Unclean Spirits: Book One of the Black Sun's Daughter [Paperback]

A completely thrilling urban fantasy which is actually intelligent & is trusting that we pick up on clues to know things are going to completely change in the next novel. How cool!

Jayné (pronounced Zha-NAY)'s uncle Eric dies suddenly & Jayné, a 22-year-old who has just dropped out of college, is very surprised to find that a) she is his sole heir & b) his estate is worth billions. She is even more surprised to find Uncle Eric was up to his eyes in supernatural intrigue & was just about to assassinate an evil spirit that's been serially possessing humans for centuries - plans unfortunately interrupted by Eric's being offed.

Various rescues & attempts to continue Eric's plans go on, while Jayné surprises everyone including herself by possessing some serious instinctive kung fu. If you are looking closely & pay attention to the series title, you can kind of guess one way things are going to go.

Meanwhile, a vampire chef fries up dinner, the ex-Jesuit & the Buddhist plot with Jayné, who is attracted to Aubrey, Eric's young scientist sidekick. I read the book in one day & it was a lot of fun. The endorsements on the covers come from the most varied set of authors I've seen on a quasi-paranormal: Carrie Vaughn & S.M. Stirling.

Plot Summary: Not a whole lot is going right in Jayné Heller's life. She's a college drop-out, without a man, without a friend, and estranged from her parents. When her Uncle Eric dies, she goes to Denver and learns that he's left her a fortune. It's too good to be true, and the first hint of trouble is the hit squad that tries to kill her. Then Jayné meets her Uncle's associates, who explain about magic, evil demons, and their arch enemy, the Invisible College. Jayné is a skeptic until a convincing dust-up with a possessed dog opens her eyes to her Uncle's world. Too bad when she inherited his empire it came complete with deadly enemies.

This is the best piece of writing that I've come across in a long time. On page after page, I kept marveling at Hanover's beautiful sentences, and I'm green with jealousy that anyone can carve ideas like a fine-cut crystal vase. While the writing is that good, the characterizations are even better. After only one book, I feel like I know Jayné and her band of buddies better than some characters that I've followed for an entire series.

Have I gushed enough yet? I hope so, because I'm starting to feel embarrassed for squealing like a teenager who has spotted that dreamy actor-guy from "Twilight." For urban fantasy fans, this is the kind of book that reaffirms their fascination with the genre, and gives them hope that there are other treasures waiting to be discovered. This UF is dark, like a moonless night, and the danger feels oppressive and claustrophobic. The magic is thick, and even though the bad guys have more (isn't that always the way?), Jayné's inexplicable powers help balance the scales a teeny bit.

Jayné is wonderfully flawed, she makes huge mistakes, and she is subject to one of the worst slap-downs I've ever witnessed. Her spirit takes a beating, but she powers through the crap without anyone waving a magic wand and making it all better. That girl has true grit, and a weird pronunciation for her name (don't worry, the author clues you in fast).

The scrappy posse at Jayné's back is endlessly entertaining. My favorite guy is Midian, who talks like a sour-grapes Humphry Bogart. Why can't more author's write characters like this? Okay, I'm being whiny, but obviously it takes a whole lot more talent than most folks have got, otherwise we'd be overrun with funny, intelligent, and meaningful repartee, and then it wouldn't be special anymore. Jayné has a relationship with Aubrey, and something undefinable with Ex, but beyond that it's not safe to reveal more. Book two, "Darker Angels" has a tentative release set for September 09, and I'm adding it to my TBR stack for autumn.

BTW, for the extremely curious, M.L.N. Hanover is a pseudonym for Daniel Abraham (I'm biased enough to admit that I initially thought the writer was a woman because the writing is excellent; I'm eating crow now). I spoke to him via his blog, and it sounds like he's got quite a series planned here. I'm adding this to my 'want-to-read-more' list.

I literally read this book in one day. I don't know much about urban fantasy, but I picked it up on a whim. This book kept my attention as it rolled along at a good adventure style pace. I will definitely buy any future books in this series.

The setting is very interesting, as you have a spiritual world interfering with the "normal" world. In this case, the spiritual or demonic possession is being looked at as a parasite attaching to a host.

The characters are fairly well developed, and I find I actually cared about them. There are a lot of loose ends. Jayne is a young woman, and doesn't appear to have a lot of baggage. The supporting cast, on the other hand, have me very curious regarding their background stories. I don't want to give much away here, but I'm wondering how a buddhist, an ex priest, a scientist got mixed up in all of this. Also, what an awesome legal team at Jaynes disposal. Who are those people? Midian was a lot of fun. I expect these will be clarified in the next two books.

One thing that bothered me:

*** SPOILER ***
I'm going to try and not give anything away here, but there is a major part at the end that doesn't seem as if it would work. If you turn off the magic, then why would you expect a magic bullet to still work?
*** SPOILER ***

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