Tag: Dirk and Steele Series

Review: In the Dark of Dreams by Marjorie M. Liu

Posted November 29, 2010 by Casee in Reviews | 0 Comments

Publisher: Avon, Harper CollinsGenres: Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy

Casee‘s review of In the Dark of Dreams (Dirk & Steele, Book 10) by Marjorie M. Liu.

She could never forget the boy with the ice blue eyes…She was only twelve when she saw the silver boy on the beach, but Jenny has never stopped dreaming about him. Now she is grown, a marine biologist charting her own course in the family business — a corporation that covertly crosses the boundaries of science into realms of the unknown…and the incredible.

And now he has found her again, her boy grown into a man: Perrin, powerful and masculine, and so much more than human, leaving Jenny weak with desire, and aching for his touch.

But with their reunion comes danger. For Perrin and Jenny — and all living creatures — their only hope for preventing the unthinkable lies in a mysterious empire far beneath the sea…and in the power of their dreams.

The Dirk & Steele series tends to go all over the place. I either love them or hate them. This one fell closer to love than to hate. I also find it extremely hard to review these books.

Jenny and Perrin first met when they were children. Perrin is a merman (or merboy as is the case) when he comes ashore where Jenny finds him. They only have a brief moment together, but it is enough to sustain them through the sixteen years that follow. In the years between, they both go through their own tragedy that shape the people that they are in the present.

Jenny has been living at sea, helping as many other as she can find. Perrin has been living on land, after a forced exile eight years before. When the call to the sea is too great to resist, Perrin heeds it even at the risk of his life. All he can see is red hair and green eyes of the girl on the beach so long ago. Imagine his surprise when he actually finds her being held captive by one of his kind.

Jenny is stunned when she is taken captive by one of her very own men. Having worked with Les for years, the last thing she expected was betrayal. Then he comes to her rescue. The man with the blue eyes that seem so familiar. Jenny’s heart wants to connect them but her mind is unable to let her do so. Soon she doesn’t have time to think of it because she has a parasite growing at the base of her neck and apparently something bad is awakening underneath the ocean which causes the complete and total destruction of earth. The only thing that can lull this thing back to sleep is dreams by whomever has the kra’a, but that person is dead in Jenny’s onboard morgue.

Basically screwed.

Perrin and Jenny’s story was just so lovely. I can’t really state it any other way. They were meant for each other since childhood. It was sweet and innocent in the way that only children can feel, but as they dreamt about each other over the years those feelings evolved into what they feel today. I did feel bad for Jenny because the girl never caught a break. The weight of the world literally rested on her shoulders. At least Perrin was there to help her lift it. So sweet.

4 out of 5.

This book is available from Avon. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

The series:

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Tagged: 4.0 Reviews, Avon, Casee's Reviews, Dirk and Steele Series, Marjorie M. Liu, Paranormal, Reviews, Urban Fantasy

Review: The Wild Road by Marjorie M. Liu

Posted August 19, 2008 by Casee in Reviews | 2 Comments

Genres: Paranormal Romance

Lannes Hannelore is one of a dying race born to protect mankind against demonic forces. And while those who look upon him see a beautiful man, this illusion is nothing but a prison. His existence is one of pure isolation, hiding in plain sight, with brief solace found in simple pleasures: stretching his wings on a stormy night, long late drives on empty highways, the deep soul of sad songs. But when Lannes finds a young woman covered in blood—desperate and alone, with no memory or past—he will be drawn into a mystery that makes him question all he knows. And though it goes against his nature and everything he fears, Lannes will risk his heart, his secrets, and his very soul, in order to save someone who could be the love of his life…or the end of it.

Mermans and Gargoyles. What will Marjorie M. Liu think of next?

Lannes Hannelore is a seventy year old gargoyle that has been to hell and back. After escaping an evil witch that wanted to kill him, Lannes has stayed close to home. The only thing that can bring him out is his longtime friend, Fredrick. It’s while he’s at Fredrick’s house in the city that he finds a woman in an alley, alone and bloody. Wary and suspicious, Lannes finds that he can’t leave someone that needs help as badly as this woman does.

What he doesn’t immediately realize is that the woman is wary and suspicious herself. After waking up in a hotel room surrounded by dead bodies and not knowing who she is, she has no idea where to go or who to turn to. Only after she meets Lannes will she realize that it was fate that brought them together. And it’s together that they must figure out who she is and why her memory is completely gone.

While I don’t generally enjoy amnesia stories, this one was okay b/c it was so interesting. The book started off w/ a bang when Lethe (the name she later chooses for herself) wakes up in the hotel room, with a gun and dead bodies. How can you not be hooked? I have to admit, there are times when Marjorie totally loses me. So it is a little hard to write a review that does the book justice.

If you read the Dirk & Steele series, you’ll like this. If you don’t read the series, don’t start with this one.

4 out of 5.

This book is available from Dorchester. You can buy it here. No e-format.

Other books in the series:

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Tagged: 4.0 Reviews, Casee's Reviews, Dirk and Steele Series, Dorchester, Marjorie M. Liu, Paranormal, Reviews

Book Watch: The Wild Road by Marjorie M. Liu

Posted June 20, 2008 by Casee in News, Promotions | 4 Comments

Doesn’t MML have the best covers ever?

This is the 8th installment of Liu’s Dirk & Steele series.

Here’s a brief (very brief) blurb from her website. No excerpt yet.

Lannes is one of a dying race born to protect mankind. And while most see a beautiful man, this illusion is nothing but a prison. But when he finds a woman covered in blood, with no memory or past, he will be drawn into a mystery that makes him question all he knows.

I’m never disappointed by this author. I can’t wait to get my hands on this one.

This book will be available from Dorchester. You can pre-order it here.

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Tagged: Book Watch, Dirk and Steele Series, Dorchester, Marjorie M. Liu, Upcoming Releases, Upcoming Releases

The Last Twilight by Marjorie M. Liu

Posted January 8, 2008 by Casee in Reviews | 5 Comments

Book description:

Doctor Rikki Kinn is a virus hunter – one of the best – working in the Congo for the CDC. But when mercenaries attempt to kidnap her in order to prevent an investigation into a new and deadly plague, her boss calls in a favor from the men at Dirk & Steele…

Africa is Amiri’s home, where he was raised to race as a cheetah, to wake with the sun. It is also a land of lingering nightmare, where he was kidnapped and experimented upon. Now, against his better judgment, Amiri has been asked to return to his homeland by his colleagues in Dirk & Steele – men who are friends and brothers, who like himself are more than human.

He must protect a woman who is the target of murderers, who has unwittingly involved herself in a conflict that threatens not only the lives of millions, but Amiri’s own soul…and his heart.

Is something in the air? I’m just wondering because for the last month or so, I’ve loved almost every book I’ve read. The only bad thing is that there’s only one way to go…down. Lucky for me, that didn’t happen with The Last Twilight. As a matter of fact, I’d have to say that the 7th installment of Liu’s Dirk & Steele series is the best one yet. That’s my not-so-humble opinion, of course.

When she’s called into the Congo to find out what killed 1,000 people, Dr. Rikki Kinn has no idea what she’s walking into. First of all, she’s almost gunned down before she can even get to the plane that will take her there. Finally arriving, Rikki finds that even she can not name what has killed so many people in such a short amount of time. When two men from a private security firm arrive at their camp, she makes a lasting first impression.

Ever since he escaped the Consortium prison, Amiri has been a loner. Returning to Africa for the first time in years was bittersweet. Charged with protecting an American doctor, Amiri does not expect the primitive urge he feels to keep Rikki safe. When the camp is attacked and almost everyone killed, Amiri and Eddie (another D&S agent) take Rikki and make a run for it in the jungle. It’s in the jungle that Rikki realizes that the virus that killed so many may have been man made.

I really loved this book. Rikki was a strong, yet likable heroine. As a shape-shifting Cheetah, Amiri was a fascinating hero. Living in Africa for almost his whole life, being kidnapped, then escaping, Amiri finds life very different in the streets of San Francisco. Both Rikki and Amiri were the epitome of a “tortured hero/heroine”. While on assignment several years ago, Rikki and the group of aid workers she was with here killed. As the sole survivor, Rikki always questioned why she was spared. It isn’t until Amiri forces her to take a deeper look that she realizes that what happened then and what is happening now are related. As for Amiri, his father (also a shape-shifter) got his human mother pregnant and then kidnapped him. Having very strict beliefs in the human race, his father tries to teach him that humans are not to be trusted. Though he loved his father, he was unable to accept when he killed the woman Amiri loved.

I think what I liked most about this book was that it returns to the root of the series. Dirk & Steele vs The Consortium. Good vs Evil. Adding the paranormal element just makes the series more brilliant. As in most Liu books, all is not what it seems. What may obviously seem like a betrayal may not necessarily be that. We also get to visit with some of our favorite Dirk & Steele characters which only make the book better.

5 out of 5.

This book will be available on Jan. 29th. You can pre-order it here.