Genre: Urban fantasy
Pages: Oversize paperback, 361
Published: 2010
Opening Lines: "Someone had been chewing on the body."
"Seattle police detective Joanne Walker started the year mostly dead, and she's ending it trying not to be consumed by evil. LITERALLY!
"She's proven she can handle the gods and the walking dead. But a cannibalistic serial killer? That's more than even she bargained for. What's worse, the brutal demon can only be tracked one way. If Joanne is to stop its campaign of terror, she'll have to hunt it where it lives: the Lower World, a shamanistic plane of magic and spirits.
"Trouble is, Joanne's skills are no match for the dangers she's about to face—and her on-the-job training could prove fatal to the people she's sworn to protect . . ."
~ Jacket copy
Thoughts: To be honest, it took me awhile to get into this series. After a failed attempt at reading the first book, Urban Shaman, I decided to give it another try when a friend suggested that I read it. And, like the Dresden Files, I liked the book the second time around! Even though Joanne was a little annoying and extremely predictable, I was surprised to find that I enjoyed the book. After that, I ended up tearing through the series! However, this book just ended up sitting on my shelf for a year. I think I lost steam and found some other book I as interested in. However, in an attempt to start reading through my TBR pile, I decided to grab this one on a whim.
After Joanne's adventure in the previous book, she is still dealing with the aftermath. Letting everything loose and the imbalance of power, a cannibalistic killer is drawn to her for some unknown reason. To me, the nature of the killer was extremely predictable. I figured it out long before it was stated to the audience. For the sake of not spoiling it, I'm not saying it here.
Sheesh, I don't know how many times I have rewritten this section over and over again! Really, all I have to summarize the book is that someone who was thought lost returns; Corvallis continues to put her nose where it doesn't belong and they end up in a better place; Joanne being confronted with her true role; more angst between her and Morrison; a new spirit guide; and that's about it.
Unfortunately, even though this book is nearly 400 pages, it doesn't feel as though it had much substance. Granted, I wanted to know what happened and how things played out, but I found myself struggling to finish the book. It took all my effort to finish it this afternoon. It took me the greater part of the day to read less than a 100 pages!! Needless to say, I wasn't too impressed.
I felt the story just took too long. I enjoyed parts, I was curious to see how the book would end, etc. It just drug on and on and on . . . For example, the ending took a little too long. Yes, yes, I always complain that the ending is always too rushed, but this ending took too long! Also, bringing Sara into the story seemed rather pointless. Granted, it got her to open up to Gary about her past, but I didn't really see the point in adding her into the story. Aside from Sara confirming Joanne's dream training by Coyote and telling her to return to North Carolina, she didn't offer anything more than an obstacle and possible cannon fodder.
That being said, it wasn't a terrible book, but it didn't really hold my attention. Due to the fact that I wanted to see how it ended, I'm going to give the author a break. However, I'm not sure how badly I want to read the next book in the series.
Rating:
Currently: Comfort Food by Kitty Thomas
Current Pages: 753
Current Progress:
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