Happy September people! So I may not be at Hogwarts getting sorted into a house (way past my time unfortunately), but I still have another review to share with you. Dawn Cook, also known as Kim Harrison, wrote The Decoy Princess and Princess at Sea. Although an enjoyable read, both books had a couple of things missing…
Firstly, the whole premise of the book is that there are people called Players who basically control their countries behind their monarchs – kind of like a power-behind-the-throne set-up. However, Cook does not quite explain this well enough. Simply mentioning this kind of power dynamic just wasn’t enough for me. I wanted details and illustrated situations to show me how these Players managed to control entire courts and countries without anyone realizing it. Yes, she does explain how they get extra-human powers and sixth senses through the build up of tolerance to a certain kind of animal poison, but those powers did not fully explain their ability to secretly rule and manipulate everyone around them. Furthermore, the heroine (Tess) receives training from her mentor (Kavenlow), but it all happens ‘off stage.’ As a major premise of both novels, I really felt like I needed more to work with in order to fully suspend my disbelief.
Secondly, both romances that Tess experiences are similarly flat. I simply did not believe the chemistry between Tess and Duncan, her card shark and accidental sidekick. It felt like Cook was expecting the reader to just accept that they had chemistry without really giving us convincing episodes of growing attraction. Yes, there are moments when Tess very blatantly is physically attracted to Duncan, but even she admits that she is inexperienced in this arena. In contrast, I think Cook developed the chemistry between Tess and Jeck (the Misdev captain and secret Player) much more thoroughly. They are thrown into highly emotional and stressful situations together and slowly learn how to interact successfully. The second novel ends in a pseudo-cliffhanger that left their romance half-baked though. Kavenlow, obviously a third party in this relationship, tells both Tess and the reader that Jeck is in love with her but that’s all we get. The book ends. And that’s it. Come on! Their romance was just starting to pick up when she decides to cut it off? That’s simply unfair.
So while I enjoyed both of these books, I ultimately wouldn’t recommend them. I was left dissatisfied by the ending, both plot-wise and romance-wise. Moreover, Tess as a heroine was simply not strong enough to pull of the kind of stunts that the plot required of her for me.
What did you guys think? Were you as dissatisfied as I was?
Churning Pages 