Emimar

• Rated 3 stars

“I got into the Twilight Saga after seeing the film and as it was better than I thought it would be, I decided to read the books. I'd like to say that I was impressed by the series, but I can't. Meyer is good at drawing you into her world, but I found the whole series boring to read. Nothing really happens in the books other than the whole "I love Edward" from Bella (or is it Jacob?!) and "I love Bella but can't be with her because I'm a vampire and will hurt her" from Edward and that's about it from the main characters. The only saving grace of the series are Jacob and the rest of the werewolf pack and the Cullens (aside from Edward...) as they are at least somewhat interesting. Shame that they aren't what the series focuses on, asotherwise, the series would be worth taking the time to read. At the time of writing this, I'm about halfway through it (at the point where Bella's daughter is born) and gave up reading the rest, as it felt like that should have been the end of the book. If there was a character in all the books that I have read that I would consider a Mary Sue, then Bella would be it - she's uninteresting as a character and she's weak-willed and whiney throughout the first three books and then turns into this super-heroine in Breaking Dawn. My advice to people, stay clear of this series as you'll be vastly disappointed by it.”

Emimar wrote this review Thursday, September 3 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“I was presently surprised with this book. I read a lot of urban fantasy which just turns out to be a paranormal romance in disgise - this one turned out to be the oppersite. You can see why I had low expectations for the book before I read it - the main character is obsessed with her wardrobe and I thought that it was going to be one of those books were the heroine is a frivolous air-head and she wasn't. I like the fact how it get the mixture of the supernatural and romance just right - although it says that it is a paranormal romance on the back of the book, the romance part doesn't derail the story like it does for example, in L. A. Banks' Bad Blood, or others that I've read. The only critisim I have about the book is that the author seems to get mixed up with the stake through the heart and suggests it as a way to kill werewolves when really it's vampires - whoever proof read the the book before its publication should have pointed this out to the author and had it edited. I found the references to designer clothing a bit repetitive as well and I think that it should be played down a little when marketing the book and mentioned less - I read urban fantasy books for the supernatural content - if I wanted to read about designer clothing I would read a book about a spoilt brat heiress young woman living in the normal world, which I don't. Aside from those too factors, I look forward to seeing more from this author.”

Emimar wrote this review Saturday, May 23 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“I'm reading this one at the moment I'm writing this reveiw. I decided to buy it after seeing the film adapation, otherwise, I wouldn'thave bothered with it, as I enjoyed the film. I gave it a four because although I think it's well written, (in comparsion to the awful paranormal romances I've read in the past that bookshops and publishers try to market as Urban Fantasy when they are clearly not) the character Bella is in writer's terms, a bit of a Mary Sue, but once you get past that, the book is very enjoyable and mature, for something that is obviously written for teenage girls and by that I mean the quality of the writing, not the subject matter. It's a welcome change to come across a book with a supernatural theme that has a romance where we actully see the relationship between the two main characters grow and not a "love at first sight" Sherrilyn Kenyon/Christine Warren kind of way, followed by twenty chapters of them having sex, or like Kerri Arthur's work, where the main female character just sleeps around with men just for the sake of it and the readers are then tortured with every intimate detail of it. So please, lay off the critisim of this book.”

Emimar wrote this review Saturday, May 16 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“Normally, I would give these books a five, but I couldn't help but feel that it either should have been longer, or that it and the next book in the series, Kitty Raises Hell should have been part of the same book and they were split to keep with the 300 or so pages long like they usually are. Balthtazar and his minions weren't really much of a challege, and neither were the werewolf bounty hunters and the Vegas mob. Still, because it stayed away from the paranormal "romance" theme which you usually get with urban fantasy these days, it's better than most.”

Emimar wrote this review Monday, April 13 2009. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“I found the writing in this book to be a little sloppy to begin with, but it gets better as it goes in. I found the Christian refs to be distracting though. Do we really need quotes from the Bible while you're trying to read a story? I don't think so. If I wanted to read rubbish, the Bible is what I would read! Because of this, I give it a four when otherwise, I would have given it a five. I find the book intreging because the dragons in it are actuall characters, rather than just monsters, which is unusual, though I think if you want to read a book about dragons, then Temeraire would be better.”

Emimar wrote this review Tuesday, March 17 2009. ( reply | permalink )

0 of 1 members found this review helpful.

• Rated 4 stars

“I'm about half way through this book and as other people have noted, it is well written but the gay element of it is completely distracting in what would otherwise be a brilliant book. I ended up giving it a 4 because I like the idea of a wolf companion, and that element of it is really what I wanted to read it for. The Norse/Anglo Saxon flavour to it came as a bit of a surprise and a welcome one. However, it didn't get a 5 as it would normally have done because of the gay element - I'm not against having gay characters in stories, as I've read books with them before (Tanya Huff, Keri Arthur, Kim Harrison...) but do we really need to have it constantly shoved down our throats? As another person pointed out, it would have been better if the main character was female, or if there were females who bonded with the wolves in the story. (This might happen, because as I've said, I'm only half-way through it!) Also, the behaviour of the wolves is off somewhat as the alpha male and female mate for life - wolves which are lower ranking members do not mate. Also, there is the the gang rape scenario which another reveiwer has already pointed out. Is it more acceptable if the character happens to be a male? Still leaves one cold...I can't help but think that the authors were getting off on it and there should have been a warning in the synopsis of the book so that people who don't want to read explict gay material can avoid it.”

Emimar wrote this review Saturday, November 29 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“After reading the first four books in this series, I was keen to get on with the fith. However, I think Wolf Hunting is the weakest in the whole series because Firekeeper's abilities to "talk" with animals are undermined by the addition of Plik to the group (one of the beast-souled from the previous one). It doesn't really seem to have a story apart from them being on a quest to find a pair of magic-user twins and that's basically the story. It's only good points are the revalations of where the Devine Retribution plague has come from and went to, and the threat of invasion from the Old World. Plus, there's not really much going on with the antagonist front. However, I have read worse books than this.”

Emimar wrote this review Sunday, October 5 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 3 stars

“The photographs in this book are brilliant, but for anyone who's seriously into leopards, I would reccommend Jonathan Scott's A Leopard's Tale and Big Cat Diary: Leopard, as these give a more interesting and detailed veiw of the life of a leopard, as well as the biological facts.”

Emimar wrote this review Friday, September 12 2008. ( reply | permalink )

• Rated 4 stars

“It's a good introduction into Norse and Anglo-Saxon myths, but unlike the single volumes (as it contains parts of the Saga of the Volsungs, the Prose Edda and The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki, it lacks notes on the texts and there seems to gaps. The book doesn't say if these gaps are due to parts of the original manuscripts being missing, or if they've been edited out to fit them into the book. Because of this, I'd recommend that any serious student of Norse and Anglo-Saxon mythology to get the single versions.”

Emimar wrote this review Saturday, August 2 2008. ( reply | permalink )

0 of 1 members found this review helpful.

• Rated 5 stars

“I have read all of the books in this series and they are excellent - however, a word of caution here; some of Mckiernan's early works are best avoided.”

Emimar wrote this review Friday, June 6 2008. ( reply | permalink )