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The Dark Servant #17
Kephi
Heart’s blood on a white knife.
The high priest’s husband is on a rampage. A skilled assassin, S’Tyll has made it his mission to take revenge on behalf of his spouse. Unfortunately, he’s starting with Jisten, S’Rak’s bonded Valer and captain of the guard. At the same time, S’Rak is in deep trouble, for his Zothian past hasn’t remained decently past but is dominating his present and trying to collar his future. Can S’Rak manage to convince his outraged spouse to accept Jisten and attack his real enemies instead?
To make matters worse, the attacks on the Valers continue, this time right through S’Rak’s carefully wrought wards. With the chapel not yet sanctified, it’s as vulnerable as the Valers, and S’Rak is duty bound to defend them all. With S’Tyll under arrest, time becomes a commodity even more precious than gold or water. S’Rak will stop at nothing to secure S’Tyll’s release before the horrors of gaol drive the empath insane, but will it be enough? Or will it be too late for S’Tyll?
The high priest’s husband is on a rampage. A skilled assassin, S’Tyll has made it his mission to take revenge on behalf of his spouse. Unfortunately, he’s starting with Jisten, S’Rak’s bonded Valer and captain of the guard. At the same time, S’Rak is in deep trouble, for his Zothian past hasn’t remained decently past but is dominating his present and trying to collar his future. Can S’Rak manage to convince his outraged spouse to accept Jisten and attack his real enemies instead?
To make matters worse, the attacks on the Valers continue, this time right through S’Rak’s carefully wrought wards. With the chapel not yet sanctified, it’s as vulnerable as the Valers, and S’Rak is duty bound to defend them all. With S’Tyll under arrest, time becomes a commodity even more precious than gold or water. S’Rak will stop at nothing to secure S’Tyll’s release before the horrors of gaol drive the empath insane, but will it be enough? Or will it be too late for S’Tyll?
- GenresM M RomanceFantasy
141 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2014
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 17, 2014
For a supposedly honorable man, Jisten sure has a variable sense of honor. I'm fucking done and tired of all the fucking hypothetical imperative-driven actions and reactions. Jisten is honorable, yet pettily happy that his cuckolding incenses Tyll. And yet, Tyll is forced to cater to Jisten. I think...I'm starting to hate Jisten. He's like *shudders* Rose Tyler. That character had absolutely nothing endearing about her at all, and yet and/all characters fawned over her why? ...because the writers conspired it to be so. Fuckheads.
Actually, because of this, I'm starting to hate Rak. Please, please let it just be blasted kironi magic. I don't want Rak to turn out to be that much of a cold, callous, selfish jackass. That would diminish his woobie power so much and reduce him to snivelling idiot.
Three sex scenes so far and they've all pissed me off. Rak, of course, bottoms in them all. First with Narvain, then with Neren, then with Jisten, all of whom are now on my shit list.
Well, at least the stupid-ass pointless farce is resolved rather quickly. Except then there was more farce. Ah, well. At least it wasn't plot-related farce?
There was also a really weird revelation of some weird-ass features at the beginning, with the Narvain-Rak farce.
I'm very torn about this. On one hand, I've invested so much that I'm more inclined to forgive it faults, especially when it either skirts over the problem and/or does a paltry attempt at making up for it. On the other...it's actually a pretty shitty work. I read it mostly for the overplot, which is slow, and the whump, which is getting drowned out by slapstick and farce. I don't think I really like Jisten anymore, if I ever did.
I wish there was some consistent sense of characterization. ...Unless what's present is consistent, and everyone just happens to be manic-depressive, with maybe a touch of schizophrenia in there as well.
I still don't understand the calendar/time-keeping system and I doubt I ever will. I just keep ploughing on and inferring time elapsed based on context.
The entire thing is so spastic I don't even quite know what to say, really. In some senses, it's not bad. It's alternately whimsical and serious. I just wish the vehicle of supposed whimsy didn't have to be slapstick farce so much of the time.
I'm mollified, at least for now, especially in my outrage from the previous installment. However, I think the appeal of this series is drastically decreasing for me, especially, also, in light of how pricey each installment is.
Actually, because of this, I'm starting to hate Rak. Please, please let it just be blasted kironi magic. I don't want Rak to turn out to be that much of a cold, callous, selfish jackass. That would diminish his woobie power so much and reduce him to snivelling idiot.
Three sex scenes so far and they've all pissed me off. Rak, of course, bottoms in them all. First with Narvain, then with Neren, then with Jisten, all of whom are now on my shit list.
Well, at least the stupid-ass pointless farce is resolved rather quickly. Except then there was more farce. Ah, well. At least it wasn't plot-related farce?
There was also a really weird revelation of some weird-ass features at the beginning, with the Narvain-Rak farce.
I'm very torn about this. On one hand, I've invested so much that I'm more inclined to forgive it faults, especially when it either skirts over the problem and/or does a paltry attempt at making up for it. On the other...it's actually a pretty shitty work. I read it mostly for the overplot, which is slow, and the whump, which is getting drowned out by slapstick and farce. I don't think I really like Jisten anymore, if I ever did.
I wish there was some consistent sense of characterization. ...Unless what's present is consistent, and everyone just happens to be manic-depressive, with maybe a touch of schizophrenia in there as well.
I still don't understand the calendar/time-keeping system and I doubt I ever will. I just keep ploughing on and inferring time elapsed based on context.
The entire thing is so spastic I don't even quite know what to say, really. In some senses, it's not bad. It's alternately whimsical and serious. I just wish the vehicle of supposed whimsy didn't have to be slapstick farce so much of the time.
I'm mollified, at least for now, especially in my outrage from the previous installment. However, I think the appeal of this series is drastically decreasing for me, especially, also, in light of how pricey each installment is.
Displaying 1 of 1 review