Will Forrest (1)

Hey, no fair. This was supposed to be a short story, not the beginning of a serial. Total cliffhanger ending - and it could have ended a few pages earlier on a note of completion, with plenty of story still coming. I'm mildly interested in Jaime (magic user who didn't know he was, and suffered for it), less interested in Adrian (his rescuer), and already detest Sandover. I'm wondering about the big guy, though, I'm not so sure he's helping Sandover. I'll certainly read the next book, but if show more that also ends in a cliffhanger I think I'll be done. Cheats like that shouldn't be rewarded, even if the story is otherwise interesting. show less

Yeah, doesn't really work for me. The most annoying part is meta - why is this Book 1, when Book 0 is so completely necessary for it? Events in the "prequel" are constantly referred to, and used as the basis for events in this book. If I hadn't read that first I would have been utterly confused - as it is, since I read it a while ago and have forgotten details, I was slightly confused at points. Aside from that - this is two stories, a pulp adventure horror and the story of a relationship show more growing. I usually like the latter (and tolerate the former), but Robb is so oblique the relationship keeps foundering on lies and untold truths, and the pulp kept intruding. I still have no idea of who or what "the duke's man" was or who he was enchanting - did he get the fop or was it the fop's magic? Both are said. And - yeah, lots of stuff like that, where events happen and I'm left puzzled at the end. It's not _quite_ a cliffhanger at the end, but again, after more-or-less success the story goes on to put Jaime in a bad place and _then_ stops. I don't think I'm interested in reading the third book - I'd like to see Adrian and Robb meet, but that's the only bit I'm interested in. Oh, though, the only sex references are the fop trying to force someone (and not succeeding, at least on page). Jaime and Robb's relationship doesn't seem to slant that way, which makes it richer, for me.
The short story at the end is the opposite. Their relationship seems to consist primarily, if not entirely, of sex. Confrontation, adventure together (and an explanation of where the monster in the main book came from), then sex. And longing and pining... And sex. Yawn. Yeah, I think I'm done. show less