36 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Exploiting the Cynster/Bastions: Disappointing, slow and unengaging, February 6, 2010
This review is from: The Elusive Bride (The Black Cobra Quartet) (Mass Market Paperback)
I've read other Stephanie Laurens books, and enjoyed many of them. This Black Cobra series - two books out so far - is a huge, boring disappointment. The character names seem twee (why do the girls have to have the same initials for given name and surname?) and the main characters themselves are not at all interesting. I slogged through this one, and will likely sell these off and cancel my pre-orders for the final two.
There is sloppy editing: misspellings. There is sloppy writing - the Uncle character always 'croons' when he's plotting nasty things (once is interesting; more than that is boring/lazy). The title, as mentioned by other reviewers, is odd, if not daft; Emily's going after Gareth as fast as she can. Elusive BrideGROOM maybe; not Elusive Bride. Romantic? I didn't find it so. Suspenseful? Nope.
There is the frankly unbelievable - quite a number of fights with Black Cobra 'cultists' and EVERY time there are dead cultist bodies to dispose of, but never a 'goodie' - surely even in nineteenth century wherever, you couldn't go travelling through Asia and Europe leaving dozens of bodies in your wake, and nobody knew or cared? And there has been no plausible storytelling to convince the reader of why all these dozens (hundreds, through the four books) of cultists are prepared to travel hundreds of miles and get killed. And surely all this travel, purchase of weaponry etc must be a severe drain on the cult's resources? And why does it take, like, FOREVER before the cultists work out that wearing black hats, I mean black scarves, means they can be spotted in a crowd by the good guys, like, rooooollly easily? Huh? They have never been anywhere near 'How to be a Baddie 101'.
Oscar Wilde may have defined fiction as "The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means." ...but it's taken to a ridiculous length in this series. Doesn't matter if the bad guys prepare a torture chamber - no goodie is going to get much more than a scratch. Every inn/ship they find will inevitably be run/captained by kindly folk who will help them. I was reminded of the Mark Twain essay on the literary offences of Fenimore Cooper, the author of 'Last of the Mohicans' in which he comments that should there need to be a twig for a character to tread upon, so the character's whereabouts are revealed, then there will inevitably be a convenient twig.
The diary entries by Emily are tedious, and slow the novel. Diaries and letters can be excellent plot engines, or dragging anchors; these are the latter. And repetitious, in plot terms.
While it's part of a series, the integration of backstory reads as repetition too; I've read plenty of other series fiction where such overlap/information is integrated well, so as a new reader I would learn and as a knowledgeable reader I don't feel like I'm being dinged on the head with a dead, all-too-familiar fish.
Perhaps one of the aims of the series is some local colour, Asian/European travelogue. I wasn't especially intrigued or interested; the locations function for plot purposes, by and large. In terms of the times and their mores, I do wonder if an unmarried lady and gentleman could so easily and publicly cohabit, without comment. It feels as though morals/mores are invoked when convenient and ignored when not.
When other Stephanie Laurens books are good, and I would give them five stars, and they are on my keeper/reread shelf, this book, and this series feel old, tired and like an exploitation of her name recognition/success with Cynsters and Bastion series. Hey, they liked Devil Cynster - wheel him into this scene! (in which you will get little or no idea of how engaging and interesting a character he was in the novel in which he is the hero).
I hope the author/editors/publishers do some quick tightening up/editing/rewriting/improving of this series. As it stands, this is Stephanie Laurens' moment to jump the shark (as the popular culture saying goes) - I don't imagine that's an enticing prospect for the author or her publisher. What a shame.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Black Cobra II - Elusive (?) Bride, February 4, 2010
This review is from: The Elusive Bride (The Black Cobra Quartet) (Mass Market Paperback)
In the second installment of the Black Cobra Quartet, we meet Emily Ensworth, the woman who was instrumental in bringing the Black Cobra's letter rescued by the ill fated MacFarlane to his companions. When she meets Major Gareth Hamilton, she is struck with the feeling that he is "the one" for her. The book relates their travels from Aden to the sanctuary of Daziel.
As noted by other reviewers, this book was not quite to the caliber that the reader is used to when they read a Stephanie Laurens book. Normally, I read her books straight through, unable to put them down. While the book was entertaining, the plot line was slower paced to the point of dragging along. As noted by other reviewers, it would appear that you have to be familiar with Laurens' books to really appreciate this novel. Hopefully, with The Brazen Bride (next in the series)the plot will pick up and move a bit more rapidly.
I was never quite sure why Emily was referred to as the Elusive Bride - maybe it should have been called The Elusive Groom, because Gareth was the one who did all the resisting.
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