Amy

Those with powers would fight crime and put things right. However there was one flaw with that reasoning.. Human physiology was altered. Human nature wasn't.

This book should have been perfect for me. It has everything I wanted: criminals and super-powered individuals. It even has a shadowy government organization that uses the ‘immunes' for its own benefit. And there is the whole thing that everyone has to be registered.

But I was still left feeling ‘meh' about it.

The world building is nearly faultless and the reactions to people with abilities rings true. However...

One thing that bothers me is the abilities themselves are barely explained. With everything else painstakingly laid out, it's never even touched upon why some people would get one ability from the drug, another a different ability and most, none at all. And this isn't a case of each ability being different. From what I remember, there's only about seven abilities that are possible.

But, really, I think the reason I could never get truly attached to this book is because of the main character.

She wants him out of sight, if only so she can pretend this isn't happening. As long as she doesn't have to see [him] it means he doesn't exist.

Ciere Giba.

She stars off as nothing special one way or the other, but with definite potential. However, I gradually grew to hate her over the course of this story. I mean, I understand why she's the way she is - but I pretty uniformly hate characters like her. She seems like she's always got something to prove, some harsh reaction to ‘prove' she's tough.

And the other young adults in this young adult book aren't much better. The other point-of-view character is Daniel and he's ... pretty much absolutely nothing in my mind. Then there's Devon, Ciere Giba's best friend who is mostly the ‘funny sidekick.' And Alan who is like a cross between Daniel and Ciere.

I had been going to say at least there's no romance, but long about page 269 it crops up, with a healthy side of both insta-love and a love triangle. Honestly, it reminds me a bit of The Conspiracy of Us in the romance department and The Heist Society, Leverage and The X-Men. With a dash of Alias and a slightly dystopian setting.

There was one thing I liked in this story - or, rather, three things: Kit, Magnus and Aristeus.

Kit and Magnus have this past that I am dreadfully curious about and definitely want to know more about their relationship. And I am fascinated by Aristeus - pretty much adore him, too - and want to know how he fits into their past.

Oddly enough, they are the ‘older' generation but are without a doubt, the only thing that would ever possibly convince me to read the next in the series.

(Originally posted on my blog: pagesofstarlight.blogspot.com)

I don't often find myself liking books on more than one level. For me, the fun books that I usually gravitate towards don't offer a lot of thoughtful depth. The ones that do, usually aren't very fun. So, I really don't know why this book worked so well.

It's true, this book is a romance - it might even be considered erotica, it doesn't avoid talk of sex or the intimate scenes - but it is much more than that. The world that the author created is just amazing. I've not read any other books in this series, but there was no confusion over the setting. That is due in part to the amazing world-building.

I love how Annika and David approach everything: life, love, friends, each other. Everything about these two characters speaks to me. Annika isn't brave. She's a woman that doesn't really know the world that she's in, but she knows herself. David is broken more on the inside than he is on the outside, but he has this morality that's all his own, regardless of what people think of him. They're weak in the best ways and wonderfully strong in their beliefs.

I also must admit, I love the way sex was handled in this book. (Maybe not the act itself, but the way Annika and David were in regards to it.) Annika was a virgin, not willing to bed someone until she loved that person. But that didn't mean she was unaware of what sex was - was quite curious, in fact. David wasn't a virgin, but with the experience he had, he might as well been. He was also somewhat certain his experience would never get better.

There was also a large plot point of women preferring to love (in all senses of the word) other women. I like how that was handled, it seemed very mature and well thought-out. I simply adore the way Annika and David felt about this. I think when this really showed up in the narration was when I knew I loved these two characters.

Right up until the first sex scene. Now, before you start thinking I'm a prude, I'm not. I knew what I was getting with this book and looked forward to it. I love the characters and couldn't wait until they finally realized what they were to each other. However, once that happened, I am sad to say, my interest waned.

I'm one of those people that much prefer a slow burn. In fact, some of my favorite romances don't even have the characters kissing until the last chapter. I love the tension, the build up until the characters cannot take it anymore. I love that. Once this book lost the tension, it also lost me. After that, it started to get the sweet puppy love feeling that just isn't for me. There was also no more of the talking and getting to know each other that served them so well in the first half. It was as though talking in their free time had been pushed aside in favor of sexytimes. Much to my disappointment, because these two characters could have carried the story on the force of their personalities alone.

Seriously, up until that point, I was giving this book a four or possibly five star rating in my mind. Once the characters became a couple, around the halfway point, the book became repetitious and somewhat boring (even the plot started feeling that way) and was settling into a two star read for me.

I was generous and split the difference, though with my feelings toward the end, it leans much closer to a two star than a four star read.

(Originally posted on my blog: http://pagesofstarlight.blogspot.com/)

Now, this is how you end a series!

Love, love, love this book, this world and all these characters. And the ending is spectacular and I love it!

This was not my first book by Ms. Lackey.

Before this book, I read the Mage Storm trilogy (which I loved with a vengeance) as well as the Phoenix Unchained (which I tolerated with a slight bit of enjoyment). I figured that because this book started the trilogy before Mage Storm, that it would be nearly as good. It wasn't.

If you want a fantasy/romance novel (strong emphasis on ROMANCE!) this might be the one for you. Although I believe you could find books in that sub-genre that had a good deal of more likable characters. In this book you deal with Elspeth, the heir to the Valdemar throne (as well as being a egotistical, self-centered brat) as she searches for a mage to help her kingdom; and Darkwind, a Tayledras scout that has sworn off his magic (and you get to read about one escapade with his lower ranking girlfriend (who he is the commander of)) as he tries to convince his clan that they are in danger from an Adept (a very powerful magic user) that has a stronghold just outside their boarder. You also get to read about Skiff, (Elspeth's bodyguard/friend) who seems to be in love with her for some completely unfathomable reason, and Nyara, (a half human cat like creature that the Adept twisted) who has nearly uncontrollable pheromones and lusts.

While I expected a small amount of romance, I also expected it to be more minute and tasteful and a good deal less explicit. The book, actually, would have been enjoyable (even including Elspeth) if not for the predominance of romance and innuendos (ranging from mildly suggestive to somewhat beyond suggestive). All that being said, if you like a lot of romance in your fantasy novels, (and are older than...oh, say fifteen as this book goes a bit further than a PG-13 movie) I might recommend this book to you - as it was well written and has an intriguing plot line.

There was very little action (none until the second from last chapter) and without a doubt none of the well written fight scene that you usually find in fantasy novels. Also, I felt as though Ms. Lackey did a better job of writing interesting characters in her Mage Storm series. I will most likely read the next book in the trilogy (because I don't like leaving trilogies unfinished - curiosity always overcomes me) however, it is not very high up my list of books to read. (Or, considering that I wrote this review years ago as have still not even looked into the second is the series, probably not.)

2 stars as it was below average, for me, though I have read worse.

The more I read of this book, the less I liked it. Before the last two hundred pages, I was mentally writing a very different review.

First of all, I don't like horror and I don't like thriller and I don't like suspense. These are things that I know I don't like - except, sometimes, the type of horror doesn't bother me. (Example: Whyborne & Griffin series by Jordan L. Hawk, which is a Lovecraftian inspired horror series. That works for me, somehow.)

This book started out delightfully creepy and atmospheric, took a sharp turn to ‘too much for me' around the third/fourth death (probably didn't help that I was reading it at night, after everyone else had already gone to bed) and then took a strong leap with both feet to the realm of ‘I physically cannot care anymore/bored now' when Jericho told about his past. It was like my level of macabre and horror had been filled and now all the stress and tension was just draining out. I literally couldn't care anymore and during the final confrontation, I was bored. There had been so much terrible up to that point, whatever new stuff was going on just didn't register for me.

(Also, up until that point, I wasn't sure if I would be continuing this series or not. I won't be, partially because of the problems that I had with this book, but also because I read the synopsis of the next three and...there are too many things I dislike just in the synopsis. For my own happiness, I need to stop here.)

Of the things I did like, at the top is the setting. Manhattan in the 1920's, how cool is that? Look, I love anything from the 20's, 30's and, possibly, the 40's. Hard work has to be put into any story like that to make me dislike it. And the research that the author did was obvious and amazing.

I also mostly like the characters, even when they aren't being exactly likable - though I wanted them to all meet up and defeat the big bad together. Because they didn't, this leaves me feeling like this is one long, (super long) extended (super extended) prologue. I mean, for me, groups are very important and in horror, non-solo is the most important. Also, the fact that, really, only Evie's group dealt with the coming anti-Christ...it kind of left the other people's stories bland.

Finally, I just think this book was too long. I thought that even when I was enjoying it, because everything moves so slow.