Natural Consequences

This is allegedly a harem-style fantasy series but this second installment doesn’t make it seem like much of one. The protagonist’s demon girlfriend spends all her time swearing her loyalty and amazing love to him and then wants to have sex with other guys for some reason, even though the hero is the most amazing man on earth and she could never ask for better. Demon girlfriend also uses magic to put the hero to sleep while she has sex with other women in the same bed with him. Just seems kind of weird for a “harem” book.

The author seems to have selected the genre not because he actually wants to write in it, but because it allows him to have 20x as many female characters as male ones and that’s what he finds interesting. Also there is alot of feminist weirdness thrown in for no reason I can tell. Characters who are supposedly mental-bonded and know everything the others know spend page after page talking about “full disclosure”, the nature of consent, boundaries in their relationships, etc. There is more talk about consent and boundaries in this book than there is magic or the supernatural, which is really saying something. Characters will frequently have a long discussion about how they’re going to hook up later that day, what they find attractive about each other, how they can’t wait to get busy, etc, and then when they meet up they go through the whole thing again, talking about boundaries and consent as if the first conversation never happened. In one scene Alex, the protagonist, has a 3 conversations in one day about attraction and boundaries and “full disclosure” with a woman *he’s already slept with*. It is both ridiculous and tedious.

On top of that, the conceit of the first book, which was that Alex was the boss of the 2 women he was bonded to, has been completely abandoned. Neither do anything he tells them at any point in this book. They both keep him in the dark about numerous things. Both do things they know will anger him, or upset him. So why are they even together? Not because a spell is forcing them to be, clearly. On top of that, the demon’s agenda and personal growth from the first book is retconned to be something completely different in this one.

I really enjoyed the first book but this one was a pretty big step down in my opinion and I found it disappointing. After the first book I was excited to read anything else by this same author. After this book I cannot ever imagine reading another book by them. Just a real let down.

The sequel to Good Intentions is another exciting dive into the Seattle supernatural community. This time the FBI gets involved which causes unanticipated difficulties as our heroes seek to protect themselves from the hostile attention of vengeance-seeking vampires and werewolves determined to force Alex into their pack. Kays take on werewolves and their reason for existence was especially interesting. Alexs difficulty in dealing with his past-life experiences also adds considerably to the strain the heroes face. But its the angelic politics that produce the best surprises of the book as members of the heavenly host fail to accept that Lorelei has ceased to play for the demonic team in the ongoing war between heaven and hell. The only reason Im not giving this book five stars is that I felt that most of the sex scenes didnt do much to advance the story and therefore should have been shorter, unlike in the first novel where they are absolutely essential to understanding the developing relationship between Alex, Lorelei and Rachel.

Even though this is, on the surface at least, a fantasy harem story, the characters and their relationships have more depth that you would expect. No, I’m not claiming that “I read Playboy for the articles” or any thing like that. There is definitely enough vicarious sexual gratification to fulfill expectations for the genre. There is also plenty of time spent examining the complications that a modern day harem would present for both those inside and outside of the relationship, including the ripples it causes in the society of supernatural beings. It seems that regardless of whether you are human, angel or demon, there is always pressure to conform to social norms.

This sequel to Good Intentions picks up right where that one left off and in many ways tries to deal with the fallout that the climax of Good Intentions generated.

it’s a good idea and Elliot clearly was in tune with his main characters as he wrote this. They fit the story and the plot quite well.

Unfortunately, the rest of the tale isn’t as strong.

First some characters vanish from this tale after being significant in the first book. Part of this is the direction this story takes, but it still was a bit disappointing to not see a few characters.

Second, after the climax of the first book one of the characters makes a statement that rinds true, but 90% of the plot in Natural Consequences only works when that statement is proved completely, utterly and incomprehensibly false. There are 3 “villain” groups in this tale and the presence of 2 of them makes little sense when you consider the entire situation. Their being involved did help push the plot and the climax of Natural Consequences could not occur if they don’t show up, but I couldn’t believe that they’d be as involved as they were.

It’s still an excellent story and fun to read. I just with the plot had been more tied to the first story and a lot stronger overall. There are a few too many McGuffins used to keep the plot moving, and the development of character and story never felt right. It’s a step down from Good Intentions

Now that introductions are pretty much out of the way, we can get into more depths in the relationships, further development the worldbuilding, and add more quality personal drama.

I was going to give 4 stars but then the leader of the local werewolf pack demonstrated that the author actually did their research on wolves unlike 90+% of urban fantasy writers so I had to bump the rating.

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