The Taste of Night - Vicki Pettersson

The Taste of Night by Vicki Pettersson (published April 2007)

Why was this still on my TBR pile? I think I'd read the first book and kind of been blown away by it, but for some reason the second book just fell by the wayside as I got hooked on other series. I don't remember the specifics of Book 1, but managed to pick up the gist through reading book 2.

Joanna Archer is the Kairos - equal parts light and shadow, she currently fights as the Archer (sagittarius) for the Zodiac of Light in Las Vegas. As the Agents of Dark release a terrifying epidemic on the city that will kill both Agents of Light and innocent humans, it will be up to her to put things right and by doing so fulfil the second half of the Kairos prophecy.

I enjoyed this book very much, but I didn't like it as much as the first book - hope that makes sense. More about my quibbles and niggles later in the review. First the stuff I liked.

This book like the first is full of quotable dialogue, snappy banter and backtalk. Regular readers of the blog will know this is one of the things I love about UF. And Joanna is another UF heroine who has a fine line in the bitchy comment department.

Troy was full of shit, but I wasn't going to say that to Suzanne. I made it a rule to never say anything bad about my friend's boyfriends until I was sure they were well and truly out of the picture - preferably dead.

This is also probably the only UF you'll read which features the pencil test. :)

Joanna is so sure of herself and her beliefs, she gets very tunnel-visioned. This kind of application of self can be both constructive and destructive. It's ultimately only the fact the she's able to pull herself out of this focus that saves her. And will probably save her future as well, at the end of the book, she's no longer the same person she was at the beginning. I'm hoping this character growth is carried on into the next story.

She's not a heroine that you instantly warm to, probably why book 2 has been on my TBR pile for a while. She's ambiguous and I actually quite like not knowing which way she may go. It's quite clever that Vicki Pettersson leaves us with the possibility she may join the Agents of Darkness and you believe it could be possible.

It's the other characters that fall into Joanna's sphere and humanize her, that help you root for her. Hunter mentioned later on, and Cher (Olivia's friend) who while apparently ditzy comes out with some great lines.

"Olivia's trying to decide if she wants to munch rug, but first she's looking for cheap sex with a stranger and no strings attached, just to make sure."

The sort of character who'll be quite happily talking along and then all of a sudden will say something that makes you double take. :)

Just like the previous book I think most of my favourite bits happen in the comic store. I just love the whole idea of the manuals and the light and dark comics. And ordinary people reading them - including Olivia's best friend - without knowing what it is that they're reading.

Quibbles

This second book took a little getting into, it didn't hook me from the start. It wasn't until around page 67 that I'm completely 'into' the story.

Hunter and Joanna have great light the page up chemistry, you can practically feel the hormones coming off the page. But she is still hung up on Ben, the boyfriend from her past life. My problem is when she's not with Ben (which is the vast majority of the book as he believes she's dead) I want her to be with Hunter. But when she is with Ben I can see it's kind of sweet and then I'm just left wanting her to make a decision. Because it feels obvious to me that she cannot be with Ben. Then I'm left feeling frustrated, which might be the effect the author is going for? But I hope this issue is going to be resolved soon.

I am still confused about Joanna's secret identity and who does and doesn't know who she actually is. This is something I have to try and forget about as I'm reading, as thinking about it too much causes my brain to turn to mush. Speaking of being confused - the original manual - one master copy, or one copy per city? I get the feeling at some point Joanna is going to be looking for this important book but I didn't quite grasp how many there are. Although I think the worldbuilding is fascinating and original, some of it just goes straight over my head.

Even given the men in her life and the fact that she's had to take on her sister's friendships to maintain her secret identity. I felt for a lot of this that Joanna is quite isolated as a character, now my feelings on this did change slightly, I feel maybe she is making a place for herself. At the end of the book I think I am quite hopeful about the next installment, which I've already ordered. :)

Book 1 - The Scent of Shadows
Book 3 - The Touch of Twilight
Book 4 - City of Souls (Jul 2009)

The Scent of Shadows by Vicki Pettersson

SPOILERS POSSIBLE SPOILERS POSSIBLE SPOILERS POSSIBLE

Where to begin. Joanna Archer has a destiny of which she is unaware. Attacked at 16 and left for dead, she survived against all the odds. But unbeknownst to her time was still running out - now it's almost up. On her 25th birthday she'll be faced with a choice - live or die, fight for the light or the dark. Now as she discovers her family secrets and finds out who she is, she'll take her place in the Zodiac.

This is one of the best books I have read this year. (I will mention here that I'm a huge X-Men and Heroes fan, please note the bias). Combining superheroes and urban fantasy into a compulsive read. Joanna is a flawed heroine, she complains, she bitches and she's got a smart mouth, but she's human, she's real and you empathise with her. And when push comes to shove she gets on with it. It's the fact that she isn't perfect that makes her so interesting to read. She has a duality, drawn to the light and the dark, and she acknowledges that part of herself that is frightening.

Example - when she confronts the construction worker. At the time it seems a bitchy but trivial thing. How many of us speak without thinking every day. But for Joanna it's different, her actions have tragic consequences. It illustrates how easy it would be for her to turn towards the dark.

My favourite quote from the book - "Tell me, XXX, because I feel like I'm missing something here, but what part of 'meet me at the Peppermill' means 'go fight Ajax at the corner drugstore'?" (XXX replaces a character name which would be a big spoiler).

The other characters are equally interesting and well written - Olivia the perfect sister, Warren the mentor with a disturbing past of his own, Chandra the jealous initiate who feels Joanna has stolen her place. What lifts this story above others is the fact it's made clear that though you may be born to the light or dark Zodiac you still have a choice, you can change. Shades of grey are nearly always more interesting to read about than black and white.

Must quickly mention here the comic shop scene which is my favourite from the book and I thought very reminiscent of a similar scene from The Lost Boys movie. Joanna tries to find out about being a superhero (agent of the Zodiac) from the comic books that have been written about them (called manuals), as she's trailed round the shop by suspicious geeks. Just a wonderfully written segment. (Being something of a sci-fi geek I like the whole comic book/trading card angle. :) )

It is another 'The One' story, where Joanna is being hailed as The Kairos born from a mother of the light and a father of the dark. (Naomi, possibly not one for you :)) But I wonder if it's going to be that simple, or if Vicki Pettersson is going to go Star Wars on us. When Joanna was raped at 16 it was by an Agent of the Dark Zodiac and she gave birth to a little girl (the Zodiacs are matrilineal). So if Joanne chooses to be an agent of light...Methinks she really needs to find her daughter no matter how much she doesn't want to, before Grandpa gets his hands on her.

The story isn't perfect, after I finished the book it occurred to me that there were not necessarily plot inconsistencies but certainly confusions (though this could be a personal thing). Especially as regards who did and did not know who Joanna was, hopefully this will be made clearer in future books. I know other people take issue with the fact that a) a cop left his front door open and b) Joanna was able to sneak away from him without him waking up. I do think the sneaking away was pretty much covered in the set up, so I can forgive that. There are also a couple of typos, at least I hope they are typos. On page 414 'ions and electrodes' bumped along Joanna's skin like 'blind bees'. The ions I get, the electrodes(?), possibly it's meant to be electrons, but I like that only slightly better than electrodes.

But this is such a fantastic rollercoaster read that I don't really care too much about these minor problems and the first thing I did after I finished it was order book #2. Highly recommended.

Book #2 The Taste of Night (April 2007)
The Harvest - short story in Holidays are Hell (Nov 2007) featuring Joanna's mother.
Book #3 The Touch of Twilight