The Grimrose Path by R. Thurman

RThurman-Grimrose PathThe first book I read by Rob Thurman was The Grimrose Path, sequel to Trick of the Light. It was one of those sequels where you don’t have to read the first one to understand what’s going on – a totally new plot with brief yet sufficient explanations about anything that had happened previously.

Bar owner Trixa Iktomi knows that inhuman creatures of light and darkness roam Las Vegas-especially since she’s a bit more than human herself. She’s just been approached with an unusual proposition. Something has slaughtered almost one thousand demons in six months. And the killing isn’t going to stop unless Trixa and her friends step into the fight…

The Grimrose Path wasn’t your typical save the world kind of book, it was more exotic, filled with strong characters; and while that alone should have been enough for me, I never got that spark with The Grimrose Path. That spark that grabs me and won’t let me stop reading until the very last page. Honestly, I felt almost indifferent the entire time I read The Grimrose Path: I neither hated it nor loved it.

Trixa was a strong heroine, but she had this annoying habit of reiterating her thoughts. It got to the point where I could guess what she would say before she said it (without cheating by looking ahead). She was extremely smart, could kick ass better than every guy I’ve ever met and can pull off the best pranks ever (as a former trickster, that would be a given). But as much depth as she had, she barely changed through the course of The Grimrose Path. She would realize that something she did was wrong, or that she shouldn’t do that again, yet she’d turn around and do it all over again.

The rest of her “family” (a former god, an ex-demon and an ex-angel) were just as stuck in their character ruts as Trixa. They each had their own special view of right and wrong, some of it I could agree with and some of it I couldn’t. To paraphrase what Trixa thought, you were either going to love them or try to sneak into their rooms at night and slit their throats (but of course they’d kill you first). And then there was me, who liked them well enough, but I doubt I’m going to go and read Trick of the Light.

The plot wasn’t exactly slow, but it had varying speeds. There were plenty of fight scenes, Trixa often foreshadowed to the bad stuff that would happen in the near future, and she would find people to trick (or teach them a lesson, as she called it). Again, I feel like I should have connected with this book (and loved it) but I just didn’t. There was just enough of the slow speed scenes (Trixa spending time with her “family,” Trixa working out because she had to keep her human body in shape, Trixa just being Trixa) that left me, again, feeling indifferent.

Like Lynn Viehl said in her review (on the cover), there really was the best twist ever in The Grimrose Path. The plot and the characters were fairly unique. But like I said before, I felt indifferent to it all.

Read Order:
Trick of the Light
The Grimrose Path

About Casey 203 Articles
Casey is the founder of Heart Full of Ink, Director at Reading Until Dawn Con, and a full time cheese addict. She's been ranting and reviewing for Literary Escapism since 2010, and is part of the trio #3Bloggers1Series podcast. When she's not reading, looking for new books, or stalking authors online (waiting for more books), she can be found binge watching Netflix. But really, her life is all about DEM BOOKS!