Snake Eyes

The nice thing about Conroe’s books is that the whole story is told. The action, the personalities, the snark, and the tiny details that make these people more than flat comic book characters. The character development is tight and consistent with the series canon; the world building continues to walk the line of plausibility. Conroe’s imagination has not only combined magic, physics, and religion; he’s also drawn in prehistory and the very building blocks of the planet.

At the same time, these books are fun. They’re entertaining as hell, and a great diversion from…well, anything that ails you. Thanks, Mr. Conroe, for the New Year’s gift.

Minor spoilers below:

It’s ok but, as others have noted, the power creep is getting pretty bad. Also, having another Alpha female constantly conditioning her slightly beta male boyfriend to be even more beta isn’t all that much fun to read about and doesn’t make much sense to me as far as the wolf side goes. I know the boy has daddy issues and two “strong” women raising him but …. Come to think of it there are no weak women ANYWHERE in the entire series up to this point but reams of subservient males. What few males are not ruled by “the strong woman” are usually evil/secondary/moronic/inconsequential/soon to be dead/etc. I was actually pretty surprised to see the new pres was a male but then noticed he was of a “protected class”.

This one from John Conroe, opens all sorts of doors to an entire new series featuring all manner and types of tales. The character building continues to be better and better. The bringing back to humanity of the God Hammer is a wonderful set of strokes. The widening of the relationship between Chris, Tania and the rest of the team and re-establishing contact with College Arcane and the Madison Farm adventure from Black Frost is a really excellent touch. This whole thing now has potential to be numerous sets of stories across the whole of the universe. Good on Ya Conroe!!! Heck of a tale in and of itself and well written in bringing to a close the whole thread that began in Rogues. Loved the wrap up of Caeco and Declan. Nicely done! Looking forward to more from you in this storyline. Nice job on the political front as well. Like the sketching of the storyline for Mack and Jenna. Want to read that again already. ‘Nuff said, and thanks for the hard work that goes into producing a wonderful story over and over again.

Since College Arcane, Declan and Chris have shared the spot as the main leads of the story, serving as both our POV characters, and the focus of much of the plot. In Snake Eyes, Conroe returns to his roots, and Chris comes back to the forefront. Declan certainly isn’t ignored, but he’s definitely not as prominent as he has been in most recent books. Still, seeing his casual relationship with Stacia made my day, and I can’t wait until the story turns back to them.

The plot picks up with Chris and Co chasing down Dragan, the demon/wolf/witch hybrid first scene in Rogues, while Tanya’s pregnancy nears its end. As always, expect a ton of action, solid character development and impeccable worldbuilding. If you’ve read this far in the DA series, you have an idea of what to expect. If not, this book will probably be incomprehensible.

More than any of his recent books, Snake Eyes seemed filled with inconsistencies. With 11 books in a series, keeping track of everything is difficult to be sure, but some of them are so glaring that they need to be mentioned. For example, Chris’ grandfather hasn’t been mentioned in several books, even as he and Tanya prepare to have children. Tanya has been referred to as Chris’ girlfriend, his fiance, and his wife throughout the series, with no mention of a proposal or wedding to be found. There are others I’m sure, but those are the two that stuck out to me the most. Overall, the story is as fantastic as always, but with some time and editing, it could be even better.

I avoided this new book for as long as I could. Why? Because I figured it was going to be almost a non-stop read and I had a couple of things I needed to do. I was correct. The couple of times I did put it down, like for food or sleep, it was almost like a siren in its mythical definition, calling me back to it.

Okay, a few things. First, if you’re looking for some details from the book, buy the book. It is full of details. Second, I am extremely frustrated – because this one had been out days (or maybe weeks) before I found out and I got it only because I checked on it. There has to be a better way. I am set to follow but I got no info from Amazon. And finally, it my “review” you will find my first critical comments in a long time. Okay, now about the book:

It came to me a while back that the Demon Accord series ended several books back, probably when Declan came on the scene in his book. After that, it has been different. And get this, it this case different if BETTER! Whatever the author calls it, I do not care as long as he keeps writing in this. So what about this one? Well it definitely closes the door on some things and it almost seems like the series might be preparing for a little lull in the action. Almost. But then you get to the last couple of chapters and you know “that ain’t gonna happen!”

In this one we’ve got more demon/werewolf action plus a bit of action from the “super evil witch.” Yeah, that’s almost sounds like a double negative doesn’t it. And then there’s an elemental that I just have to wonder about… I mean was this just a cameo? Or a lead for something down the road? With Conroe, you can never be sure. Whatever, it will be good but some further action would be “interesting.”

Action? Lots. Interesting scenario? Oh yeah. A lot to look forward to? Oh yeah, in spades!

One word of caution: If you haven’t read the previous books (nine, I think) then you should start at the beginning. The author throws in a few historical tidbits to try to help out and you “might” be able to keep up if you read this with no background. That being said, I don’t recommend it. But then I’ve been reading (rabidly) since book one. And yes, I plan to read it a second time. In fact, I might well go back to book one and read my way through the series.

Oh yeah, now for my negative: In one chapter, and one chapter only, you almost get a headache as he switches back and forth between present tense and past tense. Virtually all of his writing is in the professionally done past tense but in this one chapter he goes switcheroo. I think I know what he is trying to achieve but, in my opinion, it doesn’t work. At all. I know he won’t read this but just in case he does – Please don’t do that again. And no, it doesn’t take away from the book at all.

Oh yeah, my 5-star rating? About that… Amazon does not provide enough stars. I don’t know the highest I’ve claimed for a book but this one needs more than that. This is the best of the series. The previous book was almost this good and this one might only be better because he has the full crew involved. Again. Awesome!

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