Alice J. (ASJ) -
Helpful Score: 3
I really enjoy this series. Grace and Khalil work very well together. Nice budding romance. I love the care both give to the children. I felt her power could have been explained better. Still not sure why it will not be passed on. The series is building for something big. Glad to see some of the old characters back. I wouldn't mind finding me a Djinn who got the best breakfast delivered at a snap of a finger.
Helpful Score: 2
I've been enjoying the Elder Races series. While each book is a romance, there is also an over-arcing story line that is starting to thread thru them. That plot device bloomed in book 3, Serpent's Kiss when Rune and Carling visit the Oracle. With them was a djinn, Khalil. The Oracle was a young woman named Grace. Oracle's Moon is their story.
Pluses: Khalil and Grace are both some of the most likable and interesting characters yet. Their interaction is terrific. Grace is especially good in that she struggles with what she is - the power of the Oracle having passed to her on her sister's death - and with being the sudden parent of her niece and nephew. Khalil is bewildered and fascinated and his coming to grips with the human world is evolves well. The relationship between Grace and Khalil is well developed and the heart of the book. The 'First Date' was especially good. :-)
Minuses: The tension brought by outside forces is minimal until the last 100 pages. All the 'action' takes place place without the sense of escalating danger present in other books. Aside from Grace getting a grip on her Power, which was kind of anti-climatic, and a prophecy for Cuelebre, it's all Grace and Kahlil for nearly 250 pages before things start developing an edge with the local covens. And for those 250 pages it was an enjoyable, albeit light weight,paranormal romance. Cramming the action in at the end gave it a rushed feeling.
The biggest minus? The puzzling, possibly Earth shattering reading that Grace gave Cuelebre early in the book isn't dealt with in Oracle's Moon. It's the next book.
I give the book a B- because Grace and Khalil are just so fun to read about. Had the story had more substance, it could have gotten an A-.
Pluses: Khalil and Grace are both some of the most likable and interesting characters yet. Their interaction is terrific. Grace is especially good in that she struggles with what she is - the power of the Oracle having passed to her on her sister's death - and with being the sudden parent of her niece and nephew. Khalil is bewildered and fascinated and his coming to grips with the human world is evolves well. The relationship between Grace and Khalil is well developed and the heart of the book. The 'First Date' was especially good. :-)
Minuses: The tension brought by outside forces is minimal until the last 100 pages. All the 'action' takes place place without the sense of escalating danger present in other books. Aside from Grace getting a grip on her Power, which was kind of anti-climatic, and a prophecy for Cuelebre, it's all Grace and Kahlil for nearly 250 pages before things start developing an edge with the local covens. And for those 250 pages it was an enjoyable, albeit light weight,paranormal romance. Cramming the action in at the end gave it a rushed feeling.
The biggest minus? The puzzling, possibly Earth shattering reading that Grace gave Cuelebre early in the book isn't dealt with in Oracle's Moon. It's the next book.
I give the book a B- because Grace and Khalil are just so fun to read about. Had the story had more substance, it could have gotten an A-.
