Thursday, April 16, 2009

Swallowing Darkness by Laurell K. Hamilton

I thought I'd take some time out from all the YA reading I've been doing and check in with the Meredith Gentry series.  This is the seventh, and I've read the previous six (which surprises me; I didn't think there'd been that many). 

I think I like this series better than the Anita Blake series, or at least better than what the Anita Blake series has become.  There is a lot (A LOT) of sex and violence in this series as well, but the sex seems less pointless.  Meredith is part human and part fairy, descended from a fertility goddess. So, basically, she is bringing the magic back to fairy through sex.  There are things I like and things that bug me about this book, but overall it was fun.

I like most of the characters in the book, and I do like seeing what magical power Merry and her men are going to awaken next.  Also I am a total and complete sucker for the Wild Hunt, which plays a big role in this book, so I was sold there.  (I've been enamored of the Wild Hunt since I read and reread The Dark Is Rising as a child.  Look for it to appear in my own writing.)  I thought the Hunt scenes were intriguing and very well done.  In fact, the research on the entire fairy aspect appears thorough.  I'm by no means an expert, but the few things I know are authentically represented in this series.  Finally, despite the fact that the Anita Blake series has degenerated into almost entirely pointless porn, there is one thing both Merry and Anita have in common.  They are so very much not rescue bait.  If there is something difficult that must be done (killing, dismembering, whatever), they saddle up and get it done.

That said, there are a few nagging points.  First, I repeatedly get the sense, both in the Anita Blake series and in this one, that Laurell K. Hamilton is not big on mapping out everything ahead of time.  (I could be wrong, in which case I deeply apologize.)  However, it seems like every time a protagonist is in a tight spot, the solution is, "Hey, what if she develops this magical/sex-related ability?"  Or . . . what if the goddess gives her (or someone, um, "near" her) a new magical/sex-related ability?  As much as I like the fact that the goddess goes to bat for Merry, it seems a little too deus ex machina a little too often. Finally, Merry has been whining for six books now (six, really?) about how her poor little mortal self is so fragile and killable. But she's got the Hand of Blood, and the Hand of Flesh, and the goddess on her side.  And now she has an additional important artifact.  Plus, she's surrounded by all the best fairy fighters, many of whom are getting their god-like powers back.  And, apparently, no matter how magical or immortal, the fairies can all be killed by bullets.  Let's stop the whining, shall we?

Still, that said: fun read.  (Rated X: sex, gore . . . but, really, less than usual)