Elements: magic, Cthulhu
Rating:
- Characters - 4 - The characters themselves are a little stock, but Spencer uses them to great effect, especially once she's established the world a little.
- Setting - 5 - The setting is pretty unique. This is dark fantasy, and very well written, and the world reflects that excellently.
- Plot - 4 - The plot is pretty much standard. This is a smut story, but she does a good job of making it be about more than just smut.
- Genre Elements - 5 - As with the setting, the details of the magic of this world are very well-crafted, and it makes the story that much more believable. The Cthulhu element...well, that's very believable and horribly creepy, so do be warned.
- Voice - 4 - The characters are pretty distinct, and well-written so that each is easy to tell from the others.
- Romance Elements - 2 - Here's one of the places the story loses me. I'm a sucker for romance, and it's almost not there at all in this story. Really, the story is more about sex than romance. I will say that there is a seed of a romance here, in a very believable way. This story just doesn't focus on it.
- Overall - 4 - Not a Cthulhu fan myself, so between that and the lack of romance, this one lost me. But overall, it's an excellently written book.
Cian has been searching for the key to all magics, but when he goes looking for water magic, he finds himself in far deeper than he anticipated.
My thoughts -
As soon as I started reading this one, I knew it wouldn't be something I would enjoy. While the story is very well written, enough so to keep me reading, the subject matter was a bit out of my usual realm of enjoyment.
The story itself is very well-crafted, and the smut (aside from one scene--see the warning below) was very enjoyable. If you like tentacle porn, this is probably a good one, but Cthulhu stuff freaks me out. I can't really enjoy the thought of a non-humanoid with such vast intelligence doing that to anyone. Nor am I fond of rape scenes in any form.
I think for me, I might have enjoyed it more if Cian and the sorcerer who has been hiding the Cthulhu (and there I'm using the wrong term, but it's simpler for me than to go seeking the exact creature she used) really had fallen in love. They do to some extent, but it's more of a meeting of equals--two men who know they're trapped and want what the other has.
At some point, I may check out what else Spencer has written, but just knowing that she writes Cthulhu fantasy makes me pretty wary of her stuff. I do think she's an excellent writer, I just don't think her writing is for me.
Warnings -
Cthulhu. Physical and mind-rape. And it does get a little graphic, so if just reading those is too much, definitely stay away from this one.
Overall Recommendation -
This was not really my thing, though it is well written, but if you like smut and Cthulhu, this may be the book for you.
Link to the story - Sorcerer's Knot (on Goodreads)
Author Link - Tali Spencer (on Goodreads)
If you liked this story, try -
- The Adorned by John Tristan (Goodreads) (read my review here)
- Soulless by T Baggins (on Goodreads) (read my review here)
- Undesirable by Velvet Mace (LJ)
- The Ennik Series by Kim Fielding (Goodreads) (read my review here)
- The Book of Myth by Qui (Fiction Press) (read my review here)
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