Storm Born
category: fantasy, porn, author:Richelle Mead
original copyright 2008
read in January 2012
Agamedes' opinion: 4 out of 10: bad but could be read
I enjoyed it -- but it is not a very good book?! Why not? First, check the labels at the foot of this review...
It is "cat:fantasy". Okay, witches, fairies, shamans, Earth and fairy-land. Fantasy. It is also "cat:porn"... It could have been "cat:romance" -- but it is closer to porn.
The heroine is beautiful. The heroes are handsome. There are lots of significant looks and lots of heavy breathing. There is also lots of heavy sex.
So I read -- and enjoy -- books with lots of heavy sex. So I quite enjoyed reading this book. Even so, the sex was... well... not right. Not right for a romance, that is.
No matter how tough, how sassy, the romantic heroine, they do like to have an even tougher hero. But -- in my opinion -- a strong preference for rough sex and bondage is going beyond romance. And into porn.
The heroine is, of course, torn between two strong, handsome men. That's almost essential in a romance... or in any book with a "love interest". Having sex with both the men, though... weakens the romantic appeal. Where's the conflict of the romantic triangle, when she simply sleeps with both of them?!
By chapter four, the first hero had proven his worth by giving extremely good sex. Half a book later, the heroine was still resisting the second hero. Until she decided that it was a good idea to exchange sex for favours.
Prostitute with heart of gold is an old cliche. Heroine with heart of prostitute is less common. And less likable.
From there -- from "6/10 read to pass the time" -- the book rapidly degenerated to "4/10 bad but could be read". As the heroine slipped from sassy-and-strong to slutty-and-uninspired, she lost my sympathy. And the book lost its appeal.
Then there is the final risk-all-for-her-lover scene...
The heroine followed her (first) lover's spirit to hell, to bring him back to life. On the way, she faced a series of challenges.
Except that they were not really challenges...
There's the army, set to invade. The heroine is against the idea of invasion. So what does she do? She simply says, Okay all, let's go invade...
There's her father, who raped her mother. He says, now I'll have you, too. So what does she do? What clever stratagem does our heroine use to get by this threat of rape by father? Oh, okay, have me, she says...
These are not challenges. These are situations that the heroine does not like. And all she does, is to go along with every nasty action. No moral indignation. No attempt to find an alternative solution. Just, do the bad thing.
At best, this is a "morally ambiguous" heroine.
At worst, it's a novel which ignores conflict and conflict resolution, to set up a series of violent action scenes to loosely link the somewhat violent porn.
Good sex. Bad story.
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