Blood Lines by Eileen Wilks
Series: World of the Lupi #3
Published by Berkley
Published on: January 2nd, 2007
Genres: Paranormal Romance, Werewolves
Pages: 338
Format: Paperback
Source: Borrowed
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Touch-sensitive FBI agent Lily Yu and her werewolf bond-mate are recruited by the Secret Service to help identify elected officials who have accepted demonic pacts. But Lily must turn to fellow agent Cynna Weaver for help when Cynna's former teacher, a demon master, emerges as the main suspect behind the pacts. After a demon commits a gruesome murder, sorcerer Cullen Seabourne joins the team racing the clock to find the apprentice of evil who uses demons to kill.
Blood Lines is a haunted house read. One is now ferried through a floor of were politics & intrigue, then a floor of magic & its history, then a floor of demons, a floor of cats, and floor of Gifted individuals. Rinse, repeat. Its primary technique to accomplish such shifting (of floors, not of coats, you were fanatics) is frequent perspectival jumps.
Now you’re in the body of the werewolf ruler, now the body of his sensitive (like magical, not mushy) girlfriend, now the werewolf stripper loner, now, etc., etc. Each feels cleverly developed and friendly. There will be reminders of what this side character’s relation is to what is going on. Sometimes the cleverness of these passages can get carried away and come across as near experimental/disorienting.
The author likes every now and then to make her audience work for it, or, at least, feel in the moment as if they are just as clueless as our current protagonist. The plot, much like the zigzag from this character’s consciousness to this one, incorporates a healthy amount of set pieces and paranormal boogaboo.
On the order of magical presence, this urban fantasy pushes strongly at the envelope between worlds. The cities cannot exist for more than a book or two more at this rate. Prepare for imminent conversion from electronic monetary system to dwarf trading post!
Did I mention that in terms of what the characters suffer/go through no punches are pulled? Like weird things (with consequences) are beginning to collect and weigh down our previously normal (or, at least, just a werewolf ruler, just a sensitive girlfriend, etc.) cast. Soon they might as well add a couple more epithets to each of their names to signal all the mythical events they have been present for.
On a very specific sidenote, when are we going to hear more about Benedict? His attitude seems so much in the right place and flawless that I want more of the stories in the future to be told from his mind’s eye. There is the danger, of course, that with him sharing things he may also lose his utter competency. Wouldn’t want that.
| 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 |
I’ve been reading this series for a few years now, and have always thought it didn’t get enough attention. It is a great series, though probably not in my top ten.
Don’t worry, you’ll get more of Benedict in the future, maybe not near future, but in the future (I can’t remember which book).