Customer Reviews

Swallowing Darkness (Meredith Gentry, Book 7)

5 star:		(80)
4 star:		(40)
3 star:		(31)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(28)

 

 

I'm not sure where to begin on this.

I've been reading the Meredith Gentry series for several years now, and when I realized book 7 was out I eagerly went to get it. I hadn't minded the series' decline from an intriguing urban fantasy into all! sex! all! the time!, mostly because the sex was hot and there was still enough political intrigue to keep me interested. Like other fans I was horrified by the cliffhanger ending of book 6, in which Frost got turned into a stag, and Merry was kidnapped and possibly raped by the Seelie King. I'd heard rumors that book 7 was to be the end of the series, so I was really expecting something big.

And I got... dreck. Utter dreck. Did somebody ghostwrite this for Hamilton? I hope so. Because she's a better writer than this -- I wouldn't have followed the series this far if I didn't think so -- and if this dreck is her work then that means she needs to take a break from writing for awhile. She's clearly burned out or bored.

It's hard to pinpoint what pissed me off most. I wasn't happy about the plot, which pretty much consisted of "the characters run here to do something, then they run there, then they run somewhere else." The last few books have been like that, so I'm used to it, but I really had hoped for more in this book, given that we had so many dangling plot threads to resolve. And while this book acknowledges these plot threads, it doesn't resolve them so much as handwave them out of existence. For example, Merry was assaulted by her uncle at the end of the previous book. But since she conveniently doesn't remember it, and apparently doesn't care that something horrible was done to her while she was unconscious, it has no psychological effect on her. She doesn't even think about it past the first ten pages or so of the book, and she never gets around to using the clever media manipulation strategy that she mentioned at the end of book 6 (scratch that -- we're *told* she uses it, but we don't get to see it). The rape, if it occurred, becomes irrelevant. I found this actively offensive; if a story includes a rape as a plot element, it really shouldn't be trivialized the way it is here.

On top of that, the book contains sudden, inexplicable personality changes in a number of characters. Cel, the series' primary villain, suddenly abandons all his intricate plots and plans and just walks in front of Merry's car with a sword to challenge her. Later, he just decides for no reason to tell her what a bad thing he's done, in a classic Villain Monologue. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? Merry herself, who's spent the whole series using clever, nuanced diplomacy to solve problems (something I admired greatly about her) suddenly stops bothering and instead just whacks things with magic or a sword. Queen Andais, who I have to admit has been one of my favorite characters because she's so complex and messed-up -- she barely appears here, but when she does, she suddenly becomes one-dimensional and contradicts everything she's said and done for seven books. Seriously. It's as if she was secretly replaced with Taster's Choice. It's shameful.

I wasn't happy with the pace of the book, either, which was breakneck -- for no reason. The characters were running all over the place, but they weren't running *to* anyplace. They had no goal; they just reacted. It feels as though Hamilton just decided to toss as many plot threads at them as she could think of, just so she could hurry and wash her hands of the series and move on to something more interesting.

But by far the most infuriating thing to me was how Hamilton chose to resolve the biggest and most important plot threads of the series. I won't spoil the ending, but I'll just say this: it pretty much negates everything Merry has endured. All the deaths, all the blood and suffering, her rape (for whatever that mattered), her being forced to bear children on command, her father's death... the ending makes *the entire series* pointless.

Unless you feel that the point of the series was to get Merry laid, pregnant, and married off. And you know what? The sex scenes in this book are dreck too. For that alone, I want my $20 back.

I'm going to stop here, lest I lapse into incoherent raging profanity and make this review unpublishable. Suffice it to say that I do not recommend this book at all.

This novel is incoherent. It has no recognizable plot line. Merry and crew jump from scene to scene with no flow or transition. Certain members of her harem disappear from the book altogather and others pop up out of nowhere. Merry has new relatives that we have heard nothing of before. The defining characteristics of Doyle, Sholto, and many others have been completely separated from the way the characters have been depicted from the previous books. This is all extremely sloppy writing.

Speaking of sloppy, this book has another problem that many of LKH's books have. The proofreading is atrocious. I don't know what the problem is at the publishing house but they need to get a handle on this issue. When I pay over $20.00 for a book, I expect it to be relatively error-free. Just a personal issue but one I know many people have an issue with.

Many of the plotlines that have been connecting the books are ignored or concluded abruptly and unsatisfactorily. As mentioned in other books, the media storyline for Taranis is not followed up. LKH mentions that it happens, we are told it happens, but we never actually see it. The most basic premise of writing is to show the reader, don't tell them it happens.

Overall an unsatisfactory read. The only good thing about the book is that it ends numerous plotlines. Many dangling plotlines are resolved and few new ones are developed. If you are looking to get out of this series, this book is a good place.

I read in another reviewer's comments that this was the last in the series. Huh...well...you wouldn't know it by reading the book. Since Hamilton left characters and situations hanging all over. When I started this book I was pleasantly surprised on two accounts. First Hamilton managed a catchy beginning by bringing up the rape cliffhanger from the previous book. Then she somehow dug really deep and did not bring up sex for a whole 150 pages....aaaannnnd that's about the only two nice things I can say.

On the down side, the rape situation was dropped and never came to a closure. Apparently it was way more important to laminate over Frost turning into a stag because, you know, even though he is alive and will probably get his life back in another 100 years that wasn't good enough for the character. Hamilton (in her like and continous fashion of not being able to separate Anita from Merry) turned Merry into a selfish puck. If Merry was truly the giving, loving soul, Hamilton tries to paint her as, she would love him enough ('cause, you know, the character "says" she loves him) to be happy that he is okay, not hurting, and will be fine. Her character is the only one hurting and apparently (again, Anita like selfishness) that is all that matters.

The reader is then treated to the condescending VOICE normally found in the Anita Blake series. Now we have the character, Merry, "explaining" things to the reader. (You know, cause we be two stupid to figure it out so we needs Hamilton to spell it out four us.) Near the end of the book I wished I made tally marks for every time the character thought in her head these words: "some people may think . . . but." Another sore spot for me was that for several books now, it was pointed out that once Merry got pregnant she would "marry" the father of her child and become monogamous. Well, ho!ho! Apparently, Hamilton decided to pull another Anita switchero and decided..."What? Monogamous? Who said anything about monogamous? Phewy! Everyone knows only the men are monogamous in Hamilton books!" Then, Hamilton noticed there were two men Merry hadn't done the nasty with so she threw those two in for kicks and giggles.

I think I'm at the point where I read Hamilton's books just so I review them. I'm enjoying trashing her novels more than I enjoy reading them. But, hey, you got to get your kicks somewhere;-)

Man, there are a lot of harsh reviews out there on this book. I found it a bit fast paced. Poor Merry barely had time to sit down between battles and Doyle getting the stuffing kicked out of him. Seems like he was hurt for most of this book. It was not a bad book, and those of you that are following the series absolutely must take time to read it. It barely had any sex in it. I was hoping for a meaningful scene bt her and Sholto with his actual form to put him in firmer place in the series but I'm sure she'll cover that at some point. Not just the warm up to it as she did in this latest installment.

Her description of the wild hunt scenes really had me impressed I have to say. This author has a very fertile mind and I would absolutely hate to have her nightmares. There are many reviews on here disappointed with the ending. But honestly, how much do you expect Merry to give up and risk for a people that neither deserve nor support her? Should they be rewarded for their predjudices? While Merry loses everything. More than she has already lost? Watch her children be slaughtered? Come on now. I know this is fiction but the point is...all good fiction has to have some basis in real emotion and reality. It's the earmarkings of a truely wonderful writer. Live vicariously if you must, punch your fist in the air with every victory, but don't complain when realism rears its head. Are you mad she gave up so much and still ended up in LA? Good. I'm sure that was the point, so kudos to Mrs Hamilton.

There are however, a few things that I noticed. And if I'm mistaken, someone please correct me. Is not kitto supposed to be 4'11 and not 4'? And did Onliwyn not die when the sithern in LA was born? The dog chose not to lick him back to life...then how was he a part of the assasination attempt on Mistral? I even went back to Lick of Frost to make sure I didn't have one of the men mixed up.

I also noticed there are two unknown dna samples in the rape kit. I wonder what will come of that.

Whatever it may be, I will still continue to read the series. I hope that people don't bother reading the reviews before they pick up a book. At the end of the day, you read it for you. You cannot please everyone. If you are not happy with the way the author chose to tell the story I suggest you put your fingers to the keyboard and do a better job at weaving your own tale for the rest of us.

read the book, don't expect it to be a typical merryverse book. But not every day in your life is the same either. The same ol' same ol' is trite and this story made room for many characters to grow.

Apparently in answer to her critics who regularly cite the lack of plots as a major problem with her books, Laurell K. Hamilton has attempted to address the issue in her latest release.

The unspeakably named "Swallowing Darkness" has LOTS of plots. They don't make much sense, they're not connected to what has already happened in the series, & several are very silly, but it's a start. Unfortunately the author's technique means the plots are little more than an array of undeveloped ideas. Such resolution that occurs is as a quick afterthought, & many of the characters behave, well, uncharacteristically, as has already been pointed out in a previous review.

Merry herself is developing, seemingly into the author's favourite character. Now we have a cranky psycho that kills people when she's not having sex with weird looking men, & has serious family issues. Remind you of anyone?

Mercifully there's less sex than in the last Anita Blake novel,but its still earnestly written as if the author were taking notes for a 1970's sex researcher. Clinical descriptions of bad sex aren't erotic, but perhaps that's just me.

Along with the mysterious changes in characters' motivations & personalities, we're expected to swallow (sorry) that there aren't any problems associated with Merry being raped by her uncle. Yes, she can't remember it, but for heaven's sake! To have such a strong ending to the last Merry book followed by this cop out is ridiculous.

If the author wishes to engage with challenging subject matter such as rape, incest & paedophilia (see "Kitto" in the Merry series & "Nathaniel" in the Anita Blake books) it's essential that the issues be treated seriously. To flirt with such important socially unacceptable & criminal practices without depth or full exploration of the consequences is trivializing the behaviour & must be offensive to victims of these crimes in real life. We're left with the unavoidable conclusion that it's in there for titillation, & surely the author doesn't mean this.

Laurell K. Hamilton needs to spend more time on some basics - developing the plot in a consistent & believable way for one. Many of the problems with this book come across as simple shoddy workmanship. Rigorous rewriting, some strong editing & time spent planning would have made for a much better book.

For her last few books, Laurell K. Hamilton has been toning down the sexual content in favor of what can be loosely termed "plot."

Well, turns out there are far worse things than endless sparkly-magical sex scenes. After the shattering cliffhanger ending of the previous book, the seventh Merry Gentry book "Swallowing Darkness" promptly goes on a road tour of Faerie instead of sticking to an actual central plot. It feels like Hamilton has gone as far as she can, and is flailing around instead of getting out of the water.

In the aftermath of being raped by her uncle, Merry is recovering in the hospital, where she gets over her rape by cuddling with her fave boytoy. Rape as minor inconvenience -- how nice.

After ordering her various fey boytoys not to attack Taranis, she receives a visit from her feisty brownie grandma. Unfortunately there's a malign influence warping Gran's thoughts -- with disastrous and fatal results for three people close to Merry. Enraged, she and Sholto summon the Wild Hunt and set out to destroy the conspirators.

But it turns out that the conspiracy goes far further than Merry expected -- and that certain Golden Court sidhe are trying to weed out the stronger boytoys. And of course, divine magical favors just rain down on Merry whenever she sneezes. To keep her entire harem (half of whom I've forgotten) safe, Merry decides to take drastic steps in the human world... but only finds a new conflict with her cousin Cel.

Having knocked up her heroine -- which is supposedly the series' goal -- Laurell K. Hamilton seems to be at a loss for what to do to keep the series going ahead. So we end up with a bunch of vaguely connected crises, punctuated by interludes of Sparkly Magic From Goddess-Merry, magic horsies and lots of sparkly magic roses. It's a little like being alternately choked with flowers and clubbed with a rock.

"Swallowing Darkness" does manage an impressive amount of plot, including the resolution of couple half-forgotten subplots -- and a surprising twist during Merry's stay in the sluagh. Unfortunately most of the plot is just Hamilton slapping in new random problems whenever things get too peaceful. Whoops, somebody's suddenly dying! Eek, a traitor! Yikes, a royal challenge from out of nowhere!

Nor does Hamilton's writing help, since she seems to be bored with her own story when she isn't trying to channel Patricia McKillip's lush prose. Her incredibly stilted, rambling dialogue ("We ride." "To save your Storm Lord." "To save the future of faerie"), repetition (everybody seems to have "moonlight skin") and awkward descriptions ("Gold like the metal of a piece of jewelry") hamper the story even further.

And as with all Hamilton's fairy novels, we get hot pale supernatural men who all worship the heroine, dumb blinkered mortals, lightweight Wiccan theology, Christian-bashing, oral sex worship, and lots of nasty and/or crazy women who simply can't measure up to the heroine. Yes, even a sweet li'l old grandma, who is reviled for daring to hold a grudge against her mother's murderer. Apparently Merry's magic vagina not only turns you into a god, but erases all your past crimes.

But the book's biggest weakness is Merry Gentry herself. She floats through the book in a cloud of Convenient Magical Powers, and occasionally pauses to cold-bloodedly kill people. Everybody is awed by her, she declares herself to be a goddess, and her "ruby" blood spontaneously generates assorted fairy beasties (it's MAGIC!). It's rather nauseating to have a heroine who is such a blatant self-insert.

"Swallowing Darkness" has some shreds of good plot in there, but they're surrounded by jack-in-the-box disasters and a main storyline that is being stretched way too far. And it's not over yet....

I was so excited about the book! Read all the ones before I was 500% IN LOVE! Happy thoughts all over! Then I read it.
What a waste!
What utter rubbish!
I feel so upset and in a way betrayed. Could I go to bed after reading this? No! I was livid! She made little or no sense with her plot and character development. Some people call the plot non-stop action but seriously, it was just random things happening for no reason. This caused the book to be very disjointed and lacking in coherence. It was as if a child were writing, the plot jumped around left, right and center. There was no consistency with the other books. The end was without doubt the worst part of the book. What exactly was accomplished? To what end. There was absolutely no direction in the book. The wit, charm, intellect that I expected from Merry series was no where to be seen. It would have been better if she said the book would come out in 5 years than give us this senseless mash of plots. Indeed it would have been better if she had said that book 6 was the last. I would have been frustrated but I would have preferred that to this. I want my money back.

Why that final paragraph if this isn't the last book of the series?

LKH lost her way on this one. Swallowing Darkness is a mishmash of various plotpoints and Merry jumps from one to another throughout the book. Some loose ends are tied up with sparkly bows, but even though they may look pretty, they don't satisfy. Characters and events which played major roles in the previous books are MIA. Characters I thought I knew behaved in ways I never thought possible, and the Goddess is apparently Merry's Glynda/genie/fairy godmother (no pun intended).

All in all, SD is anti-climatic, at best. I for one will leave Merry with her "happy-ever-after" ending.

This book is definitely for die hard fans only. The plot has been pretty thin for the last few books, but this was really bad. Meredith and her men spend the entire book running mindlessly from one bad thing to another (sounds familiar?). Another reviewer mentioned that Meredith is turning into Anita and this is completely true. I think what is so frustrating for LKH fans is that the characters in both this series as well as the Anita Blake series are great, but her writing style has changed so drastically and we keep reading in the hopes that the series' will return to what they once were. Ah, well. If anything, I would recommend that you buy this book if you are trying to stop reading LKH once and for all and were simply waiting for one more reason. This book is a good reason.

All of the things the other reviewers have written - both good and bad - are mostly true. This is definitely an average read. The only thing I could NOT get pass was the fact that Merry Gentry turned into Anita Blake within 3 chapters and stayed there. Merry, who always was political correct and just slightly a coward, turned a new leaf and ran around killing people left and right. Yeah, I get that she was backed into a corner, but the old Merry would have found her way out of it using her guile, men and beauty. For me, this change in character took a lot out of the series and caused me several times to stop and shake my head. As for this not being the last book, I understand that completely because Merry has only been crowned Queen of two kingdoms - heck, we still have Goblin Land, Seelie Court, Red Caps, Brownies and sections of the humans to go. I guarantee before this series is over, Merry will be crowned Queen of all of them, as well as have a King for each land. She is going to be pretty busy traveling from kingdom to kingdom her entire life, with the babies in tow. But fear not, she will have a King waiting patiently for her in each section!