Am about halfway through Book 1 and it's official - I am obsessed. I just bought books 2 and 3 of the trilogy for Kindle, as well as the book of short stories, Dreams Made Flesh. And I ordered the trilogy in paperback because for books I love, I want to have them tangible, to hide away and squirrel away like a doomsday prepper. (We have 11 giant floor-to-ceiling bookshelves in our house, pluse a couple of smaller ones, and they are all triple-stacked due in part to my squirillyness. The only way it isn't more is due to Kindle, where I have 800 or so books stored, most of which I don't bother with paper copies for).
Anyway, on with my blather:
1. Some quotes I like because they are full of angst and delicious parental issues for the characters:
"Saetan had already planted his code of honor deep in the boys' minds, and by the time she had realized that, it was too late to lead them down another path. Without knowing why, they had fought against anything that didn't fit that code of honor until the fighting, and the pain and the punishment, had shaped them, too."
and
"Daemon closed his eyes. Liar. Sily, court-trained liar. He didn't want to smooth away a rivalry. That wasn't why he sent the message. He wanted - secondhand and only for an instant - he wanted to force Saetan to acknowledge his son." Awww, Daemon and his woobie Daddy issues. :( Your Dad did abandon you to a total hell (and I don't mean hell as in realm of dead people he rules) due to his weird notions of honor - that is going to be quite a strained relationship!
2. I just realized that Jaenelle's last name is Angelline. And Daemon is her OTP. So demon/angel are our star-crossed lovers? Heeeeeee. That is so fanficcish, I kinda revel in Anne Bishop's unabashed OTTness. It's like reading a Kaoru Yuki manga made into a novel.
3. I really like seeing all the Jaenelle/Daemon interactions, because they aren't shippy (thank God, she is 12 and that would be gross - one child rapist is enough per book - please tell me someone offs Kartane, kthnks), but it's nice to see him be actually normal and even happy. That pretty much never happens.
4. Oh, and at one point, Jaenelle's grandmother was planning on having Daemon 'service' her and I kept going "please don't go there, book, thanks!" (while thinking that was precisely why it probably will), and guess what - Yup, the book went there. Also, hmmm, to say Daemon was unhappy and self-loathing about this would be an understatement. I don't think I ever read a book where the hero is made to 'please' the heroine's grandma (though he doesn't do inter******, so I suppose that's something?) Ummmm. I think I am going to need brain bleach once this novel is done and yet I cannot stop - why, why can't I stop? My self respect has been slaughtered by Anne Bishop - I suppose it's because while this may be the most twisted book I've read in a good long time, but it's a lot of fun and also utterly unpredictable, and that is rare.
5. So, the bad guys are going to offer Daemon a 100 years of freedom if he kills Jaenelle? Good luck with that. Also, I loved when Graff was sitting there offering Daemon temporary freedom in exchange for Jaenelle's life and freaking out because the room was getting more and more freezing and having no idea it was because Daemon was descending into his deadly ice rage which levels buildings. Heh! He is so Draco-in-leather-pants.
6. You know, objectively I know Jaenelle is a Mary Sue, but do I care? No. This book is written for the lizard part of my brain.
7. I loved the bit where Daemon actually asked Lucivar about the whole 'killing Jaenelle for freedom' thing because he would have rejected it out of hand if it only involved himself, but they offered him Lucivar's freedom too and my heart just broke for poor Daemon and he was so grateful when Lucivar said no way (no idea what he would have done if Lucivar was OK with it - probably angst and emo - that seems to be his solution to most things).
Anyway, on with my blather:
1. Some quotes I like because they are full of angst and delicious parental issues for the characters:
"Saetan had already planted his code of honor deep in the boys' minds, and by the time she had realized that, it was too late to lead them down another path. Without knowing why, they had fought against anything that didn't fit that code of honor until the fighting, and the pain and the punishment, had shaped them, too."
and
"Daemon closed his eyes. Liar. Sily, court-trained liar. He didn't want to smooth away a rivalry. That wasn't why he sent the message. He wanted - secondhand and only for an instant - he wanted to force Saetan to acknowledge his son." Awww, Daemon and his woobie Daddy issues. :( Your Dad did abandon you to a total hell (and I don't mean hell as in realm of dead people he rules) due to his weird notions of honor - that is going to be quite a strained relationship!
2. I just realized that Jaenelle's last name is Angelline. And Daemon is her OTP. So demon/angel are our star-crossed lovers? Heeeeeee. That is so fanficcish, I kinda revel in Anne Bishop's unabashed OTTness. It's like reading a Kaoru Yuki manga made into a novel.
3. I really like seeing all the Jaenelle/Daemon interactions, because they aren't shippy (thank God, she is 12 and that would be gross - one child rapist is enough per book - please tell me someone offs Kartane, kthnks), but it's nice to see him be actually normal and even happy. That pretty much never happens.
4. Oh, and at one point, Jaenelle's grandmother was planning on having Daemon 'service' her and I kept going "please don't go there, book, thanks!" (while thinking that was precisely why it probably will), and guess what - Yup, the book went there. Also, hmmm, to say Daemon was unhappy and self-loathing about this would be an understatement. I don't think I ever read a book where the hero is made to 'please' the heroine's grandma (though he doesn't do inter******, so I suppose that's something?) Ummmm. I think I am going to need brain bleach once this novel is done and yet I cannot stop - why, why can't I stop? My self respect has been slaughtered by Anne Bishop - I suppose it's because while this may be the most twisted book I've read in a good long time, but it's a lot of fun and also utterly unpredictable, and that is rare.
5. So, the bad guys are going to offer Daemon a 100 years of freedom if he kills Jaenelle? Good luck with that. Also, I loved when Graff was sitting there offering Daemon temporary freedom in exchange for Jaenelle's life and freaking out because the room was getting more and more freezing and having no idea it was because Daemon was descending into his deadly ice rage which levels buildings. Heh! He is so Draco-in-leather-pants.
6. You know, objectively I know Jaenelle is a Mary Sue, but do I care? No. This book is written for the lizard part of my brain.
7. I loved the bit where Daemon actually asked Lucivar about the whole 'killing Jaenelle for freedom' thing because he would have rejected it out of hand if it only involved himself, but they offered him Lucivar's freedom too and my heart just broke for poor Daemon and he was so grateful when Lucivar said no way (no idea what he would have done if Lucivar was OK with it - probably angst and emo - that seems to be his solution to most things).