Review: I wanted to like it, but it was too silly and over-the-top for me
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 01 16, 2014
Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.Rating: 4/10PROS:- I like it when paranormal elements are commonplace within the setting of a story. It means that the characters don’t have to expend as much energy trying to hide what they are and can focus on other things instead.- Sasha believes himself to be fairly unremarkable, so the idea of multiple sexy hunks of men being interested in little ol’ unremarkable him is a lovely fantasy.- There’s a sweet (if one-dimensional) depiction of a poly relationship.CONS:- The whole story is silly and over-the-top and operates in a world that is almost entirely removed from reality. A whole pack of gay Marines (all of whom are around 6’4”) just happened to be stationed together once upon a time and now all live together? Sure. A professional Dominant who owns a BDSM club agrees to give his new lover a hard flogging just days after his lover had multiple ribs broken in a mugging because his lover is so *very* turned on by floggings? Um…I don’t know. Oh! But the Dom avoids the sub’s “ribs and sides” during the scene. Oh. Okay, then.- The entire book is from Sasha’s point of view, which means that we don’t get to see him from anyone else’s perspective. I didn’t quite understand why every other gay man in the story found Sasha so irresistible, and I thought perhaps a few scenes from those men’s perspectives might have helped.- The authors’ phrasing isn’t always very smooth, leaving me with the impression at times that the story had been written by someone for whom English is a secondary language. Here’s an example: “the big man whipped his hands out in a martial arts maneuver that Sasha only viewed on television.” To me, “…that Sasha had only ever seen on television” (or something similar) would have sounded more natural. And there’s more than one reference to Sasha having finished or paid his way through “med school” when he is not, in fact, a physician but rather a veterinarian.Overall comments: There’s an interesting paranormal story buried in here somewhere, but the plot is convoluted and the characters unrealistic, so I was left feeling mostly frustrated rather than intrigued. Many of the conversations are jumpy, some scenes contain too many characters who are all stepping on each other in attempts to be noticed, and the intrigue and espionage and mob threats all jumble together and wind up in a muddled mess.