REVIEW: Forest Whispers by Lyssa Hart

6 Comments

1. jaye
   Jun 02, 2006 @ 01:44:09

   I followed the link on this one, read a bit of the excerpt, and bought it.

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2. Jayne
   Jun 02, 2006 @ 06:31:28

   Yeah, Jaye! I really liked this one. Hart also has a short story called Assassin’s Blade at NCP. It’s maybe not quite as good but only because she didn’t have as much room to expand on the characters and do some world building. According to NCP, she doesn’t have a website (which she needs) and so far I’ve not been able to find any more books out there by her (which the publishers need to work on).

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3. Keishon
   Jun 02, 2006 @ 11:18:57

   I bought this one, too after reading the excerpt. Great review.

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4. Bev (BB)
   Jun 04, 2006 @ 08:43:08

   Oh, I’m so interested in this one. Except for two things. I need a new ebook reader and the violence. The sex doesn’t sound too bad but I’m not sure I’m in the mood for the other. How bad was it?

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5. Jayne
   Jun 04, 2006 @ 09:18:54

   Bev, it’s not that bad. There are just a few parts with violence and you can probably skip over them. I’m not one of these readers who wants to read a book in which an author lovingly describes the violence, blood and gore. Here’s a brief excerpt from one of the fight scenes — Lana is the heroine, Corin is the hero and Sadin is the villain:

   She did a mental inventory and decided her reflexes were probably as keen as they were going to get any time soon. She didn’t know what he’d hit her with, but she thought the possibility was pretty strong that he’d given her a concussion. The chances seemed pretty much in his favor that she wasn’t going to recover enough before he decided to kill her to be much of a match for him.

   That being the case, she decided she’d just as soon take a quick laser blast than allow him to carry her far enough he could play with her for a few days.

   Gathering herself, she jackknifed upright, catching his head in an arm lock as she threw herself backwards. Her weight and momentum flipped them both over. She landed on her back with Sadin on top of her, but the surprise and the blow loosened his grip on her legs. Bolting upright, she slammed the edge of her hands down on either side of his head against his ears, trying to draw her knees up at the same time. His weight on the lower part of her body prevented the attempt to knee him under the chin, but he howled in pain and rage as her hands made contact with his ears.

   Unfortunately, the blow seemed to enrage him far more than it debilitated him. Heaving upward, he caught her around the throat with both hands. Instead of grabbing for his hands, Lana slammed her palm into his face. That maneuver, too, failed since she couldn’t get the angle just right. Instead of driving the bone and cartilage of his nose into his brain, she merely broke it.

   Before she could make another attempt to break his grip, something slammed into Sadin so hard and so suddenly that she was lifted from the ground as he flew off of her. Gasping for air, massaging her bruised throat, Lana struggled to rise and found she couldn’t. She was dimly aware of a scuffle nearby, then Corin was bending over her, his face taut with rage.

   “Get him,” she gasped hoarsely. “Don’t let him get away.”

   “You’re hurt.”

   “Go, damn it! I’ll be all right.”

   The villain is a serial killer. The author alludes to what he does to/with his victims but never really gets down to the nitty gritty and spells it out.

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6. Annalee
   Jun 04, 2006 @ 22:54:12

   I’ve been meaning to read this one. Great review.

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