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Oh. My. God.
I enjoyed the first seven of Black Magic Sanction. Well, I enjoyed chapters 2-7 of Black Magic Sanction.
(Click here to read)
Rachel ... and I can't believe I'm typing this ... Rachel Morgan has gotten smarter. Seriously, like chicha has actually matured and is on occassion displaying good judgement in this book. I mean she's still kind of dick at inopportune times, but compared to her previous dickishness she's a fucking wallflower this book (and when she is a dick it's often actually amusing instead of aggravating, ex. her busted, can't even walk ass being all like, "that's Ms. Morgan to you").
I think ... no, I do sympathize with her so far.
I ... I ... I think I like her again.
You guys, I don't know what to do with myself. I honestly can't work up a rant. I haven't felt this way in like books and books you guys. I ... I ... I ... want to read more!
Like, the story is actually focused on the plot. PLOT! Not Rachel's dumbass romantic woes. Not the beautiful and wonderful and amazing Ivy Tamwood getting screwed over in new and heart-breaking ways. But on actual honest to god plot!
And ... and ... and Rachel and Ivy are acting like honest to god fucking friends!
WHAT IS HAPPENING?!?!?!
I mean, Rachel is still all like, "Look at Ivy's ass in those jeans! Dayum. No homo" but I like don't even care because they finally listened to the great philospher Mary J. Blige and there's like no more drama. TBH, even though I wish they were all:
by now, I am enjoying their interactions.
Like, you guys ... Rachel Morgan has wanted and asked for other people's help numerous times. Rachel Morgan. Asking for help. Especially from Ivy. Ivy Tamwood. Rachel Morgan. You guys. I don't think my brain can handle this. Asking for help ... from Ivy *brain explodes*
Seriously, even though the gay is less obvious (though by no means unexistant), that means that there is less angst ... and I kind of ship more because they seem like they actually like each other and add something positive to the others life.
I'm still feel rather fun-spongey
about Ivy/Glenn, but it's not that bad. And Ivy got a couple good little digs in there about Rachel being a notrustnik, pansy-ass who's afraid of her fangs.
Honestly, my problem with the Ivy/Glenn thing is more that I wish she was with a girl. After how Kim trashed Skimmer in the last book, I want to see Ivy with a sane woman who has a positive influence on her, instead of the F/F relationships in the series being different versions of Ivy getting mind-fucked, emotion-fucked and fucked over.
In my mind I had decided that the hot foresenics vampire chick from that one book would be Ivy's rebound/time killer until Rachel smartens up, so me is ambivelent to Glenn (who btw, did we know his name was Matthew before this? I just saw that and I was like O_o. I mean I know he had to have a first name, I was just like ... really?).
Also, just from a pure numbers point of view, Ivy has gotten/chased far more cock than she has pussy so I wanted the playing field to be evened out. She's becoming one of those sweeps week bi-sexuals on network tv that are usually played by Olivia Wilde (Mm, Olivia Wilde).
Also, Rachel still is able to smell Ivy on shit, which never ceases to amuse me. She's like a fucking bloodhound when it comes to Ivy's scent. I dig it.
Wow.
Before reading this I honestly couldn't imagine genuinely being excited for the continuation of this series and I put off reading these chapters cause I was sure they were going to piss me off ... but I am very pleasantly surprised.
Warning: To ye who do not read through all of the comments. My enthusiasm for the book has been thwarted. I am back in RANT mode. The first seven chapters are a smoke screen and rant inducing shenanigans follow.
Buy/Read this novel at your own risk!
(Click here to read)
Rachel ... and I can't believe I'm typing this ... Rachel Morgan has gotten smarter. Seriously, like chicha has actually matured and is on occassion displaying good judgement in this book. I mean she's still kind of dick at inopportune times, but compared to her previous dickishness she's a fucking wallflower this book (and when she is a dick it's often actually amusing instead of aggravating, ex. her busted, can't even walk ass being all like, "that's Ms. Morgan to you").
I think ... no, I do sympathize with her so far.
I ... I ... I think I like her again.
You guys, I don't know what to do with myself. I honestly can't work up a rant. I haven't felt this way in like books and books you guys. I ... I ... I ... want to read more!
Like, the story is actually focused on the plot. PLOT! Not Rachel's dumbass romantic woes. Not the beautiful and wonderful and amazing Ivy Tamwood getting screwed over in new and heart-breaking ways. But on actual honest to god plot!
And ... and ... and Rachel and Ivy are acting like honest to god fucking friends!
WHAT IS HAPPENING?!?!?!
I mean, Rachel is still all like, "Look at Ivy's ass in those jeans! Dayum. No homo" but I like don't even care because they finally listened to the great philospher Mary J. Blige and there's like no more drama. TBH, even though I wish they were all:
by now, I am enjoying their interactions.
Like, you guys ... Rachel Morgan has wanted and asked for other people's help numerous times. Rachel Morgan. Asking for help. Especially from Ivy. Ivy Tamwood. Rachel Morgan. You guys. I don't think my brain can handle this. Asking for help ... from Ivy *brain explodes*
Seriously, even though the gay is less obvious (though by no means unexistant), that means that there is less angst ... and I kind of ship more because they seem like they actually like each other and add something positive to the others life.
I'm still feel rather fun-spongey
about Ivy/Glenn, but it's not that bad. And Ivy got a couple good little digs in there about Rachel being a notrustnik, pansy-ass who's afraid of her fangs.
Honestly, my problem with the Ivy/Glenn thing is more that I wish she was with a girl. After how Kim trashed Skimmer in the last book, I want to see Ivy with a sane woman who has a positive influence on her, instead of the F/F relationships in the series being different versions of Ivy getting mind-fucked, emotion-fucked and fucked over.
In my mind I had decided that the hot foresenics vampire chick from that one book would be Ivy's rebound/time killer until Rachel smartens up, so me is ambivelent to Glenn (who btw, did we know his name was Matthew before this? I just saw that and I was like O_o. I mean I know he had to have a first name, I was just like ... really?).
Also, just from a pure numbers point of view, Ivy has gotten/chased far more cock than she has pussy so I wanted the playing field to be evened out. She's becoming one of those sweeps week bi-sexuals on network tv that are usually played by Olivia Wilde (Mm, Olivia Wilde).
Also, Rachel still is able to smell Ivy on shit, which never ceases to amuse me. She's like a fucking bloodhound when it comes to Ivy's scent. I dig it.
Wow.
Before reading this I honestly couldn't imagine genuinely being excited for the continuation of this series and I put off reading these chapters cause I was sure they were going to piss me off ... but I am very pleasantly surprised.
Warning: To ye who do not read through all of the comments. My enthusiasm for the book has been thwarted. I am back in RANT mode. The first seven chapters are a smoke screen and rant inducing shenanigans follow.
Buy/Read this novel at your own risk!
no subject
All in all, the end wasn't horrible. What a dreg to get there though.
Out of 480 pages, about 100 are passable, 50 of which are genuinely enjoyable.
Rachel whines. She might be in a tough spot, but she whines a lot. It takes her forever to get off her ass and do stuff. She just sits there and takes punches for the first half of the book and only does fuck-all about it in the last hundred or so pages. Mostly, I just thought "where did her spark go, for God's sake? She's more dull than flat 7up..."
What ruins it is Pierce. Pierce gets more screen time than Jenks, which is un-fucking-believable. There's no chemistry there, no spark, nothing, and yet he's constantly being shoved down the reader's throat. As you can probably expect, the intimate moments are just *shivers* god-awful.
Ivy is an afterthought. She's often there but mostly she only watches, she does very little, and she has only the briefest cute moments. She sorta kicks a little ass towards the end, but mostly, she's criminally underused, as usual. There's nary a bone to be found for Ravy shippers in the whole book, but, *********SPOILERS********* Rachel does finally admit attraction and feelings "more than sisterly that she can't pursue". I'm not getting my hopes up. The burns from the last time(s) still hurt.
Jenks rocks in this one, though. Gotta give KH her due, she knows her four inches tall blabber mouths.
Al is fairly entertaining, but fuck it, I don't want Rachel to cozy up to him, he's not in a fucking grey moral area, he's at the black end of the spectrum.
Trent is being a bad guy in this one, which is how I like him the most. Of course, in the end, it's not his fault, as usual. Huge whatever.
The bad guys, even if they're supposed to be these nasty badass boogey men, come off as annoying wimps bordering on incompetence after the first few encounters. Their nasty evil master plot is just... urgh. Let's just say you'll be tired of hearing the words "lobotomy" and "ovaries" by the time you hit page 50.
All in all, it's bad. Real bad. I can't recommend it in good faith. All I can say is stay away.
no subject
Mostly, I just thought "where did her spark go, for God's sake? She's more dull than flat 7up..."
*sigh* That kind of insane energy and spirit were really the only things Rachel had going for her. God knows smarts and introspection weren't her strong suits. Nice to know that the last decent thing about the character is shat on in this.
As you can probably expect, the intimate moments are just *shivers* god-awful.
And this sentence more than any other has convinced me to avoid this book like the plague. After Rachel's detest for him at the beginning I was hoping that she was finally going to make a smart romantic decision and STAY AWAY. Hearing that it's the same old bullshit doesn't surprise me, but it does disgust me enough to leave well enough alone. I didn't even make it through the 'pulling' scene with Marshall, and I didn't mind Marshall (he was boring, but whatever). The INTENSE FIERY LOATHING I feel for Pierce would make this unbearable.
Ivy is an afterthought.
As usual. I've never before seen a 'best friend' character so marginalized and underused. Ever. Ever. It boggles my mind, truly.
Rachel does finally admit attraction and feelings "more than sisterly that she can't pursue".
This just honestly pisses me off. I want to boot Kim in the box, I really do. It's like just make up your fucking mind already. Either kill Ravy dead for good and have them be honest to god friends so that I can just ship them in my head/fic. Or just fucking go there. Rachel must be the stupidest person on the planet not to be able to tell how she fucking feels about a person she goddamn lives with after like five fucking years of knowing her. Jesus Christ, it's too much for a sane person to handle. GROW SOME BALLS COCK-BLOCK! MAKE A CERTAIN SEGMENT THE READERSHIP UNHAPPY (hets or homos) AND JUST MOVE ON!
Al is fairly entertaining, but fuck it, I don't want Rachel to cozy up to him, he's not in a fucking grey moral area, he's at the black end of the spectrum.
Word. I'm tired of Al and the psuedo redemption arc. I don't understand why I'm supposed to like him at all. Cause he can fake a british accent? It's like, how a character like Skimmer gets written off of pure, irredeemable fucking evil yet Al gets all of this 'he's not such a bad guy'/necessary evil bullshit pisses me off beyond belief.
Trent is being a bad guy in this one, which is how I like him the most. Of course, in the end, it's not his fault, as usual. Huge whatever.
Same thing goes for Trent as for Al. It's like, I don't mind Trent when he's being a bad guy/dickhead. Just don't try to schmoopify him like he's Draco Malfoy is fanfiction written by a 13 year old. I don't understand why characters like this get the benefit of the doubt and chance after chance when others are treated like sin pissed all over them for doing morally less repugnant things. Actually that's not true, it's because Kim thinks her morally ambiguous MALE characters are hot shit and wants to have her stand in Rachel get is sexish situations with them. Cause no woman can resist a tight ass and a british accent, even if they are ghosts, and demons and elf nazis.
All I can say is stay away.
I shall thanks to you. I shall.
no subject
no subject
No, wait, I think I want to go back to 2007 and never pick up the first book... then again, there's a very nice, if small, community of great fanfic authors around this series. Maybe the fandom is worth the aggravation, it's just hard to remember after... this.
Oh well. I'll take comfort in the knowledge that maybe I spared a few people some pain... *overdramatic sigh* :p
The worst part is that I know, I just KNOW that even if I swear off those goddamn books, around the same time next year, I'll pick the next one up. I just know it... fuck, crack's got nothing on this. No way this should be legal.