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A review by shannonleighd
Mona Lisa Darkening by Sunny
2.0
It's weird, I liked this one better than the last but I still can't rate it higher than a 2. The beginning was interesting but the end was incredibly disappointing and lame.
Mona Lisa and her group are basking on the night of the Vernal Equinox and a dark light flashes across the moon. Mona Lisa disappears and reawakens in NetherHell; a separate realm worse than normal Hell. Once in NetherHell, Mona Lisa is taken to a gargoyle warlord who becomes incredibly interested in her because he wants to have a baby with her ... oh no ... not that again ...
The last book dealt with the whole baby thing and it's popped up here again. I don't know if Sunny wants to ride Laurell K. Hamilton's coattails as much as possible or if she's just baby-crazy. It's gotten to the point that I'm wondering why Sunny hasn't been brought up on plagiarism charges yet.
#####SPOILERS FOR ANITA BLAKE AND MERRY GENTRY SERIES!!!#####
Let me compare this series to LKH's Merry Gentry and Anita Blake series to give you an idea of how similar they are:
- Female protagonist (Mona Lisa) has low self-esteem, can't understand why the men that love her think she's beautiful (same as both Merry & Anita) - this is a BIG one that drives me NUTS, why does every female have to have such a poor self-image?
- Mona Lisa is the first half-human queen and so she has special powers no one has ever had before (same as Merry)
- Mona Lisa has two fantastic lovers that look very different physically (Doyle/Frost and Jean-Claude/Richard - original pair at least)
- One of Mona Lisa's lovers was changed and taken from her (like Frost was)
- Mona Lisa also has a demon lover that her other lovers don't approve of (like Merry's Sholto)
- Mona Lisa is a Damanoen or demon living (like Anita is a "living" vampire)
- Mona Lisa's eyes change color when she's in a demon awakening state (like Anita)
- Mona Lisa gains a lust for blood from her demon lover (like Merry & Anita)
- The Monere call down the moon's light and bask in it until their skin lights up and also their skin lights up when they have sex (Merry's skin glows during sex too)
- Mona Lisa killed a rival queen and gained her powers but a part of the other queen still lives inside Mona Lisa and occasionally comes out in dreams (identical to Raina in Anita)
- The Monere gain power and gifts through sex (Anita & Merry both have magical vaginas as well) - new_user, you can add this to your "special" shelf!
#####END SPOILERS#####
So, why bother reading this if I'm also reading LKH's series? Well, for starters, the writing is better. Not much better but at least Sunny's books aren't repetitive messes like LKH's have become. Although the constant shifting of perspective was a poor choice. I can see where she was going with it but at times I found the words she chose didn't always agree with the subject. Like this:
"Halcyon materialized in the business district of New Orleans. It was quiet here, just past the midnight hour, the stroke of time that split night from day."
It was quiet here? Shouldn't that be there since it's told in third person? Does that only sound weird to me? There's other examples throughout the book but I'm too lazy to find them. I just remember that at times Mona Lisa's perspective was told in first person and then in third person and it just didn't flow right.
Now, there were some positive aspects to the story. I liked the gargoyles in this book. I think she should explore NetherHell some more and include the gargoyles in future stories because they were the most interesting part of the whole thing. I know some people have said that this book didn't feel like it belonged in the series, but I'm kind of glad that she took it where she did. I actually hated the last book and also Dante's entry into the series.
Now, the part after NetherHell is where I had my issue. It seemed like the last half of the book was lazily slapped on as an afterthought. Mona Lisa's trip to get her hair done and new clothes picked out took up waaaaay too much space. And the stereotypical gay hair and fashion stylists were borderline offensive. It felt like just a reason to get her and Dontaine together and I was bored to tears. And the "sexy" parts with him were not sexy at all. They felt forced. I actually thought the part with the gargoyle (hey, don't judge me!) was hotter and he didn't even touch her NetherRegions.
I don't know if I'm going to keep up with this series. This was actually a second chance I was giving Sunny for a challenge this month. Do I give her a third now? I doubt it.
Mona Lisa and her group are basking on the night of the Vernal Equinox and a dark light flashes across the moon. Mona Lisa disappears and reawakens in NetherHell; a separate realm worse than normal Hell. Once in NetherHell, Mona Lisa is taken to a gargoyle warlord who becomes incredibly interested in her because he wants to have a baby with her ... oh no ... not that again ...
The last book dealt with the whole baby thing and it's popped up here again. I don't know if Sunny wants to ride Laurell K. Hamilton's coattails as much as possible or if she's just baby-crazy. It's gotten to the point that I'm wondering why Sunny hasn't been brought up on plagiarism charges yet.
#####SPOILERS FOR ANITA BLAKE AND MERRY GENTRY SERIES!!!#####
Let me compare this series to LKH's Merry Gentry and Anita Blake series to give you an idea of how similar they are:
- Female protagonist (Mona Lisa) has low self-esteem, can't understand why the men that love her think she's beautiful (same as both Merry & Anita) - this is a BIG one that drives me NUTS, why does every female have to have such a poor self-image?
- Mona Lisa is the first half-human queen and so she has special powers no one has ever had before (same as Merry)
- Mona Lisa has two fantastic lovers that look very different physically (Doyle/Frost and Jean-Claude/Richard - original pair at least)
- One of Mona Lisa's lovers was changed and taken from her (like Frost was)
- Mona Lisa also has a demon lover that her other lovers don't approve of (like Merry's Sholto)
- Mona Lisa is a Damanoen or demon living (like Anita is a "living" vampire)
- Mona Lisa's eyes change color when she's in a demon awakening state (like Anita)
- Mona Lisa gains a lust for blood from her demon lover (like Merry & Anita)
- The Monere call down the moon's light and bask in it until their skin lights up and also their skin lights up when they have sex (Merry's skin glows during sex too)
- Mona Lisa killed a rival queen and gained her powers but a part of the other queen still lives inside Mona Lisa and occasionally comes out in dreams (identical to Raina in Anita)
- The Monere gain power and gifts through sex (Anita & Merry both have magical vaginas as well) - new_user, you can add this to your "special" shelf!
#####END SPOILERS#####
So, why bother reading this if I'm also reading LKH's series? Well, for starters, the writing is better. Not much better but at least Sunny's books aren't repetitive messes like LKH's have become. Although the constant shifting of perspective was a poor choice. I can see where she was going with it but at times I found the words she chose didn't always agree with the subject. Like this:
"Halcyon materialized in the business district of New Orleans. It was quiet here, just past the midnight hour, the stroke of time that split night from day."
It was quiet here? Shouldn't that be there since it's told in third person? Does that only sound weird to me? There's other examples throughout the book but I'm too lazy to find them. I just remember that at times Mona Lisa's perspective was told in first person and then in third person and it just didn't flow right.
Now, there were some positive aspects to the story. I liked the gargoyles in this book. I think she should explore NetherHell some more and include the gargoyles in future stories because they were the most interesting part of the whole thing. I know some people have said that this book didn't feel like it belonged in the series, but I'm kind of glad that she took it where she did. I actually hated the last book and also Dante's entry into the series.
Now, the part after NetherHell is where I had my issue. It seemed like the last half of the book was lazily slapped on as an afterthought. Mona Lisa's trip to get her hair done and new clothes picked out took up waaaaay too much space. And the stereotypical gay hair and fashion stylists were borderline offensive. It felt like just a reason to get her and Dontaine together and I was bored to tears. And the "sexy" parts with him were not sexy at all. They felt forced. I actually thought the part with the gargoyle (hey, don't judge me!) was hotter and he didn't even touch her NetherRegions.
I don't know if I'm going to keep up with this series. This was actually a second chance I was giving Sunny for a challenge this month. Do I give her a third now? I doubt it.