Before I go on to the review proper, let me just say that this novel has one of the worst covers I have ever had the misfortune to lay my eyes on. Her costume, her pose and the colours – they are all so tacky and such a far cry from the classy covers of the last three or so volumes that I wonder what major changes occurred in the Arts department to cause such a disparity in the continuity of the cover art. I’d replace the current art director with a new one. Or bring the old one back because wow, I wouldn’t be caught dead reading this one in public.Anyway, moving on to the meat of the matter. I’m afraid that the cover was a very good indicator of the latest installment in the Blood Singer series. The last book was strong, fascinating and addictive and I was eagerly waiting a return to the world of Celia Graves. However, I was profoundly disappointed at what I found within the pages of The Isis Collar. Celia spends most of the book sick and being helped by various men to cure her illnesses. People get sick, I get that but you know what? It doesn’t make for very interesting reading when the protagonist of a series that works because of the actions of the protagonist becomes a story about invalids. And the times that Celia is not lying prone in pain, she is waffling between her two men. Okay, I am sort of disgusted by Celia’s decision or rather confidence that she will get back with boyfriend one who used to be her fiance until he ended up throwing her to the dogs for a woman who was Celia’s nemesis and determined to end Celia in all the ways that mattered. I don’t like that and perhaps it’s just me but yeah.Also, the intentional delaying of a very crucial plot element never fails to drive me crazy as it did in this novel. One of the main characters goes missing and no one seems to be paying much attention to it and him for a very long while. I knew that whatever had happened to him was pivotal to the novel but no one except me screaming outside the world of the novel seemed to be caring all that much until, you know, the end when voila, everyone’s like WHERE IS HE?So yeah, I didn’t enjoy this novel as much as I had wanted to. In fact, my enjoyment was probably very faint. I still am going to try reading the next installment whenever it comes out but with a whole lot less anticipation than before. The romantic entanglements are getting old as is the never ending love triangle or um whatever poly-relationship they have going on.
 - Cat Adams)