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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
Read this back in the summer and thought I had written a review of it then, but it doesn't seem to be anywhere on Goodreads. So, my bad...
I've read the first two books in Hunter's JANE YELLOWROCK urban fantasy series and admired them immensely. But it's been taking me a while to carve out time to read up to Jane's present (10 books + side short stories). So I was excited to see the first book in a new Hunter series on the Netgalley list; I could get in from the beginning!
This is a spinoff series, though, bringing in a major character from the previous series to play a supporting role, as well as featuring a minor character from one of the JY short stories as protagonist. And it features a lot of set-up for the series, and very little romance, so I don't feel justified in featuring it on my ROMANCE NOVELS FOR FEMINISTS blog. But if you are looking for urban fantasy with a strong, competent female lead, then I can't recommend this book highly enough.
Raised in a Tennessee religious cult, Nell Ingram escaped the clutches of its polygamous leader & his son by marrying a former cult member when she was 15. After her husband's death, she inherited his property, which is located right next to the cult's own land. The cult leader's son has been harassing her ever since, trying to get her to marry him and get the land back into the cult's hands. But Nell can hunt, track, and wield a gun just like the men can—and she has a growing supernatural connection to the land, a connection which grants her supernatural power that she both glories in and fears.
Enter a group of Psy-LED agents (led by Rick LaFleur, a major player in the JY books), who are looking into the disappearance of several young women in the area. The group suspects the abductors have some connection to the religious cult, and ask for Nell's help. Nell is wary; she's lived a life of self-sufficient independence, off the grid, for a very long time. But she's drawn to the camaraderie of the group of young magical agents, whose characters are given in less detail than Nell's, but filled with intriguing hints, suggesting they will be further explored in future installments of the series.
The suspense plot of this one was not all that hard to figure out. But Hunter's characters are intriguing enough, and Nell's powers mysterious enough, to keep me coming back for more.
I've read the first two books in Hunter's JANE YELLOWROCK urban fantasy series and admired them immensely. But it's been taking me a while to carve out time to read up to Jane's present (10 books + side short stories). So I was excited to see the first book in a new Hunter series on the Netgalley list; I could get in from the beginning!
This is a spinoff series, though, bringing in a major character from the previous series to play a supporting role, as well as featuring a minor character from one of the JY short stories as protagonist. And it features a lot of set-up for the series, and very little romance, so I don't feel justified in featuring it on my ROMANCE NOVELS FOR FEMINISTS blog. But if you are looking for urban fantasy with a strong, competent female lead, then I can't recommend this book highly enough.
Raised in a Tennessee religious cult, Nell Ingram escaped the clutches of its polygamous leader & his son by marrying a former cult member when she was 15. After her husband's death, she inherited his property, which is located right next to the cult's own land. The cult leader's son has been harassing her ever since, trying to get her to marry him and get the land back into the cult's hands. But Nell can hunt, track, and wield a gun just like the men can—and she has a growing supernatural connection to the land, a connection which grants her supernatural power that she both glories in and fears.
Enter a group of Psy-LED agents (led by Rick LaFleur, a major player in the JY books), who are looking into the disappearance of several young women in the area. The group suspects the abductors have some connection to the religious cult, and ask for Nell's help. Nell is wary; she's lived a life of self-sufficient independence, off the grid, for a very long time. But she's drawn to the camaraderie of the group of young magical agents, whose characters are given in less detail than Nell's, but filled with intriguing hints, suggesting they will be further explored in future installments of the series.
The suspense plot of this one was not all that hard to figure out. But Hunter's characters are intriguing enough, and Nell's powers mysterious enough, to keep me coming back for more.
Is it possible that I love Nell even more than I love Jane/Beast? I didn't think it could happen but here we are...
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Not everything from our past is as we believe.
This was better than I thought it would be - not classical literature, but an exciting and informative adventure.
I think what was fascinating was the type of "cult" our main character had left - loosely based on Warren Jeffs. To meet those who are true and committed believers and contrast that with the evil that can be found - nice to see both sides.
PG-18, but not smut
This was better than I thought it would be - not classical literature, but an exciting and informative adventure.
I think what was fascinating was the type of "cult" our main character had left - loosely based on Warren Jeffs. To meet those who are true and committed believers and contrast that with the evil that can be found - nice to see both sides.
PG-18, but not smut
Interesting premise for those who like urban fantasy with a twist. Nell Ingram has an affinity for the earth that goes well-beyond a simple green thumb, and leads her into a new and very different (for her) life.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Having just finished the 13 books plus in the Yellowrock series, it would be too much to ask that the heroine in this series would be as thrilling and fascinating as Jane is. Maybe in Book 2 which I've already begun, Nell will get somewhat more bad-ass then she is at present. Having said that, Rick La Fleur is here as Nell's boss and there are other bad-ass characters on the crew to get to know so overall, this is a really good story that kept me turning pages and wanting to know how it would end. As I've said, I've already started book 2.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Nell Ingram was raised in a polygamist cult in the backwoods of Tennessee. She married very young to escape being married off to one of the older men, but is now a "widder-woman" living on land that borders her former church's land. After she helps Jane Yellowrock find a missing vampire, she is recruited by PsyLED to help with another case. PsyLED believes a terrorist organization is in cahoots with those still in the cult.
Throughout the story, Nell discovers more about her magic and powers that tie her to the land of Soulwood. Nell is a wonderfully complex character, revealing her former life little by little and discovering herself along the way. She is evolving as a person.
I also wasn't a fan of Rick LaFleur in the Jane series. I wasn't unhappy when he ran off and left Jane. But he is a much more sympathetic character in these books. We see more of his struggles and strengths.
Throughout the story, Nell discovers more about her magic and powers that tie her to the land of Soulwood. Nell is a wonderfully complex character, revealing her former life little by little and discovering herself along the way. She is evolving as a person.
I also wasn't a fan of Rick LaFleur in the Jane series. I wasn't unhappy when he ran off and left Jane. But he is a much more sympathetic character in these books. We see more of his struggles and strengths.
Enjoyable enough but Nell doesn’t quite ring true. On the one hand she’s folksy and self-educated, and then she says things like “Land and property, patriarchy and hierarchy, are all important to them. Women aren’t.” She can’t figure out how to use a hotel access card, but she knows all about fancy private schools in Knoxville. I get that she’s supposed to have educated herself through reading, but she was, until recently, also running a household in the middle of the woods with a husband who didn’t do “women’s work.” I feel like Hunter’s severely overestimating how much free time Nell would have had. She realizes she still wears “church clothes” and is afraid of men and shocked to the point of silence when they indicate they know how to do the dishes, and five minutes later is discussing a man “who, so far as I can tell, has never had the brains to plan anything more complex than how to serve himself up as dinner and sex partner to vampires” - and saying as much to a roomful of menacing strangers who have her handcuffed to a chair. She’s never had pizza or donuts.
The cult is a cult - with multiple wives, twelve-year-olds getting forcibly married off, etc. - but numerous men have been to “university” (not even Christian college) and several of Nell’s brothers eventually tell her they’re headed to MIT (as in, have been admitted and accepted). Nobody ever leaves the church grounds but an entire family of people has passports and apparently it’s just a casual mission trip to Haiti? I don’t understand whether this is supposed to be FLDS-equivalent - obsessively insular and threatened by the outside world - or run-of-the-mill fundamentalist (in which case the level of crazy in cult activities makes no sense). The men in the church can take a vote to kick out leadership but apparently didn’t bother to do so while their own wives and prepubescent children were being by church leadership… and this is presented as somehow “well, it’s all better now and the good people are in charge, so no worries!”
I’m just kind of confused by what PsyLed is doing out in the woods, also. With all their fancy surveillance, both digital and magical, they can’t figure out if there are white vans entering the church grounds around the time kidnapping victims disappear? They’ve got flipping satellite photos. Can’t they check heat signatures in the newly off-limits areas of the church to see if there are people there? The church had dozens of children removed by social services before the book began, and some were later returned. It’s just very difficult to imagine that the US government and this ultra-efficient agency couldn’t come up with some pretense to get on church grounds and investigate suspicious areas without needing Nell’s help.
The book is engaging and the fantasy and paranormal aspects are well-done and interesting. It’s the real-world stuff where Hunter falls down - that and logic.
The cult is a cult - with multiple wives, twelve-year-olds getting forcibly married off, etc. - but numerous men have been to “university” (not even Christian college) and several of Nell’s brothers eventually tell her they’re headed to MIT (as in, have been admitted and accepted). Nobody ever leaves the church grounds but an entire family of people has passports and apparently it’s just a casual mission trip to Haiti? I don’t understand whether this is supposed to be FLDS-equivalent - obsessively insular and threatened by the outside world - or run-of-the-mill fundamentalist (in which case the level of crazy in cult activities makes no sense). The men in the church can take a vote to kick out leadership but apparently didn’t bother to do so while their own wives and prepubescent children were being
Spoiler
forcibly raped and impregnatedI’m just kind of confused by what PsyLed is doing out in the woods, also. With all their fancy surveillance, both digital and magical, they can’t figure out if there are white vans entering the church grounds around the time kidnapping victims disappear? They’ve got flipping satellite photos. Can’t they check heat signatures in the newly off-limits areas of the church to see if there are people there? The church had dozens of children removed by social services before the book began, and some were later returned. It’s just very difficult to imagine that the US government and this ultra-efficient agency couldn’t come up with some pretense to get on church grounds and investigate suspicious areas without needing Nell’s help.
The book is engaging and the fantasy and paranormal aspects are well-done and interesting. It’s the real-world stuff where Hunter falls down - that and logic.