Publication Date: May 6, 2012
Camilla is the kind of healer who removes abnormalities from people’s bodies. If you’re pregnant, she will instantly kill your offspring because her power cannot tell the difference between a wanted pregnancy and an abnormality. The problem with this is that Camilla really wants a baby of her own and the deep longing comes from having unwittingly killed all of the pregnancies her mother had after she was born. Nanae is a god-like healer who can block Camilla’s power and he’s very willing to do so because being with her 24 hours a day is exactly what he wants to do. Camilla is his soul mate. Israel, a D.J. seen in the first book of the series, gets Camilla pregnant but once the job is done he doesn’t want to go. He’s in love with both Camilla and Nanae. Will they have room for him in their lives and what about this brotherhood that’s trying to get Nanae’s blood—and even worse, what about the hunger beast that Nanae himself struggles to control. Will anyone come out of this alive?
Let me first get something out of the way—there is a lot of sex in this novel. When I say a lot of sex, I mean the first several pages are sexually driven. Camilla is ovulating and Israel is working at getting her pregnant. Nanae is off in a chair and, if you remember from previous reviews, he is a god-like creature and sex is like food to him. Watching them have sex is a starving man at a buffet. To me, the sex came with a purpose and that was to build the attraction between the two men so that when they did make declarations of sorts, it wasn’t out of left field, and I think Gibson does this well, but I am aware of how off-putting this can be for some readers.
Gibson’s previous novels I would have called romances. [easyazon-link asin=”B00816ZYBK” locale=”us”]Ishtar Anomaly (books of Sinnis)[/easyazon-link] is also a romance but because of the quantity and descriptive nature of sex (there’s not much same sex as Camilla is the focus of the story—though we do hear of it happening off screen so we know that Isreal and Nanae have their own connection independent of Camilla). I would lean more toward calling this novel erotica.
What I love about this novel—and series in general—is that the characters from the earlier books are still in play so we can see what happened to them. Nathalie and her Sinnis have settled into life with the Austin chapter of the Daughters of Women. Maeve is on the scene, though we don’t see her Sinnis. We do see her Guardian (the future mate for her daughter) caring for her daughter. I do find that whole dynamic hard to comprehend but then these Guardians have been around for thousands of years, so to hold a baby and know they’re the soul mate and that they’ll be matched when she’s 18…well, still a little hard to comprehend, but I do trust Gibson’s talents. So that if she writes it, I think she’ll couch the novel in a well-thought-out way that makes sense.
I LOVED the baddies in this one. There was a central baddie who thought of himself as a puppeteer and whose goal it was to get the blood of Nanae and we learn some things in this novel about what both these Guardians the Daughters can do. He was diabolical and apathetic and willing to sacrifice anyone he had to in order to get what he wanted. I thought Gibson’s set-up and eventually wrap-up of the baddie story line was brilliantly done. There was a sub-baddie story line involving Camilla’s parents that I, as a reader, would have liked more exposition on but I understand why, as an author, Gibson couldn’t take us there. The point was Camilla, and once Camilla is set, we move on. I would have liked to have known more of the family dynamic and what happened after Camilla left, but even without the mother, it was chillingly evil and I loved it.
One thing that really bothered me in this novel was the constant reference to the massive stature that is Nanae. I once read a novel in which the author was constantly reminding us that the main character was fat and in love with this hot guy. We can remember page-to-page that she’s obese and to constantly remind us not only makes the book longer, but stops the flow. Gibson’s constant reminders were not quite enough to stop the flow, but I have to say, every time it was mentioned, I was reminded of this other book that I read which is maybe what one would call a personal problem.
All in all, this was an excellent read. It was fast and entertaining and fit perfectly in the progression of the series. I cannot wait to read the final book in the series, [easyazon-link asin=”B0082UISCW” locale=”us”]Ishtar Rising (a book of Sinnis)[/easyazon-link] but I must—at least for a few days—but when I do I will be sure to fill you all in on how the series ended.
Read an excerpt and buy [easyazon-link asin=”B00816ZYBK” locale=”us”]Ishtar Anomaly (books of Sinnis)[/easyazon-link] by Natalie Gibson.
For further reading, check out the reviews of Ishtar Shining, Ishtar Bound and Transit of Ishtar.
For more information about Natalie Gibson, visit her website. You can connect with her on Goodreads, Facebook and Twitter @AuthorNatGibson.