Genre: Urban Fantasy
Subgenre: werewolves, shifters, vampires
Age Appropriate: Older Teen
Recommended for my sister: Sure, why not?
"I'm not that bad of a driver." - Riley
Riley Jenson is a werewolf in Australia working as a liaison for the Directorate of Other Races. Essentially, they are the pseudo-cops of those that aren't human in the country. Jack, Riley's boss, however wants her on the guardian team, a team of supernaturals who work more like enforcers and killers than anything else. Her twin brother, Rhoan, is already involved and wants her to have nothing to do with guardians. That catch is that Riley has similar traits to her dear brother. Both are dhampir, a mix of werewolf and vampire, that came about by a bizarre circumstance and timing between their mother in werwolf bloodlust and a newly risen vampire. Riley is much more inclined to the werewolf side of things, including her need to sate the moon fever that happens with all werewolves. During certain times of the month all werewolves find themselves stuck in a need for sexual contact that can alienate them from others. They all seem to have a pretty good time of it, though.
Riley really becomes involved when a certain set of circumstances put her in the control of evil villain-types interested in testing supernaturals for a variety of nefarious reasons. In the process, she ends up stuck with Quinn O'Connor, an illustrious vampire who has befriended her brother and seems involved with things going on. Each situation in each book involves Riley's strong will and usual need for rescue (and doing rescuing!) of her close friends. Her werewolf heritage seems to be the biggest obstacle, both in the scary situations and her love lives. Adding her mixed vampire heritage, and some interesting effects of those nefarious villains, Riley and her team are up to their eyeballs in strange plots.
-----
I liked it. It was, at minimum, interesting to read a set of novels that aren't set in a familiar US city. Most books that I read, at least in Urban Fantasy, are set in some central urban center. I wasn't particularly moved to start looking up a map of Australia, but it would be an interesting research subject to figure out where all of these things are happening. Other than that, this series has all of the typical elements of traditional Urban Fantasy. As per usual in the books I read, it has a female protagonist, some sort of supernatural element(s) and a bunch of friends and family there to pull each other out of dire situations. One of the things I do appreciate is that the series ends. It takes a lot for an author to pull off a good continuing series. Keri Arthur has a spin-off series or two, but they're far enough apart that their pretty great stand-alones.
The series adds a little bit of sci-fi to the urban fantasy with the addition of high tech gadgets - like nanowires to protect from psychic in invasion and voice-moluators that are inserted into the mouth (ow!). It certainly adds a little something extra, and pushes a little bit of "this could happen" vibe.
The books are also pretty down the middle on adult content. A good portion of it is what I refer to as "and then the next day!" sex. Basically, they kiss passionately or something to the effect and the chapter ends. Not all of it, but a good amount is in this category. I was also a little sad about the lack of swords, but that's my own personal thing. For some reason, I'm more interested in swords than guns. Whatever makes you happy, I suppose. So yeah, go ahead and read it. It's pretty good fluffiness without being boring.
-----
Wildly different: Kushiel series
No comments:
Post a Comment