Author: Faith Hunter
Book Name: Shattered Bonds
Release Date: October 29, 2019
Series: Jane Yellowrock
Order: #13
Genre: Fantasy/Paranormal/Urban
Overall SPA: 4.5 Stars
Blurb: Jane Yellowrock is a shapeshifting skinwalker, and vampire killer-for-hire, but her last battle with an ancient arcane enemy has brought her low. She seeks retreat in the Appalachian Mountains to grieve the loss of her friends, and to heal–or to die–from the disease brought on by her magic.
But malevolent elements in the paranormal community still seek to destroy Jane, and the younger Son of Darkness stalks her, even into the safety of the hills. With nowhere to run and her body failing, the rogue-vampire hunter and her inner Beast must discover a way to defeat this new threat, and find a form that gives her a chance to fight another day.
Main SPA Evaluation Areas:
Characters: 5/5 Stars
Series Continuity/Expectations: 4/5 Stars
Personal Opinion: 5/5 Stars
So much happened and changed by the end of Dark Queen, I really wasn’t certain what to expect with this book, especially with the not quite a cliffhanger you got at the end of that one. I did expect that issue to be addressed or at least mentioned pretty quickly in this one, but it takes a bit for it to come up, which left me wondering if that event was somehow getting changed.
This felt different than most any of the other JY books. You still get some great shift scenes. You get a good amount of Beast time. You still get a few battle scenes. You still get a few scenes of Jane connecting with her people. But… those all seem to have the edges dulled a bit because, to a large extent, she has to take more of a backseat in this one. She doesn’t get to be the full on badass all the time which shifts the overall tone and feel of this book.
This does tie off a couple of the loose threads introduced in the last book, but you are again left wondering where the series is going to go next. One big thread is glanced across and cannot possibly be all we see for the end of that thread. A whole lot happens along the side of what happens in this book. Things that are introduced through brief conversations, but are left wide open by the last page. You are definitely left with the feeling that there is a lot more yet to come.
As always, the biggest downside is that there is a last page and too big of a time gap in which I have to wait for the next book.
TJ Fox: Sharing the Experience 