As Lie the Dead by Kelly Meding - review

As Lie The Dead
****
Kelly Meding
Dreg City #2
Urban Fantasy
2010


Cover - I really like this cover.  There are elements in the novel that completely match this cover - which I like to see in a cover.


I bought As Lie The Dead the MOMENT it was released...then it sat on my shelf until February of 2012.  Not sure why I waited so long, since I thoroughly enjoyed the first novel in the series.  At any rate, I finally read it and I did enjoy it.  Which is good, since I bought the third book before even reading the second.


As Lie the Dead takes off within moments of the ending from Three Days to Dead.
Things are wrapping up, and Evy finally begins to think that she might be able to finally sleep and get to have some time with Wyatt when BAM! this totally muscular guy with huge wings lands on a car (destroying the car, by the way) because he wants to talk to Evy.  Some posturing ensues, then it turns out that he wants, requires Evy to protect a pregnant Owlkin and another Owlkin.  Even though because of her, the entire clan was annihilated....


On top of this, her donor body's - Chalice -  roommate's father shows up.  Can't quite believe the story about the roommate's death.  This isn't good because Evy still has feelings of guilt about that one.  The roommate had died trying to help her, he'd been attacked by vampires and then Evy had to kill him.  So of course, there's that whole guilt thing to deal with, and she has to keep it quiet by having another story about how he dies.  Turns out the guy and his father had been estranged for a long time - because of the son being gay, the dad not accepting, along with the alcoholism of said dad...not a good family situation. Anyway now he's in the picture.


Along with the two mentioned scenarios - suddenly, or still - Evy and Wyatt are having problems with the triads and the "brass".  Someone is trying to kill them and Evy is kept busy running all over town trying to figure out what's going on.  Many demands are made of her, she's threatened and still has to try to solve murders and a murder attempt, protect the owlkin while keeping them secret and keep the roommate's dad out of her hair.  This does not go smoothly, in fact Evy spends less time actively protecting the pregnant woman than being directed all over the place and almost killed a few more times, etc.


I am not sure quite what the problem was - but something about this didn't quite fit.  I enjoyed the writing, the dialogue and most of the situations.  But.....But.....something didn't quite work for me.  There was some relationship angst - never a favorite of mine and I have to remind my self that the timeline - between the two books, only about a week has gone by.  But by the end of book two I'm tired of reading about emotional and relationship angst.  I want them to either split up or get over things.  I know that's not rational of me, but there it is.  I also realize that there's a lot of holes in Evy's memory between the two lives - hers and Chalices and the trauma of dying along with almost dying a few times.  So possibly, Meding is doing a great job handling this.  But it's not really my favorite thing to read about. I want to once in awhile read about a woman who can beat the hell out of people and does NOT have a traumatic teenlife, or childhood or relationship.  One who  - other than being a killing machine - is balanced.  But alas, UF seems to mean troubled angsty traumatic lives.


So in conclusion - I do enjoy this novel.  I did enjoy it.  Mostly.  Not everything made sense, but that could just be me, and I'm such a lazy brain I don't even stop to analyze why - Just read it and enjoy (or not enjoy).  Evy wasn't even around much to protect the Owlkin pregnant lady - and complications arise.  So much seems to go wrong and yet somehow Evy pulls through.  I am looking forward to reading the third book.  Kelly Meding does have a way with words and dialogue.  Her plots are good.  Even her angst makes sense (I admit this, even though I personally don't want to read so much about relationship troubles).  So on the whole, the book is entertaining with plenty of action and I'll be reading the third, most likely buying the fourth.