Tori's Review: Raven Cursed by Faith Hunter

Released: January 3, 2012
Paperback: X pages
Price: $7.99
Publisher: Penguin 
Source: Publisher 
Genre: Urban Fantasy 
Series: Jane Yellowrock
Buy: Amazon

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The vampires of Asheville, North Carolina, want to establish their own clan, but since they owe loyalty to the Master Vampire of New Orleans they must work out the terms with him. To come up with an equitable solution, he sends an envoy with the best bodyguard blood money can buy: Jane Yellowrock.

But when a group of local campers are attacked by something fanged, Jane goes from escort to investigator. Unless she wants to face a very angry mast vampire, she will have to work overtime to find the killer. It's a good thing she's worth every penny.

My Rating:

My Opinion:
I thoroughly enjoyed RAVEN CURSED (RC), and yet, despite how much I love Jane and Beast, I haven't the faintest clue how I should write this review. SKINWALKER was Book Faery's first book review ever, so I feel a certain sort of fondness for this series, and yet, I will readily admit that there are sometimes elements in these books that bother me.

One, for instance, was the fact that I could barely remember certain characters and scenes from the last book while reading RC. Some characters literally felt brand new to me, but from the way Jane and the others behaved around so-and-so, they obviously played a role in a past book. I know I read MERCY BLADE almost exactly a year ago, so that may contribute to the fuzzies, but I was disconcerted when a number of references to the past caught me off guard. My memory is not THAT bad...

Another thing that made me a bit disappointed was the slow start. If I was new to the Jane Yellowrock series, you best be believing that I would have given up within the first few pages. It was slow and I couldn't get attached to Jane or the plot line. Eventually the pace did pick up and I re-entered the world, but I think some may not give Jane and Beast the pages they deserve.

Aside from those two complaints, I still loved this book. Beast is as funny as ever. She is one of the most developed characters thus far in the series.

Leo still makes me swoon, and I was squeeing like a fan-girl when he actually played a role in person this time around. I missed that crazy vampire.

Jane has never bothered me before, though I will admit that her penance/religion plot-line can be a little overkill for some. I don't really pay it much attention in general, but this time around, I kind of enjoyed the stark contrast between Jane and her repenting and Beast's "screw it" attitude that a predator would presumably have.

Evangelina... oh Evangelina, you evil dirty little witch. I was not expecting this sort of twist, but I loved what happened to her at the end. She so deserved it.

Big Evan frustrated me. I felt like his dislike for Jane was a bit... overkill. I can understand his point of view, and WHY he may have behaved the way he did, but I think it was done solely to reinforce the penance theme, and if that is truly the case, I was not enjoying that aspect.

I'm feeling a bit ambivalent about Molly now after what happened in this book. Considering Jane and Molly were best friends, I'm surprised she sometimes behaved the way she did. It's not like Jane could really help what happened in the past--it was part of her job, and Molly should have understood that was part of the job description (look at me, sympathizing with Jane ha!).

Bruiser and Rick... now those two are hot messes--emphasis on hot. I love this series, so the "love triangle" (if you would call it that) doesn't really bother me, and I love the mind games, but I know a lot of people who would get annoyed with how we, as readers, keep getting baited along.

The characters in Hunter's series are so well-fleshed out that it is hard to recall that they are not real. The plot line in RC is as good as past storylines, but I will not be going into detail since I don't want to spoil any details for newbies and Jane Yellowrock fans alike.

Once again, another Jane Yellowrock novel receives a highly recommended review from me. If you want an awesome UF with some crazy ass old school-ish vampires, skinwalkers, and many other paranormaly creatures, then this series is for you.


Series Order:
1. Skinwalker (book review)
2. Blood Cross (book review)
3. Mercy Blade (book review)
4. Raven Cursed