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4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
medium-paced
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.5~3.75 stars rounded up. Really enjoyed Bastien and Melanie's story.
Loved it, great story kepte drawn in from the beginning
TL;DR: I found myself wanting Richart's story the whole book instead of Bastian's, which should tell you something about why it got 3 stars instead of higher despite being overall a decent addition to the universe.
Original Review:
Full disclosure, I'm only 50% done listening to the audiobook right now, but I just don't care for Bastian or Melanie. I'm going to push through to get the info I need related to the overall plot, but I don't find their romance very touching or compelling, mostly because I don't feel Bastian is sufficiently remorseful for his idiocy for 200 YEARS.
If you normally like the morally gray grumpy man who is only nice to her and the sunshine who can see his heart of gold, then you might like this romance. That said, I do normally love those stories, but this one just didn't do it for me. I'm trying to figure out why I am feeling repulsion rather than compassion for Bastian as I normally would, and I think it's because he (at least by 50% of the story) doesn't ever seem to feel bad for anything. He feels unjustly persecuted and constantly thinks this, but from everything I've read, he's not being UNJUSTLY judged. He's just being regular judged based on his previous as well as present actions. I mean, you go on a rampage and hurt dozens of guards who don't heal within 5 minutes of being hurt, and you're surprised they all hate you with a passion?
I think the fact that Ami and Melanie both repeatedly think and act like people just "aren't giving him a chance" when Bastian himself lashes out and acts like an AH, thereby preventing them from "seeing past his hard exterior", really annoys me. I want them to at least acknowledge that the people who don't like him have good reasons. He murdered their friend, hurt their other friends, got the whole vampires hunting in packs/creating armies thing going, got medical research into killing them off the ground, and is a complete a$$h*le to them on purpose (and usually preemptively) every single time he hangs out with them. If Ami and Melanie would at least acknowledge that people aren't being "unfair" but rather very rationally distrustful of him, maybe I'd feel differently?
I don't know. I just know that although the overall story is fine, I do not enjoy reading this book but will finish for the importance/info related to the series.
UPDATE to Review:
Now that I've finished it, I can say that my feelings didn't really change. I do feel like I figured out what was annoying me most. I feel like the book was repeatedly telling me that the things other people were thinking or how they were reacting to Bastian were wrong, except that they seemed incredibly reasonable and rational and like things I would do or at least understand given the circumstances. It proved to be incredibly annoying to just be told not to think something, instead of being led to a new way of thinking. As such, Bastian and Melanie will be at the bottom of my couples list until further notice. Give me more Richart instead please!
Original Review:
Full disclosure, I'm only 50% done listening to the audiobook right now, but I just don't care for Bastian or Melanie. I'm going to push through to get the info I need related to the overall plot, but I don't find their romance very touching or compelling, mostly because I don't feel Bastian is sufficiently remorseful for his idiocy for 200 YEARS.
If you normally like the morally gray grumpy man who is only nice to her and the sunshine who can see his heart of gold, then you might like this romance. That said, I do normally love those stories, but this one just didn't do it for me. I'm trying to figure out why I am feeling repulsion rather than compassion for Bastian as I normally would, and I think it's because he (at least by 50% of the story) doesn't ever seem to feel bad for anything. He feels unjustly persecuted and constantly thinks this, but from everything I've read, he's not being UNJUSTLY judged. He's just being regular judged based on his previous as well as present actions. I mean, you go on a rampage and hurt dozens of guards who don't heal within 5 minutes of being hurt, and you're surprised they all hate you with a passion?
I think the fact that Ami and Melanie both repeatedly think and act like people just "aren't giving him a chance" when Bastian himself lashes out and acts like an AH, thereby preventing them from "seeing past his hard exterior", really annoys me. I want them to at least acknowledge that the people who don't like him have good reasons. He murdered their friend, hurt their other friends, got the whole vampires hunting in packs/creating armies thing going, got medical research into killing them off the ground, and is a complete a$$h*le to them on purpose (and usually preemptively) every single time he hangs out with them. If Ami and Melanie would at least acknowledge that people aren't being "unfair" but rather very rationally distrustful of him, maybe I'd feel differently?
I don't know. I just know that although the overall story is fine, I do not enjoy reading this book but will finish for the importance/info related to the series.
UPDATE to Review:
Now that I've finished it, I can say that my feelings didn't really change. I do feel like I figured out what was annoying me most. I feel like the book was repeatedly telling me that the things other people were thinking or how they were reacting to Bastian were wrong, except that they seemed incredibly reasonable and rational and like things I would do or at least understand given the circumstances. It proved to be incredibly annoying to just be told not to think something, instead of being led to a new way of thinking. As such, Bastian and Melanie will be at the bottom of my couples list until further notice. Give me more Richart instead please!
Phantom Shadows is Dianne Duvall’s third book in her Immortal Guardian series and those that enjoyed the last two books are sure to feel the same about this one. I had the privilege of going into this one blind. I owned the first two books but because of time restraints I chose to read this one first and see if I could understand it as a stand alone book…which happily I did. Of course knowing the back ground information is always a good idea and I really try not to read out of order but I found I understood this one quite nicely. Maybe because of that I liked Bastian’s character much more because I didn’t get to see him as the mean guy in the previous books. By this point in the continuing story he’s been integrated into the inner fold of characters though many are not happy about that. They are leery of his motives and had he not had the backing of their leader, he may not have had such a passable road to where this book opens.
While I did find this to be a lot like several other series I have been reading, I thought it was still well done. Though it may have a hard time standing on it’s own in such a saturated genre, if you like JR Ward or Gena Showalter you’re sure to enjoy these as well. Duvall writes engaging characters that kept me both amused and interested in their various plights. I found that reading about the secondary characters made me want to go back and read how they got here and why they behaved as they did. I wanted to know more about them. The dynamics of this team and the drastic differences between all the characters really made the book stand out to me. This particular group of characters from human to vampire to alien was what set this apart in my mind from the other like books I had read.
Bastion was an interesting character because no one really knew who he was, except for Melanie who saw parts of him everyone else ignored. She immediately believed in him and that bolstered him to become the true fighter he was meant to be and take his place among the guardians. Melanie herself, though not immortal had the tenacity of a pitbull and a backbone of steel. She never backed down and, as a human, was incredibly brave. Her scientific smarts and Bastians abilities together made them a tough team to take on.
I enjoyed this one immensely and I recommend you give this series a try! Duvall has proven herself worthy to me and I will continue to read this series.
I give Phantom Shadows by Dianne Duvall 3.75 stars!
While I did find this to be a lot like several other series I have been reading, I thought it was still well done. Though it may have a hard time standing on it’s own in such a saturated genre, if you like JR Ward or Gena Showalter you’re sure to enjoy these as well. Duvall writes engaging characters that kept me both amused and interested in their various plights. I found that reading about the secondary characters made me want to go back and read how they got here and why they behaved as they did. I wanted to know more about them. The dynamics of this team and the drastic differences between all the characters really made the book stand out to me. This particular group of characters from human to vampire to alien was what set this apart in my mind from the other like books I had read.
Bastion was an interesting character because no one really knew who he was, except for Melanie who saw parts of him everyone else ignored. She immediately believed in him and that bolstered him to become the true fighter he was meant to be and take his place among the guardians. Melanie herself, though not immortal had the tenacity of a pitbull and a backbone of steel. She never backed down and, as a human, was incredibly brave. Her scientific smarts and Bastians abilities together made them a tough team to take on.
I enjoyed this one immensely and I recommend you give this series a try! Duvall has proven herself worthy to me and I will continue to read this series.
I give Phantom Shadows by Dianne Duvall 3.75 stars!
Not my favorite of the series (Roland's still my Immortal Guardian book boyfriend), but still a very entertaining read. Bastien's an interesting character and Dianne Duvall definitely knows how to hook a reader into the next book.
So... when is Etienne's story coming out? Soon, I hope!
So... when is Etienne's story coming out? Soon, I hope!