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Shadow Magic (2009)

by Jaida Jones(Favorite Author)

3.81 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0553806971 (ISBN13: 9780553806977)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Spectra

series

Havemercy

review 1: Better than the last book, Havemercy. MUCH BETTER.The authors definitely improved their skills. The plot for this book better developed than the last, but still has the same problem of having the last hundred pages of the book being the meat of the plot. Again, the shining stars of this book are the characters and how they interact with one another. I'll always remember this book fondly because of them. This time around the characters were more "colorful" to me rather than some variations of stereotypes. Recommended for people who like awesome character relationships! :D
review 2: Will they or won't they?This was my frustration with Shadow Magic. After sitting on my shelf unread for almost 2 years, I finally read Shadow Magic out of boredom. I read it in ... moretwo great gulps over a weekend, because I had a pressing need to get to the end. Why? Plot? No. Great characters. No, actually. Great relationships? Not quite.No, it was the Ross-and-Rachel factor. Will they or won't they? And I'll say, the payoff was not equal to the buildup.I remember liking Havemercy, but I could barely recall the plot. So when Shadow Magic introduced a main cast of new characters and a few peripherals from last hook, I was just uninterested. It took me 2 years to get past the blurb on the jacket. Then I became totally invested, mostly in the Mamoru and Kouje storyline, and I thought - ah! They've done it again. An m/m romance no one needs to invent in fanfiction. But it never materialized! I was so disappointed that there were no romances, no hookups, not even an admission to the readers of any romantic feelings. I felt like the entire story was composed exclusively so that fanfiction could later be written about it.What was most frustrating for me was the (continued) lack of female protagonists. Both Mamoru and Caius were described as effeminate or androgynous. It was as if they were stand-ins for women who aren't as pretty or interested in fashion. In fact, early on, I thought there was going to be a twist where Mamoru turned out to actually BE female. I was left with the vague disappointed feeling that women are not as awesome and are therefore not important enough to be included.For me, I ended up reluctantly buying the friendship between Caius and Alcibiades (although I think we were lead pretty strongly to believe that Caius is gay, which always made me question his motives for befriending Alcibiades -- did he want to hit that, or did he just want a new pet? ). What I didn't buy was the platonic resolution of Mamoru and Kouje's storyline. All these other men were fawning over Mamoru-dressed-as-a-woman (naturally more beautiful than all other women, mind), but Kouje never had so much as a wayward thought? There was a lot of intimacy and touching that I thought was leading somewhere, but it turns out they're just friends. Seriously?? I felt led on. Write a love story, or don't, but I'm not sure what to do with Mamoru and Kouje other than to throw my hands up in frustration and think twice about reading the next novel. less

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