Shadow Rites: A Jane Yellowrock Novel

Character development at its best!

Before a new book in a series comes out, I like to reread the previous books in anticipation of the release date. For this latest installment, it was incredibly valuable. Many story lines from previous books are referenced. Some are tied up, and others are explored and left dangling. It was incredibly satisfying to see the long threads of the Long Game moving through this book. Jane/Beast is such a fascinating narrator. In this book, she faces all new, nearly impossible tasks, and accomplishes them by pushing through the very edges of her abilities. If you look at how far she's come from her early days in NOLA, her growth is both astounding and believable. She has to deal with the consequences of adding people she loves into her life, and the very real challenges that creates for her drive the action. Which isn't to say it's all mushy. Far from it; the plot kicks along quickly, filled with suspense, blistering action, and plenty of nail-biting suspense. There's even a little romance (which doesn't force the plot, thankfully). But what makes these books so good, and this one in particular, is that the characters develop so believably. Which is saying something, because almost all the main characters have some kind of supernatural origin. Even the human characters are nearly super-human, with crazy fighting or hacking skills. But this very garden-variety human could relate to the motivations of the characters in "Shadow Rites," and found that watching them develop was incredibly rewarding. What comes next for Jane/Beast? The Euro Vamps, probably. Who knows? Maybe when Hunter gets tired of writing this series she will throw us a short story epilogue in which Jane/Beast have kits of their own. Until then, and I hope that day is far off, I look forward to seeing how she manages to balance the demands of courage, loyalty, and love. Read more