Jun. 23rd, 2020 07:55 pm
books: Dawn Caravan by Elizabeth Hunter
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jaimeBecause I'm super good at reviews, I'm going to start this by talking about a completely different book.
I'm not going to name the book, because I'm not really into being negative about something that could mostly just be my particular reading of it. But it was super popular among fantasy/paranormal romancelandia, and a bunch of people whose opinions I trust really loved it. And it was incredibly well written - the author obviously has a knack for plot and for some serious worldbuilding, and there was like 75% of it I could have really adored. But that other 25% ... to sum up, the hero kidnapped the heroine and brought her into a world she explicitly didn't want to join. He had noble reasons, saving the world type reasons, but the heroine was the POV character, and the author dug super deep into her misery and conflict for a lot of the book. But they also spent a lot of time and words having everyone the heroine came into contact with tell her that she was being selfish, that she should be grateful the hero kidnapped her, he was treating her so nicely, why couldn't she appreciate that? And while I could appreciate the heroine's eventual decision to help save the world, I could never forgive either the hero or his friends/family/people for gaslighting her so awfully. I wasn't looking for a full grovel, though that would have been nice. I was more looking for some moment when it felt like the heroine's pain and trauma would be acknowledged properly, when at the very least the hero would have a proper moment of "this sucks, and I'm really sorry, but the world's at stake." He didn't, not to my liking, and the icky feeling stayed with me enough that I couldn't give the second book in the series a shot.
All of this is relevant because ... well, in Dawn Caravan, main character Ben Vecchio gets the time to deal with the complex emotions of "it sucks that your choice was taken away" that I'd been so hoping to get in that other book, that I'd been hoping he'd get since I read Night's Reckoning.
Let me circle back. Dawn Caravan is the fourth novel in Elizabeth Hunter's Elemental Legacy series, but it's also the culmination of more than a dozen books in the interconnected Elemental paranormal romance series. I stumbled into them last year, and ended up binging the entire series in a very short amount of time, which is pretty common when I find something I like. I'll admit that the first five books - which are about Ben's adoptive parents, Giovanni and Beatrice - were a little shaky for me, because Giovanni hits some of the romance hero beats that drive me up a wall. But I'm glad I stuck with it, because the vampire world Hunter has created here is rich and satisfying, if you're the type that likes international espionage and intrigue in your romance. There are a handful of standalone novels/novellas about other characters in the Vecchio orbit after that series, but the most recent books have been about Ben, a human adoptive son of two vampires, and Tenzin, the five thousand-year-old vampire who is both his partner and very complicated love.
Ben and Tenzin's relationship might set off some triggers, depending on the reading, given that she meets him in the first series when he's a young teenager, and she's ... well, five thousand years old. But they're clearly only friends while he's a teenager - it's only once he's grown and the Elemental Legacy series rolls around that their relationship has gotten more complex. And their relationship is super complicated, for many reasons that tie into their relative power dynamic. But one of the big through-lines is the idea that Ben, while he loves the vampires in his life, doesn't have any desire in his late 20s to become one himself. And at the end of Night's Reckoning, he's dealt a fatal wound in the course of their job as paranormal treasure hunters. Despite the fact that Ben has been explicit in his desire not to be turned, Tenzin takes him to her sire and has him turned rather than watch him die.
(This is a spoiler, but not really, because I can't imagine anyone reading this series would honestly believe that Ben wouldn't end up as a vampire at some point before it was done.)
That book ended with new vampire Ben feeling betrayed and angry, for understandable reasons, and if I hoped for anything from this next book, it was for Ben to have the time and space to work through that anger and betrayal without everyone telling him "you're alive, suck it up" constantly. And to her credit, Hunter gives him the room I wanted him to have. His friends and family have understandably complex reactions to his anger, and are honest with him about it. And the text acknowledges that he gets to be angry, even after he starts to come to terms with the fact that Tenzin changed him because she loves him and couldn't watch him die. This book feels like a fairly nuanced look at trauma recovery, even amongst the international art heist storyline, and I loved that Ben and Tenzin could come back together while still acknowledging that Ben would still have emotions and anger to work out as time goes on.
(Tenzin herself is a very interesting, flawed and complex character, who I absolutely adore - because there's no other character in romance quite like her, not that I've read - even while wanting to wring her neck multiple times per book.)
On a different topic, though, I'll point out that the main adventure plot of this book involves the Romani, and while it felt respectful to me, I'm a white woman who knows next to nothing about the culture, so my impression should be taken for exactly what it's worth.
This book was an emotional catharsis I needed right now, and I'm glad I read it as soon as it appeared on my Kindle. And if you're looking for some good vampire romance worldbuilding and have the patience to outlast Giovanni being a dick through large swathes of the first series, I highly recommend the full Elemental series.
I'm not going to name the book, because I'm not really into being negative about something that could mostly just be my particular reading of it. But it was super popular among fantasy/paranormal romancelandia, and a bunch of people whose opinions I trust really loved it. And it was incredibly well written - the author obviously has a knack for plot and for some serious worldbuilding, and there was like 75% of it I could have really adored. But that other 25% ... to sum up, the hero kidnapped the heroine and brought her into a world she explicitly didn't want to join. He had noble reasons, saving the world type reasons, but the heroine was the POV character, and the author dug super deep into her misery and conflict for a lot of the book. But they also spent a lot of time and words having everyone the heroine came into contact with tell her that she was being selfish, that she should be grateful the hero kidnapped her, he was treating her so nicely, why couldn't she appreciate that? And while I could appreciate the heroine's eventual decision to help save the world, I could never forgive either the hero or his friends/family/people for gaslighting her so awfully. I wasn't looking for a full grovel, though that would have been nice. I was more looking for some moment when it felt like the heroine's pain and trauma would be acknowledged properly, when at the very least the hero would have a proper moment of "this sucks, and I'm really sorry, but the world's at stake." He didn't, not to my liking, and the icky feeling stayed with me enough that I couldn't give the second book in the series a shot.
All of this is relevant because ... well, in Dawn Caravan, main character Ben Vecchio gets the time to deal with the complex emotions of "it sucks that your choice was taken away" that I'd been so hoping to get in that other book, that I'd been hoping he'd get since I read Night's Reckoning.
Let me circle back. Dawn Caravan is the fourth novel in Elizabeth Hunter's Elemental Legacy series, but it's also the culmination of more than a dozen books in the interconnected Elemental paranormal romance series. I stumbled into them last year, and ended up binging the entire series in a very short amount of time, which is pretty common when I find something I like. I'll admit that the first five books - which are about Ben's adoptive parents, Giovanni and Beatrice - were a little shaky for me, because Giovanni hits some of the romance hero beats that drive me up a wall. But I'm glad I stuck with it, because the vampire world Hunter has created here is rich and satisfying, if you're the type that likes international espionage and intrigue in your romance. There are a handful of standalone novels/novellas about other characters in the Vecchio orbit after that series, but the most recent books have been about Ben, a human adoptive son of two vampires, and Tenzin, the five thousand-year-old vampire who is both his partner and very complicated love.
Ben and Tenzin's relationship might set off some triggers, depending on the reading, given that she meets him in the first series when he's a young teenager, and she's ... well, five thousand years old. But they're clearly only friends while he's a teenager - it's only once he's grown and the Elemental Legacy series rolls around that their relationship has gotten more complex. And their relationship is super complicated, for many reasons that tie into their relative power dynamic. But one of the big through-lines is the idea that Ben, while he loves the vampires in his life, doesn't have any desire in his late 20s to become one himself. And at the end of Night's Reckoning, he's dealt a fatal wound in the course of their job as paranormal treasure hunters. Despite the fact that Ben has been explicit in his desire not to be turned, Tenzin takes him to her sire and has him turned rather than watch him die.
(This is a spoiler, but not really, because I can't imagine anyone reading this series would honestly believe that Ben wouldn't end up as a vampire at some point before it was done.)
That book ended with new vampire Ben feeling betrayed and angry, for understandable reasons, and if I hoped for anything from this next book, it was for Ben to have the time and space to work through that anger and betrayal without everyone telling him "you're alive, suck it up" constantly. And to her credit, Hunter gives him the room I wanted him to have. His friends and family have understandably complex reactions to his anger, and are honest with him about it. And the text acknowledges that he gets to be angry, even after he starts to come to terms with the fact that Tenzin changed him because she loves him and couldn't watch him die. This book feels like a fairly nuanced look at trauma recovery, even amongst the international art heist storyline, and I loved that Ben and Tenzin could come back together while still acknowledging that Ben would still have emotions and anger to work out as time goes on.
(Tenzin herself is a very interesting, flawed and complex character, who I absolutely adore - because there's no other character in romance quite like her, not that I've read - even while wanting to wring her neck multiple times per book.)
On a different topic, though, I'll point out that the main adventure plot of this book involves the Romani, and while it felt respectful to me, I'm a white woman who knows next to nothing about the culture, so my impression should be taken for exactly what it's worth.
This book was an emotional catharsis I needed right now, and I'm glad I read it as soon as it appeared on my Kindle. And if you're looking for some good vampire romance worldbuilding and have the patience to outlast Giovanni being a dick through large swathes of the first series, I highly recommend the full Elemental series.
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