Blood of the Earth

I have read, and loved, all of the books in the Jane Yellowrock series, so was very excited about the release of this new series set in the same universe. I was not disappointed. Nell’s character is complex, flawed, but believable, despite her supernatural abilities. Unlike many urban fantasy heroines, Nell is not some kick-ass fighter, but a cult survivor who does what she has to, learning and growing along the way. The storyline moved along nicely, especially considering the amount of backstory information the author provided in this first-in-series book. There was enough action, tension and the beginnings of a possible romance to satisfy my gnat-on-crack attention span and get me emotionally invested in Nell’s story. I am eagerly looking forward to the next book in the series, Curse on the Land, to be released later this year. Definitely worth your time and money!

This new series from Faith Hunter is awesome – and a spinoff from her Skinwalker series, so some of the characters are familiar. The main character, Nell, is a strong woman with great affinity for the earth, has issues with the leaders of the misogynistic cult she was raised in, and gets tangled up in helping solve kidnappings involving non- and part-human investigations. A great read that I hated to have end – I’m already looking forward to the next book.

Well let me start off by saying that this is a spin-off from the Jane Yellowrock series and while it might help a small bit to read that series it is really not required to enjoy this one, especially since a lot of things we thought we knew prove to be false.

OK, this story revolves around Nell Ingram who is a bit magical, a bit homespun botanist, and a lot hermit who really does not care for people when this book starts. Nell is an incredibly complex character and so there is a lot of pages required to try to reveal to us (and to Nell) who Nell really is and some questions are not answered easily and some will be revealed as we go down the road in this series. We get enough information fed to us along to keep the reader interest high and it gets more intense as the book progresses.

Nell after being approached by the PsyLED team starts to reveal a natural ability for investigative thinking in addition to whatever magical powers she might possess (which are kind of murky and get a bit clearer as we go along but still very mysterious). She hopes it will also give her some measure of safety on her own land from the cult that watches her.

For the first book of a series this has a very complex multifaceted plot in addition to the plotline of just trying to figure out who/what Nell is and what she can actually do, something she does not have the answer for when this story starts.

The main story revolves around the religious cult that Nell escaped from many years ago and to solve this crime she will have to revisit her previous life and a lot of things will be revealed along the way. The story is amazing.

Bottom line: First books in a series are usually much lighter than this one because the author usually wants to hook you in quickly. This one starts slow and continues to build throughout the story and you are indeed hooked long term by the end of this book. The characters are good, the ones on the team that are not fleshed out here will be in subsequent books I am sure since Nell seems to be the central character, this is a team story and we only get depth from 2-3 of them for this story. So 5 Stars for a excellent first book in the series and an exceptional story that just grabs you a bit tighter the farther in you go. I am glad I don’t have to wait too long for the next one Curse on the Land in Nov 2016 .

Wow, wow, wow! How this author continually comes up with new an exciting characters, situations, landscapes, etc.!!!!
Imagination run wild! So entertaining.
Due to my poor eye sight I listen with my old Kindle text to speech. I’ve almost worn it out! I’ve already listened to the book twice an the second time I noticed even more things that tie the book together. SWEET!

And almost cancelled this pre-order. Nell was an okay character when we met her in the Jane Yellowrock story but she didn’t appeal to me. There was a mystery to her but I didn’t like her enough to want to delve into the layers to find out what was hiding. Rick also hasn’t been one of my beloved characters for awhile. I should have had faith in the author. I like her writing and how her mind twists and turns. Nell shows growth in the story and the story is multi-dimensional. Rick even became more likable. I am glad that I bought it. I will re-read it and enjoy it again. I am now looking forward to another Nell story.

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