Blackveil - The Review

The book finally came at 7pm on Tuesday....so I waited to start it Wednesday morning because I knew once I started I wouldn't want to stop.  Read all day Wed, had to stop to go to class, and then half the day Thursday.

Wednesday at 8:32am
     page 1 of 663 :-)
Wednesday, February 2, 2011 at 12:15pm
     page 178....so freaking good...dog finally passed out and stopped bugging me
Wednesday at 4:13pm:
     REALLY  doesn't want to go to class...why couldn't the book have come 
     YESTERDAY  when it was supposed to and I didn't have class??? 
     on page 393...i  better not bring this to class with me...
Thursday at 7:23am:
     page 416...hopefully Riley isn't sick all day so I don't have to 
     keep stopping
Thursday at 11:04 am:
     hopefully there will be no more interruptions! page 524...NO CLUE 
     how they're going to wrap any of this up in 140 pages!
Thursday at 12:04 pm:
     page 663....no comment...

I find myself very unsure of how I feel about the book - I probably won't know until after a long discussion with my best friend who also reads the series.  It definitely draws you in.  I was so engrossed that I laughed, cried, and fumed right along with the characters.  Also, I about jumped out of my skins a couple times when someone knocked on the door or the dog jumped on me.

The book is not being received well by the fans of the series though.  As of this morning, there are 22 reviews on Amazon, and even the best are less than positive, and the worst are SCATHING:  "too little too late." Many are yelling that they will not "waste" their money on buying the next books in the series.  All are less than thrilled about the long wait between books, as Kristen Britain averages 3-4 years between books.  According to Ms. Britain's blog, she is already at work on book 5, so I'm hopeful it will only be 2 years.  The last book was released 3 years and 4 months after its predecessor, so if she can shave 9 months off her process again (especially since she started writing 5 before 4 was published), then hopefully in 2013 we'll find out what happens.

I will agree with the other reviewers that it feels a little unfinished, that it was definitely not a lighthearted read like some of the past books.  In a lot of ways, it reminds me of Harry Potter book 6 - a lot of character development, a lot of things you don't want to happen, and a set-up book.

I disagree that "nothing happened."  I know many would have preferred an all action book, but its hard to have plot and character development with nothing but swashbuckling action.  I found many questions from past novels answered, and many of my predictions fulfilled.  Also, for all the "it wasn't happy, I want happy-go-lucky" unfortunately, not all stories go the way you want.  Even though I had a way to fix everything perfectly during the book, in hindsight, if that had happened, I bet just as many people would be angry.  If everything went perfectly, it would feel empty and pointless.  The characters need to suffer a little to feel real, and coming from ME - the queen of happy plots all tied up in pretty bows - that's saying A LOT. 

Hmm...what to read or cook next...I'm supposed to make peanut butter cups for Boyfriend for valentines day...and I was thinking of working on my long-standing DIY project - refinishing the bathroom - only the floor is left to do!