⇒ [PDF] Unclean Spirits Book One of the Black Sun Daughter MLN Hanover 9781439143056 Books

Unclean Spirits Book One of the Black Sun Daughter MLN Hanover 9781439143056 Books

Download As PDF : Unclean Spirits Book One of the Black Sun Daughter MLN Hanover 9781439143056 Books

Unclean Spirits Book One of the Black Sun Daughter MLN Hanover 9781439143056 Books

I bought this book because I enjoyed The Long Price Quartet, a far more acclaimed fantasy series by the same author (yes, M.L.N. Hanover is a nom de plume of Daniel Abraham). I was intrigued at the prospect of Abraham's trademark approach to storytelling (key words: thoughtful, mature, character-driven, realistic) applied to urban fantasy. I'm a bit miffed to report that this novel, a first in a series, does not exactly deliver.

It's not hard to enumerate what went wrong with the book. The plot is straightforward and devoid of surprises, relying on a overly familiar premise (after the mysterious death of her rich uncle, the heroine inherits his house and wealth – along with a *yawn* very dangerous supernatural nemesis). Most of the action happens in Denver, which by itself is a refreshing choice of setting for an UF novel, but turns out to be a dull and disconnected collection of warehouses, apartments, hospitals and whatever other locations the author felt were needed for the plot, wanting in both personality and mystery. The supernatural aspect of the book is lacking as well; the author tries to provide an original take on obligatory werewolves, vampires and shadowy organizations vying for world domination, but never gives us enough details or reasons to care. So, werewolves and vampires are actually demons able to possess human bodies, and some werewolves are called varkolaks for some reason and some of them are tattooed in Arabic script because why not. Yep, that's the entire mythological setup of the novel in a nutshell. Abraham is generally great at world-building, but in this case he only shows us the scaffolding (perhaps saving the juicy bits for later books?)

All of this would be forgivable given it is the first installment in a series, if not for the main character. In stark contrast with Abraham's previous books which featured several POV characters, the entirety of Unclean Spirits is written from the first-person perspective of Jayné Heller, a young woman with family issues, abusive religious father issues, awful ex-boyfriend issues, self-confidence issues, lack-of-agency issues and everyone-pronounces-my-name-wrong issues. As a result, we're treated to endless inner monologue of a person going through so many personal complications, she often forgets to worry about the only really pressing concern: the otherworldly entities trying to kill her. Fortunately for her and unfortunately for her character arc, Jayné is helped and protected by a team of extremely competent and dangerous individuals, including a woman who would make a far more interesting female lead (hell, after a while every supporting character begins to seem like a better fit for the lead role). If that sounds like Twilight Saga on progressive politics, that's because it pretty much is. Thankfully, the words "male bullshit" and "period" are used exactly once.

Oh, there is also a very weird moment in the book where Jayné violates her love interest's privacy in a way that IRL would be the showstopper or at least a red flag for any budding relationship. But the dude just dismisses this with: "Well, that wasn't cool, but I kept some secrets from you, so we're even". That's some credulity-straining stuff, to say the least.

All in all, I cannot recommend this book if you're not a fan of Abraham's writing. Being one myself, I'll probably buy the next installment anyway. We'll see how it turns out.


Tags : Unclean Spirits: Book One of the Black Sun's Daughter [M.L.N. Hanover] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <b>In a world where magic walks and demons ride, you can't always play by the rules.</b> <BR><BR> Jayné Heller thinks of herself as a realist,M.L.N. Hanover,Unclean Spirits: Book One of the Black Sun's Daughter,Pocket Books,1439143056,Fantasy - Contemporary,Demonology,Denver (Colo.),Fantasy fiction,Fantasy fiction.,Wizards,AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY,FICTION Fantasy Contemporary,FICTION Fantasy General,FICTION Fantasy Urban,Fantasy,Fiction,Fiction - Fantasy,Fiction-Fantasy,General Adult,MASS MARKET,Monograph Series, 1st,United States

Unclean Spirits Book One of the Black Sun Daughter MLN Hanover 9781439143056 Books Reviews

I just finished reading this book, the first in a series, I think the third is available now. I really enjoyed the story, I look forward to the sequel. I gave it a four rather than a five for two reasons. The first being that the main character fell into her role a little too easily, she seems to have these powers and was thrown into the supernatural world quickly and yet she just accepted it and went on. If maybe things had been noticed by her as she was growing up? Maybe things she couldn't explain about herself? I don't know, just too quick maybe.
Also the book was a little slow at the beginning, not really a connection with the characters or the story that kept me reading. But I plugged along and then about halfway through found I couldn't wait to pick it up again. So four stars instead of five, but I have downloaded the second book and will be reading it, looking forward to a series with characters that grow personally and characters that grow on me.
I really enjoyed this book as was sucked in from the beginning. Jayné is down and out when she arrives in Denver after her uncle's murder. One of the things that endeared her to me as a character was when she thought "I never would have said it to anyone, but my uncle had been killed at the perfect time. I hated myself for even thinking that, but it was true. If I hadn't gotten the call from his lawyer, if I hadn't been able to come here, I would have been reduced to couch surfing with people I knew peripherally from college. I wasn't welcome at home right now. I hadn't registered for the next semester at ASU, which technically made me a college dropout."

She is thrust into this new world with magic and monsters and has to come to terms with who she is and what she is going to do. She pull a great team together to defeat the bad guy. It will be interesting to see what happen later with her and Aubrey...while I am not crazy about him it is obvious that there is some sort of chemistry between them. I personally would like to see something between her and Ex.

All in all this was a good start for a new series.
This book wasn't a waste of money and I'm glad I read it. That being said there are quite a few issues I had with it. The story starts out fantastic but then it just stops til the middle of the book. The first half of the book just drags. Mainly because the author works up to an endgame scenario in the middle. Well you know it's not going to work. We also never know why it doesn't work. So the first half of the book has no build up or enhances the story in any way.

The romance makes this book worse. It feels fake, forced, and moving way too fast for Jayne's character. Jayne and Aubrey have no chemistry. They have no tender moments. Aubrey is the worst character of the group. Jayne never has any feelings for Aubrey beyond finding him extremely attractive. Yet more than one person says Jayne is in love with Aubrey. That was laughable. Jayne has real connections to both Ex and Jake which I think gets unjustly ignored.

Another problem is the unique world. It's a strength that it's different but we get no real information on the supernatural world. I don't know if riders are demons, mages, or a combination of the two. I'll read the reviews for the next book before I decide to read it.
I wasn't sure what I was getting into with this book. As it turned out , neither was the heroine. All she knew was that her uncle had died and left stuff to her. Like millions of dollars and houses around the world...plus a few friends who had helped him fight demons or parasitic spirits from an alternate universe. They're willing to follow her to avenge her uncle's death. So begins an adventure that requires a very steep learning curve and a lot of luck to get to a satisfactory ending which sort of sets things up for at least four more books.
I bought this book because I enjoyed The Long Price Quartet, a far more acclaimed fantasy series by the same author (yes, M.L.N. Hanover is a nom de plume of Daniel Abraham). I was intrigued at the prospect of Abraham's trademark approach to storytelling (key words thoughtful, mature, character-driven, realistic) applied to urban fantasy. I'm a bit miffed to report that this novel, a first in a series, does not exactly deliver.

It's not hard to enumerate what went wrong with the book. The plot is straightforward and devoid of surprises, relying on a overly familiar premise (after the mysterious death of her rich uncle, the heroine inherits his house and wealth – along with a *yawn* very dangerous supernatural nemesis). Most of the action happens in Denver, which by itself is a refreshing choice of setting for an UF novel, but turns out to be a dull and disconnected collection of warehouses, apartments, hospitals and whatever other locations the author felt were needed for the plot, wanting in both personality and mystery. The supernatural aspect of the book is lacking as well; the author tries to provide an original take on obligatory werewolves, vampires and shadowy organizations vying for world domination, but never gives us enough details or reasons to care. So, werewolves and vampires are actually demons able to possess human bodies, and some werewolves are called varkolaks for some reason and some of them are tattooed in Arabic script because why not. Yep, that's the entire mythological setup of the novel in a nutshell. Abraham is generally great at world-building, but in this case he only shows us the scaffolding (perhaps saving the juicy bits for later books?)

All of this would be forgivable given it is the first installment in a series, if not for the main character. In stark contrast with Abraham's previous books which featured several POV characters, the entirety of Unclean Spirits is written from the first-person perspective of Jayné Heller, a young woman with family issues, abusive religious father issues, awful ex-boyfriend issues, self-confidence issues, lack-of-agency issues and everyone-pronounces-my-name-wrong issues. As a result, we're treated to endless inner monologue of a person going through so many personal complications, she often forgets to worry about the only really pressing concern the otherworldly entities trying to kill her. Fortunately for her and unfortunately for her character arc, Jayné is helped and protected by a team of extremely competent and dangerous individuals, including a woman who would make a far more interesting female lead (hell, after a while every supporting character begins to seem like a better fit for the lead role). If that sounds like Twilight Saga on progressive politics, that's because it pretty much is. Thankfully, the words "male bullshit" and "period" are used exactly once.

Oh, there is also a very weird moment in the book where Jayné violates her love interest's privacy in a way that IRL would be the showstopper or at least a red flag for any budding relationship. But the dude just dismisses this with "Well, that wasn't cool, but I kept some secrets from you, so we're even". That's some credulity-straining stuff, to say the least.

All in all, I cannot recommend this book if you're not a fan of Abraham's writing. Being one myself, I'll probably buy the next installment anyway. We'll see how it turns out.