Janine, Ann, and Nicole: I am very much looking forward to Meredith’s next book, because even though this one didn’t hit home for me, parts of it did.

Maya and GrowlyCub: Rangoon is the only Monson book I’ve read and would love suggestions for others. I’ve been afraid to read Stormfire because I can take a morally ambiguous hero, but not one unremittingly cruel, and I tend to be sensitive to rape in Romance. Also, I wanted to say that I don’t feel that the writing in Rangoon is anywhere near as accomplished as that in DOS, but I thought the cultural acuity in Rangoon was really powerful.

Jayne and Jane: I understand why you feel the way you did. I am thrilled that many readers seem to love the first section, but whether my expectations were too high or something, I really struggled through that section, and had I not known Meredith at all, I probably would not have finished the book. I will say, though, that I soooo wish more books were set in locations like India, in part because the cultural issues are so compelling, IMO.

Kirsten: I had to resist the temptation to make the STF comparison in the second half of DOS, in part because STF is so beloved to me that it’s hard for any book to live up to that reading experience. STF made me cry, which is very unusual for me, and even though that book is far from perfect, again, it just feels like it’s more fully developed. IMO DOS really needed AT LEAST fifty more pages (mostly in the first section) to take me where I felt the novel wanted me to go.

I haven’t read this yet, but the second part of the book sounds like the work that Sheraton had to do (off screen) to bring Olympia back from the brink. (Kinsale’s Seize the Fire)

I also didn’t find the prose more than serviceable. Certainly not horrible but not anything out of the ordinary. Would I have enjoyed the second half more? Maybe but the effort to get there wasn’t worth it to me.