Review: Typical Calmes characters
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 8, 2014
Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.Rating: 6/10PROS:- The tribal politics of the shifter society are interesting and from what I can tell, unique to the story. I also like that the politics are backed by actual written laws.- The narrator’s attitude is amusing sometimes, particularly when he makes snide comments about other characters or his surroundings.- Jin is a typical Calmes protagonist in that he gets himself into all kinds of trouble and then reacts with a foolishly freewheeling attitude. “If I got upset every time someone beat me,” he says, “or chased me, or tried to rape me, I’d be crying in my cereal every morning.” (I put this as a PRO because I found the *first* character like this amusing, although I admit that I’m growing tired of it now.)CONS:- There are arguments throughout the story that go on for far too long, with the same points being made multiple times on each side. The writing is needlessly repetitive at other times, too. Here’s an example from (I think) the second page: “The fact remained that she was out, seemingly alone, at two in the morning in a very bad part of town,” and then three short paragraphs later, there’s this: “Two in the morning in a bad part of town all alone, the girl obviously had a death wish.”- The dialogue is sometimes a little awkward because the speaker is talking more to the reader than to the other characters present, using conversation to impart background information in a way that doesn’t sound realistic. Also, I take exposition to heart, so when “several minutes [tick] by before he [speaks],” and then less than a page later, “we[‘re] silent for several minutes before he [speaks],” and so on…I imagine the conversations taking FOREVER.- I found the ending anticlimactic.Overall comments: This is the third or fourth Calmes book I’ve read, and there’s certainly a pattern among them: her main characters lead charmed lives with foes getting their comeuppance in satisfying ways and past loves being told flippantly by the protagonist that they’re too late. I didn’t dislike this; I’m just growing tired of the formula. (WARNING for those who are squicked by animalish sex scenes: there are a few scenes here when the guys aren’t entirely human.)