Helpful Score: 8
Plot Summary: Sebastian is an incubus living in a fascinating world called Ephemera. This world is like ours... but shattered. People cannot travel easily from one place to another, instead crossing bridges that take them where they are meant to be, instead of where they necessarily want to go. Loved the world! Fascinating!
Main Characters: Sebastian: Sexy, alpha male until he meets heroine. Then he becomes... mush. Lynnea: I LOATHED her! When she was naive she was sooooo painfully naive and then she becomes all-knowing and completely domesticates Sebastian. Painful.
Best About This Book: The world, Ephemera is fascinating and so creative! The cover is beautiful.
Worst About This Book: The hero, and other demons in this book, are so weak and tame... here is an example: describing Lynnea's rage at Sebastian and another demon the author writes, "she...bounced." And for emphasis, this line is repeated. Her... bouncing, reduces the demons to quivering masses of fear. Her "bouncing" tantrum earns her respect and fear among all who witnessed it. 'Nuf said.
Summary: I wouldn't read it again. I would recommend it to those interested in a fascinating alternate reality, but not to those interested in romance.
Main Characters: Sebastian: Sexy, alpha male until he meets heroine. Then he becomes... mush. Lynnea: I LOATHED her! When she was naive she was sooooo painfully naive and then she becomes all-knowing and completely domesticates Sebastian. Painful.
Best About This Book: The world, Ephemera is fascinating and so creative! The cover is beautiful.
Worst About This Book: The hero, and other demons in this book, are so weak and tame... here is an example: describing Lynnea's rage at Sebastian and another demon the author writes, "she...bounced." And for emphasis, this line is repeated. Her... bouncing, reduces the demons to quivering masses of fear. Her "bouncing" tantrum earns her respect and fear among all who witnessed it. 'Nuf said.
Summary: I wouldn't read it again. I would recommend it to those interested in a fascinating alternate reality, but not to those interested in romance.
Helpful Score: 6
Huh. I wanted to love it, I really tried, but in the end I didn't even like it. The premise is beautiful and fascinating, but the characters fell flat. Sebastian is an incubus who merely thinks about sex with Lynnea for nauseatingly long periods. He's supposed to be a tortured sex demon but seriousy, when? Lynnea is a country bumpkin who says the most ridiculous things. The idea is great, the execution and characters are not. And there is no central character despite the title. The book jumps around and I didn't feel like I knew any of the characters. They were sketches instead of fully fleshed. I stopped reading more than halfway through, a thing I almost never do. Love Anne Bishop's other books but this one was boring.
Helpful Score: 5
It took me a little while to get into this book and into the world that Bishop has created. But once I did, I really connected with the characters and enjoyed watching their journey throughout the book. I am quite happy with how this book ended, but I'm still very much looking forward to reading the sequel.
Helpful Score: 3
I think the best thing about this book was the world. I really liked the world that Bishop created and I think she could have done a lot more with it. That being said, the rest of the book fell flat for me. I wasn't particularly drawn to any of the characters, but Lynnea's characterization felt really off. At first she was SO innocent and clueless and then all of a sudden she seems like a completely different person and there isn't anything I can think of to really account for such a drastic change in such a short period of time other than Sebastian putting her in a catsuit and letting her "strut" around the Den. It just didn't seem very realistic. On top of that, Sebastian is supposed to be this "badass" incubus, but I think this was more of a case of telling, not showing, because I never once saw an example of Sebastian being a badass, nor did he make a very convincing incubus. And then Bishop just did the whole "fade to black" thing when he and Lynnea finally got around to having sex and it left me totally unmoved.
Overall, I think the romance in this was sub-par and I would have liked it better if Bishop would have done a bit more world-building and concentrated on fleshing out Sebastian and Lynnea's characters instead of skipping around between perspectives so much. Definitely wouldn't read it again.
Overall, I think the romance in this was sub-par and I would have liked it better if Bishop would have done a bit more world-building and concentrated on fleshing out Sebastian and Lynnea's characters instead of skipping around between perspectives so much. Definitely wouldn't read it again.
Helpful Score: 2
Anne Bishop is one of my favorite fantasy authors and I was excited to re-read this book for the first time in order to get to the conclusion of this series.
As for the book, Bishop writes very consistently. This book, its characters and their interactions are quite close to the Black Jewels series... so much so, that I am very much in the mood to re-read these next, or at least very soon.
I like that she has taken the mythology of the incubi and succubi and twisted them to her own purposes. This book focused on the males, so I am intrigued for the sequel that will hopefully strengthen the female characters' P.O.V. in this fragmented world.
As for the book, Bishop writes very consistently. This book, its characters and their interactions are quite close to the Black Jewels series... so much so, that I am very much in the mood to re-read these next, or at least very soon.
I like that she has taken the mythology of the incubi and succubi and twisted them to her own purposes. This book focused on the males, so I am intrigued for the sequel that will hopefully strengthen the female characters' P.O.V. in this fragmented world.
Helpful Score: 2
Not quite as good as the Black Jewels novels...but still highly entertaining. Bishop's world building skills are good...her ability to get you quickly acclimated to her world so you can easily follow the story...well...it's a fault of ALL of her writing. Eventually...you do get a feel for the "where" of the setting...and then her story becomes engaging.
In this book...I would have liked more focus on the main character. I liked Sebastian...but I didn't really "get" his chemistry with Lynnea. I also liked Belladonna's character...but again...it took a while to piece together the back story...I kept going back to reread chapters to see if I was missing something.
Her saving grace...is her ability to write great scenes when her characters interact. Her dialogue is strong...the emotional overtones clear and engaging. And the take on good and evil...is novel. But not necessarily if you've read her other books...where demons and witches tend to be the hero figures.
By the end...I though her fantasy world was very well done.
In this book...I would have liked more focus on the main character. I liked Sebastian...but I didn't really "get" his chemistry with Lynnea. I also liked Belladonna's character...but again...it took a while to piece together the back story...I kept going back to reread chapters to see if I was missing something.
Her saving grace...is her ability to write great scenes when her characters interact. Her dialogue is strong...the emotional overtones clear and engaging. And the take on good and evil...is novel. But not necessarily if you've read her other books...where demons and witches tend to be the hero figures.
By the end...I though her fantasy world was very well done.
Helpful Score: 1
Sebastian was the same kind of story you'd expect from Anne Bishop---overly powerful,kind, yet misunderstood people meeting people who (though weaker) love them anyway etc. Not bad, but if you want that kind of story, read her Black Jewels trilogy first. Then come back to this one.
None of her new books seem to equal the beauty of The Black Jewels Trilogy. I was depressingly unsatisfied with this one.
Another excellent work by Anne Bishop. This has very good character development and an unusual takeon the fight between good and evil.
Not as great as the Black Jewels books, but a pretty good read.
I love anything Anne Bishop writes. This was an excellent book that kept you engaged. I couldn't put it down.
She's really becoming one of my favorite writers. I really enjoyed this book although I think I'm partial to her other series. Can't wait to read Belladonna....
