Switchblade Goddess by Lucy A. SnyderMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
It's hard to believe this is the final book of the Jessie Shimmer series, because it was written like another middle book of the series. The Virtii were still out to kill Jessie. Miko was still alive to kill innocent people. To add insult to injury, a new plot line arose at the last minute that would have our heroes make new enemies. The fuck? As if they didn't have enough already!
+ frustration #1
Let's talk about the Virtii. In book 2, I was miffed with how our heroes didn't make the Virtii a priority, but I let it slide because our heroes had more immediate concerns. This book is book 3, and there was no more excuse in book 3. Our heroes, or Jessie to be specific, had ample downtime to think about the Virtii.
It was ridiculous how Jessie spent a total of a few minutes in the entire book to think about the Virtii. It irritated me how she treated the matter like it was a case of the zits and let her father handle the matter of hiding her ass. For a bleeding heart heroine, it never occurred to her that there was a chance the Virtii, with their twisted sense of justice, might involve her loved ones, or the local governing circle our heroes recently made peace with in book 2, to get to her. Talk about irresponsible! And it was just tip of the iceberg.
+ frustration #2
Further down on the iceberg was Miko. I couldn't believe Jessie helped Miko exorcised the Goad demon that possessed her and paralyzed her from doing evil. One, Miko was a mass murderess. Two, she was a sexual predator. Three, she was a fucking mass murderess and sexual predator. Good grief! I appreciated how the book tried to humanize her. I really do. It was good display of character development. It was very tragic and fucked up what happened to Miko.
Nevertheless, it didn't change the fact that she was a villain. By helping her, Jessie allowed her to escape and kill more innocent people, oath or no oath. Miko was a villain, and villains tend to loophole around oaths. If Jessie wanted to help Miko, what Jessie should have done was put Miko down and end her suffering, or at the very least, imprison her till Jessie could find a way to unfuck Miko. No surprise to learn later on that Jessie got tricked by Miko and ended up getting fucked herself. Literally.
+ frustration #3
There was so much rape. Rape this. Rape that. Miko got raped. Miko raped her birth father. Shift to present: Miko raped Jessie in her dream. Miko raped Jessie's boyfriend Cooper in her dream. It took the word "mindfuck" to a whole new level! The plot spent a long third of the book on the rapefest!
I was frustrated how it took a several chapters before Jessie asked another character for help and exorcised Miko from her dreams and hellement. Because despite the daily rapefest nightmares, Jessie was well-adjusted enough to ask for help, and because the book treated sex and violence towards our heroes without crippling lasting impact, which was one of the few good things about the book. No trip to emo-land for this series. A medicine woman, who was treating Pal, Jessie's familiar, was housing Jessie for that entire third of the book of a rapefest. Jessie never thought to ask the medicine woman for help. *facedesk*
+ frustration #4
Then, there was the issue with Warlock and how he got mindfucked by Miko in book 2 in raping Jessie. I was happy things mended between him, Jessie, and Cooper, Jessie's boyfriend and Warlock's older brother. Yay no for love triangle. But was it really necessary to have Warlock go shacking up with Jeremy, Jessie's older brother?
It didn't surprise me that Jeremy swung gay because there were hints since book 2, but it did surprise me as much as it surprised Jessie that Warlock swung gay too. If Warlock was characterized as so in the beginning, I wouldn't have cared and in fact, would have been happy for the pair. But he wasn't, and like magic he suddenly was towards the end. It was plain to me that the new character "development" of Warlock was a deus ex machina to guillotine the love triangle. The affair left me cold.
Conclusion
I rate Switchblade Goddess 2-stars for it was okay only because I’ve read worse series end it's sad to say. The Jessie Shimmer series is over, but it's incomplete. I strongly do not recommend the series if readers want proper resolution.
Review of book 2: Shotgun Sorceress
Book Description
Hell hath no fury like a goddess scorned.
When Jessie Shimmer traveled to a nightmare underworld to save her lover, Cooper Marron, she gained magical powers . . . which soon seemed more like curses. Her beloved familiar, the ferret Pal, became a monster. Her enemies multiplied like demons. Worst of all, she hasn’t found a moment of peace to be with the man she adores.
Now a switchblade-wielding demigoddess commanding a private hell stocked with suffering innocents is after her. The blademistress’ vengeance sends Jessie and Pal on a dark journey through strange, perilous realms. Their quest for salvation will push her newfound abilities—and her relationship with Cooper—to the breaking point . . . and beyond.
Goodreads | Amazon
"It's hard to believe this is the final book of the Jessie Shimmer series, because it was written like another middle book of the series."
ReplyDeleteThat's because it is the middle book, apparently … I heard the author talk at a convention and she said that she had to divide the middle book into two novels, Switchblade Goddess being the second half of the plot started in Shotgun Sorceress, so it was never supposed to be the final novel.
There's a Kickstarter up for the fourth novel, which doesn't seem to be the last one, either:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stevensaus/devils-field-lucy-a-snyders-new-jessie-shimmer-nov
Thanks for telling me. I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, the author can do whatever. And it's good to see the series will be continued and properly concluded if all goes to plan.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I feel disrespected that the series was intentionally incomplete in the first place. The author should have worked harder to make the story of book 2 and 3 fit into one book, and then have book 3 be the real final book. Or at least the final book of the story arc. Otherwise, it seems like the author is greedy by dragging out the series or incompetent at writing a series. :/
Heya! As the new publisher for the series, I've talked pretty extensively with Lucy. I can definitely tell you that the frustrations about the character arcs (and their incompleteness) were imposed on her by the former publisher. That's one of the reasons that she and I are working together - so that the book(s - there will be more than one) can be as long and complete as they need to be. In fact, since we just met our original goal, that's our first *stretch* goal - to give backers even more book!
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