Trick of the Light (Trickster, #1) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Apr 23, 2012 Kelly (Maybedog) rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: what-modern-fantasy, how-ebook, where-grr-mine, what-mystery, what-demons, why-favorite-author, what-brothers, what-angels, what-magic

I am not as happy about this book as I hoped to be. There are so many similarities between this and her other two series (Cal Leandros and The Chimera) that I have to wonder how much is based on real life experiences. All her books involve siblings (in this case foster siblings), one of whom either has to or feels he has to protect the other. Always men, one is blond, the other dark, one has olive skin, the other light. They are always amazingly strong and adept at self-defense but also emotiona I am not as happy about this book as I hoped to be. There are so many similarities between this and her other two series (Cal Leandros and The Chimera) that I have to wonder how much is based on real life experiences. All her books involve siblings (in this case foster siblings), one of whom either has to or feels he has to protect the other. Always men, one is blond, the other dark, one has olive skin, the other light. They are always amazingly strong and adept at self-defense but also emotionally fragile deep down. One shows this occasionally and is self-deprecating, the other never shows emotion unless the brother is at risk and even then it’s very controlled. Parents are rarely in the picture and in the past were usually evil. (Of course the foster parents were all evil, aren’t they always? I mean, none of us take care of kids because we love them and treat them as our own. But that’s a different discussion…)

I had high hopes because this book features a female narrator. Although she waxes on about high heeled boots on occasion, in reality she dresses and acts appropriately for the high-stress environments she finds herself in. I was relieved we weren’t looking at another Rachel Caine or Kim Harrison who only talk about heels and leather and skimpy outfits. (Since when are leather pants sophisticated? I mean talk about tacky…)
But I don’t really like her nearly as much as the guys and I didn’t like them as much as Cal and his brother. She’s mouthy of course, and obsessed with her long lost brother (couldn’t have a protagonist without that) and always worried about her “boys” as she calls them. But she’s so single-mindedly bent on revenge that I wouldn’t have been able to stomach it if it weren’t a demon she was after. At least in The Chimera, the main character is obsessed with finding his brother, not getting revenge.

One of my biggest frustrations with this book that I haven’t seen in any of her others was that she spent most of the first few chapters telling rather than showing. That drives me crazy and is boring to boot. At one point I even began to question whether Thurman had even written it but then I remembered the almost identical themes and realized I was wrong. I had a lot more concerns with the book until the end when they were wrapped up with a huge twist. I felt a little betrayed though because I felt it came out of left field. When I thought about it, there were definitely clues, and I was probably an idiot for not noticing them (the most obvious is even on the cover) but I still think they were pretty much a little too subtle. That helps my ego a bit. Until the last couple of pages, I also didn’t think there was room for a good sequel but that was taken care of neatly of course.

But all is not lost. I did enjoy it and the first book in a series is often rough. I’m willing to give the next one a go. I mean, when there are no more stories to be read about Cal, where else am I going to go? ...more

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Dec 21, 2009 Steph rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: series-ongoing, author-웃, series-book1, year-read-2011

Trick of Light introduces us to Trixa Iktomi, a "bar owner, informant, occasional demon killer, and various other things best not spread around". She's hunting for the demon that killed her little brother. The one thing that can help her is 'the Light of Life' ... "an impenetrable shield that could protect Heaven and Hell from any attack, any second war." But, the Agents of Above and Below want it just as badly.

We also meet her sexy, Native American, longtime, platonic friend and bartender, Leo ...more

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