Blood Cross Review

Title: Blood Cross
Author: Faith Hunter
Series: Jane Yellowrock #2
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Hunters, Shapeshifters, Skinwalkers, Vampires, Witches.

Review:

In the second installment of Jane Yellowrock series, entitled Blood Cross, the stories continue from when Jane Yellowrock was hired by the vampire council to hunt down a rogue vampire who turns young and innocent humans into insane rogue vampire which violates the vampire laws. Jane later gets herself involve into power-play between major the vampire clans. It is also reveal that this power-play also involves an age old rivalry between the vampires and witches which lead to the Jane's bestfriend's children being kidnapped by the perpetrators.

The plot is a tad more complicated than one initially expects, and at times it can be distracting to try and figure out where Jane is on which case or line of inquiry. Despite the complexity of the plot, it still get resolve in a favorable way concluding which is considered a very gruelling story arc.   

Jane Yellowrock is by far one of the best urban fantasy books I have read and I can't wait to read the next book of the series.

Skinwalker Review

Title: Skinwalker
Author: Faith Hunter
Series: Jane Yellowrock #1
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Hunters, Shapeshifters, Skinwalkers, Vampires, Witches.

Review:

Since the 7th installment of Mercedes Thompson is still far from finished, I decided to read another "walker" book in Faith Hunter's "Skinwalker". Unlike Mercedes Thompson who is a walker and shapeshifts only into a coyote, Jane Yellowrock is a full-on skinwalker who can shapeshift into any animal as long as she has the proper mass to carry the change. For this series, she prefers to shapeshift into mountain lion more than any animal.

Another difference between the two protaonists is that Mercy is more of a mechanic than a hunter who only gets into action when forced into while Jane is a mercinary vampire hunter by trade.

The story starts when Jane is called to New Orleans by an old vampire named Katie, who hires her to track and kill a rogue vampire preying on not only the humans but other vampires in the city. Turns out this rogue vampire is a lot more older, more powerful, and much more harder to track than Jane thought. While on the hunt, she is introduced to the vampire world: the politics, lifestyle, and the who's who of vamp society.

Skinwalker is a breath of fresh air for me personally as I was able to read another "skinwalker" theme book that as a good as the Mercedes Thompson series (maybe better in terms of action). The caveat on this story is that there are two point of views: When Jane is in her human form, the conversation is conventional but when Jane shifts into her "big cat" form, Beast takes over the persona and the conversation is like someone is dictating a list of word (you'll know what I mean once you read the book).  

Turn Coat Review

Title: Turn Coat
Author: Jim Butcher
Series: Dresden Files #11
Genre: Detective, Private Investigator, Urban Fantasy, Wizards, Faeries, Demons, Vampires, Skinwalkers, Werewolves, Skinwalkers

Review:

I considered "Turn Coat" Jim Butcher 11th installment another turning point into the series as a whole as this story involves Morgan, Harry personal rival in the White Council, asking for Harry help as he is being frame of killing a high ranking member of the White Counciland is being hunted down by the same Wardens who he is a member too. Despite their differences, Harry voluntarily helps Morgan find the real culprit to the murders as he firmly believe that Morgan can never kill someone without probable cause and he is too righeous to do so.

Harry suspects that there's mole within the White Council and with the aid of the Alphas and the White court vampires, Harry was able to uncover the mole and its sinister plan of destroying the council from within clearing Morgan's name and cutting the Red Court's tactical advantages in the war. There's a lot of revelation being reveal which would really affect the future of the series as a whole.

Despite the book being a bit more serious, Turn Coat still has lots of action, conspiracy theories and we get to see the other "good guys" join in to help Harry in his investigation. As with the previous books, I would recommend getting the audiobook version too as James Marsters did a good job narrating.