Death’s Mistress by Karen Chance

A Spoiler Free Re-read Review

Death’s Mistress is a lot of running around. Detective Dory on the case with her headless sidekick! It’s fun and chaotic in a good way. At least Dory has a path she’s more or less following, so we get to follow along with her.

I am ridiculously glad Dory, Louis-Cesare, and Radu actually manage to talk their shit out and give each other info. This makes me happy. Would have been better if it had happened at the fricking start, but, ya know, considering how little this shit tends to happen, I’ll take what I can get.

Christine… look, I’m not a fan of religious characters. Especially ones who are suuuuper devoted to their deities. Especially ones who decide they are monsters because of what they are due to that religion. Especially when your religion is predicated on a deity who, ya know, “has a plan for you” but apparently that plan is thwarted because you've decided your life path isn't part of the plan you don't have any details of… but I’m digressing. Anyway… Christine reminds me of Anne Rice’s Louis. All self-deprecating and depression over being a vampire. Like, seriously, if you’re THAT depressed about it and already believe you’re damned, just kill yourself. Save everyone the trouble of taking care of the mess that is you. And then there’s that thing that is brought to light later… that was semi-interesting. Interesting enough to want to discuss but… spoilers. I would also like to take this opportunity to say: suicide is not a way out for humans. Don’t do it. Please get help. You are not a self-hating vampire. Thank you.

The politics in here do not excite me. I’ve never been one for politics. Especially vampire politics, which I imagine are similar but more complicated than human politics. Complicated by actual power dynamic, like, magical power.

The side effects of fey wine on Dory in this book… uh… they’re random as fuck. Like, they definitely serve some of the emotional plot’s purpose, but… they happen randomly and it’s weird. I do think it’s interesting that Dory’s only NOW discovering that vampires still have human emotions.

After Cassie’s ride through the Ley Lines, Dory gets a crash-course in the sport. Because reasons. I wasn’t a big fan of this part and it really just seemed like a non-sequitur for most of it. Literally just a long setup for a murder reveal. Speaking of Cassie, I do wonder what she’s up to during this fiasco. She is mentioned, but it’s really just a mention. But yay, Cassie reference!

Geminus is super creepy in a “not only am I gonna assault you but I’m gonna turn you into artwork” kind of way. And, like, kudos to Geminus for creating a new type of artwork, but… ew.

As much as I love creatures from non-western mythologies being brought in, I would also love for the authors to do a little more than cursory research on them. The luduan is described as a dog (dog-ish) whereas “actual” luduan are deer-like creatures. They’re depicted looked a lot like the shisa or Chinese guardian lions, so I understand the mixup. But still, a look at the wikipedia article would have cleared that up. But, ya know, otherwise, pretty good job using a non-western mythological creature.

But yeah, those are my thoughts on Death’s Mistress. I will add that I’m not exactly a fan of info-dump endings, but this one is alright. Only alright. Not the best ever. And the villain of the piece… well… there was a rant. 

Favorite Line

“Sycophants are always easy to find. They are also easily swayed by the next power who promises them more.” - Mircea Basarab

Midnight's Daughter by Karen Chance

A Spoiler-Free Reread Review

Originally Posted in GoodReads: 8-24-22
 

So apparently I thought Midnight’s Daughter was super chaotic the last time I read it (2018). It really isn’t. Dory does bounce from location to location, but it’s not like there aren’t long stretches between where she isn’t in the middle of some fracas. I also thought Midnight’s Daughter was better served by reading it all at once instead of peace-meal… I still mostly stand by this, but reading it peace-meal this time didn’t throw up any issues for me. Actually made me focus on the sections I was reading as opposed to making it all blur together in a confused jumble.

Dhampir are one of those supernatural entities you almost never hear about. Like, to the point people are surprised they exist at all. See The Twilight Saga, for example. Renesmee, for all the drama surrounding her, is probably the most famous dhampir, though she is never named as such. Anyway, because dhampir are so rare and because I’m a big vampire nerd, that’s probably what originally drew me to read Midnight’s Daughter back in my early 20s. Well, that and this semi-weird idea I had to try at least one book from every author in the library… but that was a different time.

I’m pretty sure I started reading the Dory trilogy of books before I read the Cassie books. Dory is awesome. She’s the kind of femme fatale character I was really into reading and still really like to see. We need more capable female characters whose flaws aren’t rooted in some kind of male-adjacent trauma. Dory is very much her own person with her own set of semi-debilitating flaws. I mean, technically Dory’s issues are Daddy related, but they also have a lot more to do with what she is rather than who wronged her in the past.

Getting a look at Mircea from a completely different perspective is fun. We get to see him more in his role as family leader and protector and less in a sexual connotation. His dynamic with Dory is interesting, hinting at some stuff we get down the line but that I won’t go into here. He’s definitely the put-upon father figure who really just wants the best for his little girl despite her really not wanting anything to do with him.

Gotta do a quick Dory vs Cassie here. Dory has been around a lot longer and seen a lot more and therefore actually knows things. And if she doesn’t know things, she seeks out the information. Cassie has been very sheltered, is only 18, and doesn’t seem to know how to pick up a book to find the information she needs. Cassie floats from situation to situation with Pritkin doing the research heavy lifting and not letting her help, apparently. This sort of thing really stands out in the narration. We get a lot more info about the world we’ve stepped into with Dory’s first book than we ever did with Cassie’s first three.

Dracula isn’t really interesting as a villain in this. He’s definitely not the suave, debonair, Bella Lugosi type but neither the Nosferatu type. He lurks about in the background for about half the book before showing himself to definitely be insane before basically fucking off again for a good chunk of the novel. I honestly think Mircea made a mistake changing this brother. Drac is clearly unstable and probably would have shown that in life, as well. But we know from Cassie’s books that young Mircea didn’t exactly have the best judgement when bringing people over so… yeah. Drac shows himself to be kinda racist in Dory’s case and he has that “do what I want even if it’s impossible or you die” thing going on.

Not entirely sure how I feel about the effects of Fey Wine. Like, I really enjoy the flashbacks of Dory’s life we get because of it, but… I dunno. It seems a bit weird to infuse wine with magic. Or maybe it’s just something about the grapes in Faerie. That’s never explained. The flashbacks were definitely a highlight on this reread.

The Fey themselves are definitely more of a serious threat in this book than they were in Cassie’s books. They’ve got formidable powers and actually seem to know what they’re doing… seem to, don’t actually because they got confused about Claire… who turns or to be more of a semi-flighty badass than is originally stated by Dory. Also, if you just read the Dory books, you get the impression that the Fey are pretty much elves, which is not the impression left by the Cassie books, where they’re much more diverse.

So yes, overall, Midnight’s Daughter is very good and does leave an impression of chaos behind. I attribute this to the giant, sprawling, and, at times, confusing fight scene at the end coupled with Mircea’s info-dump. However, the rest of the book is less chaotic and somewhat nuanced. I really, really enjoyed it on this, my third reread.

My 2018 Review is posted below. It's muuuuuch shorter than this one.

A Spoiler Free Reread Review

Originally Posted on Good Reads November 2018

Such, such chaos. Well plotted enough to have everything come together with a nice bow at the end, but it’s mostly chaos. I think a good portion of it is relatively realistic, in terms of said chaos. Dory tend to fly by the seat of her pants from one crazy situation to another with little to no time to rest in between so the random and not-so-random stuff that keeps happening tends to bleed into the next thing. Kind of like actual life... only with vampires and trolls and magical food. This book is definitely not one that should be read — like I did this time around — peace-meal as it just keeps dragging you along from one thing to the next. There aren’t really any good stopping points along the way and so it’s just better read through all at once like binging a show on Netflix.

In Other News

Currently Reading: The Day of the Dead by Karen Chance and Beneath the Surface: Killer Whales, SeaWorld, and the Truth Beyond Blackfish by John Hargrove with Howard Chua-Eoan

Currently Watching: Project Runway

Currently Playing: Pokemon Legends: Arceus (Finishing my Pokedex slowly but surely)