32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
5+ Stars: Exquisitely poetic, dark, and transformational!, July 14, 2008
This review is from: The Wild Road (Dirk & Steele, Book 8) (Mass Market Paperback)
A woman awakens in a strange hotel room with blood and dead bodies surrounding her. She has lost all memory. Is she a murderer? The only clue is a note with the word "Run" --and run, she does right into Lannes Hannelore, a gargoyle, a member of a race that now hides in plain sight. Lannes feels drawn to her, can feel her thoughts. She wakens in him something he has never felt before. When her entire life has become a nightmare of epic proportions, the woman oddly feels comfort, understanding, and support from this strange handsome man. Lannes stands by her, trying to unravel the clues and restore her memory even though she might be the end of life as he knew it. Can these two discover her identity and find true love, a soul love, or will the unveiling of the past threaten them even more than the current dangers? When the Dirk and Steele agency gets involved, the clues become more mysterious, more dangerous.
Lannes Hannelore captures the heart from his first appearance. Gentle, kind, and so moved by the plight of this woman, he knows her even as she cannot know herself. He knows her heart and protects her intuitively. When every clue should make him run, she wakens in him something altogether unfamiliar, a part of him that has been locked away and never before experienced love or this kind of empathy. She does not even know her own name but something about this woman makes him feel known. Can his caring and growing love for her bring her to a space where she herself feels known as he does? Will the shocking truth, once found, separate them? Can love enter into the midst of the ultimate darkness?
In THE WILD ROAD, Marjorie M. Liu creates a suspenseful and dangerous journey to truth as the two try to unlock her memory, a blank memory yet something within her that attracts violence. Death and cruelty surround this woman as her mind is possessed by some unknown force. As Dirk and Steele become involved, the discovered dark past raises the level of suspense to the ultimate limit as Hannelore and the woman must race to unlock her past and protect others from an injustice long silenced. They must locate a danger that is both nowhere and everywhere, internal and external. Just as darkness and evil threaten to overtake all, from the violence and cruelty emerges a powerfully moving story of love and sacrifice, of giving to another that moves the heart with a profound depth. The romance between Hannelore and the woman feels almost legendary like the stories of Greek gods and goddesses and their tales of love but in a paranormal, dark suspenseful setting. THE WILD ROAD is an awesome romance about the transformation of souls through love.
This is my first time reading Marjorie M. Liu. For other readers, like myself, new to the Dirk and Steele series, this book works perfectly as a stand alone and a place to begin the Marjorie Liu journey. Of course, having read this one I quickly ordered previous books in the series, but I did not feel anything lacking coming to this series fresh. Marjorie M. Liu's THE WILD ROAD goes beyond strict genre delineations, with its suspense and look into violence and the human heart at its most elemental level ---- as a reader, I love it all the more for its unparalleled, intriguing vision. This book left me somewhat speechless. While the suspenseful elements glued me to the pages, I was so mesmerized by her language that I slowed my reading speed down just to savor the pure poetry and beauty of her language. THE WILD ROAD quite simply has no equal. Exquisite in each and every detail!
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Wild Read, July 30, 2008
This review is from: The Wild Road (Dirk & Steele, Book 8) (Mass Market Paperback)
This is a beautiful romance. Two damaged souls slowly build a relationship based on trust and acceptance. A woman on the run from herself needs help. A Gargoyle hiding from who he is needs a reason to live in the world. Marjorie Liu brings the two together in a plot filled with revenge, magic and murder. I won't list all the plot details. I think it is best to come to this book not knowing where the next page will take the mismatched lovers. Also the first excellent review is a good source for those potential readers who want a synopsis.
A deep dark secret, a wrong never righted and a thing that only takes wait at the end of the Wild Road. The author carries the readers along from one trial to another. Her words weave a spell. Emotions so real that at times I was breathless. She earned my tears.
This is my first Dirk and Steel novel but I intend to order the others.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nice!, August 3, 2008
This review is from: The Wild Road (Dirk & Steele, Book 8) (Mass Market Paperback)
Nice Addition to the Dirk & Steele Series. Good continuation and good all on its own. Not so much going that it makes it too complicated, nice romance, nice mystery. Nice surprise to here the story of the rest of the Gargoyle brothers from a great short story in the anthology Dark Dreamers (you should get that book if you enjoyed this story!!!).
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