"wow, great never would have though of it."
I knew she did it.
She did it, but not the way I thought. DARN what a twisty mind. loved it
all of them
when Ethan came home to the house. that was great.
"Great Series"
It's a great book. I've enjoyed the entire series. This is Book 5, and it was as good as the previous 4. Immediately bought the next book in the series when I finished this one.
Spoiler... Loved when the Master was brought back.
Love them all.. even the ones I love to hate
This book is good. There are times it reads a bit slow, but that's a small issue. I enjoy the narrator. I'm worried about Book 6, because there is a new narrator for the rest of the series. Here's hoping that she is as good as this one. :(
"Thank goodness Cynthia Holloway is gone"
I listen to the series fairly frequently.
Get a different narrator. Seriously. All the interrogatives are flat; no upswing on the intonation at the end of a question. And the mispronunciations... "supposably", "undoubtably", "Dar-eye-us" (it should "Dare-ee-us", and she got it right early on in the series), "doc-tor'-al", among other sins. All the men drawl, and her pauses at commas are just weird. It's like she doesn't pre-read her copy. It is, quite frankly, appalling. I can only assume she works really, really cheap. I'd be thrilled to rebuy the series if it was re-recorded by someone who can read the English language correctly.
"Darker than previous books, but still good"
This is the fifth book in the Chicagoland Vampires series. It did a good job of mending some of the disappointment (gut wrenching sadness and anger) that I felt at the end of Hard Bitten. This review is spoiler free for Drink Deep but does contain some spoilers for Hard Bitten...so if you haven’t read Hard Bitten yet...well you’ve been warned. The sixth book in this series, Biting Cold, is scheduled for an August 2012 release.
I listened to this on audiobook and the audiobook (like all the previous ones) was incredibly well done. I highly recommend this series on audiobook.
---Spoilers for Hard Bitten Ahead!!!----
Merit and Cadogan House are still reeling from Ethan’s death in Drink Deep. Cadogan House has a Greenwich Presidium representative mucking around in House business and generally making everyone’s lives miserable. Then things really start getting crazy; the lake turns black and starts sucking in magic and then the skies over Chicago turn red. With public opinion about vampires at an all time low Merit has to figure out the mystery behind the strange happenings if she is both going to save her race and Chicago.
This book was a lot darker in tone, the characters obviously haven’t recovered from the events in Hard Bitten, and there is a huge hole where Ethan should be. Everyone is more than a little glum and this book didn’t have the fun of previous books. Things also move a bit slower in this book and there isn’t as much action as in previous installments.
Jonah really comes to the forefront of this story. Him and Merit end up partnering on a number of investigations because Cadogan House is short on guards. I really enjoyed him as a character; he was the one character who did have some fun banter back and forth with Merit. Merit grows some as a character and is forced to decide what Cadogan House means to her minus Ethan. We also see more of Tate off and on in this book.
As I said this is a dark book and most of the characters are going through some emotional turmoil. Mallory was in the story some and I usually love her character; but her character was devoid of any humor and took some very dark turns in this book.
The book ends well, with some big surprises that should please fans of the series. If you were going to give up on the series after Hard Bitten I recommend reading this book. It is kind of a transition book, but the continuing storyline looks very intriguing.
Overall a decent addition to the series. Much darker than previous books and slower moving. Jonah plays a much bigger role in the story and Merit does show some growth as a character as well. Recommended to fans of vampire urban fantasy. I can’t wait to see what happens in Biting Cold.
"Unforseen Endings"
Well, I never really saw who the culprit was until right before they put it together at the end. I really enjoyed this book because we learned more about Tate and more about the sorcerers as well as magic. It was interesting to see Merit work out exactly how she felt about Ethan and also about the Red Guard and the Greenwich Presidium. Frank was a character to thoroughly hate and the forward movement in the relationships of some of the other vampires was nice. I thought Cynthia Holloway did a good job narrating though sometimes I don't care for the way she pronounces words. I'll be getting the next book as soon as my credits come in.
"Such drama but I loved it"
This book is great. There was so much drama and real surprises. Things really happened that I didn't see coming. The narrator in this series is really very good.
"Love this series"
The people come to life with the audio, they have a personality
That would give the ending away don't want to do that
consistency, she is very good at keeping the characters voices the same. You always know who is talking.
Could be great detective series only with Vampires.
Out of the norm, unusual story lines with unexpected endings, but still believable in a strange way. Hope this series goes on for years.
"Way to big of plot changes"
I did not like this book for a few reasons. I am surprised that its audible ranking is as high as it is. Here are the reasons I did not like this book.
First off, I hate books where someone dies and the character is lamented over and over. This happened in this book. It drove me crazy.
Second off, the end of this book really was a bit too much for me. I dont want to spoil anything for people, but lets just say it was really out there. Yes, this is a book about vampires, so its already really out there - but come on... sometimes things are just a bit too hoaky.
For the most of the middle half of the book, I was sure I would just give the book a one star rating. It seemed the book was in a holding pattern of nothing exciting happening and Merrit being sad about her loss. The end of the story came quickly, despite its extreme unbelievabilty, it did make the book a bit better, because at least something happened.
This brings me to the third thing that bothered me, *this is a slight spoiler* quit messing with the main characters! Last book, you kill Ethan off in a very unexpected way, this time I was equally unhappy. Cant say more than that without giving too much away - dont want to ruin the surprise. :-)
"Good Series, But..."
I really looked forward to this next book in the series as I thoroughly enjoyed the previous four. But I found the story and the characters to be almost fillers along the way until the next installment.
So much of the previously exciting story fell flat as Ethan is in dream sequences that were described in a detached manner. All the evil goings-on were similarly described with little impact in the "real" world. The business side of vampires kind of left me cold and Merit's vampirism has become so ordinary that she sometimes just seemed human.
But still, I have really enjoyed this series and will certainly listen to the next book.