At other times, she simply over-describes: “A funny quivering feeling was pushing its way up through my chest. I didn’t need a dictionary to know it was called fear.” Sometimes it’s okay to just say, “I was scared.” In the absence of a plot, we spend way too much time inside Dru’s lungs, stomach, heart, and other bodily organs. Seriously…enough is enough. I’ve read my share of crappy YA books, but (sorry Lili fans), this has got to be the worst — it even makes Jackie Mitchard’s sloppy Midnight Twins series look good. Please, leave the sassy vampire heroines and action-fantasy novels to Richelle Mead.

I really loved Strange Angels. I read it in one setting. Since I love heroes of mixed caucasian and asian history ever since Bruce Lee played Kato on the Green Hornet series, I enjoyed the character. Graves. I found the book to be fast paced and full of action. I would have been shocked by a 16 year old with the toughness of Dante Valentine. The heroine is 16 years old; the character was a realistic 16 year old.

I suspect that you haven’t read a lot of YA. Holly Black writes a much darker YA in her Tithe Series. As far as I am concerned, she is the queen of YA fantasy.

It’s funny, peculiar, not haha. I’ve read all of her books and enjoyed them all to varying degrees. I read the author’s blog and I admire her work ethic and attitude immensely. Most of her writing has the virtues of its vices – it’s competent, and honest and she has great ideas.

I tend to come away though with the feeling that she hasn’t really written the books that she has it in her to write yet, if that makes sense. I think that’s why I keep reading even if the books aren’t quite hitting the spot.

Perhaps it’s because I’m a newcomer to the urban fantasy/paranormal/etc. world that I haven’t become tired or jaded yet. I’m willing to give Ms. Saintcrow a chance.

Maybe I should read what her readers are saying to gain some insight.

Excuse the stupidity of this post. Haven’t eaten and my brain cells are working in reverse. :-)

I find that I really like the idea of a Lilith Saintcrow novel but not so much the reading of it.

This perfectly describes my reading relationship with Lilith Saintcrow. Couldn't have said it better.

This seems to be an ongoing theme with many readers, myself included.

I find that I really like the idea of a Lilith Saintcrow novel but not so much the reading of it.

This perfectly describes my reading relationship with Lilith Saintcrow. Couldn’t have said it better.

If Strange Angels leaves me feeling as frustrated as The Demon’s Librarian and the last three Dante Valentine books, I’m afraid I’m going to have to give up on Saintcrow.

She writes great scenery and great action, but the characters fall flat for me, and I really dislike her heroines. On the surface, they seem very powerful and independent, but they spend the entire story making terrible choices and loathing themselves.

Graves being lucky that he hadn't drawn the “really slit-eyed card a lot of half-breeds have to play”

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Oh wow, so I’m unfortunate then for having that so called “slit-eyed” feature. Only Caucasian-ish features are considered beautiful I guess. The rest of the world who were born different are just “unlucky”. *Time to go get that double-eyelid surgery done then*
Really, I was just wondering why casual racism toward Asian still go unnoticed in fictions. I wonder if she would have wrote about a half-black character something like he was lucky his skin wasn’t as dark. I wonder if she ever thought about the young Asian girls who read her book and what it does to their self-images. Or in her mind, her readership consists of no Asians at all.

Authors, we really appreciate you trying to feature people like us in your story, but if you are just gonna use stereotypes or make degrading comments about our features, we rather you not include us.