Vowed by Liz de Jager
May. 10th, 2015 09:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
The Blackhart Code: Don’t let the monsters grind you down
A Blackhart can see the supernatural behind everyday crimes. But some crimes hide even greater evils.
Kit Blackhart must investigate why children are disappearing from a London estate. Their parents, the police and Kit’s fae allies claim to know nothing. And as more children disappear, the pressure mounts. Luckily, or unluckily, government trainee Dante Alexander is helping Kit with the case. Yet just as her feelings towards him begin to thaw, his life falls apart. As Kit struggles to unravel Dante’s problems and solve their case, she meets fae Prince Thorn in her dreams – but their relationship is utterly forbidden.
Then Kit digs too deep, uncovering a mystery that’s been hidden for one thousand years. It’s a secret that could just tear down our world.
It’s several months after BANISHED. Separated from Thorn, Kit Blackhart has thrown herself into her work and together with Aiden, is investigating the proliferation of a deadly fae drug called Glow among the London clubbing scene when Queen Suola of the Unseelie Court asks her to investigate the disappearance of a number of children from a south London council estate. But Suola’s request comes with a catch – if Kit takes the case she’ll have to work it with Dante Alexander, a member of HM Department of Supernatural Defence and Intervention (known to the Blackharts as Spooks). There’s no love lost between the Blackharts and the Spooks but when more kids go missing Kit and Dante have to put aside their differences to figure out what’s going on. Neither is prepared for what they’ll uncover and the implications it has for both the human and fae worlds …
The second in Liz de Jager’s YA trilogy is a mixed and, at times, slightly muddled affair that shares the breadth of ideas and fine use of folklore as BANISHED but lacks the structure and writing polish. The main problem for me lies in Kit herself. Although she’s supposed to be fiery and brave, her self-admitted brattish tendencies grated on me, especially her refusal to seek or accept help when she needs it. She also has a strange tick of identifying magical things or emotions as “weird” when, given her family history, she really shouldn’t be surprised or thrown by them. The obligatory hint at a YA love triangle with Dante didn’t excite me and I found the scattered Thorn scenes to be confusing – especially the end where his explanation of his actions made little sense. Similarly the story itself has an uneven pace – the missing children plot should be front and centre but there’s no urgency to Kit and Dante’s investigation and the Glow investigation sits uneasily alongside it while the resolution to both is ultimately unfulfilling (and I say that as someone who likes low beat endings). This is a shame because de Jager excels at incorporating folklore elements – I particularly loved the Pied Piper reference – and her depiction of the frigid, capricious but always dangerous fae is quite chilling at times. Ultimately, there’s just enough here to make me read the trilogy’s conclusion but I hope the plot hangs together more tightly.
The Verdict:
The second in Liz de Jager’s YA trilogy is a mixed and, at times, slightly muddled affair that shares the breadth of ideas and fine use of folklore as BANISHED but lacks the structure and writing polish. The main problem for me lies in Kit herself. Although she’s supposed to be fiery and brave, her self-admitted brattish tendencies grated on me, especially her refusal to seek or accept help when she needs it. She also has a strange tick of identifying magical things or emotions as “weird” when, given her family history, she really shouldn’t be surprised or thrown by them. The obligatory hint at a YA love triangle with Dante didn’t excite me and I found the scattered Thorn scenes to be confusing – especially the end where his explanation of his actions made little sense. Similarly the story itself has an uneven pace – the missing children plot should be front and centre but there’s no urgency to Kit and Dante’s investigation and the Glow investigation sits uneasily alongside it while the resolution to both is ultimately unfulfilling (and I say that as someone who likes low beat endings). This is a shame because de Jager excels at incorporating folklore elements – I particularly loved the Pied Piper reference – and her depiction of the frigid, capricious but always dangerous fae is quite chilling at times. Ultimately, there’s just enough here to make me read the trilogy’s conclusion but I hope the plot hangs together more tightly.
A Blackhart can see the supernatural behind everyday crimes. But some crimes hide even greater evils.
Kit Blackhart must investigate why children are disappearing from a London estate. Their parents, the police and Kit’s fae allies claim to know nothing. And as more children disappear, the pressure mounts. Luckily, or unluckily, government trainee Dante Alexander is helping Kit with the case. Yet just as her feelings towards him begin to thaw, his life falls apart. As Kit struggles to unravel Dante’s problems and solve their case, she meets fae Prince Thorn in her dreams – but their relationship is utterly forbidden.
Then Kit digs too deep, uncovering a mystery that’s been hidden for one thousand years. It’s a secret that could just tear down our world.
It’s several months after BANISHED. Separated from Thorn, Kit Blackhart has thrown herself into her work and together with Aiden, is investigating the proliferation of a deadly fae drug called Glow among the London clubbing scene when Queen Suola of the Unseelie Court asks her to investigate the disappearance of a number of children from a south London council estate. But Suola’s request comes with a catch – if Kit takes the case she’ll have to work it with Dante Alexander, a member of HM Department of Supernatural Defence and Intervention (known to the Blackharts as Spooks). There’s no love lost between the Blackharts and the Spooks but when more kids go missing Kit and Dante have to put aside their differences to figure out what’s going on. Neither is prepared for what they’ll uncover and the implications it has for both the human and fae worlds …
The second in Liz de Jager’s YA trilogy is a mixed and, at times, slightly muddled affair that shares the breadth of ideas and fine use of folklore as BANISHED but lacks the structure and writing polish. The main problem for me lies in Kit herself. Although she’s supposed to be fiery and brave, her self-admitted brattish tendencies grated on me, especially her refusal to seek or accept help when she needs it. She also has a strange tick of identifying magical things or emotions as “weird” when, given her family history, she really shouldn’t be surprised or thrown by them. The obligatory hint at a YA love triangle with Dante didn’t excite me and I found the scattered Thorn scenes to be confusing – especially the end where his explanation of his actions made little sense. Similarly the story itself has an uneven pace – the missing children plot should be front and centre but there’s no urgency to Kit and Dante’s investigation and the Glow investigation sits uneasily alongside it while the resolution to both is ultimately unfulfilling (and I say that as someone who likes low beat endings). This is a shame because de Jager excels at incorporating folklore elements – I particularly loved the Pied Piper reference – and her depiction of the frigid, capricious but always dangerous fae is quite chilling at times. Ultimately, there’s just enough here to make me read the trilogy’s conclusion but I hope the plot hangs together more tightly.
The Verdict:
The second in Liz de Jager’s YA trilogy is a mixed and, at times, slightly muddled affair that shares the breadth of ideas and fine use of folklore as BANISHED but lacks the structure and writing polish. The main problem for me lies in Kit herself. Although she’s supposed to be fiery and brave, her self-admitted brattish tendencies grated on me, especially her refusal to seek or accept help when she needs it. She also has a strange tick of identifying magical things or emotions as “weird” when, given her family history, she really shouldn’t be surprised or thrown by them. The obligatory hint at a YA love triangle with Dante didn’t excite me and I found the scattered Thorn scenes to be confusing – especially the end where his explanation of his actions made little sense. Similarly the story itself has an uneven pace – the missing children plot should be front and centre but there’s no urgency to Kit and Dante’s investigation and the Glow investigation sits uneasily alongside it while the resolution to both is ultimately unfulfilling (and I say that as someone who likes low beat endings). This is a shame because de Jager excels at incorporating folklore elements – I particularly loved the Pied Piper reference – and her depiction of the frigid, capricious but always dangerous fae is quite chilling at times. Ultimately, there’s just enough here to make me read the trilogy’s conclusion but I hope the plot hangs together more tightly.
