Yzabel / June 12, 2014

Seven Kinds of Hell by Dana Cameron

My rating: [rating=2]

Summary:

Archaeologist Zoe Miller has been running from a haunting secret her whole life. But when her cousin is abducted by a vicious Russian kidnapper, Zoe is left with only one option: to reveal herself.

Unknown to even her closest friends, Zoe is not entirely human. She’s a werewolf and a daughter of the “Fangborn,” a secretive race of werewolves, vampires, and oracles embroiled in an ancient war against evil.

To rescue her cousin, Zoe will be forced to renew family ties and pit her own supernatural abilities against the dark and nefarious foe. The hunt brings Zoe to the edge of her limits, and with the fate of humanity and the Fangborn in the balance, life will be decided by an artifact of world-ending power.

Zoe’s mission takes her and her friends across the globe on a frenetic quest for no less than Pandora’s Box.

Review:

(I got a copy through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

Although this novel contained a few things I liked, I’m afraid it won’t leave me with a lasting impression, mostly because of the characters themselves.

I enjoyed the archaeological-related plot: ancient artifacts whose purpose isn’t known in the beginning, a “relic” (Pandora’s box) that I’ve seldom seen in urban fantasy and other contemporary books, travelling through Europe in search of clus, trying to find out sites to dig in (literally)… I’ve always had a soft sport for Indiana Jones-like stories, and for what it’s worth, I think the level of details in “Seven Kinds of Hell” was just the right amount for me: believable without turning into lessons. A real archaeologist might disagree, I don’t know; it’s not my area of expertise.

There’s a lot of action going on, too, and while I may not have wanted to read such a story in one of my most introspective periods, right now this kind of reading agrees with me. Someone looking for characters running away, fighting unknown enemies, finding unexpected allies in the middle of a fight, and so on, will likely appreciate this side of the novel.

On the other hand, the characters didn’t work for me. Zoe had her shortcomings and her good moments, like any proper character should, should I say, but I was extremely annoyed with her for a couple of decisions she made, that had catastrophic consequences. The guy who gets abducted? She led her enemies to him, instead of immediately leaving town, like her mother told her to do on her deathbed (and like she had done for most of her life). I could understand a “normal” person hesitating, trying to see her friends a last time. Someone used to doing that? Not so much. Then, later, a character dies, who wasn’t saved because Zoe missed a big time opportunity—somewhat understandable, considering the circumstances. Less understandable is how she basically ditched said character at some point, even though she knew something fishy was going on; if she hadn’t, I’m positive things would’ve turned out very differently. From the beginning, I had a hunch this poor person was here only to die, and unfortunately, I was right. Zoe’s decisions sometimes bordered on the Too Stupid To Live—or to allow other characters to live.

The secondary characters looked interesting, but I never got the feeling I “knew” them enough to really care, especially Ben and Ariana, who seemed to be dropped in there. (Gerry and Claudia “felt” like they had some kind of back story, at least.) As for the bad guys, they were the classic kind. No surprises here. I admit I rolled my eyes at the Russian villain.

The plot, mostly in the beginning, is slowed down by a few flashbacks. While not uninteresting per se, they distracted me, and enforced my “will you get out of town at last, Zoe?” reactions. I also found the ending a little too convenient to my liking, with Zoe getting help from someone she briefly met years ago. That person had reasons to act in such a way, but it still came out of the blue.

I have mixed opinions about the mythology. Fangborn society had a nice “we’ve been watching over you for ages” aspect, and I would’ve liked to know more about it, about its vampires that are more like shapeshifting snake-like creatures, about its oracles, too. On the downside, they seemed just a little too perfect and deluded sometimes, which mad them somewhat bland.

In the end, this novel held my attention mainly because of its “race for artifacts” side, but definitely not for its characters.