The foundation of this book drove me nuts. Melina is a "Messenger" She lives in a world of Canes (Arcanes) Vampires, werewolves and assorted mystical creatures, who do not interact with eachother. And Danes (Mundanes) normal people who have no idea the Canes exist.
No one gave her the job, She doesn't have a boss or a handler or even a soulless bureaucracy to answer to. The whole messenger gig is kinda wacked. Some creature shows up with an envelope or a gizmo or dingus and says "take this to....." Sometimes she knows who the recipient is. Sometimes she sort of feels her way to who she (thinks/hopes) the recipient is. There is no training manual or website. And apparently bad things happen to her if she fails to deliver the "message"
Despite hating the foundation this story was cruising toward a 4 or maybe 4 1/2 because I loved the authors voice and the story was pretty durn entertaining. But the delivery fell apart down the homestretch. Each of the Arcane communities keep pretty much to themselves. If it doesn't effect the werewolves they don't care about it. Likewise the Vampires - if it doesn't effect them they don't care about it either. etc...
Melina's last "messenger" gig has gone awry. The Arcane gizmo she was supposed to transport was stolen and is being used to start a (human) gang war. And since it doesn't effect any of the Arcane communities - they don't care. Melina is on her own. Rendahl did a fine job painting the mc into a corner. None of her arcane acquaintances want to get involved. She has a sweet roommate who doesn't know anything about Melina's messenger responsibilities or Arcane connections. And a new flame(?) A cop whom she should be holding off with a 10 foot pole because it's a bad idea for Danes to discover the Arcanes.
I was looking forward to the resolution of all the disparate pieces of Melina's life coming together. Until I got down to about 60 pages left in the story and it was like the author said "screw it" It's too much work, I'll just skip over the coming together part. And BAM. Instant team. I flipped back two or three times to make sure I hadn't missed a chapter. Nope. One page Melina is an island all on her own. The next page everyone is on her team. Talk about whiplash.
Over all I loved Rendahl's voice. And she created great characters. Her vehicle drove me crazy, but all things considered was a pretty fun ride.
No one gave her the job, She doesn't have a boss or a handler or even a soulless bureaucracy to answer to. The whole messenger gig is kinda wacked. Some creature shows up with an envelope or a gizmo or dingus and says "take this to....." Sometimes she knows who the recipient is. Sometimes she sort of feels her way to who she (thinks/hopes) the recipient is. There is no training manual or website. And apparently bad things happen to her if she fails to deliver the "message"
Despite hating the foundation this story was cruising toward a 4 or maybe 4 1/2 because I loved the authors voice and the story was pretty durn entertaining. But the delivery fell apart down the homestretch. Each of the Arcane communities keep pretty much to themselves. If it doesn't effect the werewolves they don't care about it. Likewise the Vampires - if it doesn't effect them they don't care about it either. etc...
Melina's last "messenger" gig has gone awry. The Arcane gizmo she was supposed to transport was stolen and is being used to start a (human) gang war. And since it doesn't effect any of the Arcane communities - they don't care. Melina is on her own. Rendahl did a fine job painting the mc into a corner. None of her arcane acquaintances want to get involved. She has a sweet roommate who doesn't know anything about Melina's messenger responsibilities or Arcane connections. And a new flame(?) A cop whom she should be holding off with a 10 foot pole because it's a bad idea for Danes to discover the Arcanes.
I was looking forward to the resolution of all the disparate pieces of Melina's life coming together. Until I got down to about 60 pages left in the story and it was like the author said "screw it" It's too much work, I'll just skip over the coming together part. And BAM. Instant team. I flipped back two or three times to make sure I hadn't missed a chapter. Nope. One page Melina is an island all on her own. The next page everyone is on her team. Talk about whiplash.
Over all I loved Rendahl's voice. And she created great characters. Her vehicle drove me crazy, but all things considered was a pretty fun ride.
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