Review and Giveaway: Crimson Veil

Crimson Veil (Otherworld/Sisters of the Moon - Book 15) by Yasmine Galenorn

Publication Date: 02/04/2014
Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: Jove Books
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Pages: 336
ISBN-10: 0515152838
ISBN-13: 978-0515152838

(Received for an honest review from Jove Books)

Purchase: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Indiebound

Yasmine Galenorn on the WEB: website, blog, twitter, facebook, goodreads

Books in the series: 

Witchling (2006), Changeling (2007), Darkling (2007), Dragon Wytch (2008), Night Huntress (2008), Demon Mistress (2009), Bone Magic (2009), Harvest Hunting (2010), Blood Wyne (2010), Courting Darkness (2011), Shaded Vision (2012), Shadow Rising (2012), Haunted Moon (2013), Autumn Whispers (2013), Crimson Veil (2014)

Coverart: Click the Image for a larger, clearer view of the covers in this series.

Excerpt from, Crimson Veil, courtesy of the author's website.

Synopsis:

We’re the D’Artigo sisters: savvy half-human, half-Fae ex-operatives for the Otherworld Intelligence Agency. My sister Camille is a wicked good witch with three gorgeous husbands. Delilah is a two-faced werecat and a Death Maiden. And me? I’m Menolly, a vampire married to a scorching hot werepuma. And right now, we’re facing enemies on all sides…

It’s been a long and devastating week. Back in Otherworld, war has decimated the elfin city of Elqaneve, our father has gone missing, and Shadow Wing has managed to obtain another spirit seal. On the home front, somebody burned down my bar, the Wayfarer, killing eight people, including a friend.

To make matters worse, we still haven’t found a way to stop Lowestar Radcliff—the daemon in charge of a supernatural corporate power grab. He’s attempting to awaken Suvika, the lord of vice and corrupt businessmen, and we have to stop him. Our enemies are closing in on all sides, and this time, there’s no place to hide…

Thoughts:

Crimson Veil is the fifteenth book in the Sisters of the Moon series by Yasmine Galenorn. The series follows the adventures and exploits of the D'Artigo sisters as they battle evil forces and try to bring about the end of the war in the Otherworld. Fans of the series have embraced Galenorn's changing viewpoints and multiple secondary characters throughout the series. Galenorn once again uses her knowledge of the world of magic to bring readers a somewhat dark, but expressive tale that is as intense as the author herself.

What I liked:

To say that the world building in this series is staggering is probably an understatement. Galenorn has done a spectacular job of creating characters that readers are attuned to and want to read about again and again. But she also makes the Otherworld and it's struggles so real to the reader that it becomes hard to distinguish between the Otherworld and Earthside. It takes a lot of imagination to bring to life a world that the reader has no concept of from beginning to end and Galenorn does it with ease. She mixes vampires and weres with deamons and demons. The Fae make appearances and other supernatural creatures as well. The three sisters each have their own distinctions as well. From Camile the witch to Delilah the Death Maiden and then to Menolly the vampire. This author has done so much to bring the reader into another universe that it's quite amazing.

This was my first book from the series and I was skeptical going in, not being familiar with the author or her work. But Galenorn does attempt to bring the reader up to speed if they are just beginning the series. I don't think she was entirely successful, just because of the overall scope of the series itself. But I was able to pick up a lot about each of sisters and how the series has developed. I liked the relationship that exists between Galenorn's Otherworld and her own proclivities toward magic. It was easy to see that this was important to the author in a way that is missing from some books of this type.

The sisters are the stars of the books obviously and this particular story was told from Menolly's point of view. I had a bit of a hard time connecting to Menolly at first because I didn't see how she connected to the story. But eventually I found myself warming up to her and her own struggles. It seemed that a lot of this story dealt with Menolly's personal issues with the destruction of her bar, the Wayfarer and others like hers that were being targeted. She is a vampire with a wife and has a lot of personal baggage to deal with in this one. I liked the parts that dealt with her relationship with her sisters and their goal of keeping the villain at bay, but felt a little out of the loop when it came to Nerissa and Roman, her wife and consort. Not a concept I was entirely sure I followed. 

I do respect the fact that Galenorn was able to write the relationship between Menolly and her wife Nerissa with the same level of intensity and realism as the relationships she writes with characters that are not in same-sex relationships. I think it takes a very open mind and one with a lot of understanding to write with such openness and candor. A lot of writers write about gay or lesbian characters, but not many do it with the grace that Galenorn showed here. Nicely done. 

I finally started to understand about the spirit seals and the villain Shadow Wing and what he was really up to towards the middle of the book. I think the resolution of that aspect of the story happened a bit too quickly for my tastes. About three quarters of the way through the book, the threat had been eliminated and there was still a quarter of the book to go. It was instrumental in showing me as a reader more about the characters and their relationships, but it kind of let the air leak out, since it wasn't as climatic as the rest of the book. 

I found myself wanting to learn more about the other sisters, just from reading their part in this story and that's always a good thing. I did have quite a bit of trouble following this book, but I don't think that was the fault of the author. It was just basically because I needed to have started at the beginning of the series. I will probably go back and read it from the beginning and this one will make a lot more sense to me. 

What I didn't like:

I was somewhat worried about jumping into this series in the fifteenth book. I had not had the opportunity to read anything from this author before and was pretty sure I might be lost. I have to admit I do think it is best to read this series from the beginning. Though Galenorn does a good job of cluing new readers into what is going on, I think the reader probably misses a lot of the nuances and circumstantial cues that might make more sense had they read them all. 

Bottom Line:

Even though I struggled to review this book, I thought Galenorn's writing style was engaging. Her world building was phenomenal and her characters were interesting. I did think that the overall threat in this book wrapped up too early and the rest was more about the personal struggles of the main character, Menolly. But it was certainly interesting enough that I want to go back and see what I missed.

Crimson Veil is available NOW from your favorite bookseller.

I'm giving this one 4 out of 5 apples from my book bag!

About the Author:

New York Times bestselling author Yasmine Galenorn writes urban fantasy, mystery, and metaphysical nonfiction, including the New York Times bestselling Otherworld series. A graduate of Evergreen State College, she majored in theater and creative writing. Yasmine has been in the Craft for more than thirty years and is a shamanic witch. She describes her life as a blend of teacups and tattoos, and lives in the Seattle area with her husband, Samwise, and their cats.

Giveaway Details:

The publisher is sponsoring a giveaway for one copy of Crimson Veil by Yasmine Galenorn. 

~ You must be an email subscriber to participate.
~ US addresses only.
~ The deadline to enter this giveaway is Midnight EST, March 6th.

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