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A review by annarien
Crescendo by Rachel Haimowitz
4.0
I could give this the full five stars or I could dock another star upon second read because I was absolutely maddened by the whole 'tis, 'twas, 'twould be business. I mean... no other authorial quirk ever annoyed me this much and I have no idea how this got past editing. I'm re-reading this two-volumes story for Christmas and whenever the stupid abreviatons pop up, in my head it goes like:
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
Every. Cracking. Time.
This seriously screwed up the books for me and next time I read them, I'm gonna convert the ebooks into something editable and replace every freaking 'twas, 'tis, 'twould be with something less aggravating.
My mind is still a bit boggled because this story has managed an unprecedented thing for me... it has beautiful, immortal Elves and I didn't immediately fall head over heels with the Elven protagonist. Not immediately and not after and I probably never will choose the Elf over the mortal in these books which leaves me shook because what?? But, for all his qualities and his indomitable spirit and his deadpan, dark humor... Ayden still reads to me like an 18 years old rather than an 800 years old captain in his people's forces. And all the torture!porn his teenage temper heaps upon him becomes repetitive and revolting after a while.
BUT. Freyrik. The reason why these books are in my Hall of Eternal Reread... The man is perfection. Even when he's flailing around like a headless chicken, fraught with indecision or guilt or whatever... he's perfect. I defy anyone who reads these books to not fall flat on their faces in love with this man. I'm as smitten with Freyrik as he is with his Elf.
The story does suffer from plotholes and clichees, but still manages some twists and turns that are surprising. The worldbuilding is decent and I could certainly spend more time or another story in the Elf-lands. I love the fact that there is never any actual bad guy and even when they fight, it's against something nebulous and undefined and only revealed at the last moment. I also love the casual way Rik has a million kids by various women and that's fine, it doesn't seem to bother his Elf lover none. But what I love best is the interactions between these two... from the first desperate attempts to thaw the prickly Elf to where they end up. The snark is delightful, the sex is delicious and the love is always present but never sappy.
'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
Every. Cracking. Time.
This seriously screwed up the books for me and next time I read them, I'm gonna convert the ebooks into something editable and replace every freaking 'twas, 'tis, 'twould be with something less aggravating.
My mind is still a bit boggled because this story has managed an unprecedented thing for me... it has beautiful, immortal Elves and I didn't immediately fall head over heels with the Elven protagonist. Not immediately and not after and I probably never will choose the Elf over the mortal in these books which leaves me shook because what?? But, for all his qualities and his indomitable spirit and his deadpan, dark humor... Ayden still reads to me like an 18 years old rather than an 800 years old captain in his people's forces. And all the torture!porn his teenage temper heaps upon him becomes repetitive and revolting after a while.
BUT. Freyrik. The reason why these books are in my Hall of Eternal Reread... The man is perfection. Even when he's flailing around like a headless chicken, fraught with indecision or guilt or whatever... he's perfect. I defy anyone who reads these books to not fall flat on their faces in love with this man. I'm as smitten with Freyrik as he is with his Elf.
The story does suffer from plotholes and clichees, but still manages some twists and turns that are surprising. The worldbuilding is decent and I could certainly spend more time or another story in the Elf-lands. I love the fact that there is never any actual bad guy and even when they fight, it's against something nebulous and undefined and only revealed at the last moment. I also love the casual way Rik has a million kids by various women and that's fine, it doesn't seem to bother his Elf lover none. But what I love best is the interactions between these two... from the first desperate attempts to thaw the prickly Elf to where they end up. The snark is delightful, the sex is delicious and the love is always present but never sappy.