Mortal Danger by Eileen Wilks
Series: World of the Lupi #2
Published by Berkley
Published on: November 1st, 2005
Genres: Paranormal Romance, Werewolves
Pages: 393
Format: Paperback
Source: Borrowed
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Former cop Lily Yu has her sister's wedding to attend, a missing magical staff to find, and now must deal with her grandmother's decision to return to the old country. Lily could turn to the man she's involved with for advice, but for all the passion that flares between them, she doesn't really know Rule Turner--she's just bound to him for life. Rule happens to be a werewolf, and Lily wonders just how far she can trust him.
Mortal Danger is an ambitious story (bordering on epic territory), hidden under an awfully vanilla title. Ambitious in two respects: 1) the breadth of supernatural material, especially considering this series started out as a detective potboiler with a couple werewolves 2) the usage of time and perspective: no dull moments and hardly a moment when one isn’t re-orienting oneself.
This latter near-constant need to re-orient can be a bit of a weakness. Certainly it permits the rich and character-specific vocabulary. I was very impressed by just how far and how early some of these more “difficult” chapters were stretched and placed. A bi-sexual demon living in a hollowed-out volcano, dodging other buglike scurrying demons? Prologue!
You will debate dropping the book at this point because of the frequent reference to this filthy creature as an “it”. Reads sooo strange, which is the point. And I doubt this spoils much but that will be not the last trip to that specific locale and character. Throw on top of that then chapters from behind the eyes of our central protags, Lily Yu, a detective sensitive, and Rule Turner, a werewolf prince, and side characters such as a werewolf male-stripper sorcerer, a snappy Finder, or a demented sociopath. A full deck that surprisingly works.
Trust me I’ve left the most startling details for your own discovery, ones which honestly left me feeling the author had strayed far from the initial formula. Also that Finder I mentioned suffers from too little characterization. Plenty room for her to grow or reveal her past but not this time around.
It would definitely be to my benefit and the series as a whole if the next book just took a step back to deal with all these new variables without throwing any more spectacular set-pieces or big-budget creatures in. Seriously I am content with just the largish pet cat going on a diet or vying for territory with Rule. Maybe I’ll just look out for a couple more jokes instead of wacky bi-sexual demons.
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| Recommended: | For plot that runs the gamut |
| Like this, like that: | The Tales of an Urban Werewolf series by Karen MacInerney and the Blades of the Rose series by Zoe Archer |
Great review. I’ve enjoyed this series for a few years. Actually, just read the most recent book that came out, Ritual Magic. The series continues to be very intriguing.
Ah, thank you. I’m playing some serious catch-up with this series. Just wrote review for book five but I agree her choice of narration and subjects is very creative.
Well I’m definitely going to have to make time for this series! It sounds incredibly good, but you’re right that title just doesn’t make it appealing at all. Great review, I’m off to make sure book 1 is on my TBR!