Swallowing Darkness Fiction Review
Posted on November 21, 2008 by TezMillerOz
Laurell K. Hamilton
Swallowing Darkness (Merry Gentry, Book 7)
Random House
Pregnant with twins, Princess Meredith NicEssus embarks on her biggest battle yet in Laurell K. Hamilton’s Swallowing Darkness.
With impending motherhood, Merry knows the safest thing for her unborn children, her lovers/guards and she is to escape faerie to Los Angeles. After all, her cousin Prince Cel desperately wants her – and her nearest and dearest – dead. Or maybe just maimed.
But escaping safely to the Western Lands means working with humans, who may not be fully aware of the deadly task they face of protecting Merry and her posse. Old wounds will bleed again…
The first half of the novel plods. The scenes are long, and things may seem to be happening, but it’s difficult to care. I don’t remember Gran, and Merry’s cousin Cair, being in the books before, so they seemed to be here as a plot device, and not on their own account. But bless Gran; she does bring up intriguing things: His mother was a hell hound, his father a phouka who bedded the bitch when in dog form. You could ha’ puppies inside ya. Though I’m pretty sure this won’t happen, it would make for innovative fiction, indeed, for sidhe-human Merry to give birth to puppies.
Sholto, king of the sluagh, has a bigger role in this novel. But the author seems to write as if we should all know exactly what sluagh, goblins, brownies and sidhe are. And the differences between Seelie and Unseelie. I don’t. And if the thought of puppy birth wasn’t bizarre enough, there’s tentacle foreplay. One can’t deny that the author has quite the imagination…
The second half is much better as the gang starts traveling to the Western Lands, where all hell breaks loose and magic rules for better or worse. There’s death and destruction, blood and gore…and a happy ending. But to find out whether Merry’s womb-inhabitants are puppies or not, we’ll just have to wait for the next installment.
Review by Tez Miller
Tags | anita-blake, erotica, faeries, laurell-k-hamilton
If you had read all the books in the series before attempting to rate this one then you would know exactly who the characters are, what they do, what drives them etc etc etc etc.
Please read whatever u need to read before you decide to do this again.
I agree with William. All the characters were explained in the previous book, except maybe Doyle since there’s more to him than meets the eye
People like this really irritate me. How can you accurately review a book that is clearly part of a series and not do your homework? As with most book (or movie) series you must read them in order. All of them, not just the ones with the prettiest covers. This is by far one of the most intriguing, creative series I have ever read.
@Kellah – It is not uncommon for readers to pick up a book that’s part of a series without reading the first one. Some books are structured with that in mind; some aren’t. For example, the Shadowrise series that I just finished reading by Tad Williams offers a synopsis of the previous book in the beginning to help draw new readers.
“Sholto, king of the sluagh, has a bigger role in this novel. But the author seems to write as if we should all know exactly what sluagh, goblins, brownies and sidhe are. And the differences between Seelie and Unseelie. I don’t.”
@ Monica..dont even go there..this is the 7th book. What ass would pick up book seven, try to read it then have the nerve to say what she said in the quote mentioned above.
Once again, if common sense was common then everyone would have it