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Gillian Key, ParaDoc #4
Key to Justice
Having been "revirginized", Gillian fumes and fusses about her renewed relationship with Aleksei, and continues giving therapy to more of her weird clients. Her main client is the seductive vampire Csangal, who has a bucketload of personal issues -- and some rather sinister plans for Gillian. So after sitting around chatting in the library for awhile, all the vampires head off to rescue her, and face Dracula and his army once and for all
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
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129 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 25, 2010
Some parts were extremely hokey but otherwise it was a fun different look into vampires. I didn't really have problems starting with the fourth book but now I'm anxious to read the others.
dnf
April 19, 2020so this is the fourth in a series i've never read before.
that doesn't usually bother me! i can roll with the punches! so i started reading and ... well
i was okay until the narrative focus shifted its point-of-view character mid-scene from Gillian to her vampire-slash-shapeshifting-dragon-slash-sometime-lover -- which was a bit jarring -- but even then i gave it a chance, til another character showed up complaining that she had been magically cured of her wounds,
which included her broken hymen
which was the same thing that had happened to Gillian
and both of them were really mad about this because, um, something about both of their boyfriends refusing to have sex with a virgin without it being a HUGE DEAL? candlelight and roses and soft violin music being played nearby? and gosh they have to go through the whole loss-of-virginity-thing again and it is SO AWFUL omg
*
leaving aside the wishy-washy concept of female virginity as a physical thing, and leaving aside the concept of first-time-sex being inherently painful because hymen (rather than nerves or inexperience or lack of lubrication or a poor lover), there is a WHOLE LOT OF SUBTEXT HERE about punishing women for enjoying their sexuality.
i flipped ahead a bit to see if poor Gillian and her friend ever did make it past the terrible barrier of a hymen to get that sweet sweet orgasm, and indeedy they do!
painfully, of course.
and then they immediately both become pregnant (birth control being another "wound" that was magically healed)
and by then i was totally done with subtext, rape culture, and the book.
*received as part of a "we-pick-you-random-books-in-a-certain-genre" promotion by my local used bookstore, during CovidCrisis2020
that doesn't usually bother me! i can roll with the punches! so i started reading and ... well
i was okay until the narrative focus shifted its point-of-view character mid-scene from Gillian to her vampire-slash-shapeshifting-dragon-slash-sometime-lover -- which was a bit jarring -- but even then i gave it a chance, til another character showed up complaining that she had been magically cured of her wounds,
which included her broken hymen
which was the same thing that had happened to Gillian
and both of them were really mad about this because, um, something about both of their boyfriends refusing to have sex with a virgin without it being a HUGE DEAL? candlelight and roses and soft violin music being played nearby? and gosh they have to go through the whole loss-of-virginity-thing again and it is SO AWFUL omg
*
leaving aside the wishy-washy concept of female virginity as a physical thing, and leaving aside the concept of first-time-sex being inherently painful because hymen (rather than nerves or inexperience or lack of lubrication or a poor lover), there is a WHOLE LOT OF SUBTEXT HERE about punishing women for enjoying their sexuality.
i flipped ahead a bit to see if poor Gillian and her friend ever did make it past the terrible barrier of a hymen to get that sweet sweet orgasm, and indeedy they do!
painfully, of course.
and then they immediately both become pregnant (birth control being another "wound" that was magically healed)
and by then i was totally done with subtext, rape culture, and the book.
*received as part of a "we-pick-you-random-books-in-a-certain-genre" promotion by my local used bookstore, during CovidCrisis2020
January 9, 2012
E duas coisas se podem dizer da série:
a) as capas são espetaculares
b) a série é MÁ! MESMO MUITO MÁ!
Tão má que se torna camp, e logo, por isso, a adoro! Gillian Key é uma parapsicóloga... neste sentido quer dizer que ela faz avaliações psicológicas a seres paranormais. Sim, porque vampiros neste mundo têm uma condição chamada "Fangxiety".
Pois.
De todas as formas, Gillian é uma Mary Sue: não só é super jovem como é uma psicologa com um monte de doutoramentos, (e é uma sex therapist), e uma capitã dos Marines americanos. Toda a gente a adora, e passam a série toda a elogiá-la e a explicar o quão espetacular ela é. A história é... a Key a ir aqui e ali e
a) Ser atacada
b) Ser raptada
c) Ter sexo com alguém
d) Ameaçar alguém
Basicamente é isso.
Eu considero esta série um dos meus prazeres secretos porque me faz acreditar que se alguém que escreve tão mal consegue ser publicado? Eu também consigo.
E é camp.
Eu adoro camp.
May 23, 2011
Wow, this was an amazing, action packed book. I can never get over how much I love this series. Once again, we get to play with some of the greats...The Phantom of the Opera, Dr. Jeckyl & Mr. Hyde, Dracula himself, the Headless Horseman... *sigh* LOVE the way they all come to interact with our crew. We also explore early Christianity and Judaism. All in all, this was an excellent book that I highly recommend. Definitely a bit more thought provoking and a lot of fun if you're looking to spice up discussions at a book club!
July 17, 2010
Key to Justice is a book that seemed to have promise, but actually fell a little flat. If you’re able to ignore the characters, the action wasn’t too bad. However I just couldn’t get over my dislike of them. Any fans of this series feel free to disagree, but sadly Gillian Key and the gang just wasn’t able to get me anywhere near excited for this series.
full review over at Literary Escapism
full review over at Literary Escapism
July 31, 2012
I'm coming to the conclusion that the even-numbered books in this series are just awful.
Unfortunately, "Key to Justice" was a hot mess, made up of what felt like several rambling short stories with no discernible segue-ways. I'll probably still read the next one (if there is a next one), on the theory that the odd-numbered books have been good, so far.
Unfortunately, "Key to Justice" was a hot mess, made up of what felt like several rambling short stories with no discernible segue-ways. I'll probably still read the next one (if there is a next one), on the theory that the odd-numbered books have been good, so far.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews