Been awhile

It’s been a while since the last novel in the series and I forgot what was going on. Made it tough to get traction in this book.

The sex overwhelms the story in this novel. The plot is thin and needs more development. The ending feels a bit rushed, even though it hits all of the various elements.

I will probably still read the next one when it comes along, but this is not a good sample of the complexity of the author’s writing. ( )

3.5
Surrounded by prophecy, Krais seeks to atone and serve his Goddess by submitting fully to his punishment. He and his brothers are destined to either save, betray or walk away from humanity. It's heavily BDSM. Pelai teaches Krais to explore and accept sensation play. Krais' father wants his sons punished brutally for something beyond their control which leads each to their part in the prophecy. It was an okay read but I struggled to stay with the story.

Several editing issues. ( )

It's good - of course it is, it's a Jean Johnson. I'm enjoying the Guardians of Destiny series, as it takes us to different lands and shows us the (very) different customs that obtain in various nations of that world. I knew Mendhi was all about writing...I had no idea they also have a focus on discipline (in the sense of punishment). BDSM is not my kink, but after reading this I have a better idea how someone could enjoy it. I really like Krais; wish I'd seen more of him before, because the book is very strongly about his transformation but most of what we learn about his past is from other people essentially saying "How you've changed!". Pelai is interesting, though she's not nearly as...vivid? as Krais is, here. I'll be watching her as a Guardian later, though. One interesting factor was that Pelai and Krais both accepted the prophecies immediately, without any questions of whether they applied - the only questions are about the meaning of the phrases. It helped, of course, that both got personal prophecies from their Goddess that showed the link between them and to the demon prophecies. The immediate acceptance took away one of the conflicts that has featured in the previous three books; the conflict that replaced it is even stronger. And that bloody mage shows up again - I suppose he'll be part of the story throughout, but I can't wait to see him dealt with. Two more characters mixed up in the demon-summoning, Krais' brothers - I hope they do better than the prophecies about them seem to show, poor guys. And one oddity - some ex-Mekhana priests show up, and they spout some serious anti-woman propaganda. I don't remember that being much of a feature of that priesthood - they sound like the Mandarites. They were more anti-mage and pro-power for themselves, is what I recall. But maybe I'm just remembering wrong. One other thing - the editing on this book (bought from Google Play Books, pre-ordered) was awful. Wrong words, words that weren't words (ae for are...), sentence fragments...it was a mess. I was seriously surprised to be reminded, as I finished the book, that it was published by a Penguin imprint - I thought better of them. Nonetheless - fun! Looking forward to the next one. ( )