|
|
Title | A Kiss of Shadows
| |
Author | Laurel K. Hamilton
| |
Cover Art | Barnaby Hall
| |
Publisher | Ballantine Books - 2000
| |
First Printing | Ballantine Books - 2000
|
|
|
|
Title | A Caress of Twilight
| |
Author | Laurel K. Hamilton
| |
Cover Art | ---
| |
Publisher | Ballantine Books - 2002
| |
First Printing | Ballantine Books - 2002
|
|
|
|
Title | Seduced by Moonlight
| |
Author | Laurel K. Hamilton
| |
Cover Art |
| |
Publisher |
| |
First Printing |
|
| |
|
|
Title | A Stroke of Midnight
| |
Author | Laurel K. Hamilton
| |
Cover Art |
| |
Publisher |
| |
First Printing |
|
| |
|
|
Title | Mistral's Kiss
| |
Author | Laurel K. Hamilton
| |
Cover Art |
| |
Publisher |
| |
First Printing |
|
| |
|
|
Title | A Lick of Frost
| |
Author | Laurel K. Hamilton
| |
Cover Art |
| |
Publisher |
| |
First Printing |
|
| |
|
|
Title | Swallowing Darkness
| |
Author | Laurel K. Hamilton
| |
Cover Art |
| |
Publisher |
| |
First Printing |
|
| |
|
Category | Urban fantasy
| |
Warnings | Explicit sex
| |
Main Characters | Merry Gentry
| |
Main Elements | Faeries
| |
Website |
|
|
 A Kiss of Shadows
My name is Meredith 'Merry' Gentry, but of course it's not my real name. I dare not even whisper my true name after dark for fear that one hushed word will travel over the night winds to the soft ear of my aunt, the Queen of Air and Darkness. She wants me dead. I don't even know why...
I fled the high court of Faerie three years ago and have been in hiding ever since. I ran as far as the land would take me, stopped only by the shor of the Pacific Ocean and the fact that if I'd used my passport the Bureau of Human and Fey Affairs would have been notified, and they would have told my relatives. And my relatives would have killed me. As Merry Gentry, I am a private investigator for the Grey Detective Agency: Supernatural Problems, Magical Solutions. My magical skills, which are scorned at the courts of Faerie, are valued in the human world. Even by human standards, my magic isn't flashy. Fine by me: Flashy attracts too much attention, and I can't afford that. Sightings of the Princess Meredith are now more popular than Elvis sightings.
Rumour has it that I'm dead. Not quite. I am Princess Meredith NicEssus, and if you read that name after dark, you will call down a knock upon your door from a hand that can kill you with a touch. I have been so careful, but not careful enough. The shadows have found me, and they are going to take me back hom, one way or another.
The running is over. The fighting has just begun...
A Caress of Twilight
I am Princess Meredith, heir to a throne–if I can stay alive long enough to claim it.
My cousin, Prince Cel, is determined to see that I don’t. As long as we both live, we are in a race for the Whichever one of us reproduces first gets the throne. So now the men of my royal guard– frightening warriors skilled with blade, spell, and gun–have become my lovers, auditioning with pleasure for the role of future king and father of my child. And they must still protect me from assassination attempts–for unlike most of the fey, I am part human, and very mortal. All this royal back-stabbing makes it very difficult for me to pursue my living as a private investigator in Los Angeles, especially since the media made sure the whole world knows the Faerie princess is alive and well in sunny California.
Now, in the City of Angels, people are dying in mysterious, frightening ways. What the human police don’t realize is that the killer is hunting the fey as well. Havoc lies on the the very existence of the place known as Faerie is at grave risk. So now, while I enjoy the greatest pleasures of my life with my guardians, I must fend off an ancient evil that could destroy the very fabric of reality. And that’s just my day job. . . .
From the darkling throng to the glittering court, this is a world of magic and delights, greed and grotesque ambitions. Laurell K. Hamilton has created a mythos of extreme power and pure beauty that is a delight to behold.
I didn't expect to like this series. I was enjoying Hamilton's Anita Blake series until it became sex rather than plot driven. But by then I'd already bought a bunch of the Merry Gentry series and considering the main goal of the protagonist was to get pregnant, you couldn't get more sex driven then that. I figured I'd start reading them so I could make more room on my overcrowded shelves.
Well. I wasn't wrong about the sex, there is plenty of it, but there was also something more - wonderful worldbuilding. I love stories that portray faeries as something other than glitter pixies or humans with wings, these creatures are dark, complex, and scary. Even Merry's harem of pretty boys include some that are moderately harmless, and others that were once considered gods of death. And the courtly politics, I enjoy all those twisted machinations and maneuverings, especially in a species that is immortal, so they have plenty of time to get really good at it. These are dark creatures, but not evil ones, it's just their nature to be what they are.
And yes...well, the boys were indeed very pretty...
Thus you might find it strange I only got through two of the books though I intended to read the entire series this year. But other books came up, and well, since I wasn't going to actually make room on my bookshelf with these, I wasn't in a rush to get rid of them anymore. I ended up only scratching the surface of the fairy books I own (Shannara with its ~30 books of elves/gnomes/trolls/etc took up most of the year, and the library oh so distracting), so I look forward to doing another year of faerie themed reading and these will be at the top of the list!
August 2008 - Review by Chaos:
This series of books, like the Anita series, evolves continuously. Character development in each of the books fleshes out Merry (or, to be formal Princess Meredith NicEssus) as well as her men.
This isn't a typical romance series, however it will open your eyes and make you consider that there is more then one way to love someone.
As the series furthers on, you see into Merry's head, you see the complications that she has with her men, and with the politics of both Sidhe courts.
All in all, a wonderful and imaginative read that brings the magic back into reality. To say that I am waiting as patiently as I can for Swallowing Darkness to be released is an understatement. It truly is a series that has you wanting more.
Like? I love.
| 
