reading update: Death Note, D.Gray-Man, Samurai Deeper Kyo

( When you're about to die and he turns all demonic and grabs the head of the person responsible and says  )

reading update: Death Note, D.Gray-Man, Samurai Deeper Kyo

( When you're about to die and he turns all demonic and grabs the head of the person responsible and says  )

cdrama: Shades of Truth: through ep 11

Cdramas will eat you alive…alive…allllliiiiivvvveeee.

Ok, not really, but seriously…I finished one and immediately started another.  Granted, a much shorter one(24 episodes as compared to Return of the Condor Heroes’s 41) and they’re very different series.

( babble here )

cdrama: Shades of Truth: through ep 11

Cdramas will eat you alive…alive…allllliiiiivvvveeee.

Ok, not really, but seriously…I finished one and immediately started another.  Granted, a much shorter one(24 episodes as compared to Return of the Condor Heroes’s 41) and they’re very different series.

( babble here )

for the 2 dorama fans on my flist who may not know yet...

There will apparently be a Kurosagi movie with Yamapi and Maki *covers ears*

I'll assume it's like Tokyo Friends or the Trick movies and a sequel instead of a remake.

for the 2 dorama fans on my flist who may not know yet...

There will apparently be a Kurosagi movie with Yamapi and Maki *covers ears*

I'll assume it's like Tokyo Friends or the Trick movies and a sequel instead of a remake.

The Dark Hunters(2)

First post explaining what I'm talking about here.

I'm currently about halfway through the 5th book, which is Vane's story.  After this I have to stop, because the other 2 books I have are later in the series and I want to read them in order.

First of all, even though I was already warned, Tabitha is clearly being groomed to be a heroine soon, and I have to ask...WHY?  What did poor Valerius ever do to be stuck with such a shrill psychotic Buffy-wannabee nutjob?  It also means that it's probably more likely to have his problems with Kyrian sorted out than his problems with Zarek, and I'd much rather read Valerius and Zarek fighting than Valerius and Kyrian.  *sigh*

The mytharc in this series is probably the best I've encountered in a fantasy or scifi romance series, the only problem(as I mentioned in my other post) is that, with one exception, the romances themselves are pretty weak.  The exception is Zarek's book...like dangermousie, it's the only one I really like on its own merits, as opposed to put up with the romance for the rest of it and the supporting characters.  It's the only book where Kenyon has really managed to achieve what she tries to achieve with all these books...that these guys are rough, hard warriors who are hopelessly screwed up and tortured and that the women they fall in love with are the only things that give them a prayer of functionality.  It's also the only one that really conveys that he WILL die for her, but he'd rather live and just destroy anything and everything that tries to hurt her.  But if the choice is his life or hers, he'll choose hers.  Also, unlike the others, love doesn't make Zarek all soft and cuddly  despite over a millenium(2 millenia, in his case) of war and death and pain and angst.  He's slightly nicer to maybe 3 people, but hey, now that he's a god, he just wants to spend time with Astrid, preferably at the beach.  If he has to mope around Olympus while she's working, then he'll just keep himself busy throwing lightning bolts at Valerius.  If he has to he'll go play nice with the others, but it's only because Astrid asks...he really couldn't care less about social visits.  Plus, he'll probably get to kill something, which is always a bonus for him.    Also, while Astrid has her Mary Sue qualities, she's not as blatantly Mary Sue as the others, and she's the only one I've actually really liked, though I'm not sure how much I like her for herself, and how much because Zarek needs her.  With the exception of Sunshine, who I seriously disliked(well, Tabitha too, but I haven't read her book yet so it's possible she'll get tolerable), the Mary Sue's have been inoffensive, so why I haven't liked them, I haven't really minged them either(plus, most heroines in modern and fantasy and scifi romances are Mary Sues, so it's nothing new to me...historical romances aren't as bad in that regard as long as you don't get a modern girl in regency dress)

Incidentally, I love how, even though the Dark Hunters ALWAYS gets freed from Artemis's service(I want one to stay a Dark Hunter, just to break the trend) they get to keep their powers so they can show up to snark and kill things in other books.

I remain a touch concerned about my character preferences in this series, though.  To review and add the new ones, the characters I actually like are:

Ash-The machiavellian uber-Dark Hunter who's the boy toy of an S&M-prone control freak goddess who has control freak tendencies himself despite being a bit of a mother hen and is keeping way too many secrets and could probably destroy the world by coughing if her wanted to.
Zarek-the psychopath who thinks killing if fun and blood is a refreshing beverage and who, now that he's a god, likes to throw thunderbolts at his brother.
Nick-the human sidekick who's meant to be clever and spunky and is, but is also annoying and blatantly destined to be a Dark Hunter.  He's also one of the few people Zarek seems to actually like.
Valerius-The Roman general who pisses everyone off just by existing and has an ego and a superiority complex that could fill an entire time zone.
Spawn-the Apollite Dark Hunter who hates everyone's guts on principle(which would be why I like him) yet seems to always be helping out.
Simi-the demon child who looks at everything and everyone in light of whether or not it'd taste good extra crispy and dipped in barbecue sauce(but, like Astrid, a fair bit of my liking is likely due to the fact that Ash needs her)

I was kinda liking Wulf and his obsession with getting Chris laid, until I learned that it was just a part of his angstangstaaaaannnnggggsssstttttt because only people related to him remember him 5 minutes after separating from him.  At which point, I mostly felt sorry for Chris and his ancestors, as 90% of their value in life was to be sperm and ovary donors so Wulf would have company. Jess, Sasha, Colt and Urian have potential but there's no zing or attachment yet, so we'll see.

In other words, with the exception of Nick, in this series, if you have anything resembling a prayer of actually being able to interact or function normally in society, I either don't care about you or found you boring once you fell in love and got emasculated.  Normally, even I'm not this far off the deep end in character preferences.  And I generally go for the nuts/antiheroes anyway...

The Dark Hunters(2)

First post explaining what I'm talking about here.

I'm currently about halfway through the 5th book, which is Vane's story.  After this I have to stop, because the other 2 books I have are later in the series and I want to read them in order.

First of all, even though I was already warned, Tabitha is clearly being groomed to be a heroine soon, and I have to ask...WHY?  What did poor Valerius ever do to be stuck with such a shrill psychotic Buffy-wannabee nutjob?  It also means that it's probably more likely to have his problems with Kyrian sorted out than his problems with Zarek, and I'd much rather read Valerius and Zarek fighting than Valerius and Kyrian.  *sigh*

The mytharc in this series is probably the best I've encountered in a fantasy or scifi romance series, the only problem(as I mentioned in my other post) is that, with one exception, the romances themselves are pretty weak.  The exception is Zarek's book...like dangermousie, it's the only one I really like on its own merits, as opposed to put up with the romance for the rest of it and the supporting characters.  It's the only book where Kenyon has really managed to achieve what she tries to achieve with all these books...that these guys are rough, hard warriors who are hopelessly screwed up and tortured and that the women they fall in love with are the only things that give them a prayer of functionality.  It's also the only one that really conveys that he WILL die for her, but he'd rather live and just destroy anything and everything that tries to hurt her.  But if the choice is his life or hers, he'll choose hers.  Also, unlike the others, love doesn't make Zarek all soft and cuddly  despite over a millenium(2 millenia, in his case) of war and death and pain and angst.  He's slightly nicer to maybe 3 people, but hey, now that he's a god, he just wants to spend time with Astrid, preferably at the beach.  If he has to mope around Olympus while she's working, then he'll just keep himself busy throwing lightning bolts at Valerius.  If he has to he'll go play nice with the others, but it's only because Astrid asks...he really couldn't care less about social visits.  Plus, he'll probably get to kill something, which is always a bonus for him.    Also, while Astrid has her Mary Sue qualities, she's not as blatantly Mary Sue as the others, and she's the only one I've actually really liked, though I'm not sure how much I like her for herself, and how much because Zarek needs her.  With the exception of Sunshine, who I seriously disliked(well, Tabitha too, but I haven't read her book yet so it's possible she'll get tolerable), the Mary Sue's have been inoffensive, so why I haven't liked them, I haven't really minged them either(plus, most heroines in modern and fantasy and scifi romances are Mary Sues, so it's nothing new to me...historical romances aren't as bad in that regard as long as you don't get a modern girl in regency dress)

Incidentally, I love how, even though the Dark Hunters ALWAYS gets freed from Artemis's service(I want one to stay a Dark Hunter, just to break the trend) they get to keep their powers so they can show up to snark and kill things in other books.

I remain a touch concerned about my character preferences in this series, though.  To review and add the new ones, the characters I actually like are:

Ash-The machiavellian uber-Dark Hunter who's the boy toy of an S&M-prone control freak goddess who has control freak tendencies himself despite being a bit of a mother hen and is keeping way too many secrets and could probably destroy the world by coughing if her wanted to.
Zarek-the psychopath who thinks killing if fun and blood is a refreshing beverage and who, now that he's a god, likes to throw thunderbolts at his brother.
Nick-the human sidekick who's meant to be clever and spunky and is, but is also annoying and blatantly destined to be a Dark Hunter.  He's also one of the few people Zarek seems to actually like.
Valerius-The Roman general who pisses everyone off just by existing and has an ego and a superiority complex that could fill an entire time zone.
Spawn-the Apollite Dark Hunter who hates everyone's guts on principle(which would be why I like him) yet seems to always be helping out.
Simi-the demon child who looks at everything and everyone in light of whether or not it'd taste good extra crispy and dipped in barbecue sauce(but, like Astrid, a fair bit of my liking is likely due to the fact that Ash needs her)

I was kinda liking Wulf and his obsession with getting Chris laid, until I learned that it was just a part of his angstangstaaaaannnnggggsssstttttt because only people related to him remember him 5 minutes after separating from him.  At which point, I mostly felt sorry for Chris and his ancestors, as 90% of their value in life was to be sperm and ovary donors so Wulf would have company. Jess, Sasha, Colt and Urian have potential but there's no zing or attachment yet, so we'll see.

In other words, with the exception of Nick, in this series, if you have anything resembling a prayer of actually being able to interact or function normally in society, I either don't care about you or found you boring once you fell in love and got emasculated.  Normally, even I'm not this far off the deep end in character preferences.  And I generally go for the nuts/antiheroes anyway...