Customer Reviews

Shadows in the Starlight (Changeling Detective Novels)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This story moves from a single story line to a couple or three parallel ones and from there it kind of turns into a river delta with multiple tributaries of story winding this way and that are related, but meandering into areas where we can't quite see around the next bend. Certainly Cunningham wants to keep us around and needs loads of characters who are not yet fully developed to continue pulling off this series...I suspect that we will NOT be seeing the ocean where all these individual tributaries pour for some time yet.

We start out with Gwen, continued story from the fist book in this series (Shadows in the Darkness) where a bust has gone bad, cops were killed, her mentor died under suspicious circumstances (deemed an accident, but Gwen believes it was murder). We are reintroduced to a lot of characters from the first book, each of whom is multi-layered and comes from a seemingly remarkable background and each of whom (with very few exceptions) seems to have an ulterior motive or secret agenda going on at cross grains to the current story (this is where I assume the author is building up credibility for various story lines for additional books down the line).

We have Gwen who is a remarkable woman...but not really a woman, a changeling, an elf, something she's only just found out about herself and is struggling to come to terms with throughout this book. We get her long time lesbian, lawyer friend, complete with jealous lover and a psycho controlling Ex, whose new wife turns up missing. We also have the African-American male "partner" who happens to come from a long line of "gifted" individuals and a plethora of male characters who are all vying for her attention in one way or another and claiming to want to help her...in the end, who's really on her side? That's what makes this series quite the page turner...you just have to know what the next twist in the plot is going to be!

The one quibble I have is that no one really has any trouble with her "abilities," every character seems to have a bend over backwards acceptance of what she can do without much curiosity or desire for explanation...to me this is the opposite of what happens in say Hooper's books where the incredulousness goes on and on and on until you think you're going to have to throw the book at the wall...this is the other extreme. Everyone is shocked, but no one really says anything or is suspicious of what she can do. Overall it's a small quibble, and I can live with it.

In Gwen we get a feisty, touch, kick-a** heroine, bent on finding out the truth - and that's quite a feat considering she was disgraced as a cop in the previous novel and now makes her living as a P.I. We find out where she is willing to compromise her principles and where she isn't and ultimately, for every question that is answered about the cases she's working on, more and more is alluded to about her own parents death and the more questions we are left with as a result. So, really we learn a lot in this book...but at the same time, we learn so very little. The author is certainly mysterious about the "Qualities" of both Gwen and those like her, about the lives of the "Elder Race," frankly, there are so many facets to this story that it's hard to keep track of them all, but it does make imagining where Cunningham will take this story as she weaves each new world for us to dive into quite fun! This one is fast paced and leaves many possibilities for the future...I, for one, am looking forward to the next one in this series!

Gwen's dealing with the new knowledge that she's of the Elder Race and trying to learn as she goes along. A new friend is killed, a new friend brings her into his family, another new friend isn't what he seems to be.

Ian shows her what an elven oath means and takes away her ability to eat french fries. Elves can be cruel. ;^) So if someone asks you to swear a oath "by moon and star, wind and word" beware what you say.

Hopefully in the third book we'll learn more about the 'Qualities' that the Elder Race have. Better yet that this isn't just a trilogy but the making of a series.

For those of you uptight about sex - Gwen does have sex - once. Nothing like the Anita Blake sex scenes so shouldn't be any compliants.

I loved the first book, "Shadows in the Darkness" four years ago.

What happened? The book started off with a bang. A young female ME was murdered in a heinous and cruel manner. Then we wait til page 150 to have someone find the body? That was the sole point of the ME. Cunningham let the lady 'talk' and get us to like her, then she killed her. Then we have to wait several days after the heart-rending beginning for the ME to be found. While this is definitely 'real' in the case of crime-solving, the problem is, Cunningham set up a thriller and she certainly did not deliver.

While this is a sequel, I think a little less time mentioning the previous cases would be a good idea. The book second doesn't have to rehash the first in a series to carry on continuity. The jacket tells you pretty much what you need to know.

Further--without spoiling the end, situations do not get better for our heroine. I love serial fiction that addresses a problem in the main book and solves that problem but leaves some teaser threads for us to look forward to later. Cunningham's end just read 'hopeless' to me, reminding me very much of why I don't read the old-line fantasy that doesn't stand alone. The epilogue made me want to throw the stinking book against the wall. If you want to read some of the best stand-alone serial fiction in urban fantasy, try Carrie Vaughn's "Kitty" books, C. E. Murphy's "Walker Papers", and Vicki Petterssen's "Signs of the Zodiac."

Finally, it's often interesting to have multiple points of view in a novel, but if I'd written this story I would not have the antagonist as one of the novels' point of view characters, but in the case of a mystery we need a bit more opacity because quite often the antagonist has given the answer long before our good guy (or in this case, girl) can figure it out.

I really regret buying this book, because I genuinely enjoyed the first and was looking forward to the sequel. I won't be buying the third.

Shadows in the Starlight picks up where the first book in the Changeling Detective series ended. Whilst investigating the aftermath of her previous case, Gwen is also looking into the case of a missing wife and child. Once more she finds that her own past is inextricably linked to the case and as she delves deeper she puts not only her own life, but also those of her friends in danger.

Unlike Shadows in the Darkness the elves are much more in evidence here. Anyone who didn't appreciate how manipulative and cruel they can be from the first book will do so by the end of this one. We get a better insight into their machinations and through Gwen we begin to learn how their society works - and it's not pretty. They have an Aryan attitude to humans and imperfections, and it appears anyone who doesn't reach their standards is terminated. Slightly worrying for Gwen who has only manifested two of her three powers.

The reader is slightly ahead of Gwen in knowing what's happening, as once more the beginning and ending of the story are told from another character's point of view. Quite a clever device as it gives us an idea of how out of her depth Gwen is, whilst at the same time we can accept that she's working in the dark with limited information.

There was just one point where I really thought she was stupid. Which is when Ian Forest asks to demonstrate on her how sacred oaths are binding to elves. Even though she patently doesn't believe him I think she should have exercised more caution. Also after this she does become a little trigger happy with the use of this sacred oath. I'd kind of got the feeling that it was used by the other elves only for really important things. But I guess this serves to illustrate how different Gwen's priorities are to the other elves and how her agenda is almost diametrically opposed to theirs. The things that she takes seriously such as a missing human child seem trivial to them.

The story ends with Gwen slightly further along the way to finding out who she is but we are still left with the main arc unresolved. If you haven't read the first book you may struggle a little to get into the story though the main plot points are covered. Recommended for fans of urban fantasy who like a strong PI twist - such as Charlaine Harris's Harper Connelly series or Kat Richardson's Greywalker.

Also available
Shadows in the Darkness (Book 1)

I picked this book up at the library. Didn't know that it was a sequel to another book which I hadn't read. The prologue was great. Good introduction to the characters. But then it fell apart. Gwen is handling 3 separate and unrelated cases and her attention is too divided to let the reader develop any interest in any of her clients. Seemed like most of the book was discussions about things that happened 'off stage'. I never did catch the reason the ME was killed, and I was very annoyed at the heroine revealed the solution to the missing woman's case. (not enough details given for the reader to figure it out with her).

This book is a bit better than the first. I think some parts are a little predicatable while others were a bit cliche. But in whole, it was better.

I still wonder why it never takes too long to get anywhere and still have the feeling like the author may have taken some of her elf cues from vamp movies. But this book does dig into Gigi's background a bit more and we see how she really is. We also learn her motivation, which is important, because it makes the story more realistic.

Still, i think I will purchase the third. It may not be the best book, but if you have time on your hands or are in a dry run you may enjoy this book. I recommend that you start with the first book though.

I read this immediately after Shadows in the Darkness (Changeling). GiGi remains the sexy likable heroine-protagonist, but Cunningham mucks up novel with the omniscient perspective. If this had been only first person, it might be four stars and comparable to Kim Harrison's "The Hollows" series. It's too much, and Cunningham takes the mystery and suspense out. I don't like reading about how killers do their deeds; I'd rather read about how Gwen figures them out and brings justice. I didn't like figuring out what was going on before the hero did, because I had access to 'inside' character perspectives.

The actual plot is decent, despite becoming a wild goose chase at times. Pacing inside the novel is fast, but Cunningham's attempts at sinister tell too much of the villain's plans. Usually from their perspectives.

Why two stars? It's the terrible epilogue. Cunningham drops bunches of hints at a larger universe (even calling the third Quality, the Starlight Quality), but nothing comes of them. At the end, we are treated with a scene of the antagonists discussing their evil future plans. It's not a nice end, and there is no third novel. What a letdown.

Overall, I don't recommend reading this novel until (if ever) a book three in the series is published. You'll hate the end; I know I did.

In this new Changeling book, it basically picks up right after the first one. Gwen has changed the name of her PI business to have the word "changeling" in it. This time Gwen is trying to find a missing woman and her child who happens to be the wife of one of her friends' ex husband. As she is trying to solve this case she also still ponders on the case of her dead partner. But she soon realizes that she is heir to the property that Edmonson owned. This relates to her case because a powerful drug that effects humans is being grown on the property, which ultimately ties back to her recent case, where the missing woman has many secrets, some that are closely related to Gwen's. Overall a good book, and still a little confusing with all the characters that are involved, but it is still pretty easy to follow.

After being fired from the force as someone had to take the fall for the failed deadly bust, former Providence police officer turned private investigator Gwen "GiGi" Gellman thinks her mentor died from murder not an alcohol induced accident as the evidence seems to 100 percent suggest. However, when her running partner police officer Kate Myers is gunned down after helping her, GiGi believes the homicide is related to her efforts to prove that someone forcibly put scotch into Frank Cross' before dumping him into Narragansett Bay to drown though the ME and Kate say otherwise. She now has a second major incentive to learn the truth and bring her friend's killer to justice, her style.

Her style means half elf as GiGi has recently learned she is a changeling (see SHADOWS IN THE DARKNESS). She struggles with the concept, but also has a curiosity to learn more about her elven heritage though that has to remain on hold while she searches for clues to the two murders, seeks missing people, and tries to stop a pimp using a "legal" herbal aphrodisiac to prostitute Russian girls. However, all converge on the corrupt PPD at the same time elf Ian Forest demands she comes out of the closet to their side.

The Changeling Detective tale is a fantastic fantasy mystery starring a wonderful protagonist struggling with the loss of her job, the death of her mentor, the murder of someone assisting her, and learning she is a half-breed. The action-packed story line turns readers into believers that elves and half-elves reside in New England, albeit hiding their genetic make-up from the hated humans, yet the story does not skimp on the investigations. SHADOWS OF SUNLIGHT is a terrific tale that sub-genre readers will cherish while wondering what the future will hold.
Harriet Klausner

I had to force myself to finish this book for the sole reason that I ALWAYS finish a book. You never know, sometimes a book is just slow in the start and will eventually pick up pace. Not so with this one. Granted I did not read the first in this series which became apparent after the first ten pages. I had no idea what the author was talking about. Take my advice, don't bother picking up this book if you have not read the first in the series, Shadows in the Darkness, I believe it is called. The author spends the majority of this story going on and on about events and people from the previous book but doesn't elaborate at all on what the situation was previously. It's like evesdropping on total strangers.

I've read books previously and had skipped over early books, but this was just terrible. The first two chapters describe a terrible event, a murder. The author does not even revisit this event until page 150 of the book and there are only 286 pages all together in the entire novel. I'm telling you, she doesn't even mention it. The whole book made me feel like a butterfly flitting around from flower to flower and never making up its mind enough to choose just one or two flowers. I'll not read another.