Samantha

Rating:
Summary: Thorne outdoes herself!!
Review: Amazing! The most thrilling ride of the collection. Where the first two books really do concentrate on the title characters of Eve and Merilynn - this one needs to finish up all the characters and we don't get as much time with Samantha as we'd like... but that doesn't hurt this book one bit!!

The atmosphere is lighter and yet more sinister, the pace is [of course] sped up [for the finale], and the characters take on a life force of their own! Story and style are pure Thorne and perfect.

We finally get to the underwater world of Holly Gayle - we get to see just how evil Malory is - and of course, we get more of the Forest Knight, the Fata Morgana, and Professor Tongue... but what makes this book stand out? Simple!

Twists.. and not the usual plot twists either, although those are in here. I'm talking about characters growing naturally and smoothly into something you just don't expect. Without spoilers this could sound cryptic, but - a character you really don't like becomes a favorite, a character you aren't suppose to like is humiliated beyond expectations, and a mysterious character hits the finale with finesse.

Not only does it wrap up the characters, it does so in a manner that is so complete that you don't even think about wanting a 'sequel' - this series is complete, perfect, and a fine example of the path that Tamara Thorne is going to take us on as a writer... a rollercoaster that only stops AFTER you've thrown up and smiled about it!

Rating? Solid FIVE [5] Without a doubt. Great stories that drag you along even if you need to go to sleep, work, or elsewhere! Nice and short individual acts that can be absorbed in no time flat... find them, all of them! Own this series and then wonder why you didn't already...

Rating:
Summary: Shades of King Arthur
Review: If you've read Thorne's earlier novel Moonfall, you're halfway through The Sorority trilogy from the start. The Sorority is a great deal like it, only with more humor - and everything Thorne writes is rife with a great deal of humor.

This isn't Thorne's best, but it's still quite entertaining. The story - and there isn't much to it, really - is not all that original, but her characters and writing invest it with more life than you'd get from anyone else's attempt at the same tale. It's almost what you'd get if you tried to write an adult Arthurian fantasy novel for junior high school students.

Sorority head Malory Thomas - her name only one of many sardonic puns - is the all but immortal arch-nemesis of none other than the original Merlin. Her "Fata Morgana" sorority enjoys more than the usual blessings in return for supernatural service to the Green Man, the "Forest Knight." The Morganas number thirteen (hmmm...wonder why?), and engage in nocturnal orgies and ceremonies in the woods. Could they have something to do with the abnormally high disappearance rate among the university students? (Don't think too hard, now.)

No, there's nothing here you haven't read many, many times before - except for Thorne's own personal charm in telling the story. Who else could turn an Arthurian fantasy into a witchcraft comedy by way of a 1970s T.V. movie? The cast of characters include uncontrollably gaseous psychopathic ditzy cheerleaders on the rag, the noble ghost of a martyred local girl, a much-in-demand college professor who goes by the nicknames "Professor Tongue" and the "Cunning Linguist," and questionably loyal witch's familiar squirrel. If none of that sounds fun to you, well...you're in the wrong place, and what's wrong with you anyway?

This trilogy is as good a place as any to become acquainted with the weird and wonderful world of Tamara Thorne. All of her books are good. They never fail to entertain, at the very least.

Be forewarned, these are not stand-alone books. You'll want to begin with Eve, move on to Merilynn, and finish-up with Samantha. This novel would have been much better if all three parts were collected between the same covers, and edited-down. But then, serial novels are unbelievably lucrative, and make for good advertising. If this serial novel brings more attention to the talented Ms. Thorne, then it's worth the sacrifice.

Rating:
Summary: Shades of King Arthur
Review: If you've read Thorne's earlier novel Moonfall, you're halfway through The Sorority trilogy from the start. The Sorority is a great deal like it, only with more humor - and everything Thorne writes is rife with a great deal of humor.

This isn't Thorne's best, but it's still quite entertaining. The story - and there isn't much to it, really - is not all that original, but her characters and writing invest it with more life than you'd get from anyone else's attempt at the same tale. It's almost what you'd get if you tried to write an adult Arthurian fantasy novel for junior high school students.

Sorority head Malory Thomas - her name only one of many sardonic puns - is the all but immortal arch-nemesis of none other than the original Merlin. Her "Fata Morgana" sorority enjoys more than the usual blessings in return for supernatural service to the Green Man, the "Forest Knight." The Morganas number thirteen (hmmm...wonder why?), and engage in nocturnal orgies and ceremonies in the woods. Could they have something to do with the abnormally high disappearance rate among the university students? (Don't think too hard, now.)

No, there's nothing here you haven't read many, many times before - except for Thorne's own personal charm in telling the story. Who else could turn an Arthurian fantasy into a witchcraft comedy by way of a 1970s T.V. movie? The cast of characters include uncontrollably gaseous psychopathic ditzy cheerleaders on the rag, the noble ghost of a martyred local girl, a much-in-demand college professor who goes by the nicknames "Professor Tongue" and the "Cunning Linguist," and questionably loyal witch's familiar squirrel. If none of that sounds fun to you, well...you're in the wrong place, and what's wrong with you anyway?

This trilogy is as good a place as any to become acquainted with the weird and wonderful world of Tamara Thorne. All of her books are good. They never fail to entertain, at the very least.

Be forewarned, these are not stand-alone books. You'll want to begin with Eve, move on to Merilynn, and finish-up with Samantha. This novel would have been much better if all three parts were collected between the same covers, and edited-down. But then, serial novels are unbelievably lucrative, and make for good advertising. If this serial novel brings more attention to the talented Ms. Thorne, then it's worth the sacrifice.

Rating:
Summary: A Neatly Tied up Package
Review: This is the third and final (and longest) part of the Sorority trilogy (really just one book split into three smaller ones). Eve, Merilynn and Samantha met at a summer cheerleading camp and then again eight years later at Greenbrier college (second only to Sunnydale for disappearing students).

Now we get Samantha's viewpoint as Mallory Thomas, head of the sorority and its secret society, the Fata Morganas, tries to further increase her powers through sacrifices to the Forest Knight.

We lean a lot about the histories of many characters, who they are and how they came to be. We also see the end of some (I'll let you find out who). But in the end it all comes nicely together and ties up into a tidy little package that leaves the reader satisfied. We are not left with annoying loose ends like in many horror books. While any chance of a sequel would have to be vastly different from the series (unless it is a prequel), there are references to other Tamara Thorne books (Bad Things, Moonfall, etc.).

A fun horror book in the Buffy vein and a nice conclusion to the trilogy.

Rating:
Summary: A Neatly Tied up Package
Review: This is the third and final (and longest) part of the Sorority trilogy (really just one book split into three smaller ones). Eve, Merilynn and Samantha met at a summer cheerleading camp and then again eight years later at Greenbrier college (second only to Sunnydale for disappearing students).

Now we get Samantha's viewpoint as Mallory Thomas, head of the sorority and its secret society, the Fata Morganas, tries to further increase her powers through sacrifices to the Forest Knight.

We lean a lot about the histories of many characters, who they are and how they came to be. We also see the end of some (I'll let you find out who). But in the end it all comes nicely together and ties up into a tidy little package that leaves the reader satisfied. We are not left with annoying loose ends like in many horror books. While any chance of a sequel would have to be vastly different from the series (unless it is a prequel), there are references to other Tamara Thorne books (Bad Things, Moonfall, etc.).

A fun horror book in the Buffy vein and a nice conclusion to the trilogy.