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186 of 215 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Better than the last, but still not up to par, April 15, 2005
I must have really liked Hamilton to just keep on reading. I think I might actually be insane. Yet, here I am, still buying the books. I had a huge problem with the last one because it was all sex and no plot. Well, in Stroke of Midnight, she attempts to add somewhat of a plot: A double homicide. The reader practically becomes giddy with anticipation. You think to yourself: "Is the old Hamilton back? Could it be? Please, please let it be!" Then you read the other 300 pages and realize, no, just the same old-same old.
Some of the problems I had with this book included the endless stretch of a day and night. For two books now I have been waiting to find out what will happen at the Seelie Court and the gnomes. I'm beginning to feel I'll have to wait five more books to ever find out. How utterly depressing and an efficient way to loose readers.
I was also hoping that the solving of the crime (murders) would envolve Merry. Instead she delegates and moves off to have more sex.
Then there was the sex. Sure it was steamy, but there were sex scenes that would last through four to five long chapters. They would play then talk, kiss, then talk, fondle, then talk. AUGH! What made it worst was the talk was mostly self-pity, woe-is-me, I'm not worthy. Booooorrring. Most sex scenes were Merry with two to three guys and EVERY sex scene was with a host of other guards watching. Even the one with Adair, who is supposedly sooooooo shy. Merry, who is totted as being the prefect lover, basically tells him, either put out or she'll take another to bed.
The wrap up at the end was the worst of all. Your not even sure if the murder is solved. The queen believes it, but who wouldn't admit to murder after being led around by their intestines?
So, why am I giving it three stars? Because the men sound sooo sexy. God, I'm gullible! I'll probably even read the next one.
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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Too Much Sex, March 13, 2006
The problem with A Stroke of Midnight, the fourth book in Laurell K. Hamilton's Merry Gentry series, is too much sex. Hard for me to believe I just typed that. "Too much" and "sex" are concepts that don't normally go together in my mind. But in this case it's true.
The book starts well. Merry and entourage are inside a fairy mound when a fey and a human reporter are found murdered. It's the human offed in Faerie who's the real problem. Police and news crews are waiting outside the mound to swoop in. Merry and her aunt Andais, the Queen of Air and Darkness and the mound's ruler, need to solve this crime themselves - fast - before they have the fairy/human equivalent of a major international incident.
Great set-up, huh? I was wiggling my toes inside my little fuzzy bunny slippers, settling in for a thoroughly enjoyable murder mystery, fairy style. Then the sex started. This is not, in and of itself, a bad thing. I like a good sex scene as well as the next person - maybe more. But the problem here is that after the sex started, it never stopped. The entirety of the rest of the book has Merry bonking one guy after another. Even I got a bit bored after awhile. Where was the murder mystery? Where was the investigation? What about the major international incident - y'know, the one it's vitally important Merry stave off?
I kept waiting for the sex to stop, for the book to remember it had a plot. And the number of remaining pages kept getting thinner and thinner. Finally, flipping ahead (which will give you some idea of how little what I was reading grabbed me), I saw there were only five chapters and about 50 pages left. I thought, "Okay, NOW we get to the murder mystery. Man, those last 50 pages must really rock." At which point we embark on a five chapter sex scene. Not even a particularly good one, at that. The murder mystery? Solved by peripheral characters "off-camera" and presented to Merry as a fait accompli at the end of the book. Jesus wept. Lots of sex in addition to a well-developed plot, fine, lovely. Lots of sex INSTEAD of a plot is an entirely different matter.
The sad thing is that while Laurell's plotting skills have gone to hell, her prose has gotten very good. There are passages in A Stroke of Midnight that are absolutely beautiful. They just need to be embedded in an actual story.
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361 of 423 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Where's the plot?, April 13, 2005
I was a fan of Laurell K. Hamilton since I first picked up Lunatic Cafe. I have bought every book of hers since then. However I feel she has begun an alarming trend of writing soft-core porn rather than fantasy fiction with great stories with the occasional hot, steamy sex scene. I find myself with great difficulty writing this review to tell you not to bother buying this book. It's such a waste, I feel like I was mugged. The last book ended with Merry at a press conference inside the Sithen, well get this, the entire 366 page book takes place that same night and ends before dawn! (Hence the title Stroke of Midnight, I'm sure.)
The "story" is that Merry has lots of sex, the goddess manifests, lots of magic happens, people get new powers, she cries, some of the guards cry, the Queen acts psycho...in other words exactly the same as the last book and the last and the... There is no movement in the plotline whatsoever.
With the exception of a show like 24 hours, this kind of writing that stretches a storyline's action over a one day time period just doesn't work. Especially not in a book! I don't believe this is anything more than an excuse to turn a storyline that should be limited to a trilogy into something that takes 13 or more lucrative books to "tell".
In all fairness, I must say the sex scenes are very well written and riveting. (Hence the 2 stars instead of the one I'm tempted to give this book.) I actually enjoyed reading them; however once I realized that's all that was there I was extremely pissed! This book is like a bad porno movie, all extremely unlikely sex scenes and no plot! Now the main character is even going to have sex with girl guards "to protect them from her evil cousin". All I can say is this seems a blatant attempt at expanding her marketbase to make sure and capture those with lesbian tendencies and the potential guy market with some hot girl on girl action.
I have no problem with a book with awesome sex scenes but when you have the main character doing nothing but "doing it" for over 300 hundred pages, almost no emotional context, and no actual storyline development, then even raunchy sex gets old.
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