Raven Cursed: A Jane Yellowrock Novel [Mass Market Paperback]

Faith Hunter is one of my favorite writers because her story-telling has a unique flavor different from any other fantasy author out there. You have to read her books to understand that she has a vivid imagination that is distinctly her own. All urban fantasy protagonists are kickass and Jane Yellowrock stands ahead in that class. But one truly likes her (and some may dislike) as she ascribes more responsibility and guilt for her actions than your average protagonist.

In this book, Jane is head of security for a vampire parley in Asheville to decide on the title of blood master for the local master vampire. Unfortunately, the meet is disrupted by tourist killings blamed on vampires, Jane is attacked when asleep by a mysterious blood servant, Molly's sister and coven-head Evangeline is back in the city spinning her compulsion charms on all and sundry and Rick (her maybe boyfriend) is having trouble making the change to a leopard at full moon. Local anger at vampires is at an all time high and the media is merrily stoking the fires. Jane gets a call from Leo - fix things and make them normal.

There is a truckload of action in this book and that suited me just fine. The personal relationship may move slower, but it is quite clear that Hunter is looking at slowly and surely developing this across the series. I have always enjoyed her writing and I found this book terrific.

_Raven Cursed_ takes Cherokee shapeshifter Jane Yellowrock out of New Orleans and back to her native North Carolina.

She's still working for the Vampire master of New Orleans though, in this case running security for a parley between his scion and an up-and-coming NC vampire who wants New Orleans blessing to be master of Ashville.

Of course a straight-forward parley would be too mundane for anything Jane is involved in, and the situation is almost immediately complicated by rogue werewolves, and renegade witches.

Jane's private life continues to be complicated as well, with her one-time boyfriend now struggling to adjust to life as a were-panther.

Can Jane keep everyone alive who matters, bring the parley to a successful conclusion *and* avoid falling out with her friends and lover?

Not to mention the "raven".

In general, finding out the answers makes for a very entertaining book, with some frustrating caveats noted below.

SPOILERS START HERE

First of all, let me tie back to the subject line for this review: Jane is kick-ass, but really she often seems not up to the security and other tasks she takes on.

In the last book, she was responsible for security at a meeting which she totally failed to keep from being trashed by werewolves. In this one, though the meetings proper never devolved into a bloodbath, Jane seems to have hired a second in command who may well try to kill her. While this is a change from *working* for people who try to kill her, it's not a change in the right direction. Neither is making self-admitted "rookie mistakes" in situations where she has plenty of time to plan.

She also seems to have a very hard time tracking down the werewolves despite being able shape change and hunt as a mountain lion, and having access to a were panther with good tracking abilities. There's a lot of pointless to-ing and fro-ing while she tries to run the pack down, and in the end they are kind of randomly taken out by a third party at a bar.

She also wastes a lot of time tracking a grindylow, which ultimately does not help her at all with the wolves, and in the process she fails to interpret a very explicit dream prophesy explicating the grindy situation, despite the fact that it is immediately obvious to the readers.

In the first two books (or maybe books 1 & 3, I forget..) she ignores people waving red flags saying "I have important information, talk to me", and she does it again here, refusing to take a call at a critical time.

The whole situation with Rick seems odd as well. I cannot understand why he is with the were-panther, apparently more or less at Jane's order. The WP is shown several times to be untrustworthy and promises to kill Rick rather than mentor him. On the whole he would be safer almost anywhere else, and get just as much help (ie: none) with the whole were-panther lifestyle almost anywhere else. Or gee, maybe he should be with someone who knows the whole shape changer game, and is well disposed towards him. Now who could that be?

The ostensible Mcguffin of this book, the unexplained success rate of the Ashville master at having his young vampires come through the crazy years quicker remains unexplained, and almost unexamined all through the book. The sociopath vampire (and his particular sociopathy) introduced in the process of securing the young vamps seems like padding, and tracking him down doesn't really tie into the rest of the book.

Anyway, that's possibly more carping than the book deserves, after all, I did give it 4 stars, but it bugged me that I like Jane so much but this book has her kind of meandering through things where she should be nailing them.

When we last left my favorite skinwalker in Mercy Blade, there were definitely some strings that needed tyin' up, so I was eager to dive back into Jane's world in Raven Cursed. In the 4th book of the series, Jane heads out of New Orleans and back to Asheville, North Carolina to provide security for a parley between the MOC of New Orleans and a master vamp that wants to establish his own territory. Unfortunately, Jane gets way (way) more than she bargains for in Asheville. Rogue weres are killing tourists in horrible ways, and Jane is tasked with taking them out. Easier said than done, especially when Jane feels that she's responsible for the weres' rampage.

Strangely enough, this is one of the things that I love most about Jane. Her guilt. Yeah, I know that sounds weird, but she's such a tough girl; so capable and strong, especially with Beast, that her enduring habit of taking nearly everything upon herself gives her a vulnerability that I can't help but love. Seriously, sometimes I want to smack her (purely out of love), and say "It's not your fault!!! You can't control everything!!", but I digress... So, there's the were issue, which really gets bad when she finds out they might be after her best friend (and witch) Molly, and her family. Molly's hubs isn't all that fond of Jane for various reasons, so convincing Molly that things aren't as they seem may prove to be a hard bargain. It really complicates things when Jane finds out that Molly's sister Evangeline may be dabbling in the dark arts. I really wanted to throttle Evil Evie in Mercy Blade, and it only gets worse in Raven Cursed.

You think there's a lot on Jane's plate? There is! But wait, there's more! Ricky-Bo is in town and is freaking out (understandably) at the possibility of going furry. Doesn't help that his "mentor" , head of the African were cats, wants to kill him. I've always been hopeful for Rick and Jane, and their relationship just gets more complex, and more tender in a lot of ways, as the series goes on. I will admit that Jane and Bruiser's , ahem, "almost" scene in Mercy Blade was the awesome, (`cause Bruiser is a hottie, after all), but Rick is where it's at, and I have no doubt that their relationship will just get more and more interesting as the series progresses. So, there you have it. Rampaging weres, twisty-turny vamp politics, hot shifters (and vamps), some seriously nasty (and witchy) black magic (we're talkin' demons here), and Ms. Hunter's trademark, awesome fight scenes make for a book worth relishing. The Jane Yellowrock series is superb, and they just keep getting better. If you haven't discovered it yet, I envy you, because you can start with Skinwalker and race right through. If you have discovered it, you'll love Raven Cursed! This series is a must for any urban fantasy lover!

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