Review: Crane + Stephen = More Fabulocity
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 1, 2014
You could possibly, maybe, barely read this without first reading The Magpie Lord, but you would miss out on how Crane and Stephen’s personalities skyrocket off of the page. How they see each other is so delicious, humorous, honest and quiet reverent… and cheeky. ;)Stephen is still kind of mysterious, but less and less so for Lucien. And Lucien is more and more finding out what it feels like to care, worry, want, need someone… to need Stephen. The more you get to know someone, the more you find yourself involved in them, their interests. That’s putting it mildly here. I’m talking magic here, people, and shamanism, and ever expressive dancing tattoos.Let’s give Merrick a moment, shall we? Merrick and Crane, Crane and Merrick. They’re like vaudeville with acidic special sauce, ladled generously, with love and understanding. Awwwwwwwwwwwww. ;)This book is kind of anti-formulaic. It surprises in the right places, breaking the obvious expectations. I like not seeing the turn coming up in the road, almost like someone dared to alter the track in Pole Position and I LIKE it.I’ve realized what it is about Stephen that draws me to him so: he’s undeniable, and simultaneously, he doesn’t see it. He’s undeniably sensual, he’s undeniably powerful, and I don’t mean just in his supernatural ways. He’s powerful in his intelligence. He’s powerful in his ability to express his demands. He’s powerful in his vulnerability. He has the power to, not just reveal himself to Lucien, but affect Lucien in ways that make him feel the need to reveal his own self to Stephen. He has the power. And Lucien is powerless but to respond, and care and worry and understand and want and need. It’s a wonderfully beautiful and strange combination. Emotionally desperate bravery. Yeah. That.Things did feel a bit rushed in places but not terribly so. It made me think there was more that could have been included and it would have made the story stronger, no one would have minded at all. The mystery plays a more secondary role in this book, with good supporting characters taking up the space made available by that fact. The language, the style of writing is still there but it felt a bit whitewashed at times. There are still bits of vocabulary brilliance which I snarfed up like crème wafer cookies.  So there’s an even tradeoff between the dips in some valleys and the way high highs, mainly the heat factor between Crane and Stephen manifesting itself more often, and well done, at that.This book is pretty much nonstop. There was never a slow moment, unless it was appropriate… and necessary. Heh. The coolest thing? The story possibilities are as endless as endless can be. Crane and Stephen have barely scratched the surface in regards to both their success as a team dealing with the evils in this world of theirs and their relationship that is, you got it, undeniable. Both of these need and deserve more exploration. I’m ready. You should get ready, too. :D