Review: great for the right reader
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 11 29, 2012
This is a paired down version of the review I would like to write...actually did write and then decided that it might be too spoilerish and since Amazon doesn't let you hide things that might not be fair. I thought some parts of this book were really great, but I took issue with a few things too. I'll start with the bad and then end with the good. I think it's always good to finish with the positive.Negatives: I probably would have liked this book better except for two things: all of the proselytizing and the fact that it read like a 14 year old boys dream journal...wet dream journal. (It's a strange combo I know.) Lets face it Joseph Grim has a harem. He is one man alone with seven women. Grim is apparently the only one who can give these women what they need, and surprisingly his combatant skills aren't the ones required for most of the book. Plus, I have a hard time imagining that the two people who have histories of rape would be so ready to start sexing things up.Trauma is traumatic because it is traumatizing after all. I'm ranting a little bit, I know. But these are obviously a man's fantasy, not a woman's. Don't get me wrong, the sex is smokin' hot (literally). I have no complaints on that front. It is only when all of it, taken as a whole, is considered that I find it problematic. Lastly, the book REALLY needs a new edit. There are a lot of missing words/letters and that, then and than are regularly interchanged. The tense and narration could be shored up too. There is frequently a third person, past tense description followed by a first person, present tense exclamation. It is a little hard to keep up with.Positives: Yea it's not all bad. The book is hilarious and the humor starts on the copyright page. The women may treat Grim as a sex toy, but they also rag on him constantly. He is the butt of endless jokes and teased mercilessly. He takes it all in stride, never getting truly mad (even at his archenemy). This gives the reader implicit permission to laugh at him and I did, loudly and often. I liked how much thought went into how the vampire's fangs work. I actually consider it an improvement on traditional fangs. While I might have gotten sick of all of the 'Jesus died for our sins stuff' (seriously, I could almost hear the children singing 'Jesus loves me! This I know, 'cause the Bible tells me so' in the background), Jesus himself was an affable character. Plus, "Christ...our Lord and Savior...and apparently c0ckbl0cker supreme." is the most marvelously irreverent sentence I have ever read. The Colonel is one of the best characters I've come across in a long time. I really appreciated his contradictory constitution as well as the fact that he is presented as loved and idolized by his son. His character type is usually made out to be cruel and heartless. I liked seeing it depicted as human.I can completely imagine this book getting straight five star rating from its male readership and middling ratings from the women readers. But then no book can be written for everyone. It's funny. The sex is steamy and if you overlook the editing issues the writing is really good. It ended with enough of an opening for a sequel so it will be interesting to see what happens in the future.