Blade Song

J.C. Daniels

Publisher: Shilow Walker, Inc
Publication Date: Aug 1, 2012
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Source: Netgalley

Kit Colbana—half breed, assassin, thief, jack of all trades—has a new job: track down the missing ward of one of the local alpha shapeshifters. It should be a piece of cake.

So why is she so nervous? It probably has something to do with the insanity that happens when you deal with shifters—especially sexy ones who come bearing promises of easy jobs and easier money.

Or maybe it’s all the other missing kids that Kit discovers while working the case, or the way her gut keeps screaming she’s gotten in over her head. Or maybe it’s because if she fails—she’s dead.

If she can stay just one step ahead, she should be okay. Maybe she’ll even live long to collect her fee…

Goodreads Summary

It seems like the only UF books I read now are continuing stories in an already established series. I was ready for a fresh take on the UF genre, and for some reason I’m jonesing for another series I can religiously follow. It’s not like I don’t have enough series to keep track of as it is. Anyway, when I saw Blade Song on Netgalley, I knew we’d be a perfect fit.

Half-human, half-aneira, Kit Colbana has never really fit in anywhere. Her mother (the aneira half) died when Kit was young and left her to fend for herself among a people that sneered at her half-human side. While she was trained with all the other young kids her age, she was never as strong or as quick as the full-blooded aneiras. And the consequence was severe every time Kit didn’t measure up. When the right moment came for Kit to run away she took it, leaving everything behind except her mother’s sword. A sword touched by magic that sings to Kit, and gives her the ability to call on it when she’s in danger.

Once Kit put some time and distance between herself and her abusive relatives, she set up shop as a jack of all trades for the magical community. For the most part, Kit has done well for herself but her bank account is lookin’ a little lean and she is in desperate need of a new case. In walks the uber sexy Damon, a lieutenant for the local queen of the cat shifters. The absolutely insane queen of the cat shifters, who makes everyone call her My Lady. Everyone knows that working with the cats is a tricky business, and Kit is about to refuse the job when Damon pulls the big guns and shows her a picture of the missing kid. Kit can’t resist cases involving kids, and she reluctantly takes the job even though it means she’ll probably get herself killed in the process.

As Kit works the case, she starts noticing that more kids are missing than just Doyle. With the uber sexy Damon stuck to her like glue, a powerful vampire that is bent on making Kit his servent and a case with more tangles than a fur ball, Kit must find Doyle before My Lady personally rips her throat out.

Just so you know, J.C. Daniels is actually Shiloh Walker. So if you’ve read anything under Shiloh Walker and loved it, then I’m sure you can expect more of the same in this book, despite the genre. I, however, have read a grand total of one Shiloh Walker book, so I’m pretty much coming into this with a clean palette. Blade Song has a few similarities to the Kate & Curran series by Ilona Andrews. I tried really hard not to compare or even think of the Kate & Curran series (which I LOVE) while I was reading Blade Song, and I hope that I did a good job of it.

Overall, I liked the book. I liked Kit as a character, and I really enjoyed that she was kick-arse and had the skills to back it up. This is no TSTL heroine, my friends. Although she had some serious training as a child, she still had room to grow and develop as she learned about her unique brand of magical powers. Hopefully she won’t turn into an Anita Blake, who seemed to find a new magical power she possessed in every book. Yet another reason why I stopped reading the series at book ten. Anyway, she was tough, kick-arse with a vulnerable side that seemed to only show itself to Damon. Oh, Damon. He was very, very sexy. And very alpha, though he hid it for most of the story. When it involved anything with Kit though, and his alpha side came out in full force. I was really frustrated with the POV. The book is told from Kit’s POV, and I kept wishing that I was able to get inside Damon’s head and find out how he was really feeling and thinking.

I was incredibly surprised by the ending and how quickly Kit decided to tie herself to Damon. They spent most of the book openly resenting the other, and then she finally gives into the sexual chemistry and then does that (“that” being something I’ll keep incredibly vague and frustrating for you, for spoilery purposes). The tension between Kit and Damon was really well done, but the capitulation seemed out of place. It’s almost like Daniels threw it in there so that she could make the rest of the books in the series work. I think I would have preferred for the tension to be drawn out a bit more, to give me something to look forward to in the next book.

My Summary: Like I said, overall I enjoyed the story. Is it the best UF I’ve read? No, definitely not. There were a few nitpicky things that bothered me, like the POV and not getting enough from the other characters. I also wanted more from the romance storyline: more tension (or at least for it to have lasted longer), or for them to have made that giant farther on into the series. I did like the mystery part of the story, with the missing kids and why they were being taken. In the world that Daniels created, the why of it made complete sense. And bonus! .. I wasn’t able to guess what was happening before the end of the story. There’s no mystery in my real life, and I always appreciate it the books I read. I’ll probably read the next book in the series, mostly because I liked Kit’s character and I care about what happens to her. Jury’s still out on whether I’ll religiously follow it or not.

My Rating: B

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