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altheaann

altheaann

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A Creature of Moonlight
Rebecca Hahn
Saffron And Brimstone: Strange Stories
Elizabeth Hand
Captain Vorpatril's Alliance
Lois McMaster Bujold
Snow in May: Stories
Kseniya Melnik
The Eyes of God - John Marco This book is nearly 800 pages. I told myself I'd give it till at least 200 pages, so I could say I gave it a fair shake. However, I'm at page 158, and I've found myself reading passages out loud for their amusement value.

For example:
"Cassandra felt herself flush from the heat of their fires and her growing apprehension. The wine worked on her brain, making it swim. Akeela was beyond those fabulous doors, waiting for her. And she knew that she would not emerge intact, and that a piece of her would be left behind, never to be reclaimed."

Uh, may I share with the author that when a virgin has sex for the first time, she doesn't actually leave any body parts behind, lying amongst the sheets. She's not about to be dismembered. (Although, if she were, this book might have been marginally more interesting.)

Another:
"His touch was warm, like the coming sun. Cassandra felt the stirrings in her body, dreading them yet following their lead. She lowered her head in offering.
"What are we doing?" she asked. "We will be damned for this."
"No. Lukien leaned in closer. "no one will ever know. Not ever."
"Just this once then."
He didn't answer. She was glad he didn't. Once, she knew, could never be enough."

No. Once could be far too much. Enough already!
In addition to this overblown, Harlequin-romance style writing, there are also tons of actual grammatical errors and tons of, let's say, peculiar word choices.
The characters are flat and stereotypical. Nothing very interesting has yet happened in the plot. I even find the librarian character offensive, and turning me against a librarian is hard to do - I love librarians on principle. Did I even mention the magical 'midget'? Sigh.

I leave you with one more quote:
"But it's dreadful to be clever," she thought. It was like a revelation suddenly, as clear as any of the moonbeams. To be clever was to be a bitch... Akeela wasn't clever. He was moral, and moral men were never clever. It was why they were better than everyone else..."

Ooooookay. On to the next book!