The promotion was for a Marjorie M. Liu novel, Soul Song. It’s the sixth book in the Dirk & Steele series. I came into this book having never read a previous book in this series, nor any of Liu’s previous novels. It is a paranormal romance, and not one I would have picked up in the bookstore, had I seen it on the shelf. Getting an ARC was a great way to try out a book I normally wouldn’t want to spend my money on. I now have an urge to look up Liu’s backlist, and gorge myself on her paranormal.

Soul Song

Although Soul Song is the sixth in a book series, the average reader wouldn’t know it unless they had read the previous books. At no point did I feel lost, wishing that I started at the beginning instead of the middle.

Liu opens the novel up in a parked car. Our future hero M’cal² is a male prostitute—and a soul stealer. He takes the soul of the woman accompanying him, leaving her an empty shell of a woman who’s body will most likely die within a day or two. He doesn’t want to steal her soul, though, and when he’s through with the act, he returns to the water, and to the witch that compels him to do it.

Enslaved by the witch and forced to do what she commands, M’cal is powerless to stop what she has compelled him to do. The witch has demanded the soul of Kitalia Bell, a violin virtuoso, and a woman not without her own powers. Kitalia can “see” murders—she can see the violent manner of peoples death, but has no power to fight it.

On the night that M’cal first locates her, Kitalia sees a woman with a knife in her eyeball sitting in the front row during her concert. After the concert, she sees the woman again on the street. Normally she would ignore the vision—most people wouldn’t believe her if she told them they were going to be murdered, and she didn’t actually know when they were going to die. For some reason, though, Kitalia feels compelled to warn the woman, which in turn snowballs into the main conflict of the story. Caught in the cross fire, M’cal saves Kitalia from the woman’s pursuers, but informs her that he himself has been sent to kill her.

“I was sent here to kill you,”he rasped, jerking her around to face him. “I am still supposed to kill you. And I will, if you don not leave this place. Right now.”

She did not blink, though he could hear her heart fluttering, wild. “You rescued me.”

“No,” he breathed. “Do not trust that.”

M’cal is a Krackeni, a merman who can shift between his fin and his legs. There are other shape-shifters in the novel, some of who hint at backstory which is probably contained in previous books, although there was no sense of missing connections and references to previous novels. The conflict escalates, as does the romance, until both are resolved in a final climactic scene.

Opinion

Soul Song was a very well written romance novel. There were only a few places where I thought the description or narration could be more polished, but that’s to be expected in an ARC. The confrontations were believable, and I truly did not know which direction the story was going until we finally got there.

My only real gripe was the passage of time. According to the characters, who comment on it, the entire novel, from the moment M’cal first sees Kitalia to the moment they have defeated the evil witch, is only two days. Two days in which two characters who had separately sworn off love for different reasons fall so madly in love that M’cal actually performs a Krackeni marriage ceremony, which bonds him with Kitalia for the rest of his life, unable to take another. Granted, this gives them a connection that later in the final scene helps the two of them come out relatively unscathed, but at the same time it makes M’cal seem like he can’t learn from the past. After all, he was enslaved to the witch because he’d not known her very long and thought he was in love with her.

Until I had been informed of the time frame from the characters, I truly thought the book had taken about a week through time, which would have helped explain the super-fast, super-hot love affair of two people who from first appearances shouldn’t be together. After all, who falls in love with their hired killer?

Also, Liu drops in four shape-shifters, when after the introduction, we really only see one of them again. It appears that their whole purpose is to fill a car with non-human men, and thus convince the reader that it’s perfectly all right that Kitalia is in love with this man who can become a fish. Which is just silly, since the reader wants Kitalia with M’cal from the first moment he saves her.

Conclusion

While this isn’t my first foray into paranormal romance, this is my first encounter with Liu’s work. I enjoyed it immensely, and couldn’t put it down. I read it in one sitting, putting aside everything else I had planned to do yesterday evening.

If you’ve been looking to start a new genre—whether you read romances, and want to try paranormal, or you read paranormal and want to try romances—this is as good a place as any.

I really hadn’t expected to like it as much as I did; I’d had the book on my bookshelf for over a week, and normally new romances don’t last that long on my reading pile.

Soul Song will be available in stores next Tuesday, July 3.

Rating

[rate 3]

1. Advanced Reading Copy
2. The entire time I was reading, I misread this name. I know it’s supposed to be mm-cal, but I have a friend named Mi’cal—seriously, with the apostrophe and all—and I kept hearing my-cal in my head

But I did do a vidcast, so there is 13 minutesof me rambling on about stuff that I, apparently, didn’t feel like writing about.

I hope I get out of this lethargy soon. But, if not, video to the rescue.

I’ve been waiting all week for this day, if only because I know that tomorrow I get to sleep in. I’m still a bit sicky–I stayed home from school again, even though I went to work. I’m really tired of feeling like my eardrums are trying to rub up on one another.

Anyway, got my webcam last night, so of course it means a new vidcast. I’m shooting for one a week now, since it’s literally like minutes from when I shoot it to when I upload it. Which is just awesome for my quick and dirty lifesyle.

So, that’s it. I’m looking forward to the weekend, unless it brings me an earache, and then I’ll be very very bitter.

– “Endlessly, She Said,” Decemberunderground: AFI

I’ve been waiting all week for this day, if only because I know that tomorrow I get to sleep in. I’m still a bit sicky–I stayed home from school again, even though I went to work. I’m really tired of feeling like my eardrums are trying to rub up on one another.

Anyway, got my webcam last night, so of course it means a new vidcast. I’m shooting for one a week now, since it’s literally like minutes from when I shoot it to when I upload it. Which is just awesome for my quick and dirty lifesyle.

So, that’s it. I’m looking forward to the weekend, unless it brings me an earache, and then I’ll be very very bitter.

– “Endlessly, She Said,” Decemberunderground: AFI

I didn’t do everyone I like, because really, that would be more like an awards show thank-you reading. So I opted to stick with four guys that I like emensley.

A few of them have also done Internet Valentines. Josue waxes philosophical on the holiday and how it’s silly. Of course it’s silly. That’s why we still enjoy it. Josh talks about the mass quantity of snow, and blames my stalkerishness for the reason behind his video. And he offers himself up as valentine for all those ladies out there.

I haven’t heard back from Bryan Veloso, and Rich is balking on the whole video idea. I think he’s just bitter that I’m not only his valentine.

I want to see everyone’s internet valentines. So, video-up, please! And leave a link to where we can all see it.

Since I seem to be in a writing funk, I thought we’d fall back on the old stand-by, quick and dirty¹ film. It helps that Josue has been asking for it every day since I’ve got the laptop back.

So the vidcast is just me filming the interior of my house, and me rambling on about it. It’s not very good, and I filmed at around 11pm at night, after my parents went to bed, so it’s a bit dark.

If there is ever a place you want me to video (I’ve already gotten a request for work, and school), drop me a line and let me know. I always want to see places where people grew up at, or spend all their time at, so if there is something in my life you want to see, let me know.

And I promise, I’m working on a real post for tomorrow. I’ve got quite a few post-topics floating around my head, besided the Blog Club post that’s due by the end of the week.

- “3am” Yourself or Someone Like You: Matchbox 20

1. Quick and dirty refers to the taping / editing process, not that it’s a dirty video

The only really good news is that they finally have wifi on campus this year. It’s only in the library, quad, and cafeteria, but that’s better than nowhere. And it’s probably good that there is no access in class, because I would be in IRC instead of listening to the lecture.

Since today was just the “go over the course outline,” I don’t really have much to talk about. Lucky for everyone else, I filmed a VidCast over the weekend, which is ready to be viewed.

It’s quick and dirty, with virtually no editing. I mangled Josue’s name like the horrible gringa that I am, and I feel super horrible about it. I didn’t know what to do with the “u” in his name because I forgot that I took three years of Spanish.

So Josue, I’m really sorry. Really. I hope you can forgive me.

Moving on, the VidCast is a tour of my backyard, and the creek. I managed to lock myself in the creek, and then scare the crap out of myself when I nearly ran into a spiderweb. I talked for about half an hour, and the VidCast was easier than a PodCast. Probably because I had something to talk about when I had nothing to talk about.

Since I’m back at school now, I think everyone can look forward to daily posts once more. After all, I have to find a way to avoid my homework somehow.

- “Camisado” A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out: Panic! At the Disco