SPOILERS BELOW
I did enjoy this book. It had an interesting take on vampires and kept me on tenterhooks throughout the first half of the book. The setting was different and added a great deal to the story. The characters were vivid and I enjoyed reading about them. With that being said however, I will note the reasons it is only 3 and a half stars and not the full five it could have been.
It loses points for word use; there are occasions when the wrong word is used for a situation. ‘Opulent red wine’ is one such example and there are numerous others. It also loses points for failing to adequately build the ‘serial killer’ plot. The conclusion to which happens off screen and we are told about it later. There is another plot involving spirits which goes nowhere, as does the ‘evil tree’ plot. There is also the fact that you could run a drinking game based on when the characters drink something alcoholic or go to/mention a pub or club.
The biggest issue is in relation to the main character. She starts off as a writer who is drawn into this 'club' at the start of the book. At the beginning she is interesting and her entrance into this vampiric world is well handled. However, once she and her main squeeze lock lips, her character takes a nosedive. She could seriously give Bella Swan’s a run for her money in the craze obsession stakes. At least that character ate when she was in the throes of tormented angst. I could deal with the obsessed starving in the context of the blood addiction (but all the others in the same situation looked after themselves) and I don’t buy love makes you stop eating. She gets annoyed with her old friend because she dares to suggest that her ‘thing’ with Marshall is not good for her. When Marshall tries to leave her so she can recover from the blood loss, she decides to set herself for a emotionless sex session and then top herself, for no other reason than ‘Oh woe... he left me, he clearly doesn’t love me anymore’. It’s offensive because it removes any sense of self from the character and cheapens her. She comes across as a idiotic teenager and I got very annoyed with her.
Despite the above I did enjoy the book, which is why it's 3 and half and not 3. It should have been a solid 4 stars from the promise of the opening but the main character and niggling textual issues dropped that. However I did enjoy most of the story and will happily read the next one in the series.
***
I did enjoy this book. It had an interesting take on vampires and kept me on tenterhooks throughout the first half of the book. The setting was different and added a great deal to the story. The characters were vivid and I enjoyed reading about them. With that being said however, I will note the reasons it is only 3 and a half stars and not the full five it could have been.
It loses points for word use; there are occasions when the wrong word is used for a situation. ‘Opulent red wine’ is one such example and there are numerous others. It also loses points for failing to adequately build the ‘serial killer’ plot. The conclusion to which happens off screen and we are told about it later. There is another plot involving spirits which goes nowhere, as does the ‘evil tree’ plot. There is also the fact that you could run a drinking game based on when the characters drink something alcoholic or go to/mention a pub or club.
The biggest issue is in relation to the main character. She starts off as a writer who is drawn into this 'club' at the start of the book. At the beginning she is interesting and her entrance into this vampiric world is well handled. However, once she and her main squeeze lock lips, her character takes a nosedive. She could seriously give Bella Swan’s a run for her money in the craze obsession stakes. At least that character ate when she was in the throes of tormented angst. I could deal with the obsessed starving in the context of the blood addiction (but all the others in the same situation looked after themselves) and I don’t buy love makes you stop eating. She gets annoyed with her old friend because she dares to suggest that her ‘thing’ with Marshall is not good for her. When Marshall tries to leave her so she can recover from the blood loss, she decides to set herself for a emotionless sex session and then top herself, for no other reason than ‘Oh woe... he left me, he clearly doesn’t love me anymore’. It’s offensive because it removes any sense of self from the character and cheapens her. She comes across as a idiotic teenager and I got very annoyed with her.
Despite the above I did enjoy the book, which is why it's 3 and half and not 3. It should have been a solid 4 stars from the promise of the opening but the main character and niggling textual issues dropped that. However I did enjoy most of the story and will happily read the next one in the series.
***
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