Reviews!! Minotaur: Prayer by Naomi Lucas and Dracul by Dacre Stoker
Evening,
Layla here. I hope you all are having a good night. It's rainy over here on the East Coast, and cold. So I'm wrapped in my Chucky throw blanket ready to give you some reviews of the latest books I've read and/or listened to.
Yup, you read that right.
It's been a long time since I last left a review. Hell, who am I lying to, it's been a long time since I read more than one book several months, let along a week for enjoyment. But, here I am. Back with two reviews.
(exciting stuff I tell you)
So let's get into it.
Minotaur: Prayer by Naomi Lucas
Rating: 4/5
Dracul by Dacre Stoker and J.D. Barker
Like many, I am familiar with the story of Dracula, although I admit I haven't actually read the book itself (despite it being on my bookshelf, in my defense though, I did start it.) So when I saw this book in Barns and Noble when it first came out I was instantly drawn to it and quickly put it on my to be read list. Thanks to my audible membership I ended up finishing the book much quicker than I thought I would. By the end of the book, all I could think was that it was amazing and that Dracula is now at the top of my list to finish reading.
Dracul is a prequel to Dracula, and we follow the Stoker siblings as they hunt down their old nanny in the hopes of uncovering the truth of her disappearance and the odd things they saw during their childhood. Through a series of letters from the characters and every changing perspectives from past to present, a beautiful tale is weaved of their travels and first run-in with the infamous Dracul. The descriptions of the land, of events that happened, of the characters are delivered so that you can vividly see what is happening.
Dracul starts off a little slow. Something that didn't bother me as it was used to set up the time, place and characters so that they appeared to you not just as voices on a piece of paper but as actual, living people. Vibrant with their mysterious and childlike curiosity. Romantic in its tale, it (to me) is a love story that happens between every character involved. Love started this tale hundreds of years ago, when a beautiful young woman dared to love a kind-hearted peasant, and then that love was stripped away and replaced with a mad man's need to possess something he could never have to the innocent love of children, to the adult love of adults before finally returning to where it came. That is the best way I could think of putting it without giving away too many spoilers.
As the tale of Dracul progresses so does the tempo of the book until it leads into an intense face-off that had me unable to pause the story to concentrate on my actual work. It's ending was one of the most satisfying endings I've ever read. It wasn't all roses and sunshine, but a brutal reality of not being able to escape the consequences of your actions and what you would do to ensure the safety of those you love. The lengths the characters would go to bring the ones they loved back to them... a human vulnerability is what this book had. A raw and undeniable sense of hopelessness that was as terrifying as it was beautiful.
This is a book I will be buying soon so that I can have an actual copy in my library.
Rating: 5/5
Layla here. I hope you all are having a good night. It's rainy over here on the East Coast, and cold. So I'm wrapped in my Chucky throw blanket ready to give you some reviews of the latest books I've read and/or listened to.
Yup, you read that right.
It's been a long time since I last left a review. Hell, who am I lying to, it's been a long time since I read more than one book several months, let along a week for enjoyment. But, here I am. Back with two reviews.
(exciting stuff I tell you)
So let's get into it.
Minotaur: Prayer by Naomi Lucas
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| I love the covers for this series! |
It's no secret that from the moment I picked up the first book in this series that I was hooked. For about a year I have been anxiously waiting for book two and the moment it was released I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. Just like with book one I devoured the words on the page. Drawn deeper into the story with each new chapter so that I ended up finishing the book that very same night. It's been several days since I read the book and I've let my review of it simmer for a moment before I decided to write it.
Prayer is the story of Calavia the witch in the swamp and Astegur Bathyr one of the five Bathyr siblings. This book picks up several days after the events of the first book and Calavia in desperate need of someone or something to help her protect her home from her enemies. Using her magic she ends up summoning Astegur to her (although I was secretly hoping it would be the eldest brother we saw at the end of the first book, just because he is my favorite... crazy since we only saw him for a split second in the first book). From the moment the two of them first meet the attraction between them is intense, yet, it is a different type of intensity than the first book.
Where the first book (for me) contained more of a raw, animal, primal feel to it, where you could feel the characters basest needs driving them and drawing them together. Prayer, while still having that animal feel, slowed it down a little and took a, should I say, softer approach to their relationship. Several times, well almost all the time, there were moments where Astegur could have taken advantage of Calavia and bend her to his will. However, unlike his brother, Astegur, had more control and reason living inside of him. While he walks on the edge of being more beast than man, he never crosses that line when it comes to Calavia. But, no worries, because he is still mean to her at times, which given the circumstances with which they met is understandable and he often teases her. Their love scenes were often tender, although still having that raw heat. He cared more for her pleasure than his own at times, which would make any woman more than a little forgiving for his attitude.
As for Calavia, she was a fiesty witch that stood toe to toe with an enraged bull despite the fact he could easily hurt her. A strong character, not just because of the power she wields but also in her devotion to those she loved, even if it was her mother who had basically turned into a zombie. Her bonds to her homeland were as tangible as her feelings for Astegur and made her that much more endearing. That, along with her naivety about the world around her and her own needs, made her interesting, amusing and just a tad bit annoying, which within the story fits well.
A little more about the Minotaurs, their reasoning for leaving their former home is explained a little more, not a lot but just enough to have you wanting to know more about them. There is one point in the book where you see Astegur begin to question if their decision to leave was the best choice. The fog is still the fog, a living thing that no one in their world seems to understand. and I'm looking forward to seeing how its history continues to develop throughout the series.
All in all, Minotaur: Prayer was just as good as the first one and did a great job of setting up future books. I would say that it isn't as dark and violent as the first book, but that is fine since that's not the type of character we are dealing with. The book stays true to the nature of these two characters and makes their progression into a relationship all the more natural so that by the time they are finally together you are just as happy as they are. I look forward to the third installment in the series and seeing which brother is next.
Rating: 4/5
Dracul by Dacre Stoker and J.D. Barker
Like many, I am familiar with the story of Dracula, although I admit I haven't actually read the book itself (despite it being on my bookshelf, in my defense though, I did start it.) So when I saw this book in Barns and Noble when it first came out I was instantly drawn to it and quickly put it on my to be read list. Thanks to my audible membership I ended up finishing the book much quicker than I thought I would. By the end of the book, all I could think was that it was amazing and that Dracula is now at the top of my list to finish reading.
Dracul is a prequel to Dracula, and we follow the Stoker siblings as they hunt down their old nanny in the hopes of uncovering the truth of her disappearance and the odd things they saw during their childhood. Through a series of letters from the characters and every changing perspectives from past to present, a beautiful tale is weaved of their travels and first run-in with the infamous Dracul. The descriptions of the land, of events that happened, of the characters are delivered so that you can vividly see what is happening.
Dracul starts off a little slow. Something that didn't bother me as it was used to set up the time, place and characters so that they appeared to you not just as voices on a piece of paper but as actual, living people. Vibrant with their mysterious and childlike curiosity. Romantic in its tale, it (to me) is a love story that happens between every character involved. Love started this tale hundreds of years ago, when a beautiful young woman dared to love a kind-hearted peasant, and then that love was stripped away and replaced with a mad man's need to possess something he could never have to the innocent love of children, to the adult love of adults before finally returning to where it came. That is the best way I could think of putting it without giving away too many spoilers.
As the tale of Dracul progresses so does the tempo of the book until it leads into an intense face-off that had me unable to pause the story to concentrate on my actual work. It's ending was one of the most satisfying endings I've ever read. It wasn't all roses and sunshine, but a brutal reality of not being able to escape the consequences of your actions and what you would do to ensure the safety of those you love. The lengths the characters would go to bring the ones they loved back to them... a human vulnerability is what this book had. A raw and undeniable sense of hopelessness that was as terrifying as it was beautiful.
This is a book I will be buying soon so that I can have an actual copy in my library.
Rating: 5/5
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