Romance Quest!: "Sins of The Flesh" by Eve Silver

[wolffyluna]

Usually if I'm going to get put off by a book, it's in the first few pages, not halfway through. This book was an exception.

I accidentally grabbed the third(?) book in a series, and I might see if I can find one of the earlier ones, because Eve Silver's writing style is good. I liked it. She just, at least in this book, got stuck in the middle.

The setting: a paranormal, Masquerade style urban fantasy, where most of the supernatural critters work for gods who do not like each other. Our protagonists: Malthus Krayl; son of Sutekh, ladies man, and soul reaper(? no idea what that is), and Calliope Kane; loyal to Aset (who hates Sutekh), closed off, business-like, and a vampire thingamy-bob.

The beginning is strong: both characters have strong voices, and the meetcute(s) support some good dramatic irony. Malthus' inner thoughts are hella grating (he is a horndog who constantly refers to women as 'females') but at least it's distinctive. Calliope is attracted to Malthus and would really like not to be (and there's an added twist because she had put on a disguise to go to a club and feed on someone... and nearly fed on him by accident and ran away), Malthus wants to work out how to get her into bed because he wants to see if he can (and because his confidence is smarting after a potential bed mate he found at a human club ran away from him for no reason he can work out).

The problem is the conflict doesn't actually progress from there. Like, the non-romantic plot ticks along fine, with it's High Priest Hot Potato-- but the characters' feelings about each other don't. And I don't dislike "I'm attracted to this person and I don't want to be"-- but as a conflict, that cannot be sustained over 300 pages. (It can't be sustained over 150!) Something else needs to be the problem. (I think Eve was aiming for Malthus' "self sacrifice" at that point to change Calliope's mind and shuffle the problem along. Small problem there: the self sacrifice was unintentional, and thus falls flat emotionally. Also, I was bored by that point; it was too little too late.)

...I'm really hoping the problem isn't that I'm picky, and that it's just I don't know how to pick them yet. (I've been listening to Be The Serpent, and I've heard some reasonable sounding recommendations from that. Also, I have another book from the library which seems promising based on the fact its premise made me laugh, which seems like a favourable sign considering the one other romance novel I liked did that too.)

Comments

[chocochipbiscuit]

Also, I have another book from the library which seems promising based on the fact its premise made me laugh

INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW JUST WHAT THIS PREMISE IS!!!!!

[wolffyluna]

So, our leading lady has been betrothed to someone terrible, and she is willing to do whatever it takes to get out of it, including taking a tactical nuclear bomb to her reputation.

Said terrible person has a rival, a bastard knight known to be at risk of siring a few bastards of his own, ifyouknowwhatimean.

Obviously, our leading lady's solution to her problem is to seduce that knight.

(The possibility of "we're just having sex to achieve a goal OH NO WE CAUGHT FEELINGS" is *chef's kiss* magnificent.)

[lb_lee]

Enh, I truly believe that it takes a while to build your Sturgeon's Filter! (Sturgeon's Filter is the ability to recognize and sort through Sturgeon's Law: 90% of everything is shit.)

Also FEEEEEEEEEEMALES

--Rogan/Mori

[wolffyluna]

Yeah, I think that's my current problem. (Also, I don't think I've entirely decoded the... secret lingo(?), for example 'if anyone is described as a spitfire in the blurb, RUN AWAY.'

The dude ended up sounding Ferengi! It was really weird to read.

[lb_lee]

Yeah, there's DEFINITELY a sorta lingo that I have yet to decode either.

I've been trying to dig around, but definitely flailing a bit. (Ran into a pretty bad gay romance novel in my library. Like, not bad as in offensive, just... not very well-written. Very I FEEL IRRESISTABLY DRAWN TO YOU FOR REASONS I GUESS THIS IS LOVE kinda thing.) Still swearing by KJ Charles though, I need to chase down more of her books.

[wolffyluna]

That's the second recc for KJ Charles I've seen, so I'm definitely going to check her out now!

[lb_lee]

Only read the one book of hers, but her pacing is so good. After a childhood of doorstops where you could easily excise a hundred pages from the middle with barely any editing at all, it felt SO SATISFYING to read a book that was short, but snappy, and EVERYTHING was used well. It felt like entering a perfectly designed small house after only seeing enormous MacMansions.

[wolffyluna]

Yea, I might check out one of her other ones. The non-romantic plot was pretty snappy, and moving at a good pace--put the romance plot was kinda getting dragged behind it. (And in hindsight, part of the problem was that the emotional/romantic conflict she chose wasn't the best conflict these two characters could have with each other.)