Josh Reviews: Dark Descendant by Jenna Black

Dark Descendant by Jenna Black
Series: Nikki Glass #1
Published by Pocket
Published on: April 26th 2011
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 325
Format: Paperback
Source: Borrowed

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Nikki Glass can track down any man. But when her latest client turns out to be a true descendant of Hades, Nikki now discovers she can’t die. . . .

Crazy as it sounds, Nikki’s manhunting skills are literally god-given. She’s a living, breathing descendant of Artemis who has stepped right into a trap set by the children of the gods.

Dark Descendant models remarkable focus.    All Nikki is to us, for perhaps the first fifty pages, is a twenty-five year old woman (and private investigator) with a hate for chauvinists.    In other words, nothing too out of the realm of possibility.

The intriguing political game that then builds itself around these characteristics and, in provocative ways, dovetails with Nikki’s own past rewards the patient, pays homage to the craftsman, and, in general, pleases the paranormal reader.

The ending also cunningly finesses its way out of revealing pretty much any hints for book two, which means I will certainly want to track it down.    How many private investigator jokes should I follow up that phrase with?

If I had to complain about anything, it would be characterizations (seems this is becoming a running trend).    To name a few superpowers: Konstantin, Alexis, Blake, Jamaal, and Maggie; then, quite helpless, Nikki’s human sister, Steph.    The first group suffers from too much magic.    What they do, whether it is throw lightning or make people fall in love with them, nearly always trumps who they are.

Certainly, there are some surprises as to who will also get a chance at redemption.     It is also totes fun to wonder if any of these will become romantically involved with Nikki (it’s only fair to wonder since the book does begin with a date from hell).    We will just have to see what more develops and that probably explains why the characterizations feel so thin because the book’s designed to just leave us wanting for next book.

I might prefer a little bit if the font was reduced a tad to make room for more plot.     Sure, it would make reading one more of a headache but, at least, one could leave it knowing that everything received a fitting amount of development.    As it is I can only really comment on this mythological paranormal crossblend.

No longer do we root for the ghosts, vamps, and weres with seemingly no origin from the gods (of course it depends on the series; some actually will have them come from the gods), now we look to their spawn and the pantheon represented runs the gamut from Nordic to Hindu to Greek to Egyptian.    Is it worth noting there are no Buddhist deities represented (or, heaven forbid – that’s another religious joke – Shinto spirits)?

Recommended:	For mythological Sparknotes (Zeus pun, eh?)
Like this, like that:	The Annabelle Lee series by Stacey Jay and the Dark Breed series by Sable Grace

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