Of Shadow Born (Shadow World #4) by Dianne Sylvan

The unspeakable has happened.  At the end of Shadow's Fall, Jeremy broke David's signet, killing him and separating Miranda from her soulmate. Signet bearers are not meant out live each other and the grief nearly kills Miranda.  Were it not for the intervention of Stella, a witch and long time fan of her music, Miranda might well have died.  Deven and Johnathon show up to help Miranda run Haven and keep her sanity but all feel the grief and loss of David.  Fortunately for them all, David isn't actually dead, he has become something else - Thirdborn.  It seems Persephone has plans for her children and the pieces are being shifted into place.  It's not a moment to soon because the human group Morningstar has its own set of plans for the vampire world which are guaranteed to be a game changer.

Miranda's grief was really well written and her pain was at times difficult to read.  Deven did show up to help her mourn David's loss but I felt that Miranda's pain far over shadowed his. I know that one could argue that Miranda and David were soulmates and that Deven's soulmate is Johnathon; however, Sylvan has made a repeated point of reminding us just how much Deven and David love each other and therefore I really felt like Deven's pain shouldn't have been so overshadowed.

It's a measure of exactly how much that Miranda has grown as a character that she determined to rule her area as the Queen that she is even without David at her side.  I love that she took the time to grieve but then got right back on her feet because that's what one does - one finds a way to live with the pain.  It was obvious from the ending of Shadow's Fall that we would see David again. When David and Miranda do find each other again, David has greatly changed and the bond between them still hasn't returned.  Miranda must choose if regaining her soul bond with David is worth taking a leap into the unknown and becoming an uber vampire.  I love that Of Shadow Born is filled with women having the opportunity to choose for themselves what their fate will be.  David doesn't pressure Miranda and gives her all the time she needs to make her decision.  Similarly, when Stella meets the Goddess Persephone, she gets to choose whether or not she will risk herself  to get the information that Miranda and David both need.

The addition of the witches to this story has not only been fun, it has broadened Sylvan's supernatural world. I very much like that Stella's interest in Miranda isn't about Miranda's vampire nature but her talent as an artist.  That being said, given how long Stella has known Miranda, her willingness to sacrifice has me wondering if this storyline is going to turn into a case of unrequited love between the two women  - something I could definitely do without. I highly suspect that the witches will have a larger role to play as the story goes on, particularly when it comes to the vampires learning about their own lore.  Stella also looks like she will be a replacement for Kat and Faith but it's a bit early to say at this point.

I am also interested to know where the story with Persephone the vampire Goddess and MorningStar the human group determined to eliminate the vampires are going.Persephone is the perfect Goddess in this world as she is the queen of the underworld. I wonder how much more of her we will see as the story progresses.

As with many books in this series, when it comes to GLBT people, Sylvan absolutely has a problem. When David first returns, he has trouble remembering and so Miranda describes Deven as, "Our friend. Little guy, lots of leather, the world's oldest bitch queen."(pg 109)  It's one thing for a gay man to self identify as a "queen" and another for a straight woman to label him that way. Miranda and Deven may have burried the hatchet so to speak but it still very much comes off as pejorative. When Stella sees Deven for the first time she calls him cute. Deven may be short in stature but he is one of the oldest vampires in existence and the power coming off of him is immense. If that were not enough, we learn that Deven is at least part elf. That's right, Sylvan made a gay man a fairy. Thanks for that.

Sylvan has made it clear that Deven is gay and yet in this novel, we have him expressing love for Miranda.

"Miranda," he said, a sort of gentle firmness in the word that brooked no disagreement, "I thought by now you would understand - things aren't like they were three years ago.  If I never expected to still love him, after all those years, well, let's just say I was utterly blindsided by you."

"By me?"

"Yes...I would do anything for you. Anything. Ask for the stars and I'll do what I can." (pg 162)

Here's the the thing, platonic love between Miranda and Deven I suppose I could wrap my mind around but Sylvan certainly stretches the limit on this point.

During Miranda's second transition, Deven gets into bed with her and David, after being instructed to by Johnathon to lie next to Miranda to avoid drama.  As you might imagine, things immediately get a little steamy. In her supposed need to feel close to her sire, Miranda accidentally kisses Deven.

She had no idea who I actually was. I was just there, and when she woke up she was on me like bloodstains on a white shirt.

”Jonathan stared at his Prime for a moment . . . then burst out laughing.

Deven threw up his hands, exasperated. “What the hell is so funny?”

“Sorry,” he said breathlessly. “I just . . . I would have paid to see that.”

David bit his lip, holding back a laugh of his own, but at least part of it escaped when he affirmed, “He looked like a deer in headlights.”

“Have you ever actually kissed a woman before?” Jonathan asked.

Deven looked like he wanted to stake them both. “Of course I have, he said sharply. “Granted, it was five hundred years ago.”They both laughed again. (pg 222)

Why are Jonathan, Deven's husband and David, Deven's former lover happy about Deven kissing Miranda? It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.  Where is Jonathon's jealousy, especially given that he knows that Deven has professed his love of Miranda? This is only the beginning of Jonathan's openness when it comes to Deven and Miranda.  Deven has been sad for as long as Jonathan has known him and it all stems from his loss of faith.  How does Jonathon propose helping Deven? Why, sleeping with both Miranda and David of course.

“So,” Jonathan ventured, keeping his eyes on his book nonchalantly, “are you planning to pursue that whole thing with Miranda, or . . .”

“What thing?” Deven asked, frowning.

“Well, change or no change, she did kiss you. And you did blush when we were talking about it.”

“I don’t blush,” Deven insisted. “And by now I shouldn’t have to ask this question, but, what part of gay do you not get?”

“Oh, please. As old as you are, you know sexuality is more fluid than that for our kind. That’s how you landed David in the first place.”

“I landed David because he had suffered a tragic loss and I give amazing head.”

Jonathan snorted. “Exactly my point. He could get a shag from any woman not connected to another woman or life support machinery, but he tumbled into bed with you. Anyway, aside from the deer-in-headlights thing, what did you do when she kissed you?”

“Besides try to push her off? Well . . .” Deven crossed his arms. “I may have kissed back. Just to satisfy my curiosity.”

Grinning, Jonathan asked, “Then what?”

Deven’s eyes narrowed. “You’re getting off on this, aren’t you.”

“I’ve just never seen you do anything remotely sexual with a woman. I’m sorry I missed it. What was it like?”

“Like? It was just like kissing a man. Lips don’t really differentiate much.”

“Maybe not, but breasts sure do.”

Deven smiled a little at that. “That part was weird.”

“So what if—strictly theoretically, of course—she actually wanted to sleep with you? Or better yet, what if they asked you to join in, and fooling around with her was just part of the equation? Would you try it?”

Deven was giving him a hilariously befuddled look. “What in God’s name are you talking about?”

“I said it was theoretical.”

“What are you fishing for, Jonathan? Are you trying to plan something?”

Jonathan laughed. “Of course not.”

“Good, because nothing like that is going to happen. The whole thing was an anomaly that I’d appreciate you dropping.” (pg 225-226)

We already know that Deven has kissed a woman so why would curiosity cause him to respond to Miranda and why would Jonathon be excited about the prospect?  Deven asserts his sexuality which is a good thing but then you have Jonathon come back with the suggestion that sexuality is fluid.  Yes, there are people who according to the Kinsey Scale do experience varying attraction to both genders; however in this case, it feels like an attempt on Sylvan's part to scale back Deven's homosexuality, just as she earlier scaled back David's bisexuality. Deven has existed for centuries - centuries of battling homophobia and internalised homophobia, but now he's suddenly "curious" about women, but not in all that time? This doesn't even come close to resembling sexual fluidity or exploration - this isn't about him at all, it's all about Miranda and his sexuality conveniently being rewritten to better suite her and her story. Then there's the disembodiment part of the act.   A kiss isn't just a kiss and there's a difference between kissing a man and kissing a woman. It's as though Sylvan is trying to suggest that there's no difference between an intimate act between a man and a woman and two people of the same gender.  If that were not the case, everyone would just fuck everyone no questions asked.

Once again, Sylvan drifts into Deven's background of course it involves torture. We learn more about how Deven was abused for being different.

It irks me that Sylvan takes the time to create LGBT characters and then does the best she can to dial back their sexuality and have their supposed allies and friends use homophobic language.  For all that this series may be inclusive it is still very homophobic.

In terms of POC, we were introduced to Olivia, the second of the territory of Australia.  Because of guilt she follows Jeremy in his quest for revenge against the Primes who orchestrated the death and rape of his wife and daughter.  Though Olivia becomes the first female Prime, for much of the book she is essentially nothing more than a pawn to be moved by David and Miranda.  I have to hope that this is going to change particularly because thus far, all the people of colour have somehow been secondary and servants in one way or another to either David or Miranda.

I want so much to like this series even if it comes with protagonists gaining super duper powers when convenient which is a trope.  Of Shadow Born is beautifully written, particularly Miranda's mourning phase. The problem with Of Shadow Born as with every other book in this series, is that it is loaded with homophobia. If Sylvan could just concentrate on her world building and characterisation without descending into homophobic tropes continually, this series really could be something.

Shadow's Fall (Shadow World #3) by Dianne Sylvan

It's been three years since the Magnificent Bastard parade.  Miranda has managed to have a career as a Grammy winning artist.  Miranda have fought hard to have a balance but with the council of Primes being held at the Haven things are about to change.  Hart an old enemy is determined to get his vengeance.  If that were not enough forces that have been sleeping for centuries are about to awaken and with them comes a change that will rock the entire Shadow World.

Every time I pick up a book in this series, I brace myself for gratuitous rape, misogyny and homophobia.  I'm happy to report that this is much lessened in Shadow's Fall but not completely absent.  This time around Sylvan chose to largely focus on the politics of the world that she has created.  With the Primes of all the nations meeting for the first time in ten years, Miranda is under scrutiny.  For the first time we get to meet the other Queens and they really run the gamut.

Miranda has really changed since Queen of Shadows. She has no fear for her sanity, she isn't a traumatised victim and she has settled into her role as Queen.  Miranda is no longer impetuous and has learned enough about the Shadow World to be able to negotiate it like the Queen that she is.  At times, Miranda even guides David because she has learned to be patient and look at the larger picture. This is a growth I can get behind.  Though Miranda has been forced to sever her relationship with Kit, she has learned to keep her own council and take comfort in her music.

Faith, David's second is determined to win the tournament to bring pride to their area but she is about to be tested in ways she never imagined.  Faith has been in love with David for a very long time and as a result, she has stopped looking for love and happiness on her own.  Her entire life is about serving her Prime.  When she meets Hart's second, though she knows that it's not a good idea, she finds herself throwing caution to the wind and have sex with him.  This irks David to no end though he knows he has no right to be jealous or even put a stop to Faith's little affair.

Faith's character has always bothered me to some degree.  We know that like Miranda, she is a survivor of rape and that she is Japanese but beyond that we don't really know what motivates her beyond her fierce loyalty to David.  Faith's ending in this book feels very much like a punishment for choosing to have sex with Jeremy Hayes, Hart's second and secretly the Prime of Australia.  It's the first thing that we see Faith do for herself in three books and it comes back to haunt her in the worst way possible - she dies.  With Faith's death, we have now lost the most prominent person of colour in this series.  Thus far, we have yet to have a book in which a character of colour doesn't die.  It feels like characters of colour at this point are all fodder and serve the machinations of the white characters.

Shadowflame (Shadow World #2) by Dianne Sylvan

Trigger warning for discussions of violent homophobia and rape

Miranda has been Queen of the South for three months now.  As is custom, when she married her husband David Solomon, the Prime of the area, the other Primes pay a visit to show their respect of the new couple.  Although Miranda loves David, she is very new to the shadow world and still feels the call of her human life.  Learning to be Queen for Miranda means accepting that her 350 year old soulmate has had a long life without her and that comes with consequences. In between all of the political intrigue and trying to protect her human friends, Miranda has to come to terms with the new world that she has entered and all the costs that come with it.

Spoilers Ahead

When I read some of the reviews on Goodreads those who chose to give Shadowflame a low rating seemed largely to do so based on David's infidelity.  Obviously, these are people who go into an urban fantasy/ paranormal romance book with the belief that once a couple pair up that they shouldn't deal with real world problems.  I understand that there might be some who find David's infidelity a problem based on this; however, the problems with Shadowflame extend far beyond that.

In this book we learn that David had a past same-sex relationship of 10 years with Deven. There could be a lot of positive to say about having a bisexual co-protagonist - except the book makes it very very very clear that he's totally not bi, honest (there's more than a whiff of no homo about the whole thing)

This just sets the tone for the depiction of the same sex relationships involved. David and Deven split up not because of actual reasons but because of the magical Signet (which now demands David be with Miranda and Deven with Johnathon - screw true love, the Bling has spoken). While we could view this as a tragedy that magic has destroyed a long term, loving relationship, instead what we see is the spiteful, conniving Devon trying to steal Miranda's man (how very dare he!). Her relationship with David is presented as not only superior in her eyes (she decides she has the advantage because she "has a vagina" yes, penis + vagina is the one true relationship!) but also in general depiction - with Deven and Jonathon's relationship being almost chaste and certainly less passionate and powerful than Miranda and David.

To rub some salt into the wounds, we also have David described as "swishy",  by Kat, Miranda's best friend. Miranda and Kat then proceed to fetishise the idea of David and Deven together and, to crown it all, Deven apparently working long term to make sure Miranda and David got together. Yes, this gay man devoted time and energy to bring his true love together with a woman to form a Real and Proper bling-sanctioned relationship.

Honestly, I could go on for pages about the trainwreck here (I haven't even touched on the gratuitous and graphic depiction of homophobia or the implication that Deven is bitter and nasty because of his origins that Miranda happily clubs him with), but the review would end up ridiculously long, especially considering the other many many problems with this book.

I'm starting to think that no Shadow World book is complete without some form of gratuitous rape involved. In this case, Prime Hart comes to pay his respects to the new couple and with him he brings his string of sex slaves.  Prime Hart tortures these women, starves them and rapes them repeatedly. Though Hart keeps a stable of nine women, he chooses only to bring four of them on his state visit. Sylvan includes a very graphic description of Cora's rape. It's gratuitous and made further problematic by Cora's suggestion that women who give up after years of torture, rape and starvation are weak. Everyone in the Shadowworld is aware of how Hart treats women and yet no one intervenes.  This is explained by the misogyny of the Shadowworld which seems to dictate that women are to be silent and stand behind their men.  When Miranda brings this to the attention of David, he is unwilling to risk a war to free these women.  David expressly forbids Miranda to intervene unless one of the women asks for sanctuary.  To be clear, we are supposed to think of David as a complicated man but a good man but good people don't allow four women to be raped under their roof without trying at least to intervene.

I don't even understand why this story line occurs at all.  Cora ends up being paired up with another visiting Prime and disappears from the story.  I can only assume that Cora will come to play a role in the story as it moves forward but it still makes her violent rape irrelevant to the story.  In fact, Hart's misogyny was well established before the revelation of sex slaves and torture, particularly given that his favorite terms for women in include, "girl, whore and slut". None of this was necessary to the story and was a side plot at best.

People of colour really didn't fare much better in this novel.  Of course we have Faith, David's second in command but she seemed to be there to issue orders and to be confused about who to support when David was unfaithful to Miranda.  I don't understand Faith's confusion given that it was revealed at the end of Shadowflame that she has been in love with David for many years.  Faith is someone that David trusted enough to tell about his intimate feelings for Deven and they have years of established friendship between them, yet.

Other than Faith, the people of colour essentially are background characters who either die for the sake of Miranda's guilt as her manager Denise MacNeil did or get a passing mention the way that Tanaka the signet of Japan does.  Then there are those that fall into the servant class. The most obvious being the Mexican maid Esther, leaves herbs on the mantle for healing and safety and seems to exist to simply nurture Miranda and David.  She is a walking avatar of her Mexican identity and has no individuality whatsoever. Esther exists to worry about Miranda's well doing and seems to have no life of her own.

Then there's Lali who has developed her own form of Yoga for vampires.  When we first meet Lali, she is a member of Miranda's protection detail.  In reality, Lali works for Deven and has been assigned to keep an eye on the Prime and his Queen.  We learn nothing about her beyond her practice of yoga and service to Deven. She's not a person but yet another avatar of her race.  If that were not enough, Lali is unceremoniously killed off - fodder in a war of revenge against Miranda.

For all of the characters of colour floating around, none of them are actually developed and quite a few of them simply die.  They are blank without personality and when they do die, it's not about the loss of their lives but about the supposed pain of the white characters.

As I said at the beginning of this review many of the people upset with Shadowflame are upset because of David's infidelity.  It makes sense to me that David couldn't simply walk away from a man that he had been in a romantic relationship with for ten years.  The problem is that David's bisexuality is repeatedly denied and that his relationship with Miranda is set up to be the one true love.  Sylvan makes a point of giving a consequence to any character who says an anti gay slur but that certainly doesn't make this book LGBT positive. It's riddled with homophobia.

As much as the misogyny is awful at least there's a lot of push back against it. Miranda makes it clear that she will not be the little woman standing behind her man but will rule as an equal. She is absolutely a strong character at this point.  Sylvan however does have Miranda developing new talents which does make me wonder if this is a thing which will continue to happen as the series progresses for story reasons rather than common sense.

The base story behind Shadowflame is good and compelling but it's just marred with homophobia, gratuitous rape and cardboard inclusion of people of colour.  It's impossible to give any of it a pass.  Shadowflame reads like an attempt to be inclusive gone horribly horribly wrong. It's not enough to include marginalized characters one must humanise them and not play on bigotry. I don't expect homophobia to cease to exist in any world but how its portrayed is a matter of great importance. It will never be enough to simply disavow slurs, one must actively not engage in homophobia or minimize relationships between people of the same sex.  On this account, Sylvan has absolutely failed despite her bisexual co-protagonist.

Queen of Shadows (Shadow World #1) by Dianne Sylvan

Trigger warning for discussion of gang rape, racism, and violent homophobia.

In a city known for it's musical talent, Miranda Grey is a rising star.  Each night when she gets on stage, she somehow manages to channel the emotions of the crowd into her performance. Some songs are so moving that people end up weeping and some so euphoric that the audience leaves in a state of complete ecstasy. As much as Miranda loves her time on stage, it comes with a personal cost. Miranda is slowly losing her grip. At the beginning the emotions of others only invade her mind when she is onstage but now, the only place where she can be safe is in her apartment and only after dulling her senses with booze. Now cut off from all of her friends, Miranda cannot even bear to make eye contact with someone lest she be shown their darkest secrets.

What Miranda doesn't know is that all of her troubles are about to change and that she is going to be challenged in a way she never imagined.  One faithful night, Miranda is attacked and gang raped. After she manages to fight off her attackers, the mysterious vampire prime David Solomon arrives and whisks her away for her own safety.  When Miranda awakes, she learns that a shadow world of vampires exists and that in order to survive, she has to learn to control her gift.  The task seems insurmountable and made even more so by the prophecy of her death and a looming vampire rebellion. Can Miranda fight off her demons, her awakening attraction to David and somehow survive?

This series was recommended to us in 2014 and it is absolutely the worst book that I have read all year.  The premise of someone being able to use emotion as a weapon is certainly unique; however, at least the vampire section of the story felt too similar to Chloe Neil's Chicagoland Vampires. The vampires are organized into territories and each territory has its Prime. The vampires must go through initiation to join each each territory and swear allegiance to their Prime. There isn't a general ruling body thus far but we very strongly pick up that something far older than vampires created a ruling structure.  I can live with the similarities to Neil's series, the majority of my problem with Queen of Shadows stems from its gratuitous rape, homophobia and racism.

As  aforementioned in the description of this book, Miranda is gang raped.  Absolutely nothing is left to the imagination.  Miranda's attacker even stands above her broken and bloodied body, masturbates and then ejaculates on her face. At first Miranda does not fight back believing that if she is compliant that her attackers will just go away and finally when it's clear that they plan to kill her, Miranda uses her power to turn the emotions of their victims on them.  This is a fitting end to these rapists.  The problem however is the suggestion throughout the book that if one does not fight back during an assault then one remains a victim.  People survive rape any way they can and there's no correct reaction to being violated.

"Had the other women begged? Yes, most of them had.  They hadn't fought, but they had appealed to hearts, that were little more than lumps of rotten wood.  Women always went for emotions.  Men went for fists.  That was how the world worked."

Clearly Sylvan has an extremely dichotomous view of gender, evidenced by the position that women are always the victims and men are always the oppressors.  Such a position ignores that intimate partner violence also happens in same sex relationship.  It also ignores that while women are overwhelming in the position of victim in this situation, it is not uniform and there are women who are abusive to their male partners.  Further, the problem of continually positioning women as victims absolutely negates the strength of women and the various ways we have learned to cope with the untenable. David taunts Miranda with remaining a victim when she has trouble learning how to cope with her powers.  For Sylvan, it's not enough to survive, one must absolutely fight

Miranda is plagued by her rape throughout the story. This is not something she can just get over except of course when it comes to David. Even the flashbacks of Miranda's gang rape are graphic with her remembering the sound of her attacker's zipper being lowered and being told, "You know, baby, you've got just about the sweetest little pussy I've ever fucked."  For some reason, with David, though she is initially scared, Miranda is able to overcome her fear of intimacy.  Miranda however is the only woman David actually allows to have affirmative consent.  He uses his power on those he chooses to bite and manipulates their sexual feelings.

"He drew Maria to the corner and pressed against her, feeling her small hands and long fingernails clench his upper arms.  She had no intention of saying no, but still, he turned so that if she wanted she could still get away, even as he took firmer hold of her mind and titled her chin back. " (Page 45-46)