A Kiss of Shadows (Meredith Gentry, Book 1) [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Laurell K. Hamilton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2001

"All it would take was my true name being mentioned after dark, and it would float back to my aunt. She was the Queen of Air and Darkness, and that meant that anything said in the dark was hers to hear, eventually. The fact that spotting the missing Elven American Princess had become more popular than spotting Elvis helped. Her magic was always chasing blind leads. Princess Meredith skiing in Utah. Princess Meredith dancing in Paris. Princess Meredith gambling in Vegas. After three years I was still a front-page story for the tabloids, though the latest headlines had been speculating that I was dead as the King of Rock and Roll . . ."

Three years ago, Princess Meredith fled the court of her cruel Aunt Andais, the Queen of Air and Darkness, leaving that garden of decadent delights and backstabbing intrigues for the comparative calm of Los Angeles. Using her magic to pass for human, Meredith began a new life as a private investigator specializing in supernatural crime. But now Doyle, the Queen's chief bodyguard and assassin, has been dispatched to fetch her back--whether she likes it or not.

The product of a marriage designed to cement peace between the rival Seelie and Unseelie courts, Meredith has always been scorned by both factions in spite of her royal blood. But that blood is behind the Unseelie Queen's surprisingly urgent summons.

For ever since the fey's exile from Europe to America, their power and purity have been fading. Desperate to renew her race, Queen Andais now pins her hopes on a contest between Meredith and her own son, the sadistic Prince Cel. The first to produce a child will win the throne.

The loser's reward will be death . . .

Laurell K. Hamilton's bestselling series of novels featuring Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, established her as one of the hottest new writers of dark fantasy and erotic horror. Now, in a thrilling adventure of unbridled imagination, Hamilton turns her talents to the glittering, myth-drenched lands of Faerie and brings them brilliantly into the postmodern age. Enter a thrilling, sensual world as threatening as it is beautiful, replete with the titanic passions of immortal beings once worshipped as gods or demons. Full of earthly pleasures and dazzling magic, Laurell K. Hamilton's A Kiss of Shadows will hold you under its hypnotic spell.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Laurell K. Hamilton revitalized vampires, werewolves, and zombies in the popular Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter books. In this new series, she updates faeries. A Kiss of Shadows introduces Merry Gentry, a.k.a. Meredith NicEssus, a faerie princess of the Unseelie Court, where politics is a blood sport. Merry, who's part sidhe (elvish), part brownie, and part human, never really fit in. She's short, not skilled in offensive magic, and mortal because of her human blood. These are real liabilities when your family, especially aunt Andais, Queen of Air and Darkness, is out to kill you. Merry has been in hiding for three years, living in Los Angeles and working for the Grey Detective Agency, which specializes in "supernatural problems, magical solutions." A new case sets her against a man who uses forbidden magic to seduce fey women and drain their power. A plan to trap him goes awry and Merry's cover is blown. Now Andais knows where she is. But things have changed in Andais's court, and Merry is changing too.

Despite the selkies, brownies, goblins, and ogres in this book, it's not for children. The fey are "creatures of the senses"--and in the Unseelie court, sex and pain go together. Merry is sexually adventurous and surrounded by gorgeous, powerful males, most of whom want her badly. She's politically savvy and no coward, though she's not the warrior Anita is. Hamilton fans and readers of adult fairy tales like Anne Bishop's Black Jewels trilogy will want to give Merry a look. --Nona Vero --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Erotica is fantasy, but it rarely gets as fantastic as this. After nine novels featuring Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter (Obsidian Butterfly, etc.), Hamilton launches a sizzling new series that blends supernatural fantasy with detective adventure and hot sex. Here, the world is populated with various magical faerie races along with humans. The most supreme of the fey are the immortal sidhe, so beautiful and powerful they were once worshiped as gods. The fey are not only lusty but incredibly accomplished lovers; those of the royal sidhe bloodline are literally addictively sexy. Full-blooded fey are, for the most part, intolerant of cities, metal and technology. They seldom live for long among humans. Mixed-blood Princess Meredith NicEssus, however, has fled the faerie world to pass for three years as Merry Gentry, a human with some fey blood who works in Los Angeles with a detective agency that specializes in supernatural problems and magical solutions. Suddenly outed as the missing princess and fearing that her aunt, the Queen of Air and Darkness, will kill her, she makes a desperate run aided by her detective pals. The queen does want her, but not in the way Merry expects. Ultimately, Meredith must fulfill the queen's designs for the future of her court, even if it means having to bed the most beautiful studs in the universe. Through constant danger and adventure, Meredith finds herself in a variety of sexual encounters that make it easy to see why her ancestors were so worthy of worship. As wild as the novel's premise is, memorable characters and wicked wit make it all delicious, ribald fun. 8-city author tour. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 637 pages
• Publisher: Wheeler Publishing (April 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587240149
• ISBN-13: 978-1587240140
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (354 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,872,432 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Laurell K. Hamilton is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of two series that mix mystery, fantasy, magic, horror and romance. Her Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter novels from Berkley Books began with GUILTY PLEASURES (now a hugely successful graphic novel from Marvel - the first sexy paranormal comic ever!) and continues with the SKIN TRADE, number seventeen in the series, in which Anita's complex personal and professional relationships with a master vampire and an alpha werewolf continue to evolve. There are now more than 6 million copies of Anita in print worldwide, in 16 languages. Hamilton's Ballantine series features Fey princess and private investigator, Merry Gentry and there are now six novels exceeding one million copies in print. Divine Misdemeanors, the eighth in the series will debut Octobe 29, 2009. She lives in St. Louis County Missouri with her husband Jonathon Green, daughter, one pug dog and one boxer/pug dog.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

196 of 217 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An exhilarating and liberating book, October 7, 2000

By 

"ter369" (Houston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Kiss of Shadows (Meredith Gentry, Book 1) (Hardcover)

I found "A Kiss of Shadows" the most exhilarating and liberating book I'd read in a long time. LKH's themes and references are complex and sophisticated, and the use of the word "ribald" was an excellent choice by one professional reviewer.

Meredith Gentry is compassionate and warm, clever and vulnerable. This is a quest story, with the narrator seeking to survive politics and find her life path.

The reviews here at Amazon are informative, in that they seem to be by readers who are angry. Either angry that LKH verged into a new series instead of writing Anita Blake books more-better-faster. Or the readers are dismayed at LKH's frankness and Meredith's pleasure in sexuality.

Of course, we don't see reviews at Amazon (or too many other places, since Amie is not a message board) complaining that the violence and action sequences, the crime scenes and the magic, and the blood in the Anita Blake:Vampire Hunter are grotesque and perverse and that reader is never buying another book from the author.

As LKH has said several times in print: "There isn't that much sex in this book."

She is correct. But unsophisticated readers will only notice the erotic elements. (And these are really, really, good.) They might miss the fascinating magic that occurs (entirely different from the Anitaverse), the strong family and loyalty bonds that fill Merry's life, the wit, the Celtic lore that has played out with the Fey living in the USA, the sense of the team at the Grey Detective Agency in LA, the range of diverse characters (not all male) at the Unseelie Court and throughout the novel, plus the Queen of Air and Darkness who is terrifying.

This is an adult book. I mean, it is for anyone who brings their mature, inquiring mind to a novel of speculative fiction. What if everyone around you is immortal? How do they spend eternity? And how precious is life to you (Meredith) as a mortal in their midst?

What would it mean for you if physical pleasure, the life of the senses, a bond with nature, and a search for a mate to awaken your personal magic and link to your fertility were key in your life as a woman?

I highly recommend this book. It is extremely unusual.

48 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent beginning for a great new series!, October 26, 2000

By 

Lisa Thompson "3etter" (Max Meadows, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Kiss of Shadows (Meredith Gentry, Book 1) (Hardcover)

I'm not usually a fan of Elven lore. The only reason I purchased the book was because it was written by one of my favorite authors, Laurell K. Hamilton. To say that I was pleasantly surprised would be a huge understatement. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, the plot and the characters. I read a lot of what I consider to be unfair reviews comparing Merry to Anita Blake. There is no comparison other than they both like a little ammunition and are women of power. Personally, it would have been a disappointment for me to have a carbon copy of Anita in this book. Merry will grow into her powers and develop in future books just as Anita has had the opportunity to do. With her different background, she is free to do things that would be out of character for Anita. Please be aware, that if you don't enjoy erotica in your stories then this is not the book for you as it goes far beyond what we've seen from the Anita Blake series. However, if you enjoy a good romp and some sexually generated heat then you'll love Merry and her band of characters. My only question is when do we get the next one?

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great start to a new series, April 1, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: A Kiss of Shadows (Meredith Gentry, Book 1) (Hardcover)

I read this book before reading any of Ms. Hamilton's other novels. I wasn't disappointed. It was a bit slow to get into, but once involved, it didn't let me go, and I ended up reading the entire book in one sitting. Merry Gentry is another strong independent heroine, but much more feminine (but no less deadly) than the Anita Blake, the heroine of Ms. Hamilton's hit series. Merry is a sidhe princess in hiding who is forced to come back to her childhood home in order to hear the proposition that her aunt, the queen of the Unseelie court has for her. This series is also much more political than Anita Blake's (yes, there are vampire politics and were politics, but not to this extent). This series is more of a "fairy-tale" than Anita's is, and is therefore, not nearly as dark as Anita's story. Will Merry beat out her cousin Cel for the throne? For if she fails, she will undoubtedly be killed, and all those that are loyal to her as well. This story is a great beginning and I am eagerly awaiting the next installments.