ARC copy provided for honest review; also purchased on AMAZON.COM
May I start by saying, this series is quintessential Urban Fantasy, and this reader feels it is one series that should be read in-order for full, dynamic effect. Its not a complex world per se, but there are some character complexities and subtleties that are best experienced in total.
As always with Ms. Blevins, readers will enjoy a strong, self-actualized human-female lead character (Kirsten O'Shea), who happens to exist in a world that isn't all it seems, and damned if she doesn't come equipped with some as-yet-to-be-fully-defined powers of her own. As in all good UF, she has truly supernatural friends and acquaintances whose job it is to help her discover her exact limits, while she also accrues more and more supernatural enemies whose job it is to test those powers.
The discovery and enhancement of said powers, at first blush, takes some unconventional forms and yet, when one considers the spirituality of intimacy with another, reading this vision isn't such a stretch after all. In fact, its quite brilliant because it keeps that edge of reality over fantasy, which is classic UF.
For this reader, the beauty of this series, and of the progressions made in this specific book, are all about Kirsten herself and her refusal to say "die". She takes her lessons to heart, is smart and able to think on her feet and able to use those lessons when she encounters the myriad experiences one expects of supernatural bad guys. But the true beauty of the character is her uncompromising dedication to her principles, while never losing site of herself. She is unwavering in who she is, what she needs and why, and personally I love to see a female lead character with all the strengths and complexities that are so admired in a male lead. I am not a gamer by any stretch, but I'd *love* to see this series made into a game. The feel-goods of the kick-a$$ heroine in such recreation would offset the worst day you could have!
The complexities and subtleties of her supernatural friends and supposed good-guys are explored more fully and the reader can come to an understanding of why they behave as they do. The overall plan of the story seems to fall into place, but there is also still that razor-sharp edge of "what-if", and these what-ifs are beautifully enhanced by the introduction of some new characters. The enemy-at-large is more definitively outlined, but the element of guess work that Ms. Blevins excels at is actually heightened by these new characters. Some are truly bad guys, but what did they know to develop the skills that would make them such virulent enemies in the final fight? And then again, some are an enigma. Are they truly bad or are they a product of geography? Which way will they go when they must choose? Is immortal a relative term?
As the lines in the Smoky Mountains are drawn, the mid-ground between realms is prepared and the pre-emptive battles begin, this reader is sucked further and further into this almost tangible world. Its a 3-D read, all the way, and I am firmly "Team Kirsten". Ok, and "Team Abbott" too, though for entirely different reasons...
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