There’s a new front opening in the war against Shadow
Wing – cemetaries are being ransacked of ghostly residents, zombies being
raised and a new, sinister psychic network has started in the city
Their all too brief holiday is over, it’s time for Camille
and sisters to get back into the action
This world continues to be huge beyond all measure – we have
the massive range of different beings, the fae, the elves, dragons, demons, the
wereanimals and vampires and witches and magic users of various stripes. We
have the different realms, the threat that the demons represent, the battle on
so many levels across so many plains. It’s huge, it’s vast and every single
part of it is used and involved excellently
While, as I’ve mentioned below, this can lead to some
distraction, it also creates a book where everyone lives. Camille and her
relationships are really passionate and powerful. They’ve really done a good
job of building a home life in the story along side the massive battles against
everything this huge world can throw at them. The characters have also grown a
lot since the first book. Ok, a lot of that is in the many new shiny powers
they have managed to hoard, but there’s also how they grew as people, how they’ve
found their level with their various other characters (though I still hate
Camille’s relationship with Smoky).
There’s also a real sense that they have built something.
For a while I thought we were just going to have random monsters every single
book without any real sense if progress. But it has become clear that the war
isn’t just about the spirit seals, but also about the networks and allies that
Camille and her sisters are building. The war will come, and it won’t simply be
a case of who owns the most spirit seals wins. I really wish they’d focus on
this far more – the preparation, what the susters have achieved.
Camille has a very high sex drive. And with her three
husbands I’m more than tempted to wave a flag and cheer her passionate sexual
agency. She is in charge of her sexuality, her desires, her wishes. She dresses
sexily, for herself and she feels not the slightest shame as she lives her life
loud and clear.
Which is all nice but dear gods, I was mightily sick of
her libido by the end of this book. Anything gets Camille going. Anything. She
started meditating? Horny. She takes a bath? Horny. She washes the dishes?
Horny. Magic ritual? Horny. Just seen a terrible death of civilians? Needs
therapeutic horny time! Honestly if she’s not bored by now she should at least
be picking up friction burns.
This adds to a general padded feeling of the book which
is something we’ve mentioned over and over again through this series. A lot of
the old problems continue – the extremely detailed description and dwelling off
every meal plan. But we also get lost in the world building – I get it, this
world is huge and, as I said, amazing. But not everything needs mentioning
every time. Like if the sisters are fighting zombies, we don’t need a brief
aside on the many other kinds undead out there. They’re not relevant. And oh ye
gods enough with the Stand Alone Stuffing. We do not need the same “let me
introduce myself” with every book. This is book 13. THIRTEEN. We know who
Camille is.
The problem with this is there are a lot of distractions
which are GOOD. I like that not only do Camille, Delilah and Menolly have their
own lives, but also characters like Iris. I like that there’s their very
personal lives as well as the ongoing epic battles combat. I like that we have
this huge rich world. But because there’s already so much other padding it
leaves me being irritated by asides I’d normally like – I mean, they’re good –
but when we’re already dragging with side tracks it makes the book longer than
it needs to be and slow to develop any actual meta plot
In fact, sadly, that feels somewhat lacking in this book.
I love the characters, I love the world sitting. I love the greater meta-plot.
But the main story? We had a series of random encounters before one of the Hags
of Fate dropped in and said “hey there Camille, have an evil ghost killing portal
with he spell you happen to already know!” and looo, enemy was defeated in a
whole lot of anti-climax. On top of that we literally had the gang stumble
across a spirit seal. And why are all these big bads going to Seattle anyway? They
could go anywhere on the planet, unleash their mayhem away from the D’artigo
sisters and they’d be unchecked.
Inclusionwise, Morio has stepped up a lot more and seems
to be stepping out of the shadows of Camille’s lovers. He’s Japanese and
definitely present in this book. We also have Trillian… I’m not even sure to
include Trillian as a POC – he’s dark skinned, but because that’s his fae
species rather than indicative of any human race, ethnicity or culture. And
that’s about it – and I can’t stress just how huge this series is, how many
gazillion characters we have. The characters there aren’t bad – but they’re
few, so very few.
Menolly and Narissa are bisexual and a dedicated, loving
couple – but this is not their book. I think the author does like to focus on
one sister at a time and carefully pushes the others into the background when it’s
not their time as a stylistic choice. In another book, Menolly will dominate.
I really do like this series. I really like the world
setting which is so rich and deep and epic and amazing. I love the epicness of
it all. I also love the personal stories and how that is enmeshed, how the army
isn’t only growing but so too are their families. It’s an excellent,
imaginative story – but it’s also so terribly distracted and really needs
tightening and focusing. Too many distractions, too much unnecessary sex and
the main plot line felt it was added as an afterthought
