as feminism but actually reinforces every sexual stereotype you've ever heard of in the Western world. As an author, it's a fine line to walk between when characters are sexist douchebags and when you, the author, come off as a sexist douchebag. Characters are allowed their own personalities, foibles, and bad behaviors, but when every character is the same way, and when everything in your world reinforces these sexual politics, that is a problem. Behold, some terrible examples:
* Every male character (EVERY SINGLE ONE) has some bullshit diminutive nickname for Gillian. They constantly call her tiny, delicate, and blonde. And exactly one of them ever lets her make her own decisions without sneering at her and saying she shouldn't because she needs to be protected.
* Male vampires are apparently "genetically" inclined to be overprotective, overbearing dick-swinging, repulsively sexist assholes. No really, the word "genetic" was used in reference to the punitive attitude the male vampires take toward anything Gillian decides to do other than stand in a corner and bat her eyelashes. And this sexism is treated as a foible, like, "oh, silly stuck-in-the-17th-century vampires who are physically abusive and insulting."
* Gillian is repeatedly physically and sexually assaulted (by THREE DIFFERENT PEOPLE!!). The physical assaults are treated as "punishments" for transgressions because the vampires Love Her So Much, yanno, that they're "forced" to do it for her own good. The sexual assaults are actually named as rape, but there's no emotional fallout other than a quick shudder and some mild embarrassment on Gillian's part. It's treated as a throwaway plot point, first to titillate the reader (which is gross enough on its own) and then to rouse other characters into a fury of "protective instincts."
* Throughout, everyone and their sexist uncle defends the male characters' offensive behavior. Gillian doesn't, but whenever she makes a "that's fucked up" comment about Aleksei or Tanis or whoever being sexist, it's almost immediately undermined by a head-hop to aforementioned vampires wherein they talk about how teh wimminz need protection and how cute and small Gillian is.
This terrible sexism and Gillian's terrible stupidity are pitted against one another in a way that makes a cesspit of irredeemably shitty characters. There are, shockingly, a few other female characters here, but they're usually no more than set pieces there to lick Gillian's asshole. One exception is Gillian's friend Kimber, who I wholeheartedly wish was the protagonist. (PS, Kimber is the one with the flamethrower on the cover, not Gillian.)
There are other examples of bad sexual politics, but in the interest of space, I won't detail them here. The link to my chapter-by-chapter review is below.
Plot and pacing
I'm not exaggerating when I say this book has the worst pacing I have EVER read. You know what happens from beginning to end?
SPOILER ALERT
NOTHING.
NOTHING HAPPENS.
Oh yes, the characters fly hither and thither for no reason, they talk to people, they meet people, Gillian wanders out and consistently gets herself in idiotic scrapes, they go rescue someone, but even that is mind-numbingly boring and anti-climactic. The end of the book made me wondering if I'd somehow downloaded a corrupt file and was missing the other half. As one plot point limps to a halt with no climax whatsoever, an entirely new, seemingly unrelated plot is brought in within the last half of the last chapter, and the big bad guys haven't been heard from for chapters and chapters. I know there are other books, which leads me to believe they were all written as a whole and really awkwardly cut into thirds based on something arbitrary like word count, regardless of plotting. It's like, if at the end of Sharknado, the characters were standing among the dead shark corpses and one of them mentions that there's and they must go fight! Bring the baseball bats!
World building
The book's world building is based around two things: 1) ripping off other people's ideas/licking famous authors' assholes and 2) making famous names into vampires. What do Legolas, Drizzt Do'Urden, Jack the Ripper, Dionysus, and Osiris have in common?
DINGDINGDING
Given how patently ridiculous it all is, it's almost not worth mentioning how inconsistent the world building and the plotting are. On the rare occasions when there's actually something halfway interesting happens, it's never developed, and it certainly doesn't have any nuance. Gryphon loves to wander off on self-indulgent tangents about how her world works, but those info dumps are manifestly ill-placed and ill-considered. See candy bar scenes, above.
One more thing that bugs me so much is the completely random use of Italian endearments by both Romanian characters. And there are several. Dear Ms. Gryphon, ROMANIA IS NOT ITALY. The only things the two have in common are communism, a language family, former occupation by Roman forces, and a continent. Italian =/= Romanian.
The only thing I can say about this book, as a whole, is that it provided me with a fair few hours of partly incredulous, partly amused, and partly infuriated entertainment while I did this hate read. If you want to read my chapter-by-chapter review, you can find it on .
Somewhere along the line in reading this book, I realized this book is full of candy bars.
, who’s relatively well-known for lots of writing advice, defines “candy bar scenes� as the fun ones you’re just dying to write, the ones you really look forward to. I feel like this entire book is Talia Gryphon’s Halloween basket full of sweets occasionally laced with the razor blades of incompetence and the poison of misogyny. The only thing holding them together is the fact that they’re in the same ugly plastic bucket.
Gillian is a mess of contradictions. I'm sure I'm supposed to like and admire her, but she is such an idiot, so incredibly terrible at what she does, and in such terrible need of anger management classes, that I can't feel anything more than exasperated irritation for her. She's supposed to be both a compassionate, sensitive empath and a badass killer Marine, and she fails spectacularly at both. She does absolutely nothing but wobble between chapters making boneheaded decisions. The only times she ever takes action on her own, it's as a rebellious teenager would do: against all reason or sense, regardless of consequences. It's a damn good thing (for her, not so much for the reader) that she's got on a set of titanium Plot Armor, or she wouldn't have survived the second chapter.
And yet, I can't quite say she's the worst character I've ever experienced, simply because of the way the world is set up. No one ever allows Gillian a modicum of opportunity to be competent, so it's no damn wonder all she can do is react with screaming and cursing and rebellion.
Sexual politics
The universe Gillian inhabits has some truly repulsive sexual politics. It's everything that's terrible about our own world, mashed into a leaky, soggy PNR box and left to rot in the cupboard. If you're going to write about sexism, awesome. Seriously, I'm all for some feminist PNR, but it needs to be actually feminist, not some bullshit that masquerades as feminism but actually reinforces every sexual stereotype you've ever heard of in the Western world. As an author, it's a fine line to walk between when characters are sexist douchebags and when you, the author, come off as a sexist douchebag. Characters are allowed their own personalities, foibles, and bad behaviors, but when every character is the same way, and when everything in your world reinforces these sexual politics, that is a problem. Behold, some terrible examples:
* Every male character (EVERY SINGLE ONE) has some bullshit diminutive nickname for Gillian. They constantly call her tiny, delicate, and blonde. And exactly one of them ever lets her make her own decisions without sneering at her and saying she shouldn't because she needs to be protected.
* Male vampires are apparently "genetically" inclined to be overprotective, overbearing dick-swinging, repulsively sexist assholes. No really, the word "genetic" was used in reference to the punitive attitude the male vampires take toward anything Gillian decides to do other than stand in a corner and bat her eyelashes. And this sexism is treated as a foible, like, "oh, silly stuck-in-the-17th-century vampires who are physically abusive and insulting."
* Gillian is repeatedly physically and sexually assaulted (by THREE DIFFERENT PEOPLE!!). The physical assaults are treated as "punishments" for transgressions because the vampires Love Her So Much, yanno, that they're "forced" to do it for her own good. The sexual assaults are actually named as rape, but there's no emotional fallout other than a quick shudder and some mild embarrassment on Gillian's part. It's treated as a throwaway plot point, first to titillate the reader (which is gross enough on its own) and then to rouse other characters into a fury of "protective instincts."
* Throughout, everyone and their sexist uncle defends the male characters' offensive behavior. Gillian doesn't, but whenever she makes a "that's fucked up" comment about Aleksei or Tanis or whoever being sexist, it's almost immediately undermined by a head-hop to aforementioned vampires wherein they talk about how teh wimminz need protection and how cute and small Gillian is.
This terrible sexism and Gillian's terrible stupidity are pitted against one another in a way that makes a cesspit of irredeemably shitty characters. There are, shockingly, a few other female characters here, but they're usually no more than set pieces there to lick Gillian's asshole. One exception is Gillian's friend Kimber, who I wholeheartedly wish was the protagonist. (PS, Kimber is the one with the flamethrower on the cover, not Gillian.)
There are other examples of bad sexual politics, but in the interest of space, I won't detail them here. The link to my chapter-by-chapter review is below.
Plot and pacing
I'm not exaggerating when I say this book has the worst pacing I have EVER read. You know what happens from beginning to end?
SPOILER ALERT
NOTHING.
NOTHING HAPPENS.
Oh yes, the characters fly hither and thither for no reason, they talk to people, they meet people, Gillian wanders out and consistently gets herself in idiotic scrapes, they go rescue someone, but even that is mind-numbingly boring and anti-climactic. The end of the book made me wondering if I'd somehow downloaded a corrupt file and was missing the other half. As one plot point limps to a halt with no climax whatsoever, an entirely new, seemingly unrelated plot is brought in within the last half of the last chapter, and the big bad guys haven't been heard from for chapters and chapters. I know there are other books, which leads me to believe they were all written as a whole and really awkwardly cut into thirds based on something arbitrary like word count, regardless of plotting. It's like, if at the end of Sharknado, the characters were standing among the dead shark corpses and one of them mentions that there's and they must go fight! Bring the baseball bats!
World building
The book's world building is based around two things: 1) ripping off other people's ideas/licking famous authors' assholes and 2) making famous names into vampires. What do Legolas, Drizzt Do'Urden, Jack the Ripper, Dionysus, and Osiris have in common?
DINGDINGDING
Given how patently ridiculous it all is, it's almost not worth mentioning how inconsistent the world building and the plotting are. On the rare occasions when there's actually something halfway interesting happens, it's never developed, and it certainly doesn't have any nuance. Gryphon loves to wander off on self-indulgent tangents about how her world works, but those info dumps are manifestly ill-placed and ill-considered. See candy bar scenes, above.
One more thing that bugs me so much is the completely random use of Italian endearments by both Romanian characters. And there are several. Dear Ms. Gryphon, ROMANIA IS NOT ITALY. The only things the two have in common are communism, a language family, former occupation by Roman forces, and a continent. Italian =/= Romanian.
The only thing I can say about this book, as a whole, is that it provided me with a fair few hours of partly incredulous, partly amused, and partly infuriated entertainment while I did this hate read. If you want to read my chapter-by-chapter review, you can find it on .
May 21, 2013
I am a bibliophile and will read pretty much anything, however, this book is possibly the worst written, worst plotted, worst edited book I have ever read, with the least likeable heroine in the history of literature.
The protagonist is (and I quote) "Gillian Key, United States Marine Corps Captain, Special Forces Operative, former flower child, wiseass extraordinaire, also legitimately known as Dr. Gillian Key, Paramortal psychologist" but she's also an empathic, chain-smoking, hard-hitting, ball-breaking, cussin' and fightin' petite, blonde, green-eyed goddess, who inspires love and/or lust in any male, of any species who crosses her path. This is a fact you are not allowed to forget, as reference is made to Gillian’s size, attractiveness or career on pretty much every page. For an empath, she seems pretty much incapable of seeing anybody’s point of view but her own, and goes through the book with her brain off, her morals wavering, and her gun half-cocked.
The plotline is tangled. Dr Key is � on the surface of things � in Romania to offer her psychological skills to a 400-year-old vampire suffering from ‘fangxiety� (I kid you not). However, she’s also covertly checking out rumours that Evil Prince Dracula is about to start an inter-species war after 300-years off the radar. Her client is Alexsei Rachlav, a Vampire Master who’s never adjusted to his state. As with all Vampirekind, he is phenomenally good looking, has supernatural senses, and wants Gillian as soon as he sees her. However, due to the nature of their relationship, neither of them can act on their mutual attraction until a year after the counselling sessions end. But that’s ok, because it leads to plenty of navel gazing during the course of the book.
We also meet Tanis, Alexsei’s even more gorgeous brother. He has held himself aloof from humans since his rebirth, and hasn’t had a lover in over a century. However, within ten minutes of meeting Gillian, he’s spanking her for being disrespectful and then they get it on. Alexsei’s not entirely happy about this, but as he can’t do anything for a year (yes, we know!) he’s quite happy to see his brother taking notice of the world again. Really? Yes, really. Go figure. Oh, and this pair of Romanian hotties only use Italian diminutives and nicknames � why? It’s never really explained, and is very jarring to read.
By page 74, Gillian’s popped over to a nearby castle to counsel Dante, the ghost of an Italian mercenary who was murdered. Guess what? He falls for her too! However, it turns out he’s really not a nice ghostie, as he takes to haunting Gillian’s dreams in a very personal manner, although she’s unaware of it. When she does finally find out what he’s been up to, she says “In my dream state, I was not unwilling. It wasn’t rape, although he took advantage of the situation.� Yeah, right. After this, he’s bound to some pebbles and doesn’t appear in the story again. So, she just carries him around or what?
Confused yet? Well, it doesn’t get any better. This book rambles excessively. The writer starts plotlines, or thoughtlines, and never finishes them. She is excessively wordy, and repeats herself endlessly. Characters are thrown, willy nilly, at the book, and keeping track is extremely difficult. Every paramortal we meet is off-the-charts gorgeous, and no otherworldly race is left out. There are Fey, Vampires, Lycanthropes, Ghosts, and then Jack the Ripper and Oscar Wilde for good measure. Despite the fact our heroine is excessively potty mouthed, and describes half the males in the book as ‘panty-liquefying� (yuk), all of the sex scenes are curiously twee in their language. I don’t mind that, I don’t find graphic description any better, it just didn’t fit in with the overall tone of the writing.
All the female characters are powerful, capable, and hard as nails, and lose their brains and personality within three feet of a cute guy. The men are all alphas, striding decisively across the pages, but led by their hormones and bound by unspeakable honour (apart from the bad guys, who are decisive, alpha-like, and unspeakable DIShonourable).
I completed this book because I was curious to see if at any point it could or would redeem itself. It didn’t. It’s a pastiche of many stereotypes, none of them executed well. The ending isn’t an ending, and there is no real closure for any of the many plotlines throughout the book. Now that I follow authors on Facebook and Twitter, and I know more of what goes into the writing of a book, I try not to be overwhelmingly negative about anyone’s work, but there really is nothing I can recommend about this story. In fact, I can’t remember ever enjoying a book less.
The protagonist is (and I quote) "Gillian Key, United States Marine Corps Captain, Special Forces Operative, former flower child, wiseass extraordinaire, also legitimately known as Dr. Gillian Key, Paramortal psychologist" but she's also an empathic, chain-smoking, hard-hitting, ball-breaking, cussin' and fightin' petite, blonde, green-eyed goddess, who inspires love and/or lust in any male, of any species who crosses her path. This is a fact you are not allowed to forget, as reference is made to Gillian’s size, attractiveness or career on pretty much every page. For an empath, she seems pretty much incapable of seeing anybody’s point of view but her own, and goes through the book with her brain off, her morals wavering, and her gun half-cocked.
The plotline is tangled. Dr Key is � on the surface of things � in Romania to offer her psychological skills to a 400-year-old vampire suffering from ‘fangxiety� (I kid you not). However, she’s also covertly checking out rumours that Evil Prince Dracula is about to start an inter-species war after 300-years off the radar. Her client is Alexsei Rachlav, a Vampire Master who’s never adjusted to his state. As with all Vampirekind, he is phenomenally good looking, has supernatural senses, and wants Gillian as soon as he sees her. However, due to the nature of their relationship, neither of them can act on their mutual attraction until a year after the counselling sessions end. But that’s ok, because it leads to plenty of navel gazing during the course of the book.
We also meet Tanis, Alexsei’s even more gorgeous brother. He has held himself aloof from humans since his rebirth, and hasn’t had a lover in over a century. However, within ten minutes of meeting Gillian, he’s spanking her for being disrespectful and then they get it on. Alexsei’s not entirely happy about this, but as he can’t do anything for a year (yes, we know!) he’s quite happy to see his brother taking notice of the world again. Really? Yes, really. Go figure. Oh, and this pair of Romanian hotties only use Italian diminutives and nicknames � why? It’s never really explained, and is very jarring to read.
By page 74, Gillian’s popped over to a nearby castle to counsel Dante, the ghost of an Italian mercenary who was murdered. Guess what? He falls for her too! However, it turns out he’s really not a nice ghostie, as he takes to haunting Gillian’s dreams in a very personal manner, although she’s unaware of it. When she does finally find out what he’s been up to, she says “In my dream state, I was not unwilling. It wasn’t rape, although he took advantage of the situation.� Yeah, right. After this, he’s bound to some pebbles and doesn’t appear in the story again. So, she just carries him around or what?
Confused yet? Well, it doesn’t get any better. This book rambles excessively. The writer starts plotlines, or thoughtlines, and never finishes them. She is excessively wordy, and repeats herself endlessly. Characters are thrown, willy nilly, at the book, and keeping track is extremely difficult. Every paramortal we meet is off-the-charts gorgeous, and no otherworldly race is left out. There are Fey, Vampires, Lycanthropes, Ghosts, and then Jack the Ripper and Oscar Wilde for good measure. Despite the fact our heroine is excessively potty mouthed, and describes half the males in the book as ‘panty-liquefying� (yuk), all of the sex scenes are curiously twee in their language. I don’t mind that, I don’t find graphic description any better, it just didn’t fit in with the overall tone of the writing.
All the female characters are powerful, capable, and hard as nails, and lose their brains and personality within three feet of a cute guy. The men are all alphas, striding decisively across the pages, but led by their hormones and bound by unspeakable honour (apart from the bad guys, who are decisive, alpha-like, and unspeakable DIShonourable).
I completed this book because I was curious to see if at any point it could or would redeem itself. It didn’t. It’s a pastiche of many stereotypes, none of them executed well. The ending isn’t an ending, and there is no real closure for any of the many plotlines throughout the book. Now that I follow authors on Facebook and Twitter, and I know more of what goes into the writing of a book, I try not to be overwhelmingly negative about anyone’s work, but there really is nothing I can recommend about this story. In fact, I can’t remember ever enjoying a book less.
May 25, 2018
Recommended by Autumn R.
Are you interested in the paranormal? What about history, mythology, action, adventure, and even a little romance? The entire series takes place in a world exactly like ours but with a new reality, that involves magic, the possibility of other realms, nonhumans, and special abilities.
In Key to Conflict, the first book in the series, Dr. Gillian Key is a Paramortal psychologist who also happens to be a captain with the U.S. Marine's Special Ops. She is currently in Romania at the request of the local master vampire, Count Aleksei Rachlav, who needs her help with his depression about being a vampire.
While in Romania, she is also to obtain information about Dracula's return. Dracula is trying to destroy the peace that has been found between humans and the paranormal population. Gillian is caught in the middle of the upcoming war and finds herself caring for Aleksei and him her, but both are determined to be in the front lines in the fight to defeat Dracula and his followers.
Throughout the series, you get to meet all different types of beings such as Greek and Roman gods, such as Osiris and Dionysius, Dorian Gray, Jack the Ripper, a Loup Garou, Sweeney Todd, the Blood Countess, the Phantom of the Opera, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Frankenstein's creature, and the Headless Horseman.
So, if you have an interest in the paranormal along with action, adventure, and romance, I highly suggest that you check out this series!
Are you interested in the paranormal? What about history, mythology, action, adventure, and even a little romance? The entire series takes place in a world exactly like ours but with a new reality, that involves magic, the possibility of other realms, nonhumans, and special abilities.
In Key to Conflict, the first book in the series, Dr. Gillian Key is a Paramortal psychologist who also happens to be a captain with the U.S. Marine's Special Ops. She is currently in Romania at the request of the local master vampire, Count Aleksei Rachlav, who needs her help with his depression about being a vampire.
While in Romania, she is also to obtain information about Dracula's return. Dracula is trying to destroy the peace that has been found between humans and the paranormal population. Gillian is caught in the middle of the upcoming war and finds herself caring for Aleksei and him her, but both are determined to be in the front lines in the fight to defeat Dracula and his followers.
Throughout the series, you get to meet all different types of beings such as Greek and Roman gods, such as Osiris and Dionysius, Dorian Gray, Jack the Ripper, a Loup Garou, Sweeney Todd, the Blood Countess, the Phantom of the Opera, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Frankenstein's creature, and the Headless Horseman.
So, if you have an interest in the paranormal along with action, adventure, and romance, I highly suggest that you check out this series!
September 7, 2016
Holy mother of god, this book. I have never read a book that has managed to cram so much madness into one document. The sexual politics are abhorrent even for a romance novel--within four chapters, the heroine gets SPANKED, and not even in a sexy way!--and the "plot" limps along like someone who's been trying to hike up a mountain in spike heels. I started reading this series out of curiosity and have continued fueled by hatred and genuine, incredulous curiosity at what could possibly happen next. I'm honestly confused about what is going on here, because although the book insists that the titular character, Gillian Key, is the most amazingest soldier and therapist ever, she bumbles around and makes a complete fool of herself every second of the book. Is she supposed to be an unreliable narrator? Are we supposed to get conflicting views of her? I would really like to give the book that much credit, but I'm afraid I can't.
For my full, chapter by chapter, unvarnished, profanity-laced opinion, .
For my full, chapter by chapter, unvarnished, profanity-laced opinion, .
March 7, 2009
After reading other reviews here and after reading the first few chapters of this book I had my doubts as to rather I was going to enjoy it. The main character, Gillian Key, renowned ParaMortal Psychologist and decorated marine captain, seemed a bit flitty and out of control. I was not thrilled with her apparent ease of sleeping with whoever interested her at the moment. But she grew on me. The beginning of the story was very romancy and a bit historical, but it moved on to become quite and interesting action packed book. I loved the various characters, including those on Gillian's 'team'. I am very much looking forward to going right on to read the next book in the series as this book leaves us on quite an interesting note.
September 11, 2008
I am sorry to say that I only have one word to describe this book: Ugh!
The premise was very promising. The main heroine is a psychologist to the paranormal community (which includes vampires, werewolves, and ghosts even) and is an ex-Marine to boot. She is called on an assignment to counsel a vampire who is in a serious depression. Okay, so far so good and then..............Ugh! The second half of the book was just plain awful.
It took an enormous amount of discipline and promises to myself of chocolate and a trip to the store for a better book to get through to the book's end.
My recommendation - skip it.
The premise was very promising. The main heroine is a psychologist to the paranormal community (which includes vampires, werewolves, and ghosts even) and is an ex-Marine to boot. She is called on an assignment to counsel a vampire who is in a serious depression. Okay, so far so good and then..............Ugh! The second half of the book was just plain awful.
It took an enormous amount of discipline and promises to myself of chocolate and a trip to the store for a better book to get through to the book's end.
My recommendation - skip it.
October 24, 2011
Gillian, an ex-Marine and psychologist to paranormals goes "undercover" while counseling a 400 year old vampire with depression. Whatever. The author repeats herself over and over again, telling us how the heroine is so tough and can take care of herself. Also, how Gillian is irritated that the vampire wants to protect her because he is an antiquated chauvinist. While, the vampire constantly goes on about how impressed he is that in spite of being so delicate she is fierce and how he is perplexed and frustrated by her "feminist ways". Seriously, every page this is reiterated in some form or another. Boring.
November 4, 2008
Penguin are really riding the wave of interest in urban fantasy, and they seem to be scraping the bottom of the author barrel to feed demand. I didn't get very far into this because it just wasn't very well written.
Someone badly needs to teach the author the principle of "show, don't tell". On top of that, the descriptions are confusing, the sentences are poorly constructed, words are frequently used incorrectly, and the main character manages to be simultaneously a Mary Sue and unsympathetic.
Avoid.
Someone badly needs to teach the author the principle of "show, don't tell". On top of that, the descriptions are confusing, the sentences are poorly constructed, words are frequently used incorrectly, and the main character manages to be simultaneously a Mary Sue and unsympathetic.
Avoid.
October 12, 2014
After about 40 pages I decided to give this one up. I found the whole concept a hard one to buy. Gillian is a therapist for the paranormal but also working for the government in secret military things. She also has inappropriate feelings for her patient. Maybe one of these would be ok, but with all of them I just couldn't/didn't want to deal with it. This one just isn't for me.
September 5, 2018
Picked this up at a local used book store for a couple bucks. Figured it was worth a read. After about 60 pages of struggling to take any of the characters seriously, I've decided to call it quits. Just...do yourself a favor and don't read this book. I hate not finishing books, but I just don't think it's worth it. DNF.
July 15, 2008
ok i officially love this series. there is a ton of steamy romance's in this book. plus a kidnapping and a frustrated vampire. not to mention the famous dracula pops up in this
June 19, 2017
One of the very few (and to be honest really the only one I can come up with at the moment) urban fantasy series where I had to fight just to get through because I really REALLY don't like quitting on a book. Had I not had that qualm I'd have bailed about 20 pages in...
Soooo bad. Bad enough that it gets a great mention (tongue in cheek) here:
Which is about the best thing to come from reading the book. I WON'T be reading the rest.
Soooo bad. Bad enough that it gets a great mention (tongue in cheek) here:
Which is about the best thing to come from reading the book. I WON'T be reading the rest.
August 3, 2023
I read this back in high school and enjoyed it but remembered there were flaws in the story. Going back in knowing it was going to be poor writing didn’t help. It really is worse than I remember. It has possible bits of plot that have potential but it really isn’t great.
It needs editing, the main character is a mess (and I’m referring to how she’s written), characters act inconsistently, the POV jumps around in a headache induced fashion, ect. I don’t recommend it.
It needs editing, the main character is a mess (and I’m referring to how she’s written), characters act inconsistently, the POV jumps around in a headache induced fashion, ect. I don’t recommend it.
July 25, 2008
I was really into this book for the first half. I couldn't put it down and was giggling often.
Then, it all went to pot. I got really tired of the strong military girl trying to prove how capable she was to the gorgeous, chauvinistic vampire.
The book seemed like it was repeating itself when it was describing vampire history. In some cases, the descriptions in different sections of the book seemed to contradict each other.
The plot about 3/4 the way through the book seemed thrown together, like the author suddenly thought, "Oh no, I can't think of any other ways to have the romantic leads disagree." and "Oh yeah, I need to introduce the new characters so that I can make this book into a series.
This book, like many others I have read recently, has more typos than should be tolerated.
I will probably continue to the next book in the series, but I hope it is planned out better or that will be it for me.
Then, it all went to pot. I got really tired of the strong military girl trying to prove how capable she was to the gorgeous, chauvinistic vampire.
The book seemed like it was repeating itself when it was describing vampire history. In some cases, the descriptions in different sections of the book seemed to contradict each other.
The plot about 3/4 the way through the book seemed thrown together, like the author suddenly thought, "Oh no, I can't think of any other ways to have the romantic leads disagree." and "Oh yeah, I need to introduce the new characters so that I can make this book into a series.
This book, like many others I have read recently, has more typos than should be tolerated.
I will probably continue to the next book in the series, but I hope it is planned out better or that will be it for me.
December 4, 2009
Gah, just wrote this review and lost it. This book reminds me of a more balanced (in regards to sex and violence) of the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series. They have a lot of similarities in personalities. ABVH series is better, but that just might be due to my appreciation of Hamilton's writing style.
The main character, Gillian Key (get the title?), is a Paramortal psychologist, shrink to Vampires, Lycanthropes, Ghosts, etc, and also a retired US Marine. She goes to offer her services to a Vampire Count in Romania. While there she is embroiled in Dracula's attempt to take over the Count's territory in an attempt to subjugate all non-Vampire races (and basically enslave humanity as little more than cattle).
The main character, Gillian Key (get the title?), is a Paramortal psychologist, shrink to Vampires, Lycanthropes, Ghosts, etc, and also a retired US Marine. She goes to offer her services to a Vampire Count in Romania. While there she is embroiled in Dracula's attempt to take over the Count's territory in an attempt to subjugate all non-Vampire races (and basically enslave humanity as little more than cattle).
January 1, 2015
Had enormous potential but there was way too much focus on the superficial aspects; not enough focus on the plot. And this read very much like a first published novel with information dumps all over the place. I felt like at times the main character exhibited only part of herself= her nature seemed to shift throughout the book depending on the situation and she didn't seem to have quite a stable personality. Nevertheless, I might pick up the second book because I am curious as to how everything develops.
February 11, 2011
I liked the book and I am looking forward to reading the others in this series. I like the idea of vamps, were, fae, and humans all basically getting along. I feel the author stayed in the same lines as Laurell K Hamilton and others that write these types of books. All of the myths were pretty much the same. I like books where the main character is a bad ass female, and Gill is definatly that. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys vamps, weres, and etc.....
August 10, 2016
I wanted to love this, I didn't. In fact I'm pretty sure I didn't even really like it. The blurb sounded excellent, a storyline which covered a lot of what I like. It would appear that even I have limits though. Certain (non-fantastical) elements of the story are way beyond belief and some phrases used are just too icky for even the dirtiest of minds.
It's a series, do the rest get better? I don't know as I won't be reading them.
It's a series, do the rest get better? I don't know as I won't be reading them.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get help and learn more about the design.