Yzabel / February 4, 2013

Kindling the Moon by Jenn Bennett

My rating: [rating=3]

Summary:

Meet Arcadia Bell: bartender, renegade magician, fugitive from the law. . . .

Being the spawn of two infamous occultists (and alleged murderers) isn’t easy, but freewheeling magician Arcadia “Cady” Bell knows how to make the best of a crummy situation. After hiding out for seven years, she’s carved an incognito niche for herself slinging drinks at the demon-friendly Tambuku Tiki Lounge.

But she receives an ultimatum when unexpected surveillance footage of her notorious parents surfaces: either prove their innocence or surrender herself. Unfortunately, the only witness to the crimes was an elusive Æthyric demon, and Cady has no idea how to find it. She teams up with Lon Butler, an enigmatic demonologist with a special talent for sexual spells and an arcane library of priceless stolen grimoires. Their research soon escalates into a storm of conflict involving missing police evidence, the decadent Hellfire Club, a ruthless bounty hunter, and a powerful occult society that operates way outside the law. If Cady can’t clear her family name soon, she’ll be forced to sacrifice her own life . . . and no amount of running will save her this time.

Review:

More like 2.5 stars, but I’m upping it to 3, because I feel there’s potential in the world developed here.

My main beef with this book is that the heroine, Arcadia, appears as strong and independent, but when taking a closer look, doesn’t exactly *do* that much by herself: sure, she takes the matter into her own hands and enlists help to solve it, but once this is done, in my opinion, said help does more than her. Also, for someone who’s supposed to be in hiding because of her serial killer parents, and does have quite recognizable features (=her halo—not a spoiler, we learn that in chapter 1), I didn’t find her particularly stealth-savvy, nor in a hurry either. She’s supposed to have only two weeks to solve her problem, yet there were several chapters in which I couldn’t feel any urgency, and wanted to tell the characters “uh, guys, the clock’s ticking.” Finally, I found the romance bit a little too present; it may have been better to develop it more slowly, over the course of two books, maybe.

On the other hand, I liked the supernatural world developed by the author, with different categories of ‘demons’ (not all necessarily ‘bad’, but more on the side of ‘spirits’, in fact), and how some of them mixed with humans, as beings trapped into human bodies. The bar was a cool place, too, and I hope that it’s not going to be dropped in the next books. Some of the characters I enjoyed a lot: Lon, for starters, had unexpected sides, his having a son and loving him fiercely not being the least. As for hyperactive Jupe, he was just so lovable from the start, and not the piece of heavy baggage such a ward may be seen as in a lot of novels.

I’m still not sure I’ll read the next book in the series, because although I enjoyed this one, I also expected more of it, and therefore was a bit disappointed. But then, who knows, I might.