Couldn't finish it
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I really wanted to like this book. I had read "A Taste Of Crimson" by Marjorie Liu and I loved it. That book was about werewolves and vampires but it had some really strong subthemes such as racism within minorities (such as werewolves) and the way that minorities can be ignored by governmental agencies. I so enjoyed that book that I ordered the only other Marjorie Liu book available through my county's library system - and voilà , "The Red Heart Of Jade" appeared.
I was disappointed. Firstly it wasn't another vampire/werewolf book - this one was a "Dirk & Steele Romance" which (I now discover) is a series Marjorie Liu has done about a kind-of detective agency staffed by people with different paranormal powers. The hero of this book, Dean (a very unheroic name!) has a psychic ability to `read' objects and environments and can find out what has happened in them. Our heroine, Mirabelle Lee, is an archaeologist in Taiwan. Dean and Miri were childhood sweethearts but both thought the other died twenty years ago and their lives have moved on since.
Dean is sent to Taiwan to investigate some grisly murders that appear to be the fault of a shapeshifter. Whilst in Taiwan various things happen to him and he eventually meets up with Miri - and drags her into the fray. There's a piece of red Jade that's been found in an archaeological body find and it seems everyone is after this Jade. About this point I found I just had to give up with the book - I couldn't work out what was going on, couldn't get interested in either Dean or Miri, couldn't always understand the descriptions of the shapeshifters, didn't really see where the book was going and found I didn't care anyway. The setting of Taiwan was unusual and I felt was an excellent choice but I just couldn't engage with this book. I gave up halfway through, read the last five or so pages (which confirmed I was right to give up on it as evidently the ending would have REALLY annoyed me if I had read it all) and gave it back to the library. Now some of you reading this might think it's a really good book - perhaps it is - but I read widely and I just couldn't like it. If you want to read a book by this author read "A Taste Of Crimson" - I can't recommend any more of her books as I won't take the effort to find them.
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Tedious
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I disagree with the previous reviews. This book was hard to read and I skipped through a lot of the chapters. I found the connectioned between the two main characters unbelieveable, and frankly... boring. I am going to think twice before buying anymore of Marjorie M.Lui books. It is a shame because I have enjoyed all of her other books.
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Book 3 in the "Dirk & Steele" series
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"The Red Heart of Jade" is the 3rd instalment in MML's paranormal romance series; "Dirk & Steele", a detective agency which employs very unusual people to tackle even more unusual crimes. Dean Campbell, a clairvoyant who has cropped up in both "Tiger Eye" and "Shadow Touch" finally takes a leading role in "The Red Heart of Jade" and finds himself drawn into a world of magic whilst investigating gruesome murders occurring in Taiwan.
We learn the Dean grew up with a close friend, Mirabelle (Miri) Lee, a young woman he fell in love with, only to watch her die from a gunshot wound at the age of 16. Badly hurt himself in the attack, for many years after the incident Dean found himself using his gift to try and track Mirabelle; only to find no trace of her. Now chasing a psychopathic murderer, a being who just happens to be a shape shifting dragon, he finds a photo of the killer's next target; Dr Mirabelle Lee.
Discovering Mirabelle is alive proves shattering for Dean, a woman he believed died in his arms 20 years ago, yet for the first time he momentarily finds a trace of her and is just in time to stop her being snatched by Robert, an immortal being hired to kidnap her. Only that morning Mirabelle extracted a mysterious piece of red jade from the mummified remains of a woman, yet it appears this gem houses significant power, a power someone is willing to kill for.
On the run from the dragon shape shifter and Robert, Miri too tries to comprehend that Dean is alive. Having been resuscitated in an ambulance following the attack, she firmly believed she saw Dean die too; however his appearance is somewhat easier to deal with than immortal mercenaries, powerful ancient magic and an assortment of shape shifters, some of whom want to kill her although she has no idea why.
I cannot find fault with this author at all; this is another fantastic paranormal romance from MML, with enough action and mystery to thoroughly grip the reader from the first page. The passion between Dean and Miri positively sizzles and the dangers they face whilst trying to stay alive against some formidable enemies creates an exciting and enthralling read. I now eagerly await further stories in the Dirk & Steele series; "A Dream of Stone & Shadows" will appear in the anthology "Dark Dreamers", due for pub. Sept 06, and the story of Blue, the electrokinetic who made a brief appearance in "Shadow Touch will be told in "Eye of Heaven", due for pub. Dec 06. I can't wait for either.
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Fire, Death, Murders, Shape-shifters, Clairvoyant and this is only the beginning of the book!
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I recently had the opportunity to review Marjorie's new book that is being released on the 4 July 2006 here in the UK and wow...
Dean Campbell currently works for the Dirk & Steele Detective Agency. With his abilities he is the perfect man to investigate several murders in Taipei.
While searching for a murderer Dean finds the photo of his Childhood sweetheart.
A Childhood sweetheart who is dead or is she really?
What happened so many years ago?
To find out you need to read the book!
When reading The Red Heart of Jade you have hit the jackpot, the third book in the series has romance, suspense and so much more and true to form Marjorie is magnificent, the plots is ingenious, fresh, spellbinding and the characters are well developed.
I could not put the book down as it has everything you want.
I rate The Red Heart of Jade as five stars.
I highly recommend this book - it is money well spent.
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