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A review by glynn_nr
Phantom Shadows by Dianne Duvall
3.0
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!