A bookworm's opinion of the books she's read.

 
The Man Who Loved Jane Austen by Sally Smith O'Rourke

I haven't exactly finished the book yet, but after two days of reading and already halfway through I know how it's going to end.

I don't regret buying the book, but this is definitely a one-time read kind of book. Like some movies out there - you watch it in the theaters or rent it and you were entertained, but it doesn't really stick with you after you're finished.

The story is about an artist who buys an antique and finds two letters inside of it. One is a letter from Fitswilliam Darcy to Jane Austen, the other a sealed letter from Jane Austen to Darcy. She gets the letters authenticated and stumbles upon a millionare of the name Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberly Farms. At first the book leads you to believe that Darcy is Jane's Darcy's descendent, but then it twists and the book's Darcy is THE Darcy that inspires the Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. He goes back in time, they fall in love with each other, a week later he goes forward in time and she bases Darcy on him, writes him a letter that the heroine finds in an antique mirror/dresser thing. Eventually they'll open the letter and read it and the book'll end happily ever after.

Personally, I would have enjoyed the book more if, instead of trying to complete two love relationships involving the same man with TIME TRAVEL, that the modern Darcy was a reincarnation or descendent of Jane Austen's Darcy than ACTUALLY Darcy. Plus he doesn't act anything like Darcy. He's too... I don't know... happy. Not arrogant or domineering enough.

The point of the book is to have Jane Austen fall in love, experience what she writes about, withouth it interfear with the known reality that she dies young and a spinster.

A fun read, but not for those expecting something profound and thought-provoking.
posted by Icegaze at 10:53 AM

 
I read romance novels. I love reading fluff. I like a story best when it also adds the flavor of a relationship and since that's a rare thing (in my experience) in fantasy and science fiction, I skip and go right to the good stuff. I read romance faster, and I know that when the book is over I won't be burdened with possibly the death of a character I've grown to love, or the bad guys winning. I'm not saying that's what happens in science fiction and/or fantasy, but the likihood of a happily ever after is lower when the book is not a romance.

However I tend towards paranormal romances. Supernatural romances. Vampires, werewolves, fairies, (good) dragons, time travel. I absolutley refuse to pick up a book if it's got a couple on the front embracing with their clothes falling off. It's fake, and even more annoying what's on the cover never happens in the book. They never wear those clothes, they never go out and heavily make out in a field in front of his or her castle or in a forest. It's all fake, and embarassing because it's gaudy advertisment that announces to the world HEY THERE'S SEX IN THIS BOOK. Although the flower covers aren't much better, but I'd rather a subtle 'Hi, this is a romance novel and chances are she's reading about them having sex'. If I wanted the world to know I was reading about sex I'd pick up a book that's got "2006'S HOTTEST EROTICA" on the cover. And even then those covers are a little more classy.

Anyway, the whole point of this post is to say that I stumbled upon a cleverly disguised bodice ripper.

Growing up romance novels were made fun of. In movies and on TV characters read execerpts about heaving busoms and dewy love wands. However, despite the fact that I've been reading romance novels officially six plus years now I hadn't come across one so incredibly insipid. I did read some that I didn't enjoy, and even more I couldn't get rid of fast enough. But for the most part I found them just as good as any other fluff novel out there (note: anything non-fiction is fluff to me.)

Then I found Janelle Taylor's Ecstasy series. It was like a lot of other Native American Brave/White Woman Captive romance novels. I ordered the rest of the series off of Amazon.com before I finished the first book mostly because it started out fine enough and I really like Gray Eagle/Wanmdi Hota. But by the time all of the books were mailed to me I'd seen that the entire book is a bunch of repitition in different situations. I grew tired of the female main character's incessent second guessing and lack of trust, but yet she loves him! But he betrays her and he's so hard and unforgiving but he loves her, and he's afraid she's going to betray him, and she on and on and on and on and that was only the first book. Halfway through the second and I had to put it down. My favorite character was left bleeding on the ground earlier in the book and it was just a bunch of her dealing with characters I don't like. And I don't like her. So there was no incentive to keep turning the pages.

Because I spent money on collecting the books (though at a lower price, I got some of them for 1 cent off of Amazon.com, wheeee (not including shipping)) I am determined to slog through each and every one of them, but it's the type of romance that people made fun of while I was growing up.

There are some good points. Every book has it's good points. And it took this woman time and effort to write this book. She did research - she had to because it's a historical novel about Native Americans. Unless she is REALLY OLD and/or a Native American chances are she had no clue what was what before writing the books. However, OMG, I want to beat her main character (Alisha) upside the head with a 2x4. SMACKITYWHACK. SHBLADOW!

Everyone falls in love with her. EVERYONE. Every male wants to posess her, and she wants nothing but freedom from Wanmdi Hota who, because he's the main male character, is the guy she's going to end up with happily ever after I feel like I'm wasting my time on the futility of her struggles. They're going to get together, QUIT FIGHTING IT. She ends up hurting their relationship way more than he does becuase she's a flighty, BRAINLESS little insecure melodramatic CHILD in the body of a gorgoues woman. It's like reading a fanfic. AUGH. At least you don't spend money, only time on fanfics.

Wanmdi Hota is the saving grace. He's the personality type of male fiction characters I like best. I just wish there was more of him in this book. I would have finished it MONTHS ago instead of letting it sit in a pile on the floor while I get back in the mood for historical romance.
posted by Icegaze at 11:19 AM

 
Micah by Laurell K. Hamilton

This side story, spin off, viniette, whatever took me two hours to devour. I woke up yesterday morning, cracked the book open and two hours later I was done and got out of bed.

My complaints are that the font was large, the text was double spaces, and didn't take up the whole page like a normal book. It was obvious that they tried to turn a short story into something larger by doing all of this. I didn't mind the shortness of the book at all. I would have preferred 100 pages of normal looking pages versus 245 pages of... space wasting. When I was in college the professors used to demand that we do our book reports in a certain way because students were guilty of making the font bigger and changing the headers and footers of the page so that they could write less, but still turn in the demanded two pages. I feel like that's what the publishers have done as well.

I don't mind AT ALL that the story was so short. It's not an official book. It's a story about Micah and Anita and their first time alone together, discovering that although they have been lovers since they met, and he's been with her through some substantial shit and is clinging to her, determined to put up with whatever in order to be with her (which is both adorable and flattering in any male), they know very little about one another. I read it because I love Anita Blake and ANY BOOK AT ALL that ever comes out written by Laurell K. Hamilton about Anita I will buy, keep, and bat away anyone wanting to steal them. Though I have been known to loan them out. To people on the other side of the ocean. *sob* It's been a year since I've seen my books and I was stupid and got distracted while I was visiting and forgot to reclaim them *sob* However I'll be back in the Netherlands sooner than later so I'll just be determined to reclaim them then. This time I'll demand them back into my possession within two minutes of being in the door! Sorry Neinke, MINE.

Anyway the book was good. The plot was ... it felt like less in control than most of the series. Then again she's NOT in control of the sitation. She's filling in for Larry so she knows very little of what she's getting into, she gets hit upside the head with not only flying, being alone with Micah, worrying about their relationship, Micah seeing Fox again and being thrown back into the past (mentally) and telling Anita about how he became what he is today, and then all of the power. Being with Micah, her own growing power, and then the fact that the zombie felt that he was killed by the defense lawyer.

I don't know if I like it or don't. Normally Anita is in more control. She's more on the ball, more twitchy, less trusting. But then again normally Anita doesn't have to deal with relationship stuff. It's only been recently that her priorities have changed and with it the voice of the series. Not that I mind. I've heard a lot of people complain, but I don't care. Laurell K. Hamilton can write whatever floats her boat and I'll devour it. Yum yum.

However it wasn't until I read the 'sneak look' at Danse Macabre that I had something to chew on. Anita pregnant! Whaaaaaaaaaaat? And I know it's Richard's. It's not plot twisty if it's Nathanel's. It's just a whoops, oh well, if he is. If it's Richard's then it's so much more angst and fight and just... it's better if it's Richard's. Becuase he's going to say they should get married when he finds out. He's going to try to make the white picket fence and the perfect life with her BECAUSE it's his. And she won't get married. Ever. I think she's decided that marriage is for normal people and for the first time in her life she's OKAY with not being normal (normal is for wusses anyway).

But... how is this going to change the series? I worry. I know she'll do it in a way that has me going "Oh... oh! Okay! I like that!" but for now I worry that it's going to turn into what (bad) fanfics in general turn into: baby drama. Where everyone gets pregnant and it turns into the next generation story and the original characters turn into parents and that means they're not interesting anymore. They're still the main characters, but they've had a morph into Mommy and Daddy and STUFF doesn't happen to them anymore.

Then again I can't picture stuff NOT happening to Anita. I'm sure Laurell K. Hamilton will do it okay. As a mother she knows that life doesn't turn into Mommy and Daddy after a child comes around. Childless, that's a lesson I've only heard about, not experienced.

So yeah. Yesterday started out very well.
posted by Icegaze at 10:38 AM

 
It's been a while since I've read a non-romance book. The only reason why I don't critique romances in this blog is because after reading a romance I don't feel the need to express my opinion about the book. They're feel-good books. Mostly they're about the happy occasion where a guy and girl get together and live happily ever after. Some of them happen in the past, some of them happen in the present. Some deal with paranormal stuff (recently the majority of romances that I've read have been of the paranormal persuasion (yum!)) but a romance series is nothing like a sci-fi/fantasy series. It is RARE that a romance has the same characters in the second book in the series. A romance series is you follow a family or a set of friends who all find love and in each new book is a new couple. Perhaps there is a cameo of the previous couple, but the specialized plot ends with the book and the focus then goes onto a new couple and a new plot. Sometimes the plot has an effect on the others in the series, but it's just not the same.

Which is why when I found Katie MacAlister's Aisling Grey series I was doubly ecstatic. Not only was it the first romance book that I had EVER read that had a dragon as a protagonist AND love interest but it was a series. A actual series that had the same characters, the same romantic couple, and a continuing plot (granted at the moment there are only two books out of the series). The only other ones that had done that was Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series, and they recently moved her books to fiction instead of romance. I also found Mary Janice Davidson's Undead romance series that is about vampires, shoes, and love in all it's complicated glory.

However those three titles (THREE) are the only ones that are romance TRUE series. which is why I latched onto them like a starving leech when I found them.

In the sci-fi/fantasy section I found two new series that interest me. And because I'm a freak like that, I bought the whole series without reading a page becuase a) I know me and b) when I find that I like it, becuase I know I will, I'll go out and buy the rest of the series anyway.

I'm currently almost finished with the first book of Kim Harrison's Hollow series. I love it, and I happily glance at the next two books in the series just waiting for me to finish and pick them up.

Next up is the Vampire Huntress Legends by L.A. Banks. Chances are I'll love that too.

Awesome Pranormal series I highly reccomend:

Anita Blake series by Laurrel K. Hamilton (12 books currently out, unfinished series)
Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris (5 books currently out, unfinished series)
Blood series by Tanya Huff (5 books, finished series)
Undead Series by MaryJanice Davidson (4 books currently out, unfinished series)
The Hollows series by Kim Harrison (3 books currently out, unfinished series)

Yay books!
posted by Icegaze at 9:57 AM

 
Some more Between Light And Darkness ranting...

I just finished the book and I have to say I am satisfied. About as satisfied as I can be considering it's nowhere near the end. Though I'm happy about that. I really want more of the sholans, I honestly do even if that means waiting years and years for it. I want the series to last forever. The quality hasn't gone down the drain after seven and that's GOOD. She can last for another seven, methinks.

The problems that I had with the book in the middle were fixed. There were times when I winced and worried that they weren't going to form an alliance, but in the end it did. I don't like Kusac's emotional dependency on Zayshul. At least he's now able to control the scent-marker without the manipulations of the Cabbarans.

I LOVED the scene where Dhyshac meets his father. I loved the fact that Carrie and her clan contiue to come out of left field and mess up everyone's plans to exclude them. I loved the fact that they go running after Kusac despite his best efforts not to. I love the fact that Kaid loves Kusac. I love the fact that Kezule is so touchy about Zayshul. I don't know if I like that she has no affection for Kezule, but I suppose it's his own fault for not sucessfully cultivating a relationship with her.

Kaid and Carrie coming to HIM is best. I didn't think of that option. It is the middle ground since he's so leery about going home. He's been gone so long and so much has happened that he doesn't know he's exhonorated. He doesn't know he's not going home to a punishment sentence. Having Zayshul and Carrie and Kaid and Kezule in his face at once will make him realize that things aren't what he assumed they were. And Carrie and Kaid need the oportunity to get used to the new Kusac. Becuase that boy has gone through SO much. I'm quite positive it's not going to change Carrie's opinion of him and he'll realize, dude, he's STUCK with her. She'll stay by his side through thick and thin, good luck trying to deter her. Kaid too, but he hasn't been Kusac's support pillar at the same degree and for as long as Carrie has.

I like that Jurrel is with them! Jurrel/Banner reunion! Wheeee!

I want the mystery of Shaidan to be figured out, I want Kusac to know he has another son with Carrie and I want Carrie and Shaidan to have the opportunity to meet and love each other. I see that the bond between mother and cub isn't as strong as the bond between father and cub, but regardless seeing her, being with her, knowing she's like Kusac - a source of unconditional love... that's enough.

Zayshul is a good character. I love her and want to see her happy. She's not happy with Kezule (who COULD be with how backward he is, though he IS trying!) and so having what she does have with Kusac is giving her the much-needed *something* that is lacking in her relationship with Kezule. BUT, I still don't want to see her with Kusac forever and for always. *fttt fttt, hiss hisss*

I was afraid they'd see Kusac at his worst - on the brink of dying from his leg wound. But he's healing now - quickly. By the time the Couana reaches them he'll be still on the road of a full recovery but up, about, not in a drugged stupor and slowly healing. Sure Kaid will hiss and spit when he finds out what Kezule did, but as Kusac did, he'll see the reason behind it and understand it when it is explained to him. They're working towards a similar goal now - see the non-violent throwback bastard tossed off the throne and the rightful Emperor put on it... though hopefully he won't have to marry his own mother for it........

I'm happy with where it's going. For a moment there I was freaking out that I would be on pins and needles until the next book comes out. I'm fine. Just restless becuase I do have to wait anywhere from half a year to two years for Shades of Grey to be published.

I found where she got the idea for the title of the next book. Zayshul thinks to herself that Kezule thinks things are always black and white, not shades of gray. And everything he's going to be involved in is shades of gray. It'll be partly about Kezule AND the Sholans... the whole Alliance and other alien races that want the Valtegans to become the one-casted, non-violent race that some wanted to become and Kezule wants them to be.

*happy sigh*

I still can't pick up a new book for another day or two though. I haven't fully digested it all. Even if I do pick up another cat-alien book (I have five other series now that are cat aliens) I'll need time to mentaly switch gears or I'll read the new book, pouting it's not the Sholans and humans.

Such a good series. Lisanne Norman ROCKS!
posted by Icegaze at 10:32 PM

 
Now I'm reading In Between Darkness and Light and I'm cursing the fact that there's no other book waiting on my shelves. After I'm finished with it I'll have to wait alongside everyone else, chomping at the bit.

I know that this isn't the end. I know it's a part of the story, but I dislike how little Kaid and Carrie play a role in this. I know it's to develop Kusac, who is changing VERY much and needs to, really, but he's moving away from Shola. He's creating a new life for himself among the Primes. Well, among Kezule's Primes. He's creating a new relationship - sure they CALL it lust, but it's so close to a Leska link it's scary. Scary as in I can see them linking and suddenly his Triad's no longer quite as important as before. He'll have a mate, one that matches him in strength, and he'll have a life out in space. There will be no need for him to return to Shola, especially since they all think he's gone rogue.

He's so... fatalistic. World isn't going my way? Destory myself. Don't like the situation? Destroy it (and myself). Pain? Kill me. It's annoying because it means that he's turning away from exactly what he needs. He's on another planet, making a new life for himself so that when he DOES meet up with his Triad and they tell him, HELLO, you STILL have a life with us he'll have to REDO everything all over again and try to find a way to mix the two lives together again. He'll find out that, no, Zayshul is NOT in ANY way Shaidan's mother. He'll find the piece of her in his son's DNA is because of the scent-marker because his other son, his NEWBORN, the one that Carrie birthed so you can't be confused about who his mother is, has the same Prime DNA.

And I totally get that Sholans aren't all that anal about fidelity. I GET that, really. But I don't really think Carrie's going to be jumping for joy to see that Kusac's gotten himself all but linked with Zayshul. Not only is she Kezule's wife, but she and Carrie are a lot a like. As a human she'd feel threatened of being replaced... hell that's Kusac's issue. He felt Kaid had replaced him totally not seeing the HUGE GAPING KUSAC SHAPED HOLE in their traid. He gives himself so little credit.

Shaidan has a life among the Primes. He's got Kezule's daughter that he's very close to, and he's got Zayshul that he sees as a mother-type figure so if he takes Shaidan home with him he's going to be pining for Zayshul and Mayza. Even IF his mother is Carrie, is it really BEST to pull him away from his established routine? He's so old, no matter his mental maturity, is it best? I'd understand if he was younger - so many years ahead of him to develop... but he's already developed. Four more years and he's sexual mature. After that he can pretty much do whatever the hell he wants to...

I'm only halfway through this book and I know right now he's not going home yet. That'll be for another book. He won't find about his son, he's already not thinking of his family - he didn't realize his daughter's birthday had passed until someone else reminded him. He rarely thinks about Kaid or Carrie and if he does it's fleeting. It's like he's cut off a limb and doing his best to forget he had that limb in the first place. It's frustrating.

I like Zayshul. I honestly do. I like Kezule. I like them together - he needs her to be his other half, to change him so he becomes the best he can possibly be, round him out. If she's stuck to Kusac's side like she's been for the majority of this book that's not going to happen. You can only lie for so long. He's going to find out. He's going to be absolutely DEVISTATED when he finds out. It's going to endanger not only their amiable truce, but Kusac. He blames so much on Kusac - he's slowly starting to come around only to have something this large happen behind his back. EVERYONE can see it's a bad idea. EVERYONE knows the shit is going to hit the fan. I'm wincing in anticipation. I just hope it doesn't stunt Kezule's growth into that well rounded Valtegan.

I think that if Carrie were to get to know Zayshul they'd get along smashingly. But circumstances are such that when they meet they'll clash. Zayshul has what Carrie's been mourning for so long people around her can't help but notice. Zayshul doesn't even really WANT it in the first place. She's not fighting it anymore, but they are developing a relationship, something that could easily become permanent. If Kusac were to let their minds touch instead of thrusting her mind aside what would happen? I'm scared.

I understand that this story is so much better for all of this, but I still want my happily ever after. I can stomach all of this angst and drama as long as I know in the end it'll all work out... but at this very moment in time I'm not so sure. That might be Lisanne Norman's intent. And kudos for her becuase she's succeeding.

I want Carrie to know about Shidan. I want Kusac to know about Dhaykin. I want Kusac to look at his own altered DNA and see that he's 'part' Prime too, dammit! Rar!

And I must be the hugest fangirl saying this but MORE Kusac/Kaid, dangit!
posted by Icegaze at 8:53 AM

 
Sholan Alliance Rant
AKA &(#$@ I love these books

I've been a fan of Lisanne Norman's books since... my guess is before 1997 since I had to wait for the fourth book to come out. So that's a long time for me. A LONG time considering I have such a short attention span.

The books are huge, thick monsters of literary bliss for me. I've always had an obsession with cat-people. Cat-aliens are my favorite because furries have always had a feel to them I couldn't totally get into. I grew up with Loony Toons and Sonic the Hedgehog and all things Disney where, instead of making social commentary with humans, they hide it behind animal beings so that there's a degree of detachment and a person is less likely to be horified seeing a cat act out the holocaust with mice (MAUS & MAUS II by Art Spiegelman - awesome books.) But it also allows people relate and connect with animals, seeing them as deserving of life as much as humans.

I've gone on a personal quest to posess all books with cat-aliens in them. So far they've been few and far between, but i've not been an avid collector either. The Sholan Alliance novels are, by far, my favorite not only among cat-alien books, but among ALL books I've ever read.

Norman's ability to juggle a thousand characters and yet introduce more in every single book is something I haven't seen anywhere else. So much is happening all at once I'm rarely bored or want to put the books down once I've picked them up.

Confession time: Even though I've been a fan of the Sholan Alliance since I was sixteen, and I've bought each new book the SECOND I saw that it was out, I quit reading them at book five. I didn't even finish book five. Why? Dude, I was sixteen and the character I liked the most was being tortured and there was angst and it depressed me. I refused to finish it because I knew I had two or three years of waiting for the next book. So when the sixth book came out (I was ninteen) I glanced at the back and deduced that the depression wasn't going to end. I sifted through the book, saw something about Kusac's son, was confused, intruiged, but scared because the last time I checked he only had a daughter with Carrie. I let it sit on the shelf, read somewhere that Kusac slept with a Valtegan and, horrified, waited two years for the NEXT book to come out in the hopes of there being goodness in THERE. FINALLY the seventh book came out and, even though the back didn't seem to be letting up on the darkness, I'd read Harry Potter in the meantime and had discovered that I actually preferred there to be the drama and the angst - it made all the good stuff that much sweeter.

So last year I picked them up again, starting from book one and was determined to read them all. I'd tried this three other times but always got stuck after reading the third book. I read 1-3 and a peice of 4 the summer of 2004. Then life interviened and it took until NOW, the summer of 2005 for me to pick 4 back up. I read 4, 5, and I'm currently on six. And I can't get enough. I only have one more book after this, then a year, maybe two before Shades of Gray (the estimated title) comes out. I've gotten mildly more patient with age (like maybe one or two degrees) but when it comes to this series it's tough to affect casual boredum. Hell, even though I hadn't been actively reading the books I jumped up and down in the middle of the bookstore when Between Darkness and Light came out (#7).

Confession #2: ... I... I like Kezule. I'm positive that's the point, but I mean I really like him. He's like Vejiita all over again. Except he looks like a messed up reptile. His personality drags me in, but the thought of what he looks like makes my brain shy away from picturing him and Zayshul together. She's so much prettier in my mind's eye when her face is blurred over by personal squikyness. They're not the same as the Sholans. I've been teased of loving cats a little TOO much because I love the series. Lucky for me I know the line between reality and fantasy. Plus, DUDE, they're huge, upright, talking 'cats'... kinda hard to mix up with a tiger or lion. Sholan hotness... tiger predatorness. Hrrrrrrmmmm.

All the characters, all of the situations, the plot... everything. It all comes together to be this huge web of stuff that I can just roll around in and think about for hours.

Like Kezule's character arc - the fact that he went from SHOLANS MUST DIE to seeing them as possibly a valid race, to seeing that his own race has become imperfect to... just adapting. At first he seems to be the most uncompromising, single minded ass, then he turns into a rough bad ass with skewed morals, but DUDE there are more than a handful of characters that have LESS morals than him. Sure, he's killed but even the three main characters in the story - the good guys - say that killing is a part of war. He doesn't take peace easily. He's used to the blood and guts and being on your gaurd, trusting no one but the comrades at your back, and sometimes not even then. He's used to attacking everything that's in front of him... but he's not uncompromising. He's not a set-in-stone personality with no room for growth. It's fascinating and wonderful to see him taken down a few pegs. To see him react in situations that put him at a disadvantage. His relationship with Zeyshul is absolutely perfect. She's his match. I cackled with glee when he was getting so frustrated chasing her around and getting nowhere over and over again. It was such a vivid image.

Also, the Triad. Even at the first, when Kaid was introduced as a third, and the Sholans put such an emphasis on not needing 100% fidelity I felt a full triad where all three had seperate relationship with each other that were just as intense and fulfilling as the other would be best. I wanted Kaid and Kusac to become more than just friends, closer than just buddies who watch out for each other and share a love for Carrie. I wanted them to matter to each other just as much as Carrie matters to them. I've always been partial to Kusac and Carrie - you're supposed to be, supposed to be rooting for them even though they go through so much HELL being together. They're supposed to be the IT couple. The introduction of Kaid, at first, felt a little invasive, but I fell in love with him, with his personality, he became another guy who deserved happily ever after as Kusac and he wanted Carrie. Very much. And his fight for it, and his fight against what he assumed was not a TRUE feeling for her, but one inflicted by himself, by his god, it was touching. Kusac was her ideal, her mate, her other half, the guy who made life wonderful and worth it, Kaid her rock, the one man she can depend on 100%, trust implicitly, and know to the tips of her toes to the roots of her hair that she means the universe to him. That he'd do anything for her. He's the common sense, the harsh reality, the course truth that steadies Kusac. I liked their triad. But I was afriad that they'd never become what I've always assumed was the perfect triad. The only way to keep out jealousy and anger is for everyone to matter to each other equally... And I'm starting to see that in Stronghold Rising and it's making me squirm with joy. The introduction of Jerren and Banner brought in the idea of homosexual realtionship amongst Sholans being as relaxed and accepted as non-strict monogamous relationships amongst straight Sholans. Sexuality is not rigid, it's not set in stone. They just... are. Bisexuality is more embraced than the black and white vision of STRAIGHT or GAY. And that, I personally believe, is the RIGHT kind of mindset.

I still want a happily ever after in the end. I want them all to have exactly what they want, overcome the obstacles and breathe easy in peace, raising their large brood and enjoying the emergence of a new race that is the best of both races. I want Kezule and Zayshul to start their own empire away from the twisted machinations of modern Valtegans and Primes, I want the Prince (forgot his name at the moment) to become the king of the faction of what is left of the Valtegans that aren't blood thirsty killing machines that want nothing but to conquer and kill all 'inferior' beings. Possibly be the King of what Kezule is creating. Kezule's not a figurehead. He's the grunt. A very smart grunt, but he's too Get-Your-Fingers-Dirty to rule on high. The Prince is perfect for that. AND he's got no xenophobia or ideas of him being superior to all other lifeforms. He's like a sponge and it's good to see him soak up everything around him. He'll make an AWESOME king as he ages. With Kezule to guide him. I want to figure out for SURE if Kaid's daughter is the ancestor of Noni, making Kaid her great-great-great-etc. grandfather instead of just blood even if being blood is enough for them. I'm sure the more I read the more I'll want, but for now that's about it.

I'm not done with the sixth book so this isn't exactly a review of the book, but of the whole series.

I highly recommend it to ANYONE. A very good, engrosing read.
posted by Icegaze at 5:10 AM