Grade: C+

Bam,

I feel like I need a disclaimer before beginning this review. From everything you’ve told me, I know that Darragha is a really nice woman. I really shouldn’t have to say this, but I’m going to: anything I say that is negative is not a personal attack on Darragha. I think she actually takes criticism for what it’s meant to be and generally doesn’t get defensive. NOR SHOULD SHE! And as a general statement (which I don’t feel I should ever have to repeat), I never pull any punches or withhold praise when I review a book, regardless of my personal feelings toward the author.

[Ed Note: Uh-oh… a review that starts with a disclaimer]

Okay, on to the review:

Devil’s Food Kate (ha ha… Devil’s Food Kate/Devil’s Food Cake… I’ll tell you right now I hate the punny title, but that didn’t stop me) is the story of Kate Tabor, owner/operator of Naughty Bits bakery, and last direct descendent of Alfheithur, Queen of the Valkyries and Light of the Hidden People (a bunch of tiny fairies and gnomes. Cute and deadly!). Kate, however, knows none of this. She’s just busy making challah penises and cannoli vaginas. I wish I knew her when I was planning my friend’s bachelorette party. Anyway, one day Odin Borsson, yes that Odin… king of the Norse gods, ruler of Valhalla, creator of armies, lover of orgies, strolls into Naughty Bits. Odin’s arrival is not a chance meeting. He’s looking for Kate for a couple of reasons. While the Norse gods are no longer the all-powerful beings they once were, Odin wants to have a buncha girl babies with Kate to bring the Valkyries back and replenish his army of fallen heroes so he can take over the world. Also, he banished Alfheithur and told her that all of her children would be subject to Odin’s rage until the end of time… because she didn’t want to be under his thumb any more. Odin believes he can make it all better by marrying Alfhiethur’s descendant, Kate. How romantic. So he hires Kate to cater her own wedding. WHAT A GUY! Talk about making her work for it. Kate, of course, has no idea that Odin is behind the hiring for the event. She just sees the cash that will pay off the loans for Naughty Bits and doesn’t question the total fucking oddity of hiring a pastry chef to cater an entire event. What? You don’t want your vichyssoise and medium rare rack of lamb cooked by the gal that is supposed to be making the chocolate truffles? Me neither.

I like Kate – yes, there’s a big ‘ole BUT in there, we’ll get to that – she’s her own woman. She owns her bakery, making erotic pastries and desserts with cute names and is driven to succeed without being a bitch to the help. She stands up to Odin and tells him that she won’t just be a magic hoo-hah that will pump out mini-Valkyries to build him an army to take over the world. Yay! We have a strong woman that doesn’t collapse under the force of the guy’s personality or the need for a magic va-jay-jay. My problem with Kate is that her crazy-meter is broken. She never steps back and takes stock of the strange coincidences, dreams, or people; she just goes with the flow, and as the day of the party gets closer, things go from peculiar to flat out ridiculous. Yet Kate forges on as if nothing is out of whack. Odin, on the other hand… well it’s a good thing Darragha writes great sex (and she does – that’s what kept me in the story), because when he gets described as a… Kenny Rogers-type well, I threw up in my mouth just a little. I mean, have you seen Kenny Rogers lately? Norse gods should not be described as ageing country singers with bad plastic surgery. Know when to fold ‘em, indeed.

There are some technical problems here as well. The biggest one? This book would have seriously benefited by being longer. I felt that a lot of the characterizations, back story and action were edited down to fit within a page limit. For example, Kate has sworn off men and sex, yet in the first chapter she’s practically got her clothes off when she meets Odin. Before you ask, no he didn’t work any Norse god mojo on her. We never really get the reason why Kate is off men (not that it’s relevant after the first chapter – again a length problem) other than her shop is the number one priority for her. Kate goes from Naughty Bits owner to descendent of a Valkyrie and demi-goddess (godling? goddessling? itty bitty goddess?) while barely blinking an eye. There’s no disbelief, no questioning what’s going on or why she’s doing what she’s doing. I would have thought there would be SOME resistance to a total life change and the arrival of mythological gods.

Lastly, while there is quite a bit of interaction and conversation between Odin and Kate (no, not just when sexin’ ensues ™… but you know I love the sexin’ part), I felt that their initial conversations were clunky due to mental asides that were very editorial and resorted to telling rather than showing what the characters were thinking and feeling. This disappears as Kate learns more about her heritage and eventually faces Odin in a showdown that really works.

All in all, while I enjoyed the premise and story (and no, I haven’t read any of the previous Teaching Old Gods New Tricks books) I felt that cramming so much mythology, change and growth into approximately 57 pages is asking quite a bit, and in this case, too much. This gets a C+ for me.

Love ya,

shuzluva

Wanna read more about Kate and Odin? Buy this book here.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 21st, 2007 at 7:00 am and is filed under Books, Grade: C, Romance: Paranormal, Shuzluva's Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.