Liu, Marjorie M. - Soul Song
Tue, Mar. 11th, 2008 12:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterKitala Bell, famous violinist, has always been able to foresee deaths -- but only violent murders. Also, her music is magic. M'Cal is a Krackeni (merman) who has been enslaved to a witch; she forces him to use his music to sing out people's souls for her consumption. He's eventually sent out to steal Kit's soul, but they end up falling in love instead.
First, yay multiracial heroine and her black grandma! I don't know enough about Voodoo to know if the depictions are accurate or not, but for what it's worth, I didn't get the feeling of "Look at this primitive religion! They use bird parts!" or other such nonsense. Er, I don't think using bird parts equates primitive, but that tends to be the feeling I get from other people writing about it. I am still liking the number of powerful older women in this series, good, evil, and in between.
I was a little less into the romance this time around, which made me sad, because I'd been looking forward to Kit's story. I think Kit and M'Cal ended up falling in love too quickly for me to fully believe, particularly given Liu's set up of Kit's deliberate isolation and M'Cal's trust issues. I do like that they trust and like each other, but it just went too quickly for me.
On the other hand, the plot was immensely entertaining and insane!
Spoilers
M'Cal bites off the witch's nose! It bounces! Kit's gris-gris blasts Edith's hand off and leaves exposed bone!
This is excellent. I have high hopes that Liu will start hitting manga levels of body part loss.
I also ended up liking the witch a lot. She is creepy and evil but also fiercely protective of her family, and I found her interesting.
Possibly I am too easily entertained and/or amused, but hey, I need light fluffy reading right now.
First, yay multiracial heroine and her black grandma! I don't know enough about Voodoo to know if the depictions are accurate or not, but for what it's worth, I didn't get the feeling of "Look at this primitive religion! They use bird parts!" or other such nonsense. Er, I don't think using bird parts equates primitive, but that tends to be the feeling I get from other people writing about it. I am still liking the number of powerful older women in this series, good, evil, and in between.
I was a little less into the romance this time around, which made me sad, because I'd been looking forward to Kit's story. I think Kit and M'Cal ended up falling in love too quickly for me to fully believe, particularly given Liu's set up of Kit's deliberate isolation and M'Cal's trust issues. I do like that they trust and like each other, but it just went too quickly for me.
On the other hand, the plot was immensely entertaining and insane!
Spoilers
M'Cal bites off the witch's nose! It bounces! Kit's gris-gris blasts Edith's hand off and leaves exposed bone!
This is excellent. I have high hopes that Liu will start hitting manga levels of body part loss.
I also ended up liking the witch a lot. She is creepy and evil but also fiercely protective of her family, and I found her interesting.
Possibly I am too easily entertained and/or amused, but hey, I need light fluffy reading right now.
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Tue, Mar. 11th, 2008 10:32 pm (UTC)