Krazykiwi @ Kiwitopia

I am so far behind in reviews, and I actually forgot to shelve this book at all, but I suspect others overlook it for similar reasons to me: Primarily, the cover. It totally looks like a YA book, or perhaps even an MG one, but it's actually not. 

It's also probably not going to shatter your world either, it's perfectly competent, but not zomg fantastic, but that's fine with me.

What it does have going for it is a pretty good protagonist in Raine Benares, who despite being an elf in a high fantasy setting, does a pretty good impression of a typical urban fantasy or pnr heroine. The supporting cast is pretty fun too, and the main plot wouldn't be too far out of place in say a Dresden novel. 

The second reason I've put off reading this for a couple of years, is that several reviews mention a love triangle, and I detest love triangles. Well, those reviews were overstating it quite a bit. There are indeed two potential love interests, but Raine is not in a relationship, or even the beginnings of one, with either of them. And despite finding them both attractive, she has bigger issues to deal with, and pretty much lets them both down easy. This plotline may come back to haunt me in later books, but at this point, it's the most non of non-issues. 

There's a lot of crossover here: If you like high fantasy, but might appreciate a bit of a noir style mystery, or if you're an urban fantasy reader who might appreciate something in a wildly different setting, or if you're into spunky, sassy heroines (who occasionally fall down, but always pick themselves up) but like me a little overdosted on the (usually quite poorly written, sad to say) pnr type sexytimes, I'd say, give it a shot.

It's a fun, quick read, which wraps up it's major plot in a nice bow, but has several followups to carry on with if you like it.