Finally, I had the time to read the wonderful new book Shadowlight by Lynn Viehl. Recently Ms. Viehl was cool enough to let the followers of her blog volunteer to be sent an eARC in exchange for a review. An ARC is an Advanced Reader Copy, the pre-release book that is sent out to people in the business for reviews and such. The e part just means that it was a file that she sent me instead of a hardcopy - saving trees one author at a time! I thought that her idea was a bit odd at first, those of us who would normally buy the book now have an electronic copy and I am too cheap to buy what I already have. The actual truth is that we who received an eARC are now singing the book's praises before it is released in stores. So I have changes my mind and now think that Ms.Viehl is some kind of crazy genius who stays away from conferences because her brilliance is too much for the public to handle in person.
Another thing that made it so cool was that I felt like one of the big kids. Sure she sent a copy to anyone who asked - but as a newbie writer trying to get anyone in publishing to notice me, having an established author let me have an ARC was a big deal. Plus she gave me a deadline for the review. I had a deadline that someone else set and that person was a big time author - be still my palpating heart!
The book itself took me a little while to read because I was busy and not hooked by the opening chapter. I could tell that it was the nice and gentle opening before tragedy struck but I just didn't like Jessa, the female lead character, from page one. Unfortunetely that dislike carried through the whole book. I think that some of it was my personality, I don't like nice string o' pearl wearing women who have lived lovely lives and wear tailored suits. There is nothing wrong with them but I just don't jive with them and so when a character in a book is like that it is almost a given that I won't like them. Another thing about her was her intense distrust of people who shared psi-abilities with her and her inability to accept the possibility that there was a race, the Darkyn, that had all of the same abilities but had to stay out for the sun and drink blood. She had never been actually pursued for her talents and the leap from psi-ablilites to psi-abilities and drinks blood is not so big in my mind. So her resistance just struck me as annoying stubbornness after awhile.
Having said that, I did enjoy the story and most of the other characters in this book very much. The Takyn series seems to be a little more high on adventure than your average Darkyn book and I like that. Once the action started it just kept on coming. I loved the psychotic Lawson as a crazy guy obsessed with Jessa and GenHance as the evil corporation that has no qualms about playing god. The chase scenes got my heart pumping and I felt a real sense of dread as Jessa was stalked. That is why this book is good writing and Ms Viehl deserves her bestseller status. If I never fully warm up to a character but am still able to place myself next to her as she runs from a psycho and feel my heart pound in a shared fear then that author has mad skills with a keyboard.
A word about a character that I did fully warm up to - Rowan. Man, I love Rowan. Here is a woman who has struggled and has more than one tragedy in her life. She has been molded and bent but never broken by a hard past. At the end of the book there is a sneak peek at the next Takyn book which is Rowan's and is called Dreamveil. It looks so awesome that I think I whimpered when the excerpt ended. I cannot wait until 2010!
So I definitely recommend this book to anyone into paranormal romance. It's an exciting first book for a series that explains what it needs to but doesn't skimp on the action. I have found that some first books in a series are so busy world building that they forget to show me why I should care. This book made me care even if I wasn't initially inclined to. The release date is October 6, so keep an eye out for it!
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