I received this book for free from my own shelves in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: my own shelves
Broken Soul
by
Faith Hunter
It is part of the Jane Yellowrock series and is a paranormal fantasy in a paperback edition that was published by ROC on October 7, 2014 and has 329 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon, Audibles.
Other books in this series include [books_series]
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Raven Cursed, An Apple for the Creature, Death's Rival, Blood Trade, Kicking It, Blood in Her Veins, Mercy Blade, Shadow Rites, Bloodring, Seraphs, Dark Queen, Shattered Bonds, Black Arts, Dark Heir, Cold Reign, Blood of the Earth, Curse on the Land, "Water Witch", "Explosion On King's Street", Skinwalker, Dirty Deeds, "Shiloh and the Brick", "Black Friday Shopping with Nell and Occam", Circle of the Moon, Blood Cross, Spells for the Dead, "Easy Pickings", True Dead, Dirty Deeds 2, Trials, Junkyard Cats, Rift in the Soul
Eighth in the Jane Yellowrock paranormal fantasy series and revolving around a Cherokee skinwalker-cum-vampire-bounty-hunter in New Orleans.
If you’re interested, there is a chronological listing of the Jane Yellowrock books on my website.
My Take
It’s strategy, battle, and lots of plotting by too many factions in Broken Soul. When Jane gets to thinking about all the possibilities — why this is erupting, who’s behind it, and how to deal with security problems that continually pop up, too many of which are from feuds and issues centuries ago! — my brain starts to hurt.
It’s all first person dual protagonist point-of-view from Jane’s and Beast’s perspective, both of whom have their issues. The guilt she carries from when she was five, her hatred for vampires even though she works for them, the conflict of suddenly having family, friends. Although, Jane is starting to tick me off. All this guilt she pulls down onto herself! She’s going overboard on this.
Awww, Janie’s overwhelmed when she’s given flowers. For the first time in her life. Bruiser gives Janie some nice gifts, including that Mughal Empire blade. His romancing is so very sweet, taking into consideration who Jane is, what she would like. It’s sweet enough that Jane confesses her secrets to him.
Leo has the very bad habit of keeping too many secrets as part of his long-term planning. He is also way too influenced by his “privileges” from the days when he was first turned. Right of kings?? I don’t think so…
Poor Derek. He’s having a hard time coming to terms with what Leo wants from him. And Jane’s answer doesn’t exactly reassure him. I gotta say she is honest about it, lol.
Hunter has a fascinating backstory on how vampires evolved. Ick. Hunter makes an excellent point about how the Catholic Church claimed the Jews were Christ-killers, but that it was the Romans who actually killed Jesus. Well, the Church does so like an excuse to take people’s properties. Oh, man, there’s the story of Noah and the Flood in here! Fascinating! She also provides a history of how the vampires spread out into Europe. We also got a quick peek in at some of the amazing people Bruiser has met in his past. I love how Jane phrases it, that Bruiser has lived. Beast has an interesting reveal about having encountered light beings in her past.
Hunter also provides a backstory for the origin of werewolves…and why we also have other shifters. I definitely understand Jane’s sort of envy when she finds out what arcenciels can do and what riding them provides the rider. The very idea of no pain after stopping time…whew…nice…
Jane’s troubles keep mounting up, as she gets her half-form and discovers that her DNA is no longer a double strand but a triple. And we learn that Beast has been keeping secrets from Jane. Hmmm… I do enjoy those conversations Beast and Jane have *grin*.
Oh, boy, this one would be a challenge for profilers. Ya just can’t trust what we think we know. Then there’s Soul’s, um, lack of perception. How the heck is Jane supposed to know the baby arcenciel is trying to communicate with her. Sure looks like attacks to me! And Soul provides Jane with a threat and us with back history on the arcenciels.
I’ll tell ya, there is so much power and action in this…whoaaa. It is fascinating how Hunter manages to make actions that are so impossible to counter and yet she does. And Wrassler…ah, geez…
Phew, who knew Katie could be so fair about who is really at fault in starting this whole crisis!
Ah well, just remember that “everything’s better with bacon.”
The Story
The European Vampires are pushing for a visit, and evidence suggests that they are desperate for a new refuge, intending to take over America. Starting with Leo Pellisier and his territory.
It doesn’t help Jane’s sanity that the elevator at Vamp Central is acting up.
The Characters
Yellowrock Securities is…
…Jane Yellowrock‘s company…along with her Younger partners: Eli, a former Army Ranger, and his brother, Alex, “the Kid”. Jane is a Cherokee skinwalker sharing her body with another soul, Beast. She’s also Leo’s part-time Enforcer and a Cherokee War Woman, responsible for restitution and revenge after battle. Bitsa is Jane’s beloved motorcycle, still being repaired. The Gray Between is an alternate plane that Jane enters when she shifts, one where time stops.
George “Bruiser” Dumas is now an Onorio and Leo’s former primo and still with all his prominence in the city. With his very own apartment at the Saint Phillip.
Angie Baby is Molly Everhart Trueblood and Evan Trueblood‘s too-powerful witch daughter and Jane’s godchild. Evan is a witch who’s still in the closet. Aggie One Feather is a Cherokee Elder counseling Jane. Uni lisi is a term of respect for Aggie’s scary mother.
New Orleans
The five-hundred-year-old Leo Pellisier is the Master of the City (MOC) of New Orleans. Amaury Pellisier had been Leo’s uncle and the previous MOC. The fifteen-year-old-appearing Grégoire is his best friend, his secondo heir, the blood-master of Clan Arceneau, and of the Valois line. Girrard “Gee” DiMercy is his Mercy Blade, an Anzû, who helps vampires maintain stability or delivers mercy. Adelaide “Del” Mooney, a human lawyer, is Leo’s new primo. Ernestine “Raisin” is the in-house CPA. Edmund Hartley lost his clan and now works for Leo; he’s a good healer. Amy Lynn Brown is one of Shaddock’s (in Asheville) who is famous for her coming out of the devoveo way early as well as able to bring other scions through their devoveos early. Mario Esposito is a vampire who thinks he’s way prettier and suave than he actually is.
Wrassler, because he can make a WWE fighter look puny. Quesnel is the sommelier.
Derek Lee, a former Marine, is Leo’s Enforcer-in-training and doesn’t like Jane. His men include Mannie Dubose, Angel Tit, a former marine and their IT security specialist as well as Team Tequila which includes T. Jolly Green Giant, T. Blue Voodoo, T. Antifreeze, T. Red Dragon, T. Trash Can, and T. Acapulco. The Vodka boys include V. Sunrise and V. Hi-Fi.
Joses, son of Judas (Yo-sace, Bar-Ioudas), is one of the Sons of Darkness.
Katie’s Ladies is…
…the oldest continuously operating whorehouse owned by Katie, the vampire who originally hired Jane and has since handed over to the deed to what is now Jane’s house. Tom, a.k.a. Troll, is her primo and a some-greats uncle to Rick. Deon is Katie’s three-star Jamaican gay chef. The ladies include dominatrix Christie, Ipsita, and Tia who is interested in Alex.
Clan Arceneau includes Brian and Brandon Robere, who are Grégoire’s Onorios, two of three in the entire US. Adrianna is Grégoire’s heir. Jane keeps killing her and Leo keeps bringing her back.
Clan Laurent is led by Bettina. Bethany Salazar y Medina is crazy insane, and she and Sabina are outclan, priestesses of the Vampires.
Law Enforcement
PsyLED is…
…the Psychometry Law Enforcement Division under the umbrella of Homeland Security. Soul, l’arcenciel, is in charge in this area. Special Agent Rick “Ricky-bo” LaFleur is a former NOLA detective and now a wereleopard. Paka is his new were-panther girlfriend. Brute, formerly “Fire Truck”, is a human trapped in his white werewolf form.
Special Agent Stanley is the officer-in-charge with ATF. Sarge Walker is Rick’s cousin, a pilot.
NOPD
Detective Jodi Richoux is the head of the woo-woo department, a promotion meant to hinder her. But her friendship with Jane and what she learns from her turns it into a positive. Officer Swelling is about twenty-five. Officer Everett Semer had been heading toward retirement. Deputy Antonelli investigates a crime out at Aggie One Feather’s.
European Vampires (EVs)
Their highest ranking members were Semitic, arising from the first three, the father of Mithrans, Judas Iscariot and his two sons, the Sons of Darkness (SOD). Françis Le Bâtard, an illegitimate son of François d’Angoulême, is Grégoire’s sire, a brutal pedophile who is a third-generation Mithran.
Batildis and Peregrinus are Grésgoire’s Mithran sister and brother, sired by Le Bâtard. With The Devil, their primo and an undefeated swordswoman, they make a fearsome threesome, Satan’s Three.
La Destreza, a.k.a. the Spanish Circle, is a particular type of duel. One where cheating is quite acceptable. The Vampira Carta is the legal code for all Mithrans, a.k.a. vampires. Lolandes was a very powerful witch of her time, said to have created werewolves. Paul Reaver has a good credit card and Florence works for him.
Reach is an “entrepreneur” who can hack anything and knows everything. And he’s gone traitor. A lillilend, or lillend, is a mythical shape-changing creature of light used in gaming. Sylvia Turpin, the sheriff of Natchez is dating Eli (Blood Trade, 6). Margery Thibodaux had been one of Jane’s neighbors and was worth millions. Les arcenciels are living, breathing, dream-inducing, drug-pushing, see-through rainbow dragons from another plane of existence. The People of the Straight Ways were also called the Builders, of whom Noah was one. The Angel Hayyel was called by the Everharts and Truebloods in Raven Cursed, 4, and gave Jane and Beast info on how to come to terms with their two souls. U’tlun’ta is a liver eater, a skinwalker gone bad.
The Cover and Title
The cover has a black background with blue swirls of energy twisting around a leaping Jane, her braid whipping in the wind, clad in her black leathers with a weapons belt over one shoulder, and holding two short swords. The author’s name is at the top in a light blue, the same color as the stylized border of bats along the left edge. An info blurb is immediately beneath it in white with the title, also in white using a distressed font, on an angle above Jane’s head with the series info, in white, beneath it and right justified. There’s an epigraph in white to the right of Jane’s knee. At the very bottom, in white, is a testimonial.
The title is all about the PsyLED agent, the Broken Soul who fears for a young arcenciel…and the conflict between Beast and Jane.
