Customer Reviews

Obsidian Prey (Ghost Hunters Series)

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The planet Harmony was cut off from Earth centuries before this story of its descendants takes place. Amber powers everything from toasters to psychic abilities. Three months before the story starts, Lyra Dore had found an amethyst ruin which was involved in a hostile takeover by Cruz Sweetwater. Cruz had lied to Lyra about who he was while investigating the site. Now Lyra and Cruz meet up for the first time since Cruz's company Amber Inc. took over. Cruz comes back to enlist Lyra's help in opening a portal at the ruin which has trapped five people as she is a very talented amber tuner.

This is the sixth installment in Castle/Krentz's Harmony series which has links to Krentz's Arcane society books with psychic abilities and in common ancestors. You may not understand all of what is going on without having read the prior five books. It's basically vintage Krentz in terms of the strong hero who loves the weaker heroine (in his estimation) and knows what is best for her. The heroine holds out for awhile, but at the end realizes true love is more important than her original premise. Ms. Castle/Krentz also kind of drives the supposedly humorous exchange of "you stole my mine" and "you broke Cruz's heart" into the ground.

There is chemistry between the hero and heroine, but the story falters a bit with a lack of freshness in dialogue and hero/heroine interaction.I think it is fine to be able to depend on an author for a good story, for a dependable plot, writing etc. But sometimes it would be nice if they would freshen some of the wording, some of the interaction etc.

Vince the artistic dust bunny who likes to paint and is the ultimate predator is the most fascinating character in the book! He is funny and a fresh element.

This is book 6 of the Ghost Hunters fantasy series but, as with the others, it can stand alone. It's as good as the others.

Independent amber tuner Lyra Dore had found amethyst ruins, a very important find. She can tune amethyst, which most tuners can't.

The 'love-of-her-life', Amber Inc. CEO Cruz Sweetwater, takes it over! He knows that she is his true love, but she won't see him or talk to him and sues, although she loses and is broke. However, her dust bunny paints. She and a very close friend who own an art gallery, have been selling the paintings as by a very reclusive artist.

Three months later, he calls on her to open a psychic door that has trapped 5 men in the ruins. He knows she won't let people die, regardless of how mad and hurt she is. She does it and they find the five people alive.

They start dating again. She's afraid she's going crazy, as she has spells where things start morphing and she can't walk or move. Her Harmonic Meditation instructor senses something has upset her, and offers to help. She assures him that she is OK.

She evaluates an amethyst piece for a buyer at an auction, and tells him that it's nice, but not powerful. The gallery owner says he has another piece and takes them into a locked room, and starts to hand it to them. Cruz comes in and interrupts. She has sensed that it is one of the artifacts that was in the ruin.

Cruz wears obsidian amber, another rare amber. He 'shatters' his amber protecting her from an attack and collapses. When help arrives, she refuses to let go of his hand, and wards off his losing all his psychic senses.

The dealer gets murdered. The head of Amber,Inc's lab is found dead, with the artifact. Cruz feels that it is just too neat. He's right.

Lots more to the story: a very sneaky villain; a bunch of mischievous dust bunnies; family feuds; a love story. It has them all.

If you like fantasy and mystery, you'll love this book. (I did!)

I'm a big fan of this series and read all of the books that Jayne Castle puts out over every alias. So, I enjoyed the further detail about Harmony and the Arcane society and dust bunnies and what not. I was bored as all heck by the romance though. And apparently so was the author. The dialogue was repetitive and the author re-explained and re-explained plot points that had already been talked about earlier in the book. I felt talked down to. You know how you might give a three year old repeated instructions very s-l-o-w-l-y. That is sort of how she wrote.

So here's the thing. If you are a longtime fan of the series go ahead and pick it up but otherwise it isn't worth it. In addition to the repetitiveness of explanations(it felt as if she was filling in stock phrases to reach a word count)and bad dialogue, I didn't really like either character. Especially the heroine. She came off as whiny and sort of stupid, having her repeat Harmony cliché's as conversation rather than adding local color didn't help. You know when you meet people in real life and their conversational skills are such that they can only speak in clichés? Well that is how Jayne wrote the heroine. So annoying.

The dust bunnies were the best thing about the book! It is great to learn about new talents, materials and the former alien colony on Harmony but the hero and heroine left me wishing for more. The hero was a manipulative jerk for the most part and the heroine was a self righteous liar and both of them deserve each other but the reader shouldn't have been subjected to them. Not much humor in there either. Unfortunately, Ms. Krentz seems to be more focused on her Arcane Society trilogy build up than giving us the sympathetic characters and humorous plots with great suspense that we have come to expect over the years. Read the book for the background to keep up with changes on Harmony but don't expect much else.

The hero lied to the heroine and stole her amber claim, but she rushes right back into his arms the instant he shows his face. Some new wrinkles on Harmony's amber, but not worth buying unless you like doormats.

On the planet Harmony, humans were not the first people to live there as an ancient race lived and traveled in underground buildings, tunnels and catacombs that cross the entire orb. The former inhabitants were strong in ESP and also left behind strong residual PSI that had the effect of brining out similar previously latent powers in humans.

Lyra Dore is one of the few who can work amethyst amber and has found a lode of amethyst strong in PSI in an underground rain forest. The Amber Inc CEO Cruz Sweetwater went undercover and worked on her until she told him about the find. He steals her lode. Three months later, he walks back into her life because his psychic powers have made him realize who his true love is. Cruz knows he must convince her that he will never betray her again as he loves her, but her distrust is strong even when someone threatens to kill him and kidnap her.

Whether she writes historical, contemporary or science fiction, Jayne Castle also known as Amanda Quick and Jayne Anne Krentz can be depended on for providing her readers with a blockbuster romance. Her myriad of fans can be counted on to buy any of her titles regardless of milieu and author name. Her latest return to Harmony affirms her writing skills as the planet is a great place to explore with Ms. Castle as the guide taking her devoted audience to the caverns filled with sizzling PSI energy. Lyra is wonderful as an independent prospector who learns from being burned; while intriguingly he does not regrets his actions but is burned more so as his obsidian and her amethyst is a fiery PSI heart and soul matching . This is another winning romance from a writer comfortable in several sub-genres.

Harriet Klausner

Even though I'm a big fan of Jayne Ann Krentz, I'll be the first to admit that her books, particularly the Harmony and Arcane series, have become very formulaic. But I feel compelled to write this review because Obsidian Prey is a surprisingly good read! The author has somehow crafted two refreshingly lovable characters. Cruz is both dangerous and romantic, while Lydia is just a whole bunch of fun. The entire read is breezy and enjoyable, yet with enough suspense to move the plot along. The running joke about Lydia breaking Cruz's heart totally cracked me up. I love these two! In fact, their cameo in Midnight Crystal is about the best thing in that book.

JAK spent some effort crafting a rich background to the Sweetwaters family in Harmony. I hope she'll write about Cruz's brothers one day! :)

This is a continuation of Jayne Ann Krentz's futuristic series of the descendents of humans who were able to travel to another planet before the "curtain" closed them off from Earth. Over the years people developed certain "psi" enhancements that helped them to survive and thrive with each person having a different display of unique talents of "psi" abilities. Jayne has partly deviated from her formulistic writing of this series to craft an interesting romance via the sci-fi theme. The heroine is a strong centered woman who knows what she wants and has to deal with a strong, silent, uncommunicative male in a position of authority. There is instant attraction and the characters have to adjust to a set up problem. There is some sexual tension and repartee as well as the usual "dust bunny" shenanigans. What is lacking is more "meat" to the story as in her "flower" books (Amaryllis, Zinnia & Orchid) with having more complex twists and turns, but lovers of this series will forgive anything to hear another story in this genre. I love her premise and the "otherworldly" attributes and will continue to buy this series as long as she produces them.

I love offworld romances and was excited to find these books. However, my big problem with them is.. where is the build up? The "Lets meet and fall in love?" I think the characters tend to be forced into romantic sitautions without a good story behind it. I suppose I just like to watch characters fall in love.

JAK is always readable. I would prefer the dust bunny be a secondary characer, not to have to carry the vook. The human characters and the villan were just not very interesting. Although I look forward to the Harmony books, perhaps the author should take a break and bring some energy back to the serie