Reader's Discretion Advised

Hoo boy, what a pretty, pretty piece.Aimee, don't worry. The book does NOT disgrace its pretty, pretty cover.This book explores several interesting dynamics. It's almost a huge-ass cluster-fuck menage of fantasy subgenres, if you really want to try to quantify it. I was a bit thrown at first because while it's high fantasy, the world seems very much like our own. Just, you know...with magically stuff. (They got showers and universities and doctorate programs and shit. It's kind of mind-trippy, actually. Like high urban fantasy, or something.)It was a highly enjoyable read, although towards the middle-ish part it kind of reminded me of Toraware no Minoue. (I believe the English name is Captive Hearts.)There were a couple of comma splices here and there, but there was also at least one observed correct use of the semi-colon. However, Cohen also used "weaved" when I feel like, per its implied definition, should have actually been "wove," so it actually comes out a little behind on the grammar side.That secondary/second conflict part towards the end-ish seemed rather rushed, but it wasn't bad. I could see why it was presented the way it was and it did rather make sense development-wise. It also cut off a great deal of idiocy-induced wangst that generally comes with such things, so that was kind of a plus.And I liked the way the sex was worked. I think it's mostly off-screen sex (a bit of foreplay and then fade to black) or summary sex, but there's a slightly longer sex scene towards the end that gives a bit more detail. It was nice because it was there, but it wasn't the "suddenly pages and pages of excruciating detail" that often happens (I know because I usually skip over them [I'm sorry, but you can really only have sex so many ways. Yeah, periphery shit may happen, but in the end, it kind of boils down to "insert tab A into slot B," you know...], which means pressing the side arrow a couple of times. Generally, I still land in the middle of said sex scene, which, imo, is a bit much.)The sex was unobstrusive, and Cohen gave you that bit more of detail when things were winding down. It made it seem...very sensible. I actually really love the way the science element was explored in tandem with the magic. The way Cohen incorporates the two together was intriguing and actually made quite a lot of sense.I do have one issue, though. Where the hell do all the atoms go? I mean, they deconstruct whatever it is by breaking the bonds between atoms, but then the atoms just...dissipate? I don't like how Cohen kind of ignores the atoms once her characters have broken an item down. The atoms still need to go somewhere, you know. Wouldn't it be really, really, unhealthy to have clouds of atoms of whatever floating into the air you're breathing?Example:Coal isn't just carbon, you know. And while I'm not really sure if carbon and sulpher can just hang out on their own, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen at least need to do something. At the very least, they'd soon form covalent bonds because oxygen at least is needy like that and needs to bond to other atoms and then disperse into the atmosphere. Which would mean an influx in said gases in whatever location they're in. That, at least, should have some sort of repercussion. Or maybe there should have been random water. I dunno. I don't actually remember as much from taking Chemistry as I pretend to, but I do know that the gas atoms would at least combine relatively quickly to form diatomic molecules.Back to the book.The way it ended was a bit weird and seemed like set-up for at least a sequel. Dunno what Cohen would write about, but I don't think I'd mind reading a sequel. I actually rather like Lornyc and Methian's character dynamics, as well as those of other (I don't mean that the character dynamics of the other characters are merely an afterthought. It's just that, you know, since this IS a romance, surely you know that the main couple's dynamics are especially important and all that jazz).Cohen's a great writer and she's unapologetic about the way she present her world. There are no real awkward breaks to pause and explain as some other fantasy books I've read, which makes it all the more real, and it doesn't need it because Cohen manages to explain her world through everything that happens. You get quite a holistic view without awkward explication breaks.There wasn't a lot of needless idiocy, either, in that there weren't melodramatic (character:)"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" or (me:)"IT'S RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOUR DAMN FACE. HOW CAN YOU NOT GET IT? WHAT KIND OF 'INTELLIGENT' PERSON ARE YOU, YOU DAMN STUPID FRAUD OF A PLOT DEVICE?"It's actually quite a long read, too, which is nice because you feel like you get your money's worth and all that.Yeah. It was good.