First off, I thought SWOON was alright. I mean there was some parts that I was confused about and some parts that I thought were orginal. With SWEAR the whole book left me really confused and annoyed.
Yes, the loss of the one you love is hard, especially when Sin was so very sweet? no. hot? yes. honest? well. It has been six months since Sin and Dice were together and boy, do we (as the reader) hear all about it. Do not get me wrong, I love a girl who constatly whines over the loss of her undead-ghost-who the heck knows what you are- boy (rolls eyes). Dice throws herself into a band (Brusie Blue), with imagine my surprise! all boys. We still hear from Pen (who brings some lightness and comedy into the book) as well as Marsh (who is also destroyed for reasons that are pivitol to the book and will not tell you here), but other than that this is Dice and her bandmates, Duck and Tosh who steer this sinking ship.
Dice is in the band, singing the blues and bam! things start happening. There is some explination as to why things start happening once Dice begins to "open up", but its really kinda 'yeah right'. The biggest problem I had with SWEAR, however, is what happens once things start to get exciting. (I cannot say too much about it because I hate reading spoilers and so I will not include them in any of my reviews)
Dice and her friends are once more lost (literally) in the land of the dead. There is a new "character" that makes life hard for all of them, mostly Dice and her beloved Sin, but this new character is quite annoying and I was hoping that I would get the chance to kill her myself. The blame falls on the author on this one, there is no depth to this character, her back story is flawed, sad and kinda creepy, but it is clear that this character serves one purpose and that purpose was to fill that large gapping hole that should have housed the plot. Antonia, the "character" is simply dreadful as well as the method to her madness which leads to the climatic end; an ending that does not offer and explination. As the reader, I guess the author simply insists that we accept this and move on- not so fast. If something does not make sense and there is no explination as to why something happened, the author has failed to live up to their committment to their reader; which is to provide closure, to provide mythology to support their story, if needed (and here it was needed and lacking)and to ensure that there is a meaning. I am not saying all the questions presented in this book should have been addressed, but some of them should have been. There is nothing like that here, sorry to say.
There are some silly events that take place (a music festival- really? a naked pool party- come on) but nothing that really gives merit or meat to the story. Besides that there are some really, really, really bad dialog exchanges that left me re-reading certain parts a few times thinking no one talks like this. I was wondering a few times if someone slacked a little on the editing.
One thing in particular bugged me and that was the animals- they talk, they are like minature characters. Ugh! This cannot happen in a book that swears, talks/includes sex and dead people. It does not make sense.
On a side-note: I consider myself a lover of music and a student of the blues and I was extremely put off by the way the author uses music to move the story along. It was not necessary, but I found it troublesome that the book attempted to infuse music into such a mediocre piece of writing. Maybe that is the music snob in me, but it was frustrating when the characters would name drop musicians, bands and songs only to cover them or how that characters can express themselves through song and therefore the reader understrands their emotions. Oh, come on! Music and the lryics of songs should not be used to express the emotions/happenings/the past of characters unless: 1. The character is deserving. 2. It is needed. 3. The song is orginal (happens here- but not in a good way). Singing 'Don't Go Breaking my Heart' almost made me stop reading- even if they did eventually make fun of it.
2 Stars: and that is only beacuse in the midst of the disappointment, Sin and Dice's relationship (their struggle) still worked for me and I found Tosh to be a nice addition. But, I am not sure I will give the next one (if there is one) a read.
