Title: Strange Angels

Author: Lili St. Crow

Genre: YA (Paranormal)

Publisher: Razorbill
Publishing Date: May 14, 2009
Paperback: 304 pages

Stand Alone or series: First book in a planned series

Summary: Dru Anderson has what her grandmother called “the touch.” (Comes in handy when you’re traveling from town to town with your dad, hunting ghosts, suckers, wulfen, and the occasional zombie.)

Then her dad turns up dead—but still walking—and Dru knows she’s next. Even worse, she’s got two guys hungry for her affections, and they’re not about to let the fiercely independent Dru go it alone. Will Dru discover just how special she really is before coming face-to-fang with whatever—or whoever— is hunting her?

Why did we read the book: We were offered review copies by the publisher and since we are on a YA roll, we accepted it.

Review:

First Impressions:

Ana:I am falling in love with YA as a genre and I love it when it’s ballsy. It’s only a few chapters into the book and our 16 year old protagonist has to face her newly zombified (beloved) father and kill him, so right then I know this book has a great potential for greatness. From that moment on, Dru has a rollercoaster ride into finding out what the heck is going on and I was glad to go along for all the fun (and fear). Seriously? Loved the book and was highly impressed with the main storyarc.

Thea: I couldn’t disagree more with Ana. While I think this book had potential story-wise, the poor writing, the protagonist’s flimsy characterization, and overall clumsy plotting made Strange Angels a laborious read. Going back to Philip Larkin’s criteria for books: I could barely read it, I couldn’t believe it, and most resoundingly of all…I didn’t care.

On the Plot:

Dru Anderson is a 16 year old whose father is a Hunter – he goes into the night hunting for things in what she calls The Real World – the one where every single thing you thought was a fairytale or folklore, isn’t. She usually stays behind in their missions but that doesn’t mean Dru doesn’t take part – she has moderate psychic abilities (foreseeing mainly) and weapons training. Dru is tough and resilient but the fact that her father comes back from his latest mission as a zombified corpse out to get her is too much to bear and she falls apart. She gets help from an orphaned boy from her school , Graves (or Goth Boy) and they end up teaming up against whatever is after Dru. They have plenty of questions needing answers and encounters with things that even Dru is not sure should exist. Their path leads to danger and to a point of no return for both of them. Then, the answers they need come by in the form of a djamphir (half-breed vampire) called Christophe, who is a member of something called the Order and then Dru learns a lot more about Family and Inheritance.

Ana: Strange Angels is less of a character piece than a plot-driven novel: the action is non-stop from the moment that Dru kills her father and finds herself all alone in the world. The entire plot lasts only a few days within the novel and these are very agitated days with a constant flux of action and twists. Even though the creatures that inhabit this world (vampires, werewolves) are nothing new, the representation of these beings and the place they have in the world-building here were new to me and I was pleasantly appeased. As I was surprised with the ways thing turn out to be and how everything culminate into a cool fight scene and with a smallish cliff-hanger that left me wanting more.

The only caveat here, which dragged the action a bit, is the amount of repetitions of actions or Dru’s thoughts: for example, in less than 2 pages the fact that Graves “seemed old than he appeared” was repeated at least 3 times. To be fair though, I read and ARC and these could easily have been edited out from the final product.

Thea: I have to disagree with Ana – the plot, in my opinion, moved at a glacial speed. Which left nothing much but Dru’s mind-numbingly repetitive internal monologuing for ninety-percent of the novel, hardly enough to endear me to this book. On paper, the plot sounds interesting: precognitive Dru’s dad is turned into a zombie, Dru shoots him, befriends a half-asian “Goth Kid” from school (who gets bitten by a werewulf) and later befriends a djamphir, and together they track down Dru’s father’s killer.

Sounds solid, doesn’t it? Unfortunately this only constitutes about ten percent of the actual book.

And reading the same poorly written phrases over and over and over again does not a good novel make. Needless to say, my issue with the book was largely because of the writing. The repetition of certain images/sensations (for some reason, Dru’s main emotions are tied solely to her stomach), use of contradictory descriptions (shivering and then breaking out into hot goosebumps? Eh?), continuity errors (for example, Dru would hang up a phone and then in the next paragraph talk about how the phone was still ringing while she waited for someone to pick up her call), factual errors (“katas” are for Karate and a few other Japanese martial arts, not Tai Chi – which is Chinese), conversations that never make any sense (a character will ask Dru a question, she’ll internal monologue for a couple of paragraphs, and…conversation over) and even more repetition (“Daddy told me to do my katas,” “Graves had a mop of lank hair,” etc) made this an incredibly irritating, almost un-readable book for me. On a related note, what teenager in this day and age still uses a walkman, as opposed to an iPod? Pay phones as opposed to cell phones? Granted, Dru’s (and Graves’s) living situation is a bit different than the norm, but does any sixteen year old use terms like “Muzak” (as opposed to “music”), or even know what a walkman is? To cut Ms. St. Crow some slack, this is something that many contemporary YA authors don’t seem to get right.

By the time the actual story kicked in (past the halfway mark of the book), it was too little, too late. Which is a shame because, generic and rehashed as this general plot is, it had potential to be at least entertaining.

On the characters:

Ana: If the plot worked really well for me, I am torn when it comes to Dru. I really liked her voice and I didn’t mind her first person narrative and how realistic and with her feet on the ground she was. But I am not sure that some of her traits are intentional or not. She is tough and comes across as really abrasive sometimes but I am not sure whether this is a defence mechanism (it could well be, after all she has been through) or if it is just empty mannerisms. It irritated the hell out of me that for example, she kept calling Graves, “kid” even if he was her age. It sounded ridiculous and unnecessary BUT part of me wondered if this wasn’t how Dru coped – by setting herself apart and most importantly above him. She was, after all, alone in this world as of the start of the book and for all the want and need she had for a grown-up figure to come and take care of them, she was still the only one of the duo that had ANY clue about what was going on and how to make sure they survived . It is a tough choice for a young girl to make, especially since it soon become clear that they had no choice at all, it was either fight or die.

As for Graves: count me as a fan. The boy stole my heart the minute he made his first lame joke. He is awkward as any adolescent, lonely and yet compelling with his quiet strength and how he stayed by Dru’s side throughout whatever was thrown at him. The fact that she could truly rely on him was very heart-warming and a great bonus point for the story.

The jury is still out on Christophe. He came into too late in the story and at the moment he is only that undisclosed , unoriginal pretty boy with attitude. If there is an upcoming love triangle, I sit FIRMLY on Team Graves.

With the amount of action in Strange Angels, there is really room for character development, but the potential is right there and I hope there will be enough time for it with the next book. The setting seems really promising.

Thea: The character development was similarly unpalatable for me.

As I’ve mentioned, Dru’s internal narrative comprises the entire book. She’s abrasive, condescending, and a hardass. At first, I could maybe excuse this characterization – as Ana says, this might just be her coping mechanism. Except…it isn’t. After reading 150 pages of the same drivel, one tends to lose any sympathy they might have for her character. Especially when she makes statements about Graves being a “kid,” a “half-breed,” or any number of the same. brain-melting. repetitive. observations. Her descriptions and mannerisms (as mentioned above, every reaction or character motivation for some bizarre reason is tied to her belly, everything is scalding hot or numbingly cold, and red seems to be the only color associated with her emotions) come across as hollow; Dru ultimately feels like a bad character in a book, not an actual person.

But, for how annoying Dru was, I have to agree with Ana that Graves was fully awesome. I loved his corny jokes, his smart assessments, and his awkwardness. I can’t for the life of me see what he does in Dru, but no one is perfect.

As for Christophe…can I make an observation? This is yet another book featuring a prospective love triangle with a werewolf (excuse me, werewulf) and a vampire (oops, dhampir — no wait, djampir). Just because the spelling of a word is changed does not make it any more original. Why would a Russian djampir spell his name “Christophe”? Doesn’t that just ooze cheesy ’80s hairstylist from Beverly Hills? I digress. In any case, Christophe only emerges in the story about 2/3 through, and sticks around to data dump.

Final Observations, Recommendation and Rating:

Ana: Action-packed with an interesting setting and such vivid dangers that fear was a very apt word to describe what I felt in some of its pages. I definitely think this is a good start of a series for YA with cross –over appeal for adults as well.

Thea: Trite, draggy book with an annoying main character, mis-paced action, and dull characterizations. If it wasn’t for Graves, this book would have absolutely no saving graces. Teens might be more forgiving than more discriminating adults, though.

I should note that my feelings for this book were largely colored by my dislike of the writing style – and this could be completely subjective. I cannot stand a book that relies heavily on repetition of phrases, overly ornate (and contradictory) sensory descriptions, and cranky heroines. Obviously, Ana feels differently, as may many other readers! While I can’t endorse the book, I’d still encourage readers to give it a try and see how it fits.

Notable Quotes/ Parts:

Ana: Hands down when Dru has to face her father. It was HORRIBLE for many reasons: it was terrifying. it was dangerous it was sad. Great sequence.

Thea: The best part definitely has to be Dru facing her zombified father, I agree. For the bad parts, any other time Dru thinks.

Rating:

Ana: 7 – Very good.

Thea: 5 – Meh. Take it or leave it.

Reading next: Tomorrow, we post our joint review of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies – FINALLY!

Perusing our morning emails and blogs, we noticed this particular article posted over at Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist. The article is an opinion piece by Urban Fantasy author Lilith Saintcrow, of Dante Valentine fame, on the definition of Urban Fantasy, its detractors, and how it is more than just chicks in leather with skillz. The article has caused something of a tempest over at Pat’s blog, with comments ranging from supportive of Ms. Saintcrow’s position, to openly and wildly misogynistic. And, as reviewers that read a lot of Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance, we want to weigh in on the situation. Thea will be posting her thoughts on Urban Fantasy and Ms. Saintcrow’s argument here, while Katie (aka Blossum) will post her thoughts as they apply to Paranormal Romance at her spot.

*****
Thea:

I am an avid reader of Urban Fantasy, and Lilith Saintcrow’s article left me with mixed emotions. On the one hand, I was eagerly nodding along with her points about tough gal female characters as empowering, and that Urban Fantasy (henceforth “UF”)can be so much more than just chicks in leather with big guns (or magic powers, or katanas, or…you get the picture). On the other hand, there are quite a few things I disagree with so far as her article is concerned (much like this excellent post on the article over at OF Blog of the Fallen).

Ms. Saintcrow centers her argument on the idea the UF is defined as follows:

What truly defines UF, and why the genre has exploded recently, is the moral and ethical ambiguity of its protagonists.
[...]
In urban fantasy, the protagonist is dealing as best they can with a world where “good” is relative. Moral and ethical quandaries lurk under the surface, there are very few clear examples of pure unstained good. The lead character’s talents and abilities either set her apart in or initiate her into a world where there is very little in the way of certainty. Friends and foes change places, and antihero isn’t so much the order of the day as that old noir trope, the “decent person in an indecent world”.

I like the application that UF is defined not only by a solo protagonist in a city, using magic in some way–but that a large distinction lies in the morally ambiguous issues raised in the work. I can get on board with this! In many ways, the new UF (and I’m talking the mainstream Harry Dresdens and Rachel Morgans in the POST Anita Blake literary landscape) is very similar to the hardboiled detective novel, or a spaghetti western (heck, even said Rachel Morgan books play on Sergio Leone titles!). Much like The Man With No Name, these new UF protagonists are hardly ever spotlessly pure and moral; they walk in the tenuous gray areas, wrestling with tough scenarios where solutions aren’t as cleanly distinguished between Good and Bad. This is me, nodding my head along with Ms. Saintcrow’s assertions.

But then, there’s the Gender Card, and the sweeping generalizations:

But romance or urban fantasy? You might as well start embroidering your own scarlet letter, honey.

Paranormal romance is considered lowbrow and trashy because it’s female. Despite the fact that it’s a multibillion-dollar business (and every dollar a woman shells out for it costs more because let’s face it, we earn a lot less), it’s still that pink-jacketed crap for bored housewives. Tom Clancy is supposed to be Real and Hard-Hitting, even if his “novels” are thinly-veiled technical manuals. Nora Roberts is supposedly less Real because she writes about feeeeeeelings. While we could debate the relative merits of Clancy vs. La Nora all day–and not agree, mind you, because Roberts is just plain the better writer–the fact remains that Clancy has a better shot at being considered “serious” because his is MAN’S FICTION.

Smell that testosterone, baby.

Urban fantasy is mostly women’s fiction too. (Yes, I know there are significant exceptions, like Jim Butcher, Simon Green, and Charles de Lint. We’ll get to that.) There’s a lot of crossover between paranormal romance and urban fantasy. I like to say that UF is PR without the HEA (that’s Happily Ever After, for those just joining us.)

Here’s where I have to frankly disagree. Yes, UF and Paranormal Romance are knocked around as lowbrow crap. Yes, UF has a large female readership and many women authors. Would I go so far as to say UF is “women’s fiction”? No. What about those authors Ms. Saintcrow mentions, how about Butcher and Green and de Lint (or Gaiman, or the up and coming Anton Strout, etc.)? As Larry points out in his post–she never really goes back to address these male voices in the genre. Furthermore, how about male authors who write female protagonists like T.A. Pratt or Mark Henry? Or for that matter, women who write male protagonists like Rob Thurman? Ms. Saintcrow takes a very narrow approach to UF, which in turn limits her argument.

But she does have a point that UF and Paranormal Romance are sneered upon by ‘mainstream’ readers (or readers in general, as is clearly seen in the comments section of the original post).**Note: For my purposes, I am separating UF and Paranormal Romance here, as I firmly disagree with Ms. Saintcrow’s lumping the two very different genres together.**

It is the cause of said sneering where I disagree with Ms. Saintcrow. I would argue that the lowbrow perception of UF stems not from the notion that it is “women’s literature” (although I do agree that there is a negative association especially with empowered female characters of the UF or Paranormal Romance variety–more on that later), but rather from the fact that UF is GENRE FICTION. And Genre Fiction, whether it be Military Science Fiction or High Fantasy or Historical Romance, comes with a set of stereotypes and conventions. For example, some fantasy suffers from the perception that there are Orcs and Evil Sorcerers running rampant, and One Leader of pure heart (and possibly some unbeknown royal blood) with some magical weapon or skill will staunch the Darkness thereby restoring Peace to the Land. Or Historical Romance involves a pretty heroine of lower birth (and strong spirit) faced with desperate financial/marital/familial straits, and a hero of higher social/economic status (or is in some way to help the heroine out of her troubles). The two of them hook up, have some form of misunderstanding, but eventually get married and live Happily Ever After.

Similarly, the typical (After Anita Blake) female protagonist centered UF convention involves a badass leather-clad chick, wielding magic and/or some type of lethal weapon, going about in an alternate version of some known urban locale, working a job to avert some kind of paranormal catastrophe (under some form of death threat).

As with any genre fiction, there are huge differences within the genre itself, in terms of writing level, characters, and challenging those restrictive and misleading conventions–separating the Patrick Rothfusses, Loretta Chases, or Kim Harrisons from the mediocre voices in the genre. Such as…well, to be perfectly frank, Lilith Saintcrow.

Yes, I would argue that Ms. Saintcrow’s writing falls victim to her own essay. I have read Working for the Devil, Ms. Saintcrow’s first Dante Valentine novel, and a book I *really* did not enjoy (review HERE). Why not? Firstly, because Dante Valentine fits every stereotype of the new wave UF genre: she’s a trash talking, leather wearing, sword swinging, emotionally retarded badass with magic powers (she’s even a necromancer). Dante is an Anita Blake knockoff, ready-built and packaged for the Anita Blake readership–and unfortunately, she’s nowhere near as fun as the real thing (at least Anita Blake up to book 7). That’s fine, I can deal with a paler heroine. The dealbreaker for me with Working for the Devil lay in the non-existent character development, shoddy descriptions, weak dialogue, vague worldbuilding, and mediocre (at best) writing.

In short, Ms. Saintcrow’s Danny Valentine perpetuates those same annoying stereotypes and genre conventions that give UF its bad rap–a fact that is only exacerbated by the weaksauce writing.

But enough on Ms. Saintcrow’s Dante Valentine. Let us return to the original post, and the other part of Ms. Saintcrow’s argument that really bugged me:

Urban fantasy is pretty much the only genre today exploring not only the ethics of power and consent, but also serious questions of violence and gender relations from a primarily female point of view. There are significant exceptions, to be sure–I mentioned them above; UF series with male protagonists. But the really huge bump in titles has been series and books with female protagonists, examining these questions from a female perspective.

There’s something about this that rubs me the wrong way–not that I disagree with the statement that female protagonist UF marks an examination of the ethics of power and consent from a female standpoint. No, I disagree with Ms. Saintcrow’s assessment that UF is pretty much the only genre exploring power and consent from a gendered application, and the insinuation that UF is the trailblazing pioneer of such examination in literature. I cannot agree with this at all.

I agree that this is a huge part of many female centered UF books–women empowered, able to fight for themselves, tote guns and go toe to toe with the big boys in terms of violence and intelligence. That is one of the reasons I love many books in the genre–I like reading about Rachel Morgan using her magic to save her friends and trick Demons, or Mercy Thompson outsmarting a foe that has underestimated her intelligence. This is probably the main reason I read this type of UF!

But to argue that UF is the only genre that attempts this? The first genre to attempt this?

I would have to answer with a resounding NO. For example, let’s take a look at superhero comics, which have been around for a long time (certainly before Anita Blake). Superhero comics are another example of genre fiction, often seen as lowbrow or immature. And, incidentally, these comics include a number of leather clad, weapon and/or magic toting, badass chicks. There’s the morally ambiguous Selina Kyle, the tortured Rogue or immensely powerful Jean Gray. Oh, and lets not forget the ultimate personification of empowered, sexy, kick-ass heroine: Princess Diana, Wonder Woman herself. What’s even more interesting, is that by Ms. Saintcrow’s definition, comics would be perceived as “male fiction”. Curiouser and curiouser.

These superhero comics are only one literary example of other applications of gender to issues of violence, power and consent separate from the UF genre. There are examples of this in Science Fiction (in particular, Military Science Fiction), in Fantasy (of varied subgenres), or even Literary Fiction. UF does it extremely well, but it’s certainly not the first or only example.

And yet–for all that I may disagree with Ms. Saintcrow’s limited definition of UF as women’s fiction and some of her gendered interpretations of the genre (my eyes glaze over when I read phrases like the “Dark Feminine”), she does have a valid point in that there is a stigma associated with empowered, shamelessly violent, self-sufficient heroines. This comes through loud and clear in the comments section of the post–as the first commenter states:

I don’t see that changing the gender of the protagonist adds another layer of tension, as she seems to think. There is nothing inherently more interesting about being a female protagonist. The downside however is that the paranormal romance heroines are about ten times more unrealistic in what they do, partly because at the end of the day, they are still women and not men, and do not have the physical prowess and imagining them do the things the female authors of this subgenre have them do, takes even more suspension of disbelief. It’s self-indulgent tripe. Wish fulfillment. Which is fine if you want to write that sort of stuff and you can actually find a market full of female buyers for it. After all, Harlequin sells loads of erotic romance books as well. But don’t try to pass it off as anything more than that.

As a woman, as a reader of many different genres, I am incredibly offended by this statement, and by subsequent comments on the blog. Clearly, the misogynistic attitude towards empowered women, and so called “women’s fiction” does exist–especially in the realms where female protagnoist UF and Paranormal Romance are concerned. There are a number of other remarkably bigoted comments, some assertions that it just isn’t realistic for a 5′2″ woman to possible take down a larger man no matter how intensely trained they are in whatever martial art. Any more unbelieveable than Rocky Balboa taking down the ‘roided up Ivan Drago despite being half his size? Mr. Miyagi overcoming his brittle old man bones and single-handedly whooping the collective Cobra Kai’s ass? Or in real life, how about the scrappy Manny Pacquiao annihilating the much larger and stronger Oscar De La Hoya?

Or shit, while we’re on it, how about David and freaking Goliath?

Something that also might be addressed is how many of these commenters are other genre fiction readers, with the mindset that “my genre fiction is better than yours!” UF readers are eager to dismiss Paranormal Romance (or Romance in general) as trash. High Fantasy fans calling UF crap. We’re all entitled to our own opinions, and to read or avoid what we wish. But within any genre in the universe, there will always be some trash, but there also will always be the gems. Calling an entire collection of literature, an entire genre trash?

That’s more than just a tad disingenuous.

*****

Additional Thoughts: If anyone is looking for some excellent (post-Anita Blake), female protagonist centered Urban Fantasy, here’s my list of recommended reading:

• The Hollows (Rachel Morgan) series by Kim Harrison
• Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs
• Weather Warden series by Rachel Caine
• Succubus series by Richelle Mead
• Anita Blake series (through book 7) by Laurell K Hamilton
• Magic series by Ilona Andrews
• Women of Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong
• Wicked Lovely series by Melissa Marr (Young Adult)
• Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead (Young Adult)

Make sure to stop by Katie’s blog for her insights on the article as it pertains to Paranormal Romance!

Title: Working for the Devil

Author: Lilith Saintcrow

Review Number: 13

Genre: Paranormal Fiction, Urban Fantasy, pseudo pulp-noir/futuristic?

Stand alone or series: First in the Dante Valentine series

Summary: (from lilithsaintcrow.net)
Necromance-for-hire Dante Valentine is choosy about her jobs. Hot-tempered and with nerves of steel, she can raise the dead like nobody’s business. But one rainy Monday morning, everything goes straight to Hell. The Devil hires Dante to eliminate a renegade demon: Vardimal Santino. In return, he will let her live. It’s an offer she can’t refuse. There’s just one catch. How do you kill something that can’t die?

Why did I read this book: I’m getting into the paranormal genre, and heard some good things about this series online.

Review:

You know sometimes when you read a book, and you get that choked feeling of frustration at wasted potential? The I-wanna-tear-my-hair-out kind of frustration?

This is exactly how I feel about Working for the Devil.

This book taps into the Anita Blake, badass paranormal heroine genre–which is totally cool. I’m a fan of the genre, and of badass heroines in general. BUT. Yep, there’s a big But.

The story is pretty simple. Dante Valentine is a freelance necromance, and is at home watching her soaps on a slow weekend. A big, hulking demon named Japhrimel lands on her doorstep, points a gun in her face, and lets her know that Lucifer himself demands an audience with her. Jaf drags her to Hell with him, and the Devil forces Dante into a job. A demon has stolen an egg from Hell, which could unleash some nasty shiz on earth. Dante, who has a history with said demon (he murdered her old lover), takes the job, and is assigned Japhrimel as her familiar.

I’ll start with the good stuff. I actually really like the cover art (which is exceedingly rare for me in this genre–usually the covers look like crap and I just can’t like them). It’s kinda pulp-y, in a good cheese kind of way. I love our heroine’s name: Dante Valentine (Danny for short). The Dante allusion, working for Lucifer, it’s just…cool. I was excited to get into this new leading lady.

Until I read the first chapter. (Here’s where the But comes in)

My initial impression of the first 200 pgs of the book goes something like this:

Growl! Chillfreaks I hate Chillfreaks!…slicboard…gene splicing…Growl!…sparkling magic…Anubis! Anubis et’her ka!…I was being rude! He was being rude!..f-bomb…chillfreak…Growl!

That probably doesn’t make sense to you if you haven’t read the book, but those that have know what I’m talking about.

Perhaps the biggest failing of this book was that there was nothing really to LIKE in Dante Valentine. She was, in plain terms, a bitch. Which is ok, but she had absolutely no dimension, or anything really relateable about her. She was a predictable, kind of boring bitch. Worse than that, she was just a cheap Anita Blake knockoff. Anita is a necromancer, Dante is a necromance. Instead of Anita’s trusty .9mm Browning, Dante has a Katana. The general tone of writing, the character’s thoughts and first person narration–all very Anita Blake. Right down to the “Bully for me”’s, “Me and my big mouth”’s, etc. At least early Anita had a sympathetic side (you know with her penguins). Dante Valentine? Not so much. I guess Ms. Saintcrow thought that the comparisons wouldn’t be as significant because Dante is Anita Blake IN THE FUTURE! On a SLICBOARD! GENE MAPPING!

The futuristic setting was a bit much for me. In a book that is pushing the fantastic with necromances, magi, witches and demons, it was a bit much to also throw hoverboards, plasguns and such on top of things. Though, to be fair, I probably would have been much more receptive to the futuristic, post-apocalyptic setting had things been better explained or described. The vague, half-cocked descriptions of “plugging in” to the net or medscanners just don’t quite cut it for me.

Things were exacerbated by the fact that the writing in this book is mediocre at best. Nothing ever really makes sense–these characters, Danny included, don’t have “real” reactions to anything. It felt like someone was trying to write a story, not like someone telling a story. Danny growled a lot, Jaf’s cheek twitched a lot, Eddie scowled a lot, and so forth. Ms. Saintcrow is at her best when detailing action sequences, and witty banter between Gabe and Danny (they curse fluently, which isn’t a bad thing). Unfortunately, everything else plain sucks. Non-existant character development, shoddy descriptions, weak dialogue…you get the picture.

About 2/3 through the book, I actually started to (finally) get into it. The action sequences were strong, building up to the book’s climax, and the unfolding love story between Japhrimel and Dante was sweet–it cut down on Danny’s sharp edges. I was even considering purchasing book 2.

Unfortunately, the ending of the book totally blew it for me. Any goodwill I may have developed instantly evaporated.

I put down the book frustrated, and honestly feeling a bit exploited and disgusted.

However, I just checked out Ms. Saintcrow’s site, and it seems that the ending for book 1 may have been a ‘fakeout’. I hate feeling exploited…but I might just pick up book 2 to see what happens. Might.

Notable Quotes/Parts: I liked that Ms. Saintcrow wasn’t afraid to show Dante had a mouth on her. Her fluency with cursing was cool, and probably the most genuine thing about her as a character. For example:

My emerald spat a single spark out into the night, a brief green flash making his pupils shrink. “I am going to find Santino and kill him. It’s my revenge. When I tear his spleen out through his nose, you can have your fucking Egg and go back to your fucking Prince and stay out of my life. But until then, quit fucking up my hunt! You got it?”

He stared at me for another ten seconds, that muscle in his cheek twitching. “As you like,” he finally grated out.

“Good,” I said. “Now follow me. And keep your goddamn motherfucking mouth shut.”

Additional Thoughts: Reading the favorable quotes from reviewers on the inside cover, I see that one recommendation is from Anne Bishop, author of the Black Jewels trilogy–an overhyped (in my opinion) defining series of wasted potential and pale characterization. Now that should have tipped me off.

Verdict: Read at your own peril. I have some hope that Ms. Saintcrow’s writing improves in the next book, and if the ending was indeed a fakeout, I’ll be glad. I guess I’ll give her one more shot…but she’s gonna have to do a lot to gain my admiration as a fan.

Rating: 5 Meh, take it or leave it

Reading Next: Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison