Storyline

I am not giving any major spoilers here, I have to say though I feel there are a few repeating themes going on here ...

1) Hair-cuts ... 'nuff said.
2) M'Fiyah's - are you sure these aren't a curse?
3) Cliff-hangers - I could write quite a bit on where I think this one is going to lead but I want to give people a chance to read the book first. BTW - anyone else catch the Fruit juice (red herring or hint) thing?

Demon Lost is hauntingly familiar!!! What is with some of these men(if you can even call them that) in these stories!!! I cannot believe Aurelius cut her hair, couldn't he have shortened it with magic? What a cliffhanger!! All of Connie's endings are that way though, leaving you wanting more.
M'Fiyah's, now I don't know if it is a curse or a gift. On one hand a gift because you don't have to worry about whether the person is right for you, it is mate recognition/soulmate. One the other hand a curse too because in Reah's case she had a horrible upbringing, and had two men wanting her and she is so confused about both of them and not knowing how to deal with her own feelings about them. It is too bad Tory' smaller Thilfanti(sp?) cannot recognize anything other than primal thoughts. Plus Reah is dealing with what she is and her place in her new world. So much going on and I didn't fail to notice that this book was smaller than Connie's other books. Ok well I can't say for sure that it is, but it sure seemed like it, I read it in 2 hours and all the other ones it took me about 4-6 hours. I have to say I was a little worried when I first started it, I hoped that it would suck me in like it did when I first read Wager and Bumble, but I should not have because it was hook line and sinker for me, sucked me right in.
Sorry for doubting you Connie, I promise I won't do it again!!! Oh and I have 2 more people addicted to you, the total is 15 so far and I promise to keep getting the word out!!

I felt the themese too. My thoughts:

1) The hair thing just ticked me off. And the fact that it was Aurelius doing it, even more so.

2) I think M'Fiyah is a gift. The issue is that the gift recipients have no freaking clue what to do with it.

3) I caught the fruit juice bit, but my brain was trying to link it to the dracon berries. What were you thinking it related to?

The other theme that I keep seeing are these men that somehow think that their knowledge should not be shared and that somehow they are doing that out of love. That isn't love. That is self-preservation, pure and simple! Can't learn to skip, because you might leave me?? SERIOUSLY!?!? That's not love, that's fear.

Not a theme, but just things that made me mad as hell:
a) Norian. Being Norian. 'nuff said. What he should have done was insist that another Desh be given to him and released Reah, because she didn't choose it. But NOOOO, Nori has to be a big jerk and USE people. Ugh. He's my least favorite of Lissa's mates, because of his selfishness. If only he'd realize that more loyalty would be gained by NOT being selfish.

b) Lissa. I never get mad at Lissa, but I am pretty darn ticked at her after this book. She should have known how Reah was feeling. She should have loved on that girl. She should have fought harder to make her mates and friends understand the effect of their actions. And she didn't do any knowledge sharing either. How many times did she want that FVM? And she couldn't give Reah a little crash course?? Really?!?!? Is she becoming like those around her, or growing complacent because she now has the things she wanted (loving family and kids)?

Although, giving Auri the dating advice was darn cute.

c) Glinda. Ok, I get your first reaction. But get a grip and don't be a witch (pun intended). Epic fail for her on this one.

On the list of things I really like:
a) glimpses into Wyatt and Gavril
b) knowing that Toff, Trik, and Nissa are doing well
c) Gavin being honest with the fact that he doesn't remember being a kid.


So clearly, I loved this book if I have so much to talk about.

Yep. Totally caught the red drink, though...

Agree on a couple counts. I've always viewed Lissa as incredibly emphatic, I would have thought she would see herself in Reah and do far more protective maneuvers.

As I recall, Spawn Hunters are pretty limited in what they can do, power-wise, when they're covering an assignment if they don't want to reveal themselves to the Ra'Ak presence. I don't think he wanted to cut her hair, but he needed her safe and wanted to keep her close. Yes, he was in general far more brisk that I would have liked, but we also saw his PoV where he was struggling with not just grabbing her and taking off. In general, I'm not sure I've given enough credence to people's "assignments" and the rules they have to follow when doing their job. I think we'll see more of this, thus why Reah can't just be "released from service".

Having said that, yeah, Norian please stop being a jerk and throwing children into the deep end when they're still so fragile. We watched Wholdek and Merrill do this over and over, and now that they've learned a bit of a lesson, we get Norian doing the same song and dance. It's SO good that you need her. Can you try, please, not to BREAK HER IN THE PROCESS?

I sort of like the M'Fiyah, except it leaves some fuzziness later on. Frex - part of the story started to make me think Bel or Ry might have one as well. But probably not, their attentions in general were conflicting at times and a M'Fiyah should, in theory, be more apparent.

Glinda did, in fact, do exactly that - learn to skip and take off for parts unknown for many years. But not giving Resh a tool that could keep her safe? Yeah, I agree, very not kewl. Maybe explaining and teaching as a new and novel concept?

In other news, Glinda and her whole family vanishing was beyond not kewl. Hell, ask Tory to help Reah get to know Jayd and Garde, something. Don't just vanish and let her feel abandoned. (Admittedly, Jayd and Garde show a long history of making Dumba*&^ decisions.) Abandoning her and then talking to other people about handling her? Pretty unforgivable, imho.

I'm just desperately hoping at some point Lissa pulls Reah under her wing.

With the M'Fiyah, I think Ry also has M'Fiyah with Reah but he is holding back for now and letting Tory go first.

I also am annoyed with Norian. He was being a jerk in 'Blood Reunion' when Lissa was pregnant and she could not help him with the Ra'Ak. In this book, both he and Lendill Schaff seem very self-centered and only concerned with ASD.

I think Lissa did help Reah but the book is from Reah's point of view. Reah is not seeing her as a friend but as a Queen who has adult children. When Reah was in Thifilatha form and at Lissa's beach house, she was surprised when Lissa showed concern about the chemicals in the water hurting her. Lissa helped her with a house and clothes.

I would have never guess Kifirin's role in this book. He helps to get Reah and Tory together by vetoing Jayd's scheme to throw her at some High Demon to produce children.

Reah's wizard friends show up at the end. I keep wondering if they will end up being the 'enemy' or if there is a twist to the plot.

Okay, I'll make a few points here, all this is my opinion so take it for what's it worth ... lol.

1) The hair cut ... braid it, leave it up, then cover it with illusion, since they are already covering her gender leave her hair alone ... it takes forever to grow that long. (Sue me ... I like long hair /shrug.)

2) M'Fiyah's - As explained by Conner they are chosen by BOTH parties before birth. This means Aurelius chose this how long ago? and how many times has Reah been around during those years? Whenever I see the M'Fiyah being used as weapon I see it more as a curse than a blessing, because the one(s) that know what it is tend to not share the meaning which in my mind a mate would do. Mates should be equal partners or if not equal it has to by knowing and informed choice of both parties.

3) I think he slipped her blood - remember this scene was strictly from Reah's point of view so he may have said it out of her hearing.

4) I doubt we will ever see an unflawed heroine / hero as that would take a lot of the empathy out of the story ... admit it, as much as we would like to have Lissa or Reah treated a lot better, it would hurt the story and make them different characters. I don't see Reah taking quite as much abuse as Lissa unless Griffin somehow decides Reah is his kin ... /shudder ... but it's early in the story yet.

5) Wlodek - I'll unload on him in the proper place .

6) Norian - Someone needs to teach that boy some empathy ... I suggest a M'Fiyah with a stone cold, iron plated bi***, that sends his worthless ass into the line of fire because it makes her job easier. Sorry I have no sympathy for someone that can't leave the job at the office. On him stealing her commitment to the Alliance ... any military with a member in that position would grant a serious promotion and grant her the choice of next duty station or EAOS (End of Active Obligated Service) so Norian's boss needs to smack him down.

7) Spawn hunters - Drew & Drake are spawn hunters that take down Ra'Ak ... why is Aurelius so limited? Not using Power to avoid detection is one thing but we know he can fold and place compulsion so the net incident is so his bad.

8 ) Glinda and company - I think there is still more than we have been told so far, but I am glad Kifirin told Jayed to butt out ... that would have been too much like Lissa all over again.