Published February 10, 2015 | By Shawna
This urban fantasy set in Seattle was, above all, fun! Think Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Charles de Lint’s Newford tales.
Voice is important in any novel, but it makes or breaks a novel written in the first person. Kendis, the protagonist, starts out in the very first page with a sharp-tongued, witty interior dialogue that makes you want to settle in and spend some time with her, and maintains the voice throughout.
The author clearly knows and loves both Seattle and trad music, and fans of either will appreciate her attention to detail.
The set-up is familiar– a presumed mortal young woman discovers that she has fairy blood–but it is handled with an originality that keeps it from feeling trite. How can you not love a book with an elvish Elvis impersonator?
And in a world where fantasy is too often lacking in diversity, I was happy to find a protagonist who is mixed-race in more ways than one. She rooms with a gay couple, and their orientation is never made an issue of one way or the other. There is even diversity of paranormals–a kitsune (a Japanese fox shape-shifter) makes a (far too brief, in my opinion) appearance.
No book is completely without flaws. If I had to pick a nit, it would be that the interior dialogue is a bit too clever. Sometimes the humor detracts from the tension in what would otherwise be a riveting scene. (Believe me, I know how hard those lines are to cut. I’m still mourning some of the cuts I had to make to Raven’s Wing where my editor pointed out that a great line in the wrong place is not a great line.)
Also, and this is a matter of personal taste, there was a point at which the heroes had the chance to show grace and mercy to a fallen enemy, one who had aided them in the end, and decided that, nope, it wasn’t worth the potential trouble. (Forgive the vague-blogging, I’m trying not to be spoilery.) Maybe the decision was one rational for ordinary folk, but I expect more from my heroes.
(Of course, I’ve been for years rooting for the Doctor and the Master to settle their differences, and it doesn’t look like I’m going to get that anytime soon, either.)
Overall, a very enjoyable book.
Faerie Blood is available in Kindle at a sale price of .99 through the end of this month here.
The sequel, Bone Walker, has just been released for Kindle. Order it here.
You can also buy them in print from the author here. (Website is under the author’s other pen name.)
Samhain-kitty here. Writer-person has left to make tea, so I thought I’d put in my two-cents’ worth. I must applaud the writer for having a feline-American prominently mentioned (something my writer-person often fails at, although I understand she is correcting this flaw in the forthcoming Raven’s Heart.)
However, the novel would be improved if the cat had even more ‘screen time’, so to speak.
Also, the love interest fails to ask the cat’s approval before courting his human, a severe breach of etiquette that no one seems to address in the book.
Furthermore, what’s this about the cat freaking out when the house is attacked by a tree? The author should be more careful about playing into the ‘scaredy-cat’ stereotype. I suggest a scene where the cat heroically and single-handedly takes on the Unseelie Court and. . .
Samhain, get off my computer!
Oops, gotta go.
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