I picked up both these books while on my trip to Oak Ridge last week.
Rankings (new as of this book review) are from 1 (bleah) to 3 (yeah!).
A Kiss of Shadows, by Laurell K. Hamilton
- Summary: [2] LKH starts a new series, seemingly because she couldn’t portray enough rough sex in her Anita Blake books. This new set of tales, of a mortal faerie princess, fleeing the dangers of the Unseelie Court only to have them catch up with her, could have used a prequel novel — “Here’s how Meredith’s life is like before it gets completely changed.” Instead, we have to settle for a few chapters of that before things get turned completely upside down. LKH, as in the Blake novels, does an interesting job of crafting an intersection between the Real World and the Fantastic (what the world would be like if the fay and the sidhe were real). But more than once I got the impression it was all in the service of writing a rough sex bodice-ripper, albeit one that could make the NYT Bestseller List. This book just came out in paperback; there are one (or is it two?) later volumes in hardback. I’ll probably continue to read it — but I’d rather read the metaphysical soap opera of Anita Blake than the B/D adventures of Meredith Gentry.
- Entertainment: [2] The introduction of Faerie into the Real World is reasonably handled, although there are times when LKH seems to pull “gotchas” out of a hat. The sex scenes are pretty good, if you like a little pain with your pleasure.
- Profundity: [1] Life’s a bitch, and so’s your aunt, but you can always screw your way out of a problem.
- Re-readability: [1] I just don’t see picking this one up again soon. I may feel better once there are some others in the series.
Being Human, by Peter David
- Summary: [2] The latest in PAD’s Star Trek: New Frontiers series carries on the various plot lines of the past dozen-plus volumes. Humor, TOS continuity, in-jokes, and drama are tossed about with PAD’s usual aplomb. the enigmatic McHenry finally gets his story told — which, like most long-standing mysteries, is less entertaining than the enigma, but still worth the price of admission. PAD does the usual deft juggling of different places, in this case splitting the action between two starships (as his cast of characters continues to grow).
- Entertainment: [3] My only complaint is that these books can be polished off in a long evening.
- Profundity: [2] What does it mean to be human? Or, from the B-plot, when is it worth making a deal with the devil?
- Re-readability: [2] I’ve actually just started rereading the series. Their shortness, though, makes it difficult to take them on vacation.
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