A 10 of 10. Swallowing Darkness is one of those books I will be reading again and again, just for the magical places it can take me.
This book reminds me of why Laurel K. Hamilton is such a great author. Yes, there are some books that aren't as good, no arguments there. But with Swallowing Darkness she took her time and did it right. Better than right. Brilliant. So brilliantly written that I felt the magic.
LKH can make fantasy come alive like no other. In this book we don't just see the Wild Hunt, we take part in it. We learn what it is like to be caught up in the Hunt, to feel the magic, to help shape the magic.
Swallowing Darkness starts shortly after the previous book ends. Merry is in the hospital, a human hospital. They've swabbed her for DNA samples of her rapist and they are now watching her. She is pregnant with twins, after all. The action starts shortly thereafter and doesn't let up. On page 125 I realized there had been no sex yet. And 25 pages later when there was finally the first hint of sex, it didn't get very far before the action started back up. There is finally some sex near the end, but it's not a long drawn out sexcapade. The 363 pages of this book are filled with action and magic and love and... well, faerie.
There is also a lot of closure at the end of this book. If LKH wants to make this the final book in the series she could do so with the way she ended it. I hope this isn't it, but I honestly haven't heard either way whether this is it or not. (Update: LKH has since stated on her blog that there will be more Merry books.)
Meredith doesn't get new powers in this book as much as she better learns to use the powers she already has. Pregnancy doesn't mellow Merry, it turns her into a fierce mama-bear who will not hesitate to kill to protect her babies and her men. Things she would have fought with herself about in the past she does easily in this book, whatever it takes to keep her babies and her men safe. No guilt, no decisions, she just does it. She's already lost her beloved Frost and she will do whatever it takes to keep from losing another of her men. That's not to say she turns into a tyrannical princess, she's still the Merry who will go out of her way to heal people who are fighting on her side for no other reason than they fought for her. But the people who try to kill her and her men? There is no more mercy in her heart for them.
And in this book, she needs this new attitude. She has more plots against herself and her men then ever before. The threats come from everywhere, literally. The book is pretty much nonstop action as she goes from one life threatening situation to another, and in between tries to play the political game.
I finished the book at 3:18 this morning. I could not put it down, and I won't regret being bleary eyed at work today. It was well worth it.
Swallowing Darkness gets a 10 of 10, as does the Meredith Gentry series.
Book Rating: 10 of 10
Series Rating: 10 of 10
1. A Kiss of Shadows (2000)
2. A Caress of Twilight (2002)
3. Seduced by Moonlight (2004)
4. A Stroke of Midnight (2005)
5. Mistral's Kiss (2006)
6. A Lick of Frost (2007)
7. Swallowing Darkness (Nov 2008)
Swallowing Darkness gets a 10 of 10, as does the Meredith Gentry series.
Book Rating: 10 of 10
Series Rating: 10 of 10
1. A Kiss of Shadows (2000)
2. A Caress of Twilight (2002)
3. Seduced by Moonlight (2004)
4. A Stroke of Midnight (2005)
5. Mistral's Kiss (2006)
6. A Lick of Frost (2007)
7. Swallowing Darkness (Nov 2008)
Posts
From an audio book perspective, to me the first 5 books or so sound pretty much as if they are the same book. Details/names are changed but many dialogues, scenes and descriptors sound as though they are lifted straight out of one chapter and/or book and dropped into another.
ReplyDelete