21 Nov 2014

SAINT CITY SINNERS.


SAINT CITY SINNERS by LILITH SAINTCROW.

SOURCE: Given to me by a friend, I was only a few pages in when I realised that I'd been the one to read and pass part one in this five part series onto her.

BACK COVER BLURB: Saint City has always been Dante Valentine's home. It's where she grew up, it's where her dead are buried, and it's where she learned to hunt.

Now, one call from an old friend will bring her back to investigate a murder too close to home for anyone's comfort. But the one person she trusted has just betrayed her.

Sometimes revenge is best served demon-hot ... 

FIRST SENTENCE {Overture}: Japhrimel stood in the middle of the wrack and ruin of the Haunt Tais-toi, his long wet-dark coat lying on his shoulders like night itself.

MEMORABLE MOMENT {Page 58}: Here in Cairo Giza the pyramids were sonorous bass notes at the very edge of psychic 'hearing', throbbing against bones and visceral like a subsonic beat.

MY THOUGHTS: Told the story, part four in the series, began by repeating the last few pages of the previous novel and thus the plot was easy enough to pick up. I'm afraid I didn't find this to be the case but then that is no surprise when reading book one, Working For The Devil, felt like I'd joined the series midway through.

Taking into account that whilst I have read book one but not books two or three I shall be reviewing this on its own merits, as a novel in its own rights rather than as part of a series.

Poorly written. I found the words randomly picked out in italics for seemingly no reason puzzling. The repetitiveness increasingly annoying. Yes, we know Dante was a necromancer with a gem stone in her cheek, molecule-drip nail polish and sparking rings. That Japhrimel was a demon, not human. And oh my goodness, 'The Mark'. Mentioned more times that I care to think of, why the need to keep telling us these things? 

A novel perhaps more suited to those into world-building. Not that I found this aspect of story particularly exemplary but it certainly beat the woeful characterisations - Dante (so whiny a heroine as to be a pain in the ass rather than the proverbial 'kick ass' as is generally the case with this genre) and as for 'Japh'? Best described as contrary, an abusive boyfriend one minute, a shoulder to cry on the next. Far from making him a complex character all it did was make him appear, well, wishy-washy and inconsistent.


 

12 comments:

Unknown said...

Looks like a good novel.

Kelly said...

Well, I think this is one I can easily pass up. It didn't really appeal to start with, and your review didn't change that.

Joseph Pulikotil said...

Hello greetings.

Well written commentary. You have a knack for lucid writing. Thanks

Barbara said...

I was going to say how nice that you and your friend have the same taste in books but maybe not. Or perhaps your friend tried it, hated it and passed it on. A neighbour and I swap a bag of books every few weeks. She always gives me ones I would have bought myself had I seen them in a shop. I’m not so sure she likes my choices quite so much though.
I will pass on this one, thanks for the tip.
Have a great weekend.

Sherry Ellis said...

This sounds like one I'll pass on!

Suko said...

Tracy, thanks for your honest commentary. I don't think this book's for me, either.

brandileigh2003 said...

Well, at least there was some form of decent world building even with the poor writting

Melissa (Books and Things) said...

Too bad! I've heard good things about her writing so maybe I'll try one of her other books first.

Yvonne @ Fiction Books Reviews said...

Hi Tracy,

Definitely not a series I would be interested in reading and a book which it sounds as though you would rather your friend had kept to herself!

Is this the same friend who was the lucky recipient of 'Working For The Devil' and if so, she either enjoyed the series much more than you did to have got to book 4, or she is just getting her own back on you for introducing her to the series in the first place :)

Life is too short for bad books!

Have a great weekend.

Yvonne

Melliane said...

I know I've read the first book but I don't remember my feelings... one day I'll have to reread or try book 2.

Brian Joseph said...

I am obsessive about reading series in order.

Even with that said, this one sounds really bad :(

So many books, so little time said...

Oh I think I will miss this one too, I hate when things are randomly italicized as it makes me wonder what am I missing or not understanding.

Thanks for the honest review

Lainy http://www.alwaysreading.net