So here I am at the fourteenth Jane Yellowrock book and I’m still having a good time. That’s quite an achievement by Faith Hunter.

Two years ago, the last novel, Shattered Bonds, went a long way to rebooting the series after the long story arc with Leo and the European vamps came to an end in Dark Queen, so I was keen to see where Jane would go next.

I was a little disappointed that the answer was New Orleans. I’d harboured a hope that Jane might go off and do something new, although I had no idea what. Still, you either trust an author or you don’t, so I put my disappointment aside and waited to see where Faith Hunter took me and what she did to Jane in the process. She delivered an emotionally intense, action-packed novel that, despite being fifteen and a half hours long, I wolfed down in two days.

Yes, we did go back to New Orleans, where everything began but True Dead was a great example of the truth that you can never go back. You and the places you’re in keep changing. One of the things I liked about the book was how Jane see the ghosts of her own past actions everywhere she goes. She’s not haunted by them but she’s not blind to them. As the book progresses, Jane’s attention is mostly taken up by the realisation that being the Dark Queen means that when she puts herself at risk, she puts all her people at risk. If she dies, whoever kills her will not treat them well. It’s quite an adjustment for her to make and I admired how Faith Hunter lets the realisation dawn upon her a little at a time. 

Beast is one of my favourite characters in this series and I’m really enjoying the new I/we combination of Jane and Beast which allows them to work together and talk to each other while still keeping their separate identities. Beast has…

Click here to read the rest of the review on my 2021 Halloween Bingo site