Phoenix, Adrian: A Rush of Wings
A Rush of Wings (2008)
Writer: Adrian Phoenix
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 90/404
My Rating
Couldn't Finish It: I'd always had a mild curiosity regarding this book, but could never make myself buy it. A lot of it I blame on the cover, as I'm one of the many getting tired of seeing tattoos on the cover models when there's a very good chance the heroine herself doesn't sport any. That, and the outfit? Ridiculous. Maybe the heroine dons such an outfit later for part of an undercover gig, but it's still at odds with the blurb which paints her as a capable FBI agent.
But when a friend of mine said she'd read it, I thought borrowing it would be a safe way to sample the book without committing, specially since my friend wasn't too thrilled with it either. At least she finished it. I found I wasn't interested enough to be bothered.
What didn't work?
1) POV: I actually really liked reading this urban fantasy in the non-traditional third person POV, but where it fell apart was all the different peoples' POVs we actually got. Not just the two main characters of Heather and Dante, but seemingly everyone and anyone they associated with. Whether or not these other characters truly deserve their own POV remains to be seen since I won't finish the book, but it got too crowded, too fast, and therefore disconnected my interest from the main two.
2) Vampires: I've gotten over my vampire hate because I came up with my own idea of a vampire novel (the anti-vampire novel, if you don't mind), so I've been feeling more forgiving of vampire tales of late. I've even been seeking them out because I want to see what kind of variety there is. However, this book manages to capitalize on everything I'm tired of in the vampire stereotype: brooding, angsty heroes, vampire families, vampire politics, and melodrama. No doubt, there's more to this book than meets the eye: I know that without having read it because my friend told me a great deal about the plot. But what I know about the plot and what makes Dante special and different isn't enough to push through the stereotypes. For that matter, neither are the characters.
3) Foreign words/language: I can forgive the French/Cajun. It's set in New Orleans, after all, and so such usage is part of the culture. How it's portrayed here annoys me, but more so because my French is rusty more than anything. But what really annoyed me, despite the glossary in the back, is the made-up words that are not only unpronounceable to the eye, but are so mixed in with the French/Cajun I'm finding my eyes crossing trying to figure out what I should understand and what I shouldn't. This cartoon pretty much says all I have to say about this subject.
I'm not saying this is a bad book. I am saying this just didn't work for me on SO MANY LEVELS, and all of those levels tried my patience. Even the little I read gave me a few pointers on stuff to remember while writing my own work, and that's a good thing, but I'm getting less and less patient with stuff that doesn't interest me, so in the end, I have to pass on this one.
But for those of you who think you might be interested, here's the premise: Special Agent Heather Wallace has been pursuing the Cross-Country killer for three years, and her investigations lead her to New Orleans, LA, to the back door of Club Dead, owned by the lead singer of a band called Inferno who's known only as Dante. Heather has reason to believe that perhaps that Dante is the CCK's ultimate target, but there's more to Dante than she knows, and the forces conspiring against him could be far more than Heather could ever HOPE to protect him from.
Next up:
Midnight Never Come by Marie Brennan
And possibly:
Blood Drive by Jeanne C. Stein
AND
Thirteen by Richard K. Morgan