I just finished reading Kiss of Darkness by Heather Graham. I cannot believe this book has an average of 4.5 stars at Amazon, because as far as I'm concerned, it's a 2 star book at most. This book, in my mind, is what happens when the paranormal/suspense genre and the romance genre get strangled together in the hands of a writer who might otherwise have been competent if she hadn't been trying to handle two genres at once and performing inadequately at both. I'll admit that this is the first book by Graham that I've read. I expect it will also be the last. That said, there is no indication that this is part of a series of any sort, or that any of these characters have appeared elsewhere. If that is the case --and I certainly didn't care enough about the book afterward to find out-- then maybe some of my criticisms are less valid. But still, if that is the case, it should have been made more obvious on the cover of the book itself, lest some other poor reader like myself waste two evenings' reading time. Basically this is the story of a modern-day psychologist Jessica, who travels to Romania for a conference. While in Romania, she crosses paths with 3 college students, one of whom is left in a coma after an alleged vampire attack. When these characters return to New Orleans, it seems they have also been joined by a professor by the name of Bryan, who is clearly going to be Jessica's love interest.With the exception of the heavy handed prologue --a battle set in medieval times-- there is no real foreshadowing of what's going to happen, except that our characters sense the presence of an evil red darkness. And as my husband joked, "Heck, I feel that every time I walk near our HR department."So then when the student who was in a coma dies and becomes a vampire, and Jessica reveals she is actually a centuries old good vampire as well as the illegitmate daughter of the medieval king (and by the way she can both dematerialize AND walk in sunlight, neat trick that), and Bryan reveals he is actually a centuries old warrior bent on the destruction of all vampires because the big bad killed his one true love (the illegitmate daughter of the medieval king naturally), and all of Jessica's friends know what's going on and never blink an eye (because one of them used to be a vampire but isn't any longer so they're up to speed on on this stuff), and naturally Bryan and Jessica have been doing the nasty and now they no longer trust each other and OMG what will happen to their love, and how will they defeat the big bad, and did I mention the author throws in a werewolf at the last minute??!!The second half of the book might have been better if the first half had, oh, I don't know, maybe actually led up to the second half instead of just having everything revealed in a very anti-climactic fashion in one fell swoop. And if the big bad, known by the ominous title of "The Master," is really so powerful and nearly indestructible, how is it that ultimately the final battle is also so relatively easy and anti-climactic?Having spoken about the paranormal suspense aspects of the story, I suppose I should mention the romance aspects. ::thinks:: Do I have to? I wouldn't say the sex scenes were both uninspired and uninspiring, but I barely drug myself through the first round of kissing and skipped anything involving "romance" from that point forward. And as bad as the sex scenes have become in the Anita Blake series, I've never had to completely skip one before, so that should tell you something right there. So save yourself some time, and skip this one.(crossposted to super_books)
Post je objavljen 31.07.2009. u 01:38 sati.