A Shiver of Light by Laurell K. Hamilton

Merry Gentry, Book 9

Synopsis: I am Princess Meredith NicEssus. Legal name Meredith Gentry, because “Princess” looks so pretentious on a driver’s license. I was the first faerie princess born on American soil, but I wouldn’t be the only one for much longer…

Merry Gentry, ex–private detective, now full-time princess, knew she was descended from fertility goddesses, but when she learned she was about to have triplets, she began to understand what that might mean. Infertility has plagued the high ranks of faerie for centuries. Now nobles of both courts of faerie are coming to court Merry and her men, at their home in exile in the Western Lands of Los Angeles, because they will do anything to have babies of their own.

Taranis, King of Light and Illusion, is a more dangerous problem. He tried to seduce Merry and, failing that, raped her. He’s using the human courts to sue for visitation rights, claiming that one of the babies is his. And though Merry knows she was already pregnant when he took her, she can’t prove it.

To save herself and her babies from Taranis she will use the most dangerous powers in all of faerie: a god of death, a warrior known as the Darkness, the Killing Frost, and a king of nightmares. They are her lovers, and her dearest loves, and they will face down the might of the high courts of faerie—while trying to keep the war from spreading to innocent humans in Los Angeles, who are in danger of becoming collateral damage.

Review: It took a long time for this volume to be released. Yes, it took several years to finally have a sequel to the Merry Gentry’s adventures. I know that a lot of people were waiting impatiently and I confess that it was the same for me. When the novel came out in the US, I was very curious to discover the reviews of the readers before immersing myself in the story, unfortunately the reviews were not so good. Yes, because many appeared very mixed and I confess that it made me a little anxious … Of course I saw one or two good reviews but it was not a lot in a whole. So it’s true that finally that I did not read the book right away and I waited for a moment before doing so. The volume was then released in France and there some new reviews appeared, making me curious again and then someone loaned me the novel. I had therefore no more reasons to wait to make up my own mind.

I think that I understand people and their disappointment. Perhaps I expected too much, especially after so long. It is true that unlike for the Anita Blake series, I had high hopes because I loved each of the volumes. Alas, we have an end for every good thing, right? I’m not saying that this volume was not good because it is, it’s even great to find again the characters and the universe, but I think that I too expected too much. The novel gives a feeling of lack of events that I had not had with the others, or perhaps it is me who wanted things to go faster. It must be said that we have the birth of the babies, the threats made by Taranis and the death of a main character. Yes these are the three frames of the story which ultimately do not do enough for me. It’s true that the fact that we have the death of a character I liked, especially in this manner and as quickly, was a little disturbed and I did not really understand the reason. But we’ll perhaps understand all that later. We can not predict what will happen. I also wondered if the novel finally was not a transition, a way to just get things done in the next volume but it’s the same, we will see about that later.

Am I too negative? I’m sorry, that’s not necessarily what I want to show. As I said I loved following Merry as it’s a character I have grown to love over the years and it’s true that seeing her evolution is always a pleasure. Of course, I was also curious to see what would happen with her children and who the fathers would be! It was nice to see our heroine slowing down a bit and showing a maternal instinct, like her companions, which we did not expect necessarily about. But it was also fascinating to discover the characteristics of these little ones to see the beginning of their powers and to understand that there would be a lot of work with them. Of course, we also find all our men and I must admit that I had forgotten that there were so many of them. Besides after childbirth everyone is waiting impatiently for our heroine to be ready to reiterate as quickly as possible. No, it does not really change from the other previous volumes regarding that. By cons I enjoyed seeing a different side of Andais, this terrible woman and yet with still many surprises.

To conclude, I had a mixed feeling about this book. It was a pleasure to have a novel in the series, as well as seeing the characters, but I expected more.

3 

mellianefini

 

31 thoughts on “A Shiver of Light by Laurell K. Hamilton

  1. What a shame and especially given how long people have been waiting for this. Hearing lots of less than glowing reports about this book. My friend normally has nothing but good to say about this author but even she is bitterly disappointed.

  2. I totally agree with you Melliane. I was so happy with a new book, and although I loved the story, it lacked in the action department. A lot was just told, and not shown, and it was very slow, lots of dialogue and such. For instance, I wanted to know more about Rhys and his new sidhen, and now it was only told he visits there and had fights with a gang and such.

  3. I’m so behind on her work. I’m still in the early books of the Anita series. I’ve heard mixed reviews for this series so I wasn’t sure if I would dive in. I can see why you expected more from this book. Sad it didn’t deliver. I hope the next is so much better if you decide to continue.

  4. It has been so long since I read a LKH book. I never really tried her Merry Gentry series but I did read for Anita Blake for years and gave up once the books started going downhill. It is unfortunate you are feeling like this for this series too, though at least it is good to hear it wasn’t completely all negative.

  5. I hate it when that happens-sorry it wasn’t a better installment for you. I have never read anything from this author but of course have heard about her books for years. Maybe it is a transition book as you say, and the next will be better. Hope so!

  6. I had mixed feelings about this book too. Since it had been so long between books, I relistened to the entire series before this one came out. Because of that, I found several inaccuracies in the story. Little things that really don’t affect the story as a whole, but really made me feel a lack of editing for continuity editing.

    I also agree with pretty much everything you said above too. I think I’m just over LKH. I’ve stayed with her for years, but after this book and the last novella and full length Anita book, I’ve just been very unhappy with them. It is time for me to move on. If you choose to stay with her, I hope you have better luck.

    Melanie @ Hot Listens & Rabid Reads

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