Changeless
Oct. 15th, 2012 06:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rowynI didn't like this book as well as the first one, Soulless. Soulless was a mystery/romance hybrid, and in the first book I liked the romance part better than the mystery part, despite the "protagonists who can't stand each other" trope.
In the second book, there was less romance and more mystery, and I ended up liking the mystery better than in the first one: it seemed better put together. Some of the comic scenes worked for me, and some of it seemed to be trying too hard. I found the interactions between the main character and a new lesbian character rather amusing, though. Alexia, the main character, did not really grasp the idea of women-attracted-to-women, despite being fully aware that her closest male friend was gay. So Madame Lefoux would flirt at Alexia and Alexia would mostly ignore it with a faintly puzzled air. It's clear to the reader that Alexia is bisexual, although this is not clear to Alexia. I'm not sure if the author plans to go anywhere with this or not, since Alexia did marry Connall Maccon at the end of the previous book and it's supposedly a love match.
I say 'supposedly' because the male/female protagonists still kind of hate each other in Changeless, despite being married. Most of their interactions are physical. The very frequent state of lust when they're together is one part adorable and one part disturbing. I really did not like the way they treated each other much of the time; there is a kind of patronizing-bordering-on-contempt between them. Not with everything, but Connall Maccon often doesn't bother telling his wife things that any sane person would share with someone they're living with (such as, eg, not mentioning that there would be a regiment camped on the front lawn). In response, Alexia Maccon is sharp-tongued and irritable. I can't really blame her, but none of it makes me like them better as a couple. It probably doesn't help that Changeless is told almost entirely from Alexia's POV and never from Connall's -- Soulless alternated viewpoints more and gave some scenes from Connall's perspective.
And the ending was a cliffhanger that honestly makes me feel like the protagonists should NOT be a couple. My sympathy for Connall at the end is extremely low.
While I was reading the second book, I had pretty much decided I wasn't going to read the third. But while I hate the cliffhanger ending, it did make me curious about what happened next. I talked to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
misseli about the series, and she said that Changeless was her least favorite of them, and that it gets better from there. So I guess I'll give the sequel a try at some point. I'm giving this book a 6, though.
In the second book, there was less romance and more mystery, and I ended up liking the mystery better than in the first one: it seemed better put together. Some of the comic scenes worked for me, and some of it seemed to be trying too hard. I found the interactions between the main character and a new lesbian character rather amusing, though. Alexia, the main character, did not really grasp the idea of women-attracted-to-women, despite being fully aware that her closest male friend was gay. So Madame Lefoux would flirt at Alexia and Alexia would mostly ignore it with a faintly puzzled air. It's clear to the reader that Alexia is bisexual, although this is not clear to Alexia. I'm not sure if the author plans to go anywhere with this or not, since Alexia did marry Connall Maccon at the end of the previous book and it's supposedly a love match.
I say 'supposedly' because the male/female protagonists still kind of hate each other in Changeless, despite being married. Most of their interactions are physical. The very frequent state of lust when they're together is one part adorable and one part disturbing. I really did not like the way they treated each other much of the time; there is a kind of patronizing-bordering-on-contempt between them. Not with everything, but Connall Maccon often doesn't bother telling his wife things that any sane person would share with someone they're living with (such as, eg, not mentioning that there would be a regiment camped on the front lawn). In response, Alexia Maccon is sharp-tongued and irritable. I can't really blame her, but none of it makes me like them better as a couple. It probably doesn't help that Changeless is told almost entirely from Alexia's POV and never from Connall's -- Soulless alternated viewpoints more and gave some scenes from Connall's perspective.
And the ending was a cliffhanger that honestly makes me feel like the protagonists should NOT be a couple. My sympathy for Connall at the end is extremely low.
While I was reading the second book, I had pretty much decided I wasn't going to read the third. But while I hate the cliffhanger ending, it did make me curious about what happened next. I talked to
misseli about the series, and she said that Changeless was her least favorite of them, and that it gets better from there. So I guess I'll give the sequel a try at some point. I'm giving this book a 6, though.
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Date: 2012-10-16 01:47 am (UTC)Or maybe a romance novel. Trap!
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Date: 2012-10-16 05:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-16 05:11 am (UTC):D
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Date: 2012-10-16 05:33 am (UTC)(And started The Mauritius Command after Changeless, because ... yeah.)
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Date: 2012-10-16 07:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-16 07:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-10-20 01:09 am (UTC)