Mercy Blade - Jane Yellowrock Bk #3 - Faith Hunter

     After an all too brief vacation for Jane/Beast with Rick, they are all called back to New Orleans because the weres of the world have come out of the supernatural closet.  With this development the vampire Master of the City, Leo, needs Jane to run an errand for him.  Leo needs Jane to go out to a bar in the boonies to tell a certain someone that he's Persona non Grata in New Orleans.  
     When she gets there she finds nothing but werewolves so, certainly the message must pertain to the alpha of the group.  Jane's luck holds true and he's not interested in hearing any message, just in killing the messenger.  Not even Beast in all of her bravado is speaking up in Jane's mind that she can take all of the werewolves since by quick count it's 12-20 weres to one. The door to the bar locks and Jane/Beast must fight their way out knowing that their death is sure to come, but just as a werewolf is coming for her throat a man with swords resembling Zorro comes out of nowhere to save her.  One of the hardest fights Jane/Beast has ever been in ensues and only through the stranger's help do they prevail.
     Having passed out at the end of the struggle she wakes up in the arms of the stranger who saved her.  He explains that his name is Girrard and that he was once Leo's misericorde, also know as a Mercy Blade, a sacred position charged with killing the offspring of vampires who have gone insane.  However, Jane doesn't know the real reason he's now returned after all these years, but she's sure that this is the man that Leo's message was meant for.  The man who just saved her life.
     Mercy Blade is a Jane Yellowrock novel of multiple plots that all intertwine into one.  I'd like to say amazingly so, and it would be for any other writer, but Ms. Hunter is a favourite of mine so, actually just sit back and enjoy the roller-coaster ride.  Character development seems to be key in Mercy Blade.  Not only for Jane/Beast, but for Bruiser, Girrard, Leo and Evangelina.  Yes, there are still your old favourite aspects from Skinwalker and Blood Cross here (with the exception of one for me) it's just like getting to know old friends even better.
     What's the one, you ask?  Well, the aspect that first drew me in with Skinwalker being one shapechanger book out of 40 that came out that year was how it was written.  Two souls in one body.  Beast and Jane.  When one was Alpha, the other was beta.  That meant that when one drove the bus the other had to sit in the back and could offer suggestions, but the driver didn't have to listen.  In Mercy Blade there's only one stand-out moment where Beast takes the reins and Jane has sit in the back.  In the three books those are some of the best conversations, between Beast and Jane, and some of the most revealing about the two.  I hope that the forthcoming book, Raven Cursed, includes more of these talks between the two.
     All in all, Mercy Blade was a stellar book with the introduction of what's sure to be an important character in the Jane/Beast universe.  My question is, will Raven Cursed happen in North Carolina or New Orleans?  Can't wait to find out!

Mercy Blade receives a 3.5 Stars out of 4

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Blood Cross - Jane Yellowrock Bk #2 - Faith Hunter

Picking up a few weeks after the events of Skinwalker, we find vampire bounty hunter and skinwalker, Jane Yellowrock receiving visitors. Jane's best friend and earth witch, Molly is there with her two children, Angelina and Little Evan. Together they are riding out the tail end of a hurricane at Jane's rental property in New Orleans. Molly is a powerful earth witch, but all of her wards are down because the storm was playing merry-hob with them.

The hurricane begins to let up and Molly and Jane decide to put the kids down for a little nap. Being the only one who stays awake, Jane begins to prowl the house because she can feel something's off. Suddenly, Jane smells smoke and races outside to see what the origin is. She skids to a halt in front of Leo Pellissier, leader of the vampire council of New Orleans and four of his blood children in her front yard. He's there to kill her because he believes Jane killed his only son and heir, and he intends to use fire to do it.

Even though Jane's original contract with the vampire council has expired it was extended so that the part Cherokee all skinwalker Jane could take care of the problem. Some rogue master is making scions and setting them free without the ten years needed to "cure" them. Young vampires generally must spend a decade chained up before they regain enough of the sanity needed to be let out into society again. This new master is skipping that step and basically releasing what amounts to be paranormal strength, fangs and hunger upon the streets of New Orleans. Jane's job is to find this rogue and end him along with any other children he has made.

Jane knows she cannot do this alone. She sets out with some local vigilantes, her witch friend Molly and her police detective friend Rick to end the dead bodies that begin stacking up around New Orleans again. To everyone's surprise except Jane it becomes apparent that it isn't just one lone vampire master who is doing this. It goes deeper then that. When loyalties run in millenia who amongst the vampires can Jane trust?

I truly do love the world that Faith Hunter has created with Jane Yellowrock. In Blood Cross she continues to walk the tightrope between amazing writing and doing what has come before. It would be so easy for her to fall off into derivative nonsense with her protagonist being a six foot tall, beautiful, shape shifting "Valkyrie" on a Harley, but Ms. Hunter never does. Not one part of this story takes you out of it by ringing false.

Just like in Skinwalker, Blood Cross has another stand out voice with Jane's other known as Beast. The parts of the book with Beast are funny and believable. When Beast is sitting alpha she has an inner monologue that makes it known that she considers Jane the interloper and that she should actually be in control most of the time.

Begin your year by picking up Blood Cross. Actually, if you haven't yet get the whole story beginning in the Strange Brew anthology (what I call Jane Yellowrock Bk #.5) and Skinwalker - Jane Yellowrock Bk #1. Blood Cross is a paranormal thriller that deserves to be read.

Blood Cross receives a classic rating of 4 out of 4 stars.

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Skinwalker - Jane Yellowrock Bk 1 - Faith Hunter

Through a carefully (and skillfully) laid back story we're introduced to Jane Yellowrock. A Native American Cherokee myth comes to life, a Skinwalker. As far as she knows the only one of her kind in the world.

Part of that back story reveals that Jane almost died a year ago taking out a Blood Family. (Make sure you check out PN Elrod's anthology, Strange Brew for the full story.) She's enjoyed healing with her Witch friend Molly and her family for the past year, but it's time to get back to work, destroying rogue "Vamps."

Hired by the first civilised Vampire she's ever met, Kathrine Fontaneau, she leaves her home in North Carolina to head to New Orleans. Fontaneau and the other Vampire ruling class want this rogue taken out, by any means necessary. Not so much because he/she/it is killing humans (and other Vampires), but because it's affecting the bottom line. Since coming out of the coffin in the 1960's, the main stream Vamps get quite a bit of their money from tourism.

Ms. Hunter does an amazing and new take on a shapeshifter. Jane is not alone inside herself, she also has to deal with Beast on a daily basis. When Jane shifts Beast is Alpha and Jane is Beta. It's almost dealt with in a Multiple Personality Disorder, but with the other her only being partially submerged, able to affect the dominate who's driving. Her talents make her the perfect vampire hunter, able to track and destroy them in both her human or animal forms.

Jane can become any animal she wishes through years of practise, but Beast prefers her own, and gets rather pissed at Jane is she shifts into another. I cannot go on enough about how well Ms. Hunter does this novel. At no time are you bored while reading Jane back story. It's parted out throughout Skinwalker in bits and pieces. You won't get hit with one big chapter basically saying, "Here's what happened before..."

Faith Hunter delivers creates someone you may think you've met before at first glance, a kick ass, no nonsense Vamp hunter. She's six feet tall and beautiful, especially when she's riding her motorcycle, Bitsa. She feels the most comfortable with her Italian shotgun, stakes, crosses and holy water about her. Do Not think Jane is only a warrior women. With Beast constantly commenting on her actions and affecting them to some degree, you'll meet someone completely new in the annals of Urban Fantasy.

I cannot wait until January 5th with the second full Jane Yellowrock novel, Blood Cross: A Jane Yellowrock Novel. You will miss out this summer is Skinwalker is not one of your purchases. It is a must have.

Obviously, and amazingly since I never do this for the first novel in a series, Skinwalker receives a Classic rating of 4 out of 4 Stars.

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