Immortals After Dark (XII) - Lothaire by Kresley Cole
In the 12th part, Lothaire, Enemy of Old, has some issues with his Bride… Lothaire (Lothaire), published 2012, I read the 558 pages in English.
Lothaire only trusts one person: His mate. Only her. Now, finally, he found her: The goddess of campires and cruel death, currently inhabiting mountain peasant Elizabeth Peirce. The goddess is perfect for him, will bring him to his crowns, to his Endgame… But this stupid human peasant always gets in the way, always tries to kill herself and, with that, end the goddess… Ellie is stupid. Doesn’t know the meaning of the word “manners”, is absolutely not fit for Lothaire. But somehow, he’s impressed by the human girl’s courage and resourcefulness. Her humour… and the fact that she manages to keep the goddess at bay. Still, he has to end her soul. Doesn’t he?
I adore Ellie. This girl is so damn gorgeous! Imagine being nineteen and waking up in someone else’s blood. Because you’re possessed by an evil goddess of death. Imagine that the goddess tries to take control of you again and again, imagine that you end up killing people because of this. What would you do? Loaded question, isn’t it? I’d probably freak, try to get myself locked up and hope it goes away. No matter how cowardly that sounds. Ellie’s different. She stays calm, sends her mother in the other room, gets a gun and tries to kill herself. Because she doesn’t want the goddess to win or to be locked up. The only reason it doesn’t work is a “demon” – but that’s fine, she survives five years in prison (as a murderer!) gets a degree in psychology to pass the time and sets everything in motion to get her family to safety while she makes sure she’s executed. All without ever loosing once her nerve. That’s some really impressive shit! And what she does after she’s stopped again? The ways she tries to get messages to her family, how she tries to get Lothaire to do what she wants him to do? So. Damn. Well. Done! Ellie’s impressive, to say the least. I love how she keeps a cool head and uses every single advantage she has to do what she wants. And how she always manages to strike bargains even Lothaire couldn’t pull off. She has an awesome humour and is waaay more intelligent than others give her credit for. She’s fiercely independent, altruistic, loyal – an absolute family person – and creative.
Spoiler:
Which is why I wanted to scream when the vampire-question lay on the table. Or rather, when she told Lothaire she didn’t want to be a vampire, but when he turned her anyway (against her explicit wishes!!!) and she forgave him. Just. Like. That. Ellie made clear from day one that she thinks immortality is a curse. She told him “No” more than once. And he goes and does it anyway, and suddenly he’s the good guy for it? Ellie lets Lothaire take choice after choice away from her, he betrays her in more ways than a relationship could survive, and she’s like “sure. All good” in the end, just because he bought two mountains and traced into that cave?!
Okay, to be fair: the cave was burning and he could have died. Aaaaand Ellie might have nearly beheaded him. But it’s still not realistic that she a) lets him rule her like that in the first place and b) afterwards thinks he’s the good guy for what he’s done. Hey, I’m always way too trusting with people, believe they changed for good whenever they say they’re sorry – I’m like Snow White, falling for 3 times for the same trick – but even I would loose that trust after the numbers Lothaire pulled. Besides, his taunting her with the fact that he took all her choices away from her was really really damn stupid, evil and just not forgivable. Seriously. He deserved to nearly loose his head.
Which leads me to another thing that’s unrealistic: Cara. When she grabbed Ellie, Lothaire was lying unconscious nearly dead around, there for the taking. Why wouldn’t she try to abduct him – instead of/ additionally to Ellie?
I’m sorry for her, by the way. Cara, I mean. Having your twin abducted and hearing rumours she’s tied to the bottom of the ocean, to be drowned and revived by her immortality to drown again has to be horrible. And no matter what she does, she just can’t find her. Poor girl.
Well. To Lothaire… I wanted to hit him for this “Ellie is stupid” kind of thinking. I mean, seriously, stupid and Ellie? I think that the two of them isn’t the best pairing of this series, especially because Ellie always has to take care Lothaire doesn’t go maniac and kill everyone in sight. For someone who wanted to kill herself to contain a murderous goddess, she’s sure as hell tolerant when it comes to him. But I was actually talking about Lothaire here, before I came of track. He’s a fascinating person, I like his background (his mother’s a joy, by the way, as is his uncle). And his fight for his sanity is… really, really damn well done. I was surprised by the simplicity of his Endgame. His goals. After the Sneak Peak in Dreams of a Dark Warrior I’d have thought that it was waaay more complicated, and nothing so… shallow as simply two vampire crowns. He’s so ruthless, intelligent, calculating and determined, he’s single-minded focus incarnated, whoring himself basically out for what he wants. But then, he simply wants two crowns? That’s it? I’d have thought something more impressive than that.
I also like how much self-discipline Lothaire has and how good he is at lying to himself.
Spoiler:
It even makes sense that he doesn’t want to believe Ellie’s his mate, that he’s so arrogant he only thinks a goddess would fit to him. Wanted to hit him for it (I tend to get violent in bookish situations) but it absolutely fits to his character.
As does the fact that he simply parks Ellie somewhere, lies to her and takes decisions away from her, using sex to get what he wants – and that’s the reason why you should always be very very careful with people demanding promises in bed. Especially if the promise is “do whatever I tell you without asking questions for weeks”. Never. Ever. Agree to that, not under any circumstances. People who ask for this level of trust usually have an agenda you’ll hate (which they know of course) and the longer the time period, the bigger the risk that you’ll be screwed for life. Or eternity. Which makes it even more unbelievable that Ellie actually fell for that, or that she let herself be wooed by pretty presents and fun in bed.
Apropos parking. I adore the Hag in the Basement, she’s gorgeous – and her friendship with Ellie’s fun. But the best is and always will be Thad. And his relationship to Lothaire. I like this guy, he’s the most decent boy in the entire series! And I love how he’s stubbornly loyal to Lothaire, how he sees the good in everything and is still clever enough to somehow manage to survive… usually by inspiring loyalty in others as well. I so hope the guy gets a girl, soon. He’s wonderful! And how he gets Ellie back from the shock… really. Really. Cool.
I like Ellie’s relationship to the Valkyries as well, she actually should have been turned into one of them. But then, no matter her race, Ellie Peirce makes herself at home. She fits in – everywhere. Because she just won’t accept being shut out.
Which leads me to Dacia. First of all, I like the entire plot line with the kingdom so secluded that the gatekeeper’s the de facto most powerful man in it. And I like the fact that they actually chose Lothaire more out of desperation because they didn’t want to end themselves. But the best is how much they regret that decision. The Dacian royalty are interesting persons, especially the girl – poor vampire, by the way, she’s a nice, interesting gal and doesn’t deserve Lothaire’s treatment or his plans – but they sure as hell have their hands full with the new king. Because he’s bat-shit crazy without his Bride – the heart in the box? That’s really insane, but Ellie’s reaction was cool.
Well… Apropos bat: Bertil’s the best. And Nïx, of course. I like her history with Lothaire, and how she was on his side the entire time, but he was to stupid to see it. Granted, the Tree wasn’t particularly nice. But in the end, she didn’t have exactly an alternative.
What is she planning? And since when? She started almost a millennium before the beginning of the first part, why? What does she have to gain? We’ll find out one day.
In brief:
Stars for ideas, minus one for characters. Ellie might be absolutely gorgeous – but her behaviour towards Lothaire doesn’t make sense (apart from the beheading. He deserved it).
Prequel:
(Regin the Radiant, Valkyrie, prankster, modern-day swordswoman
& Declan Chase, magister of the Order)
Sequel:
(Trehan Cristian Daciano, Prince of Dacia, Last Scion of the House of Shadow
& Princess Bettina of Abbadon, Kingdom of the Deathly Ones)