Acheron thoughts...
So, I finished Acheron today. I don't think I've been that fixated on a book for a while.
It's funny that there are some reviews on amazon where people find the first part to be the 'flaw' of the book and wish it was all like the second half (i.e. the modern romance part).
Maybe I am less squeamish or just have weird reading tastes, but for me it's basically the opposite.
Mind you, the second part was fine enough and I enjoyed it, and unlike the first part, it didn't give me any (literal) nightmares. Plus, smoochies are always good. But I don't think it was nearly as good as the first.
The second part was a not-bad romance novel (or novella, I guess, since it was only 200+ pages). But the first part was genuinely good and moving and hey, it mattered enough to me and was vivid enough to me to give me nightmares, so you know...
I think the first part (i.e. all the backstory) was way better actually. It made me genuinely care. That's the part I couldn't put down at 3am.
I think that is because (and I know, that is a bizarre thing to say about a romance novelist), I think Kenyon's strength never is in her romantic relationships. Sure, she can write 'hot' scenes with the best of them, but that is not the same thing. What I really like most about her books is never the romance (except for Zarek/Astrid. I think that was the only genuinly swoonily romantic book she wrote) but the world-building mythology and explorations of non-romantic relationships, and adrenaline stuff and trauma.
In a way, I think she'd do really well if she decided to switch genres and write urban fantasy.
So I think the first part, even though it had no romance at all, really catered to all her strengths: it was definitely full of mythology and world-building, and addressed a hell of a lot traumatic consequences of abuse (I really do think she was working some of her own issues through Ash), and all the character interactions were so interesting. I mean, I hated the messed-up-beyond-belief thing between Ash and Artemis, but I hated it emotionally, because it drew me in and was awful for Ash. As a relationship to read about, it was complicated and interesting. Fascinating actually, in all its hideous dysfunction (and a rather realistic abuse pattern type stuff: she loves him and punishes him for that too). In fact, even though it was an evil evil relationship and I am glad it's done, and I think someone should behead Artemis into the bargain, for me as a reader, it was a more interesting (and better drawn) relationship than that between Ash and his OTP. It was so well-written.
The second half is not bad, though way way fast in a sense of why the OTP fall for each other. I wish she'd devote the same amount of attention and psychological expertise to it. But as I said, I don't think romance has ever been her strongest point.
I like Tory just fine, and I am very happy Ash found happiness at last, and certainly the first part makes for some pretty harrowing reading, but it's still better written. In fact, if it wasn't for all the mythology and the fact that it's part of a series, I would have loved for the book to continue in the ancient world instead and have him find love there and etc etc.
But oh boy, brilliant or not, I do not want to reread the first part for a really really really long time. Just thinking of some of it is making me ill. Contradictory, I know.
It's funny that there are some reviews on amazon where people find the first part to be the 'flaw' of the book and wish it was all like the second half (i.e. the modern romance part).
Maybe I am less squeamish or just have weird reading tastes, but for me it's basically the opposite.
Mind you, the second part was fine enough and I enjoyed it, and unlike the first part, it didn't give me any (literal) nightmares. Plus, smoochies are always good. But I don't think it was nearly as good as the first.
The second part was a not-bad romance novel (or novella, I guess, since it was only 200+ pages). But the first part was genuinely good and moving and hey, it mattered enough to me and was vivid enough to me to give me nightmares, so you know...
I think the first part (i.e. all the backstory) was way better actually. It made me genuinely care. That's the part I couldn't put down at 3am.
I think that is because (and I know, that is a bizarre thing to say about a romance novelist), I think Kenyon's strength never is in her romantic relationships. Sure, she can write 'hot' scenes with the best of them, but that is not the same thing. What I really like most about her books is never the romance (except for Zarek/Astrid. I think that was the only genuinly swoonily romantic book she wrote) but the world-building mythology and explorations of non-romantic relationships, and adrenaline stuff and trauma.
In a way, I think she'd do really well if she decided to switch genres and write urban fantasy.
So I think the first part, even though it had no romance at all, really catered to all her strengths: it was definitely full of mythology and world-building, and addressed a hell of a lot traumatic consequences of abuse (I really do think she was working some of her own issues through Ash), and all the character interactions were so interesting. I mean, I hated the messed-up-beyond-belief thing between Ash and Artemis, but I hated it emotionally, because it drew me in and was awful for Ash. As a relationship to read about, it was complicated and interesting. Fascinating actually, in all its hideous dysfunction (and a rather realistic abuse pattern type stuff: she loves him and punishes him for that too). In fact, even though it was an evil evil relationship and I am glad it's done, and I think someone should behead Artemis into the bargain, for me as a reader, it was a more interesting (and better drawn) relationship than that between Ash and his OTP. It was so well-written.
The second half is not bad, though way way fast in a sense of why the OTP fall for each other. I wish she'd devote the same amount of attention and psychological expertise to it. But as I said, I don't think romance has ever been her strongest point.
I like Tory just fine, and I am very happy Ash found happiness at last, and certainly the first part makes for some pretty harrowing reading, but it's still better written. In fact, if it wasn't for all the mythology and the fact that it's part of a series, I would have loved for the book to continue in the ancient world instead and have him find love there and etc etc.
But oh boy, brilliant or not, I do not want to reread the first part for a really really really long time. Just thinking of some of it is making me ill. Contradictory, I know.