Smith, L.J. - Spellbinder (reread)

[oyceter]

Cousins Thea and Blaise Harman have been expelled for the umpteenth time, thanks to Blaise's propensity to drive guys crazy. But this time, Blaise is going after Eric, a cute vet wannabe, and Thea seems to be falling for him as well.

I avoided reading this for a really long time the first time round, largely because the set-up screams "two girls competing over a guy and the nice one wins." I vaguely remember stubbornly rooting for Blaise when I first read it, just because.

This isn't one of my favorite Night World books, but I still had fun reading it, and knowing how it was going to end helped a lot as well. Also, I forgot that Night World is actually somewhat multiracial, at least in terms of 90s teen horror books. That is to say, there are actually POC in it, albeit all as sidekicks or best friends or random bystanders. You can tell because at Samhain, many of them show up dressed as their cultures' goddesses of choice, although I'm pretty sure Buddhists would fall over dead to realize that Kuan-Yin was part of a witch ceremony. Note to LJ Smith: "exotic" does not always equal "pagan."

Sadly, both Eric and Thea are extremely boring, although I am sure they would be good people to meet in real life, and I think a sequel starring Blaise would be much, much more interesting.

Comments

[shewhohashope.livejournal.com]

They have to bring Blaise back! It'll be like how Ash was a semi-villain in Secret Vampire as a set up for Daughters of Darkness, or Quinn was a sort-of-villain in DoD, only to turn up as the hero of The Chosen.

I'm still really confused as to why this is called Enchantress in UK editions.

[oyceter]

I know! Reformed baddies should not be limited to the guys, I feel. I... am not sure why they renamed it either. I am guessing "spellbinder" doesn't have a particularly different meaning in the UK?

[shewhohashope.livejournal.com]

Plus Blaise is much more promising than either Quinn or Ash in that she has already shown some humanity, and I already like her.

It means exactly the same thing, unless there's some context I'm missing, but I'm pretty familiar with late 90's British culture.

[shewhohashope.livejournal.com]

But there was this Spellbinder (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spellbinder_(TV_series)), which I do recall.

[oyceter]

Huh! No idea then.

I am trying to decide if it's worth the risk to ask for Night World fan fic for Yuletide...

[shewhohashope.livejournal.com]

That would be a risk, but it's got to be worth it. There will probably be renewed interest because of the re-releases, and Strange Fate eventually coming out.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

DOOOOOOOO ITTTTTTTTTTT.

[sarahtales.livejournal.com]

It doesn't, and oh it annoys me - I hate a title change, so I look at Enchantress on the shelf and mutter the same way I would if I had a copy of Sorcerer's Stone in my possession.

Other than that, I agree with you, Oyce. Eric and Thea were nice but just not interesting enough to build a story around, though the scene with Blaise's ex Randy did stick with me. (I cry all the time. EEEP.) For my money though, still better than the fourth one.

[oyceter]

With you on title changes! That is why I have grumpily waited for all the HP books to get to me from the UK....

The scene with Randy was freaky! I had completely forgotten about it too.

Is the fourth one Dark Angel? If so, yeeeeaaah. That one was boring, IIRC.

[sarahtales.livejournal.com]

Magically super-hot makeovers! Her soulmate only noticing her because of her magically super-hot makeover!

Her evil hot morally-ambiguous cousin was kind of fun, but he was no Ash. (I wonder if LJ Smith has an evil hot morally-ambiguous cousin? They seem to prevail.)

[shewhohashope.livejournal.com]

The fourth one is awful! I like to pretend it never happened.

[coniraya.livejournal.com]

Oh my god, talk about a flash from the past. I'm with you, I always found Thea a little boring and wanted Blaise to triumph in the end, not only was she a skilled witch but she was slick and smart as well. Maybe she would come back if LJ Smith would finish the freaking series!

Sorry I'm a little bitter...

[oyceter]

I know! I know! I am thinking of asking for Blaise fic for Yuletide, but a little afraid at the same time...

ZOMG if Strange Fate ends up delayed AGAIN, I will strangle something.