Swallowing Darkness by Laurell K Hamilton

This book is full action,creatures,magic,and enough dramatic soap opera dialogue to make Erica Kane proud. All jokes aside; I just know our descendants are going to find this series thousands of years after 2012 and use this as the for dummies guide to starting their polygamist cult. Be afraid… be very afraid. Preggers with 2 children by 6 baby daddies Merry is fighting for all she holds dear in a balls out fairy guns blazing Rambo style battle; with surprisingly very little sex on the side. On the gossip front, this tome is garnering mixed reviews. And not the usual non idiots vs you’re a prude because continue to demand logical plot, grammar, and detective/Necromancer work instead of worshiping Anita Blake for All powerful Slut Goddess she’s become flame wars. This time around there are folks who have come to accept/love that this series revolves around kinky magical sex and feel cheated or overall didn’t like the pacing of the book and feel that too many characters were behaving atypical. And then there are the folks who enjoyed the book; but more importantly feel that lack of sex and focus on action gives them hope that LKH is beginning to listen to the fans who’ve left in search of greener pastures. So what do I think? I agree with most of it to a point. Yes, though I can happily live with less sex in her novels in general… I do wish that in this instance the sex scenes would’ve been more intense. But I enjoyed the pacing of the book, it was a exciting ride ( I finished it in a about 2 hrs) and don’t regret the trip. I also like that repetitive angsty mushy dialogue was kept to a minimum. I did feel a bit of “who the eff are you?” with some characters. Some blended with the wallpaper uncharacteristically… while others got their shine on in a serious way. I never paid much attention to Sholto… but he was larger than life this book and central to the story and mama likes, lol. The juries out on whether this is a sign of a better LKH tomorrow. But I definitely think is may serve as a feeler.. if only because Swallowing Darkness ends in such a way where it could be the last book in the series or beginning of a new frontier. I’m in somewhat of a daze after finishing it. I get this way after really trashy reality TV like “flavor of love’ or “Charm School”. Where something’s so freakishly entertaining.. but for the wrong reasons and I wonder about my morality after I peak. All that said “Swallowing Darkness” is utterly ridiculous and classless Urban Fantasy fluff. A delicious guilty pleasure, but definitely a acquired taste.