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Dark Heir

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Dark Heir (2015) Faith Hunter

I pre-ordered this, started to read, saw that it was going to be about the Son of Darkness, and then put it down for a couple months, because I wasn’t sure how I felt about Jane going up again a Son of Darkness.

Luckily, it didn’t go where I was afraid it would, and ended up being a good story, with several different issues resolved.

One of the things I like about this series is that Jane gets told off–on a regular basis–when she’s being an idiot.

“There is job-bound, there is emotion-bound, and there is blood-bound–all kinds of bound. Then there is stupid-bound. IN this case, I think you’re stupid bound.”

I like that although she’s scary, people know that she doesn’t cause harm except when necessary. Interestingly, about that last bit, Jane has a lot to think about in regard to killing and harming in the line of duty.

One thing I feared when I saw the Big Bad was going to be a Son of Darkness, was that Jane was going to go after him all on her own, which I found–highly unbelievable, at least if she was going to survive. I should have known better, but I’ve seen authors take characters off the rails before, and I really didn’t want that to happen with this series. Luckily, it took multiple people to take the Son of Darkness down, and it didn’t work on the first try (probably due to the over-confidence of Sabina, which is technically a spoiler, but since the first attempt occurs so early in the book, it was obvious that attempt wasn’t going to work).

One thing I especially like is how Jane’s relationship with the Younger brothers has slowly developed into something that is very important to Jane.

Alex lifted a shoulder. “When I hear her coming, I’ll throw the cat at her. If that doesn’t work, look for a warty frog hopping on the keyboards when you get back. Find me a princess to kiss me. I want tongue.”

“Gross,” I said.

“Friend frog legs,” Eli said, with a slight twitch of his lips.

The slow is the important there, because Jane is not someone who trusts easily, and had a lot of secrets she was holding–most for her own protection–so it is very hard for her to trust. I thought that this slow development was perfect.

“What’s the plan?” I asked.

“Well, we could go in slow and easy and hunt him down, step by step. Or I could get a good vantage, and you could race naked through the backyard and draw him out. And then I could shoot him.”

“Naked.”

Eli’s grin widened. “Works for me.”

I almost said something snarky and then I realized he was pulling my leg.

That’s precisely the kind of friendship Jane needs–friends who won’t let her take herself too seriously.

There are some major happenings here, some of which have been a long time coming, and I was glad to see them.

It was a good story, but I can’t wait until I catch up on the audio books, because a lot happened and a zipped through a lot of the action to find out what happened, and I am sure I breezed through some important stuff.
Rating: 8/10

Published by ROC

 

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