I *wish* Astarion was portrayed as imperfect. I wish he was portrayed as anything at all, but the man in this book has zero inner life. His thoughts never drift beyond sex, blood, and fashion, and that's the case throughout, from flashbacks to the book's present. He's a nothing character.

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It doesn't just fail as an Astarion book. It fails as a book. It's never compelling. There are no themes. It has nothing to say. It constantly tells rather than shows, and honestly reads like the author is afraid of getting too close to anything that might accidentally inspire a single feeling.

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Something scary is happening? Pull back. Something sad is happening? Pull back. Something sexy is happening? Pull back. Egads, we wouldn't want the readers to become immersed.

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There's plenty of "banter" if you're into reading swathes of dialogue, but the characters never touch on anything deep. Instead, it's the flirty version of "how about that weather we're having?" over and over.

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The author's claim that this book is "dark" leads me to believe she has never read an actual horror novel. There are exactly two disturbing scenes, and each is undercut by the aforementioned jokes. The book's overall tone is basically "weee, everything will be all right in the end."

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