A Kiss of Shadows (Meredith Gentry, Book 1)
by Laurell K. Hamilton
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Book Summary Information
Author: Laurell K. HamiltonEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-02
ISBN: 0345423402
Number of pages: 480
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Book Reviews of A Kiss of Shadows (Meredith Gentry, Book 1)
Book Review: The Princess Returns
Summary: 5 Stars
A Kiss of Shadows (2000) is the first fantasy novel of the Meredith Gentry series. Merry Gentry is the alias of Meredith NicEssus -- the mortal daughter of Prince Essus -- and the niece of Andais, Queen of Air and Darkness. Three year ago, Princess Meredith had run from the Unseleighe Court because she knew that her cousin Cel wanted her dead and his minions would keep challenging her until she died in a duel.
In this novel, Merry is an agent of the Grey Detective agency. While she is only partially sidhe, her talents are much greater than most humans. Jeremy Grey -- owner of the agency -- has a great deal of faith in her mystical abilities and asks her to listen to two women who would like to become their clients.
The agency does not do divorce work, but Jeremy is reconsidering for this particular case. The wife, Frances Norton, is carrying a nasty death spell put on her by her husband. The mistress, Naomi Phelps, is part fey, but untrained in magic. The husband has taken Polaroid shots of his mistresses and shown them to his wife. When Frances sees Naomi is a restaurant, she introduces herself and the two have become close friends due to their common victimization.
Merry is not able to refuse the two victims and becomes a decoy to ensnare Alistair Norton in the use of magic to seduce women. All goes well until Merry finds herself falling in lust for Alistair. Yet she retains enough clarity to recognize that the oil being smeared on her is Branwyn's Tears, a magical substance that bestows sidhe-like powers and lusts on humans.
Merry escapes from the trap, but Alistair becomes very dead. However, her true identity has become known to the police. They are hesitant to believe her about the Branwyn's Tears until several of them become enflamed with lust after the oil touches their bodies. Although Merry is released and smuggled out of the building, Queen Andais now knows where she is and sends for her.
In this story, Merry returns to the Unseleighe Court with trepidation and distrust. After all, someone has sent the Slaugh out to kill her and she is attacked two more times on the way to the court. OF course, Cel is definitely out to kill her and thinks that his favored position will protect him from his mother the Queen. Yet Merry has other enemies besides Cel and his toadies.
The attacks have one good effect: she has come into her powers. She has the Hand of Flesh and is welcomed back by the sithin and the earth itself. Then Queen Andais announces that the celibacy geas on her Guard has been lifted, but only for Merry; many of the guards are now hoping to get her pregnant and thus become the King. Of course, some sidhe males have long since excluded themselves from this privilege by their past treatment of the young princess.
Merry has a few sidhe that she trusts and they soon decide to transfer their allegiance to her. She also gains some other allies, including the King of the Goblins -- and a small, common goblin named Kitto -- as well as the Queen of the Demi-fey. Even Sholto, the mixed blood King of the Slaugh, has swung to her side, at least for a while.
This story is full of sex and blood. Since Merry is descended from five fertility deities, some of her magic is based on sexual acts; in fact, she is beginning to discover that she can heal and be healed during sex. Indeed, she finds herself able to heal more than the fey.
Blood, however, is both less important to the quick-healing fey and more significant because of the sadistic tendencies of the Unseleighe. Dueling to the death is a common way for the sidhe to get rid of their enemies. Moreover, the queen tortures her enemies and even her subjects -- sometimes for millennia -- and casually kills minor offenders.
Highly recommended for Hamilton fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of sidhe magic, court intrigue and sexual powers.
-Arthur W. Jordin
Summary of A Kiss of Shadows (Meredith Gentry, Book 1)
?My name is Meredith Gentry, but of course it?s not my real name. I dare not even whisper my true name after dark for fear that one hushed word will travel over the night winds to the soft ear of my aunt, the Queen of the Air and Darkness. She wants me dead. I don?t even know why.?Meredith Gentry, Princess of the high court of Faerie, is posing as a human in Los Angeles, living as a P.I. specializing in supernatural crime. But now the Queen?s assassin has been dispatched to fetch her back?whether she likes it or not. Suddenly Meredith finds herself a pawn in her dreaded aunt?s plans. The job that awaits her: enjoy the constant company of the most beautiful immortal men in the world. The reward: the crown?and the opportunity to continue to live. The penalty for failure: death.
Laurell K. Hamilton revitalized vampires, werewolves, and zombies in the popular Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter books. In this new series, she updates faeries. A Kiss of Shadows introduces Merry Gentry, a.k.a. Meredith NicEssus, a faerie princess of the Unseelie Court, where politics is a blood sport. Merry, who's part sidhe (elvish), part brownie, and part human, never really fit in. She's short, not skilled in offensive magic, and mortal because of her human blood. These are real liabilities when your family, especially aunt Andais, Queen of Air and Darkness, is out to kill you. Merry has been in hiding for three years, living in Los Angeles and working for the Grey Detective Agency, which specializes in "supernatural problems, magical solutions." A new case sets her against a man who uses forbidden magic to seduce fey women and drain their power. A plan to trap him goes awry and Merry's cover is blown. Now Andais knows where she is. But things have changed in Andais's court, and Merry is changing too.
Despite the selkies, brownies, goblins, and ogres in this book, it's not for children. The fey are "creatures of the senses"--and in the Unseelie court, sex and pain go together. Merry is sexually adventurous and surrounded by gorgeous, powerful males, most of whom want her badly. She's politically savvy and no coward, though she's not the warrior Anita is. Hamilton fans and readers of adult fairy tales like Anne Bishop's Black Jewels trilogy will want to give Merry a look. --Nona Vero
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