Cold Reign

“You have my heart.”

Cold Reign is Jane Yellowrock at it’s best. This was another fantastic addition to this series.

If you want a definition of Urban Fantasy, you have it in Faith Hunter’s work. After eleven books she has not lost her touch if anything I want to read more about her characters and their evolution.

Jane Yellowrock started as a solo heroine. Now, she is part of a family which includes the two Younger brothers, Ed, Bruiser, Molly and Co, and now Brute. It seems some home renovations are in order. She might consider a bigger home too since she keeps on adding more people to her “clan”.

So what evil is Jane fighting this time? Well, it seems like the Revenant Vamps are back. They are popping up in different places in New Orleans and killing humans without a care. The European Vamps might be behind their attack. Jane as Leo Pellisier’s enforcer is responsible for cleaning the area of the nasty revenant vamps. She’s also Leo’s security team and of course, Leo never makes things easy by hiding so much from Jane. I do agree with her, she must show him some manners. He pissed me off big time here. Or maybe, she should let Beast do the talking. He’s really asking for it.

In regards to the romance, If you had read my prior reviews you know I’m a huge Bruiser lover. He’s still perfect for Jane in my eyes. I’m very happy Mrs. Hunter makes it extremely clear who deserves Jane in this book.

“I love you more than bacon.”

Cold Reign is an unstoppable action-packed book. From the moment it begins, poor Jane and her friends don’t get enough sleep or good food. I was devouring the pages in a desperate attempt to find out what Janie was going to encounter. I feared for everyone’s lives in this one. No one seems to be safe. My heart was in my throat too many times.

I can honestly recommend this book 100% to any UF lover.

Cliffhanger: No

5/5 Fangs

Well here we are on book 11, took us awhile to get here but this is not a series stumbling along on past glories, it is still vibrant, full of surprises, and secondary characters that have not only become part of Jane’s “family” but have become integral parts of the enjoyment of this series.

Missing from this installment is the overdone introspection of some of the recent books, we have some but it does play a part and the mystical part of Jane’s nature is part of why we read this series since Jane Yellowrock is one of a very few totally original characters in urban fantasy.

The plots and subplots are so many and so involved it made my head hurt to try to keep up with things but Faith Hunter weaved them all together by the end (and gave us a couple more to ponder for the next book). Make no mistake, the long awaited arrival of the European vampires is here and it is not a friendly visit.

Clan Yellowrock is gaining members, there are some surprises and some long sought after justice. The whole book is a plot we never saw coming (or at least I never did) and leaves you in a good place (another thing I love, no cliffhangers) but after 11 books I still cannot figure Leo out and what motivates his actions.

Bottom Line: A GREAT book, full of action, full of surprises, characters that grow a little in each book (as opposed to series I have read where the characters never seem to get any smarter or mature). Overall I think this may be one of the better books out of the last 4-5 because of the balance of action, multiple characters involvement, just a small bit of introspection and the sign of a really good book, you hated to see it end. This is NOT the same Jane Yellowrock we discovered 11 books ago, this is a improved version who is not only stronger, she is also becoming a power in her own right in this world. 5 Stars and can’t wait to see more.

Cold Reign is book #11 in the compelling Jane Yellowrock series by Faith Hunter. In many ways the Jane Yellowrock story reminds me of the parable of the blind men and the elephant, the one where each man describes the elephant as being like a snake, rope, fan, tree and wall. Leo the Master Vampire of New Orleans has taken great care to make sure Jane only seen parts of the elephant. Cold Reign is the book where Jane steps back and sees the whole elephant for the first time.
Cold Reign starts by exploring Jane and her adopted family. Then builds to non stop action,as the European vampires arrive in secret and with the help of traitors, try to take over Leo’s city. And there is a magic driven storm that threatens to finish what Katrina started.

The Younger brothers are in the thick of things, with Alex showing a new maturity, Eli opening up about his military experience, and the emotional scars he still carries. Edmund, Gee, Gregoire and Brute play key roles in the fight against the Europeans. Jane’s relationship with Bruiser deepens, and PsyLed Agent Rick Le Fleur returns and tries to apologize for past sins. Leo is his usual manipulative self, and some of is actions, or lack of action, suggest he’s still playing the long game. Jane’s angel makes an appearance, and there are cameos from Soul, Opal and several of their “sisters”. An number of evil vampires meet their well deserved end.

Cold Reign is a great addition to the popular Jane Yellowrock series. The writing is superb, plotting complex, with compelling characters. All of the things that author Faith Hunters does so well. Another 5 star effort from Ms. Hunter.

If you have never read the series, it might be better to start with the first book Skinwalker, and enjoy the books in order as this complex story unfolds. ***Warning. Readers of Skinwalker often experience sudden onset binge reading. Enjoy!

Not as convinced by this as most other reviewers. To me, it had the feel of perhaps having been a bit of a struggle to write and there were several signs of some major revision/editing with occasional misplaced characters (was the weather-controlling vampire Adan rescued during the climactic warehouse fight scene or was he still in the warehouse after the battle was over – the text appears to say it was both). Characters seem also to be introduced and discarded simply to pad out the action. And everyone is having emotional crises and/or Mills & Boon moments, even kick-ass skinwalker Jane Yellowrock herself and her impassive ex-special forces human partner Eli. There’s also danger in Yellowrock’s increasing powers: she can now stop time by moving into the Gray Between dimension as well as shapeshift into any animal she wants. If she’s way more powerful than the various vampire/occult good and bad guys then where’s the tension? That’s a trap that Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series has fallen into. And there’s wasn’t much of a role here for Beast, Yellowrock’s favourite giant puma alter-ego. Anyway, enough of my gripes. The plot involves the arrival in New Orleans of the old world Euro Vamp hierarchy – not a friendly visit for local Master of The City Leo Pellissier as it will be a takeover bid. As Leo’s Enforcer Yellowrock is in the thick of it while the Euro Vamps mount testing attacks on the city, including a major weather assault as well as kidnappings and treacherous sleeper cells within Leo’s organisation. It just one damn thing after another for Yellowrock and there’s certainly some hard-edged action. Still very readable but for me, just not as enjoyable or coherent as most of the previous entries in the series.

The European Council of Vampires finally puts in an appearance in this book, and they bring the nightmares with them. Revenants which shouldn’t be Rising are coming tearing out of their graves and literally eating people alive, two massive storms are converging on New Orleans at the same time, which Jane suspects is as a result of magic, and EV’s are on the loose in NO up to no good at all. Oh, Rick Lafleur shows up as well, without his team for some reason. He and Jane’s reunion is…memorable.

Leo has been planning for the EV’s “visit” for 200 years, but it turns out Jane’s arrival and employment by him changed everything. Without even knowing she was doing it, as is often the case. Jane has discovered with Mithran plans crossing decades and even centuries, dealing with a number of resources and agents that the EV’s might have drawn upon just by virtue of being so good at what she does. Leo has made significant alterations to his plans as a result-focusing on Jane herself, to her annoyance. But the EV’s have leaders who have seen in most of two millennia, and Leo may have been outflanked, which leaves Jane to hold the line with the Yellowrock Clan, bar Molly, Evan and the “kits”. Fortunately, they all enjoy a good fight-and Alex has been taking lessons from Eli in how to shoot. The Kid is growing up…

Eli is having personal problems, Brute has decided Alex’s bed will do until they get him a proper one, Edmund wants the EV’s gone from NO while he fights at Jane’s side, Beast is keeping secrets from Jane. Jane’s magic is continuing to evolve-and evolves here into something very different. Gee is involved because he wants the “Crown” Jane has kept from a previous adventure which is clearly a major-level artefact of power. Soul shows up because Arcenciel’s are in danger and she’ll never stand back and leave that alone. Suffice to say there’s a lot going on, personally and professionally. But Faith Hunter excels at tying threads and history together and does an excellent job here-for example, we finally discover who Leo’s Spy on the EV Council is, who is in charge in the Council, just who Leo’s allies and enemies really are-although I suspect there is a lot more to come… And the Angel Hayyel shows up to tell Jane something she needs to know, which leaves her so shocked a feather could have floored her.

Certain things, however, are particularly evident: there was a time when Jane went out of her way to avoid killing humans who weren’t trying to kill her. Here, we see her fight her way through Mithran’s, Blood-Servants and Slaves and possibly Onorio’s, as well as Human’s, with a shotgun, pistol, knives and Beast’s natural weaponry. Beast joins in the carnage, too. The trail of bodies Jane leaves behind her is into double figures at least, in just one book-and she’s well aware the Law is going to have questions when she’s done. Lots of them. Troll puts it best when describing Jane:

“You’re a stone killer, Janie”.

She cares, she’s not a monster, but she is falling further and further away from the Jane we met in “Skinwalker” as the story progresses-and none of it feels forced. More like a natural change, as Jane defends those a War Woman protects by whatever means she has at her disposal. Excellent characterisation by Faith, again.

Of course, the humour comes strong as well. Jane accidentally gets to see Leo full-frontal and unclothed-and is informed they’re responding to her idea of not acting or reacting like the EV’s will expect as an explanation. Eli at least waits until they are alone to burst out laughing. Gee Dimercy nearly swallows his cup as well as the coffee in it when Jane calls in a Favour with him. The NO Witch Coven leader, Lachesis, comments Jane has support these days-for such a smart woman, she seems to forget she doesn’t have to do everything alone or with only YC as backup. Jane is still trying to work out how she ended up with Witches, Vampires, Human’s, Werewolves and Grindylows as part of her Clan.

She also doesn’t seem to have realised just how much her opinion and actions, even her Orders, matter to the NO Vamp Clans, Witches and Were’s. Clan Yellowrock, despite lacking numbers, is well on it’s way to being a major force in the power structure of NO and the rest of Leo’s Domain-which I’m sure he’s noticed. If she fell, it would leave a huge hole in Leo’s power structure and organisation-which it wouldn’t easy to fill, maybe impossible. There’s good reason for her reputation-even the EV’s have noticed just how lethal she is. She’s increasingly become the glue holding together Leo’s resistance to the EV’s-and see how she reacts to Ro Moore and Amy Lynn Brown, both people she cares about, being in trouble…

My only sort-of complaint is that Jane’s ability to access the Grey Between and step outside of time makes it close to impossible for her to be taken by surprise in combat, and makes her capable of dealing with Master Vamp’s single-handedly, when before she gained the ability she risked both terrible injury and death taking them on. However: it’s established there is a price for using this kind of power, and it will be Jane herself who pays it. Terrible power comes with a terrible price has been established well in Jane Yellowrock’s world-and only the SoD and Arcenciel’s seem to have similar abilities. What it will finally cost Jane to keep her people and family safe is something I suspect Faith will ease us into gradually, because the book gives hints as to what may happen.

On a closing note, the Glob that Jane accidentally created when she was struck by lightning and survived appears to be something incredible-apparently defending Jane successfully against very serious magical assault more than once. Given what it’s created of, I’m amazed the Priestess Sabina hasn’t taken an interest-but maybe she has a better idea than Jane knows…?

Read the book. The best urban fantasy today, bar none.

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