Review: Blade Song by J C Daniels

Title: Blade Song
Author: J. C. Daniels
Publisher: self published
Genre: UF/PNR
Release date: August 2012
Source: Bought as ebook

Description: Kit Colbana--half breed, assassin, thief, jack of all trades--has a new job: track down the missing ward of one of the local alpha shapeshifters. It should be a piece of cake. So why is she so nervous? It probably has something to do with the insanity that happens when you deal with shifters--especially sexy ones who come bearing promises of easy jobs and easier money. Or maybe it's all the other missing kids that Kit discovers while working the case, or the way her gut keeps screaming she's gotten in over her head. Or maybe it's because if she fails--she's dead. If she can stay just one step ahead, she should be okay. Maybe she'll even live long to collect her fee...

My thoughts: I read this book way faster than I meant to. The story starts with Kit facing a man in her office. She knows he's a shapeshifter, he's a strong one, and he's someone she doesn't want to be anywhere near. By the end of the meeting, she's working a case, and he's on board as her information guy and security detail. It's exactly the kind of start I love in an urban fantasy novel - jumping straight in to the dangerous situation, and characters who have to be around each other while not actually getting along.

The kid she has to find is the adopted son of the local shapeshifter queen - a dangerous woman who Kit learns in a personal meeting is also completely crazy. If Kit doesn't find the boy soon, the queen will take out her anger on her, instead - and Kit knows she won't survive that. So she gets to work calling in contacts to try to trace the missing boy. The story moves at a fast page, which I enjoyed, taking Kit and her companion from one dangerous situation to another. Thankfully, it also has little rest periods where she meets up with friends in safe places, which acted as places in the story for me to catch my breath. I think J C Daniels has really nailed the pacing with this one.

Although this is an urban fantasy, there are some steamy dream sequences and a strong romance plotline. One of the things I really disliked about the book is to do with the way the romance plot goes at the end of the story. I won't give anything away, but as this is the first book in a series, I'm a bit unsure about whether I'll like the later books as much - I don't feel like the author has left herself anywhere to go with the romance line. It will at least have to have a definite shift in direction in future books.

Overall, I did really enjoy this story, and I do plan to read the sequel sometime, although there are quite a lot of other books ahead of it in my queue just now. As an urban fantasy, it races along, and I think the world J C Daniels has created is very interesting and I look forward to learning more about it and the magical races who people it. Overall, I give Blade Song 8 out of 10.

-Ailsa