Shattered Circle by Linda Robertson
Series: Persephone Alcmedi #6
Published by Pocket
Published on: January 29th 2013
Genres: Urban Fantasy, Werewolves
Pages: 384
Format: Paperback
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After her werewolf boyfriend, Johnny, tried to kill her, Persephone Alcmedi finds herself in the comforting arms of powerful vampire Menessos. She’s trying to sort out her feelings for the two men, but not even Seph is above the confusion of tangled emotions. All Johnny wants to do is mend their relationship and reveal the life-altering news he’s recently received, but his new responsibilities as the werewolf king take up most of his time. Does this mean Menessos can finally make his move?
Shattered Circle continues in the vein of its preceding book. No longer is it merely Persephone’s story. Giovanni, Goliath, Liyliy, Johnny, and Demeter (to name a few) can jump on the bandwagon too.
I do not like these stories with such frequent jumps. The end of every chapter is a cliffhanger so we can zoom back over to get another character off and on another cliff.
So much falling and rising action can be enjoyable. You do feel jerked a little though. Also about halfway through the read a whole other sector in Persephone’s love life is opened up. Welcome to the world of love squares. Farewell triangles.
I am just not sure if the author has any restraint left. She has invented about five villains worthy of being feared within the last two books. All of them are still threats by the end of the read.
Many friends show themselves to be suspicious. I can only imagine there are some turncoats coming in the next book. You know what I am most reminded of? Seasons of 24. With all the political machinations, blackmail, and backstabbing I think it is highly likely this author stumbled upon this heyday in television history and decided to drive her strong first person narrative into the deep-end of multiple perspectives.
In its defense, the book does do plenty to keep you in the loop as to who is acting and what they have done in the past. I cannot claim the read is difficult to comprehend. Mostly the greatest difficulty lies in believing that the events of the last six books could have taken place in little under a year, pretty much only the Fall season. I fear how awfully complicated Winter will be.
So how to come to grips then with the shift from strong first person narrative to a collection of much weaker third person narratives? How can one reconcile the first four books of the series with these most recent two? Does the author have an endgame in mind or is she simply multiplying the stakes for complexity’s sake?
If you remember, from the beginning, balance has been stressed. Even back when Persephone had a farm and twenty acres, it was prophesied things would get messy. Certainly we are now in the thick of it. I am willing to play ball for another book or two so long as Risque receives better and better characterization and the spell-casting continues to be so much rhyming fun.
