The Shape of Desire

The Shape of Desire by Sharon Shinn
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I've been struggling with how to rate this one. Sharon Shinn is one of my favorite fantasy writers. And yet...meh. This one didn't do it for me. Too much angst. I kept forgetting the main character was supposed to be in her thirties. She behaved much of the time like she was 19--come to think of it, she reminded me of Bella from Twilight. I didn't exactly dislike her; I just wished she'd grow a spine and not waste so much of her time moping over her boyfriend. And there didn't seem to be a solid foundation for a 15-year-long relationship, which is unusual for a Sharon Shinn novel.

I thought the premise of the story had potential: the difficulties of being in love with a shapeshifter who was increasingly not in human form. How do you balance your life to hide his secret? But why did Maria feel compelled to make up SO many lies? She lied to practically everyone about practically everything, and for no really good reason. I never understood why she couldn't just tell people she had a boyfriend named Dante who traveled a lot? Why did she try to hide his existence? When she did need to lie to protect him, why didn't she stick to as much of the truth as she could? That would have made her life--and everyone else's--so much better and less complicated. Instead, she lied constantly, even to Dante eventually. It's not a recipe for healthy, successful relationships, and it's utterly unnecessary. I can understand being apprehensive about broaching a difficult topic with your partner, but if after 15 years together you can't trust him enough to be sure he didn't murder people in parks, then maybe you should not be sleeping with him like a rabid, horny teenager!

I had such a hard time getting through this. It did eventually get a little exciting toward the end. If it hadn't been written by Shinn, I'd have given up and quit reading it after the first couple of chapters, though.

*sigh* OK, Ms. Shinn, enough with the contemporary paranormal stuff. Please go back to writing another Twelve Houses novel or something!

For readers' advisors: tons of swearing and sex. I'm struggling with appeal doorways because the book wasn't very appealing to me, but technically I'd say the doorways are character and story.

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The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella by Stephenie Meyer

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


3 1/2 stars, actually.

This was a short, fun little glimpse inside the world of the "non-vegetarian" vampire newborns who fought the Cullen clan in the main series. It made me want to go back and re-read Eclipse.

For readers' advisors: story and character doorways



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Breaking Dawn

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer


My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I absolutely devoured this book. It's 756 pages long, and I read it in two days, despite having many other things to do that weekend that prevented me from focusing all my attention on the book. I really wanted to focus all my attention on the book.

Breaking Dawn is the fourth novel in the Twilight series, and--not to give anything away--does a pretty good job of wrapping up the story lines. It's a real page-turner, obviously, since this series is perfect for people who want to read "a good story." In reader's advisory terms, "story" is the primary doorway, and "character" is a close second. I especially enjoyed the sections from Jacob's point of view.

There isn't much else I can say without spilling the beans, so I'll stop here.

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