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
Blood Cross
by
Faith Hunter
It is part of the Jane Yellowrock #2 series and is a paranormal fantasy in a Kindle edition that was published by ROC on January 5, 2010 and has 335 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, Broken Soul, 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, Spells for the Dead, "Easy Pickings", True Dead, Dirty Deeds 2, Trials, Junkyard Cats, Rift in the Soul
Second 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
I adore Jane Yellowrock. Hunter has developed characters with depth (and humor!), and there is so much action in this. It’s not all violent though. Some is simply the interactions between Jane and all the characters with all those different personalities.
It’s all from first person protagonist point-of-view from Jane’s perspective, so we know everything about Jane — what she thinks, feels, and experiences. And that moment when Leo intends to burn down Jane’s house? Hoo-boy. Lucky for Jane that Molly and company are visiting.
Yeah, Leo is the most powerful vampire in the city, and after threatening Jane, he wants her to do him a favor? What is that boy smokin’?
Jesus, the action switches back and forth, the betrayals are many, and vampire politics reign. As for Jane’s potential love interests…oh là là…
Poor Jane. She has to go to a vampire party…and as far as the vampires are concerned she has nothing to wear. It is such a crack-up to experience those fittings, lol. The party itself? Oh. Boy. Tense. With lots more tension to come.
I love how Hunter changes the thought patterns between Jane and Beast. Fortunately, Hunter doesn’t obsess too much about Jane’s guilty feelings.
There are a number of histories told, from the dispersal of the one family of vampires into the many, the rise of the out-clan, the origin of vampires, the revolt in Saint Domingue and the part vampires played — who knew that François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture was actually a vampire?
If you enjoy vampires, shapeshifting, and lots of action, read this!
The Story
A rogue vampire is setting his scions free before they’re “cured”, which means they’re crazed killing machines.
This simply won’t do for the city, and Leo has extended Jane’s contract to hunt the sire down as well as his scions.
Only… Jane killed Leo’s son, and he is filled with rage.
It’ll be a revolution with the help of the Crips.
The Characters
Jane “Injun Princess” Yellowrock, a.k.a. Dalonige i Digadoli (Golden Eyes) and Big Cat, is a Cherokee skinwalker and vampire bounty hunter who has been hired by the vampires of New Orleans. Beast is a mountain lion who is Jane’s other half, the soul Jane captured so long ago. Bitsa is Jane’s one-of-kind Harley created from bits of this and bits of that.
Molly Everheart Trueblood is an earth witch and Jane’s best friend. Big Evan is her sorcerer husband (who’s not out of the closet) who hates Jane. Angelina “Angie Baby” is their powerful daughter. Little Evan is their sorcerer son. Molly’s sisters include Evangelina Everheart, a water witch, professor, and three-star chef; the witch twins Boadacia and Elizabeth who run the herb store part of the Seven Sassy Sisters Herb Shop and Café near Asheville; and, the human sisters, Regan and Amelia, who are the waitstaff.
The vampires of New Orleans
Leo Pellissier is the Blood Master of Clan Pellissier and of New Orleans as well as the head of the vampire council. Seems he favors that dark right of kings…pig. Immanuel had been his son (Skinwalker, 1). George “Bruiser” Dumas is Leo’s blood-servant and second-in-command. Ernestine, a.k.a. Raisin, is an accountant for the vampires. “WWF” is the nickname Jane gave one of the guards. Other guards include Tyler, Louisa, and Dale. Simon is one of Leo’s drivers.
Katie Fonteneau, a vampire, is Jane’s landlady who runs a whorehouse for vampires, Katie’s Ladies, just behind Jane’s rented house. Tom, a.k.a. Troll, is her blood-servant, major domo, and Rick’s uncle. Her ladies include Bliss, a.k.a. Ailis Rogan; Najla; the whip-and-chain preferring Christie; and, Tia. Deon is the new house chef. No one’s talking about what happened to the previous cook, Ms A.
The Clans in New Orleans are allied into two groups: Pellisier, Laurent, Bouvier, and St Martin are one, and Mearkanis, Arceneau, Rousseau, and Desmarais in the other.
Bettina is the Blood Master of Clan Rousseau. Adrianna is Blood Master of Clan St Martin; Lanah and Hope are two of her vampires. Renee Damours supposedly found sanity, but her brother Tristan did not. Adora and Donatien are also sister and brother in the devoveo…and carrying the witch gene. Baldy.
Innara is of Clan Bouvier. Grégoire is Blood Master while Dominique is the second-in-command at Clan Arceneau. Brian and Brandon are their Onorios and lawyers. Adrianna is the first scion of Clan St Martin; Sina and Brigit are her blood-servants. Jackie is with Clan Desmaris. Rafael Torrez is master of Clan Mearkanis.
Sabina Delgado y Aguilera and Bethany NLN are out-clan shamans and vampires. Madame Melisende is the dressmaker to the vampires. LeShawn Brandt is the experiment that worked.
The Witches
“Butterfly Lily“and her mom, “Feather Storm“, are a couple of naive witches.
New Orleans PD
Detective Rick LaFleur owes Jane a favor. Detective Jodi Richoux is becoming sort of a friend to Jane. Some years ago Detective Elizabeth Caldwell had been the lead investigator on a series of missing children cases. Detective Sloan Rosen joins Jodi’s team. The too-suspicious Detective A Ferguson.
Derek Lee, who lives in Iberville, is an ex-marine with his own team these days, including Juwan, Corporal Leon Hicklin who was home on leave, and Twizzlers. Seems he and his boys have also worked for Leo for the past six months.
Aggie One-Feather, a.k.a. Egini Agayvlge i, is a Cherokee shaman who is teaching Jane. E lisi had been Jane’s grandmother. Edoda, Jane’s father had been of the Panther Clan; her mother, Etsi, of the Blue Holly Clan.
The Vampira Carta is the laws by which the vampires live. The Naturaleza are vampires who want to go back to the old ways. Jules had been a Blood Master vampire in England, Ireland, and Aquitaine. Anamchara is a term for soul-bonded, an eternal mating. Dolore is a state of vampire grief. The devoveo is the years it takes for a newly made vampire to control themselves. The long-chained ones are those who take a lot more than ten years to “cure”. The Blood Cross is the cross on which Jesus died. The out-clan are the vampire historians, deal brokers, ambassadors, and/or peacemakers. The Sons of Darkness are the very first vampires and include Ioudas Issachar. Bruiser’s mama had been an impoverished English lady. The Nunnery is a former warehouse that Samuel Nunnery built.
I think Mr Rawls was a principal at the children’s home. Ernest J. Bellocq had been a well-known Storyville photographer. Rinaldo is the part-time cabdriver Jane calls when she’s caught out. Amy is a human salesgirl at an art shop. The Crips are a gang in New Orleans. Old Lady Pierson‘s house is where Jane has an efficiency rental.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a loose frame of darkness with a figured border in red on the left. Within this frame is a three-quarter profile of Jane, her dark hair in a single braid down her back, in her hunting leathers with a VERY low-cut bodice (not Jane’s style) and festooned with weapons. Over her left shoulder rests her Benelli; her right hand carries a dagger. Behind Jane is blood and fire, and behind that is a temple-like building and a mausoleum. On the right is a golden glow surrounding a thick wooden cross. The author’s name is in red at the top underneath which is an info blurb in red. Below that, at an angle is the title in a distressed white with the series info immediately below on the right. On the left and on the level is an epigraph in red. At the bottom is a testimonial in white.
The title is history and salvation, the Blood Cross.
