Thursday, October 16, 2008

Just Finished My ARC of Swallowing Darkness

I just finished my advance review copy (ARC) of Swallowing Darkness. I was so thrilled when I received it I didn't even post about it or anything I just dived right in and started reading. I have requested LKH books before from the publisher but this was the first one I actually received. It was a big surprise when it arrived and it made my day.

Soo much happens in this book. I was shocked by all the twists and turns of the plot and story line. There were a lot of unexpected events a few that were expected…maybe not so soon, like not in this book but perhaps later in another book in the series.

There was a lot of death and violence in Swallowing Darkness. The Merry Gentry series is known for being highly sexual, perhaps even more so than LKH’s Anita Blake series. There wasn’t even a hint of sex until Chapter 16 and even that was stopped before any major sex play started. There may have been a few references of sensuality but for those who really enjoy the addictive and overtly erotic nature of the Merry Gentry books you’ll be sorely disappointed with this one. The little bit of sex that happened wasn’t even with any major players, no Doyle, no Mistral, not even Sholto and obviously not Frost since he’s in stag form. If you are one that complains that the sex in the books has overtaken the plot well you might enjoy this book more that the others in the series.

Swallowing Darkness opens with Merry in the hospital recovering from the rape by her uncle. What a hellish family. She is surrounded by her guards, and a couple of the fathers of her babies (she is carrying twins and each baby has 3 fathers, that makes 6 men total that are the father’s of her babies…complicated). Too bad this isn’t enough to keep her safe.

The turmoil she goes through and the magic she reawakens is amazing. The story takes us from the hospital to the fairy mound, to the mound of the slaugh and then through what could be classified as hell.

Like I said- twists, turns, surprises and deaths. But in the end Merry seems happy, so much so I was afraid this was the last Merry book and I just somehow missed the announcement. I hit the net searching the LKH sites and forums, so far I've been reassured there will be more Merry books. I would think so...the babies need to be born, a lot was left undone and unsaid, but you never know...you'll understand when you read the end of the book. It was very final.

There better be more Merry books. I think I may like them more than the Anita series. I don't know... they are very different even for all of their similarities.