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29 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
The only bad review I've ever written., December 8, 2006
This review is from: Touch of Evil (Thrall, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)
If you insist on reading this book, lower your expectations.
I honestly wasn't expecting much to begin with - just a few hours of entertainment. But the only thing I came away with after reading 'Touch of Evil' was the burning question, "How did this get published?"
The authors have followed the tradition of Laurell K. Hamilton's later novels, giving up all pretense of exploring the supernatural world or their characters and resorting to contrived plots to write hollow sex scenes.
The characters in 'Touch of Evil' are entirely static and homogenous. The thing I recall best about the proposed 'heroine' is that during a superfluous trip to the emergency room, she was willing to cut ahead of a crying boy with a bloody head injury. I felt more for that boy in his one sentence mention than I did for the heroine throughout the book's entirety. The woman is a culmination of an unrealistic number of skills and characteristics, as though the two authors were unwilling to compromise on their individual ideas. The resulting Wonderwoman is wholly unbelievable and unsympathetic. Not unlike Hamilton's Anita Blake, she is surrounded by several characters who adore and support her unconditionally. If only she deserved them. And if only I could remember who they were. The other main character, the heroine's love interest, is by all accounts a werewolf, yet aside from the initial statement of the fact, there's nothing to support it. To call this part of the shapeshifter genre is granting the book a classification it in no way deserves. Like the heroine, her soon-to-be bedmate is entirely forgettable, and perhaps even more cliché - he's a sexy fireman. In a calendar and everything.
The plot is rather lacking, as well. What's there is used as an excuse to create baseless and tedious sexual tension and finally get the characters between the sheets for a wholly underwhelming sex scene. Even what appealed to me most when buying this book - the original idea of the Thrall - ended up feeling like a bad sci-fi movie. Too much of the story hinges on the reader's attachment to the heroine, on their believing that the Thrall want her and believing that there are people willing to fight with her. I couldn't believe she was worthy of any of it.
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13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
AWFUL, April 4, 2007
This review is from: Touch of Evil (Thrall, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)
First, I want to say I enjoyed the first of the Sazi tales and thought I'd give this new series a shot. That being said ...
I cannot understand the glowing reviews on this page. First problem - the main character Kate. She is uninteresting. A stereotype of the "strong and independent" female heroine -- owns her own apartment building but won't charge the high rents the neighborhood commands because she just doesn't have the heart for it. She is also the resident 'handy-man' who does all the repair and maintenance work herself. The authors might as well have given her a job as a waitress as an international courier since her job is totally irrelevant to the story and we never see her at work. Perhaps the most significant fault of all were Kate's inner monologues. I do not need to read an entire page devoted to why she enjoyed the British comedy "Fawlty Towers" and ordered the collection of DVDs. This does not add depth to her character or give me an inside look at her personality. Instead, it was boring, useless information useful for nothing more than "filler" and reads like the authors went off on a tangent while writing this book and forgot to continue with the story.
My second problem: Tom, the werewolf fireman/calendar model and Kate's new tenant and love-interest of the book - although calling him a love interest implies there was sexual tension between the two of them -- there wasn't -- or that they fall in love. Naturally, he claims to by the book's end, but I wasn't buying it. Tom's entrance to Kate's life was not believable -- he was being forcibly evicted from his old apartment because the landlord was prejudiced against werewolves. Kate, Ms. Independent, decides to come to his rescue and gives the landlord a comeuppance in front of Tom and all his firemen buddies while loaning her truck to move his furniture to her building. This totally neutered Tom as far as I'm concerned, mainly because of the authors' description of Tom's reaction -- awed gratitude, and he then spends another few pages drooling over her at dinner and showering her with compliments. As far as Tom being a werewolf, this was never illustrated, only referred to as a given fact. His pack is matriarchal, so apparently he is culturally conditioned to taking orders from a female.
The plot, while innovative and original, was too complicated and frankly, I don't have the energy to waste trying to criticize it. However, if you'd like an incisive and well thought-out review of the DVD collection "Fawlty Towers" -- read this book.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
New Spin on Paranormal Romance, May 25, 2008
This review is from: Touch of Evil (Thrall, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)
The market is glutted these days with paranormal romance/ urban fantasy novels with vampires and werewolves as characters.
C.T. Adams and Cathy Clamp put an interesting spin on the whole angsty/attractive/killer vampire more. Instead of being the undead, vampirism is caused by a parasite which is part of a hive ruled by a queen. It is transmitted via saliva. The problem is that the parasite uses up the host body that it uses to become the queen. The old queen wants the main character, Katie, to become the new queen.
The premise of the story is interesting. Werewolves are matriarchal (a departure from other paranormal romance/urban fantasy), vamps are parasites.
The main character, Katie, is dangerously near Mary Sue-ism, but is saved by the fact that she gets the crap kicked out of her throughout the entire book. The conclusion of the novel offers a possibility that the character is growing and maturing through her experiences. However, as another reviewer stated, I had difficulty actually liking or relating to any of the characters. They are all extreme examples of their character type.
However, I have hope that the second book in the series will rely less on stereotypes and more on actual characters as less exposition is neccesary to explain the world in which the story occurs.
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