Smith, Cynthia Leitich - Blessed
Wed, Jun. 8th, 2011 04:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterThis is more a direct sequel to Tantalize, though there are also overlapping elements from Eternal as well.
We return to Quincie P. Morris right after the events of Tantalize, which was nice, since I think the previous book ended very abruptly. Quincie is trying to reverse some of the events from the previous book, most of which I don't remember because I read it so long ago. Smith also continues to expand her world of vampires and angels, and I kind of enjoyed all the snippets from Dracula. I feel current vampire mythology is now very far from the handsome caped guy turning into a bat that it was a bit refreshing to go back to Bram Stoker.
Spoilers
So I had completely forgotten about Kieran being under investigation for potential murder, along with his plan to go away to other Wolf groups to learn to control his shifting.
I'm still uneasy about the worldbuilding with God and the angels, though that's always a problem I have with worldbuilding with angels and God. Right now, it seems as though the Christian God is canonical, although they take people from other religions as well? Not quite a fan of that...
I'm also not sure if I liked the ending, especially because I can't quite remember how Eternal ended. I think Miranda sacrificed herself so as to not lose her soul? I'm a little sad that Miranda (POC) ended up having to self sacrifice while Quincie gets to be the special vampire with the untainted soul. Still, I'm really happy that Smith seems to be rewriting the Twilight canon with Kieran the multiracial Latino werewolf being the romantic lead instead of Bradley, who is creepy and stalkery and invades Quincie's mind. Hee!
I also really like that Smith has a developing friendship between Amy and Quincie, yay.
Overall, this felt like a much steadier book than the previous two, probably because Smith had the first two for worldbuilding and character introduction, and a much, much more satisfying conclusion than the previous two. Still, her website says there are going to be more books set in this world, which I am looking forward to. They're not substantially different from a lot of the YA fantasy out there right now, but I like Smith's sense of humor (animal shapeshifters that aren't just sexy ones, including possums! I also really like that Smith has been including more multiracial characters in her books, and am really hoping she continues to do so.
We return to Quincie P. Morris right after the events of Tantalize, which was nice, since I think the previous book ended very abruptly. Quincie is trying to reverse some of the events from the previous book, most of which I don't remember because I read it so long ago. Smith also continues to expand her world of vampires and angels, and I kind of enjoyed all the snippets from Dracula. I feel current vampire mythology is now very far from the handsome caped guy turning into a bat that it was a bit refreshing to go back to Bram Stoker.
Spoilers
So I had completely forgotten about Kieran being under investigation for potential murder, along with his plan to go away to other Wolf groups to learn to control his shifting.
I'm still uneasy about the worldbuilding with God and the angels, though that's always a problem I have with worldbuilding with angels and God. Right now, it seems as though the Christian God is canonical, although they take people from other religions as well? Not quite a fan of that...
I'm also not sure if I liked the ending, especially because I can't quite remember how Eternal ended. I think Miranda sacrificed herself so as to not lose her soul? I'm a little sad that Miranda (POC) ended up having to self sacrifice while Quincie gets to be the special vampire with the untainted soul. Still, I'm really happy that Smith seems to be rewriting the Twilight canon with Kieran the multiracial Latino werewolf being the romantic lead instead of Bradley, who is creepy and stalkery and invades Quincie's mind. Hee!
I also really like that Smith has a developing friendship between Amy and Quincie, yay.
Overall, this felt like a much steadier book than the previous two, probably because Smith had the first two for worldbuilding and character introduction, and a much, much more satisfying conclusion than the previous two. Still, her website says there are going to be more books set in this world, which I am looking forward to. They're not substantially different from a lot of the YA fantasy out there right now, but I like Smith's sense of humor (animal shapeshifters that aren't just sexy ones, including possums! I also really like that Smith has been including more multiracial characters in her books, and am really hoping she continues to do so.
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Sat, Jun. 11th, 2011 12:19 pm (UTC)