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A review by ntembeast
Morrigan's Cross by Nora Roberts
2.0
This book is filled with half-and-half emotions for me.
The Writing
The writing is smooth and easy. You don't have anything to really hinge on, and nothing to catch you up. But at the same time, the author has a bad habit of giving away how much she bullshits the storyline and details of interest. Her knowledge about medieval anything is more than flawed. It's blunt and clumsy--making the first couple of chapters in the book a sore trial as you bumble through since she does such a poor job of it. Things smooth out later, once she gets into the current century. Clearly she's a lot more comfortable writing present day than anything else. I'd say she should stick to it if she knows what's best for her.
The only downfall to the smoother writing once we get into present-day concerns is that we realize how brainless the reading itself is. Half the time you're reading nothing that really leads to anything. "Oh I'll throw in some training here for two pages. The other fifty can be of them oogling each other. Perfect!"
Moving on. Her grammar and vocabulary are fine. Each hit snags sometimes. And it's fine. I can deal with that. What bugs me is that I'm basically reading about nothing. Who cares about the fact that this "sorcerer" and "witch" with their mumbled mumbo-jumbo incantations are madly in love after, what, two days, and get married three weeks later. Begging their host, "Can we live in your house?" "Do you think it's bad that I want a wedding dress when we're supposed to be fighting a war?" "Man we don't have a lot of time to prepare for this epic battle, huh? Just a couple of months left, huh? Running out of time aren't we? But let's go complain and whine and wheedle and have sex all the time, and does this dress make me look fat?"
Heeehhhhhhhh. *Aggravated sigh* MOVING ON.
Plot
Just an excuse to make people hook up.
Characters
All decent if they're not paired up. With the exception of Cian and King. Oh but that doesn't last. Of course. Though the evil vampire queen can have her yuri. But nooo. No yaoi. None. (If you don't know what the terms mean, don't google them. Caution's advised. NSFW~)
Pretty much the only enjoyable characters are, of course, the side characters. The two main characters are just self-absorbed pricks that have redeeming qualities that are constantly thrown into the shadows by their whorish natures. And yes, that applies to BOTH the man AND the woman. Hoyt, Glenna--I'm looking at you two.
Everyone else is awesome because they're not stupid, pretty much. Aka, they don't think solely of themselves. Roberts has the most annoying tendency of "forgiving" her two main characters whenever they've done something blatantly stupid by making a big deal out of it, and then pretending like everyone got over it, or like they regret it. Psh. Yeah. Tell that to me when you two are off having sex while your host is drinking himself into a miserable stupor because the dumbass bitch decided to open the door, get herself almost killed, and instead got someone else killed cause he had to SAVE her dumb feminist ass! Idiot saying she didn't need anyone there with her when she answered the door--IN A SECLUDED AREA, NOT VISIBLE FROM THE ROAD, IN THE PITCH BLACK NIGHTTIME WHERE THERE ARE NO STREETLIGHTS, WHEN YOU KNOW YOU'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A WARZONE, tell me, DO YOU ANSWER THE DOOR WHEN SOMEONE KNOCKS WITHOUT HAVING BACK-UP?!
-______- UUUUUHHHHGGGGGGHHH.
Main characters get a 1 out of 5,000 rating.
Side characters get a 3 out of 10. Not convinced they're epic because I distrust the inclinations the author has put into each one of them.
In the end... this wasn't terrible and it wasn't long. But it was not pleasant to read bullshit so much it was being shoved up my nose, down my throat, and what have you. I was going to give it a three star rating, but know what? This level of shallow-minded stupidity can't be made up for by just a few good side characters. Especially when they're degraded and ignored throughout the majority of things.
You wanna read this? Ugh. Fine. You might like it. But know this: you like the main characters and my stock in you as a level-headed, clear-minded person drops into wrinkle-nosed disgust. Take it out of the library. Do not buy this immediately. Trust me, it isn't worth your money.
The Writing
The writing is smooth and easy. You don't have anything to really hinge on, and nothing to catch you up. But at the same time, the author has a bad habit of giving away how much she bullshits the storyline and details of interest. Her knowledge about medieval anything is more than flawed. It's blunt and clumsy--making the first couple of chapters in the book a sore trial as you bumble through since she does such a poor job of it. Things smooth out later, once she gets into the current century. Clearly she's a lot more comfortable writing present day than anything else. I'd say she should stick to it if she knows what's best for her.
The only downfall to the smoother writing once we get into present-day concerns is that we realize how brainless the reading itself is. Half the time you're reading nothing that really leads to anything. "Oh I'll throw in some training here for two pages. The other fifty can be of them oogling each other. Perfect!"
Moving on. Her grammar and vocabulary are fine. Each hit snags sometimes. And it's fine. I can deal with that. What bugs me is that I'm basically reading about nothing. Who cares about the fact that this "sorcerer" and "witch" with their mumbled mumbo-jumbo incantations are madly in love after, what, two days, and get married three weeks later. Begging their host, "Can we live in your house?" "Do you think it's bad that I want a wedding dress when we're supposed to be fighting a war?" "Man we don't have a lot of time to prepare for this epic battle, huh? Just a couple of months left, huh? Running out of time aren't we? But let's go complain and whine and wheedle and have sex all the time, and does this dress make me look fat?"
Heeehhhhhhhh. *Aggravated sigh* MOVING ON.
Plot
Just an excuse to make people hook up.
Characters
All decent if they're not paired up. With the exception of Cian and King. Oh but that doesn't last. Of course. Though the evil vampire queen can have her yuri. But nooo. No yaoi. None. (If you don't know what the terms mean, don't google them. Caution's advised. NSFW~)
Pretty much the only enjoyable characters are, of course, the side characters. The two main characters are just self-absorbed pricks that have redeeming qualities that are constantly thrown into the shadows by their whorish natures. And yes, that applies to BOTH the man AND the woman. Hoyt, Glenna--I'm looking at you two.
Everyone else is awesome because they're not stupid, pretty much. Aka, they don't think solely of themselves. Roberts has the most annoying tendency of "forgiving" her two main characters whenever they've done something blatantly stupid by making a big deal out of it, and then pretending like everyone got over it, or like they regret it. Psh. Yeah. Tell that to me when you two are off having sex while your host is drinking himself into a miserable stupor because the dumbass bitch decided to open the door, get herself almost killed, and instead got someone else killed cause he had to SAVE her dumb feminist ass! Idiot saying she didn't need anyone there with her when she answered the door--IN A SECLUDED AREA, NOT VISIBLE FROM THE ROAD, IN THE PITCH BLACK NIGHTTIME WHERE THERE ARE NO STREETLIGHTS, WHEN YOU KNOW YOU'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A WARZONE, tell me, DO YOU ANSWER THE DOOR WHEN SOMEONE KNOCKS WITHOUT HAVING BACK-UP?!
-______- UUUUUHHHHGGGGGGHHH.
Main characters get a 1 out of 5,000 rating.
Side characters get a 3 out of 10. Not convinced they're epic because I distrust the inclinations the author has put into each one of them.
In the end... this wasn't terrible and it wasn't long. But it was not pleasant to read bullshit so much it was being shoved up my nose, down my throat, and what have you. I was going to give it a three star rating, but know what? This level of shallow-minded stupidity can't be made up for by just a few good side characters. Especially when they're degraded and ignored throughout the majority of things.
You wanna read this? Ugh. Fine. You might like it. But know this: you like the main characters and my stock in you as a level-headed, clear-minded person drops into wrinkle-nosed disgust. Take it out of the library. Do not buy this immediately. Trust me, it isn't worth your money.