Customer Reviews

Pandora's Daughter

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

Courtesy of CK2S Kwips and Kritiques

After her mother was murdered when she was 15, Megan Blair went to live with her uncle, and has almost completely silenced the voices she heard in her head as a young girl. What Megan doesn't understand is that she is a Listener, able to hear the voices of people who have died. Until someone tries to kill her...

Neal Grady has been protecting Megan ever since the fateful night her mother was killed. He has used his own psychic abilities to relieve the burden of the horrors Megan's gift brings her. But now he has returned. It appears Molino, the man who killed Megan's mother in a fit of vengeance and rage, has found Megan and will do anything to kill her too. Neal will do anything to protect Megan from such evil.

Molino wants the Ledger, a book that holds all the secrets to the psychically talented family Megan is believed to be descended from and he intends to use it to kill off all the "freaks." linked through the family. Megan's mother killed Molino's son with her gifts, convincing Molino she is a Pandora, the most dangerous of all psychic talents.

Pandora's Daughter is a very compelling story. Action is non-stop in this fast paced thriller. The suspense is skillfully done, keeping me on the edge of my seat eager to see what would happen next. I actually found myself wanting to stay in the car and drive even more so I could continue on the roller coaster ride of emotions. I was kept guessing as to what Molino would do next in his quest for vengeance against Megan.

I loved the addition of the variety of psychic gifts to the story and the accompanying explanations of the levels of abilities. Experiencing Megan's abilities alongside of her and the emotions resulting from them, added a sense of urgency to the story and added tension to the story

I was more impressed with the thriller side of the story than I was the romance. Maybe it was the age difference between Megan and Neal, but I could not see them as a couple, no matter how hard I tried, even while I knew they were going to end up together in the end.

I had the abridged version of the audio and I think I would have enjoyed the unabridged version a little bit more. There seemed to be a lot of scene jumping that would have been much more smoothly done in the unabridged version with better transitions. Jennifer Van Dyck does a wonderful job performing the novel, her voice adding nuances to the characters that made them that much more fascinating.

© Kelley A. Hartsell, February 2008. All rights reserved.

While I'm fairly certain that I found this on the "top 20" at the store...I'm beyond understanding how it got there! This is truly dreadful.

The characters are shallow, the conversations ridiculous and the plot specious, at best! The only thing I can say of a positive nature about this book is that it's so bad it's funny if you read it aloud and include the silly facial expressions she attributes to the character.

If this is a top-seller it certainly says much about the dumbing-down of America.

I think those who are used to the Eve Duncan series can't get into this one because it's such a 360 degree turn for Iris Johansen. But if you enjoy Kay Hooper's Bishop series, you'll enjoy this one. I certainly did!

Pandora's Daughter is definitely not Johansen's best work. I found the characters very two-dimensional. Even after completing the book, I still am not sure how Grady got involved in this plot, what his talent was, etc. Very bland. It was okay, but get it out of the library.

Fortunately, I got this for .25 in a fundraiser bin. That said, I have never ever been this tempted to set a book on fire. Unfortunately I have read a few of the other "books" by this author and aside from some name and location changes, they seem to be all the same. I think the worst part, the most painful part is the dialogue. I can't tell you how many times I read the same recycled phrases over and over again. The author seems to have a lip fixation. "Her lips tightened" must appear over 20 times, with variations such as "twisted". Then "she stiffened". And of course "she moistened her lips". I was actually tempted to count them, but then I might have lost my mind...This last one was so prevalent in the other books that I figured she must have retired it and that surely a friend or publisher, SOME ONE!! would tell her? Some of the other dialogue is just strange. "Perhaps", "Lord"...
Then there is the matter of the main character Megan. She's just like all of this author's other main characters. Insanely stubborn to the point that she's putting herself and other people in danger constantly and never thinking twice about her actions. Megan finds out that she's a kind of psychic one day after having her memories and powers repressed and throws a stubborn tantrum denying it, thus running off on her own and putting everyone who is trying to help her in danger. In the same chapter, she does a turn around and insists on controlling the entire situation and stubbornly calling all the shots at risk to everyone else. "I'm going to do this MY way" Also in the tradition of previous characters, the main character gets involved with a man much older who she knew when she was barely a teenager and goes through the typical denial.
As much as I wanted to throw this book, I finished it by heavily skimming, and was also disappointed by how Megan's continued stubborn and selfish recklessness resulted in a nice happy ending with all loose ends tied.
I have another .25 book by this author and I dread reading it. I tried to give her another chance by thinking maybe just the one series was terrible, but it appears to just be her.
Please AVOID- I can't recommend this to anyone and the idea that anyone actually may have enjoyed this travesty makes me a little queasy...

I have always adored Iris Joahnsens' books...at least the mysteries she began to write as she moved away somewhat from romance. However I have become increasingly disappointed. When Authors who write for money find a formula that works, they stick with it. But the successful ones don't glue their backsides to it. The strong women in earlier books have always been the sort of distrusting, in your face sort. The men are usually former military special forces...her favourite, the navey seals. I like handsome, manly men. I tend to be an attractive independant woman myself. But Pandora's Daughter is the most irritating charactor yet. Does nothing but prove she does not know how to communicate. argues for pages upon pages. Not coherent arguements. "I don't have to" "I won't" "I'm not" and 'you can't make me' over and over. I couldn't finish it. Iknew the ending by the third of the way through. Unfortunately the last few books have been all too transparent, with the outline showing through the dialogue and action hanging from it. I don't remember giving a book a 2, but that was actually more than it deserved.

Just finished Pandora's Daughter by Iris Johansen, an author I usually enjoy. Unfortunately, there is enough cheese in this particular offering to top a dozen extra large pizzas.

Dr. Megan Blair is a physician who hears "voices". Often a sign of schizophrenia, in Megan's case it is indicative of the fact that she is a "listener" and possesses psychic abilities much like her now deceased mother. This talent for listening is almost eclipsed by her highly developed sensual and sexual side (an extra perk of being a Pandora) and she discovers that her mother's old protector, a government agent named Neal Grady, is more than willing to assist her in relieving her sexual tension.

The story as a whole is thin as a slice of prosciutto and most of the characters portrayed in this fiasco are unbelievably unimaginative and come across as cookie-cutter caricatures. Their personal conduct vacillates between curt and belligerent (Megan and Renata) and laughably sinister (Molino, Stephen and Sienna). Only two of the characters are semi-authentic and they are Phillip (whose conduct is never less than acceptable since he's in a coma for most of the book) and Harley a man of action whose motives can only be described as purely professional.

Iris Johansen has written a dozen other books that are far superior to Pandora's Daughter so I recommend you select one of them and pass on this one.

I stopped reading about 150 pages into this mess. No characterization, no real story, no explanations for anything, not even any real definition between good and bad, this book was just a stinker. Also, this author needs to do something to bone up on internal and spoken dialogue that doesn't involve seeing the word bull---- once every three pages. I don't mind cussing and swearing, but there's got to be more than one word that each of these characters has in their vocabularies.

This is at least the 10th book I've read by this author. It is far from the worst but it is not the best either. A physician (Meagan) finds out that she has physic powers but that she is being hunted for this very fact. She has been protected, in secret for many years by a man named Grady. She must now go on the run to save her life and find out if she is really a Pandora (which is as much a curse as a blessing). Story mixes mystery and thrills with some romance. A little hard to believe but for the most part, the book works. The ending is predictable but doesn't make you want to put the book down until you read in print what you know is coming.

Iris Johansen is definitely one of my favorite authors. I have read nearly everything she has ever written and I always look forward to her latest releases. I did enjoy Pandora's Daughter, but don't feel it's on the same level as some of her other works.

In this novel, the characters are not quite as developed as I felt they could be. As always, it's nice to have former characters like Travis and Grady present. I do love how her stories all somewhat relate to one another.

My biggest disappointment was the lack of development with main character, Megan. I didn't ever really click with her like I have with so many of Johansen's other characters. I feel Johansen could have done much more with her and I am wondering why she didn't.

Even with it's flaws, Johansen fans should still find this a worthy read, and overall, I did like the story.

On a side note, I would enjoy a future tale with Harley or Renata or both, and this may be an interesting avenue for Johansen to explore. It would be a storyline I would definitely look forward to reading.