This book is a major MAJOR disappointment. Alas, another series bites the dust.
I almost didn't read this book, as I had a sinking feeling, based on the slow downward spiral in the series. Unfortunately, this trend has hit a new low with this book.
The actual plot threads are confusing, overly plotted, in most cases not resolved. Almost all the action takes place off-screen (and reported to us later), while we are treated to a series of lectures about how Rachel should have sex with Ivy. Also, the editor/proofers seem to have taken a couple of days off, as the errors (blue eyes - no - brown eyes; you for your; unneeded words left in when a sentence was rewritten; etc.) were shockingly sprinkled throughout the book - unusual for a series this prominent.
Spoilers alert
This series started out great, but each book fell off a bit. The characters, so interesting in the initial book, just didn't develop.
I'd hoped characters that showed promise but were underdeveloped would blossom, but except for quirky, sudden changes, they remained stock characters. Ivy - the tortured vamp friend with angst coming out her pretty little ears until you want to choke her. Kisten, the weak, needy vamp lover who never gets a chance to develop. Piscary, the evil master vamp - we know he's evil, because people tell us things he does off-screen. Trent, the conscience-free rich elf scientist - is he good? evil? both? David, the stalwart alpha were. - call central casting! Etc.
I'd hoped story arcs would resolve, while allowing characters to become fleshed out. To be blunt, neither of these things happened. The major story arcs just keep arcing like fireworks, while an occasional new element is suddenly plunked down like a dead fish.
There are all sorts of little ends sticking out. When I start going - wait a minute, that couldn't have happened - there wasn't time - why didn't he say something to her - etc. - there is a problem with the book. For example, Piscary is let out of prison to catch Al because "Rachel won't catch him," says the news. We are to believe that in the time it takes her to get home on the bus from a party (where Trent, who is a city bigwig, was with her), Al leaves that same party, creates havoc, the city goes wild, yet no one calls Rachel. Instead they leap to a conclusion, have a city council meeting, and get Piscary out of prison. Long bus ride? Bad plotting.
When there is a story element I find interesting, it gets dropped or put on the back burner, often not resolved by the end of the book. When there is action (Al ripping and burning The Warehouse; Piscary selling Kisten out), we are riding the bus home with Rachel or hearing about what happened later.
Here is the major disappointment - Kisten got built up as an interesting character, intriguing many readers, while Ivy was basically an angsty thorn, pissing many readers off. I was hoping for dynamic development in the relationship with Kisten and Rachel and a wakeup call for Ivy, who was getting on my last nerve. Man, I should have known better.
Instead of scenes, action, and movement in EITHER relationship, we are treated to a series of dialogues where virtually every other character in the book tries to talk Rachel into having sex with Ivy! This is madness! I was expecting little old ladies on the bus and talking dogs in the park to come up to Rachel and say "have sex with Ivy." Each character in effect becomes a sex therapist for Ivy, sagely advising Rachel that she should do it to help Ivy have self-worth. Never mind that Rachel isn't even latently bisexual! Never mind that having sex when you don't want to because third parties tell you to is a bad idea! Everyone wants Rachel to have sex with Ivy. Everyone except the readers! What the heck is this about? It's just insane - oh, and borrrring.
Then the one character I really care about - the one character that is interestingly complex, where you wonder what he will do, where you feel that he and Rachel would make a good team - is killed off by person or persons unknown. Suddenly. As an afterthought - at least that's how it feels. Rachel is left with Angsty Ivy and elderly Jenks, and we don't even know who killed Kisten!
Frankly, I am glad I borrowed this book. I would not have bought it, after the downward spiral mentioned above, and I almost didn't read it but decided to give it a shot. I will not bother again, even if someone offers to lend a future book to me.
