THE LAST TWILIGHT
Marjorie M. Liu
Anyone who reads this journal with any regularity knows what a big Marjorie Liu fan I am. Therefore, I can't really claim that this review is bias-free but...The Last Twilight was a damn good book.
First, because I'm horrible at summarizing books without giving away plot points, here is the blurb from her website:
"Doctor Rikki Kinn is a virus hunter - one of the best - working in the Congo for the CDC. But when mercenaries attempt to kidnap her in order to prevent an investigation into a new and deadly plague, her boss calls in a favor from the men at Dirk & Steele...
Africa is Amiri's home, where he was raised to race as a cheetah, to wake with the sun. It is also a land of lingering nightmare, where he was kidnapped and experimented upon. Now, against his better judgment, Amiri has been asked to return to his homeland by his colleagues in Dirk & Steele - men who are friends and brothers, who like himself are more than human.
He must protect a woman who is the target of murderers, who has unwittingly involved herself in a conflict that threatens not only the lives of millions, but Amiri's own soul...and his heart."
Marjorie's Dirk & Steele series is classified as Paranormal Romance and does have many of the classic romance elements -- the Happily Ever After, new couple for each new book, and a primary emphasis on the romance plot. But her stories are also very action forward -- so much so, at times, that I feel they blur the lines between PR and UF. Which is why I luff them so. ;)
That said, The Last Twilight definitely stuck more to the romance side of the fence. Nearly every page reinforced the connection developing between Amiri and Rikki, the inexplicable bond drawing them towards each other. One could imagine that kind of thing getting old after three-hundred-and-some-odd pages but not so! Marjorie is so talented. She is constantly twisting and tweaking the info, providing you with a little more, shaking up a bit of what she told you before, revealing something new that keeps you turning the page. Masterful.
I also liked the action plot in this book. It starred more Bad Men from The Consortium -- good stuff. And I'm a particular fan of medical thrillers, so this was right up my alley.
What really struck me about The Last Twilight was Marjorie’s prose. She always has beautiful, poetic prose but she was really at the top of her game with this one. I was folding down page corners left and right, falling in love with phrases, sentences – whole paragraphs.
Here are a few selections, because beautiful words are meant to be shared:
“No pain, just a sensation of becoming liquid, hot like lava, pouring and reforming into fingers and arms and legs, fur sliding away into some invisible twilight; a ghost, a beast, the shadow of his soul; like poetry, a dance.”
“Amiri went still; feeling, as he did, something empty inside his chest, a void seeping from his heart to his toes. The world felt fuller than he did: floors creaking, faucets dripping, the wind sidling against the kitchen window; the faint scent of old paper and ink; and his dinner: raw steak and asparagus, with a drip of honey on his tongue for dessert. Full. Simple pleasures. Safe.”
“He had taken liberties, in the heat of the moment; had wanted a sense of the enemy, to take them into his body and listen to the nuances of the flesh: roots and blood honey and the stone of bones.”
“He forced himself to stand, gazing down upon Rikki’s still form, and remembered from long ago an old Masai warrior, recently widowed, who had whispered in ever-so-grave tones that hearts did not meet one another like roads. Hearts fell like rain. Hearts burned in fire.”
*happy sigh*
TANGLED WEBS
Anne Bishop
I’m a huge Anne Bishop fan. The Black Jewels Trilogy (as I’ve said many times before) are the books that finally got me to start writing a story of my own – my well of inspiration was overflowing after immersing myself in her wonderful, wonderful world and it simply would not be contained any longer.
Tangled Webs is a new novel set in the same world and starring the same essential cast of characters as the Black Jewels Trilogy. It centers more prominently around Surreal, everyone’s favorite assassin. Again, I defer to other people’s blurbage:
“The invitation was signed Jaenelle Angelline, she who had been both Witch and Queen.
It summons her family to an entertainment she has specially prepared. Surreal SaDiablo, the former courtesan and assassin, is the first to arrive. But as she and her escort enter the house, the door disappears. Surreal finds herself trapped in a nightmare created by the tangled webs of Black Widow witches...a nightmare where the monsters are all too real, and if she uses Craft to defend herself, she risks being sealed in the house forever.
But Jaenelle did not send the invitation.
Now, Jaenelle and her family must rescue Surreal and the others inside without becoming trapped themselves—and they also must discover who created such an evil place, and why. Because there is one thing they all know about this house: no matter who planned it as a way to kill members of the SaDiablo family, only one of the Blood could have created the trap…”
In short, Tangled Webs is an enjoyable read and a welcome window back into the lives of the characters I fell so deeply in love with in the trilogy. To provide a fair and honest review, I feel compelled to say that I didn’t find it as engaging as any of her previous Black Jewels stories. It felt more like checking in on all my favorite characters to see how they were doing, what they were up to and how their relationships were developing. The plot mentioned in the summary above doesn’t really get into full swing until well into the book. However, fans of the Black Jewels trilogy will definitely enjoy the story and the peek back into the beloved characters’ lives.
It also contains a short story about Surreal called BY THE TIME THE WITCHBLOOD BLOOMS, which I very much enjoyed.
No comments:
Post a Comment