I received this book for free from the library in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: the library
Shadow Rising
by
Yasmine Galenorn
urban fantasy in Paperback edition that was published by Berkley on October 30, 2012 and has 292 pages.
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Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Hexed, Witchling, Changeling, Never After, Darkling, Demon Mistress, Dragon Wytch, Bone Magic, Night Huntress, Harvest Hunting, Blood Wyne, Courting Darkness, Shaded Vision, Haunted Moon, Night Myst, Night Veil, Night Seeker, Autumn Whispers, Night Vision, Night’s End, Priestess Dreaming, Panther Prowling, "Flight From Hell", Flight From Death, Souljacker, Legend of the Jade Dragon, Darkness Raging, Fury Rising, Murder Under a Mystic Moon, Ghost of a Chance, Once Upon A Curse, A Harvest of Bones, One Hex of a Wedding, Starlight Hollow, Moon Shimmers
Twelfth in the Otherworld urban fantasy series surrounding a trio of half-fae, half-human sisters living in Seattle. This story is from Mennolly’s point of view.
My Take
I started this series, lo so many installments ago, hating Galenorn’s terrible writing. So, you may ask, why have I continued through twelve of them? Because I adore her characters. I love the love and affection, the loyalty, and the backstory of the sisters as well as the additional cast of characters who have clambered on whether as friends or part of their very expanded family. And, yes, Galenorn’s writing improves and falls back, and I never know which it will be from story to story. And yet her characters remain the same while their circumstances and love lives continue to amaze and delight.
The underlying theme which ties it all together is the threat of Shadow Wing, a fearsome and powerful demon battering at the portals to our world. Should he breach earth’s gates, the portals to Otherworld will also fall and neither world will survive. Along the way, the girls have picked up new powers, steadier men (so to speak), more and more friends, and a greater confidence in themselves.
In this particular story, while the action centers around the latest big, bad — Gulakah, Lord of Ghosts — the real effort is more of a tidy-up. The blood bond Mennolly was forced to share with Morio is raising havoc, the girls still mourn their father’s horrible choices, a greater threat to the girls’ side is found on earth and in Otherworld, and Nerissa is angry with Mennolly over their wedding plans.
Ooh, yeah, baby, Mennolly is giving good ‘ol dad what for! Their visit to Otherworld makes Chase wonder how he would like living there. More of his powers are emerging while we learn more about Shade’s gifts. Then there’s Roman’s want, his need. It’ll just make you cry. Oh, brother, and the reason why the girls were “recruited” for OIA comes up.
LOL, Morio has come up with another flavor for Mennolly’s ever-necessary blood. And Mennolly learns what Erin had to go through when she woke as a vampire.
The Story
Summoned to Elqaneve, Queen Asteria gives and gets surprises and orders the girls to Y’Elestrial to see their father. The man who preferred his queen to his children.
It’s not their last surprise either, for something is destroying power users Earthside. Murder and destruction dog their footsteps. A Demon Gate threatens all they hold dear. And Roman wants Nerissa.
Chase has his own problems: Sharah doesn’t want to marry him and some friends of his are being murderously haunted.
And the pregnant Siobhan Morgan is off with her husband to the Isle of Man to have her baby and claim her inheritance.
The Characters
There are three D’Artigo sisters: Delilah, Camille, and Mennolly. Half-fae, half-human, they are unique individuals who care very much about each other. They live together in an old Victorian in Seattle with their significant others, friends, and allies.
Mennolly, the youngest, was a jian-tu acrobat-spy before she was caught and turned into a vampire. Straightforward with no sense of diplomacy, she will always tell you the truth. She and Nerissa Shale, a lone werepuma, who works as a counselor for FH-CSI, are getting married. Maybe. Mennolly also runs the Wayfarer Bar & Grill, a bar and inn for supes. Derrick Means is her werebadger bartender; Lena and Chrysandra are two of the waitresses; and, Digger is a vampire sent by Roman to help. Mennolly is also Roman’s official consort. Roman, a natural and blood son of Blood Wyne, the mother and ruler of all vampires, is making some scary demands.
Delilah is the middle sister, a two-faced were able to shift into two types of cat, a living Death Maiden, and engaged to Shade, a half-shadow dragon, half-Stradolan. She will endeavor to never hurt your feelings.
Camille is the oldest and a Moon Maiden, a priestess to the Moon Mother. She is the diplomat of the three, at least in this installment! She’s married to three supernaturals: Trillian Zanzera is Svartan fae; Morio Kuroyama is a Youkai-kitsune (Japanese fox demon), Grandmother Coyote’s grandson, and he works death magic with Camille; and, Smoky, a.k.a., Lord Iampaatar, is a half-silver, half-white dragon shifter.
Sephreh ob Tanu is the girls’ father, a guardsman loyal and true, who disowned his family for their choices. He’s been demoted from Ambassador to liaison between the OIA and the Des’Estar, the guards. Shamas ob Olanda is the girls’ cousin, full Fae, and a sorcerer (see Shaded Vision), who works Earthside for Chase. Andrees is a an old school friend of the girls who has been sent Earthside and is now missing.
Other allies and friends who live at the house include:
Lady Iris O’Shea, a Finnish house sprite and Priestess of Undutar, has come back from her honeymoon with Bruce O’Shea, a leprechaun who is the head of Irish Studies at the University of Washington. Rozurial, a mercenary and incubus as well as one of Mennolly’s lovers, wears a long coat filled with every kind of weapon. Vanzir is a dream-chaser demon who lost his powers and now getting back a variation on them. Maggie is their baby calico gargoyle. Hanna is a hostage rescued in Hexed: “Ice Shards”, 9.5, who now helps out at the house.
Detective Chase Johnson heads up the Faerie-Human Crime Scene Investigation (FH-CSI). Events in Bone Magic, 7, have changed Chase, and we’re still learning what he can do. Sharah, Queen Asteria’s niece, and an elfin medic with FB-CSI, is pregnant with Chase’s child. Yugi is Chase’s second-in-command. Mallen is another elfin medic. Charlotine is a vampire sorceress who works for Queen Asteria and may be the world’s only hope.
Lindsey Cartridge is “the director for the Green Goddess Women’s Shelter for battered women…and the high priestess of an FBH pagan coven of witches”. She gave birth to a girl, Feddrika. Poor kid…even if she is named for Feddrah-Dahns! Frank Willows is a were, the farmer from whom Mennolly gets her blood, and a member of the Supe Community Council.
Vampires Anonymous was founded by Wade and is backed by Roman. Sassy’s house and estate are the new VA headquarters — the Seattle Vampire Nexus. Belinda Stevens is his nightmare of a mother. And some idiot turned her into a vampire!
Queen Asteria is the elfin queen and tiring of the fight. Trenyth is her assistant, and he and the queen appreciate the girls.
Additional allies in Otherworld include:
Derisa is the High Priestess from the Grove of the Moon Mother. Darynal, a Svartan is Trillian’s blood-oath brother and will be the lead scout. Quall is an undercover assassin for Elqaneve; his father is one of the enemy, the man who sold him into slavery. Taath is one of Asteria’s sorcerers. King Uppala-Dahns. Vodox is king of the Svartalfheim and still deciding.
Carter is a leader of the Demonica Vacana Society; he’s half-demon and half-Titan through his father Hyperion. Ivana Krask is the Maiden of Karask, an Elder Fae with a love for bright meat.
“The Greenbelt Park District is the most haunted district in Seattle” where Fritz and Abby Liebman have just purchased a fabulous fixer-upper. Only there’s a lot more fixing up required than they had planned.
Marion Vespa and her husband, Douglas, coyote shifters, are living with the D’Artigos and friends after their house and café were burnt down in Harvest Hunting, 8.
Elaqneve is the Elfin lands in Otherworld (OW), which is a human generic reference for another dimension where many of the elves, gods, and Elemental Lords, etc. all live. Access to OW is through portals. The Sidhe and Fae themselves call it Y’Elestrial.
Talamh Lonrach Oll, the Land of Brilliant Apples, is the realm of the Triple Threat and lies in the foothills of the Cascade Mountain Range. The Court of the Three Queens is that of the three Earthside Fae queens: Titania is the Queen of Light and Morning of the Seelie; Morgaine is a half-Fae Queen of Dusk and Twilight; and, Aeval is the Queen of Shadow and Night of the Unseelie.
Telazhar, a necromancer training demons for Shadow Wing, is back and threatening two fronts. Bhouts are demonic ghosts — not fully demon, not fully spirit. Degas are like wild animals, uncontrollable. Shadow Wing, a demon lord with plans to invade and conquer earth before he continues on to Otherworld. The Aleksais Psychic Network is led by Halcon Davis.
The Cover and Title
The cover is dark, so very dark with the Seattle skyline and the Space Needle rising in the background while the red-headed and braided Mennolly clad in black leather, crouches and pets a mountain lion atop a skyscraper.
The title speaks the truth about a Shadow Rising over both worlds.
