Skinwalker (Jane Yellowrock, Book 1)
by Faith Hunter
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Book Summary Information
Author: Faith HunterEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-07-07
ISBN: 0451462807
Number of pages: 336
Publisher: Roc
Book Reviews of Skinwalker (Jane Yellowrock, Book 1)
Book Review: Exceedingly gruesome descriptions.
Summary: 3 Stars
Normally when I write a review I follow a formula. I am going to abandon that formula for this book. This review will contain what will be called spoilers by some. I prefer to call them warnings. If you know about the warnings and still chose to read the book then you have made an informed choice. That's what amateur review writing is all about. If I had known about this level of violence in this book I never would have read it. Now would be the time to stop reading to avoid details of what happens in this book.
I am new to the Urban Fantasy genre, I freely admit that right up front. I have encountered a lot of violence within the books I've read in this genre and had wondered just what would be "too much for me to take". I found it in this book. Now would be another opportunity for you to stop reading. Please don't be angry if you find "warnings" from here on out.
I first encountered the character of Jane Yellowrock in the anthology Strange Brew with a story by Faith Hunter called "Signatures of the Dead" which I thoroughly enjoyed. I noticed that this book was being released and immediately ordered it. The basic plot of the story is fully covered in other reviews. Jane is a skinwalker, meaning that she can change into the shape of any animal she chooses. In this book she shares her body with Beast, a mountain lion, and also changes into an owl in the story. While in animal form the author has Beast and the owl hunt and eat prey. Beast hunts and kills a rabbit and can detect that the rabbit is lactating so follows the scent trail back to the den and kills and eats all the baby rabbits. The owl kills and eats a cat. Now, I understand that the cat was feral, but the cat sitting beside me on my couch was once a feral cat too. That one hit very close to home, too close for comfort. Even though these aspects of the animals lives were presented as natural occurrences, they still made me very uncomfortable simply because it would have been so easy for the author to have chosen other prey as food sources.
Now to the parts of the book which were excessively violent and grisly for me. The rogue vampire Jane was hunting was not, strictly speaking, a vampire at all but it took time for this to be revealed. The killings and violence escalated into ever more gruesome descriptions until I was totally uncomfortable. This "rogue" was hunting vampires, yes, but mostly humans. When the descriptions began to include eating the humans, tearing limbs and the head from the bodies, and eating the brains from the head I had just reached my limit. I finished the book but I was definitely not enjoying these parts. And these gory details began to fill more and more of the book as Jane got closer and closer to finding the rogue. One such description included an almost unbelievable amount of carnage where there were two human victims with detached limbs scattered around the house which had been gnawed on after the remainder of the bodies had been consumed. This rogue was consuming the liver, kidneys, lungs and heart primarily but all parts of the human were considered food to be eaten. Food which was essential to the rogue in order to keep it alive.
I liked the character of Jane Yellowrock and I was fascinated when I discovered that we were to be allowed to view the world through the thoughts of Beast and then the owl. What I didn't like was the repetition of what happened every time Beast was in control. The litany of what everything smelled like. I understood the heightened sense of smell which the cat had but why was it necessary for me to read about the smells of the human world each time Beast was out? One time of reading about rotting food, dog urine, gasoline on the streets, dead fish, cat poop, humans who had just fed on blood, humans who had just had sex, exhaust fumes, etc, etc, was really enough. I did get it the first time. And Beast did silly things like jump into a swimming pool to clean herself off and then lay in a lounge chair? Why in a lounge chair at a lighted pool? Would a mountain lion chose to lay in a lounge chair? I also didn't particularly enjoy the "voice" the author gave Beast. The style of writing Beast's thoughts changed even within paragraphs. It felt awkward to me but I can certainly understand how it would have been exceedingly difficult to pin down how the thought patterns of an animal could be presented.
I'm hoping that you will now have a clear idea of what you will be encountering within the pages of this book. I very much liked the character of Jane Yellowrock and the basic premise of this novel. Even saying that though, I will not subject myself to this amount of gruesomeness in future books in this series.
Summary of Skinwalker (Jane Yellowrock, Book 1)
First in a brand new series from the author of the Rogue Mage novelsJane Yellowrock is a supernatural skinwalker--one sharing her body with the soul of a mountain lion. When the rogue-vampire hunter is hired to hunt down a particularly nasty vamp, Jane is drawn into the steamy New Orleans vampire society where she learns the ins-and-outs of the "sane" vampire culture, more about her own Cherokee heritage, and we are drawn into a rousing, fast-paced thriller.
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