Friday, March 12, 2010

Review! Shadowglass by Erica Hayes

Shadowglass 
The Shadowfae Chronicles
Erica Rayes
St. Martin's Griffin
March 2, 2010
ISBN-10: 0312578016
ISBN-13: 978-0312578015


A seductive magic mirror lies hidden deep in a demon’s lair, with a simple warning: don’t stare at the glass…
Ice is a troubled fairy trying her best to survive in the squalid underworld of the Shadowfae.  When she spends a hot night with a demon lord, she discovers a powerful magic mirror in his lair — and pilfers it, knowing it’s the key to escaping her bleak life as a two-bit con artist.  But Ice soon discovers that the mirror's power comes with a price…madness, which is slowly overtaking her.
Indigo oozes darkness, danger and tempting sensuality.  He’s been sent to destroy Ice and bring the mirror back to its rightful owner; a mission that, if he fails, will cost him his life.  But when he meets Ice, he faces an even greater challenge: an insatiable sexual hunger that neither of them can deny, and dark passions that threaten to claim them both forever.  The trouble is, the longer he stays within the mirror’s reach, the greater its hold on his sanity—and the stronger his determination to save Ice…
Ice is water fairy and she's in hot waters. Pun intended! She's a petty thief but when she steals something from the demon who practically rules the whole city, she's definitely in trouble. She stole a little mirror that at first look, it seems harmless albeit a pretty babble until it starts communicating with her. Apparently, its a magical mirror that gives its owner the courage to live out their secret desires, whether it's telling a deep dark secret or robbing a bank. To make matters worse, the demon, Kane, she stole the mirror from wants it back but she actually pawned the thing because it was freaking her out because really, who wouldn't get freaked out by a talking mirror? 

But owing something to a demon won't just get your kneecaps broken with a baseball bat, it'll get you sent right to hell and if Ice doesn't get that mirror back to Kane and soon, she's going to be in a hell of trouble. Interestingly enough, the guy who stole it for Kane in the first place, Indigo, is the same guy that Ice is totally in love with, although he barely acknowledges she exists. He's a metalfae and now he needs to get the mirror back for his own purposes. Both Ice and Indigo need to get that mirror to save their own skin but on the process, they might just end up losing their own hearts to each other.

The best way I can describe Shadowglass is like having psychotic hallucinations. It's overwhelming and described to the most minute detail and it frustrated me to no end. I felt like there was too much over-description to shadow how cartoonist the characters were. The majority of the characters seem like they were boohooing pretty much all the time. Ice's all woo-is-me about Indigo not liking her, or so she thinks and Indigo is moaning about not being able to get close to Ice due to things that happened in his past. I just didn't care for it one bit.  

Shadowglass is a very dark, gritty, and sexual fantasy that honestly, I think the reader has to be in the mood to be able to enjoy. I personally didn't, the character seemed like a bunch of whiny cartoons, which completely overshadowed the story, and the crazy, psychedelic descriptions gave me a headache. Shadowglass just wasn't for me.

Lush Rating: 2!

3 comments:

The Queen B said...

That's too bad. I hate when that happens. It doesn't really sound like the kinda book I'd want to read. I'd be more interested if the scary demon guy and her hit it off. I like my heroes dark, powerful and scary. I'm sick like that

Silver @ TRR said...

Aw, too bad you didn't enjoy it. I have to admit I've got this series on my radar, and now I don't know if I wanna get it or not. Have to see....

Anonymous said...

The hero in this book has a murderous alter ego while the heroine is a whiny thief who has sex with her best friend's crush. What's to like about either? I'm still trying to figure out how this book scored as high as it did on Amazon. My best guess is no one but its promoters found it worth comment.

He can Chapter-32 me anytime!

Bones is Mine