Thoughtful Thursday, 16 June - happiness

Welcome to Thoughtful Thursday!

This week I would like to discuss the notion of happiness. It's summer, isn't it? We should be happy but...

what does it mean to be happy to you? Plenty of chocolate? A lot of great books? A peaceful moment enjoyed in the sun? Somebody to love? Sex drugs and rock and roll? 


Such a simple question, so many possible answers...and so many great quotes! Choose your favourite and tell me about your notion of happiness!

Even if happiness forgets you a little bit, never completely forget about it.  ~Jacques Prévert

Most people would rather be certain they're miserable, than risk being happy.  ~Robert Anthony

The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.  ~Mark Twain

If only we'd stop trying to be happy we could have a pretty good time.  ~Edith Wharton

Happiness is excitement that has found a settling down place.  But there is always a little corner that keeps flapping around.  ~E.L. Konigsburg

Nobody really cares if you're miserable, so you might as well be happy.  ~Cynthia Nelms

Those who can laugh without cause have either found the true meaning of happiness or have gone stark raving mad.  ~Norm Papernick

What a wonderful life I've had!  I only wish I'd realized it sooner.  ~Colette

"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best," and then he had to stop and think.  Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called.  ~A.A. Milne

Indeed, man wishes to be happy even when he so lives as to make happiness impossible.  ~St. Augustine

Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.  ~Nathaniel Hawthorne

There is no cosmetic for beauty like happiness.  ~Lady Blessington

A great obstacle to happiness is to expect too much happiness.  ~Bernard de Fontenelle

The only way to avoid being miserable is not to have enough leisure to wonder whether you are happy or not.  ~George Bernard Shaw

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.  ~Mahatma Gandhi


When you're really happy, the birds chirp and the sun shines even on cold dark winter nights - and flowers will bloom on a barren land.  ~Grey Livingston

Summer review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame- Smith

I tried to resist, I really did, but the resistance was futile. I knew I had to read it and I’ve finally done it. Here is my review and beware - apart from Pride and Prejudice also zombies are coming!

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Quirk Books (March 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594743347
• ISBN-13: 978-1594743344
• Genre: Paranormal Parody of a Regency Romance 
• Target audience: YA zombie fans and some J. Austen adult fans as well - one doesn't exclude the other.

Synopsis and what I liked:

I shortened this section in order not to bore you with repeating the story plenty of people know by heart and most of other people have heard something about. The book is a paranormal version of P and P - there’s Lizzy and her family, the Bennets, but here they are China-schooled martial art warriors (apart from Mrs. Bennet of course) - ninja or better. What can be done - the family lives in an age when they must be ever vigilant if the girls are to survive until marriage and beyond because England is swarming with zombies. Elizabeth Bennet becomes an especially talented fighter, and is renowned for the ease with which she can fend off an entire horde of Unmentionables, slicing and dicing with the best of them. Their beloved Hertfordshire is horribly infected and they do what they can to protect themselves and the rest of the population.

The zombies provide an entertaining backdrop without outshining the main story, which remains the developing relationship between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy, another magnificent warrior. What’s more? Lydia elopes with Wickham, Jane and Bingley fancy each other, Charlotte catches Mr. Collins but for slightly different reasons than in the original version. Let me only say - zombies can change a lot. The characters fight, duel and maim while still keeping perfect manners. Lizzy beheads Lydia when the girl annoys her (the head reattaches itself, don’t worry). Lizzy rejects Darcy's frist proposal kicking the hell out of him. Wickham ends up lamed for life. Vomit plays an important role in the whole book - these scenes were disgustingly funny at first. Finally “A Reader’s Discussion Guide” was smart, witty, and did repair my opinion of the grossness of the book -- just a little.

The cover is great, though. Scary but funny and great.

Titillating factor:

None, with those horrible "dreadfuls" and all that barfing going on...


What I didn’t like:

First, in my opinion Seth allowed Jane Austen to do the bulk of the writing (85% of the text is still hers). I think he could have changed more and make the whole story quirkier and better. He could even have  avoided mixing so many Asiatic culture elements – I suppose a steampunk P and P would work as well.

Second, the idea to turn Wickham into a diapered mess of a man, who must be constantly tended after wetting his bed lacked some refinement. This plot development itself tells me that Mr. Grahame-Smith rewrote the book more for teenage boys and girls than adult men and women. Personally I would put Wickham in charge of a large necropolis and let the zombies deal with him (or him deal with zombies as he was also a trained warrior after all). Satisfaction guaranteed.

Finally, after a while all that puking became irritating. Mrs. Bennet was the biggest offender but in this book at some point almost every character takes out discretely their handkerchief and empty their stomach for a reason or two. Zombies eating brains is gross, but when one has been surrounded by the Unmentionables for fifty years, it is unlikely that one will share our sense of decorum. But then came the marriage time and I didn’t complain anymore.

Final verdict:

It is still positive, despite some childish scenes aimed solely at grossing the reader out and/or make them laugh. If you found Pride and Prejudice an agreeable read and/or you are a zombie move aficionado (one somehow doesn't exclude the other), I’d encourage you to give this a try. I think Jane Austen would generally approve and she would earn a lot selling her copyrights! I don't doubt she would like to change the overtone a bit, though.


Now some quotes to give you a better idea what you could be dealing with if you decide to read the book:

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains will be in want of more brains. Never was this truth more plain than during the recent attacks at Netherfield Park, in which a household of eighteen was slaughtered and consumed by a horde of the living dead. ”


“Elizabeth thought she detected the slightest smile on his face. She watched as Darcy drew his blade and cut down the two zombies with savage yet dignified movements. He then made quick work of beheading the slaughtered staff, upon which Mr. Bingley politely vomited into his hands. There was no denying Darcy's talents as a warrior.”


“Your balls, Mr. Darcy?” He reached out and closed her hand around them and offered, “They belong to you Miss Bennet.” Upon this their colour changed, and they were forced to look away from one another, lest they laugh.” (of course they dealt with musket balls if anybody is asking).

Summer Review: Clockwork Heart by Dru Pagliassotti

The fourth book in my summer chicklit series brushes against steampunk and is a winner of the NaNoWriMo 2004 competition - it made me really curious!


Book info:

• Paperback: 304 pages 
• Publisher: Juno Books (April 1, 2008) 
• Language: English 
• ISBN-10: 0809572567 
• ISBN-13: 978-0809572564 
• Genre: fantasy/steampunk/romance/sci-fi/mystery 
• Target audience: YA 

Synopsis:

Ondinium is a mountainous city-state whose physical strata mirror their caste system. At the bottom is Tertius, the seediest and the poorest part whose inhabitants are immigrants, workers, engineers and often criminals. In the middle is Secundus, where are situated the higher-end shops, markets, and the University. And at the top is Primus, land of the few - rich and privileged. The classes are separated into four groups: the administrative ruling class, called Exalteds, executive police caste (Lictors), labouring plebeians, and free-flying icarii who run messages between all three rings of society. Dru Pagliassotti draws clear lines between them - their functions in society, how they relate to each other, how trapped they are in their own castes. Each member of the groups have different tattoos or emblems to signify their place. Exalteds are the real aristocrats and rulers - they wear white ivory masks in public and usually keep themselves to themselves. All citizens are subject to the Great Engine, a steam-powered computerized machine that also determines one’s career, but that is counterbalanced by a human, Exalted-led Council. Even machines sometimes make mistakes.

Floating through and around this society are the icari, caste-less messengers who fly with wings made of ondinium, a super-buoyant metal. Taya Icarus is one such messenger, and one day on her way back from a job she saves two exalteds from a wireferry crash. As she investigates (unofficially), her path crosses that of the exalted Forlore brothers which couldn’t have differed more. The younger Alister is handsome and charming, a ladies’ man but also the youngest member of the Council and the greatest programmer of the engines that run the city. The oldest, Cristof, is skinny, rude and grouchy; he renounced his caste and lives as an unmasked clockwright in Tertius. Both brothers seem to fancy Taya in their own way but, as she is making her choice, she discovers that not all shiny stuff is gold and not all handsome men are worth a heartache…not to mention the fact that she can’t count on anything more than a short fling – not when the Exalteds are involved.

Titillating factor:

Just a few kisses nothing more - it is a YA novel after all. I approve. :)

What I liked:

I didn’t expect much but maybe just because of it was charmed.

First of all Ms. Pagliassotti lets the reader explore Ondinium without resorting to clumsy info-dumps. Undoubtedly, the world-building is the most impressive aspect of Clockwork Heart, and although one can recognize the possible sources scattered around fantasy literature (like Tolkien’s Gondor but also Plato’s Atlantis and ancient Rome), the author has made this world truly original.

Each immigrant group living in Ondinium has their own stereotypes and opinions about other groups, and appropriate relationships and tensions. There is also an underground group called the Torn Cards that hates the government - so-called for their calling card, torn programming cards, that they leave at the sites of their terrorist attacks. No vampires or werewolves on the horizon. No zombies either…

When it comes to characters Ms. Pagliassotti created a compelling, sympathetic heroine you can relate to. Although it is a YA novel the heroine never acts too stupid to live and the hero isn't a cloying, insufferably noble jerk. Taya’s actions and inner deliberations are definitely more mature than you would expect. I found her a smart, capable, sensible woman who knows what she wants (so no, no ugly love triangle here either). The Forlore brothers are three-dimensional and fascinating. Without giving anything away, I wholeheartedly agreed with Taya’s eventual romantic choice. She proved she had brains and her heart was definitely in the right place.

What I didn’t like:

The plot dragged along for too many pages, especially at the end. It made me bored as the book became a bit too predictable right from the middle of the narration. It would be better if the main baddie was revealed later – as it is, the final showdown felt oddly overshadowed by the earlier, dramatic confrontation between Taya and the Forlore brothers. In other words the novel would have been better if it had been about 1/4th of its length shorter (but, as it is a debut  let’s cut the author some slack).

Also the steampunk aspect…well, I read steampunk just because I love when these queerly complicated anachronistic machines become pretty much rightful characters of the story. Unfortunately here they were employed only as props. I don't feel that the author intended to exploit the ethos, awe and science that characterizes the steampunk genre to the full, focusing too much on the romantic thread instead. That’s why I wouldn't really consider this book pure steampunk, though it certainly contains those elements. It's first and foremost romantic fantasy. As you might guess it wasn’t exactly up to my expectations.

Finally I am not overly thrilled by the cover. Somehow it doesn’t work for me.

Final verdict:
This was a pleasant mix of romance, mystery and steampunk but it lacked real scientific passion and a better pacing of narration. It was fun and easy to read though – perfect for a lazy summer day.

Review: A Conspiracy of Paper by David Liss

Cover of A Conspiracy of Paper: A Novel

Book info:
Form: e-book, mobi format
Genre: historical fiction/murder mystery
Target audience: adults


Synopsis:

The book, a first-person narration, is set in 1719 in London, one year before the famous stock-market crash known in the English-speaking world as the South Sea Bubble. 


What happens when a big, bad corporation finds out that you know its dirty secrets and you intend to expose them? Well, it depends. You might be ‘accidentally’ run down by a hackney cab at night or you might all of a sudden display some suicidal tendencies and hang yourself in your own house. The choice is rather not entirely yours.

The main lead of this book is called Benjamin Weaver but his real surname used to be Lienzi; he comes from a family of Portuguese Jews who fled the Inquisiton. One day he is informed that the recent death of his father, who had been run down by a hackney, was most probably arranged. A William Balfour, the son of another victim (self-murder), who had been Benjamin's father’s close associate, asked him to investigate both cases. The problem is that Benjamin had been estranged from his family since he turned fourteen and now he knows very little about stock-jobbing, finances, and banking. He had never finished any school – he is an ex-pugilist and now he earns his living as a kind of private investigator, specializing in rather straightforward activity of retrieving stolen goods. Why such a person could find employment in those times? The answer is simple.

Image via Wikipedia

In the early 18^th century there were no British police as such, only the so-called thief-takers. The London underworld was ruled by one of them, Jonathan Wild – a real person and the first real crime lord ever officially recorded. He used to profit from selling thieves he allegedly “caught” to the justice – the price for one such individual was 40 pounds – and of course he caught only those who crossed him or dared to defy his power (for comparison – a poor laborer in London could earn only 20 pounds a year and still was able to feed his family - I am quoting the author's explanations). It was not Wild's only source of profit of course. His people stole different things and then used to resell them to their legal proprietors, pretending that they “retrieved” them. Wild  also controlled most of prostitution and prohibited traffic in the city. If somebody was intelligent enough to see through his  practices, he would be a potential customer of such people as Benjamin Weaver (a fictional character) but usually people considered Wild a hero who fought crime day and night. Until he was hanged that is. Ok, let's return to the summary itself.

Although the conspiracy of the title seems to go way over Benjamin’s head or experience he decides he owes that much to his late father and starts the investigation. He will need all the luck and help he can get, though, as it is clear from the very beginning that he got involved in something far bigger than an occasional thievery or murder. He will have to cross his path with Wild and his henchmen more than once, he will also have to reconcile with his uncle, meeting in the process Miriam, an intelligent, beautiful woman he will fall in love with.

What I liked:

Plenty. Let me state it loud and clear – it was a delicious book and I simply devoured it. It kept me up far later than I should have been several nights in a row and for a good reason - although the book was rather long it was unputdownable.

A Conspiracy Of Paper has it all. It presents very well developed and interesting characters (particularly Benjamin Weaver - let's face it, you have to adore a man who, living in that strange, unhygienic era, washes his head thrice a month to avoid lice and uses condoms made of sheep intestines), an exciting and mysterious plot, an ability to make early 18th century London come alive for the reader and a compelling historical perspective of the London’s stock market in its infancy, the criminal underworld, the powerful business elite which doesn't hide its anti-Semitic sentiments.


If you are not interested in the world of finances, don’t worry – our main character knows precious little about it either so there is ample (but never overly so) explanation provided. If, however, you have studied the history of economics or particularly the trade disasters of modern day stock exchanges  you will be able to identify with the excitement and confusion of the 1719 trade market even better. Believe me, the South Sea Company and dark machinations to protect their public image while earning as much as they can are a surprisingly contemporary topic. A fool and his money are soon parted after all- and nowhere so quickly as in the stock market, it would seem.

The author employs high action plot in a very good way, seducing the reader to enter the financial trading scene. I was happy to find all the accumulated implausibilities and unlikelihoods neatly wrapped up at the end – no mean task for such a long book. Additionally, Mr. Liss writes with confidence and humour. Is there anything more you can wish for?

What I didn’t like:

One really minor quibble from me (and now my romance-loving friends will gasp with surprise and clap with delight): I wanted so much a good solid HEA for Benjamin that my hands itched to slap that rebellious, stupid, overly ambitious Miriam over her lovely but stubborn head. Of course the way the author tied up the romantic plot line was very realistic and logical but still it made me sad. Well, real life is mostly sad, isn't it? Dear me, I suppose I complain because I keep bad company. ;p Or maybe because it's summer and I've been spoiled by too much chicklit?

Final verdict:

If you  like detective as well as historical novels, you will be delighted with this book. I found it completely absorbing and entertaining – a very strong contestant to the title of the best book I’ve read this year. Historical fiction at its finest - I can hardly wait for the sequel!

William Hogarth's Gin Lane - I had it on my mind all the time.

Friday Flash Fiction

Amy C at Romance Book Wyrm and Dottie atTink's Place have come up with the idea for a Monday Morning Flash Fiction challenge. Each Monday a new picture prompt will be posted and if you choose to participate - you publish your Fiction Flash  on Friday - 350 words, give or take. Below you can find the picture posted last Monday:

I am sorry but I CAN'T imagine wrting about cowboys and such so I decided to ignore the picture (I know, bad anachronist!) and  give you a glimpse of Grarron for the thrid time:




Grarron knew he had just a few moments to save his life. He tore his shirt and took out a pendant made of some strangely twisted bones. He held it high for the cat-woman to see.

“Look carefully here you she-devil, just look at it! It is the protection token which I got from your Pack Lord!! You can’t kill me! Do you understand? You can’t!! I am protected!!!"

The woman froze in the middle of a fine thrust, her eyes transfixed by the pendant. She recognized it instantly but she could hardly believe it. Adjusting her plans to the new development took her just a few seconds, though.

“Very well, king Grarron. I recognize the token and I won’t kill you but I won’t leave you in peace either. You will have to accompany me – my Pack Lord himself will decide how to deal with you.”

Before Grarron could react he had his hands tightly bound behind and his mouth gagged, his royal cloak wrapped tightly around his head. Next second or two, he was carried like a sack of potatoes on the woman’s back. Like every mutant, his kidnapper was freakishly strong so she handled her hostage as if he weighted as much as a kitten. She exited through a window, like a real cat, and progressed jumping from one roof to the other. People were gawping and shouting but nobody dared to stop the woman. Archers could have shot her but they were afraid they might hurt their king in the process. Accidents do happen. Grarron never felt more uncomfortable or more ashamed. Taken from his own palace by one single woman…carried like a wounded animal on somebody’s back…it was just a beginning, though.

The journey to the Pack Lord’s lair was one horrible nightmare. Grarron has been a soldier all his adult life and he knew everything about hardships of traveling in difficult terrain but it was beyond any of his previous escapades. He was carried first, often unconscious, and then forced to follow the woman on foot or all fours. She never talked to him, just prodding or slapping his head to make him go faster, but she never let him alone either, not even when he had to relieve himself. It was humiliating to the extreme. In order to keep him alive she gave him scraps of raw meat and allowed him to lap water from rivers and brooks. At first he refused to eat meat which, being still warm and bloody, made him nauseous but after a day or two of a really exhausting trek he was ravenous enough to be tempted – in fact he would have eaten even his own flesh.

They could hear their pursuers for some days but it was a false hope. Even the best scouts couldn't have dreamt of matching the speed and skills of a mutant. Then Grarron heard only silence. The woman could hide her trails and those of her prey very efficiently. In order to prevent Grarron’s escape the she-devil bound him every single night and hanged on trees or buried in heaps of leaves, with his mouth gagged, exposed to chill and rain. Insects crawled on his body, biting and stinging painfully. After a week he was barely alive, a shadow of his former self – a dirty, smelly bundle of rags with stubble covering his haggard face and cuts and bruises everywhere. Nobody would recognize him as the proud, handsome king Grarron now. Still in his eyes simmered anger and resistance – he decided to survive just to make her pay for the torment. And return to the throne. As soon as possible.

Review: Killing Time by Caleb Carr

· Hardcover: 288 pages
· Publisher: Random House; 1st edition (November 7, 2000)
· Language: English
· ISBN-10: 0679463321
· ISBN-13: 978-0679463320
· Genre: sci-fi/thriller

· Target group: adults (preferably geeks)

Synopsis:

This book, a first-person narrative, takes place in the year 2023, in a world heavily polluted and racked by violent warfare all over the globe, an era that has seen almost all: plague, a global economic crash, and the 2018 assassination of the US President Emily Forrester. The protagonist, Dr. Gideon Wolfe, is a psychiatrist, expert criminologist and an expert in history. He learns quite accidentally that the assassination of Ms. Forrester five years ago was digitally altered to trick the public. The widely viewed web page containing the killing is very popular but has split an already divided nation further.

 Gideon meets a group of scientists and military experts who were the professional manipulators behind much of the official public misinformation floating on the Net. They are led by the Tressalian siblings, Malcolm and Larissa. They have one important goal: to prove to the world that the Information Age has enabled both governments and corporations to dupe the average citizens into believing anything that they see in the mass media. This explosive discovery will lead Gideon Wolfe on an electrifying journey from a criminal underworld of New York to the jungles of Africa and on a quest to find the truth in an age when all information can be manipulated. Initially, Wolfe eagerly joins the group in their cause. He soon begins to have second thoughts, however; are the motives of the group as pure as they seem to be? Or do they, themselves, seek to manipulate the populace to their own ends?

What I liked:

The novel's premise - "information is not knowledge" - is indeed timely and intriguing, especially when you take into account the present E.Coli controversy in Europe. Killing Time is mainly about the ease with which large numbers of people can be deceived and manipulated. It's a rather fearsome but fascinating take on the Information Age.

At times, Killing Time is more similar to Jules Verne than to more modern dystopian futuristic novels. Gideon and his associates travel almost around the world in a huge vehicle that can convert from hovering craft to ultrasonic flyer to submarine at a moment's notice. Carr's choice of having most of the novel told as a reminiscence adds to the archaic tone which I found strangely endearing. The description of the future world and the players surfing the Internet is intelligently rendered and provided a lot of entertainment, at least for me.

Some of the characters are lively, especially the brilliant but slightly mad Malcolm or the morally troubled Dr. Wolfe, who is not sure that he agrees with Malcolm's theories, no matter how brilliant they are.


What I didn’t like:

In this novel, Mr. Carr tells us virtually everything through Gideon, the narrator, not allowing to see the events and motivations of the characters. After a while I found it a bit boring, especially that other characters had big potential. Potential never fulfilled I must add – few of these develop beyond superficial character tags, most of them remaining merely sketched and laughably 2-dimensional. We know precious little about them or their motivations and it is a pity.

I was especially disappointed with the character of Larissa, the only woman in the group full of male scientists. She is beautiful, deadly and…very shallow although we are repeatedly told otherwise. You almost wonder why such an intelligent guy like Wolfe falls in love with her ( and he is not the only one of course). Given another hundred pages or so Carr might have fleshed out her character and the whole plot enough to create a definitely better heroine and a more readable novel.

The book's major weakness is the melodrama that seeps into the plot, which, at times, seems too contrived to be believable. The romantic development might be a showcase here: Wolfe ends up in bed with Larissa in record time even though we're not given the slightest reason why she is attracted to him (ok, she heard of him and saw his photo on the cover of his book and fancied him instantly; great reason for a mature, responsible, intelligent woman, no?).

Finally it seems that the only solution for the world destroyed by technology is…technology. While such an ambivalence might have its merits maybe it would be better to focus on the human factor a bit more?

Final verdict:

Say what you want – despite some obvious flaws Killing Time gets the reader thinking and this is its ultimate value. After reading it you will ponder twice before believing completely in any broadcast story, appearing in the media or on the Internet. I do not regret reading it but I must admit I enjoyed The Alienist loads better.

Summer review: Hard Bitten (Chicagoland vampires 04) by Chloe Neill

The third installment of my Summer Chicklit Reviews and things already are becoming a bit darker : Hard Bitten (Chicagoland Vampires 04) by Chloe Neill is definitely not all sunshine and sweetness. Well, it is never so when vampires in leather pants, wielding katanas, are involved. As the opportunity presented itself I decided to check whether Merit can go any better. Here are the results.


Book info:


Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: New American Library; 1 edition (May 3, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0451233328
ISBN-13: 978-0451233325
Genre: Paranormal romance

Target audience: Adults (sometimes more sometimes less)


Synopsis:

Caroline Merit, aka Merit the Cadogan House vampire and Sentinel, faces another crisis connected with her nemesis, Celina Desaulniers or Marie Collette Navarre. This time her house is blamed for every vampire-related disturbance in the beautiful but windy city of Chicago. It’s clear that somebody wants to create these disturbances only too often – vampires are secretly given a certain drug, white pills with a V pressed in them, and then they are invited to raves with humans. The drug makes them very volatile and aggressive- small wonder most of these raves end up in bloodshed and the help of the police is required. The problem is that more and more humans are rallying against supernaturals and especially against vampires – some of them picket the Cadogan House day and night with protest signs letting the vamps know that they are not welcome (to say the least of it).

Merit’s private life has improved but just slightly so. Ethan does what he can to make her trust him again but Merit is very wary and very bitter, unable to forget the way he backed out of a serious relationship last time (if you didn’t read the previous parts then fyi: he behaved like a total ass, showing that he cares more about politics and power than about her). Some new facts will emerge concerning Merit’s turning into a vampire without her consent and they will leave her dear Liege in even worse light. Not to mention the fact that Mayor Tate, a classic politician, practically blackmails Ethan with an arrest warrant from the CPD if he can’t keep vampires in line, knowing fully well that some vampires simply can’t be kept in line no matter what you do. As the book ends with a cliffhanger of a rather shocking kind I decided to include a spoiler for those who, like me, don’t mind being informed about such occurrences.


Spoiler section plus some of my rabid theories – highlight to read at your own risk.


The final is very dramatic, almost Shakespearean (I think here about those classic Hamlet performances with plenty of rapiers or foils swinging around): Celina all of a sudden stakes Ethan who shields Merit with his own well-muscled body, and Merit stakes Celina because now she lost any chance to reconcile with her beloved ex-lover (and she was definitely on her way to do so). With the death of Ethan the Cadogan House faces a bleak future – now it will be governed by a Receiver from the Greenwich Presidium, the body responsible for vampires around the world. I bet, though, that the new Receiver might be just the right person for some of the Cadogan vampires to make a new start. It's pure speculation but I suppose Merit deserves to have a top-gun guy by her side and she can get him now, when Ethan is no longer the most serious obstacle. I never liked him but in this part he improved beyond belief – small wonder he had to die. Never believe a man when he says he will improve. ;p He is most probably lying and if he isn’t then he won’t live long anyway. The sheer effort might do him in.


What I liked:

The book was action-packed as I like and better paced than previous parts. The political intrigue was presented in a sensible way – neat, slick and horrible. I had absolutely no idea who was really pulling the strings. I also never saw the final showdown coming.

Merit is the main character, but unlike almost every other female protagonist in this genre, she has meaningful, strong relationships with other women. I really start to enjoy that aspect of the series. I think Merit is growing on me, maybe partially because she and Ethan were definitely behaving in a more mature way. Maybe her emotions haven’t been described very clearly but at least there was some ‘adult’ reasoning behind her actions.

Finally the cliffhanger…no matter whether you liked it or not you must admit the author was rather brave to end her fourth book the way it was ended. The move might kill the series in the long term. I never was a fan of a certain vampire and, reading so many emotional, even downright angry opinions, directed towards Ms. Neil, I was surprised a bit. Although I understand I cannot relate. Not really. Of course I can’t assess this plot development properly right now because I don’t know what will happen next but in my view it was the equivalent of killing off that old, wise, white-bearded protector of the main lead so he/she can progress and grow up. A stuff which you can come across in every fantasy book and/or movie. I hope for the best and I praise the author for risking the fact that some readers, so drawn to the character in question, might not want to read the series any longer. You've got to be talented to kill off a popular hero, one of the main characters to boot, and redeem yourself as a writer in the next part. Just think about the pressure to write the next part so well to woo at least some of the fans back. My best wishes Ms. Neill (but I don't envy you)!

Titillating factor:

No explicit sex scenes in this one but plenty of erotic tension which worked for me even better. Really sometimes less is more. Well done!

What I didn’t like:

The baddie, Celina…in my humble opinion she should have been presented in a different, far more exposed way. I mean she was one of the crucial characters and I found her rather underdeveloped. I like well fleshed-out baddies, with internal turmoil and all that jazz. Apart from that vampires in this series are supposed to be heavily political and tactical creatures. They're supposed to think two steps ahead, have a back up plan and be able to defeat their enemies without doing anything more than playing out their hand to its inevitable conclusion and here we don’t see any planning – we are shown a woman who just snaps at everybody or features in some blurry photos as a shadowy figure meeting with another shadowy figure– in other words we are left without one single juicier scene. Other characters have to fill in that void, discussing Celina’s motivations and aims. Lame.

What’s more…some plot lines were left hanging but hey, it’s not the ending of the series so not really a fault unless…the author forgets about them further on. We’ll see.

Finally the narration occasionally turned into a journal-like account of Merit’s most trivial actions like “I showered, I combed my long hair, I dressed, I went to visit a friend, I had an ice-cream or a deep-fry in such and such restaurant on the corner…” but it wasn’t as frequent and annoying as in the previous parts. However, I would like to read even less of it.

Final verdict:

A book definitely more emotional than a standard position of this genre - no HEA and no fluffy sense of physical well-being guaranteed. It is getting better but do you feel the same? :p I am inclined to give the author one more chance– I am very curious what will she do in the next part to atone for her 'sin'. In other words: I will be reading book 5 but whether I read book 6 is a completely different question.