no i don't mean let you go in a 'if you love something, set it free' sting kinda way: derogatory

derogatory

no i don't mean let you go in a 'if you love something, set it free' sting kinda way

Sep 18, 2011 12:06

titsmercy - Jaida+Dani's Steelhands review

(Selected twitter updates while I was reading to put this in perspective- )

Believe it or not, this review is less negative than previous years. The pacing issues from the first two books that were resolved in Dragonsoul appear to be gone for good. Naturally Jaida+Dani will always have issues with pacing when it comes to switching between 4 different 1st person perspectives, but now it is nowhere near the problems from the first two books. I firmly believe having a solid, overarching mystery helped keep the pace of this book on track. Also not watching people fucking roadtrip seems to help too. Seriously, let's never roadtrip again, it kills the books!! (unless it's a Caius/Al roadtrip to Yana's.)

To recap my review of Dragonsoul, there were two major issues I had that separate this review from the last. Firstly- Rook and Thom had a second installment on their POVs but very little character growth was accomplished, or any reveals for their motivations. Secondly was the issue of female characters who simply fall in love and are fueled only by male forces. Both these are non issues in Steelhands! First of all while Adamo and Balfour are returning characters, we've never had a book from their POV, so this is the first chance we have at seeing their inner thoughts, hopes and motivations. And those aren't all that detailed but you know what. Fine. I'm not even gonna bitch about that anymore because we've had worse examples of why is anyone doing ANYTHING (madoka, mamoru, all villains EVER). The second issue involving girl characters has actually been fixed. FIXED!! I am just as surprised as the rest of you. Laure has reason for her behavior and character quirks that align with her backstory, friendships and GASP motivations. Antionette returns and she has a fierce personality that, while not too different from Josette's, isn't wasted on "and then she banged some dude". I got no problem with ladies slinging around their vaginas however they please. But let's remember we want POV dudes other than the snorefest of Roy and Hal to fall blissfully in love too. (Rook and Thom don't count.. they are brothers.. and clearly not happy).

Let's break this down into character summaries because that's easy and I want to get going on the boozin I normally do.

Adamo is back and this time with his own POV! To be honest I liked Adamo a bit more as a secondary character than a staring role, but he is certainly not the most boring POV we've ever dealt with (coughcoughhal!kouje!coughcough). Adamo makes a note several times he probably shouldn't have stuck around the city for all these shenanigans which by the fifth time sounds likd he is just Too Old For This Shit. Which is a nice touch when you note all the other Dragon frat boys are pretty pumped to be back in the fray. Adamo is a level head amongst them, so it was interesting to hear the situation from his POV. I also find Adamo's friendship with Royston about 300x more interesting that ANYTHING ROYSTON EVER DOES. Also Adamo's suspicion against Hal and the revelation that Royston is a huge fuckup when it comes to banging young guys was both hilarious and fascinating. Fast Times at Adamo High weren't all that interesting to me, mostly bc we didn't have a comparison to many other lectures. Adamo is a different kind of teacher huh? Well, I guess I'll take your word for it cause you don't give us any contemporaries of his.

Balfour's character has taken an interesting turn in oh my GOD stop whining you little punk. Somehow both he and Thom have become unlikeable saps between Havemercy and now, but I give them both the benefit of the doubt as surely they had a spine ONCE UPON A TIME RIGHT? I mean Thom was plenty sassy until Rook handjobbed it out of him. But back to Steelballs (which really ought to have been the dragons name). In fact, I'm not entirely sure where a nickname like that came from since he's a bit of a pushover. Balfour had his hands ripped off at the end of Book 1, so now we deal with him adjusting to their "alien" and "foreign" appendages. Jaida+Dani drinking game, if you sipped for when they used the phrase "piece by piece" in Dragonsoul, those two hand descriptors will help you get plenty wasted this time around. All and all, I was hoping he'd use his new hands to strangle himself, or employ one of the dragoncorps to jerk him off since the boy needed SOMETHING pulled, jesus.

Laure is a girl!! a girl!! shocking I know, but after Dragonsoul we are ready for a NEW type of lady oh hell its the same thing all over again. Don't get me wrong, I'm not asking for a frail and delicate female character for once. Actually I am. I know I complained about Jaida+Dani excluding girls from their first couple books, but adding the same characters rehashed who share more basic defining traits than a uterus is also disappointing. Laure at least has grown from he outline of her character in previous books by having reasons for being who she is. Her dad wanted a boy. That's it? Look people, don't reach for the moon here, I'm still waiting to hear ANYTHING about Madoka's motivations. Laure is a cutie though, super interested in military, fussy against the gender expectations of her, dumb enough to wear slacks under dresses. After hearing about her before this book was written, I had been hoping for something a little more interesting, but maybe Adamo's way of sucking all the fun out of the room sapped some her her character's proposed energy. Hey, she kicked down a door. That puts her up pretty high in the ass-kicking abilities of this book (the top ass-kicker is Rook while the bottom of the scale is Caius tossed over Al's shoulder).

Toverre and his crush on EVERYBOY is adorable okay, nobody can deny it, even though within his first POV I realized he's probably ripped off of this guy. Jackie that's unfair, not all gay kids are the same. You're right, but then why do Jaida+Dani keep writing them so? Because there's no homohomo romance in this book, some readers might feel a little cheated (read; me), but don't worry! If less than traditional relationships are up your alley, we have the relationship between Toverre and Laure to pacify you. Except it is traditional. Laure is the man, Tov is the woman. Royston is the man, Hal is the woman. Caius is the woman, Al is the man. Rook is a bro, Thom is a chick DO YOU SEE WHERE I AM GOING WITH THIS? halcyonjazz brought up this point with me, and it's painfully true. Why are you afraid to put two men together, Jaida+Dani? Why does one have to be effeminate? Why can't two dudes who act like dudes fuck each other? Why can't Laure (a lady who acts like a dude) be engaged to a boy who acts like a dude? I can't fault them completely, because Malahide is gender ambiguous at best whereas Kalim is a man's man. But you've got transnanigans to compete with there, and I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Jaida+Dani couldn't adequate portray that either. It's not a very long limb.

But back to Tov! Of course I loved him, he's like Caius without the confidence. Wait, why are all the homos in this series such... stereotypical homosexuals? See above. but he and Laure's dynamic kept the book floating when Balfour's whining and Adamo's brickwalling got tedious. Also I loved him and Gaeth, such as the way Tov's heart soared when he spelled city as "sitty". Oh jesus, you are a lost cause.

As a bonus, this is how i see the whole Laure/Adamo relationship with Toverre's opinion;

Click to view

This is exactly why she broke the engagement.

In conclusion, I didn't hate it, I don't love it, but I can't recommend it to a friend. None of the books can completely stand alone, and this is easily the one that needs the reader to have busted their ass through the last three books. And considering the last three aren't all that enjoyable, Steelhands is a book that overcomes Jaida+Dani's original flaws to reveal a whole set of new ones. That's sort of the point of growing though. I just hope there's more books that follow.

Jaida+Dani write hyper-infused characters in their fantasy world whose intrigue often takes a backseat to snappy dialogue and fun camp. But nobody's reading these books expecting for the next literary masterpiece, and I've seen enough successful series with wild and active fandoms crap out because the author can't handle the enthusiasm of fans. If these chicks keep writing books, I'll keep buying them and offering my honest opinion. If this is where they end.. well, I can't say I didn't enjoy myself.

As usual, I'm open to debate any the above points, its me and arisato and halcyonjazz are alone here. If you don't like what i had to say, the total money I've spent on these books is near to $100- so stuff it. Or make them cheaper.

series reviews, my books!!!!