Review: Painting the fence because it looks like I'll be here a while...
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 11 23, 2013
I've been on the fence through books 1 & 2 & now 3.What I've liked:The books are well written, once you get used to the tone and tense, and I only saw one error.The story actually has a plot and keeps you interestedThe character's have depth and motivations that unfold as you progress through the seriesThe author is talented and creativeWhat I wasn't so keen on:I found Maritza hard to relate to in book 1 due to the initial tone and tense, but was starting to "get her" in book two.The hero Elen-whatever didn't rock my boat - he wasn't romantic or heroic in my opinionI kept trying to find some true emotion in Maritza for her future progeny that I could relate to and didn'tThe romance between Maritza and Elen-whatever was too fast and too forgiving (I mean, he kidnaps her, rapes her via intoxication, and doesn't defend her against his servant, but because he's good looking and kind and has a magic penis it's all ok? And in next to no time at all she's loyal and in love?)The books aren't books, but three instalments, each not very long (62 pages, 52 pages and 82 pages respectively according to Amazon, so I'd hazard a guess at about 80,000 words) and for each you're paying about $3. For 80,000 words, lots of good authors are charging $3 all up. I feel I've paid $6 too much but what's done is done, and at the very least I've contributed towards the continuation of an author who has talent.My conclusionIt's a good story, in particular part three has lots of twists and turns and was cleverly plotted and well written, but for it to sit right for me, it needed to be twice the length (text and time period) for the emotions expressed to develop properly, and more thought as to her feelings regarding what will be her children running around, raised by strangers with what is frankly a rather brutal approach to male/female relationships. How does she feel that some of those embryos might be female and in her position later on?I liked part three best, though I'm still only rating it a three - none of the parts were bad, none of them blew me away or captured my heart and the instalments at this price alienated me a bit. I don't mind paying for things, but I pay this much for a commercially edited and published book on Kindle, so I felt a bit "had".Overall, if the price comes down, and the author combines it into one book, I'd buy it again.