A review by shelleyrae
Frost Moon by Anthony Francis

4.0

Dakota Frost is a magical tattoo artist, the best in the SouthEast, with a mohawk that adds even more height to her 6ft2 heavily tattooed frame, a penchant for leather and an eye for a gorgeous man, or woman - she's not particularly fussy. I love Dakota, she is feisty and confident and is a little different from the usual urban fantasy heroine. Dakota identifies her self as a Skindancer - her tattoo's are more than just art, she has the ability to make her tattoos live, the vines that adorn her body can create an impenetrable barrier, the butterfly on her wrist can flap it's wings and flutter around the room and the dragon that is wrapped sinuously around her entire body will save her life. Yet Dakota isn't invincible, behind the bravado she is ill-equipped to defend herself and when she becomes the target of a serial killer we learn of her physical and emotional vulnerability.
There are some quirky support characters including Dakota's ex girlfriend who is a Christian vampire Queen, the blind graphomancer/witch and a rather unprofessional man in black. The most delightful is Cinnamon, a teenage were tiger stray who attaches herself to Dakota with fierce devotion. It will be interesting to see how these characters play out during the series.
The plot of Frost Moon is fast paced and cleverly layered, there are several seemingly disparate threads that slowly weave together as the story unfolds. This is a gritty urban fantasy, there are some scenes and innuendo that are unpleasant though (with the exception of one which includes a ball gag and a cage) I didn't feel they were gratuitous. However I didn't think Dakota needed to salivate over everyone that crossed her path but I wrote that off as a misstep of a male author and was willing to overlook it.
I thought the world building was creative though I could have done without the street by street tour of Atlanta, it probably has more significance for someone who knows the city but I didn't find it relevant. There is plenty of interesting variety in the population though, vampires, weres of all descriptions, magicians, witches to name just a few. The Edgeworlders are part of the human world but very much on it's fringes at the same time.

Frost Moon is an interesting and imaginative urban fantasy series debut with attitude. It's a little darker than most with some raw edges but I am looking forward to seeing in what direction the author takes the second installment. Luckily I have [b:Blood Rock|11138508|Blood Rock (Skindancer, #2)|Anthony Francis|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1313622192s/11138508.jpg|16061887] to directly follow up with.