Book Log #29: Blue Diablo, by Ann Aguirre
Apr. 30th, 2009 10:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annathepiperAnn Aguirre takes her first jaunt into urban fantasy with Blue Diablo, the opening book of the Corine Solomon series. Our heroine Corine is a "handler", able to sense the history surrounding objects she holds--but not without a price, as her gift came to her from the sacrifice of her mother when she was a child. She cannot use it without the object damaging her hands, and invariably reminding her of the fire that killed her mother.
More recently, Corine has fled her past history with Chance, another gifted individual whose talent lies in the manipulating of luck. She's living in Mexico now, thinking that she's re-established some sanity in her life--so of course, Chance finds her. And of course, he's brought her dire news: his mother, of whom Corine was always very fond, has gone missing. And Corine is the only one who can help him find her.
This is definitely a paranormal romance that falls more into the "romance" category than it does the "paranormal" one; it borrows a lot more tropes from the romance genre than it does from the fantasy one, although the paranormal is of course in hefty play here as well. Its primary strength for me was less the fantasy elements--especially given that Anton Strout's also playing with a character who can read history off of objects--and more the relationship between not only Corine and Chance, but also between Corine and Jesse, the other male lead, an empathic cop. Since the book starts off with Chance and Corine in the decidedly ex-lovers stage, there's a lot of intriguing uncertainty as to how exactly their relationship will evolve, or whether she will actually choose to establish a relationship with Jesse instead.
But be braced for a cliffhanger ending, folks--at least, from the emotional standpoint.
Overall a decent read, although so far I like Aguirre's SF better. Three stars.
More recently, Corine has fled her past history with Chance, another gifted individual whose talent lies in the manipulating of luck. She's living in Mexico now, thinking that she's re-established some sanity in her life--so of course, Chance finds her. And of course, he's brought her dire news: his mother, of whom Corine was always very fond, has gone missing. And Corine is the only one who can help him find her.
This is definitely a paranormal romance that falls more into the "romance" category than it does the "paranormal" one; it borrows a lot more tropes from the romance genre than it does from the fantasy one, although the paranormal is of course in hefty play here as well. Its primary strength for me was less the fantasy elements--especially given that Anton Strout's also playing with a character who can read history off of objects--and more the relationship between not only Corine and Chance, but also between Corine and Jesse, the other male lead, an empathic cop. Since the book starts off with Chance and Corine in the decidedly ex-lovers stage, there's a lot of intriguing uncertainty as to how exactly their relationship will evolve, or whether she will actually choose to establish a relationship with Jesse instead.
But be braced for a cliffhanger ending, folks--at least, from the emotional standpoint.
Overall a decent read, although so far I like Aguirre's SF better. Three stars.
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Date: 2009-05-01 05:40 pm (UTC)