Review so far on 5/28/2012

Not done yet but I have to start this review before I forget some things.

First off, I'm a little irriated at the font size. I actually don't mind larger font sizes, it's easier on the eyes, however my reason for disliking this books use of font size is that it tricks, for lack of better word, the buyer that this is a full-length 300+ page novel and should be the price of an actual full-length novel. If the font wasn't made larger than normal this book would have probably come in at around 200 pages and fit better in an anthology of some kind or sold as a novella for a couple less dollars. Don't know if the larger font size was LKH's decision or the publishers, personally it doesn't matter to me, it just irritates me and if I hadn't already stopped buying LKH novels this would be a reason to stop and get future installments from the library.

Secondly, I skipped most of the first chapter. Once I realized Merry was dreaming I tuned out and didn't care. I know there was something about a white boar/bull/whatever animal and I think she stabbed it and killed it. Again this is all in a dream.

At about 7 chapters in I'm bored. It's not a good thing when I'm yawning through the sex scenes and looking to see when I'll actually get a little bit of plot. The one thing I did enjoy a bit of in these first 7 chapters is Merry and the Queen's banter, but don't get excited it's only for a few pages. Also when the Queen talks to Mistral was interesting, but when the main character is only having sex and not doing much else I tend to tune out. I'm not a prude, I love reading sex scenes, sometimes the sex scenes are the best part of the book. However if the plot's not holding my interest then those sex scenes better be off the chart hot, because if I'm not enjoying something in the novel it feels like a waste of time.

Now if the plot was decent and the sexy time was lacking, that's ok, there are a few authors that I read who's strength is not writing sex but the plot is good so I can brush that aside. There are other authors I read that I know it's unlikely I'll get a decent plot but the sex is amazing. Then of course there are those authors who are amazing at both. Unfortunately LKH doesn't fall into any of those categories for me. There's little or no plot and the sex scenes aren't hot, good, or entertaining and that's happening more and more with LKH.

One thing that really bothered me was during Abe's turn with Merry, Mistral was told that Merry could and did like some pain with her pleasure. Yet neither Mistral nor Merry set up a safe word or action that would get him stop before Mistral jumped right in with a painful jaw aching kiss that almost shut off Merry's air supply. Stupid. If that's what some of the characters are into, great, but set up a safe word/action/dance/whatever so no one gets seriously injured or dead.

Spoiler

Well it looks like (again not done yet) that one of Merry's harem was killed during her stormy sex with Mistral. Honestly I didn't remember who this guy was, I only remember Frost, Doyle, Galen, Rhys, Kitto, and Barinthus with any kind of clarity. However one dying doesn't affect me much since Merry has about 50 others where he came from I'm sure she'll recover quickly.

Rest of review 5/29/2012

Ok, I have now finished the "novel" and I'm left with the feeling of what was the point of this one?

I've enjoyed the previous 4 novels in this series, however with this one it seemed the whole point was for Merry to have sex with 3 people that she hasn't had sex with yet. Not only that the character that I thought had died earlier in the book, hasn't. He walked out of some place alive and well, I have no idea how that happened, but I wished he and some of the others that I don't remember had stayed gone. The only guys I want to stick around are Doyle, Frost, and Barinthus. Honestly the others I couldn't care less about.

This series, it seems, is being dragged out just like LKH's other series Anita Blake. Except with this series it's even more obvious because the major story arc is getting Merry pregnant, books 1-3 should be Merry's boink fest to pregnancy and then have 1-3 books after that be about Merry dealing with her pregnancy, being in a relationship with the father of her baby, and her enemies trying to kill her before the baby is born. With the end of the last book being her giving birth. This series shouldn't (in my mind) be more than six books but I see there are eight or nine books so far and if all of them are as devoid of plot as this one was I don't see me sticking with this series much longer.

I will probably give A Lick of Frost a try but I don't know if I will continue after that if I even get to A Lick of Frost since it took me a few years to even get to Mistral's Kiss.

I'm not a huge fan of this series, but I have a hard time not finishing a series once I've started it so I will probably end up reading them all...

Wow. I'm deep in the midst of re-reading this series but there are so many things I've forgotten in the books that I keep doubting where I read up to the last time. I'll start with what I enjoyed...Mistal. Smokin hot. Sholto. I love this character. The man is a leader and yet so very flawed and sometime stupid.

I am also starting to wonder how Merry remembers her harem's names cause...I can't. She just keeps adding more and more men...eventually there won't be anyone left in court she hasn't slept with. It doesn't bother me, or them for that matter, just an observation. I'm intrigued where this series is going because I read the back of the newest book and some things bode poorly for the soon to be situations. Oh well...we shall see.

What I didn't like...I think Merry was naked for this entire book. Oh, no, she had a coat on at the end, but otherwise...naked...Just doesn't seem feasible but then again *shrug* it's Merry and after reading 5 books in a row I'm starting to get used to her.

I accidentally read this thinking it was book #1. Suffice to say I won't be reading any of the others. I made it through 7 chapters of essentially plot free acid tripping orgies?? I don't even know what is going on here. No thanks!

When A Stroke of Midnight left off, Meredith and company are still holed up in the underground fairy mound of the Unseelie Court, with the princess still trying to get pregnant. Mistral, one of the queen's guards, is on temporary loan to Meredith after the recent attempt on her life. The powers that they stir up affect some serious changes in the land of faerie, none of which make Queen Andais happy. Sholto, King of the Sluagh, comes to terms with Merry and awakens the Wild Hunt. Again, the book takes place in approximately one day.