Smoke and Shadows (Smoke Trilogy #1) in Queereaders

Jan 09, 2008 Nancy rated it did not like it

Shelves: library-books, abandoned, waste-of-trees, crime-mystery-thriller, gay, sf-fantasy, paranormal, vampires

The book is so bad I can't even finish it. It is neither funny nor scary, the plot drags, the dialogue and the writing are clumsy, and there is not one single interesting character. ...more

8 likes · Like · see review

Jul 18, 2012 Kelly (Maybedog) marked it as other

Shelves: what-modern-fantasy, why-abandoned, what-lgbtqia, what-male-protagonist, what-mm, what-not-romance, what-mm-abandoned

This had so much promise but the story is boring and slow. I was also very discombobulated with the POV changing from character to character in the middle of dialog or a descriptive paragraph. It was so jarring and confusing I would have to reread the page to figure out where the POV changed. Usually it wasn't even clear. I think remaining with one character's perspective until a section break is as important as punctuation in a book.

I'm also confused about these relationships because two of the ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Sep 30, 2008 Ashley rated it did not like it

Shelves: queer-content, adults, shelf-of-disappointment

Normally I like books that involve even one of these three things: vampires, Vancouver, or the gays. Smoke and Shadows has all three! Unfortunately, the book was missing the key fourth ingredient: talent.

The references to Vancouver were heavy-handed but mildly enjoyable, if sometimes inaccurate. The gay content was enjoyably subtle in some parts (it's not treated as an "issue"), but terribly stereotypical in others. I got the impression that Tanya Huff was a straight woman who hated gay men and ...more

1 like · Like · see review