Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Review: Blood in Her Veins

Blood in Her Veins (A Jane Yellowrock Book) by Faith Hunter

Publication Date: 02/02/2016
Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: Roc
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 560
ISBN-100451475755
ISBN-13978-0451475756

(Received for an honest review from Roc)

Purchase: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, itunes

Faith Hunter on the WEB: Website, Blog, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads

Books in the series:

Jane Yellowrock

1. Signatures of the Dead (in Strange Brew)
1. Skinwalker
2. Blood Cross
3. Mercy Blade
3.5. Cat Tales
4. Raven Cursed
4.5. Have Stakes Will Travel
5. Death's Rival
6. Blood Trade
7. Black Arts
7.5. Off the Grid (aka Black Water)
8. Broken Soul
9. Dark Heir
10. Shadow Rites
Easy Pickings
Jane Yellowrock World Companion
Blood In Her Veins


Coverart: Click the image for a larger, clearer view of the covers in this series.




Excerpt from Blood in Her Veins, courtesy of Amazon's Look Inside feature.

Synopsis:

New York Times bestselling author Faith Hunter presents a comprehensive collection of stories starring everyone’s favorite “smart, sexy, and ruthless”* shapeshifting skinwalker...
 
In this must-have collection of stories, experience nineteen thrilling adventures from the world of vampire-hunter Jane Yellowrock, including many fan favorites and two all-new novellas. Read about the first time Jane put the pedal to the metal in “The Early Years,” and the last thing a werewolf will ever see as Jane delivers justice in “Beneath a Bloody Moon.” Get a searing look into the pasts of some of the series’ best-loved characters: Beast in “WeSa and the Lumber King,” Rick LaFleur in “Cat Tats,” and Molly Everhart Trueblood in “Haints.” 
 
In the brand-new “Cat Fight,” the witches and vampires of Bayou, Oiseau, are at war over a magical talisman—and Jane must figure out how to keep the mysterious artifact out of the covetous hands of the Master of New Orleans. And in the never-before-published “Bound No More,” Jane welcomes a visit from Molly and her daughter, Angie, who is about to prove she’s the most powerful witch in Everhart history....
 
From the Big Easy to the bad bayou, from the open road to a vampire’s lair—with Jane Yellowrock, it’s always a given: have stakes, will travel.


Thoughts:

Faith Hunter returns to the world of Jane Yellowrock in this collection of nineteen stories that will leave readers wanting to re-read the entire series. Jane Yellowrock is fantastic Urban Fantasy heroine and readers who are looking for a good introduction to the genre will love this series. This new book has only two new stories about Jane but the other seventeen will take the reader back in time and introduce them to parts of Jane they may not have seen before. A must read for fans of the Jane Yellowrock series!

What I liked:

There are so many things I could talk about here. The Jane Yellowrock series is one my favorite Urban Fantasy reads ever. Jane is a skinwalker. If you know anything about Native American folklore you have heard of skinwalkers before. Basically, Jane is a shape-shifter and she can communicate with her other form, which she has named, Beast. Did I mention that Jane is a vampire-hunter? There is that.This series has interactions with many different paranormal characters from witches to vampires, skinwalkers to werewolves. You get a little bit of everything here and it is soooo worth the read.

Blood In Her Veins is not a book I would recommend reading as a stand alone unless you have read all the other books in this series. These nineteen stories happen all throughout the series and I feel like the reader would miss so much if they haven't read the surrounding stories. There are two new stories as well that will broaden the readers idea of Jane and her world. I liked having all of the shorter novellas in one place and in order. That made it easy for me as a big fan of the series to keep everything in perspective.

I liked the fact that Hunter gives us stories not only from Jane's point of view but from those of her friends as well. I love Molly and Angie and I'll have admit to having a love/hate relationship with Rick. I didn't like him to start with but he grew on me. Bruiser is pretty awesome and loved reading more about him as well.

What I didn't like:

This one is close to 600 pages. If you are not into chunky books this one might not be for you. It's a bit lengthy but if you are a fan of the series you will fall right back into the addiction that is Jane when you start reading it and the time and pages will fly. Over too soon in my opinion.

Bottom Line:

If you haven't read this series, you really have to give it a try. Hunter's writing is fantastic and you won't regret the read. This collection of stories from Jane's world was a big hit for me, but it might leave you scratching your head if you aren't caught up on the series. I loved it!

Blood in Her Veins is available NOW from your favorite bookseller.

I'm giving this one 5 out of 5 apples from my book bag.





About the Author:


Faith Hunter, urban fantasy writer, was born in Louisiana and raised all over the south. Hunter fell in love with reading in fifth grade, and best loved SciFi, fantasy, and gothic mystery. She decided to become a writer in high school, when a teacher told her she had talent. Now, she writes full-time (about 60 hours a week) tries to keep house, and is a workaholic with a passion for travel, jewelry making, white-water kayaking, and writing. She and her husband love to RV, traveling with their dogs to whitewater rivers all over the Southeast. 

The dark urban fantasy Skinwalker series, featuring Jane Yellowrock, is a New York Times bestselling series with multiple books and compilations. Jane Yellowrock is a Cherokee skinwalker who tracks, hunts, and kills rogue-vampires for a living -- that is, until she takes a gig working for Leo Pellissier, the Master of the City of New Orleans. The series is set in an alternate reality, modern-day world, one inhabited by humans, vamps, and other things that go bump in the night.

Her Rogue Mage novels, a dark, urban fantasy series, feature Thorn St. Croix, a stone mage in a post-apocalyptic, alternate reality, urban fantasy world. These novels are the basis for the Rogue Mage World Book and Role Playing Game, which contains lots of fiction for the readers!

The upcoming Soulwood series features Nell Nicholson Ingram, and is a spinoff from the Skinwalker series. Nell is an escapee from a cult, a solitary woman with magic of her own. In book one, Blood of The Earth, she is hired to help PsyLED (a division of Homeland Security) find a missing child.

Under her pen name Gwen Hunter, she writes action adventure, mysteries, and thrillers. 

As Faith and Gwen, she has more than 33 books in print in 29 countries. 

Along with other published writers, Faith participates in an online writing community geared to helping fantasy writers with tips and publishing advice called www.MagicalWords.net 

Join the fans at the official Faith Hunter Facebook fan page now located at 
https://www.facebook.com/official.faith.hunter or follow her on Twitter @HunterFaith 
For more, including a list of her books, freebies, & upcoming events see www.FaithHunter.net and www.GwenHunter.com.

1 comment:

holdenj said...

Wow, 'chunky' is one word to describe it--that's just really long! I like the cover and the look of intensity on her face.