“My sweet nemesis, how glad I am that you returned.”
Ohhh , swooning....
So, our favourite High King of fairies, Cardan, has returned: “He will be t“My sweet nemesis, how glad I am that you returned.”
Ohhh , swooning....
So, our favourite High King of fairies, Cardan, has returned: “He will be the destruction of the crown and the ruination of the throne.” Our favourite misplaced mortal, Jude, has returned: “Do you think a seed planted in goblin soil grows to be the same plant as it would have in the mortal world?
And together -almost- all their friends, siblings, family, lovers, warriors, knights, enemies, mortals and fairies are back.... The last time I was here, this place seemed like a beautifully shot horror movie.
Well, if you expect a grand, vicious, unforgiven and unforgiving villain in the story like Madoc and/or Locke; you will probably be disappointed. Of course there will be epic battles and glorious or accidental deaths, but they only happened in order to be themes for fairytales and songs.
Fairies are crazy. They love to -trick mortals -slaughter their enemies and bath into their blood (occasionally eat them.. DON'T BE THAT JUDGMENTAL!) -give without thinking much curses and geases and destroy (even if their curses may come back and bite them) -last for power and to be feared and to be able to humiliate very probably almost everybody else around them -love conspiracies and mind games
BUT
They are really creatures of magic and fantasy. They love to laugh, to dance, to eat and behave drunkenly stupidly. And sometimes even feel love and affection for the insignificant puny humans. Cardan certainly never suspected that the man was beloved of Val Moren and that the seneschal would go mad with grief if the man died.
In the span of three books, the author managed to weave a story that can be characterised as “a beautiful unforgettable fairytale” by using the best storytelling ingredients. I couldn't put the book down until it was finished and I have the suspicion that this happened to everyone who started it.
Sadly it was published middle November and it was too late to compete in 11th annual goodreads choice awards...
------------- ------------- (view spoiler)[ BEFORE PUBLICATION We have an awesome bookcover! And a blurb full of spoilers LOL
READ AT YOUR OWN RISK IF YOU HAVE NOT READ "WICKED KING"
After being pronounced Queen of Faerie and then abruptly exiled by the Wicked King Cardan, Jude finds herself unmoored, the queen of nothing. She spends her time with Vivi and Oak, watches her fair share of reality television, and does the odd job or two, including trying to convince a cannibalistic faerie from hunting her own in the mortal world.
When her twin sister Taryn shows up asking of a favor, Jude jumps at the chance to return to the Faerie world, even if it means facing Cardan, who she loves despite his betrayal.
When a dark curse is unveiled, Jude must become the first mortal Queen of Faerie and uncover how to break the curse, or risk upsetting the balance of the whole Faerie world.
--------------------- --------------------- While we have left Jude stewing in her own juice, Cardan is alone to play.
I am not happy that I have to wait one whole year to see why things happened they way they did happened, but I can be a very good patient girl. (hide spoiler)]...more
A demon world part of the human world. Demons live, breathe, feed among humans. Oh, and they also have conferences from time to time :)
Something was boA demon world part of the human world. Demons live, breathe, feed among humans. Oh, and they also have conferences from time to time :)
Something was bothering me since I started reading the book and I could not figure out what was exactly until the last part of the book. Only then I realized what was troubling me in this story.
THE DEMONS ARE JUST FAR TOO NICE AND NORMAL
And this is exactly what I mean. Let me tell you a few examples.
Point 1: Demons believe in family and family values: Nobody understands how Harper’s mama could abandon her when she was a little child at her grandmother’s doorstep. All demons hate her for this. Grandmother Jolene, on the other hand, sent little Harper to live with her playboy dad Lucian to develop their relationship.
Point 2: Demons like violence but mostly for revenge and as an extreme measure: Little Knox killed to revenge his family, although until then he was patiently suffering the torture of his evil Prime. Grown up Knox wants Kendra dead, Harper begs him not to kill her and he lets her go.
Point 3: Demons are not volatile: Knox doesn’t kill when he wants to kill, because either he is asked not to or because he wants to teach lessons or because he wants to send messages. You may say he is smart for not killing and I will agree with you.
Point 4: Demons are loyal and they care: Knox cares for his lair. His sentinels care for him. Families care for each other. Friends stick together. Happiness and rainbows all over the place.
Point 5: Demons talk too much about their feelings: Harper and her family keep talking about why her mother didn’t want her, why her father behaves like that, who wants to kill her and for what reasons (maybe they don’t like her?)
Point 6: Demons like to socialize: Yes, they have conferences in the book and conference dinners where everybody is dressing nicely. And they believe in democracy and the voting system. Also they like having coffee and chatting.
Point 7: Demons are too much into vanilla sex: Isla has a thing for sexual sadism, i.e. she likes to tie up unwilling women and punish them for imaginary crimes and then maybe she kills them. And when the main characters find out about it they are shocked. They even try to justify her actions by thinking whether her mother was abusive or something (Point 5). Harper was feeling sick thinking about it. I know you will tell me that the book is very smutty. And there are these psychic fingers which I have to admit are very convenient during sex, but everything else is normal (even fingering your girlfriend when the others don’t know about it or having sex with her in the elevator etc.)
You may ask me why all these things are not normal for demons. Well, maybe because THEY ARE DEMONS. They are supposed to be volatile, to crave for violence with no particular reason just for the fun of it, become lost in their lust and in their need for power, be loners. Demons may develop feelings and ethics, but they struggle a lot to avoid them. They continually battle with themselves when they fall in love to prevent it from happening – not embracing it straight away. And these are things I have learned so far from most of the PNR books which include demon characters. As a result I prefer my demons a bit more at the wild side, more funny or if not funny at least more tortured. I want them more wicked and kinky. They are demons after all. Not politicians, not psychologists.
Well, the book is at the light side of the demon world. I will definitely read second book because I think this world has potentials.
My rating would have been 3 stars. But I really enjoyed the last part of the book, after we learn what kind of demon Knox is, we have the results of the voting and shit hit the fan. Knox after this point at least manages to overcome Point 2 and Point 3 of my previous arguments. Well done Knox! ...more