Grade: B+
And yet here’s another heroine who saves the world with her vagina! Just kidding, children, but her magic is concentrated in that area. Fab-yoo-luuuus! You know, I was looking around the romance blogosphere for reviews to this book and found… very little. Way to drop the ball, people! What is going on? How could you guys have ignored this book? It’s frickin’ awesome! It’s got a smart heroine, a kicky little narrative, clever dialogue, sizzling sex between the heroine and the hero, and the best part? The hero isn’t a super-duper spy genius James Bond-spliced-with-MacGyver type. In fact, he is kind of a goober; he thinks he’s super-slick, but keeps trusting the wrong people, and half the time, the heroine has to save him. But don’t let that scare you. The man is charming, witty, and… well, I lurved him. My biggest problem with this book is the same one I have with every single “OMG, I totally had no idea I have all this power” storyline: the heroine has POWERS OF CONVENIENCE, which leads to some contrivance and consequently, some eye-rolling on my part. The last quarter of the book also fell apart for me because it was written in a different tone from the rest of the book and some of the scenes seemed inserted in order to keep the hero and the heroine away from each other. I mean, it was obvious to me that the two of them were perfect for each other, so the last thirty or so pages of this book felt like… padding. Other than that, I lurved this book. LURVED it.

Gilrohan is a morphlange: he can turn into any animal if he consumed just a little bit of its hair. Eww. As a lazy courtier, he entertains his king by turning himself into various animals and doing wacky animal antics. Which is why he is a little out of his league when he is sent into a backwater little village in the north to do some investigative work for his king and is summarily captured for ransom and dumped in a dank prison. Gil befriends a rodent by giving it some of his food and when the little guy comes close enough to be petted, Gil swipes some of its hair, chokes it down (eww), and voila! He is a fesslerat. He squeezes his little rat body between the bars and ahhh… freedom! He’s got thirteen days to wander about in this form or at least until he can find a better animal, do the investigative work he was sent to do, and get the hell out of dodge. That is, until he gets captured. AGAIN.

Fortunately for him, he is caught by a slave-girl who knows exactly what he is and hides him in her room. The bad part? She is a witch of some sort and unwittingly turns him back into a human male. Tabica wasn’t born a slave. She lived happily in a little cottage with her mother, who was a servant, and told Tabica she was going to find a way to keep Tabica from using her powers. Before she could do that, however, she croaks and Tabica is captured by a local baron to be chattel. The baron is a nasty, sadistic man who enjoys pinching the slave-girls and forcing them to give him blowjobs in the morning and before he goes to bed at night. As part of her duties, Tabica blows him from time and time and has learned to accept it as part of her duties. She has also accepted that she will be bred with one of the stableboys. For her, it’s just a slave-girl’s life. That is, until she encounters Gil and discovers that, YES, SEX IS A JOYFUL, BEAUTIFUL THING! While the sex is good, however, Gil is also a little wary because they don’t know the extent of Tabica’s powers, and if they orgasm together, he could… um… die. Nevertheless, the two of them form a partnership together: Gil will find out as much as he can about the source of Tabica’s powers and Tabica will help him escape. But when the two of them find out that Tabica is a lot more powerful than either of them initially suspected, will Tabica’s life change for the better? But what does that mean for their developing romance?

I loved Tabica. She’s smart, is surprisingly worldly for a slave-girl in a backwater town, and knows how to prioritize. She thinks for herself and doesn’t depend on Gil to save her. Sure, she still has little fantasies about Gil taking her far, far away where the two of them can work on her magic together and have lots of babies, but she’s also realistic. She realizes that Gil is a nobleman and she’s just a slave-girl. She’s got her vulnerabilities, but is also quite pragmatic. I also enjoyed how matter-of-fact she is about sex. She is sexually aware of her body, is curious enough about it that she is eager to explore it, and doesn’t confuse her chemistry with Gil with true lurve. What I also enjoyed about Tabica is she isn’t one of those wide-eyed, loved-by-all Barbie Doll types that only comes to life when the hero enters the scene. Yes, it is Gil who is instrumental in bringing about her magic, but it is obvious that her life would have been just fine with or without him. She could live without him, yet makes the conscious decision to be with with. That, for me, is romance.

Gil, on the other hand, appears at first to be a happy-go-lucky courtier whose only pursuit in life is to hang around the kind and get drunk with his friends, but it is obvious that he wants something more for himself. That’s what kills me about this guy. He’s the class clown who aspires to be “Most Likely to Succeed”. He wants accolades for himself, respect from his king… when it all comes down to it, Gil just wants to matter. I was totally convinced by his evolution from a lazy courtier to a man who begins to recognize what he already has and takes responsibility for it. His desire to see Tabica live the life she was destined for since birth is at first tainted by his need to be recognized as the one who “found” her, but it is also obvious that he just wants a better life for her. God, this guy just killed me.

And now, the not so good. As I mentioned in the beginning, the last quarter of this book almost killed it for me. I really don’t know how I can talk about it without revealing any spoilers, but let’s just say that Tabica becomes the Girl That Gives Everyone Boners Because She’s So Speshul and Byootiful and Powerful. Suddenly, Gil feels he is not good enough for Tabica and endeavors to stay away from her and Tabica inexplicably becomes… well, kind of a dumbass, actually. Their developing relationship is shoved aside in favor of The Rocky Montage ™ (thanks, Shuzluva) of Tabica learning about her powers and… well, having sex with other people (okay, one person) just so Tabica can “center” her powers. I was not cool with this because it seemed to come out of nowhere and at this point, Tabica is already in love with Gil. It made me ANGRY and I was so totally tempted to throw my Sony Reader against the wall but didn’t cause 1) it’s expensive and 2) I was in class. It just seemed… out of place and also gave us a villain that’s extraneous and kind of… annoying. Its only purpose was to show us that Tabica will give up anything for Gil and frankly, I ALREADY KNEW THAT. My second nitpick is Tabica’s supposed powers. What is it that Tabica can really do? Since her powers are just developing and the author herself doesn’t seem to know the scope of it, Tabby only seems to use her powers when it’s convenient to the plot and whatever it may do depends on the plot, too. I’m also a little bored with powers that are enhanced by the heroine having sex. Seriously, isn’t this horse pretty much dead and should be buried in an unmarked grave already?

All and all, I still enjoyed this book even though the last thirty or so pages of it made me grit my teeth and tear out my hair. I love, love, love Summer Devon’s breezy, funny (but not wacky) writing style and some of the dialogue just made me laugh out loud. The chemistry between Gil and Tabica as well as their relationship and friendship is just so much fun to read about, which is why I was mad when the last quarter of the book just… stalled everything. The world-building is good, but not impressive, and I really enjoyed the obscure pop culture references that Devon cleverly weaved into the story. Good times. Do yourself a favor and definitely get this book. You won’t be sorry. Go. BUY IT NOW.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 19th, 2007 at 11:09 am and is filed under Books, Grade: B, Romance: Sci-fi/Fan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.