Shadow Reaper by Christine FeehanMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Shadows and Shibari
This is the second book in a series and though it can probably be read as a standalone novel, there is information in the first book that makes the second book more easily understood. In the first book, we hear about the years away from the family they did as teenagers, training, and this book explores what happened to Ricco when he was sent to Japan for his training.
Ricco interested me a lot in the first book as he was always the ‘edgy’ brother who drove cars really fast and was into extreme sports and threesomes with twin actresses. He was not a happy person and we find out why in this book.
Ricco has been unhappy for a long time and things have reached an impasse. Nothing he does to make himself less unhappy is working anymore. Then he has a racing car accident and it’s a wake-up call. He decides that one night stands are not helping and he wants to have a long term contract with a shibari model to practice his art. At the last minute, Mariko turns up with no experience except she’s a shadow rider and she calls to him.
Mariko is half Japanese and half American but raised in Japan by a Japanese family. She was treated as less than a servant and the family claimed that they found her and her baby brother abandoned on the street and took them in out of the goodness of their heart. Mariko was given training as a shadow rider but was never accepted by the community. The only thing she has confidence in is her ability as a shadow rider.
When Mariko applies for the job with Ricco she is desperate. She needs to find out enough about him as a man to make a decision on whether to kill him or not in order to save her brother’s life.
I much prefer Ricco and Mariko as characters to Stefano and Francesco as they both have interesting personalities without being caricatures. Both are loyal and honourable people who have been hurt by the actions of others, but they have not completely broken.
The plot for this book is interesting, with plenty of mystery to keep you entertained. I will however say that I felt there was a little too much shibari content. I find it interesting as an art form but focusing on this made the sex scenes a little too cerebral rather than passionate to me. I still enjoyed the book but found myself skipping over some of the shibari scenes, and that’s not something I usually do. Usually, if I’m reading a book I either DNF it or I read every word. I’m hoping the next book engages all part of my brain again. Going on my past experience with this author I’ll give the next book in the series a go and see what happens.
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