Sakura of DOOM

Jenny Jameson found a silver boy with a tail on the beach the summer she was twelve, and she's never forgotten him. Ever since then, she's been on the hunt for supernatural beings for her family's corporation, and finally, Perrin resurfaces. Unfortunately, this only complicates matters, as Jenny's family is none other than the evil Consortium that has been the long-running villain through the Dirk & Steele series.

Adventure, narrow escapes, angst, UST, betrayal, and plot twists ensue. Alas, I read this almost two months ago, and of course I have forgotten everything.

Most of what I can recall is that I was a bit disappointed that there aren't more POC showing up in the Dirk & Steele series. I think there's about the same number throughout the series, since there aren't any intra-POC relationships AFAIK, and while I don't read the gargoyles and mermaids and shapeshifters and etc. as white, I am not sure if I should be reading them as POC either.

I'm never sure if I'm disappointed in the direction D&S is going or not. On the one hand, I love that the universe continues to expand and that we're not just limited to the usual sequel bait. On the other hand, I actually liked some of the D&S characters and have been waiting for their books for a while (EDDIE!). So... YMMV? I do wish the mythology were a bit more coherent, but then again, the everything-and-the-kitchen approach is also part of the series' charm.

Not one of the best D&S books for me, though I liked getting more of a look into the Consortium and the enemies of D&S, but not one of the worst either.

Sorry for spamming! And yes, guess who has a paper due tomorrow?

( Maggie Shayne, "Animal Magnetism" )

( Marjorie M. Liu, "Hunter's Kiss" )

( Alyssa Day, "Wild Hearts in Atlantis" )

( Meljean Brook, "Paradise" )

Lannes is a gargoyle (related to the gargoyle from Liu's novella in Dark Dreamers). Despite his paranoia about being discovered and exploited by humans, he ends up helping a young woman, despite the fact that she's covered in blood, armed, attempting to carjack his Impala, and has no name or memory.

While I find this highly impractical on his part, it's nice to know that there are also heroes in romances who are Too Stupid To Live! Also, Liu manages to pull it off for reasons that I'm still trying to figure out.

Soon, both of them are trying to figure out who the woman is while assorted people are alternately shooting at them or running them off the road. Liu's prose is still a bit out of hand, particularly when it comes to descriptions, and the dialogue isn't as zingy, given that both Lannes and the woman are strong, silent types. On the other hand, I loved reading about the two of them together, particularly how both of them have to overcome a great deal of angst and fear of intimacy. Sometimes they seem to trust each other too easily, but again, I think Liu makes it work by isolating the two.

Also, I love that the two of them are silent and stoic and angsty. One of my favorite moments is when they're standing several feet apart for hours, one just waiting until the other's ready to talk.

The usual insane Liu plotting is also in evidence, although the way things come together make more sense in this book than in some of her others. That said, I enjoyed this most for the growing emotional connection between the leads.

Kitala 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 )

Possibly I am too easily entertained and/or amused, but hey, I need light fluffy reading right now.

Several people have already mentioned that this is a very flawed book, and how!

People are getting burned alive in Taiwan, and Dean Campbell of Dirk & Steele goes to investigate. He soon discovers that his childhood best friend and sweetheart Mirabelle Lee is actually alive, not dead as he's believed for twenty years. There is a lot of plot that involves dragons, several different factions, magical stones, mummies, strange memories, and probably some other things as well. It feels like Liu threw in everything and the kitchen sink, and despite the long exposition at the ending, I'm still not sure what happened. The book could have used about five fewer plots and been much more coherent.

That said, I actually enjoyed this a lot. I generally don't care that much about plot anyway, and given everyone's warnings, I felt free to completely ignore the plot and focus on the characters instead. It helped that the book included Taiwan (yay!), a heroine who lives in Bay Area and is Chinese, my favorite Dirk & Steele agent from the previous books, a lot of banter, childhood romances, romantic reunions and second chances. Given how cynical I am in real life about romantic reunions, I am not sure why this hits my buttons so hard, but it does.

Also, best lines ever:

"There, there." Miri patted his back. "If you like, I can touch your throbbing manhood and make it all better."

"Maybe I should handle your weeping flower. Water it with my hot man-juice. Caress your love grotto with my swinging showerhead."

I love Dean and Miri so much. I think they are my favorite couple so far, largely for the banter contrasting with the twenty years of angst.

And now, nitpicky things that only matter to me!

I was completely confused by the romanization of "Ni Ni" (grandma), as the book mostly seemed to be going with pinyin ("Nai nai"). I briefly thought it might be Canto or Taiwanese, except I'm pretty sure Miri only speaks Mandarin. (Dean does too! Awesomesauce!)

The Taipei still feels a little too shiny for me, though I liked the mention of stray dogs, Dean's observation that Taipei 101 looks like takeout cartons stacked on top of each other, National Taiwan University looking like concrete blocks, and the detail of the Far Eastern Hotel. Having spent part of an internship in that building, I squeed a bit when Liu mentions the bakery in the lobby.

Too bad Dean and Miri didn't have enough time for street food, what with all the demons and shapeshifters and people out to kill them.

Anyway, the plot is a total mess and the ending feels like a deus ex machina, I'm still confused as to why Dean can't sense Miri, and I'm not sure what the resolution means for the Dirk & Steele universe, but I am happily keeping the book anyway for good banter and sex that actually sounds like fun.

Links:
- oracne's review

Despite several people reccing Liu to me, I've been avoiding her books after reading a snippet of one (Red Heart of Jade, I think) and being completely weirded out by the Taipei in it.

Dela Reese buys a strange puzzle box in a Beijing street market; the next thing she knows, she's surrounded by flashy golden lights and a seven-foot tall guy with a lot of weapons is demanding to know what her command is. When he learns that she doesn't want anyone killed or conquered, we get:

"If you did not bring me here to kill or fight, then I was summoned to pleasure your body." He looked like he would rather impale himself face-first on a bed of nails.

Not quite what I had envisioned, and thoroughly welcome!

My general impression of the recent paranormal trend is that they tend to be more sexually explicit and have better worldbuilding, but to my surprise, this book's strengths lie in the snappy dialogue and the characters. Not that the sex is bad, and the worldbuilding is pretty neat, but I am so glad to have a romance in which the characters actually feel like they're falling in love, not insta-lust.

Anyway, Hari (aforementioned seven-foot tall shapeshifter guy from the box) and Dela soon discover that not one, but two groups of people are out to kill Dela. Oh, also, Dela has psychic powers, namely, an affinity for metal, as does most of her family and the detective agency her family founded. To my surprise, Dela not only protests that she's capable of taking care of herself, most of the time she follows through. She's smart, funny, down-to-earth, and also wary. Hari's also a surprise -- rather than being the alpha male intent on seduction, he's fairly shy and hurt after being basically tortured and enslaved for two thousand years. My favorite part of the book was watching the two of them gradually get to know each other and trust each other; there's a sweetness about Hari that's particularly charming, especially when juxtaposed with Dela's practicality.

Some of the prose descriptions in the beginning were a little too purple for me, but Liu soon gets into Hari and Dela's voices, and that's when she really begins to shine. I haven't laughed so much while reading a romance for quite some time.

We later get to meet some of Dela's friends from Dirk & Steele, the detective agency cum hideout for other psychically-powered pepole. Normally, I would resent meeting all these people who were clearly going to star in the next books, but instead of giving me endless descriptions on how testosterone-ladden, gorgeous and broad-shouldered the men are, Liu focuses on their dialogue and personalities. For once, I'm actually excited to be reading the next books in the series because I want to know more about the characters (I have slight crushes on Dean for his total guy-ness and Eddie because he is cute and "ma'am"'s Dela).

In terms of gender politics, the only thing that really bugged me was that I wanted more women in Dirk & Steele. That's more a minor complaint, though; we get to meet one of Dela's female friends, and there are several powerful women in the background, including the co-founder of Dirk & Steele. In terms of race politics, I do wish that there were Chinese main characters, given the early setting in Beijing and a later subplot. While the inclusion of the Chinese mafia as villains in a book with a mostly white cast would normally bug me, I am not as irritated, given that Liu's later books do seem to star an Asian character (or more?). I'm particularly looking forward to the one that's set in Africa, starring an actual black man! Not specifically targeted as an African-American romance! (To clarify: I have no problem with African-American romances, but am irked that the trend of Exotified Ethnicities a la Harlequin Presents somehow always skips over black men.)

In conclusion: I am very happily surprised. This isn't just a good paranormal, it's a good romance and a fun read, period. I'm also extremely glad ladyjax persuaded me to buy the next book in the series last week and that I have the third one sitting around somewhere (Dean! In Taiwan! AWESOME!).