3,50 Transition stars
This is clearly a transition book. Once again the pacing was really odd, alternating between impossibly complicated dangers and character's internal turmoil reflections. The plot revolves around the threat from Haagenti and the Elf mission to retrieve a possible elf-demon hybrid baby.
The blood feud and the constant attacks from Haagenti were really too long drawn and the fighting scene felt like way too late and too short to release the tension of such a procrastinated smackdown. Sam might be free from this danger now, but has acquired two Lord Elves as enemies in return. I wasn't convinced by the solution of the hybrid-baby hunt either. Hybrid are always a very interesting subject to me, I like in-between things, fluid, full of unknown possibilities, so I was really eager to see how the author would play that out, but I guessed pretty quickly who would that turn out to be. Ms Dunbar, you really need to work on Sam's overall intuitivity, it can be annoying for a reader to have to wait so long for the unfolding of something we had known all along. I didn't like Amber, her introduction was too short and superficial. It felt a bit like more of a plot device to create more couple problems between Wyatt and Sam than anything else. She literally had that one scene.
I still liked the book, some parts of it very very much so. Every scene with Gregory is such a pleasure, I usually read them twice straight away. I am dying to know what's up with all the favours he's asking from Sam. There was some very significant moments...I just can't get enough of him and them together! I can really feel his strong, burning, imposing energy...sigh...The scene of the Ruling Council went as I had hoped, I would have cheered for even more mayhem. Come on, who can refuse the impulse to be a Imp when surrounded by super uptight people? It reminded me of every time we have auditors visting us, with their predicatble blue suits, blue ties and leather shoes and perfectly parted hair...I honestly don't know how I manage, every time, to stop myself from walking up to them and loosen all their ties and mess mercilessly with their hair...I probably should do it next time instead, yes...He's also a bit in the backburner in this instalment, so whenever he showed up it was even more interesting.
It really mostly revolves about all the changes Sam is going through and the decicions she comes to make. She has to be almost forced to take his new position and duties seriously, she doubts herself, her morals, her actions in respect to other people, she craves the approval of the people she loves, Wyatt most of all. She gets fear of failure, more guilt, a little self-pity and self-doubt. She is certainly no longer just an imp. She's not just a demon and not the demon she was used to be. I am sure that Gregory, with his omniscience, has seen already a glimpse of what she could actually be if she quit the non-chalant demon attitude. As repetitive as certain thoughts were, I really don't mind, never mind, characters' growth. It was due and inevitable. As long as she does get to the other side, I will follow the transformation patiently. She made some pretty important choices about human lives in this story, her empathy level is growing exponentially.
While I loved everything that showed how together and in love Sam and Wyatt were, and there were some incredibly tender and touching moments, not just hot ones, I think Wyatt is suffering from lack of...deeper characterization. His behaviour seemed a bit bipolar at times, he obviously had his own changes going on that brought him to a different attitude, but we only got his explosions. Sometimes they fell a bit out of the blue. For someone who hardly blinked after learning Sam is a demon, his sudden show of ethical doubts felt a bit odd, his whole emotional and thinking processes are missing from the page. One thing is clear, he's more and more aware of the disturbing sides of being a demon and he's no more willing to just close his eyes about the icky factors. Sam is a devouring demon, the souls she keeps inside her live in constant terror, she draws from their emotions. No, it's not a delicate trait for sure. He guilt-trips her about it. On one side it's good she comes to question things and give more value to life, on the other she is a demon, he knew it already. It could all have been managed better I think, it would have been more powerful than just painful fights for this couple. Their bond, nonetheless, seems pretty strong still at the end of the story.
I absolutely will follow on with this serie, but I need a little pause before going on, I gulped the first three parts at once. Hopefully, faster action, more Gregory and less repetitions in the next one.