Wednesday, August 15, 2012

I Know That Dude

SPOILER ALERT: I am currently 88% into "Shadow of Night".

I know...I know...I suck for not blogging.  I don't think I've ever had to do this with one of my blogs before...but my apologies go out to all of you who read this regularly...because I just couldn't blog about this book.  It has just not proven to be bloggable material - at all.

This book has been a history lesson, mixed with things that could have happened or could have been said (minus the supernatural, of course, since we all know vampires don't exist.  Right?  Right?! ;) ).  Oh and a whole lot of annoying Kit, whose ass I'd like to shove my foot into over and over again until girlfriend admits she's a pompous leech.

But seriously...there is just no running to one's computer and frantically typing, "Oh holy shiz!  Blackfriars is actually outside the city limits!" It just didn't work this time around.

Until now, that is.

Holy SHIZZLE - Diana's dad just showed up!  NOW I'm back in business!  THIS, I can blog about!!!

I thought Louisa and Kit showing up on the scene was kindof cool...and somewhat bloggable; I just wish the scene had gone on MUCH longer than it did.  I could have done with less hunting in Prague...and more torturing in Greenwich.  I can't even imagine the fun that could have ensued.  But...alas...it was not to be.

But lucky for us, Dr. Proctor appeared out of thin air, reeking of chamomile, oak leaves and coffee.  Immediately I thought "Well, which is it, dude?  Coffee or tea?"  But who am I to question what is arguably the most exciting moment in the book?

OK y'all - I am heading back to Shadow...because it's finally gotten edge-of-one's-seat good...and I must know what happens.  I'll blog more tomorrow because - even though I haven't been blogging - I HAVE been underlining and taking notes in my Kindle like a 5th year undergrad the night before the big exam.

23 comments:

  1. hi carol---i'm feeling the same way: this has turned into an historical novel, and where the heck did the supernatural elements disappear to?? no demonic action, no blood and guts vampire pillaging, and not much witch stuff--not even a good old burning at the stake scene. i'd even happily welcome back the two aunt/witches and that crazy house. i'm glad to hear that the story picks up towards the end...'cause right now it's really bogged down. even matthew is kind of boring, and that's scary! Julie in NJ

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    1. OMG Julie - I actually said the exact same thing to myself yesterday. I'd take those crazy loons in upstate New York over this Elizabethan sensory overload any day! We can only hope Book 3 will actually be able the characters...and not what Queen Elizabeth might have said when she was pissed at her subjects.

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  2. I just read what anonymous wrote - so do you agree? Is Matthew getting boring for you too?
    By the way, welcome back!

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    1. Yes CJ - I totally agree. I don't even know where Matthew is because I could barely find him in this book. :( I'll be blogging my thoughts today or tomorrow as soon as I finish; I'm at 92%.

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  3. I've been stuck at about 80% for - oh, I don't know, 3 weeks? I've just been bored to tears by this book. I was wondering if you were experiencing the same tediousness through it too and maybe that's why there didn't seem to be any new entries for a long time. I guess I'll get back to it, since you say it picks up.

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    1. It does, Julia...hang in there. At about 85% it picks up. I've enjoyed it from there forward. LOL

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  4. Wow! I had such a different experience than you ladies. But I really relish in all the historical stuff. I really loved the book and thought so much happened and gave me a lot to think about. I don't think these books are supposed to be in your face action and supernatural stuff happening every second. They are much more subtle and "real". She talked a lot about that when I saw her. She talked about how these stories blossomed out of some questions she had wondering about how what these supernatural creatures would be doing if they were real. And let's face it - real life isn't always exciting every minute.

    I also think they are way more "intellectual" than most other supernatural books I read as well and I love that about them. It sort of reminds me a bit of Anne Rice, there is actually depth and layers to them and it's based much more in reality and it's not even remotely close to something like the Sookie/True Blood books for example.


    It's funny because when I got to the part with her father I remembered what someone asked her when I went to see her and that was "Are her parents really dead?" and she said "Yes, they were dead" and I remember thinking right then "Oh we'll never get to meet them then" and sure enough we get to meet her father! That was a very pleasant surprise for me.

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    1. I'll be blogging when I finish. I have plenty more to say. :)

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  5. hi again--i am a huge anne rice fan, and this book is nothing like a good (aka, early) anne rice novel. anne rice moved the story along, the characters were well fleshed out, and things actually happened! this book, although i really want to love it, has just bogged down in the middle--i'm glad to hear that it picks up at the end, as the premise is just too darn fabulous (demons, for god's sake!) to not be wonderful. like anne rice's last novel, the wolf's gift (or something or other), the author just got bogged down in too much minutia (sp?) of everyday life. you know, when you have set us up to expect demons, witches, and vampires in the story, why are we just reading about those two kids (yawn), and not more about what matthew (yum) is doing, that big gallowglass (did i get his name right) is up to and what's going on with him in the present day with those miniature pics, and why that researcher in the modern day found diana's diary and where exactly did that story line go? it just dropped like a lead balloon. i do love the Elizabethan setting, but come on--where's the storyline/aka, action--(see the demon comment above)! --Julie in NJ

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    1. Going to reply to you and Brandy together - see below!

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    2. PS - "things actually happened" - great quote/point. I know more than I ever thought I would about Elizabethan London...but when are Matthew and Diana going to stop bickering and get down to communicating? Geez, it's been like couples' therapy!

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  6. I find it really fascinating as an avid reader at the different things people get out of the same book! I actually really liked The Wolf Gift but I'm a HUGE Anne Rice fan and have been for almost 25 years and there's very few books of hers I don't like.

    Anyway, I think if you would hear Deborah speak about the book and what she is trying to do you might feel a little different. The book isn't meant to be an in your face supernatural bonanza. She's also not into writing a big romance bodice-ripper. She said something about the books that I really liked and it was about how the books aren't about the characters falling in love but about staying in love and that is where the real magic is in a relationship. I thought that was so true in many ways. Diana is trying to discover who she is and they are trying to navigate this new relationship and marriage with each other while dealing with all of these other things. I think maybe if people wouldn't expect it to be like other books they've read then maybe they could enjoy it for what it is. It really is a very different book.

    You will find out about the researcher and where that storyline goes at the end!

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    1. I hear you about what DH is trying to do. I just wish _I'd_ have realized before I read ADOW - because THAT was much more character driven and I really got attached to those characters. (Note the word "those"; I'm not quite sure they're even the same people in this book!) And while not a bodice ripper, Matthew _was_ grabbing Diana's boob in the driveway, let's not forget. ;)

      Again - I will finish and post a proper blog...but I wanted to jump in and point out that when I said "minus the supernatural, of course", I meant that there are no vampires, etc in "real life" and therefore could not "have happened." I suppose I should have used parenthesis instead of my favorite "dot dot dot"...and will correct that directly, so as not to invite more confusion.

      I don't have a problem with the amount of supernatural in this book - in fact, I think it's been overwhelming in spots. Sheesh - they walk into a room and there are 3 vampires, 2 deamons, 4 witches and two humans on any given day. I'm like "Wow - Elizabethan England sure was full of non-humans considering these ratios!"

      I just haven't loved that Matthew, being a vampire, surely does not act like a vampire. Or at least not nearly as much as I remember him acting in ADOW. I don't need the supernatural bonanza (I get plenty of that in Vampire Diaries, Twilight and Sookie Stackhouse, the former being a series I've only watched on TV) but I would like a little more supernatural out of Matthew.

      LOL I'm laughing at myself and will now shut UP because I'll have nothing to blog about tomorrow if I keep rambling! :)

      Off to finish the book (I hope!)

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  7. I do agree with you about Matthew, he doesn't seem like your typical vampire most of the time. I wonder sometimes if that's why I like these books so much is because they are so diffeent than the usual vamp stuff I read. It's like a breath of fresh air for me or something??

    I should say too that I actually got the tiniest bit teary at the end (didn't actually cry) but teared up a bit about something which I almost never get that way in books so I will be curious to see what you think about how the end comes together.

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  8. You know, Brandy...you make a good point. How about a book about a vampire grappling with his desire to be human? Don't get me wrong - it's been done to death (Edward Cullen, Stefan Salvatore to name a couple) but I think I'd go into that type of book with a much different attitude...and then I wouldn't complain/bitch/mind when he wasn't scary. When it comes to Matthew...I was mesmerized by him in the Bodleian immediately...because he was so dark and vampiric. He watched her sleep and barely ate and slithered and moved uber fast, etc, etc, etc. And I ate it up! (No pun intended! Ha ha!) So I was definitely not prepared for the Matthew who philosophizes with Kit about poetry and is horrified by talk of modern day human's fantasies of vampires. When he finally bit her I was ecstatic!

    OK REALLY going to go read now! :) PS - I cried when her father showed up. It just happened and I almost shocked myself. Can't wait to finish the last 8% and find out what you cried about!

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  9. I saw DH too and she said SON takes their relationship out into the world. I didn't like the frat house atmosphere-Matthew regressed with his buds. I did like that both Diana and Matthew met up with their dead dads. Got bored in Prague and with QEI's dental issues.

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  10. I have to say that I didn't really like this book. ADOW -loved! This one would be ok for a history reference but I actually forgot that Matthew was a vampire, he seemed more just like a time traveller. The whole blood rage, diary, etc what happened with all that? It's like she writes stuff to get you thinking and then you never hear about it again.

    And why are the new characters (besides daddyvamp) SO BORING?! I loved the characters from ADOW and then this, I was living for a glimpse of Gallowglass and Yesbeau.

    Maybe I shouldn't have read this book in between The Bronze Horseman and Tatiana and Alexander! Hopefully #3 will be better.

    Oh and enough about the threads already!

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  11. I kinda hated this book. It was such a let down from ADOW. I didn't want a history lesson, I wanted part 2 of ADOW. I'm more than likely skipping book 3.

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  12. Finally finished the book, took me ages after only getting through about 2 pages a night and falling asleep, and I'm feeling distinctly underwhelmed! I so so very much wanted to love this book, but where were the editors when this was going through the process of getting ready to be published? (Maybe DH had the same editors that let some of Anne Rice's later books get published, or some of the later Outlander snooze-fests (enough about the Ridge already!) make it to bookstores. HA, just kidding--I adore AR and DG, but admit it, some of their books are snooze-worthy. Back to SON: I can't even remember what happened at the end of the book, can anyone? The few exciting scenes, like Kit trying to off Diana, were brief, and why didn't Diana just listen to the rabbi and "call the book to come" to her? What happened to the powerful Diana in DOW, with weather at literal fingertips? I even kept wishing for the the aunts' house in DOW to reappear--the house had more charisma than diana and matthew combined in SON. stop me now. Carol? comments? --Julie in Jersey

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    1. OH my god I said the same thing!!! She's a friggin witch! Ask the witches to show you how to use your magic to get the book and call it a day! And how about Matthew's bitch sister trying to off her? I hate to sound like the proverbial thieves being crucified next to Jesus...but SAVE YOURSELF already! You're a witch and you have an effing DRAGON. I don't even remember how she made it out of that one. Matthew saved her, didn't he? I get suspension of disbelief but the whole book is about being a witch! Come ON!

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  13. thank you, carol! and you nailed it in your next to last sentence: "the whole book is about being a witch!" well, that's what we were led to believe, but diana seemed to forget most everything about herself in SON...so did matthew, come to think of it. oh, a firedrake is a dragon?! duh, didn't know that one, or maybe i snoozed through the explanation...i just thought it was some annoying thing that flew around the room upon occasion--like a moth with nails, and also about as useless. yes, i think matthew saved diana from his evil sister and kit, but maybe she did something too. who remembers? this could have been a much better book--i just want to give DH a good shake and a better editor for book 3! julie in jersey

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    1. Good points, Julie. Wonder what will happen in Book 3. At this point, I'm iffy on reading it.

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