Helpful Score: 2
I'm a die-hard Kresley Cole aficionado who believes that woman can pull off anything--except apparently make Lothaire a hero worth rooting for! I'm truly stunned at how much I despise this character. Normally I buy her books on their release date and spend all day devouring them. However, this particular book took me an excruciatingly long period of time to read because (for the first time ever!!!!) I didn't want to finish a Kresley Cole novel. The novel's overall writing is excellent. It flows and is inviting to read, as well as gives readers more information about Lore creatures like Dorada and Hag in only a few lines. (That's why I gave it three stars instead of one.) Despite this, I could not get over my distaste for Lothaire which ruined the whole story for me.
Lothaire is one of those characters who always seemed like a better side character than the main protagonist, dropping in a scene to lend it some witty banter, a bit of snark, and a lot of evil deeds to progress the plot. It turns out that what was amusing and intriguing in those small cameos didn't translate into a 400+ page novel like I'd hoped. He just never transitioned into the makings of a good romance hero. Cole has pulled off some pretty awesome feats when it comes to straddling the line between dangerously damaged hero and crossing the line into unforgivable psychopath. I've fallen in love with every one of her previous heroes no matter how bad they started. But Lothaire is the first protagonist I just couldn't stomach. His inability to see beyond his own needs, his violent approach to sex with/ rape of his Bride completely undermine any endearing traits he exhibits. Not only is he bats**t crazy, but he's so damaged and abusive that even as strong a character as his Bride, Ellie, shouldn't have to settle for one like him. I actually think the novel would have been more romantic if Lothaire had died and Ellie was free to find a more decent lover.
Lothaire's mate, Ellie, is a strong, likable character whom Cole is always careful not to turn into a victim so the story isn't as in-your-face abusive as it could have been. This is good I suppose. But if anyone has ever lived with an abusive personality type, she will have serious doubts as to how Ellie could have so easily succumbed sexually, if not always emotionally, to this monster (and no I don't think that is too harsh a word to describe Lothaire!). I don't care how liberated or healthy your libido is, I don't understand how anyone can get off when your partner is telling you he is going to kill you and finds you lacking compared to the psychopath sharing your body.
Plus the novel was waaaaaay too long. There are simply too many scenes of Ellie's isolation and imprisonment with Lothaire from which the reader is not given any relief. It's almost as if we are supposed to share in the Stockholm Syndrome alongside Ellie. Well, this is one hostage who would have had no problem shoving the vampire into the sun and watching him burn.
If I hadn't already been addicted to this series for several years and if I hadn't been so anxious to find hints on upcoming future characters and stories, I would have donated this book to PBS without finishing it. That is how strongly I dislike Lothaire. The character never captured my heart like he did several fans, but I had begun to warm up to his character during Dreams of a Dark Warrior. Yet everything I liked about him in DoaDW was absent from this novel. Even his "wit" was labored and lacking. I suppose I feel so betrayed because I rely on Cole to provide guaranteed good reads. Plus this book took so long to be published, was the first hardcover IAD novel, was published before the long-awaited Thronos and Lanthe book, and was promised on the fan forums to be "the best IAD book yet." For me it is the worse yet and I hope and pray that her spin-off series, The Dacians:Realm of Blood and Mist, will be worth the disappointment of Lothaire when it comes out this summer.
Lothaire is one of those characters who always seemed like a better side character than the main protagonist, dropping in a scene to lend it some witty banter, a bit of snark, and a lot of evil deeds to progress the plot. It turns out that what was amusing and intriguing in those small cameos didn't translate into a 400+ page novel like I'd hoped. He just never transitioned into the makings of a good romance hero. Cole has pulled off some pretty awesome feats when it comes to straddling the line between dangerously damaged hero and crossing the line into unforgivable psychopath. I've fallen in love with every one of her previous heroes no matter how bad they started. But Lothaire is the first protagonist I just couldn't stomach. His inability to see beyond his own needs, his violent approach to sex with/ rape of his Bride completely undermine any endearing traits he exhibits. Not only is he bats**t crazy, but he's so damaged and abusive that even as strong a character as his Bride, Ellie, shouldn't have to settle for one like him. I actually think the novel would have been more romantic if Lothaire had died and Ellie was free to find a more decent lover.
Lothaire's mate, Ellie, is a strong, likable character whom Cole is always careful not to turn into a victim so the story isn't as in-your-face abusive as it could have been. This is good I suppose. But if anyone has ever lived with an abusive personality type, she will have serious doubts as to how Ellie could have so easily succumbed sexually, if not always emotionally, to this monster (and no I don't think that is too harsh a word to describe Lothaire!). I don't care how liberated or healthy your libido is, I don't understand how anyone can get off when your partner is telling you he is going to kill you and finds you lacking compared to the psychopath sharing your body.
Plus the novel was waaaaaay too long. There are simply too many scenes of Ellie's isolation and imprisonment with Lothaire from which the reader is not given any relief. It's almost as if we are supposed to share in the Stockholm Syndrome alongside Ellie. Well, this is one hostage who would have had no problem shoving the vampire into the sun and watching him burn.
If I hadn't already been addicted to this series for several years and if I hadn't been so anxious to find hints on upcoming future characters and stories, I would have donated this book to PBS without finishing it. That is how strongly I dislike Lothaire. The character never captured my heart like he did several fans, but I had begun to warm up to his character during Dreams of a Dark Warrior. Yet everything I liked about him in DoaDW was absent from this novel. Even his "wit" was labored and lacking. I suppose I feel so betrayed because I rely on Cole to provide guaranteed good reads. Plus this book took so long to be published, was the first hardcover IAD novel, was published before the long-awaited Thronos and Lanthe book, and was promised on the fan forums to be "the best IAD book yet." For me it is the worse yet and I hope and pray that her spin-off series, The Dacians:Realm of Blood and Mist, will be worth the disappointment of Lothaire when it comes out this summer.
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