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Jul. 31st, 2010 09:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jennariaBURNING LAMP, by Amanda Quick.
Cover copy: In this second novel of the Dreamlight trilogy from New York Times-bestselling author Amanda Quick, psychical power and passion collide as a legendary curse comes to a burn.
The Arcane Society was born in turmoil, when the friendship of its two founders evolved into a fierce rivalry. Nicholas Winters' efforts led to the creation of a device of unknown powers called the Burning Lamp. Each generation, the Winters man who inherits it is destined to develop multiple talents - and the curse of madness.
Plagued by hallucinations and nightmares, the notorious crime lord Griffin Winters is convinced he has been struck with the Winters Curse. By even as he arranged a meeting with the mysterious Adelaide Pyne, he has no idea how closely their fates are bound, for she holds the missing lamp in her possession.
Their dangerous psychical experiment makes them the target of forces both inside and outside the Arcane Society. And though desire strengthens their power, their different lives will keep them apart - if death doesn't take them together.
Gender of detectives: one male, one female
Don't judge me. :-p
Seriously, Amanda Quick is brain candy. You know exactly what you're getting, and she's fairly good at delivering it: the strong woman (but not as strong as the man), the ambiguously dark (but not too dark) man, the Really Fucking Evil villain (who thinks he's stronger than he actually is).
This particular installment reads more like a historical romance with strong mystery sub-plot than a mystery with historical romance sub-plot, but I am willing to be forgiving, not least because her heroine is not a virgin. Usually, despite various poses as being a widow and/or brief stints in a brothel, her heroines are virgins until the hero appears. Having a heroine who takes her 'yes, so, sex can be fun but not necessarily emotional' attitude into a non-theoretical realm is empowering. (This is admittedly because the usual sequence is as follows: heroine explains her attitude, hero has mad passionate sex with her, hero realizes she was a virgin and promptly decides they must marry now, heroine re-explains her attitude with added tremulousness, heroine's objections are overruled and they wind up married.)
There is of course a sequel (see note about 'second in Dreamlight trilogy' above), wherein apparently all the interpersonal gains of this book got wiped out over the next few centuries. But I suppose that's what sequels are for. :cynical:
*
Stef and I may perhaps have been sword-fighting with our little plastic shovels, and Ian may perhaps have recorded it. ...it's not so much the shovel-fighting I regret, it's the victory dance afterwards.
Cover copy: In this second novel of the Dreamlight trilogy from New York Times-bestselling author Amanda Quick, psychical power and passion collide as a legendary curse comes to a burn.
The Arcane Society was born in turmoil, when the friendship of its two founders evolved into a fierce rivalry. Nicholas Winters' efforts led to the creation of a device of unknown powers called the Burning Lamp. Each generation, the Winters man who inherits it is destined to develop multiple talents - and the curse of madness.
Plagued by hallucinations and nightmares, the notorious crime lord Griffin Winters is convinced he has been struck with the Winters Curse. By even as he arranged a meeting with the mysterious Adelaide Pyne, he has no idea how closely their fates are bound, for she holds the missing lamp in her possession.
Their dangerous psychical experiment makes them the target of forces both inside and outside the Arcane Society. And though desire strengthens their power, their different lives will keep them apart - if death doesn't take them together.
Gender of detectives: one male, one female
Don't judge me. :-p
Seriously, Amanda Quick is brain candy. You know exactly what you're getting, and she's fairly good at delivering it: the strong woman (but not as strong as the man), the ambiguously dark (but not too dark) man, the Really Fucking Evil villain (who thinks he's stronger than he actually is).
This particular installment reads more like a historical romance with strong mystery sub-plot than a mystery with historical romance sub-plot, but I am willing to be forgiving, not least because her heroine is not a virgin. Usually, despite various poses as being a widow and/or brief stints in a brothel, her heroines are virgins until the hero appears. Having a heroine who takes her 'yes, so, sex can be fun but not necessarily emotional' attitude into a non-theoretical realm is empowering. (This is admittedly because the usual sequence is as follows: heroine explains her attitude, hero has mad passionate sex with her, hero realizes she was a virgin and promptly decides they must marry now, heroine re-explains her attitude with added tremulousness, heroine's objections are overruled and they wind up married.)
There is of course a sequel (see note about 'second in Dreamlight trilogy' above), wherein apparently all the interpersonal gains of this book got wiped out over the next few centuries. But I suppose that's what sequels are for. :cynical:
*
Stef and I may perhaps have been sword-fighting with our little plastic shovels, and Ian may perhaps have recorded it. ...it's not so much the shovel-fighting I regret, it's the victory dance afterwards.