One Good Book Deserves Another

Genre: Urban Fantasy
Series: N/A
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Length: 3882 Locations
Formats: Kindle


Her calling is simple: kill Vampires who kill people, thereby breaking the treaty with Hunter Corp. Her existence is...less so. As Vessel of Celtic triple goddess Brigid, she's something that has existed only a handful of times throughout history. Not human. Faster. Stronger. Gifted with a few magics. And highly trained to be very, very deadly. She is Rowan Summerwaite.

She's loathes Vampires with a singular intensity, so being called to appear before the new Scion of the city (she killed the previous one), Clive Stewart, as if she is his beck and call girl doesn't put her in a good mood. When she gets a tip about a ravaged corpse found in the desert the next night, and evidence points to a Vampire killer, her previous bad mood becomes something that sane people flee from. While screaming in terror.

Pissed off and unimpressed with Clive's blatant lack of handling - or seeming concern - over the situation, Rowan pushes a verbal battle into a toe to toe with the Vampire, slinging blame and insult with the best of them. Until a moment...one incomprehensible moment...when fury turns into something that sparks much hotter and has the potential to be even more devastating than a Vessel's calling.

Now Rowan has a sadistic and inhuman serial killer on her hands, the Vampire Nation is doing nothing to rein in their garbage, and the head Vampire in Vegas is making her girly bits tingle in ways that disturb as much as they arouse. And you thought your job was a bitch.

It's not very often that I come across a non-series urban fantasy novel. In fact, I can't think of a single one I've read in the last five years. I've read a few free standing paranormal romances, but there just doesn't seem to be many in the UF genre. Or they're actively avoiding me...but that way lies madness and paranoia.

I'm sure it's tough stuffing all the world building and character development into one book that still has to have a plot and be a satisfying read on its own merits. Dane did a fairly good job of it here, even though the book wasn't quite as long as most traditional mass market paperbacks, though it was a full length novel. There were a surprising number of strong story elements to Rowan's backstory and to the world building of the book, and while several of those elements were a little lacking in full explanation, their presence whispered a tantalizing chant for additional information that made me wish this was a series that was just getting started. Sadly, that's not the case - or at least as far as I know it isn't.

The beginning of the book gave me some trouble; I thought the first few chapters were very cumbersome and awkward with information overload that too-quickly set up the world and introduced the main characters, first to the reader, then to each other. And while that was going on, I found Rowan highly abrasive and querulous - far more so than just to a level of sarcasm or smart-ass (which I like), and firmly into the land of major bitch with a Vampire prejudice and deep hatred (which I don't). In fact, I felt that Rowan's personality was hideous through most of the book, and she was so colored by her prejudices that she was rendered virtually unlikable for quite some time as the book progressed.

I didn't have that problem with Clive, who - beyond being way too fond of the word 'vulgar' - wasn't a bad chap for a Vampire. I liked that Dane kept him morally ambivalent about humans and dismissive of their deaths should a Vampire kill them (though they better clean up after themselves), and I adore how his feelings for Rowan developed and evolved. Not the first clue why he put up with her long enough for that to happen, though, and the quickness of their initial hookup didn't appeal.

Actually, no aspect of their hookup appealed at first. I completely missed any sign of chemistry between the two of them and was a little taken aback by the intensity of their first lust-filled kiss. Even late in the book, when I felt their relationship started to click a little better, I felt like Clive was far more impacted by his feelings and invested in a potential relationship than Rowan would ever be capable of being. I admit, though, it's hard to be a huge fan of a romantic pairing when you don't like one of the characters in that pairing, so my opinion may be skewed. Rowan was a raging bitch to the Vampire through most of the book. It's hard to downshift from that.

A few other issues, like some repetitious words (I mentioned 'vulgar' - it's not the only one) and phrases heavily sprinkled through the narrative, giving it a more simplistic feel than the story deserved, as well as a spectacularly cliched moment preceding the final major conflict kept this book from being a big favorite of mine. The capitalization of 'Vampires' really got on my nerves, too.

I did like the plot of the serial killer Vampire, though Rowan struck me as a bit overzealous when referring to it. I also thought Dane has a judicious eye for secondary characters. There was just enough of them to add depth and/or conflict with the main characters or plot, not so much that they became flat and interchangeable.

The latter half of the book was far smoother than the first in just about every way, and I found myself getting caught up in the quest to stop a killer and more and more invested in the world being explored here. I wish the book was longer. Another fifty pages to better develop the whole Vessel thing, and to delve more deeply into the connections to (and explanation of) The First would have been great. Not to mention my preference for a little more rounded out romance.

I hope I'm wrong, actually. I hope Dane revisits this world she's created here and stretches it into a series. There is certainly enough plot potential, and the world building has all sorts of room to expand. I wasn't totally thrilled with all aspects of this book, but I certainly found it interesting enough to continue if Dane does ever choose to turn this into a series.

Genre: Urban Fantasy
Series: World of the Lupi, Book 5
Rating: 4 Stars
Length:  352 Pages, 5115 Locations
Formats: Mass Market Paperback, Kindle


Even an FBI Agent with the Magical Crimes Division deserves to take some personal time now and then. That's why touch-sensitive Lily Yu is in Halo, NC with her mate Rule Turner, Lu Nuncio of the Nokolai lupi clan and holder of the mantles of both Nokolai and Leidolf. They've traveled to the town where Rule's son has been living to attend the hearing that will finally award Rule custody of nine-year-old Toby.

Unfortunately for Lily, deserving something doesn't necessarily mean getting it.

Tucked up in bed on the night they arrived, she gets jerked out of sleep by a phone call from Rule. While on a run in nearby woods the lupi prince caught scent of the mangled and decomposing bodies of a mother and her two children. The scene was ugly, the grave shallow and bodies disturbed by dogs. What most troubled Rule, though, was that under the scent of natural decay is the more insidious and corrupt bouquet of death magic.

Before she could even unpack, personal time was a distant memory, replaced by the case of a magically perpetrated and heinous murder. And just to add the cherry to that disturbing sundae, it's the sort of crime that - according to all magical knowledge - shouldn't have even been possible. How do you catch a killer who shouldn't exist before he does more vicious and deadly things he shouldn't be able to do?

Perhaps not one of the more flashy urban fantasy series, Wilks' World of the Lupi distinguishes itself with extraordinary world building and a unique cast of believable, likable characters. In this fifth book, the focus is back on main characters Lily and Rule, and as is the standard for the series, a pleasant balance between otherworldly danger and day-to-day trials and tribulations.

Mortal Sins hearkens back to the first book in the series, with its magical crime and the search for the perpetrator featuring aspects of an accomplished police procedural blended with the supernatural. Lily isn't the ubiquitous kick ass urban fantasy heroine, leather clad and carrying a big sword. She's slight of frame, of Asian descent, and while she's as tenacious as a terrier when set loose on a case, she's also the quintessential FBI agent. Despite her Gift as a touch sensitive, she's about as normal a character as I've seen in the genre, with such superb backstory and development that she's utterly believable and real.

Then again, Wilks has a true gift with characters, be they main, secondary, or ancillary. They are all rather remarkably three dimensional, with a depth and substance that is distressingly rare in so very many books and series once you step beyond main characters.

As top dog, no pun intended, Rule's backstory, the mythos surrounding his heritage, issues with his son, and the clans he serves all blend together to define a remarkable man of honor and integrity. A man who stands as testament to tradition even as he stands strong on the side of sweeping change. I love the dichotomy and the stability in him as a character.

I also love how the dominant Rule respects and treats Lily and the bond between them. There aren't a whole lot of series in the genre that feature and highlight the evolution of a genuine relationship between the male and female lead. I wish there were more, because I thoroughly enjoy exploring the lives of couples after the Happily Ever Afters.

Rule and Lily have been together since the first book, thanks to a bond from the Goddess that Rule's people worship. That bond has caused as many problems as its solved...maybe more, actually...and it's been quite the journey seeing their relationship evolve into what seems in this book to be a solid foundation with a few minor issues. And it was truly a delight to have some of those issues that have been nagging me from the first book get truly and spectacularly addressed in this one.

I wasn't totally invested in the main conflict of the killer plotline in this book. It seemed a little ragged and insubstantial compared to conflicts and bad guys we've seen in previous books. I also felt keenly the absence of many of the secondary characters I've grown fond of since the series started, and felt a little overwhelmed by the number of new names and faces involved in the race to find and stop the killer.

On the flip side, I loved the attention given to Rule's battle for his son, and thought the scenes surrounding Toby were some of my favorites in the book. He's such a little man; more mature than most nine-year-olds, maybe, but still so precocious and charming. This was a thread that felt like a long time coming and I was glad it finally got to get some page time.

While Mortal Sins isn't my favorite in the series so far, it struck me as a very solid addition full of the sort of quality storytelling that sets apart this underrated series. It had the feel of a transitional book in places, actually, with some significant issues being tidied up and some new dangers and complications left dangling like tasty little morsels teasing the hungry palate. Given the scope of those teasers, Wilks has much more up her sleeves to entertain loyal readers. I don't intend to miss it.

Interested readers should start at the beginning, though, because this is definitely a cumulative series, with characters evolving and story expanding and building up from a single starting point in the first book. There is exposition provided, of course, but too much has happened to too many people for that to be sufficient to readers unfamiliar with the world.

World of the Lupi Series: