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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, August 30, 2010
This review is from: When Blood Calls (Mass Market Paperback)
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When Blood Calls is the first in a new trilogy. You can read the plot summary above and I'm not going to rehash.
The Good:
- Great world building. Lots of great creatures that are explained pretty well and intrigue me. The Alliance, PEC, just great Urban Fantasy writing - I WANT to live in that world - hint of danger makes it all the more fun!
- Intricate justice system for the "other" world with its own rules - rock on as this is unique! This is as much legal proceeding as police procedural but neither of these gets very deep. It's the overall way justice is handled (including what Luke does) and the intricacy of the system that gets the marks here - sublime - loved it.
- Nice surprising plot twistiness - bang up job mate!
- The last 85 or so pages carry the weight of the novel. The writing is such that this actually works but I canna tell a lie - it was enough to save the book from my "DNF mediocre pile" to my "wish list the next in the series pile". So bravo - that really doesn't happen too often.
- Although not heavy on action what does exist is suitably gory - thanks for not vampwhimping out on us there Beck
- The lustful scenes do not overwhelm the story. I'm almost willing to give a whole star for that. I like me some hot lustiness BUT in this novel too much would have staked it dead (pun intended)
- Daemon's inside a vampire that really are the vampire but that the vampire controls - hmm now where have I heard that one before....
The Bad:
- Great world building - far too intricate in many places - for the first 1/2 of the book I could barely keep the main characters straight. Nicknames (Lucius = Luke) did not help either. I understand the need for it but be prepared - I almost felt like I had to break out my spreadsheet software to keep everything straight. Just go with the flow mates - don't be overly concerned - as my old history teacher used to say you don't gotta memorize the dates just "understand" the "why's" of what is happening.
- In the end - kind of a "meh" on the romance. There just wasn't enough interaction for most of the book between Luke and Sara to really cement them as a couple in my mind - I mean clearly they were lusting, no doubt. But love? Not until the last 50 pages
The Ugly:
- Some characters just don't ring true. Sara's for one - a young lady trying to make a name for herself is going to risk losing it all for lust? Unlikely. She's pretty level headed and, with her past, the events of the book were even more surprising. Also at least one of the secondary characters does a real about face that I was real sketchy on.
- And come on the powers that be would not KNOW that Sarah and Luke were having some mattress mambo? And this type of conflict of interest is o.k.? Hmmmmm
- Little cheesiness with the names there - Dragos?
I enjoyed it, in spite of some cliche's (BTVS Drusilla is being channeled for one character clearly), more for the urban fantasy world than the paranormal romance. Part of me wishes it had gone more on the UF vein (pun intended--wow two puns one review..aren't I on a roll tonite? HAHA) because I think the dichotomy between Sara and Luke - given thier jobs - would have been fascinating and creates all sorts of possibilities for conflict, resolution, and depth to character. It doesn't seem as if that's the case so more's the bummer. I'll still pick up the next one though because the Alliance plays a big part far as I can see and the structure of this alternate world that runs parallel to ours and is even a part of it in places is really just too good to miss.
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26 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
When blood dissapoints..., November 21, 2010
This review is from: When Blood Calls (Mass Market Paperback)
*Spoiler alert* i guess if I cared that much to write the review Id say that too.
I think what made this book so darn dissapointing is that it is NOTHING like what i had expected. Now I understand that it can be difficult to write something new for vampires but still this was a total let down. Because of the type of reader I am I will often wait til all three books in a three month series are released to read them. Oh how I wished I would not have waited. This book frustrated me more than any romance novel should... And here is why:
Despite trying to suspend or heighten the romance and create a connection between protagoninsts, I really didn't give a damn about either one. Luke/Lucious (a point to be brought up later) was yes a mercenary with a good heart but he murdered his ten year old daughter and that just never sat well. Sara was just so incredibly boring and though she was lauded for her conviction and ambition as a lawyer I didn't see it... at all.
The author spends alot of time introducing characters (Nick, Luke, Serge, Hasik, Tariq, Caris, Doyle, Severin, Bosch, Martella who were all in repeated scenes to name a few) and names (at which time you never knew which nickname or which of the characters first or last name the author was going to use) and situations (without a hell of a lot of introduction or background). All of which is confusing for a reader just starting out, I mean don't dumb it down but for craps sake calm it down a bit. I spent so much time having to pause and remember just who, what and where was going on, it was ridiculous.
This is not new for vampires, alot of terminonlogy is borrowed from other paranormal romance authors. There is a ton of poorly described trolls, ogres, poltergeists and pretty much all characters in general. It may not matter to some but I could not tell you the color of Sara Constantines hair or eyes. It's just somewhat ambiguous which isn't what I wanted to read.
I DID NOT like the fairly gruesome and slighly more descript scenes about the young girls getting killed.
And as for the sex? It was boring predictable and formulaic... alot of begging by the women and heart tripping creepy sex smiling being done by the men. Alot of obnoxious describing of being bitten as getting a "special kiss" by the vampire which cheezes me out.
So heres what happened; I dropped this book on page 317 of 388 and then skipped book two (When Pleasure Rules) because it was about two people and I hadn't the foggiest who they were with less than 70pgs left in the first book in the series. I began reading book three (when wicked craves) and then just gave up after skipping through a bit of it, just more of the same it felt like.
The final nail in the coffin to this series is it looks like the fourth installation to this series (when passion lies) is about a really HORRIBLE character in the first book named Caris who basically enables a child serial killer/rapist to keep killing... Now surely there is more to be explained about this if I had bothered to read the series but seriously I don't want to read an entire book about someone who had anything to do with that, regardless of the excuses or reasons the author gives for the behavior later.
Okay first of all I read ALOT of romance for a working Mom and I don't want to waste my time on crap. So let me just go ahead and relay the message to those of you out there like me; stick to the Black Dagger brothers and the Breed, hell even Showalters Alien Huntress & Atlantis series have far more interesting and original vampire situations going on. There is just too much and yet at the same time entirely too little going on in these books. I read romance so I can enjoy a few hours with some drama and then a happy ending. I don't want to feel this annoyed to read in my spare time. Second of all my husband is a lawyer and the whole premise that the author wanted to relay her love for the lawyering field through this series is crap. She may mean what she says about her love for that stuff but it is way poorly executed. For someone who is also inundated with the life a lawyer leads the legal side of it all seemed a bit trite in comparison.
Take my advise if you are unsure of these books but are fairly certain there are other titles you know you would like to read out there then just go ahead and read them. Put these in the "sell to Half price books bag" you keep in the corner of your room and I assure you, you won't even miss them.
Cheers- Gilly
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great start to a new series, August 31, 2010
This review is from: When Blood Calls (Mass Market Paperback)
Prosecutor Sara Constantine has just won a major case and while out celebrating, she is swept into the arms of a handsome stranger who she spends one incredible evening with. A couple days later she finds she has been promoted to the secretive Division 6 where she will now prosecute the criminals of the paranormal world. Before she can truly recover from the shock of learning she lives amongst werewolves and vampires, she finds that for her first case, she will be up against Lucius Dragos. The man who gave her a night to remember in his arms is now on trail for a heinous crime.
Lucius never expected to feel the way he does about Sara but she sooths his daemon like none have before. He knows that she is exceptional at her job and will do what she must in order to win her case and convict Lucius of murder. He will need to convince Sara that he is not the monster she sees him as but a man who will do what is necessary to protect what is his.
Sara is a strong woman who believes in the justice system even though she personally knows that sometimes the truly guilty sometimes slip through the crack. At first she sees things in black and white but with the arrival of Lucius in her life, she starts to see more in grey. At times it did feel like she was a little too easily swayed by Luke and the lust she felt towards him. While she does loosen to the idea that sometimes justice needs to be taken by others, she does not fully give up what she believes in and will continue to fight for victims. Luke is very much the opposite. As a member of the Alliance (a paranormal organization outside the law that steps in when the system has failed) he doesn't think twice about taking down a killer. He is fiercely protective of those close to him and seeks retribution when someone dares to harm his own. He is a deadly, passionate character and you can feel that he intimidates those around him. While I liked both their characters individually, together I just didn't feel the connection. There were some steamy scenes but other than that, I just didn't get it. I believed he cared for her but I didn't feel the deep love they say they felt.
Tasha was a interesting character. She is Lucius' ward and is basically a bit crazy. She has the mind of a child but you know there is more to her than she lets on. Nicholas Montegue is a character that you know is more than what he seems. He is Luke's lawyer and beneath his angelic face you know there is a powerful man who is hiding something. I'd love to get to know more about Nick and what his secrets are.
The world that is built in When Blood Calls is interesting but at times a bit much. There are a lot of names and creatures that are thrown in and it was confusing at times. Some of it felt unnecessary. What I did like what that there was structure to the paranormal world. In some books there is a free far all and no type of system to keep the paranormal in check. Even though they weren't always followed, there are laws and restrictions set. I especially liked the public theater where those guilty were executed. It was how I picture a paranormal justice system in action. Overall, When Blood Calls was full of suspense, testosterone fueled action and a good dose of romance. It was a great start to a new series.
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