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Liked It “A great book in a new series. The heroine, Jane Yellowrock is funny, smart, attractive and can kick butt. And I love her love of tea. The mystery was a really good one. I never guessed who it was. I can't wait for the second book out in Jan. 2010. |
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“A great book in a new series. The heroine, Jane Yellowrock is funny, smart, attractive and can kick butt. And I love her love of tea. The mystery was a really good one. I never guessed who it was. I can't wait for the second book out in Jan. 2010.
rainlily wrote this review 13 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
A new favorite series for sure. :)”
“I enjoy strong female characters in urban fantasy and this one hits the mark. The main character tries to come to terms with herself and her past while dealing with what she does-rouge vamp killing. Good book to test the waters of urban fantasy.”
Emma J wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Book 1
Darling-Diva wrote this review Tuesday, November 17 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
2: Blood Cross”
“A+”
Janet B wrote this review Saturday, November 14 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Faith Hunter's Skinwalker is great. It's the first in her Jane Yellowrock series. World building wise - at least in terms of the creatures - some of it seems similar to what I've seen in Harrison's the Hollows series. Oddly enough, despite the fact that it's set in New Orleans and in modern day times - after Hurricane Katrina - I kept getting this feeling as if I was reading a world that had a western cowboy feel or the resident evil movie 3 feel where the whole world is covered in sand and there are outposts of civilization... I don't know why. Didn't really detract from the book but it was a really weird feeling, different than the grittiness of most UF settings.
Katreus wrote this review Tuesday, November 10 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Character wise, Jane reminded me a bit like Kate Daniels. Not a whole lot because they are pretty different -- only in the sense that both are competent, do their jobs well, and there's a sense of mystery as to their origins. Jane is interesting in that she has two souls inside of her - her own and Beast - and they're not always on the same page as to goals. Both of them can track very well using scents so it was interesting to see how they handled getting to know a new city and to tracking down their target. Beast's style of thought is more primal and animal like and the shift is seamless. IMO, it's readable and not too hard to pick up so it doesn't bother me but I guess it could be annoying to other people. I actually like that the shift is seamless in text but it does make it hard to adjust to the transition at first.
I also found the Cherokee background to be different. I was a little surprised at how fast her background was revealed to the reader but nevertheless, I really enjoyed finding out about it. Of course, now the question becomes who in the series is going to be able to figure out her and her background. ”
“For those of you who are contemplating reading this book, I highly recommend it.
Aimee aka Tickle Cloud wrote this review Monday, October 26 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Jane is a Skinwalker. She is able to take the form of any animal, with the help of her fetishes (bone fragments of the animal). She isn't alone in her skin though. Beast resides in her. She doesn't know where Beast came from, or remember her childhood, but she does know that Beast wasn't always with her.
I really like shifter novels and I found this one to be unique in the shifter world. Jane, shifter, is a vampire hunter. Vampires have hired her to kill a rogue vampire, a first for her.
There are several great characters in this series, who I hope to meet again in the second book. The vampires are well written and so are their servants. The only writing technique that I didn't like at first was Beast's thoughts. But after getting about halfway through the book I forgot all about it and was too enthralled in the book to notice or care.
Jodi was a great character and I loved how Jane and Jodi pretty much butted heads the entire novel. Jodi is a detective in charge of finding and disposing of the rogue. Jane is the out of town talent hired to do the same. Kind of like a turf war. Who is better than who, who has more authority. I really just loved the conflict between these two, it made the slow moments fun.
One of the few things I could have gone without was the phone calls from Molly. They weren't really story progressive and could have been left out. I'm not talking about the conversations, just the phone call, one line and then the hang up. It wasn't needed and didn't do anything for the story. It's only a small point, which is why this book still has 5 stars to it.
I was very interested in Jane's background and her meeting with Aggie and her mother and about The People. I hope in the next book it goes further into detail about this and we meet these characters again. I'm very interested in reading more on Jane's history and where her people came from.”
“Jane doesn't remember much of her past before she was 12 and her time spent in a children's home, but the two of the things she knows about herself is that she is probably of Cherokee descent and she is a skinwalker. She can change to any shape she wants, but a part of her wants to be a panther. Another thing about Jane is that she hunts vampires for a living and when she is hired for a job in New Orleans, things seem to be going well. Even if she was hired by one vampire to hunt down a rouge. From there the action is only starting as the rouge killings start coming a little to close to home.
WonderBunny wrote this review Tuesday, September 29 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
This was a fabulous read! I really enjoyed the consistency and attitude of Jane. I thought the plot was well developed and helped the story progress nicely. I will definitely be picking up more by this author.”
“Wow! What a great kick off to a fresh new series!
Tracy wrote this review Monday, August 17 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Jane Yellowrock is a skinwalker, a shamanistic, native american shape-changer, and as far as she knows, the only one left of her kind. That she's also dual-souled, and shares a body with Beast, a mountain lion and a predator of the first order, makes Jane unique even among other skinwalkers. She uses her skills to hunt rogue vampires, and while she's made a name for herself at her job, she's just taken a contract on a rogue vamp, offered by one of the "sane" vampire councils, and she arrives in New Orleans to find out that she doesn't know much about the more genteel brethren of her prey. She's got to learn fast, while dodging too much scrutiny aimed her way, or she could end up dead or blood-enslaved by more than one threat - and she's not too sure which one would be worse.
Faith Hunter's Skinwalker is a dark but rich delight with a tightly woven plot and a solid foundation of fascinating characters and mythos that make this story feel fresh and original (the fact that Jane Yellowrock isn't a whiney, self-absorbed bitch is a wonderful treat, too). While some may argue that there are too many similarities to the Mercy Thompson series, or early Anita Blake (before they turned into poorly plotted porn), I saw only surface similarities, and the meat of Skinwalker...no pun intended...was a subtly drawn masterpiece of unique perspective and fresh ideas.
There's A LOT given to the reader in the way of fleshing out the world of Jane Yellowrock that can be built on, such the origins of the Mithran (vampires), brilliantly alluded to as a large and religiously significant occurrence that is both new to me and refreshing for it. There is also the existence of magic, and Jane's best friend and family are witches, and the glimpses we got into that aspect of the world were original and stamped with Faith Hunter's own ingenuity. All in all, VERY interesting teasers abound in Skinwalker that guarantee me tuning in for the next installment.
I do want to expand, though, on my thoughts concerning the darkness in this book. Human sensibility may be profoundly offended by what some would consider over-the-top gruesome detail that shows up sporadically through the book (more so in the last quarter of it). Taken in the context of character, however, I read these parts as a rather subtly drawn and significant plot device. Jane co-exists with the soul of a big cat - a mountain lion - and more than a little of the nature of that predator has been apart of her for a VERY long time (you'll be surprised just how long if you pick up on the flash of memory sequence that refers to it). While I can understand the very real human horror that some will feel at the brutally descriptive scenes, I temper that with the knowledge that Jane is NOT, in fact, human. Never was. And since joining with Beast, is even less so. The predatory aspects that are detailed here are brutal, but brilliantly executed. I found them chilling, but no more disturbing to me personally than I find nature documentaries where prides of lion or the lone cheetah take down and devour the cute little impala young. Nature is conscienceless and brutal and only the strongest predators survive. That in this particular book, humans and vampires alike are the prey is a concept I found perhaps macabrely satisfying.
I would caution those who prefer to read more glossed over violence, however, that this may not be the book for you. Faith Hunter pulls no punches on this aspect of her prose.
The only critical comments I have is in the writing of Beast, the author doesn't maintain the same level of short-concept/image flashed/choppy internal dialogue throughout the book. As the book draws closer and closer to the end, Beast starts reverting to full sentences and it's jarring after having her tightly contained and definitively non-human expressions from the beginning. I also would've liked to see the Joe (and I got SUCH a kick out of her referring to him that way) fleshed out and present a bit more, but it's a small complaint, because I have a feeling we'll be seeing more of him to come. Such WONDERFUL teasers in this book!
4.5 Stars for the bright NEW star in urban fantasy by Faith Hunter, Skinwalker: A Jane Yellowrock Novel!”
“It was okay, the Rogue Mage Novels are WAY better!”
Saharla wrote this review Monday, July 20 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Hunter is another favorite of mine. I picked up her Rogue Mage series just as the first book was coming out and I’ve been hooked ever since. Jane Yellowrock is a skinwalker – the only one of her kind. She uses her unique shape-shifting abilities and a mysterious passenger on her soul known as Beast to hunt and kill rogue vampires. Hunter’s worlds are always immersive and intriguing. I found myself liking Jane’s world even better than Thorn’s – mostly because there’s no religious mythology to leave my head spinning. I recommend this for all fans of urban fantasy.”
Kiara wrote this review Sunday, July 12 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
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