Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.66 AVERAGE
3.66 AVERAGE
Fun, though the world-building is a little fuzzy. I'll read the second part!
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
2.5 ⭐️
Trigger warnings: mentions of abuse/rape, mentions of child abuse, misogyny/sexism, xenophobia, gore
I have many thoughts about this book, few of them are good.
Let me start by saying I usually love Anne Bishop's books and I'm able to overlook the strict gender binary and straightness to which she binds her characters because they are delightful.
But this? This is a pale copy of her Black Jewels series, down to the sorry excuse for main characters and world cut into pieces.
Sebastian is nothing but a sorry-ass Daemon 2.0, without any of the appeal of the original. Where Daemon can be downright vicious, Sebastian isn't even able to be mean. Where Daemon is sensual in his every move, Sebastian is bland as white bread. The guy is supposed to be an incubus, for goodness sake! Same myth family as vampires! He's supposed to have some kind of sex appeal, but even very badly written romance novel heroes would be more appealing than him.
Lynnea isn't much better. She's supposed to be in her early twenties, I guess, but she act like she's twelve. She has absolutely none of the darker aspects Jaenelle had, because she has zero power except (and this is where this book veered into painfully cliché) love. Yup, that's her only power.
Most of the story is supposed to center on her and Sebastian getting together, with a background of evil lurking. Well, they meet within the first hundred or so pages, immediately fall in love and have no drama at all apart from Sebastian battling his sex drive because she literally acts like a goddamn child!!! Which brings me to my next point...
Lynnea is depicted as a literal child for most of the book. She's not the cute kind of innocent, she's just completely dumb and knows nothing about anything. And I get it, she's been abused (like every damn character in Bishop's books, but at least the others had something going for them). It wouldn't be an issue if the book didn't center on her having sex with Sebastian! But it does, and they do.
And another issue, this one on the opposite side of the spectrum, is that we get 260 pages of build-up of how great Sebastian is in bed, how his very being is all about sex. 260 pages of innuendos and bad sexual jokes. And all that for... absolutely nothing because the first time Sebastian and Lynnea have sex, the author doesn't dwell on it. Now, I can accept that in her other books (granted, I was PISSED when I learned Daemon and Jaenelle's first time was a fade-to-black), but this book's entire premice is that Sebastian is a sexual being!!! If Anne Bishop can't write a sex scene, why did she even wrote this book?
I'm going to change subjects before I go on a thousand words rant about that particular aspect of the book. I also despised the fact that Sebastian constantly compared Lynnea to animals instead of calling her by her freaking name. Dehumanizing your girlfriend? Not sexy unless you sat down and discussed it with her before and she specifically said she likes it and you agreed on certain words to use and established clear rules of when to use or not use them. Fetish is only sexy when it's consensual. Sebastian referring to Lynnea as a rabbit all the time is NOT sexy.
I could have gotten behind the story, had it not been for all of that. Because the background was interesting. The Eater of the World (even if it's a freaking spider... why can't fantasy authors use unicorns as villains?) was a great concept and I enjoyed the idea of Light vs Dark. But frankly, the end result was too bland and did not leave me with any desire to return to the series.
I'll stick with Daemon and Jaenelle and Lucivar and Surreal and Saetan. At least those characters have depth. As do Simon and Meg and the gang from The Others. If you have to read Bishop's books, read those series instead. If you don't like them, at least it won't be because of bad world-building or bland characters.
Trigger warnings: mentions of abuse/rape, mentions of child abuse, misogyny/sexism, xenophobia, gore
I have many thoughts about this book, few of them are good.
Let me start by saying I usually love Anne Bishop's books and I'm able to overlook the strict gender binary and straightness to which she binds her characters because they are delightful.
But this? This is a pale copy of her Black Jewels series, down to the sorry excuse for main characters and world cut into pieces.
Sebastian is nothing but a sorry-ass Daemon 2.0, without any of the appeal of the original. Where Daemon can be downright vicious, Sebastian isn't even able to be mean. Where Daemon is sensual in his every move, Sebastian is bland as white bread. The guy is supposed to be an incubus, for goodness sake! Same myth family as vampires! He's supposed to have some kind of sex appeal, but even very badly written romance novel heroes would be more appealing than him.
Lynnea isn't much better. She's supposed to be in her early twenties, I guess, but she act like she's twelve. She has absolutely none of the darker aspects Jaenelle had, because she has zero power except (and this is where this book veered into painfully cliché) love. Yup, that's her only power.
Most of the story is supposed to center on her and Sebastian getting together, with a background of evil lurking. Well, they meet within the first hundred or so pages, immediately fall in love and have no drama at all apart from Sebastian battling his sex drive because she literally acts like a goddamn child!!! Which brings me to my next point...
Lynnea is depicted as a literal child for most of the book. She's not the cute kind of innocent, she's just completely dumb and knows nothing about anything. And I get it, she's been abused (like every damn character in Bishop's books, but at least the others had something going for them). It wouldn't be an issue if the book didn't center on her having sex with Sebastian! But it does, and they do.
And another issue, this one on the opposite side of the spectrum, is that we get 260 pages of build-up of how great Sebastian is in bed, how his very being is all about sex. 260 pages of innuendos and bad sexual jokes. And all that for... absolutely nothing because the first time Sebastian and Lynnea have sex, the author doesn't dwell on it. Now, I can accept that in her other books (granted, I was PISSED when I learned Daemon and Jaenelle's first time was a fade-to-black), but this book's entire premice is that Sebastian is a sexual being!!! If Anne Bishop can't write a sex scene, why did she even wrote this book?
I'm going to change subjects before I go on a thousand words rant about that particular aspect of the book. I also despised the fact that Sebastian constantly compared Lynnea to animals instead of calling her by her freaking name. Dehumanizing your girlfriend? Not sexy unless you sat down and discussed it with her before and she specifically said she likes it and you agreed on certain words to use and established clear rules of when to use or not use them. Fetish is only sexy when it's consensual. Sebastian referring to Lynnea as a rabbit all the time is NOT sexy.
I could have gotten behind the story, had it not been for all of that. Because the background was interesting. The Eater of the World (even if it's a freaking spider... why can't fantasy authors use unicorns as villains?) was a great concept and I enjoyed the idea of Light vs Dark. But frankly, the end result was too bland and did not leave me with any desire to return to the series.
I'll stick with Daemon and Jaenelle and Lucivar and Surreal and Saetan. At least those characters have depth. As do Simon and Meg and the gang from The Others. If you have to read Bishop's books, read those series instead. If you don't like them, at least it won't be because of bad world-building or bland characters.
The Black Jewels series and The Other series are definitely my favorite books by Anne Bishop but I think this series is a solid read. I find the characters to be the strongest part of the books. The story itself has define highs and lows but it is worth a read.
I can't give over three stars b/c too much of this book annoyed me. I really loved the ending, the last several chapters were the strongest part of the book for me. Reading it was odd because half the time I was reading a very interesting story with cool world building, and the other half I was reading an annoying romance novel with a girl who verged on simple. And it takes a lot for a romance novel to annoy me -- usually. I much preferred Belladonna to Lynnea, and look forward to reading her book. I might have liked this book more if I hadn't read the Black Jewels series first, which put my expectations for Bishop's books really really high.
A wonderful book about how the earth and life manifests what we hold in our souls. Found some wonderful quotes from this book.
This was really terrible. Anne Bishop is known for writing id-fulfillment in fantasy novels, complete with as many abused Mary Sues as possible. I expected lots of fluffy titilation with very little substance (no real plot or cohesive world building, I mean), but I was annoyed at how boring and dull the would-be-titilation was. Sebastion is an incubus living in a world created specifically to cater to "dark desires", and yet all he does is have bland sex with women. No kinks, no gender-play, certainly nothing homoerotic (dammit)--the most depraved thing he does is eat cheesy bread shaped like sexual organs. The Den of Iniquity is supposedly terribly shameless and lascivious, yet all that apparently happens there is lame het sex. A single murder sends all the residents into a tizzy. And no one worries about money! Everything is provided by Gloriana Belladonna, a beautiful, abused-as-a-child enchantress. (Note: In Anne Bishop stories, *everyone* is abused as a child.) There's no tension or grit to this book. Even the big terrible monster is A)not scary in the least and B)clearly going to lose, undoubtedly due to some deus ex machina. Ugh.
I admit that Anne Bishop's fans have been spoiled by her previously wonderful novels, so that may color anticipations.
While Sebastian is a decent book, it does not measure up to the prior works of Anne Bishop. After reading this book, I didn't feel connected to any of the characters; they seem somewhat pale and 2 dimensional. Perhaps if less of the book was from Sebastian's perspective, I would have enjoyed it more. The story of the school and the gardens was well thought out and I hope we learn more about the art of the landscapers and bridge builders in the next book.
The overall story idea was a wonderful foundational construct and it carries the story through some surprising revelations. I'll still buy the 2nd book with anticipation, but the character elements that I previously enjoyed were not so evident in this book.
While Sebastian is a decent book, it does not measure up to the prior works of Anne Bishop. After reading this book, I didn't feel connected to any of the characters; they seem somewhat pale and 2 dimensional. Perhaps if less of the book was from Sebastian's perspective, I would have enjoyed it more. The story of the school and the gardens was well thought out and I hope we learn more about the art of the landscapers and bridge builders in the next book.
The overall story idea was a wonderful foundational construct and it carries the story through some surprising revelations. I'll still buy the 2nd book with anticipation, but the character elements that I previously enjoyed were not so evident in this book.