Review: Great start to a paranormal police procedural trilogy
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 9, 2014
"The magically inclined tend to share a common, and disastrous, personality profile: narcissistic, self-absorbed and forgetful. And if you think they make terrible spouses, then the truth is, they make even worse mates. This is something every wolfcub knows, in his blood. In his bones." -- The Duality ParadigmThat is a great start to this paranormal police procedural. It nicely sums up the whole novel, and I would guess, the trilogy -- though we’ll have to wait until at least the next book is published before that’s proven. :-P I hate waiting.However, as this book hit upon a lot of my favorite tropes, the sequel is well worth the wait.*Cops in general? check.*A cop buddy/romance with opposites attracting? check.*Are these cops new partners with diametrically opposed lives & personalities? check.*Do the cops have more in common than they might think? check.*Am I using the word “cop” too much? check.*Is there an undisciplined, arrogant, isolated, somewhat rebellious MC with a painful history? check.*Is his name Ethan and is he a magic user? check.*Is there a loyal, tireless, moody MC with a loving family, who’s just lost his police partner? check.*Would his name perhaps be Patrick and is he a werewolf? check.*Does it take place in the Pacific Northwest (Seattle)? check.*Will this list ever end? check.Though I really enjoyed this book, I did find a few faults that could be improved:*The editing: needs a good line editor. Or an additional line editor. However, I did enjoy the book enough that it wasn’t too annoying, although I feel it’s worth a mention.*Repeats scenes with different viewpoints: There are three scenes in this novel where the author portrays a scene from Ethan’s POV (or Pat's), and then repeats the exact same scene from Pat’s POV (or Ethan's). As a reader, I start to get bored & skim when this happens (and it’s why I never got passed the 3rd chapter in Tinnean’s Houseboat on the Nile.) I prefer it when a scene is told from one POV & then in the next scene, or a later scene, the other MC explains his feelings or actions.*Switches POVs within a scene: I think this is very difficult to do well for any author.What I do like is Cooper’s world building and her creation of the sociology of the magic users & the werewolves (especially the latter). But what I really admire about the writing is the author’s ability to create a character-driven story arc that should last over the three books in the trilogy. Cooper’s created two characters whose inner & outer difficulties (if that’s what you call it) cause all sorts of complications for themselves & each other. Both Ethan & Pat have issues that keep them apart, however these issues won’t just disappear with a kiss or a [passionate love making] or a good conversation. They’ll have to do a lot of growing over the course of the trilogy for that to happen. (And please, Ms. Cooper, tell me that happens.)*Warning for readers #1: one of the characters, Ethan, does sleep with 2 men that are not Pat, the other MC (not at the same time, though). I don’t mind this, but if you’re in the “once he meets his main love interest, there shall be no other penises after him” group, this book may not be for you.*Warning for readers #2: Several readers have mentioned that this book ends in a cliffhanger – I don’t really agree with that. It doesn’t end in an HEA, but neither does it leave off in the middle of suspenseful scene. As I said, this is the first of three novels, so a lot of questions remain unanswered at the end of this book.Anyway, I recommend this book and I expect only good stuff from its author in the future.According to Lia Cooper’s website The Convergence Theory (Blood & Bone Book 2) should be out in Fall 2014 and Blood & Bone Book 3 should be out sometime after that.