Whoo hoo! I'm trying to catch up on friends posts now. Yes, I agree - this was a better book than both Bone Crossed and Hunting Ground. I was very happy with it in comparison to Bone Crossed - I kind of felt like it reminded me all over again why Briggs is one of my favorite UF authors.
I knew they'd changed the font, but I didn't know they'd changed the order on the spine (I haven't picked up the mass market of BONE CROSSED yet, but I keep meaning to). I think it's part of their diabolical plan to make us buy the hardcovers and the re-release hardcovers of the earlier books, so that we'll have something that MATCHES.
Yes, well..after my initial flipping out (sometimes I feel passionate in my obsessiveness about covers matching), I realized that "Bone Crossed" probably wouldn't have fit on the spine if it was in the original font. It's a longer title in terms of number of characters in it. But that doesn't explain the switching of the author's name and the title. That I think may be marketing? Or just because they designed the hardcover first and just used that for the PB without bothering to keep it the same as the other PBs? But it sure seems to give me the message that trying keep old readers (who have been faithfully buying the books as paperbacks from the beginning) happy wasn't as high priority as new readers or people spending more for the HC. So.. yeah if I start thinking along that path I can get bitter.
I think it's slightly less sinister: the more popular an author becomes, the bigger their name is on the cover. If it's a no-name author, the name will be smaller than the title. Mid-list, the name will the be same. BIG name, the name is bigger than the title. And with that logic, when an author is popular, it's the name you see first on the spine, not the title, because in theory, it's the name that'll catch your eye first, you know?
as a collector with different ... mmm... needs? wants? i'm happy with the switch to HC. i just prefer it. just me - and i would totally go back and buy the first 3 in HC [except i was given the omnibus version of the first 3 in HC lol]
the "gargoyle" is PROBABLY supposed to be Fae. not all - or even most - of the fae are what we consider beautiful [and that's even ignoring the fucked up Beauty Standards sigh]
i do like the UK cover better.
i think the problem of Bone Crossed is that it was the "transition" novel. and transition novels almost always are lacking that SOMETHING, because they're more about changing the direction, status, over-arcing plot. so i just accepted - and i'm CONVINCED that, now that the pack stuff is more settled [not TOTALLY, but partly] that we're gonna start going into the HISTORY of Mercy, and her ancestry, and her powers, and the PLACE for the Walkers [in the evolutionary/niche sense].
yes, i did :) i need to re-read it soon [stupid meds] but it was a better book, over all, than Bone Crossed, and i too enjoyed the "braided" plot. the Samuel stuff was just heart-breaking, and i'm fairly certain that the Fae lady [name NOT in my head, sigh] *WAS* part of the history that Bran and etc were passing out. :)
the pack dynamics were interesting, although a couple of the more, mmm, selfish wolves pissed me off [even though i have BEEN on the recieving end of people who are willing to destroy themselves to take down an object of jealous, it never ever makes sense to me, and when it shows up in fiction it just feels like a way to make the main characters look better. it's just me, i know. but it bugs me] it was well done. and the Fae "kidnapping" was pretty awesome :)
The shift to romance - I knew there was something different about this one that made me love it. It makes me want to re-read the series again just to see how we ended up here.
Samuel/Ariana felt forced, like you mentioned, and I feel for Samuel fans. I wish there were more hints. I wonder where Briggs is going to go with Stefan and the vampires, though I could stand to see more pack stuff. ♥ werewolves.
As for the sex scene at the end, it seemed like Briggs was trying to make up for the vagueness in Bone Crossed.
I honestly feel Samuel/Ariana is more set-up than anything. We'll see where it goes! :)
I didn't mind the sex scene, but it did make me realize how the focus of the books is shifting, which made me ponder. :) Of course, I didn't *mind* it, but I wasn't totally crazy about it either.
Nice review. I just finished up this one and I liked it. The only thing that really bugged me (as other people have apparently said) is the resolution to Samuel's storyline. I can buy that his first love was a witch, and that seeing her again would rekindle past love. What I have issues with is that it just feels a little too convenient to me. So we have depressed/suicidal Samuel running around in the background of the entire book, and poor Mercy can't do too much to help due to the Fae issue. Then, the love of his life just happens to conveniently show up in the same person that's going to resolve the Fae issue? That didn't really mesh well with me. I'm not saying that Briggs won't take them interesting places in future books, but it was a little too convenient for me.
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Right with you on the hardcover and paperback thing. Also how they changed the font on the paperback once they introduced the hardcover kind of pissed me off too. I refer you to this post today which shows the covers next to each other:
http://reviewsbybrooke.blogspot.com/2010/05/something-bothers-me-about-this.html
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Yes, well..after my initial flipping out (sometimes I feel passionate in my obsessiveness about covers matching), I realized that "Bone Crossed" probably wouldn't have fit on the spine if it was in the original font. It's a longer title in terms of number of characters in it. But that doesn't explain the switching of the author's name and the title. That I think may be marketing? Or just because they designed the hardcover first and just used that for the PB without bothering to keep it the same as the other PBs? But it sure seems to give me the message that trying keep old readers (who have been faithfully buying the books as paperbacks from the beginning) happy wasn't as high priority as new readers or people spending more for the HC. So.. yeah if I start thinking along that path I can get bitter.
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the "gargoyle" is PROBABLY supposed to be Fae. not all - or even most - of the fae are what we consider beautiful [and that's even ignoring the fucked up Beauty Standards sigh]
i do like the UK cover better.
i think the problem of Bone Crossed is that it was the "transition" novel. and transition novels almost always are lacking that SOMETHING, because they're more about changing the direction, status, over-arcing plot.
so i just accepted - and i'm CONVINCED that, now that the pack stuff is more settled [not TOTALLY, but partly] that we're gonna start going into the HISTORY of Mercy, and her ancestry, and her powers, and the PLACE for the Walkers [in the evolutionary/niche sense].
which makes me hopeful :)
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the pack dynamics were interesting, although a couple of the more, mmm, selfish wolves pissed me off [even though i have BEEN on the recieving end of people who are willing to destroy themselves to take down an object of jealous, it never ever makes sense to me, and when it shows up in fiction it just feels like a way to make the main characters look better. it's just me, i know. but it bugs me] it was well done. and the Fae "kidnapping" was pretty awesome :)
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Samuel/Ariana felt forced, like you mentioned, and I feel for Samuel fans. I wish there were more hints. I wonder where Briggs is going to go with Stefan and the vampires, though I could stand to see more pack stuff. ♥ werewolves.
As for the sex scene at the end, it seemed like Briggs was trying to make up for the vagueness in Bone Crossed.
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I didn't mind the sex scene, but it did make me realize how the focus of the books is shifting, which made me ponder. :) Of course, I didn't *mind* it, but I wasn't totally crazy about it either.
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Beyond that, I liked it :)
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