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184 pages, Hardcover
First published August 22, 2011
AND 
* I wonder if that will eventually make it awkward between her and her Argonaut-mate Andrew at all.What I liked most about this book (besides tweed-y Lucifer) is the writing and style. Kat Lowe has a really good grasp of language, and her writing seems effortless and natural. It's simple and flows well. The tone is very tongue-in-cheek, sassy, and humorous. The dialogue has some very funny moments. And she correctly uses the word "nonplussed" (so frequently misused that it hurts). Some examples of what I liked:
** Lucifer is my favorite character. Hey, don't judge - I have a known weakness for sympathetic devil characters (The Master and Margarita is my favorite book, after all).
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Clearly, tweed is EEEEEE-VIL.
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*** "Wasn't Achilles a terrible womanizer?" Aw heck. I don't know, Elizabeth. Ask Patroclus.
"Catching an STD doesn't excuse serial killing."Now pacing. Oh, the pacing... To say the story doesn't drag is an underestimation. The storyline of Dream Cat actually flies at the speed of light, barely pausing to take a breath. Within just a few pages, for instance, Elizabeth fights a demon-bear, learns about her destiny, meets her partner-Argonaut, trains, elopes, and is whisked away to Europe.
"A frazzled woman stood against the back wall with a toddler barnacled to her leg."
"Let me guess. I'm supposed to pull those doohickeys off that grumpy cow."
- The good about this approach is that there is not a single moment of filler. No endless exposition or ruminations, no pile-up of backstory, no endless descriptions. It's just the story, rushing along without any pause, with so much of it happening in a dialogue. To a point, it's actually refreshing.This breakneck pace results in a rather minimalistic approach to filling in thoughts, motivations, and explanations. This approach works well for the character of Lucifer, yes. But there is little room for character development or Elizabeth's reflections on anything that's happening to her (and those are some pretty life-changing things). It's like she doesn't even have time to think in between being whisked yet to another adventure/training session (*)
- The flip side of this breakneck pace is that sometimes I felt that I needed to stop and flip back to previous pages to (a) make sure I did not blink and miss anything, and (b) to make sure that my copy of the story did not have missing pages.
* Elizabeth fares rather well in her training, despite no martial arts background. I decided to let this slide - if she is the most kickassAs a result of brisk speed and minimalist approach to characterization, Elizabeth seems to (surprisingly) easily go along with the major changes that happen in her life. She takes everything in a very matter-of-fact way - like if she were in a dream. On the other hand, given how easily her mother and grandmother accept the weirdness around them, I can see where she gets that from.superheroViking Argonaut reincarnated, she has a right to be cooler than average.