Grimlock ♥ Ultra Magnus

I suspect I know exactly why I liked this better than the first, although there are multiple reasons.   The reason, the main reason, though is lack of expectations.  I was, in fact, expecting myself to hate this one as much as Angelfall.   Angenfall, Susan Ee's debut suffered from extreme hype.   Good for her, good for the book, and as I've said before, it's not a complete trainwreck as most SPAs are.   The characters were fully fleshed out, the plot was original, the writing itself was competent.  

Why didn't I like it, then?   The pacing, dear god, the pacing.   And now that I think back about it, the somewhat forced romance.   (It's complicated, and I'll get into that later.)  The pacing was incredibly slow.   The sort of funny thing is that the pacing isn't much different in this book!   It's slow, it's very slow, but a lot of the stuff that I was hoping for in the first - the crazy gore and twisted elements I heard about - weren't being set up in this story.   They were being expanded upon.   So I wasn't constantly waiting for that to happen, and being frustrated that it came so late. 

So, let's go over what worked  and what didn't work in this novel at the same time because I feel like a lot of it is intertwined.   Quite frankly, Penryn is more on her own.   Not totally alone, but Raffe, her mother, and Paige are gone for a fairly good chunk of this novel.   Her family, and the angel she loves, are absent, giving her a chance to grow on her own.   She also isn't dependent on Raffe/Penryn scenes to ratchet up the... anything.   She does that on her own, or against Beliel and Uriel. 

Also, I'm gonna say it, as whole, as fully realized and complex as these characters are, I personally feel like this works better as pure urban fantasy, minus the romance.   Why?   Because, even with the pacing, there is a lot in this novel.   I think it's fair to call this world dense; it's not our world, but it's close enough.   The differences are jam packed into the two novels Ee has written.   It's a wonderfully, deliriously twisted world, but the story smooths more when it doesn't have to juggle all that, Penryn, her family, Raffe and his problems, and a problematic relationship between Penryn and Raffe to boot.   I like that they're drawn to each other romantically, I like that fight it, but ti felt like a subplot, like something shoved into the vault in Penryn's head so she could focus on saving Raffe, and her family.   And it kinda, almost worked there.   It was slightly frustrating for a couple different reasons.   This world, these people, are so amazing, the story is so well told, that I hated that I could feel like it reaaaaally wanted to be a romance in some places, but never quite got there.   I felt teased, and I felt it detracted from the overwhelmingly positive.  

The pace.   The pace threw me off in the first one because from the hype, I for some reason expected something faster paced.   I knew a lot of twistedness was coming up, and I didn't know when, that made it seem slower than this novel.   As much I say it's slow, the truth is slow and steady works for this world.   It works for the characters.   It works because Susan Ee does her research, and makes it believable - so when she adds something about how someone's drowning, and how they save themselves, it makes that scene more tangible.   I keep saying slow, slow, slow, but it's not necessarily a con.    Some people want constant action, though, so I'd like to think this is a warning for them. 

The worldbuilding.   Ee continues to expand on her world, using the continuity from the last book without getting repetitive.   In fact, she throws us with more twists.

I remember the first book having some typos, some pretty obvious.  I didn't really notice anything this time.   Maybe I knew what to expect so I allowed myself to be charmed by the book, but I doubt it.   There were very few typos and grammatical errors in the first book; it was well constructed and well edited enough that it felt like it needed a quick, minor proofread.   Nonetheless, this having less/no glaring errors made it feel more professional and that had something to do with how much more I enjoyed this book.  

Also, I think this shows a natural progression in a writer's style.   It felt slightly smoother, which I think comes from having one novel under your belt.   Writer's improve by writing, and while I can't pinpoint it, it just had a little bit of a nicer rhythm and flow to it that most likely comes from both experience and Susan Ee taking writing seriously, and as hard work.   She's done her research, she knows how to use language, and she edits.   I would buy a lot more self-published novels if they treated writing like the hard work Ee obviously does.   (Ironically, I was so distrustful of SP books that I got the first from the library, went, eeeeh, not sure, and got the second from the library.   I will look into whether I want these as paper books - covers so pretty! - or as ebooks.   Also, I'd actually love to have signed copies in my library if only Ee was signing near us!)   

Oh, also, I was surprised by the sentient swords being one of my favorite things in the first novel.   I loved what was done with them more in this one!     

Um, lesse, plot?   I feel like I'll spoil it if I say anything.   Let's just say redemption, and the importance of family, or at least not being alone, are two strong themes!

Also, this deserves something sexy: 

Reading Challenge: 1/500.