Trinity Tam

And now the final book in the series has been read and completed. Four books by Nell Stark and Trinity Tam. Two for Nell Stark by herself.

This book picks up before the prior one even ends. The prior book ended with a gunshot. This one picks up before that gun was fired. This book opens during the planning stages for a raid that will involve the shifter and vampire alliance against Balthasar Brenner’s group. (A raid that the prior book ended on).

The first 42% follows the point of view of Alexa, the werepanther. After which the book follows Valentine, the vampire. Most of the people from the prior book return, including Solana, Helen, Malcolm, Constantine, Olivia, Karma, both Brenners (Balthasar and his son Sebastian), and of course Alexa and Valentine. New people popped up in this one, but no new major character (well, there’s Tian, but her appearance is like a film that has, say, Sean Connery pop up in an Admirals uniform for three seconds to say something deeply meaningful in a film before poofing. Tian’s role was about on par with that, important, but cameo worthy). Both Olivia had Solana had their largest roles in the prior book, appeared in this one but slightly more than cameos.

The series and the long running fight between Balthasar Brenner against basically everyone has concluded. It was an enjoyable run while it lasted. But now it’s time for something else to occupy the brain.

April 11 2016
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My first book with this duo, and 3rd book overall with Stark at the controls (and zeroth with Tam as a solo author).

Hmm. I came here to write about something that I was going to take a certain issue with. But I can’t now. As the issue involved pre-knowledge I thought gleaned from the book description. I guess I got the information from the reviews? No matter – the point I was going to make is that I learned a certain something before beginning the book and this ‘certain something’ distracted me for a certain length of the book. I knew going in several things. (1) the book was split in half, with one main character taking half, and the other taking over the second half of the book; and – don’t read this one unless you’ve read the book (at least from personal experience having this information prior to reading was a distraction) - (2) the one who isn’t a vampire turns into a werepanther. I spent a little too much time in the beginning parts of the book drumming my fingers, waiting for this to occur – that, as I’ve indicated, distracted me from what was going on.

Okay then – this book goes a certain direction I’ve seen several times, though it is, in its way, a less populated path. This is more science fantasy than out and out fantasy; and, to a certain extent, if the creatures involved didn’t reside so deeply in horror or fantasy, I’d probably just call this science fiction. Because, while fantasy creatures are involved, there is a very science-fiction-y explanation for the critters.

I’ve forgotten now what exactly was said, but one is a virus (shifters), while the other is a . . . bacteria? I’ve forgotten now. Ah yes, bacteria (vampires). The explanation for what’s occurring with shifters isn’t as detailed, I absorbed the information that a virus was involved; while the explanation for vampires was quite medical jargon-y. See, there’s this bacteria that invades the body – it attacks a person’s red blood cells, goes inside of them, and explodes them – feeding off the blood. If the infected person gets blood from others, then they can continue to live – potentially forever, though they’ll become more and more similar in nature to the pop culture version of vampires (well, the kind that gets annoyed at the sun, because of the exploding and stuff); while if they ‘feed’ off of a ‘true love’ (not sure ‘true’ was actually there) then they’ll ‘keep their soul’ (see, this whole ‘soul’, ‘true love’, etc. is all magically bullshit, so, fantasy, so not science fiction) – therefore they can continue going outside in sunlight – though the impact of the sun’s rays is still stronger on them than on ‘regular’ humans. (note: I didn’t really think about it until I wrote this paragraph, but, technically, they could be getting this ‘outside blood’ through transfusions of one kind or another – but that’s never even mentioned – probably because of the discussion that occurred when a glass of blood was offered – it would sustain, but isn’t as ‘good’ as getting it directly from the source (more magic-y bullshit).

All of this to say (not really, but it was one of the points): no, this isn’t science fiction, and so a person is left with ‘horror’, ‘fantasy’, ‘science fantasy’ (and then which subgenre it falls into below that). There is a horror element – something of a ‘boogy-man’ ‘rogue’ vampire is going viciously attacking people and turning them into vampires; both of the lead characters have horrifying nightmares, etc. This has some of the elements of horror, but I would not necessarily put it in horror. There are ‘paranormal creatures’ so fantasy, right? But then there’s all that medical jargon, and explanations and . . . stuff . . .. Let’s just go with Science Fantasy and move on, eh?

So, picture this – it’s a Tuesday, there’s this young woman with a very special night planned. The apartment is decorated just so. Preparations for a lovely meal are in the works. A very special ring has been secured. And the love of that young woman’s life will show up in about 15 to 30 minutes. But! Champagne! Valentine ‘Val’ Darrow hurries out to acquire some. She’s distracted by happy thoughts. She vaguely spots a creepy looking dude smoking nearby as she’s heading into a liquor store. She dumps a pile of coins and paper onto the store counter and informs them that she wishes the best champagne that pile of money will secure her. She exits. Still distracted. Walks down the street. All aglow with what the night will bring. Thoughts of this and that and . . . are those footsteps behind her? Are they getting closer? Val moves quicker. The footsteps behind her move quicker. She spots a well lighted area ahead of her – that’s her goal. Running now. Almost there. Pushed into an alley and savagely beaten, knifed, then loaded into a car and driven to Canal Street and dumped (by the way, this takes place in New York; did I not mention that yet?). And so the book begins – seemingly starting with two becoming one, but diverted by a creature out of horror.

The book then proceeds to follow Val as she attempts to figure out what happened to her, and what this means to her. She learns a few things, dodges a few things, and spends an inordinate amount of time hunting her killer. See, there’s this mystery angle going on in this book as well. Meanwhile her girlfriend/lover/almost fiancée follows along for the ride.

Until roughly the mid-point when the story shifts and it’s now Alexa Newland in control of things (or, in other words, things shift to her point of view). It’s difficult to go much into her territory as it’d probably all be spoiler-y. I’ll just leave it as I liked Alexa’s point of view more than Val’s, though I also needed Val’s because if I had just had Alexa’s – Val’s whimpery/depressing/etc. attitude was easier to take, somewhat, with the further knowledge gleaned from being in Val’s head.

Long and short of it – good enjoyable book. I’ve seen at least one review indicating that the next book is even better than this one, and I was interested in reading that one any way; but I think it might be a little while before I tackle it. So – I recommend this book. Especially to those who like fantasy, and science basis’s for fantasy creatures (like might be found in Mira Grants Parasitology series).

March 17 2016
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My second book by these two authors working together, and second in this series.

The story of the vampire and her werecat lover continues . . . mostly separately. Well, for the first half of the story at least. Apparently Alexa wanted to get better control over her panther, and so headed off to a vaguely mythical were-city. Meanwhile Val, the vampire, continues to do stuff in New York.

The first half of the book follows things from Val's point of view. I might be mixing up how much room each pov takes, since I also recall that the second half of the book has the pov switch more often than it did in the last book. Though still, like in the last book, very long sections are followed by one point of view before switching to the other lead character.

Val is struggling with her place in the world, attempting to continue her school studies, missing Alexa both physically and mentally, and, eventually, struggling with the idea that there is some kind of pathogen spreading through the were-community which causes 'issues' with them shifting, and could lead to death. Struggling, there, with trying to investigate while being cut off from exploring what is going on from the Consortium side of things, and struggling with the both the need to have Alexa by her side, and with the fear that if she returned she might be infected and die.

Alexa, meanwhile, is off being a panther. Well, and human but lots of running around as a panther, and getting in touch with her panther self. That is until the city she's in is attacked and she has to flee. As the book description notes, a '[w]ereshifter civil war' has broken out. Lead by the father of Sebastian Brenner (may or may not have that last name wrong). The father desires to live more naturally, and despises vampires.

Eventually the story-lines flow together and Val and Alexa are reunited. Only to then be nearish but still apart 'for reasons'.

A good solid continuation of the series. The nature of the alternating POV was vaguely annoying in certain aspects (like how the book opens with Val, advances the storyline a certain distance, then switches to Alexa . . . only to have the storyline fall back a certain way and follow Alexa up to where Val's part had ended off, then flow past that point). I liked the book well enough. Back in the days of me giving ratings like 3.891, or 4.421, I might play around with where I'd rate this book, probably some rating below four stars, but because I'm 'stuck' using GoodReads full star rating system, this book, like the first, ended up being a four star book. Though I liked the first book more than I did this one. Alas, both end having four stars, so how will anyone know I liked the first more? By reading this paragraph, I suppose.

April 4 2016… (more)

With the completion of this book here, I’ve now read more books by Nell Stark and Trinity Tam than I’ve read by just Nell Stark. 3 to 2. Not a significant statistic, just something I noted to myself as I was reading.

This book is difficult to actually say anything about without going into spoiler territory. Literally, first thing that happens in the book is a series spoiler. Not specifically a book spoiler, but a series spoiler. So how to write a review that says something while getting around that issue? Note before I continue, a book can ‘spoil’ itself by having a flash forward to open the book, like say flashing forward 3 years, then the rest of the book is set three years before. That did not happen in this instance. I’m not a big fan of flash forwarding.

Val and Alexa return for their third book. The alternating POV continues. Keeping up past tendencies, the book followed a process of focusing on one character for a longish period of time before switching at, roughly, the 49% mark (I might just be remembering when it switched in the prior book, it might have switched earlier this time). And like the previous book, part of the ‘switch’ involved action that took place before where the action ended before the switch. In other words, POV-A followed the storyline time line from point in time A to point in time E before the switch; POV-B followed C until some point after point in time E. Unlike last time, I did not and do not know how much time ‘had to be made up’ before we got back to ‘current’ time.

The action of the book takes place in New York and Argentina. It involves, as noted, Val and Alexa. Also involves Olivia. A new character appears in the form of Solana Carrizo. And the fight with Brenner continues.

And that’s basically what I can say without going into spoiler zone.

Overall I rather liked this addition to the series. A satisfying book. I liked it so much that I diverted from my normal pattern, at least with this series, and dove into the next book immediately.

DO NOT READ SPOILER section unless read the prior books in the series.
The book opens in an odd way. I actually had to stop and look around at the other books in the series to make sure I was, in fact, reading the next book. Why? The book opens with Alexa and Val separated. And Val is now a full vampire. It’s something like several months after the last book (unlike book four, which actually opens earlier in time than the last book ended).

Alexa refuses to have anything to do with Val, because Val has become what everyone had feared. Soulless. Compassionless. She still wants to feed off of Alexa, and hump her. She still has that much remaining within her. But she sees no reason to confine herself to just Alexa. And Alexa cannot stand sharing her. And so, separated.

In this state of separation, Olivia reaches out and contacts Alexa. For various reasons, including Olivia also being separated from her lover, Alex and Olivia begin having breakfast together (and no, this isn’t code for anything other than eating food in the morning at a restaurant).

While Olivia and Alexa kind of numbly eat together, Karma interrupts their meal via phone to suggest that Alexa should rush over immediately. Karma, which I don’t think I specifically mentioned before, works in a museum. Some kind of curator role, I assume. At least one that would involve intake of items of old age found in Egypt.

While processing a shipment, Karma comes across something that might help in Alexa and Val’s current situation. The story of how someone was able to ‘revive’ someone through a magical flower. There are supposedly 14 places on Earth or something like that, where this very rare flower blooms very briefly.

Karma and Alexa hunt for more information. One location pops up, Alexa’s raring to go . . . but it’s in the middle of a war zone (Afghanistan). Then, finally, mention of a story that might be related to the flower. Story took place in a specific location in Argentina. Alexa roars off on a plane more or less immediately. Olivia goes along. Karma does not.

They roam in Argentina. Meet a really old woman there. Have a discussion about flowers.

Book switches POV to Val. She’s a full vampire and very confident about herself and her place in the world. She’s dropped out of school, taken over a family bank (her family), greatly expanded that bank, and is doing other financial stuff. Like marrying a man. Because of something that had blocked her from the majority of her inheritance – the requirement that it would only come to her after marrying a man. Oh, and she opened a club. She’s full on vampire now, and has a different personality.

April 11 2016
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