This series by Lisa Jackson starts out intriguing, if busy, and becomes rather rote and familiar before long.
Left To Die kicks things off with what amounts to two separate stories stapled together, one better than the other. There is a lot going on here. Most of it is good, but a significant portion starts trending toward the ridiculous and before long you may end up finding yourself wondering exactly what you’re reading. It also ends on a cliff-hanger which Chosen to Die picks up shortly after. Chosen ends up much better than Left for two reasons; it’s much more focused and the romance aspects are nowhere near as ill-fitting.
That’s not to say it’s perfect however, as it does still contain a couple of extraordinarily improbable events. Which brings me to the main issue I had with this series as a whole. The central ‘problem’, as it were, is that the plot developments in these books are actually less realistic than the fantasy/urban fantasy books I normally read. This came as a shock initially, but after some thought it makes sense; since fantasy uses up most of the audience’s suspension of disbelief on its universe mechanics it doesn’t have anywhere near as much wiggle-room in the plot and character behavior departments.
Born to Die continues the twin themes of serial killers and spontaneous romance. It’s more or less on par with Chosen, with its oddly convenient plot developments staying fairly subdued for the most part and the romance at least making an attempt to blend into the overall picture. Afraid to Die is where things become to get overly fabricated, essentially eviscerating most of what makes Alvarez a semi-interesting character. Followed up as it is by Ready To Die, which is practically dripping with melodrama and contrivance, results in a one-two punch that effectively kills any further potential this series may have had.
I think I’ll just stick with fantasy from here-on out. Fantastical settings and abilities are much easier to deal with than fantastical plot developments and character behavior.
