I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Shadows Before the Sun
in eBook edition on July 31, 2012 and has 252 pages.
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Fourth in the Charlie Madigan urban fantasy series revolving around a detective who is no longer human. Most of the action takes place in Fiallan, the city of the sirens.
My Take
Oh, wow. This was so intense with some incredibly, godawful torture. Oh. I just can’t… How people can be that power-hungry, I’ll never know. So awful that I almost got too caught up in these events, but then towards the end, all the new possibilities popped into view. There’s Leander with the “promise” of what he fears. What Tuni will be able to accomplish.
It’s bullies again. And people allowing them to get away with it.
Interesting backstory on those words of power, the Source Words, and that of the families from which the Malakim are drawn. Even more interesting story about Ahkneri, First Ones, and Disciples.
I’m still lost as to why Charlie is so incredibly body-shy. It just seems so juvenile. Although, she seems to have gotten over it at the end, ooh, mama! Oh, crack me up! You’ll be laughing when you read Alessandra’s letter at the end. True to the end, LOL.
I don’t think I read this series for Charlie. She’s too same-same as other protagonists in other stories. But I do like the twist Gay has put on our concept of demons and angels, fae and jinn, and I keep wanting to know where she’ll take it. It doesn’t hurt that I enjoy the other characters as well. Sure, Charlie’s got that bit of a twist going on, but so do all the other “heroines”. It’s her situation and the cast of supporting characters that make this series intriguing.
The Story
Captured, imprisoned, tortured. The Circe have taken Hank. They claim he’s dead. At least, that’s what they’ve told the Earth reps — that he was executed, but Charlie refuses to believe it.
While wandering Fiallan, Charlie encounters Leander, a supremely powerful being who will make a deal with her to save those dear to her.
The Characters
Charlie Madigan, a blend of the Elysians, Charbydons, and humans who is becoming a deity, is anxious to recover her partner, Hank Williams. Hank, a.k.a., Niérian of the House of Elekti-Kairos, is a siren accused of betraying his homeland, Fiallan. He was captured in Hour of Dust and Ashes, 3.
Sachâath, a.k.a., Death, attacks Charlie every time she uses her powers as he was designed to do, to track down rebellious Archons. Leander is extremely powerful, and I’m not sure who or what he is.
Emma is Charlie’s twelve-year-old daughter with newly revealed powers and protected by Brim, her hellhound. Rex is a Revenant, possessing, owning Charlie’s ex-husband’s body now that Will Garrity will never return to it. That assurance is allowing sparks of jinn to surface within him.
Chief Abernathy, Hank, Charlie, and Sian, a Jinn-human hybrid and Grigori’s daughter, make up a federal unit in Atlanta. Detective Ashton Perry hates and despises Charlie. Liz is the medical examiner with a lot of experience in supernatural bodies; Elliot is her very young-looking assistant.
Dr. Titus Mott is a genius scientist who discovered Elysia and Charbydon.
Charlie is amazingly lucky that Alessandra, a 2,000-year-old Oracle, is coming with her. Tuni, a rogue jinn warrior, is her guard. Edainnué Lightwater is an Elysian Elder willing to help. For a price. Pendaran is the Druid King, a dragon shifter, ruler over the nymphs, a.k.a., the Kinfolk, based in a huge park purchased by the fey. He’s, um, storing the body of a First One, Ahkneri, keeping it from the rebels. Killian was a guard.
The Sirens in Fiallan
King Aersis of the Royal House of Akleion rules in Fiallan. Arethusa, Calliadne, and Ephyra are the Circe, who have been betraying the sirens and their goddess for centuries. Panopé, the Witch of the Sea, the mother to the siren race, has her vengeance.
The First Ones, a.k.a., Archons, are divine beings said to have created the three noble races: the Elysian Adonai, the Charbydon nobles, and humans. Disciples are guardians to the Archons. Elysians think they are gods and are the ruling elite, the House of Astarot. Sirens are a race of gloriously beautiful beings whom no human can resist. They use gifted sirens to “man” the grids that protect the city, Malakim. Nymphs are also from Elysia as are Warlocks, a warrior sect of Elysian mage. So somehow Elysians are a different species from nymphs and mages?? They and the Charbydon (the House of Abaddon, think demons) exist on a parallel plane and share the ruling of their planet. The Jinn are also from Charbydon.
The Cover and Title
The cover is rough and scary…eek! Greenish-grays make up the collapsing background of pillars and mosaic floors while the long-haired Charlie, the tattoo on her arm flashing, as she slashes her way through with her pink arcing blade.
I think the title is a metaphor for the horrors Charlie — and Atlanta — must undergo before they can emerge into the sun, for there are Shadows Before the Sun in Atlanta and in Charlie’s life.
