Spoilers ahead!
New Orleans is a city ruled by the dead.
Set in 1872, Celine Rousseau journeys all the way to New Orleans from her home in Paris to flee her dark past. She wants to make a new life and forget the shadows creeping up behind her. But that's easier said than done when the darkness in her soul tugs her ever closer to the most dangerous people in the Crescent City.
Strange murders begin to occur in the city mere days after Celine's arrival-- the victims with their throats ripped out and drained of all blood. It quickly becomes clear that someone is hunting Celine down and attacking anyone close to her. With nowhere else to turn, she finds herself allying with the mysterious Sebastien Saint Germain, despite the fact that he may be her prime suspect.
Perhaps if Celine were someone to command such respect, she would not have been forced to leave Paris. To lie to her father. Or murder a man.
I'm sure we were all wondering if I would ever come across a book I didn't like... well, today is the day. This book was certainly not for me-- that's not to say it was bad, it just wasn't my personal taste. I found it to be less fantasy and adventure (my brand) and much more of a vampire mystery. I don't know that I've ever really cared much for vampires-- any series I've enjoyed that involve them have held my interest far more because of the characters. Unfortunately, I couldn't get into these protagonists, and the plot twists either weren't exciting to me or I found them to come out of left field with no explanation.
Rage is a moment. Regret is forever. Celine had enough regrets on her head. Running away like a victim would not be one of them ever again. She was not a victim. She was a survivor.
I couldn't decide if I liked Celine or not-- she could never seem to make up her mind on things. She wanted to be good and simple sometimes but other times she'd want to be dangerous and cause mischief. Every time I thought she was going to pick a mindset and stick to it, she switched gears again. I liked that she was pretty tough and witty most of the time, but I did think it was a bit wasted on some of the other characters. She did have some wonderful moments of coming into herself, and by the end of the book I think I quite admired her. She faced her fears and forgave herself for her past mistakes (though I don't think that what she did should be classified as a mistake...) and she decided to let it all make her stronger. I just really wish that I felt like her love interest deserved her... Speaking of the devil, I found our main hottie significantly lacking. All he really had going for him was that he was hot and mysterious, but aren't they all??? I think he was on the cusp of having a personality, but I didn't ever really see it blossom within him. Bastien and Celine were immediately attracted to each other and that was the basis of their relationship-- I know that they later confessed all their deepest darkest secrets to each other and it was supposed to be super passionate... But I just didn't feel it.
Odette canted her head, an odd light in her gaze... "C'est assez! None of us should have to wear corsets unless we decide to wear them. In the meantime, I say we take to the square and burn them all." Celine's eyes sparkled. "The corsets?" "No, the men, of course."
Despite all that, I did find that the author soared when it came to side characters. I loved Odette, Michael, and Arjun. Odette had a bright, shining personality and couldn't give a damn what anyone thought of her. Michael was a bit of an ass sometimes, but he was also really smart and had a lovely soft side. Arjun was calm, cool, and brilliant, not to mention that he would have been a great match for Pippa. I basically spent the whole book wishing that Celine would fall for Odette (who is canonically a lesbian) or that she would realize Michael deserved a chance at her affection (she continued to write him off every time he did something sweet because she couldn't stop thinking about how "beautiful" Sebastien was). Now I'm sort of hoping that those two lovelies will get their own happy endings away from Celine. If I end up reading the sequel, it will solely be to find out what happens to them.
The fairy tales of her childhood had been filled with lies. No man had come to her rescue tonight, as they always did in the stories. But her friends had. First Pippa with her epee. Then Odette with her carriage.
Also, though the book is written in English, a significant amount of the dialogue is in French. Sometimes it is translated or explained afterwards, but a lot of time there were just characters having a conversation in a different language and I'd just have to be like well I don't know what's happening but okay. Sometimes, if it seemed worth it, I would translate the sentences via google, but after a while I just gave up and became content with not knowing. Part of me feels bad for complaining about this because I know it made complete sense for the characters to be speaking in French, but I just would have preferred if more translations had been provided.
Celine mounted the stairs. Tonight she wasn't a girl afraid to face her choices. She was a goddess, baiting a trap to catch a killer.
I did really like the murder mystery vibe of the whole thing-- CLUE is one of my all time favorite films (and games) so I'm quite a fan of thrillers. Ahdieh genuinely kept me on my toes every time a death occurred because I had absolutely no idea who the killer was. I had a lot of different suspects in mind, but I was quite wrong when the truth came out. Not to mention that I never saw the deaths coming-- they happened at moments I least expected, and I really enjoyed that aspect.
If Bastien was the Minotaur, Celine would be Theseus, armed with the sword of Aegeus. Ready to slay the beast.
However, the reason it kept me guessing was because the murderer sort of came out of left field. Maybe I'm just bad at guessing and perhaps to some people it did make sense, but I thought it was a little disappointing. Nigel, a good friend of Sebastien's ends up kidnapping Celine in the end. It turns out he was the murderer's henchman and was the one killing everyone for his master. So though he was doing the crime, he wasn't the actual mastermind. The REAL killer had Nigel leave behind letters at each death to spell out a name (LOUP)... The name had never been mentioned in the entire book ... So there was literally no possible way for us to figure out on our own who the killer was. Isn't that part of the fun? The guessing? When the killer ends up being someone we never met, doesn't that kinda stink? It turns out that the killer was Sebastien's supposedly dead sister-- Emilie. And yes, we did learn about Emilie earlier, but she was aways called just Emilie. Well, at the very end of the book, once most things have calmed down, we learn that she now calls herself Emilie Le Loup. So, again, we had no way of knowing that beforehand and therefore we could never have guessed she was behind it all. Not to mention the fact that I assumed this was her given name and had no freaking clue why Sebastien never recognized it-- but then I thought harder about it and threw it into google translate to see that "le loup" means "the wolf" in French... WHICH THEN MAKES ME WONDER WHY NO ONE ELSE REALIZED THAT IF THEY ALL SPEAK FLUENT FRENCH??
Beneath the dock, the change begins. The magic burns through my bloodstream, sending shudders down my spine. My fingers curl into claws, my fangs lengthen, my long hair twists and reshapes. And I become who I was always meant to be. Emilie le Loup, an immortal wolf howling at the moon.
And if a sister surprisingly not being dead wasn't enough, she's now a werewolf?? And it is also implied that Michael is probably a werewolf too?? It was all a bit too much for me. I try very hard to finish every book I read because I'm a firm believer that most books are best at the end, but I just wasn't really invested in this one. It didn't peak my interest, the characters felt sort of half baked, and the twists felt either random or unexciting. I feel bad, I hate writing negatively about a book because I have SO much respect for authors and what they do. No matter how I feel about it, I still want to say that it was unbelievably clear how much work and research went into this novel. Ahdieh put together a really lovely period piece-- it was well written, accurate to the times, and beautifully described. If you're really into vampires and mystery, check it out. If you're not, then maybe skip out on this one.
Michael paused while he sat. "It's a collection of Shakespeare's sonnets. I've been reading them for research." An awkward smile tugged at his face. "A girl with a soul of iron told me I should write her a poem."
The novel ends with Sebastien supposedly dying to try and save Celine. She begs the (good?) vampires to turn him into one so that he will not die, but they refuse-- including his own uncle. However, Celine says that she will let them erase her memory (for Bastien's uncle wants Celine out of the picture) if he will save Bastien. We then fast forward past the whole Emilie le Loup reveal-- though the readers are the only ones who know she was behind it-- to find Celine waking up in Michael's office with no recollection of what happened. So that probably means Bastien is alive, which I guess is supposed to be a good thing. But all I could think about was how Michael is currently holding Celine's hand and reciting poetry to her because he loves her and she's never gonna love him back. Hating that! My boy deserves better! Gah!
Michael grasped her fingers tightly, then began to speak in a steady voice. "Let me not to the marriage of true minds / Admit impediments. Love is not love / Which alters when it alteration finds, / Or bends with the remover to remove..."
NEXT READ: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
댓글