This one was good. Clarified some things about Kody but brought up a whole slew of new questions. Typical Sherrilyn Kenyon and I don't mean that in a bad way. Looks like the next book may answer some questions bout Caleb. I will be happy to stay in the present timeline in the next book. Also, I really don't remember who Thorn is so I definitely need to go back and reread the books where he apparently played a part in before.

At last pretty much comes up the main focus of this book. Qhuinn and Blay have been circling each other for at least seven books now so it's about damn time. Actually, their issues have gone on so long that ending seemed kind of to easily HEA. But thanks to J.R. Ward's writing style I know we'll see more of. them in the future. As for everything else, things are getting interesting with Assail, Xcor and Tres. This world is slowly expanding and I like it.

But,this was supposed to be Quinn and Blay's book and because of that ever expanding world we didn't get that. I remember back in the beginning of this series,I wondered how the author could continue it after all the brothers were matched up. Now we know, by adding new characters. But she does it slowly so we see more and more newbies in each book when the books are supposed to focus on the main couple. We've seen that in the last few books and this one is no different. If you are looking for 600+ pages of Quay, this is not it.

That doesn't bother me too much though. What does is the language. It always takes me a bit to get back into this ghetto language they use in this series. As someone who grew up and still lives in a place where people talk like that regularly I always feel like I should be a bit insulted by this series. I don't get why these vampires talk like that. And now that we are expanding outside that group why are the regular vBulletin people and some from the glymera starting to sound like them too? This troubles me and I can't put my finger on why. But it brings my review down. Luckily, I like the newer characters as much as the old so I'm still into this series.

Man did the last 6-7 chapters save this for me. The world building was flimsy and after reading someone else's comments, I thinks it's because of this all being written from Meira's pov. She has know knowledge of Winter or anyplace else as they used to be and she's kept in the dark about other things purposefully. So she makes a lot of assumptions and the author seems to just roll with them without grounding anything in a more realistic way for the reader. I mean, for example, I'm still confused about why the seasons are the way the are and the rhythms as well. Is that because of magic or what? Also, some things just never get explained. Like, how is Meira able to all this acrobatic climbing. and running around in all the cities if she's never been to one before? I don't know.

Most of the characters are pretty one-dimensional except for Meira. There's really no surprises in this story. Others mentioned twists and turns but everything was so obvious to me. The only surprise was the magic and how it works and only because no one really seems to know anyway.

I will say the Meira growing as a character was cool. She knows herself pretty well and is not too over the top. I am interested to see where things go now that she knows her status in the world.

The action scenes contain all the best writing on this book. Hence why I think the last third of this book is the best. Angra is definitely a proper villain and I am looking forward to him in the next book. I won't preorder it and probably won't even buy it but I will read it.

Well, that was quite the ride. The summary for this book is misleading; probably intentionally so. But because of that I was somewhat disappointed with the first 50% of this book. Also, I think because of the irregular timeline. Every time I got into some facet of the story the next chapter would take me to a different time that I didn't care about yet. Something I'm not used to in this type of fiction. Other than that, I didn't really connect with Laney, the main character, beyond the basics so I had a hard time caring at many points. But as things got creepier, more suspicious, and the plot thickened as some things were revealed, I became hooked. About half way through so many things are revealed but a shitload of new mysteries crop up as well. This was well written. Not really my style but still very, very good. Plus that ending, wow. All my tears were for the relationship between Donnie and Laney, though I felt pain for the Blythe-Laney-Armin trio. Donnie's "surprise" was the only thing I could really predict. Anyway, thanks to the last half, I gave this 3 stars instead of 2.

I am quite proud to have finally finished this after all these months. It is all over the place so it was hard to just read directly through. I wasn't expecting it to read like many of the other anthologies or collected works that I have read and am currently reading. Even taking out the Coming to America vignettes, even just following Shadow's story line, there are so many other story lines coming and going, weaving in and out of his that its hard to stay focused. It felt like there were so many ending and beginnings that I took substantial breaks to read many other books.

So this wasn't a gripping story. I hesitated to pick this up once I found out Neil Gaiman is from England. I was one of the few who thought 'How dare you?' as he says. And I don't quite agree that we mark our sacred places with random roadside attractions. However, its still riveting. The ending was unexpected but shouldn't have been and won't be for those truly immersed in Germanic mythology if nothing else. I'm glad I finished these meandering tales. It turned out well as a whole.

Ahh when the page count gives away the ending. It was good though. I was hoping those extra pages when everything about the case seemed tied up meant that NR put in a good twist but alas.

Eve and Roarke were very lovely dicey in this one. Or as close to it as they get. I loved how they realized they're violent. They're very comfortable in their relationship now and it shows.

My God, that took forever. My fault though, I kept being distracted by other things to read. So obviously it wasn't that gripping but I instantly fell back into the story whenever I picked up the book again so it wasn't horrible.

Okay, problem is the changing storylines. What didn't bother me in the last book was truly aggravating in this one. So many stories for several couples and even an older one about Wrath. I'm upset about Assail and Sola. I'm pissed there was absolutely no sign of Qhuinn and Blay. Trez' situation with and without Selena is weird and I have no clue where things are going with Xcor and Kayla.

Back to the main couple, so much was drawn out by minutiae and then the ending was so rushed. All of a sudden we're skipping months ahead.

Also, I liked the divorce, marriage, and switch to a democracy. Glad the glymera lost their status. But that unanimous vote for Wrath to be king forever at the end was so, so trite. I don't even want to talk about it. I'm hoping that Beth's pregnancy helps shine a light on why their race is having birth issues.

The animosity between Xcor and his second looks promising. I wonder how things will play out.

I think I'll take longer than a month before I read the next book. The way they are being written now means I need more time in between.