A review by katleap
Deadtown by Nancy Holzner
4.0
4 stars
(there my be spoilers)
I picked this book up off a recommendation of an author I adore. Her recs are great for me and they almost never miss. This book was both a hit and miss for me.
Victory Vaughn (aka Vicky) is a professional demon-slayer (think Buffy but with a paycheck). She is also a shapeshifter who can change her shape three times between cycles of the moon. Her sometime boyfriend, Kane is a werewolf whose goal is get all Paranormal creature recognition and rights from the government. She has a 15 year old zombie apprentice, Tina and a vampire roommate, Juliet (yes that Juliet). Vicky lives in Deadtown, a radius where all paranormal beings live in downtown Boston. There is something bad happening with the local election and a reappearance of a demon from her past throws Vicky into the middle of trouble.
I had such a love hate relationship with this book. I loved the world building. The difference in paranormal characters was awesome. Vicky being a shapeshifter with a history that goes back to wales and roots in a real legend. Totally believable. The demon slaying is cool and inventive. I like discovering the different types of demons and hope that there will be more kinds in the future and that they are all just as quirky or scary, cause both is fine.
I have to give the zombies their own paragraph. I don't do zombies. I don't like to read about them, usually the book gets put down rather quickly and the only way I even tolerate them is if they are scary flesh eating monsters that need to be hacked to death on occasion. HOWEVER, that being said I actually enjoyed the zombies in this book. Clyde the doorman was funny, Sykes was cool and Tina (when I wasn't cringing from 15 year old OMG) was interesting. The plague idea totally works and I didn't stop on account of the zombies.
The flip side is that Vicky's choices drove me nuts. There were a few times that I just wanted to grab Vicky by her shoulders and shake her. If she would take a second to think before rushing then maybe she could put out a few fires instead of lighting more.
The relationships with the men in this book drove me mad. There is Kane the "boyfriend" who isn't. She is always rushing off to work fine, but to watch the news instead of paying attention to his girlfriend when they are practically in the the middle of things is ridiculous. Plus because Kane wasn't in the picture, the book lacked the witty banter that usually goes on between the main characters in UF. Instead there is a this 'thing' with a human cop that does nothing for me as a reader. He's just a safety hatch in-case the Kane doesn't work out.
In short 28 year old Vicky is immature. The death of her father has made her wallow in guilt and never grow up. I hope as the series goes on, (because yes I will continue with it even though i almost chucked the book across the room several times in frustration), Vicky grows up and finds some more maturity.
(there my be spoilers)
I picked this book up off a recommendation of an author I adore. Her recs are great for me and they almost never miss. This book was both a hit and miss for me.
Victory Vaughn (aka Vicky) is a professional demon-slayer (think Buffy but with a paycheck). She is also a shapeshifter who can change her shape three times between cycles of the moon. Her sometime boyfriend, Kane is a werewolf whose goal is get all Paranormal creature recognition and rights from the government. She has a 15 year old zombie apprentice, Tina and a vampire roommate, Juliet (yes that Juliet). Vicky lives in Deadtown, a radius where all paranormal beings live in downtown Boston. There is something bad happening with the local election and a reappearance of a demon from her past throws Vicky into the middle of trouble.
I had such a love hate relationship with this book. I loved the world building. The difference in paranormal characters was awesome. Vicky being a shapeshifter with a history that goes back to wales and roots in a real legend. Totally believable. The demon slaying is cool and inventive. I like discovering the different types of demons and hope that there will be more kinds in the future and that they are all just as quirky or scary, cause both is fine.
I have to give the zombies their own paragraph. I don't do zombies. I don't like to read about them, usually the book gets put down rather quickly and the only way I even tolerate them is if they are scary flesh eating monsters that need to be hacked to death on occasion. HOWEVER, that being said I actually enjoyed the zombies in this book. Clyde the doorman was funny, Sykes was cool and Tina (when I wasn't cringing from 15 year old OMG) was interesting. The plague idea totally works and I didn't stop on account of the zombies.
The flip side is that Vicky's choices drove me nuts. There were a few times that I just wanted to grab Vicky by her shoulders and shake her. If she would take a second to think before rushing then maybe she could put out a few fires instead of lighting more.
The relationships with the men in this book drove me mad. There is Kane the "boyfriend" who isn't. She is always rushing off to work fine, but to watch the news instead of paying attention to his girlfriend when they are practically in the the middle of things is ridiculous. Plus because Kane wasn't in the picture, the book lacked the witty banter that usually goes on between the main characters in UF. Instead there is a this 'thing' with a human cop that does nothing for me as a reader. He's just a safety hatch in-case the Kane doesn't work out.
In short 28 year old Vicky is immature. The death of her father has made her wallow in guilt and never grow up. I hope as the series goes on, (because yes I will continue with it even though i almost chucked the book across the room several times in frustration), Vicky grows up and finds some more maturity.