Review: Lothaire by Kresley Cole
Author: Kresley Cole
Tittle: Lothaire
Release: January 10th 2012
Series: Immortals After Dark 12
Reviewer: Believer
Source: Personal Library
Purchase: | Book DepositoryALL FEAR THE ENEMY OF OLD
Driven by his insatiable need for revenge, Lothaire, the Lore’s most ruthless vampire, plots to seize the Horde’s crown. But bloodlust and torture have left him on the brink of madness—until he finds Elizabeth Peirce, the key to his victory. He captures the unique young mortal, intending to offer up her very soul in exchange for power, yet Elizabeth soothes his tormented mind and awakens within him emotions Lothaire believed he could no longer experience.
A DEADLY FORCE DWELLS WITHIN HER
Growing up in desperate poverty, Ellie Peirce yearned for a better life, never imagining she’d be convicted of murder—or that an evil immortal would abduct her from death row. But Lothaire is no savior, as he himself plans to sacrifice Ellie in one month’s time. And yet the vampire seems to ache for her touch, showering her with wealth and sexual pleasure. In a bid to save her soul, Ellie surrenders her body to the wicked vampire, while vowing to protect her heart.
CENTURIES OF COLD INDIFFERENCE SHATTERED
Elizabeth tempts Lothaire beyond reason, as only his fated mate could. As the month draws to a close, he must choose between a millennia-old blood vendetta and his irresistible prisoner. Will Lothaire succumb to the miseries of his past . . . or risk everything for a future with her?
Usually – I really love reading Kresley Cole’s books but, right now, I’m hating LOTHAIRE. Now all the Immortals After Dark fans will send me hate mail because I seem to be the only one who is not in love with this book.
Lothaire is a centuries old vampire notorious for being fiendishly cold blooded, sadistic and incredibly intelligent. He is opportunistic, calculating, and every creature in the Lore fears him. The only thing that has kept him (barely) sane throughout these many years is his plan to rule all the vampires in the Lore.
In Cole’s Lore, a vampire will fall in love with only one woman – their bride, but it may take centuries to discover who this person is. But wouldn’t you know that this is where the trouble lies. Lothaire believes he has found his bride in the body of Ellie Pierce. Saroya the Soul Reaper has taken possession of Ellie’s body and is fighting to have Ellie’s soul permanently extinguished. When Lothaire meets Ellie he believes that Saroya is his bride and makes an oath to help her gain permanent control of Ellie’s body. Sounds good right?
Cole is wonderful at creating full characters and imbuing them with traits and voices that are interesting; leaving a reader with a pretty clear and distinctive impression of each character in her novels. Lothaire just happens to be written as an unappealing, sadistic, cruel, domineering, bigoted, opportunistic, selfish, self-serving son of a gun – I’d be just fine if he didn’t find his bride. In fact – it bothers me that such a bright, interesting, noble person as Ellie would even give Lothaire the time of day.
What bothers me even more is that in order to make this match seem more improbable, Cole has chosen to draw Lothaire as a wealthy worldy Russian sophisticate and Ellie as a poor, ignorant, virgin hill billy with a heart of gold. Cole uses every cliche in the book. Ellie lives on a mountain named after her family, in a trailer, with her mother and baby brother. All her kin live on or around the mountain. Her father worked in a coal mine and died in a mine explosion. Ellie may fool around but she doesn’t have sex because she doesn’t want to end up teenaged and pregnant like all the other women in her family. Ellie’s only clothes are some jeans from the Walmart. And, of course, Ellie’s speech is riddled with so many “country” colloquialisms I feel like I’m watching The Beverly Hillbillies. Any second now, Ellie will be spurting out, “I may be ignorant, but I’m not stupid!” – “Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980).
Oh – and Ellie is human – which is a huge no-no. So. that’s kind of the cherry on top.
The book is filled with page after page of cliches, sadistic events and over the top drama, BUT, there is one beautiful, perfect, memorable scene between Lothaire and his nemesis Nix, The Ever Knowing Valkyrie oracle, that is the one saving grace of this novel. For fans of the series, that scene alone would be worth purchasing this book.
At the end of the day, I don’t care if these two get together because he is an nonredeemable prick and she is an idiot for making excuses for him. If he wasn’t such a sadistic egoist I could find some love for him maybe through pity. If Ellie wasn’t drawn as being smart in spite of being poor and unsophisticated I could probably find some love for her, too. And let’s not even talk about the fact that Ellie is a virgin because that makes this pairing even more twisted. My real problem is that Cole has shown again and again how intelligent a PNR can be that anything less than her best is tragic. She can really be that good.
Great review! Poor Ellie, it sounds like she could have been a really strong character but fell into the stereo-typical pattern. Darn! Hate it when that happens. But, at least it sounds like there was something good to come out of it for fans which is always good!
::::tears:::: Oh, come on! Tell us how you really feel. hahahaha
I can’t stop laughing. I agree with you on every point. In fact, it occurred to me as I was reading the book that the cliches were so over the top that it was ridiculous and that was probably why I was enjoying it. It was actually funny because it was ridiculously over the top.
However, you forgot to mention the contrived cliff hanger ending in the epilogue that is really just the set up for the next book. I found that horribly disappointing coming from Cole. I’ve not seen manipulative marketing tricks like that from her before and it was quite a let down to see it manifest in such a long standing series. I should probably mention here that I’m one of the folks in our little group that really makes a hobby of hating cliff hangers and takes them personally.
Loved the review, Believer. It gave me quite the belly laugh.
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Oddly, I still want to read this. But first, the prior eleven.
Great review Believer! Although I have to whole heartedly disagree. LOL
I think Kresley stayed true to Lothaire’s character and really grew him as the book went along. If he wouldn’t have been such an ass I would not have believed it at all. I think it showed what a great character Ellie was to be able to get past all of his screwed up ways. She grew up and he grew more likable to me. There were some cliches as far as hillbilly’s I guess but it also showed how close people considered to be are really. Family comes first!!! Being from the South stuff like that usually bugs me for instance Alan Ball’s blatant disrespect but I didn’t get that vibe from this book at all.
LOL Suz I hate cliffy’s to but this was just a set up for the next book in my opinion. She finished up Ellie and Lothaire’s story well enough for me to be okay with it.
The only thing I was upset over was that Nix wasn’t with him.
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