Tracking the Tempest

Main Characters:

Jane True –  She’s half-human (her other half is selkie).

Ryu (full name Ryu Baobhan Sith) – A vampire and sort of the paranormal FBI.  And most importantly, Jane’s current squeeze.

Anyan – the dog, the shifter, the potential rival love interest.

Nell – a gnome, who with Trill, help Jane learn about what she is and the supernatural world around her.

Trill –  a kelpie who helps Jane learn about what she is.

Jarl – Orin and Morrigan’s second.  Really doesn’t like humans.  And likes halflngs even less.

Grizzie and Tracy –  own the book store that Jane works at.  There, I think, is more to Grizzie and her family too.  Grizzie is from the Bathgate family which may be important later.

NEW CHARACTERS:

Jillian – a technological genius who helps Ryu.

Conleth – the bad guy here.  Has a thing for fire.  He is also a half-ling.  He was kept at a facility which he destroyed when he escaped, and he spends the book hunting down everyone who worked there and killing them.  The facility was fronted as a fertility clinic and Jane thinks that might be important later.

Main Premise:  again, someone is hunting down and killing.  This time, Jane goes to visit Ryu in Boston for Valentine’s Day but it’s not safe.  So Jane goes home, but the violence follows her.  So, she heads back to Ryu’s to help in the investigation.  Turns out that a half-ling, Conleth , is back and is hunting down folks.

Locations: Rockbill Maine, Boston

Other important things to remember:  coming soon!  (After my re-read!)

Review:  Jane is a wonderful character.  She’s funny and sarcastic and powerful and independent.  I love her!!  And I love the non-traditional supernatural characters that are in this series.  Ryu, Anyan, Nell, Caleb and the others are great.  The powers that they have are different and the new bad guy and this story is interesting.
I love the writing style.  I love the realistic feel to the dialogue and Jane’s inner thoughts.  One of my favorite quotes: “It was huge, as in Crocodile Dundee ‘Now that’s a knoife’ huge”  (And yes, it is spelled knoife!) and I love how the author continues that – so that a page later “You did just take a f*@#$% ‘knoife’ for him…And now Ryu totally owes you…” And then a few pages later, again “I’ll show that halfling a ‘knoife’…”  By carrying things like that through, you really feel like you start to know Jane and I totally felt like I was inside her head.  Her libido isn’t as vocal in this book, but when it is, it is laugh-out-loud funny.

The story here is that there are a bunch of murders that are being committed by a halfling who was raised in a laboratory and was experimented on.  Jane starts off on a valentine’s day trip to see Ryu (**sigh.  he’s so dreamy**).  And from there, things get kind of crazy.  Jane works with the investigators to get to the bottom of a bunch of murders and it’s great to see her growth, emotionally and magically.  Her power becomes a force to be reckoned with and its amazing.

The intrigue and the twists and the ties back to the first book brought back all the wonderfulness of the first book – although I forgot, at first, who a few of the players who were referenced are in this universe.  Phaedra is one of the characters who I wasn’t sure what to make of at first, and **spoiler alert** Jane doesn’t trust her and for good reason.  Her cast of baddies are really a nasty group.  And they are fun to read.

It will be interesting to see where book 3 goes.  I must admit that I read the blurb in the back from Tempest’s Legacy, and I am not all that thirlled to see where the whole Jane/Ryu/Anyan thing might be headed.  Yikes.  Feeling like that might be a little to Twilight-ish with the whole one girl-two guys thing.  But, we’ll see.  And don’t get me wrong, I like Anyan (way better then I like Jacob) but I am definitely a “Team Ryu” gal (Team Anyan is so not happening in my mind!)

I get why some have compared these to the Sookie series – and I think they are similar in that they are fun and quick.  They involve someone from a tiny town with supernatural abilities and the town apparently has a bunch of supes.  In fact, the word “supes” seems to even be a common link.  The first of these had a few steamy scenes (admittedly, the first was more steamy) – sort of like (some of) Sookie’s books.  But, really, that’s where the similarities end.  Sookie is easy to identify with, but she isn’t the sarcastic bundle of a no-pushover that Jane is.  Sookie isn’t stupid, nor is she really such an easy target – but when it comes to it, Jane is way funnier, smarter, and her libido puts Sookie’s to shame.  Plus, Jane can totally defend herself with her own “mojo” (as she calls the magic) and Sookie really can’t do that, she has to rely on others.  Making Sookie the damsel in distress while Jane is the kick-butt wonder woman herself.   The action and the intrigue is also a little better – the writing too.  I love the Sookie books (have read ’em all), but the writing here is just more intelligent and as a result more fun for me to read.  Not to mention, the huge range of mythological creatures involved here open up so many more possibilities that it’s way more interesting then just vamps and shifters.  Not to mention, this does not feel like a commentary on society (and society’s take on homosexuality, which, face it, Sookie’s books do).

Finally, as one who appreciates book artwork – I adore the covers and the icon on the pages which start new chapters.  I am one of those people who totally browses covers and if they look fun, I pick them up (hence how I started reading Queen Betsy books, Vegas Vampire books and the first of the Strange Neighbors).  I totally hope that there are more Jane True books coming (beyond just Tempest’s Legacy) and that they continue to use the same artist.