Dark Queen (Jane Yellowrock #12) by Faith Hunter

Jane, the Dark Queen, Enforce for Leo Pelessier, the Vampire ruler of the Greater South East United States is preparing for the duel that is finally here. A duel between Leo and the Emperor of the European vampires - a duel that will dictate the future of all vampire and witch kind

Assuming the visiting vampires haven’t plotted to undermine and interfere before the duel even begins

And assuming the American government doesn’t look at this gathering of the most powerful and dangerous vampires in the world and doesn’t just bomb it.

Jane has her hands full… and ow is really not the time for a man to appear claiming to be her long lost brother she never knew she had, especially when he introduces himself by shooting her

This is something of an epic finale to everything that has been happening for several books now - and the whole book is powerful tense and epic. The massive duel between Leo and the many vampires coming from Europe. We see all of his gathered entourage come out to fight, we see all the complex preparations, the betrayals, the plotting, the counter-plotting and how absolutely no-one is playing fair.

It all has an incredibly tense feel, from the very first page of the book you know some of these characters are going to die, that everything is going to change. It is maintained every second, not for one second do you forget even through side plots, even through the moments with Beast (beast is awesome, beast is best hunter and I have no idea why her writing doesn’t annoy me, but it doesn’t - I love her) that tension never leaves

Jane moves through it all and she’s amazing, powerful, competent, in control yet listening and learning from the people around her, people she genuinely loves and values. And even when she’s sat, maudling, or the fights of the actual duel are dragged out or we have a political scene which goes on and on and on for pages it all works and doesn’t feel sluggish because of that tension, power and sense of change behind everything. Thematically this book is amazing, the writing just works and the emotion doesn’t stop.

I really like Jane’s relationship with her brother. The conflict of it, the hopes mixed with the disappointment, the reactions, the conflict, the quashed ideals all are so powerful. I like the layers, I like that he has his own history and conflict, I like the legacy her example has set but I also appreciate her pain and anger over how he chose to introduce himself and how he chose to re-enter her life.  It created a fascinating complicated story. And, though I know next to nothing about Cherokee history or culture or language, there does seem to be a lot of research and effort into making these meaningful inclusion, ensuring that Jane isn’t just carrying around woo-woo from being Native American and nothing else. But i cannot speak to the accuracy of it.

Blood in Her Veins (Jane Yellowrock short stories) by Faith Hunter

This is a book of short stories from the Jane Yellowrock world - and it is huge. It may be a collection of all the short stories that there’s ever been in this series.

And it is excellent. It’s excellent because Faith Hunter is very very good at her short stories - the majority of them add something compelling to the main series. They add a little something to Jane’s past, to her relationships, flash out some elements of various characters’ back stories

I’m not saying they’re all perfect by any means - but the general tone of this whole book is to add a lot of richness and value to the whole series, filling in blanks, adding colour, expanding, adding realness - filling in all those things that would bog down a main book or get in the way or be unnecessary but still have value. That is a perfect use for short stories and compiling them all in one book removes the whole treasure hunt feel you can get trying to find a series’ supporting work.

We Sa and the Lumberking previously appeared in Have Stakes Will Travel developing Jane’s history before the series begins and continuing to keep her Native American ethnicity and experiences centreal

Similarly The Early Years also touches on another of Jane’s early moments, we’ve heard repeatedly that Jane was brought up in a children’s home but we’ve never really seen - Jane’s history in the children’s home and the people she met there and her first awareness of Beast and what Beast was beyond the ignorant attempts to explain that she got from the foster home. At the same time we get some excellent expositions of the flaws of the foster system and, really, how little it actually did to set up Jane for a successful life; not just because she didn’t fit - and Bobby due to his disabilities.

This is continued in Snafu her apprenticeship in security and private investigation, how she gained the skillset she had now, how she grew as a person, as a skinwalker, as a professional and as an adult. These three stories make an excellent arc for Jane’s early years and putting a great foundation of them.

This idea of using short stories to tell us how Jane got to where she is now continues with Kits which lays the foundation for one of the most important relationships in this book: Jane and her best friend and witch Molly. Their friendship, loyalty rough times and high times define so much of this series which means this, their first introduction so important. Especially as it really does explain how two people who are, by necessity, so private, managed to open up and really trust one another. Really, it sets the foundation for how Molly and Jane became not just friends, but family, which adds a realness to their relationship throughout the main series. Haints continues this with more looking at the supernatural world, more looking at how Molly fits into it (and, yes, using her witch skills to try and earn some money, even if dangerously. I like this because while Jane charges huge sums for her work, Molly doesn’t and as a mother of two, the extra cash isn’t just a throwaway resource to her). This also appeared in Have Stakes will Travel along with Signature of Death further cementing this awesome relationship and making them almost required reading for the series. But, I have to say like I did in Have Stakes Will Travel that the sheer amount Jane has reached out to Molly makes me even more disappointed when Molly turns on Jane for a couple of books in the same series. Yes there’s good reason - but these short stories show immense life-saving help Jane has given Molly in the past; I feel Jane deserved better than this. Which, of course, makes me even more happy to see them reconciled in later books

Magical Plot Glue - a Lazy Author's Best Friend

This week we have to look at a collection of some of the laziest story tropes we’ve come across in this genre of magic and mystery

Magic appears a lot in out books - it’s Urban Fantasy, magic is almost required. Some of those systems are intricate and detailed and fascinating. Some are powerful and dramatic. Some have deep backstories, some draw upon real world traditions.

And some involve an author chanting the powerful worlds’ “Fuck it, Magic did it” and lo, the knotty problems of the plot are solved…. By magic! Alas, despite it’s vast power, magical plot hole sealant does not have the ability to make a book or show be coherent or enjoyable. It may be convenient to use magic to hastily glue together the shattered remnants of the plot, but like your grandma’s ugly vase you’ve dragged to the Antique Road Show, we can see the cracks

One form of this Magical Plot Glue is Swiss Army Magic. Don’t get me wrong, a lot of magic is specifically designed to be flexible and I’m certainly not going to say that a wizard or witch can’t do something - but if you’ve established your character is an Earth Elemental with the vast powers of big heavy rocks, I’m going to call shenanigans if they start swooping through the air in the name of Granite.

Or if your character starts tying people up, moving them around and bobbing them on the head with fire - somehow without burning them - I’m going to be less intrigued by the plot and more confused by the author who doesn’t know what fire does. Or your have several gods running around but with infinite unrelated skill sets - your god of war and god of love are pretty much indistinguishable. Though, having read a lot of Paranormal Romance, this doesn’t surprise me.

Of course, while Swiss Army Magic is useful, it lacks the power of the greatest Magical Plot Glue:

Legends speak of many artefacts of incredible power. Of tomes that contain the secrets of the ancients. Of swords that radiate power. Of staves that can move mountains and rings that require epic treks across the wilderness to remove (despite those damn birds who would have been really helpful). But truly, there is one source of power that outshines them all:

The Arse of an Urban Fantasy Protagonist with a Lazy Author

Shadow Rites (Jane Yellowrock #11) by Faith Hunter

Jane is planning the complicated security measures to prepare for the visit of the European Vampires. She also has to prepare for a fraught and controversial summit between the vampires and witches to end centuries of feuding

There’s a lot of terrible things that can go wrong and a lot of fraught diplomacy to misstep

Which is not a good time for her shapeshifting ability to start acting up – made even more pressing with the plotting of some powerful and extremely cunning witches with an apparent lethal agenda.

Jane seems to be heading to a new chapter in this book with bringing more people into her little family. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it yet – I like her and Eli and Alex. They have an excellent rapport. They are a family. While the addition of vampire Edmund (and all his unanswered questions) and entourage has the potential to be amusing I just don’t get why he’s there? Healing mojo? Extra unnecessary debate? Somewhat broken character development about Jane (and is it really character development to not want lots of people you barely know moving in with you?)

Jane and Bruiser is a relationship which is certainly better than relationships Jane has had before. And I definitely appreciate that Jane isn’t falling into a relationship with Leo because that would be a whole terrible mess of abusive tropes

Bruiser is often “protective” of Jane, using the excuse of being old fashioned. Compared to many books it’s mild though and he never tries to overrule her, make decisions for her or otherwise disrespect her. Really, if it wasn’t framed as old fashioned protectiveness it could have been much easier passed off with him being legitimately pissed

It’s just the name, Bruiser. It’s like the worst possible nickname for this character

I don’t hate her relationship with Bruiser – but I love her relationships with others: the family she’s built with Eli and Alex (and, yes, I love that this has never been romantic and never will be), the healing relationship with Molly and trying to balance being protective without infantilising those around her. Caring for people without seeing that as a burden or a duty is a nice addition to her story.

And I know it divides the crowd a lot – but I really do like Beast. I actually like the depiction of the inner animal of a shapeshifter that isn’t all about rage and hunger which is so often the case. I like the depiction of the inner beast as something that isn’t so utterly simplistic, that is still not human but still intelligent and driven.

Have Stakes Will Travel (Jane Yellowrock Short Stories) by Faith Hunter

This is a collection of four short stories largely from the early days of Jane Yellowrock’s history – and it does a great job of filling in a lot of Jane’s history and relationships that were already established before the series began – particularly with Molly

The series pretty much began with Jane and Molly as great friends – especially with Molly providing a lot of magical expertise and support for Jane since Molly is a witch. Now the series has never treated Molly as a servant and help has gone both ways, but it’s still nice to see the foundation of this relationship and what made these two highly secretive, careful women who are very wary of revealing their supernatural nature to others came to share so much together.

Haints the second story in the book does a good job of showing some of the initial overtures – we hear how Jane and Molly first met (with Jane protecting Molly from witch haters) and we see Jane helping Molly deal with a ghostly problem – and getting Molly a good income stream, preventing people taking advantage of her. It also excellently showed off Molly’s power and skill as a witch which I really liked.

This is increased further with Signature of the Death with Jane riding to the rescue of Molly’s family facing down rogue vampires. This is also an event that is frequently referred to throughout the main series, Jane facing down a while nest of vicious rogue vampires and taking them down while being terribly injured in the process. Again we see the foundation of this excellent relationship between the two and the respective strengths of each of them. It’s also a nice expansion of an event

There is one problem with this – while I love reading this story of how Jane and Molly came together, how they fought together and how this put them in such a solid place together by the beginning of the series, it also boggles me that Evan, Molly’s husband, has been so hostile to Jane for so long. Ok there are events later in the series that explain the rift, but given the events in this book my gods the Everhart family owes Jane some more consideration. She has done a lot for that family and really, she has earned a damn site more respect and patience from them. Really really she has. It kind of has damaged the way I look at the Everhearts now because their expanded history really makes them look terrible. I’m saddened that my opinion of these characters has now been badly shattered.

Dark Heir (Jane Yellowrock #9) by Faith Hunter

When Jane receives an alarm that there’s a battle going on in vampire central, she assumed they were under attack from outside

But it was far worses – one of the fathers of the vampire species, long imprisoned in Master Vampire Leo’s basement has escaped. Ancient, powerful beyond all measure and homicidally dangerous he is now running free through New Orleans, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake

The human press and authorities have noticed and they want his head on a platter –and the mob are willing to add a whole lot more vampire heads I the process

But Joses is a revered figure in vampire society – his being held hostage is one of the few things preventing the European vampires from invading. His death would give them they every excuse to do so…

The Jane Yellowrock series is now a very long running and established one and it’s also a series that makes full use of everything that has happened before. So this book contains characters, information and references to everything that has happened in the past – which I love. It also doesn’t engage in lots and lots of excessive recapping which I also love

But perhaps a little non-excessive recapping wouldn’t have gone amiss. Not a lot, but just a little to not leave me floundering at times at a new name or another event mentioned, another past drama referenced, another mystical shiny touched upon. I didn’t get lost per se, but when something was mentioned it did take me a little while to catch up and remember exactly what it was they were talking about which did affect the pacing a little.

It is probably something I wouldn’t normally mention if the middle of the book wasn’t kind of flabby anyway – I think it comes down to the actual plot of the book not being overly complex. There are complex elements – like the different factions all having different motives for Joses – the priests wanting him alive, but each delivering to them, Leo wanting him alive to hold off the European vampires, the humans mortal authorities wanting him dead. All of this could make for a lot of complexity and nuance and difficulty – but it didn’t really emerge. These were the factions that were all vying for a piece of Joses and needed balancing, but ultimately the majority of the book was one single thread of Jane trying to chase Choses, trying to find Joses, fighting Joses, collapsing from exhaustion/healing then getting up and doing it again. There were no real twists no real different directions – just a chase.

There was a lot of investigations into why Joses was imprisoned in the first place and what drove him insane and required it – but it all felt just a little irrelevant, partially because of this series ongoing treatment of mental illness. Vampires in this setting going insane, on a semi-regular basis. When newly turned, when bitten by certain creatures, when particularly injured, when particularly sad. It would help a lot if this wasn’t really termed as a mental illness and it was just referred to as the dovoveo but there is a lot of leaking over to comparing it to “mundane” insanity. This also arises with Jane who also believes Skinwalkers will, inevitably, become insane and dangerous as well. This is both stigmatising (despite the endless trope, most mentally ill people are not dangerous) but it also rendered this whole investigation somewhat pointless. We spend so much time trying to figure out what drove Joses over the edge – but in this setting it could have been ANYTHING and was rather irrelevant. Vampires so regularly frolic over that edge that it could have been the clashing wallpaper that drove him to it.

Broken Soul (Jane Yellowrock #8) by Faith Hunter

Jane is working to a deadline to improve Leo’s security before a delegation of likely hostile European Vampires arrive on an official visit – and possible invasion

She never expected it to be tested early – when the Satan’s Trio arrive in town, vampires that frighten even other vampires, every contingency she’s put in place is going to be sorely tested

And that’s without the near-invisible dragon rampaging through town. No-one saw that coming.

We do have a lot of world building in this book. We’re introduced to the European vampires visiting and why that’s a problem (this was partially introduced in the last book – the expansion includes some interesting concepts of vampire history but also raises the unlikely concept of European vampires coming to the US to avoid religious tensions… which seems somewhat out of touch with the state of religion and politics in western Europe and the US in general, especially a vampire territory in the deep south) and a whole lot of vampire history and why magical artefacts are so important and vital to them. It’s quite deep and meaty

At the same time we have introduced the Arenciel, what they are, where they come from and picked up the whole thread of liminal lines (which had been introduced very briefly in a past book), other realms and an expansion both on Soul (a minor character who has returned on repeated occasions) and Gee DiMercy, the Mercy Blade; both of these were extremely mysterious characters and the little extra building on them was very welcome.

On top of this we had an extension of Jane’s powers and how they changed with she and Beast integrating more closely and the effect of being messed with by an angel (this happened several books ago but hasn’t really been developed since then). This is very involved and some of the descriptions lost me in places since it involves time effects that weren’t always ideally described.

All of this could combine into a very confusing, overly full book and lose the reader – but it’s balanced by a relatively simple plot line. Bad guys are here, bad guys are coming, bad guys have to be defeated. Of course, defeating them is not exactly simple or easy because of the powers at their disposal and there’s a lot of conflict over exactly what the bad guys want and how best to stop them – there’s also a lot of extremely well written, fun and exciting fight scenes. And yes, I do love me a good fight scene – and it’s always a good sign in a book when an author can make you see the action and the excitement of the battle. I’m  not saying the plot was simplistic, because it wasn’t, but it wasn’t excessively elaborate to allow the rest of the information through more time to be absorbed without us having to juggle too many things at once. It was nicely done.

At what point are fans being screwed?

Fans can be wonderful, passionate, amazing people (they can also be aggravating, obsessive and more than a little scary). To be a fan is to really invest in a series, to invest time and energy and passion and hopes and enthusiasm - and money.

Definitely money. Fans love their precious and will reach into their pockets, grab the plastic and buy all kinds of things associated with their beloved series. They’ll lay out money for the next book as soon as it comes out, they’ll buy DVD series - and much much more. Just having the name of the beloved show or book on something will guarantee invested fans will show up desperate to hand over their cash.

And content creators, producers and certainly marketing people know this too well and are quick to cash in. There’s gold in them thar fanpoodles!

But there’s ways and means to cash in on that resource - because some tactics employed are downright sketchy and certainly show very little actual respect for the fanbase. In fact, the need to screw every penny out of the people who have made a series such a success can feel pretty damn contemptuous.

Probably the first thing that springs to mind is merchandising - but to be fair we don’t really see a problem here. Sure we’ll laugh at people like George Lucas’s notorious merchandising everything that can possibly be sold (and it was wonderfully lampooned in Space Balls), but if fans want to buy Game of Thrones playing cards or glasses or a Dragon Egg paperweight (it’s a rock! You’re buying a damn rock! IT’S A ROCK!) then more power to them

Because it’s honest. What you see is what you get. If you really want to drop your money on Game of Thrones beer (and yes, yes you can) then you know what you’re drinking and for how much. It’s the fanpoodle’s choice and it’s clear what they’re getting - nor are even the most dubious items required to continue to be part of the fandom. You may get super geek points for having that statue of Lord of the Ring’s Gollum or the genuine City of Bones Shadow Hunter make up - but it’s not an essential for anyone following the series.

No - there are far more dubious ways to reach into the fan’s pockets

Especially when the series hits the television or movie screens. Urban fantasy has caught the attention of visual media. There is no such thing as a fanpoodle who isn’t giddy with delight to see their favourite series turned into a television show. The fanpoodles have much to dance about with Twilight, True Blood, Game of Thrones, The Mortal Instruments, The Vampire Academy, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, Bitten, The Hunger Games, The Walking Dead and The Vampire Diaries having all made the leap from the page to either the television or the large screen and there are more in the works. Since these new shows or movies are all based on very successful books, movie and television producers can agree to fund them with a modicum of confidence that they will be a success. These converts from books have yielded great financial rewards and once the gravy train starts rolling in, actually pulling into the station is more difficult than starting the damn train in the first place.

By all accounts neither the books or the movies of the Twilight series were great. In many ways the Twilight series is a literary disaster but it made money. There is nothing interesting about any of the movies but they also made money. The only problem for the producers in this case is that Twilight is a finite story. It has a very definitive beginning, middle and ending but when the money is that good why not stretch it out just a little bit more - especially when this can result in $281,275,991 USD. The problem, of course, is that there certainly was not enough plot to justify splitting Breaking Dawn into two movies, but hey, since people will pay, to hell with integrity.

Jane Yellowrock World Companion by Faith Hunter

I’m a big fan of Faith Hunter’s Jane Yellowrock series so when the companion came into my hands I was excited to delve into it.

Companions can be excellent additions to a series, especially a long book series, bringing together all the information of the series in one place, being a handy one stop guide to questions, elaborating on all those little elements of the series that just cannot be included in the main books but are still hinted about – they can be excellent additions. Any author writing a series as long as this is inevitably going to have scenes and ideas and world building that they just can’t fit into the main series. Oh, they could – but inevitably it would be irrelevant to the plot or involve some massively ridiculous info-dumping that would look convoluted and would drag down the pacing of the story

This is the ideal place to fit in all those notes, rambles, world building development etc that couldn’t fit into the main story.

That’s a companion at its best

At its worst, a companion will merely rehash and repeat most of what has been said in the main series, occasionally interspaced with extras that have been on the author’s website. There will be nothing new, original, useful or interesting in it and it will feel like a bit of a money grab.

Unfortunately this companion falls heavily into the second category. A large swathe of the book is taken up by a brief recap of all the other books. As a reviewer this could be useful to me if I ever want to refer back to something in an earlier book, but really is pretty pointless. If you’ve read the series, you don’t need the recaps. This takes up a pretty huge part of the book.

Add on to this there’s a section which is basically a lot of quotes copied and pasted from the books as well.

We have some brief world building notes – but they’re just lists: like Jane’s list of weapons, a list of characters in the series (no extra information on them, just a list) or a brief history of Clan Pellissier – which could have been interesting if it were more than a list.

Black Arts (Jane Yellowrock #7) by Faith Hunter

Jane has three jobs in this book – Katie, Leo’s unpredictable second-in-command vampire, wants her to find where two of her working girls have disappeared to; previous good friends of Jane. Leo himself is having a great big shindig and wants Jane to handle the security just in case they’re invaded by werewolves again – especially since the guest is a new addition to Leo’s vampires and he doesn’t trust the man one iota. As ever, Leo is engaged in a long game of lots of subtle plotting and has firmly cast Jane in the role of doing terrible things he can then deny he had any part in.

And Jane’s best friend, Molly, has disappeared. Her husband Evan arrives in town, distraught, knowing only that Molly was heading to see Jane when she disappeared – and that she doesn’t appear to want to be found.

Throw in some deadly vampire magic, some lethal magic artefacts, a whole lot of revelations and a side order of closure and Jane has a very full plate to handle.

We spent a lot of interesting time in Jane’s head this book. Firstly, this is the book where everyone knows she’s a Skinwalker – everyone she meets is told. Jane’s reaction to this is excellent and complex, with both a feeling of exposure after having kept her secret so long but also a vast feeling of relief. She can now talk about these things with people, she can talk about her history, she can be open about her abilities and it’s amazingly freeing. She’s happy to use her sense of smell or her strength (and make it clear to people “Not human, deal with it”, if it shocks them). This brought a lot of her history out in the open for everyone to know, her nature and her abilities which sets us off in a whole new direction and tone for the books.

Jane’s ongoing struggle to reconcile her job and the things she has to do with her strict moral upbringing and her own sense that she is not a good person. She also has the battle between her Christian faith and her returning memory bringing more and more of her Cherokee beliefs to the fore. It’s a wonderful crisis of identity and morality that has been at the margins of Jane’s character for a long time and it really comes to a head in this book.

There was a bad moment – Rick. I hate Rick. No, that’s not fair, I don’t hate Rick, Rick is not a bad character. What is bad is what happens to Jane whenever Rick is around – she becomes a lovestruck fool, her sense of professionalism goes out the window and her emotions get in the driving seat. Some of these are natural reactions, but Jane takes it to the next level – including having to run out of a function she is chief of security for, while the big bad is right there, so she can go be weepy in a corner. Sorry everyone, play nice for half an hour, our chief warrior is bawling her eyes out.

Blood Trade (Jane Yellowrock #6) by Faith Hunter

 

Jane Yellowrock is still reeling from the bond that Leo forced on her, depressed, lost and apathetic and afraid even to shift for fear that Beast would go running to Leo, she needs a distraction. So a call to Natchez to kill Naturaleza vampires sounds like the best thing.

There’s some politics to play what with Leo and the master of Natchez being officially annoyed with each other and lots of dancing from that, but Jane handles it with her normal blunt force approach.

Except these vampires are worse than your usual Naturaleza. They’re faster, tougher – and nearly immune to silver. And they’re changing into something else, something insectile. This is an entirely new threat and one more lethal and disturbing than most she has faced – something that goes back to the very core of the vampires’ creation.

That and the increasing body count – over 100 missing and dead humans – means having to call in the government agency, PsyLed, which means calling in Ricky which means, along with Bruiser, Leo’s second showing up, Jane also has to deal with her rocky emotions over her personal life.

This is one of those hard reviews to right because so much is done well that it creates an excellent book. But the things that were more shaky are things I can write much more about

Which means I end up reducing the excellently well written plot, with all the descriptions giving me just enough information to see the scene vividly without it being bogged down, the well paced fight scenes full of drama and excitement, the emotional quandaries that carry all of the feeling with none of the excessive angst – to a single sentence of “it was well paced”. Followed by several paragraphs of what I think the book did wrong giving the end impression of my not liking the book, which couldn’t’ be further from the truth.

The book is really well written. Everything is largely balanced well. Jane has personal, emotional conflicts, her depression over the actions in the last book are really well conveyed through her apathy and tiredness far more so than by her sitting in a corner and wailing. Her relationship with Eli and the Kid is shown really well, again without lots of excessive telling, just the way they bounce off each other shows this developing family.

Jane herself is a complicated character, her balancing of her spirituality and morality with her complex belief system, history and profession is deep and interesting. Even as she hardens after the events of the last few books, she still holds onto her morality and the guilt that clings to her. I love the  Her interactions with Beast are excellent and I love that Beast is more than just a raging hungry monster – Beast is maternal, Beast wants kits, Beast can be guaranteed to shred anyone and anything in defence of children.

Review: Death's Rival by Faith Hunter, Book 5 of the Jane Yellowrock Series

 Vampire Masters of the City across the US are being afflicted by a plague. Which should be impossible – vampires are immune to disease. Yet Sedona and Seattle have both been afflicted – and when in their weakened state, they were threatened with take over. Both cities now look to a new, unknown master. And to make it even more worrying, some of Leo’s own vampires are being afflicted with the disease.

Time for Jane Yellowrock to do some investigating, using her new team to track down how the disease came about, where it is from, how it is being transmitted – and, ultimately, who is behind it. But the mystery vampire has far more than the disease at his command and Jane quickly finds herself under attack – and Leo facing a fullscale war; all complicated by there being a spy in the ranks.

Through all this, Jane’s secret Skinwalker identity is yet further frayed, even as more of her forgotten past emerges and she has a painful reminder of how difficult and dangerous it is to get involved with vampires – even vampires she thought she could trust.

I loved this book, it seemed to get just about everything right with the balance.

The story is an excellent mix of action and investigation. The unknown enemy spreading disease isn’t a force they can just take down nor is it something they can just hunker down and defend against. It’s not a mystery since there are no clues we’re expected to follow, but nor is it a series of loosely connected fight scenes. There’s a plot to follow, a nice, tense tracking down of the clues while trying to protect themselves all of which has the added complication of there being a leak in Leo’s organisation. The pacing was excellent, there was no down time even when Jane was exhausted, the plot didn’t get distracted or deviated and at no point did it start to drag – which can be a problem with mysteries as the questions build up and there’s no concrete actions to take or answers given. Instead we had solutions and answers, appropriate red herrings and show down moments, clever plans, interesting plots and a chance to truly see the new characters introduced.

I also liked how much the emotional impact of what was happening wasn’t downplayed. Jane has been through several losses of friends and that still haunts her. Trauma leaves her shocked and stunned – even in shock. Killing people, torturing people bothers her and preys on her mind. They’re not just downplayed events that just happen and they move on, but nor do they require chapters of self-pitying angst as well. It’s a nice balance and really well executed.

I liked the character development and interaction- Jane realising how she sees things differently since working with the vampires, in particularly how money has affected her. Going from having to count the pennies to being able to casually lay out large sums of money – to Reach, for plane tickets, to fund her 2 new employees. In turn that reflects on her willingness to keep working for the vampires even when she has strong reason not to – because can anyone underestimate the value of such financial confidence?

The way the supernatural touches Jane has also developed – I love the way her secret being revealed is being handled. She is trying to hodl what secrets she can and not having a big reveal moment, but nor is she trying to pretend to be fully human when it’s blatantly obvious to everyone that she isn’t. She isn’t happy with her skinwalker status being more known, but she’s not whimpering and trying to put it back in the bag – she’s living with it and making it work for her.

Fangs for the Fantasy: Episode 71

This week we discuss our book of the week – Raven Cursed by Faith Hunter, book 4 of Jane Yellowrock Series. We also look at the return of Falling Skies with its double season premier. Of course, we also look at True Blood as move further into the series.

And even some things that Charlaine Harris gets right!

Review: Raven Cursed by Faith Hunter, Book 4 of the Jane Yellowrock Series

Jane Yellowrock has a job from Leo Pelliser, Master of the city of New Orleans and, as it turns out, Master of the whole South-east of the United States, meaning he has far more oomph than Jane imagined.

He has sent her to escort Gregoire, one of his top vampires, to negotiate with the local vampire Shaddock who wishes to become Master of Asheville on account of his children becoming vampires super-quickly without decades of madness. It’s an important bodyguard job and Jane is focused on it and in charge despite the distraction of Rick, her sort-of-boyfriend turning into a wereleopard.

Unfortunately things are complicated by the remaining werewolves from the pack she destroyed in the last book seeking revenge – and by revenge that means slaughtering people in her area. Jane is forced to work with local police to find the wolves, balancing law enforcement with orders from Leo who wants them dead as soon as possible. Jane has her own reasons since Molly and her family (and coven witches) are in the area –Molly’s husband blames her for putting their children in danger, Jane cannot stand the idea that she has put them at risk again

But even Molly’s coven isn’t a source of peace – with it being betrayed from within with dark magic, old secrets and an ancient evil being summoned at the heart of it – an evil whose influence is making all Jane’s jobs that much harder and that much more complicated.

This book was overwhelming. There was a lot happening – with the parley talks, lethal werewolves running around killing people, the Grindylow apparently with its own agenda, Kenmebi both mentoring and threatening to kill Rick, the rogue vampire to hunt down and, of course, Evangeline playing her own game. At times I was almost lost, I kept wondering what plot line we were on and where we were going and why. Usually, such a book annoys me, I wish they’d remove a plot line so the story would flow better, there wouldn’t be so many distractions and I wouldn’t feel like I had to take notes to try and keep up with everything. But not in this case. Yes it was overwhelming but it was equally clear that it was meant to be. As Jane bounced from crisis to crisis, slipping sleep, desperately trying to fit everything in – this was one of the themes of the book; exhaustion, stress and constantly have to run to keep up with everything – and everything being too important to just cast aside or even realistically delay. It makes for a very strong part of the book, being very sustained and well balanced. I was overwhelmed, but I wasn’t lost.

I also like how the storylines come together – it adds the plausibility of not having everything just spontaneously happen at once and prevents everything in Jane’s life happening in complete isolation. It is very well done and doesn’t feel even remotely strained or convoluted – it flows naturally and it’s also completely and utterly unpredictable. I didn’t see the ending, I didn’t see what was happening and discovered everything as and when the characters did – the mystery was mysterious and the confusion was natural and shared with the protagonist.

The pacing was excellent, I was never bored and it never dropped and got lost. The action scenes were well laid out and described – nothing was too rushed or dragged. Everything was described appropriately – it was a very well balanced book, really well written and never once made me want to put it down.

Review: Mercy Blade by Faith Hunter, Book 3 of the Jane Yellowrock series

Jane Yellowrock is still serving Leo Pellissier, vampire leader of New Orleans – and she’s needed more than ever as a whole new revelation sweeps the world – werecreatures exist. Not only do they exist, but New Orleans is going to be ground zero of a whole new series of diplomatic meetings between the werecats of Africa and the Vampires – and these are 2 groups that don’t get on very well.

One thing that does untie them is their hatred of the werewolves – werewolves that are also coming back to New Orleans after Leo drove them out many years before. They want their territory back, they’re harbouring a grudge against the vampires and they’re willing to use any tool – violence or human law or human media – to get their territory back and drive Leo out.

Then here’s the vampires themselves s-living for centuries means vampires and blood servants can develop so many grudges and feuds between them. Someone’s definitely plotting among the vampire clans – and targeting Leo and Bruiser, his chief blood servant – in an elegant legal frame.

On top of that there’s Girrard DiMercy, the Mercy Blade who has come back to town – an old friend and servants of Leo’s and now a bitter enemy. He’s coming back and hanging around with powers Jane doesn’t understand and an agenda no-one knows and he’s not leaving.

And Katie chooses now, of all times, to rise from her crypt irrational and lost from her long healing from Skinwalker

Into this mix – one of the were-leopards dies and Jane’s boyfriend, Rick, disappears. Now to find who dunnit in this maze.

The plot, I have to admit, confused me at times. I got a bit lost not so much on who is who but on how everything was connected. We seemed to have several clues at once and I’m not entirely sure how we got onto each one. I don’t think it was poorly written, but I do think it’s a book that needs reading carefully or maybe reading twice to keep a track of the twists and turns. I’m not sure about some of the links and leaps Jane made, but that could be because I was flailing a little in the many threads.

Despite that – or perhaps, because of that – it was a good mystery. It’s complex but the clues – the many many many clues – are there. There’s a lot of information to piece together and some red herrings and distractions – but not many. All the information forms a part of the puzzle but the puzzle is so bemusing until all those pieces are together and you can see it as a whole. Again, it’s a book that would be worth a re-read just to see how the pieces are laid and fit the clues into the puzzle now I know what the full puzzle looks like.

We also had a huge amount of world building with the weres, with Gee, with the Curse of Artemis and more on vampire history and politics and how they worked. And all of it was integrated into the story without the clumsy info dumps or convoluted explanations we’ve come to know and loathe. Each of them adds a new dimension to the world and the story and kept me curious throughout.

I do hope we see more development with the weres because I feel we’ve only touched the surface and focused far more on the werewolves than the werecats. I also can’t wait to see more of the legal and political situation as vampires and weres continue to hold themselves outside of human laws, like a foreign country almost.

Fangs for the Fantasy podcast, episode 58

This week we discuss the Walking Dead (and the Death of Shane!!!!), Being Human (US), the Vampire Diaries and the Game of Thrones.

We also discuss musty vampires and true vampire villains.

We also talk about Mercy Blade by Faith Hunter, the 3rd book in the Jane Yellowrock Series

Review of Blood Cross by Faith Hunter: Book 2 of the Jane Yellowrock Series

 

Blood Cross is the second book in the Jane Yellowrock series.  When we last left Jane, though she had saved the day, Leo, the master of the New Orleans was not pleased, believing that she had killed his son, rather than killing the killer of his son.  In Blood Cross, Jane must hunt a dangerous rogue who is creating vampires and killing witches. 

But things are far from that simple - with witch magic and vampire powers coming together to try and overcome the ancient curse of the vampires - the fighting of reveals far more about the history of vampire kind

Beast is still pushing Jane and we learn that any maternal feelings Jane has actually belong to beast who refers to children as kits.  I really like this division as socially it is falsely constructed that all women love children and feel protective and loving around them.  Beast also wants to mate, and Jane is worried that the closer they get to the new moon, the more likely that Beast will choose one from her two suitors.  I love that Beast showed no shame in her sexual desires, though did find it problematic that this suggested mated was meant to be a sort of completion of Jane.

Jane herself is a wonderfully strong character. She's driven, arse kicking, completely lacking in spunky agency, capable of looking after herself but not ridiculously over perfect. She has doubts and concerns but she is never weak with them. She sets her own agenda, and covers it in a lovely lashing of snark and defiance that never drops into ridiculous Keillie Independence. About the only thing I didn't like over much beyond the mated=completion was the age-old trope of the protagonist blaming themselves for things that are not their fault and beyond their control.

In this novel we are introduced to our first gay token however he has no role beyond a 2 second reference. His name is Deon and he is the new cook over at Katies.

On the monitor, I watched Deon, who was slight of form, about five-seven, and gayer than a nineteen fifties chorus-line dancer, as he washed his hands before tackling sushi. (pg 173)

We don't anything about him beyond that fact that he is gay and chef. The rest of the novel is largely spent on heterosexual and cisgender characters; however, there is still plenty of appropriation going on:

Bliss was still in the witch closet (or maybe she didn't know she was a witch?) and any mention of magic use made her uncomfortable. (pg 60-61)

This is but one instance of many in which Hunter uses terms like coming out, or closeted to talk about a supernatural creature revealing its identity publicly.  This language is appropriation and does not consider the harm that the phenomenon of the closet causes to GLBT people.

Hunter also through in some transphobia for fun: