(Jane True #4)
Nicole Peeler
Release: August 1, 2011
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Nothing says "home" like being attacked by humans with very large guns, as Jane and Anyan discover when they arrive in Rockabill. These are professionals, brought into kill, and they bring Anyan down before either Jane or the barghest can react. Seeing Anyan fall awakens a terrible power within Jane, and she nearly destroys herself taking out their attackers.Review:
Jane wakes, weeks later, to discover that she's not the only thing that's been stirring. Something underneath Rockabill is coming to life: something ancient, something powerful, and something that just might destroy the world.
Jane and her friends must act, striking out on a quest that only Jane can finish. For whatever lurks beneath the Old Sow must be stopped...and Jane's just the halfling for the job.
I knew going into Eye of the Tempest that it was readers' least favorite book in the Jane True series but I had to read it, right? I mean, its right smack dab in the middle of the series - had to be done. And readers were correct, this one does not live up to previous books. I didn't hate it, but I certainly didn't love it like the other books.
The beginning of Eye of the Tempest starts off great. All of the fun characters are back, there's the never ending sexual tension between the king and queen of 'will they or won't they' Jane and Anyan, and there's this exciting mystery to solve involving four locks that if opened will unleash something that will destroy most of the Eastern side of the country. 39% of the book was great fun in typical Jane True fashion. I was especially enjoying listening to Jane for the first time on audio and loving how the series' new narrator was portraying all Jane's snarky self comments perfectly.
And then I hit the 40% mark and everything went downhill. From that point on the story was mostly absent of all the engaging side characters and completely absent of Anyan. Really? We've been waiting FOREVER for Jane and Anyan to get together and now he's not even in more than half of this book?
The book then became all about Jane and Blondie. And I mean ALL. Almost every scene was just the two of them and the scenes Blondie wasn't in still involved her in some way. There was info dump after info dump of Blondie's history and the history of all of the magical folk and while all the information I was learning was extremely important to the story and the series, I began to find myself not even caring anymore because it was just being plopped on my lap nonstop.
While most of this book is not indicative of how fun, charming, and hilarious this series can be, it did have great moments. Like I said, the first one-third of the book is typical Jane. And Jane maintains her awesome inner thoughts throughout the book and some of the things she 'says' to herself are just ridiculously funny and clever. I love all the great words the author comes up with and Jane's balance of hapless and quick-witted. She's a great heroine and I just wish this book had done her and the whole Rockabill gang justice.
I will definitely continue this series, especially now that I have this book out of the way. I can't wait to see how all the characters respond to everything Jane has learned, but I especially can't wait for Jane and Anyan to GET IT ON. Enough teasing already.
Notes on the Audio: I hadn't bothered with this series on audio before because I did not like the narrator's voice in the samples. She sounded like a child, not like Jane True. But this series has a new voice now! Books #4 - 6 have this great narrator, Khristine Hvam, who does a spectacular job of bringing all Jane's snark and humor to life in a voice that sounds grown up, but is also true to Jane. I recommend checking out the audios for the second half of this series for sure.
Recommended for fans of: magical creatures, game changers, and pantsless satyrs.
Hvam's narration is SO MUCH better! Too bad my love for the series dropped after listening to this book.
ReplyDeleteI'm not much into audio books but I do want to start this series. The cover arts are gorgeous and the myth and world building sounds really really good!
ReplyDeleteBraine