The Sweet Scent of Blood by Suzanne McLeod
Series: Spellcrackers.com #1
Published on: September 4th, 2008
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 363
Format: Paperback
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When Mr October, a sexy calendar pin-up vamp, is accused of murdering his girlfriend, an old debt is called in and Genny is forced to help prove his innocence, risking her job and the protection it offers – and threatening to expose her own dark secrets. Searching for the killer plunges Genny deep into the hidden heart of vampire society.
The Sweet Scent of Blood puzzled me greatly whilst I was in the throes of passion with it. You’re just going to have to trust me when I say that looking back I am amazed at how few set-pieces there were and thus how well they were employed i.e. in terrific detail, with strong imagery.
A slam-bang noirish job is done here with Genevieve often blacking out just when one needs her to have both eyes open. Everyone, and I mean everyone, wants to use her and everything about that smells fishy to Genevieve so she does what any good detective would do: what they want for her own ends, anyway. It is fitting then that even I was left clueless as she made connections and decisions.
Trust me, if it were not for the vivid descriptions of spell manufacture and make, the slap-happy magically-resistant goblins, the many-headed vampiric power struggle (like a hydra), and flitty relationships with both a satyr and bloodsucker, I would be more bitter (on reflection) that I was essentially dragged kicking and screaming through bars, corridors, movie theaters, and kitchens where characters blabbed mysterious details and insisted Genevieve touch a dead person.
So you already sort of know the strength/weakness chart. On the one hand, we have a tremendous spike in the interest sector while its mirror, the sector for comprehension, takes a beating. It’s not as bad as I make it sound, perhaps even because I have prepared you so well for the low-grav i.e. difficult to follow conditions, all the warnings I gave will be proven disproportionate. But, just to summarize, the book is a whooping typhoon that will press you towards its end and then and only then will it make a lick of sense.
I can say one thing for sure and that is that I want to return to this world if only to make sure I got what happened before. Second books are a godsend when it comes to recapping. Not to mention practically everything in this book could do with about a hundred words more in explanation. Like what is with the goblins showing Genevieve so much respect? What is with the trolls? They ooze mica? What is a normal day in the life like for Genevieve? Surely it is a great complement to another’s world that I would even enjoy visiting it when everything isn’t going to hell.
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| Recommended: | As excellent urban fantasy noir |
| Like this, like that: | The Allay series by Laurie Susan Wright and the Laura Blackstone series by Mark Del Franco |
I love how you guys bring books to my radar that I wouldn’t find other ways 🙂
Thanks for reviewing it, I’m adding to my TBR, who knows it might already be on audible.