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A Kiss of Shadows
by Laurell K. Hamilton
Princess of Faerie's steamy odyssey among humans and faeries.
Laurell K Hamilton has carved something of a career for herself by writing about a fantastic world of vampires, zombies, werepeople of various kinds, and other supernatural creatures that have stepped out of legend to take their place in the real world. Much of the action involves the new and as yet unresolved space in which the mundane and the supernatural confront each other. The rest is pretty much all sex.
In this vein, we are now treated to the world of Faerie, which also operates in a kind of parallel dimension to our own. The creatures of Faerie are sufficiently similar to us, in that they can mingle in our society without much difficulty – although they are stronger, more powerful and hugely more sexy than anyone else, and hence tend to receive the kind of interest and attention that hugely powerful and sexy people obtain. Our heroine is Meredith Gentry, who is a princess in the high court of Faerie who has, for various reasons, decided to take her chances among the humans and is currently working as a private investigator in Los Angeles. From this vantage point, she is able to deploy her supernatural knowledge and connections while observing the society around her. One wonders whether the view of human society to be obtained from Los Angeles is really representative, but it would at least ease the transition from the High Court of Faerie.
Unfortunately for Meredith, various powers within the Faerie world seem determined to return her to the courtly machinations, irrespective of her wishes. As a result, we are able to follow Meredith as she travels between the two realms and hence speculate on the differences between the two. We are also constantly reminded of the sexuality of the characters involved. Meredith has a high level of sexual desire and as a minor fertility goddess has no problem in inspiring the same feelings in others, in whom she is interested. Even when – as is occasionally the case – the characters involved are suffering the painful after effects of violent assault, they are still up for it nearly all the time. This is a pleasing fantasy of course, evoking the idea of the secretly powerful, who must through virtue and duty conceal secret knowledge, but who gets to enjoy the fringe benefits. The plot line in which she becomes a pawn in the plans of others is,ultimately to work to her satisfaction.
Anne Rice has become very well-known for her popularization of the sensual vampire and supernatural genre and unsurprisingly many other writers have been able to fashion niches for themselves within this area. Laurell K Hamilton is far from being the worst in this category and her works will be enjoyed by anyone with a taste for the fantastic.
Title: A Kiss of Shadows
Author: Laurell K. Hamilton
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0345423402
Review written by: John Walsh
Reviewer's Rating:8
Reader's Rating: 7.80
Reader's Votes: 10
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