Devon’s review of Night Life (Nocturne City, Book 1) by Caitlin Kittredge
Urban Fantasy released by St. Martin’s 4 Mar 08
Urban fantasy is an interesting amalgam of genres: fantasy, horror, mystery and often, to a certain degree, romance. Being such a mishmash, Urban Fantasy authors only have the barest of constraints to play within. Some authors emphasize certain genre elements more than others, and this produces a happy variety amongst their books.
In recent weeks, I have read several debuts that fall under the “Urban Fantasy” umbrella, and they could not be more different from one another. There was campy zombie chick-lit (Happy Hour of the Damned), quirky psychic New Yorkers/detectives (Dead to Me) and now, angsty werewolf police detective. All very different in tone, characters and storyline, but all definitely urban fantasy. That’s definitely a big part of the appeal of the genre (for me), it’s pretty wide open and fresh.
Night Life grabbed me from the beginning. The plot is action packed and fast paced, and I enjoyed the unusual characters. If you enjoy bad-ass heroines, you might like Night Life‘s Luna Wilder. A Nocturne City police detective and Insoli werewolf (one without a pack), Luna is tough and abrasive. Her transition to werewolf was not an easy one either, and she has had little support and guidance in her new life. These things, combined with her impulsiveness and animal instincts make for one tough cookie. Personally, I found her somewhat hard, and somewhat TSTL, but I could understand what drives her.
When Luna is investigating an increasingly disturbing series of killings, she finds herself involved with Dmitri Sandovsky, a werewolf pack leader. Sandovsky has a personal stake in finding the killer, and can provide Luna with information and protection. Although he is attractive and charming, Dmitri is not particularly heroic. A former pimp, he is more than a bit rough around the edges and his pack definitely lives on the wild side. I found Sandovsky to be an interesting character, and I’m curious to see where his relationship with Luna will go. I believed the attraction between them, although I felt it was a bit rushed.
However, as the book wore on, I found a number of things bothering me:
- The worldbuilding was a bit “murky”, especially as regards werewolves.
- I couldn’t get a handle on if people were behaving a certain way because of their animal nature or because they’re assholes.
- What exactly is the role of the pack? What is the role of a mate (such a big deal in paranormal romance)?
- When someone refers to “the blood” are they talking about werewolves or witches or both? What’s the deal with witches and why don’t they get along?
- How about Daemons? I couldn’t tell if they were really evil, or were even a part of the Heaven/Hell dichotomy.
Since this is the start of a series, perhaps some of my questions will be answered more thoroughly, but I don’t like feeling confused. Without more background, some of the characters were just cartoon meanies, like Luna’s grandmother. Of course, now it will keep me reading for awhile.
I think that I’m going to have a similar love/hate relationship with these books as I do with Kim Harrison’s Rachel Morgan books. I do think that many of the things I took issue with would not bother other readers in the least. The compelling plot will carry one’s enjoyment through any issues. This is one book where I am very curious to read others’ reviews.
Urban fantasy fans should give this a try, especially if you like kick ass heroines, and lots of action.
Grade: C+
The first book in a thrilling, addictive new series by a talented new voice in dark fantasy. Welcome to Nocturne City, where werewolves, black magicians, and witches prowl the streets at night…
Among them is Luna Wilder, a tough-as-nails police officer whose job is to keep the peace. As an Insoli werewolf, Luna travels without a pack and must rely on instinct alone. And she’s just been assigned to find the ruthless killer behind a string of ritualistic murders-a killer with ties to an escaped demon found only in legend…until now.
But when she investigates prime suspect Dmitri Sandovsky, she can’t resist his wolfish charms. Pack leader of a dangerous clan of Redbacks, Dimitri sends her animal instincts into overdrive and threatens her fiercely-guarded independence. But Luna and Dimitri will need to rely on each other as they’re plunged into an ancient demon underworld and pitted against an expert black magician with the power to enslave them for eternity…
Read an excerpt.
