I feel bound to give some explanation as to why I started reading ‘War and Peace’ and then suddenly switched to trashy magical sexcapades. To cut a long story short, I am temporarily of no fixed abode because the flat I intended to move into has dangerous wiring. Whilst packing for two weeks of staying with friends, I decided that it was time to read ‘War and Peace’. I forgot, however, that moving house is stressful and tiring, not conducive to tackling the greatest epic of Russian literature. So almost as soon as I arrived at my friend’s house, I began ‘Seduced by Moonlight’. In years past I read quite a number of Laurell K. Hamilton novels, with an escalating sense of disbelief as the supernatural mystery elements got crowded out by increasingly preposterous sex scenes. That was certainly the case with the Anita Blake series, whereas the Merry Gentry books never bothered to include much of a mystery element to start with. I read the first two about ten years ago and noted that Merry’s work as a PI was incidental at best. In this book it is non-existent, as being a fairy princess is a full time job.There are a myriad of reasons why I cannot take the Merry Gentry books seriously. Examples from this volume abound:- Frost’s floor-length silver tinsel hair and general resemblance to Elsa from Frozen.- Awkward skype calls with goblins, which require everyone to flash their boobs.- The fact that I always read Nicca as ‘Knickers’.- The lesbian sex scene in which a bathing suit is touched and, suddenly, orgasms all round.- Doyle’s skin apparently resembles an oil spillage.- Reference to the irresponsibility of fairies causing the Irish potato famine.- Merry’s hair being like garnets. It looks like it is made of garnets. Garnets.- Repeated reminders that Doyle is wearing a thong, occurring as non sequiturs in the middle of conversations he isn’t even part of.- Continual shining. Everyone shines whilst doing anything even tangentially magical and/or sexual (the two are basically synonymous). It is as if piles of glowsticks have cracked open and leaked all about.- Hamilton’s habit of personifying penises, which can become very confusing. She never uses the word penis, despite having no problem with the (surely more absurd) word testicles.- The general air amongst Merry’s harem of, ‘We’re constantly having group sex with this one lady, but no homo, bro. Let’s just braid each other’s hair’.- The many similes used to describe magic. My favourite is on page 378, ‘...like invisible jam’. INVISIBLE JAM.- The scene in which Merry is banging Frost when, on the other side of the room, Doyle suddenly turns into a dog, then a horse, then an eagle. Presumably in a fit of pique.The fact that I read the whole 500 pages in two days, however, gives away that I enjoyed the book. It was extremely easy to read, despite being largely dialogue about magical politics interspersed with sex scenes. The Merry Gentry universe is fun and, in a refreshing turn, dominated utterly by the female gaze. The last hundred pages were even compelling rather than amusing, as things took a turn into ultraviolence. Laurell K. Hamilton does combine sex and horror rather effectively, I must say. Although the sudden incest was somewhat off-putting.Nonetheless, my favourite parts of the book occurred when the narrative explicitly acknowledged the rampant absurdity of events. Notably, the scene in which Merry and her harem were standing around drinking hot beverages and staring in confusion at a magic cup that had appeared. Then Doyle suddenly made a comment and everyone jumped, spilling coffee/tea/cocoa all over themselves and their filmy silk robes. That was hilarious. It gave me a delightful mental image of fae trying to get stains out of silk - which I know from experience is practically impossible. I was also pleased that the final scene confirmed my suspicion that Merry gets her harem to do the housework. There must be one seriously complicated chore rota. Not much in the way of clothing to wash, but lots of sheets. A lot of hoovering is surely also required as so many long-haired people must shed like crazy. I wonder who cooks? Do fae even eat anything but blood and sex? Other questions ‘Seduced by Moonlight’ begs include: why does no-one make a reference to Merry ‘tasting the rainbow’? Or lining up her ‘Merry Men’ in an ombré colour palette? They are basically a Dulux catalogue, albeit without that ubiquitous shade magnolia. A ‘bubblegum pink’ guy is referred to in passing, though. I wonder what his power is? Hopefully something grim and dark, for maximum hilarity.My friend has the next three books in the series sitting on the shelf. Whether I'll read them depends on how palatable ‘War and Peace’ turns out to be. Tolstoy versus sexy magic, which will triumph? Place your bets now.
Mary Has Graduated From Graciously Lying on Her Back to Joyously Bobbing on Her Knees.........I was enjoying this book until about page 130, when Merry had the great transformation. I simply do not get it. Does Laurell not like Merry's character? Why on earth would she make Merry THE PRINCESS, soon to be queen a huge sperm bank? At one point, Merry is so upset of being deprived the opportunity of swallowing seed, instead of all the men's seed always being used to try and get her pregnant. For goddess sake, it was almost like Merry was swishing it around in her mouth like fine wine.If Merry is the one to be worshiped, especially now that she is a goddess; then why aren't the men worshiping her? The guards are not kings, why aren't they on their knees and putting out to Merry? Why is the princess doing all the menial labor with such shameless eagerness, like the men are doing her a favor by letting her taste? Perhaps if Merry were at least on equal footing between her and her men sexually, I wouldn't be this disgusted. Don't get me wrong, I love reading demented books as much as the next gal but having Merry anxious to please everyone like a love starved puppy is demeaning.Relationships are give and take. Just because someone is eager to be used as a Hoover vacuum doesn't make it right. I've never been so conflicted with a series. The fantasy in this series is phenomenal and like no other. The last 100 pages of this book were so good; I was riveted to each word. However, the sex is just goddess awful and they last for pages upon pages; it's not easy to just skip them. I'm so disgusted with Merry's sex life but I love Merry's character when she isn't draped or drowning in men (and women).I hate myself for saying this but I will read the next book in this series, Stroke of Midnight because sadly enough, I can't wait to see what happens next with the fantasy portion of this series.I also recommend:Succubus Blues (Georgina Kincaid, Book 1)Personal DemonsFull Moon Rising (Riley Jensen, Guardian, Book 1)Seduced by Magic (Magic Series, Book 2)Night Huntress (Sisters of the Moon, Book 5)****Addendum 12/28/09- After giving it much thought, I don't think I can continue reading this series. In fact, I don't think I'll be reading anything from Laurell again in the future. I can no longer respect Merry's character; I feel she is being humiliated by having her sleep with anyone and everyone who crosses her path. I read books mostly for entertainment purposes and seeing the demeaned and abused treatment of Merry's character, the story stops being enjoyable and fun to me.
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(...)Também gostei de ver o lado mais franco da tia de Meredith. Esta é uma mulher que sabe que tem que ser forte e determinada para que o povo não se revolte contra ela e por isso reina com mão de ferro. Mas os episódios em que esta aparece, embora poucos e breves, são sempre fantásticos e surpreendentes. Mas não foi apenas a relação com a sua tia que foi desenvolvida neste livro. Nele também é aprofundada a relação com os seus guardas. E que guardas! Os homens mais bonitos e fortes do reino, com um sentido de dever acima de tudo e todos. Há uma cena neste livro, em que os guardas se protegem todos uns aos outros da rainha que me tocou e admirou profundamente, provavelmente essa é, na minha opinião, a melhor cena de todo este livro pois demonstra não só o companheirismo que os guardas desenvolveram para se protegerem ao longo de centenas de anos mas também o quão assustadora a rainha e tia de Meredith pode ser.Um livro muitíssimo bom, de uma saga diferente e que adoro. Uma saga que quero continuar e cujo próximo volume espero com muita curiosidade.Opinião completa em http://blocodedevaneios.blogspot.pt/2...
—Vanessa Montês
This book brings the mystery, suspence, back-stabbing politics and of course magic from the two previous books and makes a completely new story. We have Meredith once again sleeping with her guards in the hope to get pregnant but with an added twist to it this time! Also we have her returning to the Unseelie court which brings the reader plenty of information on court politics and the Queen herself!. The first half of the book is filled with new and regained powerful magic for Merry and her men in Los Angeles. The latter half of the book takes place at the Unseelie court and is full of ten new guards, two new goblins, politics, a duel, assassination attempts, more scary Andais, and a great ending. My favourite part of Laurell K. Hamilton's books is that the heroine, by being an honorable, protecting, courageous person, gets ahead in life. Merry's responsible, humble, sheltering nature turns more and more guards to care for her more than the Queen. I liked the ending in particular because it was very tender and shows Merry's old guards easing the new guards into the very different culture of guarding Merry, which the old guards seem grateful for as a reprieve from the Queen's tender care. The book heavily hints that the next books in the series will cover their visit to the Goblin Court and the Seelie Court, and Merry keeping her bargain with Sholto.This book in it's summary is a fantastic read with all the intensity from the previous books and with plenty new twists to keep the reader on their toes. Although you could read this book on its own and enjoy it you would probably benefit from buying the 2 previous books for background information and also just to enjoy.
—Rebecca
In the third installment of the Merry Gentry series, the steamy factor increases exponentially. The men and Merry are finding a good groove with each other and as the magic of the goddess returns to them more and more, the stakes increase.In this book, we also see some of the side effects of what happened at the end of the last tale and what happens after someone unleashes the worst thing the modern faerie courts know. We see characters like Rhys grow in power and others, like Kitto, come into power they never knew possible.There are also a lot of politics amidst the steamy scenes in this book. We get a lot more insight into goblin culture especially, and it is interesting to see how the factions are playing out there even as drama unfolds at the Unseelie court.As our fond group returns to the sithen, more chaos plays out as the Queen's ring makes magic come alive and the Queen herself isn't always pleased. Along with the Goddess' magic, comes the magic of betrayal from others inside Andais's court.The book adds to the depth of the series and we learn more about politics both inside the Unseelie court and elsewhere, and we also see hints of how strong Merry could become. Overall, it's a great addition to the series.
—Brekke
