Shadow Rites

Once again I find myself enjoying a book but trying to figure out if it was really 5 Star materiel or not. I LOVE this series and Jane may be the most seriously scary heroine in the genre but while Dark Heir left me breathless, this one was not up to that level it seemed to me.

This book while action oriented as all the books in this series are, concentrated a bit more on the interpersonal relationships between all the people in Jane’s life more than past novels. While this really was something that was needed and adds depth to the series, it kind of gave the book a bit of a “filler until the European Vamps get here” vibe.

Here is the thing, Jane is much more than a killing machine, we have not really stopped very long to catch our breath and take a look at the person this series is about and how her mind works. While the LAST thing I want in this series is a heroine that questions every death or person she must kill, you have to get inside her head a bit to make her a real person and not a caricature of herself.

The other thing that left me a bit more unsettled were the number of unanswered questions, when the book ended I still had several “What about X” type questions. I don’t usually finish a book and feel like I need to read it again because I have this feeling I must have missed something but that is where I am today.

In the random things, I am starting to like Leo a bit more but not sure you could ever trust him (which left me with another question I did not get answered) 🙂

Bottom Line: This is Jane Yellowrock, understand that the worst book in this series is better than the best book in 80% of the series being written in this genre so flavor this review in that light. In comparing the series to itself and other top shelf series, this one comes up just a bit short since almost all the others were easy 5 Star and this one just did not have that WOW factor I expected. Understand also that this is book #10 in a long running series and as such there needs to be change or it loses it appeal so Jane is growing/changing, her “family” is growing and we know a lot more about her than we ever did but the fact remains that we have been waiting for the European Vamps for 2 books now and that adds to the “running in place” feeling. Additionally, I should mention that my “revenge junkie” was not satisfied. 4.5 Stars and maybe for some it will be more but in my case I rounded down to 4 Stars on this one.

I have enjoyed most of the last nine books in this series, maybe not every one of them a five star read, but always at least four stars. The world building and characterization for the Jane Yellowrock books has always been top notch. It has been one of my instant buy reads along with the Kate Daniels and Mercedes Thompson series. There has always been clearly thought out action, finely detailed magical situations and likeable characters. On to this book. First what was enjoyable, the parts I didn’t feel the need to scan through – Jane finally realizes she has family, making the connection that, oh, people actually love me. Better late than never. She moves cautiously along in her relationship with Bruiser. She has a definite place and job that she realizes she is content with. So all the scenes where she interacts with her family, Bruiser or her job were great. It was the actual storyline of the book and its execution I had a problem with. The magic was taken so far out there and was such a choppy mess all the way to the excruciating end that it was cringeworthy. Not enjoyable at all. I kind of figured out what the magic was way before Jane, so that just made her look like a dim witted twit, not the kick@ I’m used to. It felt like every time she turned around she gets hurt and is carried off by Bruiser or Ely to heal. The entire story was disjointed and unorganized, not the tightly paced build of most of the other books. Although I never lower my ratings for this, I do wish to make a note on this books editing, if it had one, missed a lot. Many typos and grammatical errors. Not what one expects when paying this much for a book and for it to not be an independent author. I guess there is another book planned for later this year, hopefully it will be better crafted. There is also a spinoff series starting soon, but I’m not jumping on that very quickly based on this last read and that it has one of my most hated characters from this series in it, Ricky-Bo.

I received this book as an ARC and had to wait for release date to review…..Love the Jane Yellowrock series!
This is book 10 and every book we learn a little bit more of who Jane is and what has happened to her. Book one is Skinwalker…Jane is a Native American Skinwalker who can shift into animals with the help of magic….this is a wonderful Urban Fantasy series I can rave about for years to come. This series is set in Louisiana and the south. For this book the story centers around the Witch Conclave which she has been hired to do security for the Vampires and Witches who will be attending and someone/something does not want this event to happen. Jane must find and neutralize the threat. The stories, author Faith Hunter tells in this series are part mystery and history of a group of Supernatural beings that are long lived with secrets and resentments that go back centuries. I love that through out this series we have seen Jane grow and evolve. She has gone from a young girl who walked out of the forest with no memory to a woman who is strong, passionate and loyal. She has grown her security business and grown her family. The characters in the series are well written and none of the “monsters” are put on a pedal stool. Can’t wait for book 11!

There are always surprises in this series, one of them is, that each book starts not from where you would expect it to start.

Half way through the book I started wondering, how often I would be in a SUV for the rest of the book, travelling from one place to another, gearing up yet another time for yet another battle. The other thing that I felt to start slightly put off are the many abbreviations that seem to pop up all over the place, and Jane owns up to have introduced them herself. Not sure, whether that was a clever move on the writing side of things, as soon there will be the need for a glossary to keep up. I might be willing to consult a glossary when a whole new world has been created with its own terms that need explanation, but to only find out what the author means when she uses to letters as opposed to a few more, I’m not sure whether as a read I am willing to make that effort. In the second half of the book the abbreviations seem to have mostly vanished anyway.

Love the plot that brings the witches, another non-human race more centre stage, also love the inter-raciality of the family that forms around Jane and the children, that have more common sense than probably all the adults together.

Liked the build up to the final battle so to speak and its conclusion, it’s genuine, unexpected and places Jane yet again in a different situation. It has to be said that lots of the techniques used by the witches have in my reading experience a deus ex machina quality to which the central characters do not know how to deal with.

Interesting questions are raised on the edge, as for instance if vampires do have a soul or not. And what this dark blob within Jane’s soul home is, remain unsolved.

The linking to previous Jane Yellowrock stories seems genuine, although at times it rankled a little bit as I have not read all the books in the series.

So far so good. Writing urban fantasy means exploring the unexplored and finding a way of writing about it, where no one or rarely anyone has tread before. This is one of the aspects I find absolutely exciting about this genre.

What finally makes me take off at least one star in my rating is not the story itself or the feel of transition that metes out through all of it, but the lack of careful editing. I do not know whether this is simply the kindle edition I bought, or whether this is in the print edition as well, but to see that many unfinished and/or faulty sentences, typos, and sentences that have not been corrected, the son of darkness changing into the sun of darkness at one point, in one book, is, well, dare I say it, a little bit much to stomach.

With Shadow Rites Faith Hunter has done it again. The book starts with immediate action – a magical attack on Janes house. Who is responsible, and why? What did they hope to achieve? Jane has other problems, too, with the Witch Council coming to New Orleans, and Yellowrock Securities being responsible for security at the event. Shes pretty sure that it isnt going to be straightforward, and indeed, she proves to be right.

Theres a mad master vampire in a pit, eyes on peoples hands, and other mysterious magics that are doubtless going to come back to bite Jane later. If Faith Hunter had this planned all along (and I think she probably did), Im going to have to go back and read the earlier books to see what I missed! This kind of thing is, for me, the mark of an excellent author – one who lays plans years in advance, waiting to ambush her readers with something amazing that they didnt see coming (but should have, except that the author sneakily distracted them). I love reading book #10 and thinking So thats why X happened in book #1.

Since witches are involved, Molly, Angie, Evan and little Evan are featured in this book. Molly is becoming less irritating as a character, and less inclined to screw up, expect Jane to sort out the problem, and then blame Jane for the results. Angie, too, is coming into her own. Im starting to like Angie – shes growing out of the cutesy-little-girl phase and showing hints of being a young lady to be reckoned with.

And Edmund. I do like Edmund. Once again, one gets the distinct impression that Edmund is playing his own game – a long, deep one. The stakes (ha!) must be high, because hes taking some big risks. Hes also got a sly sense of humour that most people dont notice.

Jane, too, is developing. At the beginning of the series, she was working on her own. Now shes got partners and family. Shes building a life in New Orleans, and Im wondering when shell realise it.

Im thoroughly looking forward to “Cold Reign”, which is the next in the series. In fact, Jane Yellowrock has joined the select list of books I also have as audiobooks – those the the ones I want to be able to “read” again and again, while I’m doing chores.

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