Menolly D’Artigo is half everything. She’s half-vampire, half-Fae, half-human, half bartender, half millionaire, half detective, half-acrobat, half-lesbian, half-hetero. She is, to put it lightly, complex. Granted, this was book nine in an already-established series of which I had previously read zero, and it’s quite possible I would have better understood the plot/characters/relationships if I’d read the previous eight books. But it was entirely too complex for my taste. To quote Gene Kelly, it was “just too too.” Too much of everything.

This was one of those books that I would say, if you’re not already engaged in the world building, don’t even bother picking it up. Of course, you could start off with book one, because it’s quite an interesting and well-built world. It’s just that I kept feeling as though I’d fallen asleep in the middle of an opera and woken up in the very last act where either everyone dies or everyone couples up. It was a complete blur.

To be fair, the writing was excellent, the characters interesting, and world-building solid. Except for being able to be half-everything, but that was a moot point. If you like Nalini Singh or JR Ward (with less sex), this series would probably be up your alley. The world-building is really excellent, and I found myself almost always interested in what was going on, I just didn’t always know what was going on, which was frustrating.

I’m of the mind that a reader should be able to pick up a series book anywhere in the middle of a series and not feel overwhelmed. They may not get everything, and they probably shouldn’t. But they shouldn’t be confused. Within the first eight pages, she introduced something like twenty characters, and I spent half the book trying to get the names straight. Flipping back to make sure that this particular vampire was who I thought he was, or which lesbian vampire lover she’d sired and which one she considered off-limits. I just couldn’t get the names and faces and people and backgrounds straight. Even at the end, I’m still not sure who was whom.

And yet, still, I enjoyed myself. It’s not often that you see F/F fiction of any kind, and rarely is it well-done when it is done. But I appreciated the relationship between Menolly and her lover. It was different than the relationships she had with men, which if you knew anything about Menolly’s history, you’d completely understand. Yet she still has a deep sexual connection with a man in the book. Well, a male vampire, which apparently was a first for her.

But all in all, I just can’t recommend this book to first-time readers. Go back and read the first book. See if you like it. If you tend to like fantasy, paranormal, or urban fantasy, there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy this series. But wait to read this one until you decide if you like the series or not, because I have a feeling if you just start from here, you might walk away frustrated like I was, and I don’t think that’s fair to the series or the author. As I said, the writing was good, and the world she creates is interesting and complex. After a bit of space, I may go back and read the first book in the series for myself. See if I can get hooked in from the start, and then eventually get back to this book through the chronology of the story line. I have a feeling it would be significantly better for me if I did.

Reviewed by: Camryn