THOUGHTS on Thea Harrison's "Midnight's Kiss"

Thea Harrison's "Elder Races" series is one of my favourites - the heroines and heroes are diverse personalities, and the world-building is interesting. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy the latest book, "Midnight's Kiss" nearly as much as some of the other books in the series. The heroine of "Midnight's Kiss" is Melisande (Melly), actress and heir to the Southern Californian Light Fae Demesne. The hero is Julian, the King of the Nightkind/Vampyres. Many years ago Melly and Julian were in a relationship, but the relationship ended badly, with both parties nursing unresolved emotional issues. The culmination of the previous book, "Night's Honor," however, yields consequences that throw Julian and Melisande back together; Justine, the villain (of this and the previous book), kidnaps Melisande in an attempt to manipulate Julian and take control of the Nightkind Demesne. "Midnight's Kiss" is about Julian and Melisande reacting to and surviving Justine's machinations, while dealing with their emotional issues.

In this post, I evaluate whether "Midnight's Kiss" passes three well-known tests for female presence in media: the Bechdel Test, the Mako Mori Test, and the Sexy Lamp Test. In doing so, I attempt to determine whether my lack of enthusiasm can be attributed to the book's failure to pass some of these tests.

1.0 Melly and the Sexy Lamp Test

Melly passes the Sexy Lamp Test - when she and Julian are being held captive, it is her innovation and lock-picking that allows her to kill the vampire guarding her and Julian. These actions allow her and Julian to escape. Melly also procures that motorcycle that allows her and Julian to make it back to a safe place. Melly thus makes plans, implements them, and the results of her actions directly affect the plot of "Midnight's Kiss." A sexy lamp could have achieved none of these things. Unfortunately, this is the only one of the tests that "Midnight's Kiss" passes - it fails both the Mako Mori Test and the Bechdel Test.[1]

The Sexy Lamp Test: 

  Melly

2.0 Melly, Justine, and the Mako Mori Test

Although Melly has a life independent of the heroes, having her own career and role in the political landscape of the Elder Races universe, as far as I can tell, she does not have a narrative arc that is independent from Julian's (the main) narrative arc. All of the examples of Melly's agency mentioned above are actions that trigger plot movement in Julian's narrative arc - i.e., the quelling of the uprising by the murderous and rebellious vampyre Justine. The other narrative arc that can be attributed to Melly is her goal to resolve the mystery of what actually happened to cause her and Julian to break up many years ago. Again, this narrative arc is not independent of Julian's - Melly thus does not pass the Mako Mori test, given the criteria below:

Mako Mori Criteria

(i) has a female character (  Melly)(ii) who has her own narrative arc  and (iii) that narrative arc is not about supporting a man's narrative arc 

The failure of the Mako Mori test, I think, is a major reason why I found "Midnight's Kiss" somewhat unsatisfying. While I liked Melly, I didn't find her to be a particularly interesting heroine. This can be at least partially attributed to the fact that, in failing the Mako Mori test, Melly isn't as complex a character as I prefer.

As a note, I think that if any of the narrative of "Midnight's Kiss" had been following Justine, she plausibly could have passed the Mako Mori test - after all, she sets the entire plot in motion by aiming to assassinate Xavier in the previous book, and by kidnapping Melly in this book. Her actions thus provoke, as opposed to support, Julian's narrative arc. However, we don't get any narrative that follows Justine, or her point of view, so it is difficult to attribute a "narrative arc" to her.

Mako Mori:

Melly: 
Justine:  

3.0 "Midnight's Kiss" and the Bechdel Test

"Midnight's Kiss" just barely passes the Bechdel test. While Melly has conversations with other female characters - such as her mother, and twin sister - the content of these conversations, is for the most part, about men. The longest conversation that Melly has with another woman is the one with her mother, Tatiana. They discuss how Melly's mother figured out how to contact her, but this leads almost directly into a discussion about Keenan O'Sullivan, the biker who Melly bought a motorcycle from. Although Keenan O'Sullivan is not a main character, he is, technically, a man. Then Melly tells her mother about how Justine kidnapped her as a way to gain leverage over Julian. This part of conversation is thus also, in a way, about a man. Finally, however, the discussion turns to what sort of resources Tatiana can send to help Melly - i.e., cash, weaponed troops. This part of the conversation is not about a man, so "Midnight's Kiss" does pass the Bechdel Test, as it

(i) has at least two women in it, (ii) shows those women having a conversation, where (iii) the aforementioned conversation is about something other than a man.   

4.0 Other Issues

As I mentioned, I did not enjoy "Midnight's Kiss" as much as others in the series (like "Kinked,"  "Lord's Fall," Serpent's Kiss" and "Dragon Bound"). This was at least partially due to the fact that Melly failed the Mako Mori test, and consequently, I didn't find Melly to be a very interesting heroine. [2] The results of evaluating whether "Midnight's Kiss" pass the selected three tests for feminism are summarized below.

Mako Mori:

Melly:   

Sexy Lamp:

Melly: 

Bechdel:    

FOOTNOTES

[1] Although "Midnight's Kiss" only passes 1/3 of the selected tests for feminism, there are many, many, many books outside of the genre that fail all three of the tests.

[2] There were other little things that bothered me about the book. Such as the "You don't need a helmet, I won't let us crash" bit at the end. I understand that the main emotional issues that Julian and Melly have is trust, but I would have preferred that the resolution of their trust issues be exemplified in a way that seems...a little less irresponsible. Also, I didn't find the plot device used to break up Melly and Julian in the first place to be very original at all. But I did still enjoy reading the book! Thea Harrison is definitely an author that I trust and I auto-buy the books in the "Elder Races" series.

THOUGHTS on "The Ugly Duchess" by Eloisa James

The Ugly Duchess by Eloisa James
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is divided into two portions, the "before" and the "after." I really enjoyed the "before", and I also enjoyed the "after", and was along for the emotional ride for both parts, but I had a lot of trouble connecting the two halves of the book into a coherent emotional arc.

It almost felt like two half-novels, with completely different concepts and characters, hastily glued together to form a full-sized novel. While there were sections between the "before" and "after" that were meant to show Theo and James' changing personalities, I found myself skimming over these parts in disbelief because the actions that precipitated these changes seemed random and unmotivated to me.

For instance, James deciding to become a pirate seemed completely out of the blue. Prior to this decision, I didn't see any indication of criminal tendencies from him. In fact, his outrage at his father's immoral (and illegal) behaviour, and guilt over how he had allowed himself to be bullied into taking advantage of Theodora led me to believe that he wanted to hold himself to some moral code of decency. I would have expected someone like that to only be pushed into piracy by circumstances he could not control, or something like a complete loss of faith in human decency. But I didn't see anything like that. The closest thing I could come to for motivation would be his desire to make his fortune, since his father's loss of their fortune is what forced him into betraying Theodora. But if this was his motivation, it didn't seem to drive him in a logical way. He didn't make any mention of intending to use whatever fortune he gained to make up for Theodora's embezzled fortune, or to manage his family's entailed land.

Theodora's change from a warm, funny (if a little cuttingly acerbic) girl, to a work-obsessed woman afraid of sexual intimacy was even more baffling to me. I didn't fully understand how her feelings of betrayal and unworthiness from the first half of the novel could trigger changes to this degree, and unlike with James, we see no scenes of Theodora's transition. This made it seem like Theodora didn't grow from being a warm funny girl to being an emotionally withdrawn obsessive-compulsive - rather it seemed like we were presented with two completely different characters, and asked, as readers, to either (i) fill in the blanks or (ii) just take it on faith that there was motivation underlying these changes. While I sympathized with both Theo-before and Theo-after, Theo-before and Theo-after seemed too disjointed for me to even see them as the same person, with a single emotional arc. I think that Theo overhearing James' father comparing her sexual behaviour to what he expected of a "proper" lady was supposed to motivate her distate for sexual intimacy, but I feel like we didn't get enough glimpses into Theo's thoughts or emotions about this to confirm this hypothesis. (For some writing styles where we don'tsee into the character's thoughts, and only see character's actions, this wouldn't be an issue, because but this book is one where we DO often hear what the characters are thinking, the lack was conspicuous and made Theo's character seem disjointed to me.)

Even with these issues, though, I really enjoyed the book. I always enjoy Eloisa James' writing style, and although I personally prefer historical romance novels where the social structures of the day put more restrictions on the characters (eg., I might have liked James' piracy and tattoo to have had graver consequences than it did, given that we were told that no tattooed man was supposed to be able to return to English society), I was distracted enough by how the novel tugged on my emotional heartstrings not to care.


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THOUGHTS on: Jennifer Estep's "Web of Lies"

Title: "Web of Lies"

Author: Jennifer Estep

Series: Elemental Assassin 002

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Oh, I am very happy with where the second book of the Elemental Assassin series, “Web of Lies,” ended. So pleased that I sort of wish “Web of Lies” and “Spider's Bite” had been one book, because things that had bothered me about the first book no longer matter much given how things unfold in this second book, and “Web of Lies” ends on this note where it feels like we're on the brink of seeing what this series is all about. But first, the requisite blurb: Gin Blanco, retired assassin and new owner of the Pork Pit is starting to get bored with retirement. Things start rolling, however, when Violet Fox, a student at the local college, comes into the Pork Pit asking for help from “The Tin Man.” Although not immediately willing to acknowledge that “The Tin Man” was the codename for Fletcher Lane (Gin's former handler), Gin's curiosity is peaked when it becomes clear that someone is trying to kill Violet. Gin soon finds out that Tobias Dawson, one of the biggest mine operators in Ashland, has been trying to intimidate Violet and her grandfather Warren into selling him their land, and Tobias seems quite willing to kill Violet in order to get what he wants.

So, what did I like? First, the characters. As I mentioned previously, I like Gin as a heroine, because she keeps her cool, and isn't overly sassy[1]. Reading “Spider's Bite”, I felt that I didn't see quite enough vulnerability from Gin as I would have liked, but “Web of Lies” definitely has scenes where I empathized with her. For example, the short scene where Donovan pulls away from Gin's touch right after they had sex - I thought was beautifully done. Although it felt somewhat muted, and it was barely touched upon, it was clear to me as a reader that Gin was hurt. And I thought that the way she held back from immediately confronting Donovan about it was also testament to Gin's strength and patience.

As for Donovan Caine, well, he didn't annoy me as much in this book, because it became clear that he wasn't supposed to be the “hero” you get in a romance novel [2]. So instead of feeling generally dissatisfied with the relationship between Gin and Donovan, I began to see Gin's feelings for Donovan as a small window into Gin's psyche – i.e., a window into the things Gin wants in her life, and what she will and will not do to get them. And in this aspect, I thought the relationship was very successful. I learned that Gin is proud, but not overly proud. She was willing to make the first move twice, even following rejection, but she was not willing to chase after Donovan more than that. And when Owen Grayson (a wealthy businessman who I assume we will see more of in later books) was making his interest in Gin very clear, I thought Gin's general wariness and standoffishness towards him, despite her curiosity about Owen (and Donovan's continued rejections), showed how steady Gin was in terms of her feelings for Donovan. So although I still don't quite see why Gin is attracted to Donovan, I nonetheless was convinced of the strength of her feelings for him[3].

While we're on characters, we have a new one, Owen Grayson! I liked Owen quite a bit. But then again, I like the over-protective brother character-type, and Owen showed himself to be observant in the way that he recognized Gin in disguise, measured in the way he approaches his courtship of Gin, yet brave enough to take gambles that could endanger his own life (in how he left himself open when Gin was contemplating stabbing him). I'm looking forward to seeing him in book 3.

Second, I like how the stakes have also been raised in terms of the plot – Gin's magic has almost doubled[4], and things are starting to get more interesting. Gin has evolved from being someone who was just surviving, to a someone getting ready to confront the demons in her past, even if this means taking on Mab Munroe, the fire elemental who controls Ashland by killing and torturing anyone who gets in her way. I'm also really looking forward to how this plays out in book 3 : )

Prose: B+

Plot: B+

Characters: A

World-building: C+

X-factor: A (For the rushing "grand" factor I felt at the very end, when Gin was pithily laying out her goals)

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[1] Despite what Owen says : P

[2] i.e., the long-term love interest, the one that sticks around for the HEA. Although I wouldn't mind a matured Donovan, with more of spine and more character, coming back in future books to make things interesting.

[3] I, personally, having much less emotional strength of mind than Gin, would have gone for Owen over Donovan like a shot ; )

[4] Although not in a deus ex machina way - given Gin's family, her increase in power was not inconsistent with what we might expect.

THOUGHTS on: Sharon Shinn's "Troubled Waters"

Title: “Troubled Waters”

Author: Sharon Shinn

Series: n/a

Genre: Fantasy, Romance

I love Sharon Shinn's writing – in particular, I love her style of prose, and her style of world-building. “Troubled Waters” was no different – the prose is gorgeous, and the world is beautifully crafted. Although it's not one of my favourite books by Shinn [1], I definitely enjoyed reading it.

For the past ten years, Zoe Ardelay has lived in exile with her father, Navarr Ardelay, a brilliant and passionate sweela man who was formerly a favourite advisor of the King. “Troubled Waters” opens with Navarr's funeral, and Zoe deep in grief, unsure of what to do with her future. Her decision is made for her, however, by Darien Serlast, an advisor to the King who arrives at her village with summons. Zoe is to come to Chialto to become the King's fifth wife. Events do not unfold exactly as planned, however, and eventually Zoe finds herself surrounded by unexpected truths about her father, why he was exiled, her mother's family, the royal succession, and even unexpected truths about herself.

Since I love Shinn's world-building, I'll talk about that first. Nearly every aspect in the world portrayed in “Troubled Waters” is driven by a superstitious system of random blessings. These are blessings fall into five categories, each associated with i) a natural element, and ii) a human element: there is elay (air/soul), hunti (wood/bone), sweela (fire/mind), coru (water/blood), and torz (earth/flesh)[2]. The seasons and colours are organized according to these categories, and people also tend to fall into these five categories, each associated with characteristic personality traits. For example, if you are hunti, you are like wood, and have the characteristics associated with its random blessings like resolve, loyalty and steadfastness. If you are sweela, you are like fire, and have charm, intelligence, passion and creativity. If you are coru, you are like water – changeable, flexible, but persistent.

I found this world of random blessings interesting and intricately built, as I usually find Shinn's worlds, but what I love best about Shinn's world-building is that we are usually shown how the world works, and not told. That is, there are no paragraphs as above, whose sole purpose appears to be informing the reader of how the world works. Instead the reader gleans pieces of the world, and how the pieces fit together from observing the characters, or interactions between characters. For example, we learn what characteristics a Hunti man has when Doman, the (unofficial) hunti mayor of Zoe's village obdurately takes care of a grief-stricken Zoe; we get hints of what a sweela woman should be like when Darien tries to appraise Zoe's character. And while there are parts where we are overtly told how certain aspects of the world works, these parts are never given to the reader purely for world-building's sake – they are slipped in as explanations for assumptions that characters have made, or actions that they took which might otherwise seem strange to the reader. In other words, they are given exactly at points when the reader would be wondering about and wanting explanations, and the little bits of world-building provide this explanation in exactly the right amounts[3]. I think Shinn's skill at world-building is quite rare; it's often the case that I will be reading a book, and feel like the narrator is giving me a lecture about how the world works[4].

As for the characters, I liked Zoe and Darien, although I didn't find them particularly noteworthy. Zoe is described as a coru woman with a sweela heart – flexible, but resilient and persistent, with a passionate core. There were times when her character seemed inconsistent – while she is generally portrayed as very flexible, and easily adaptable, at times she was deliberately contrary, just for (what seemed to me like) the sake of being contrary. It was only around Darien that she behaved this way, however, which I realize now probably showed how Darien affected her. Zoe was also, at the rare time, irresponsible. I found that I could usually justify her mistakes, however. SPOILER

For example, Zoe's confrontation with Alys, where she abused her power as the Lalindar prime. I could justify Zoe's actions, although I did think it was a mistake, because i) I could see how she viewed Alys as a dangerous threat that no one seemed willing to check, and ii) Zoe's powers were very new to her, and unlike other primes, she was never trained to be prime, therefore hadn't had the time the other primes had to think about the consequences of her powers.

Darien Serlast is described as hunti through and through. This is pretty characteristic of a Shinn hero – steadfastness is the bedrock on which she builds her heroes: witness Gabriel from “Archangel,”, Tayse from “Mystic and Ryder,” Gaaron, from “Angelica”, Kent from “Summers at Castle Auburn,” etc.[5] He didn't seem to make much of an impression on me though – maybe he will improve with re-reading (Kent certainly did. I went from feeling lukewarm about Kent to him being one of my favourite heroes.) Thinking back, I suppose I can isolate one thing that makes Darien different from other Shinn heroes: although honourable, loyal and steadfast, Darien Serlast is willing to obfuscate the truth in order to keep the kingdom stable. He is willing to mislead the public and hush up scandals if he feels its for the greater good. All in all, I liked Darien, but not overmuch.

As for the romance between Zoe and Darien, like all Shinn books, it seemed to me to be fairly understated for a category romance[6], aware that I am that one would probably read it as quite blatant from a category fantasy. I was a little disappointed with the romance however – my heart didn't get caught in all the highs and lows the way it did for Rachel and Gabriel's relationship in “Archangel”[7] and I didn't fall in love with Kent like Corie did in “Summers at Castle Auburn.” I might come back and see how I feel about it when I re-read “Troubled Waters” (as I likely will).

Prose: A+ (If I could choose one writer whose writing style I could steal, it would be Sharon Shinn's. Gorgeous, lush, and yet the beautifully crafted words never distract me from the story she's telling. Unlike Patricia A. Mckillip, who I love and think has even more gorgeous prose, but I'm often distracted by just how gorgeous the prose is...)

Plot: B (I don't associate Sharon Shinn with lots of twisty plot turns, and so was surprised by at least one of the twists here. I may not have been, had been reading it as I would a Carol Berg or Diana Wynne Jones novel, where I sit up and look for plot twists. There was some political intrigue though, which is the way I like my fantasy – sprinkled with political intrigue. A bit odd considering how I have to force myself to pay attention to modern-day politics)

Characters: B- (They were ooo-kay, solid characters, though I felt pretty lukewarm towards them.)

World-building: A+ (Love, love, love.)

X-factor: A (I love Sharon Shinn)

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[1] I have obsessively re-read “Archangel” and “Summers at Castle Auburn,” and I think the only books of hers that I haven't re-read, and probably won't (excepting Gateway, which I haven't read yet), are “The Shapechanger's Wife,” “Wrapt in Crystal” (not sure why, but these ones didn't work for me) and “Jenna Starborn” (not because I didn't like it, but if I'm in the mood to read something like “Jenna Starborn”, I'll probably just go re-read “Jane Eyre”.) Oh, and “The Alleluia Files” because I borrowed that one from a friend instead of buying it.

[2] There are also three uncategorized blessings, which are rare.

[3] Of course, when I say “exactly the right amounts,” this is completely subjective. It's exactly the right amount for my default reading style. Some readers may feel she tells too much, depending on your reading style, and how much you pay attention. For example I feel that Diana Wynne Jones, whom I love, has hardly any explicit explanation of how her worlds work at all. The characters just go about their actions, and go about saying the things they say, and thinking the things they think, with the assumptions they would have having grown up and lived in their world. As the reader, you have to piece together, from their actions, thoughts and words, exactly how the world works. I felt the same way about the first Kate Daniels book “Magic Bites” by Ilona Andrews (by the later books I was already familiar with the world. I can't help but also mention here that I love this series. Kate Daniels is one of my favourite heroines). These books have fantastic world-building, but it required more active reading than is default on my part. So if you find the amount of explanation that Diana Wynne Jones gives to be the right amount, you might find Sharon Shinn to be too pedantic, but for my reading style, Sharon Shinn's world-building is just perfect.

[4] Interestingly, this is the exact opposite of what I want in academic writing. In academic writing, I want the theoretical framework and assumptions to all be explicitly stated and laid in the same place, preferably with a helpful table summarizing said assumptions. And preferably under a heading labelled 'theoretical framework and assumptions' or such. But it irks me when all of the world-building in a fantasy novel is dumped explicitly on me like this – I much prefer getting little implicit hints and clues, and building the world in my head from those bits and pieces. Although getting explicit explanations in fantasy novels is not nearly as annoying as confronting implicit assumptions and vague hints in academic writing.

[5] I think Jesse from “Fallen Angel” might be an exception. He didn't make much of an impression on me. Maybe I'll re-read it to check.

[6]...modern romances, I mean. I've quite enjoyed the Georgette Heyers I've read (Cotillion, Frederica), but find the romance in her novels to be too understated for my tastes.

[7]...then again, I've read "Archangel" some 26+ times (I stopped counting after 26).

THOUGHTS on: Jennifer Estep's "Spider's Bite"

Title: "Spider's Bite"

Author: Jennifer Estep

Series: Elemental Assassin 001

Genre: Urban Fantasy

(Review written May 29th, 2011)

I just finished reading "Spider's Bite," the first in the Elemental Assassin series by Jennifer Estep, and I enjoyed it. Gin Blanco is an assassin known as "the Spider." A last-minute job that seems like a quick way to make big bucks turns out to be a set-up, a ploy to frame Gin for killing corporate whistle-blower Gordon Giles after killing her. Gin is soon caught between trying to figure out who set her up, so she can kill them before they kill her, and along the way we meet Finnegan Lane, Gin's foster brother; the Devreaux sisters, a pair of dwarven sisters with interesting talent sets; and Donovan Caine, perhaps the only non-corrupt cop left in Ashland. Donovan's partner was hit by Gin before the events of “Spider's Bite”, and while Donovan Caine is willing to call a truce with Gin in order to find out who was behind the murder of Gordon Giles, he is not willing to forget that has sworn to bring to justice the assassin who killed his partner.

I thought "Spider's Bite" was a good, solid start to a series. Like an urban fantasy heroine should be, Gin Blanco is tough, capable and confident. And a little quirky, in that she is a bit of a foodie, and quite enjoys the classes she takes at the local college as her "cover" as a perpetual college student. As an assassin Gin is understandably morally off-centre, but she still holds fast to her own set of morals and honour, and is therefore admirable. Gin also comes off as vulnerable at times, usually when she struck by unbidden memories of people she cared for. These parts are (to me) quite brief, however. I like seeing a bit more vulnerability in my heroines, in order to better connect with them, but since this is only the start of the series, I suspect this may develop with further installments. And on further contemplation, I realize that the brevity of these parts does a good job of illustrating Gin's mental state. As an urban fantasy, "Spider's Bite" is written in first person, and so these moments of vulnerability are necessarily portrayed as short, because Gin, at this point in her life, will not let herself be vulnerable. Continuing along this line of thought, the book's portrayal of Gin's attraction to Donovan Caine might also be skewed by either conscious or unconscious editing on Gin's part: although she admits that Donovan's idealistic moral view is rare and admirable, her attraction is primarily portrayed as physical, with several descriptions of Donovan's physical attributes, and what Gin would like to do with, ahem, said attributes. A possible way of reading this, however, is that this asymmetry reflects not the compositional proportions of Gin's actual attraction to Donovan, but rather only what Gin will admit to. I suspect now that it may actually be Donovan's moral uprighteousness that primarily attracts her: here is an honourable man with a pure moral code that Gin, a bit unhappy and uneasy with the extreme boundaries of her own moral code, wishes she could, but could never actually adhere to. All in all, I liked Gin, and how she was portrayed. I especially appreciated that Gin wasn't a hotheaded, reckless heroine (although those heroine's have their places too).

Unfortunately I wasn't as pleased with the portrayal of Donovan Caine. Although we are told that Donovan has an upstanding moral code, and he certainly shows priggishness in adhering to his code, I never really found a part where this priggishness translated into an attractive quality. After all, honour is sexy, right? Or at least, it can be portrayed as such. For example, the moment in George R. R. Martin's “Game of Thrones” where Lord Eddard Stark claims the heartbreaking responsibility of executing his daughter's direwolf puppy? Or the moment in “To Kill a Mockingbird” when Atticus Finch asks “Do you really think so?” when facing the lynch mob (not to mention Jem's obstinacy to abandon his father)? Shivers[1]. Not that I require all heroes to have the moral fibre of Atticus Finch, but I never came across any scene like this with Donovan Caine. His moral uprighteousness was usually portrayed by him showing disappointment or outright disapproval towards Gin's actions and values. And so it was a bit difficult for me to like him, or understand why Gin found him attractive. Unless there really is just a physical attraction. In which case, sure Donovan Caine is described as physically appealing, seeing as I like dark hair and hazel eyes as much as the next girl, but then Gin becomes much less interesting. Also, while his loyalty in his partner is, I suppose, commendable, the academic in me abhors the fact that this is blind loyalty. His lack of research into his partner to see whether his loyalty is justified irks me. I certainly wouldn't go making vows on public television without making sure I had collected all the relevant information. Again, this is the first in the series, so although I didn't find Donovan particularly likeable in this installment, we shall see. Although since this is an urban fantasy, and not a romance, I suppose I shouldn't have the expectation that I ought to feel attracted to the heroine's love-interest (my criteria #2 for categorizing a romance as one that fulfils its duties to its readers,) and certainly not so early. The romance in urban fantasy series usually comes a bit later in the series.

Prose: B (Not bad, but I felt that Gin as narrator told us too much about how the world and magic in it worked in words, instead of showing us with observations)

Plot: C+ (No holy-shit moments, but I don't think "Spider's Bite" set out to thrill and astonish us with plot twists and turns, so I had no problem with this.)

Characters: B (Gin was interesting, and the side characters like Finn and the Devreaux sisters were quite interesting and amusing, but the main love interest, Donovan, fell flat for me)

World-building: C+ (fairly standard urban fantasy, cities with dwarves, giants and vampires, and so far a fairly standard magic system aligned in terms of elements)

X-factor: A (I enjoyed it)

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[1] Er, It occurs to me now that my love for Atticus Finch may not be the norm. Or is it? I don't recall other girls in my 1oth grade class sighing over Atticus...(or any of the characters in any book we were assigned to read.)