Saturday, September 22, 2012

It's Not Jane, It's Zanyenene

Unclean Spirits by M.L.N. Hanover

Summary: In a world where magic walks and demons ride, you can't always play by the rules.
Jayné Heller thinks of herself as a realist, until she discovers reality isn't quite what she thought it was. When her uncle Eric is murdered, Jayné travels to Denver to settle his estate, only to learn that it's all hers -- and vaster than she ever imagined. And along with properties across the world and an inexhaustible fortune, Eric left her a legacy of a different kind: his unfinished business with a cabal of wizards known as the Invisible College.
Led by the ruthless Randolph Coin, the Invisible College harnesses demon spirits for their own ends of power and domination. Jayné finds it difficult to believe magic and demons can even exist, let alone be responsible for the death of her uncle. But Coin sees Eric's heir as a threat to be eliminated by any means -- magical or mundane -- so Jayné had better start believing in something to save her own life.
Aided in her mission by a group of unlikely companions -- Aubrey, Eric's devastatingly attractive assistant; Ex, a former Jesuit with a lethal agenda; Midian, a two-hundred-year-old man who claims to be under a curse from Randolph Coin himself; and Chogyi Jake, a self-styled Buddhist with mystical abilities -- Jayné finds that her new reality is not only unexpected, but often unexplainable. And if she hopes to survive, she'll have to learn the new rules fast -- or break them completely....
Review: A very blah supernatural story with a main character who I just couldn't bring myself to like.
The first thought I had was that if her family was so "Go America!", why would they give their daughter a French name (or at least a French sounding name). And despite her telling us multiple times that everyone pronounced her name wrong, I still thought of her as Jane. And you must know that people will pronounce your name wrong so stop getting so upset over it. It's not a personal insult. I know this is a weird thing to be annoyed about, but at one point during the novel Jayne goes shopping and only keeps seven outfits. I'm sure that you are trying to get across that you are not feminine and so don't need a lot of clothes, but who only has seven outfits? You would have to be doing laundry constantly.
And she also manages to be special although it's not quite explained why, but at least there is a somewhat logical explanation for it (I know magic isn't logical, but in the context of the book it's fine). A lot of nothing happened in this book. There was a lot of build up, but everything felt so damn melodramatic. I liked the idea of riders, but there was very little actual magic in the book. And how did no one think anything was off about Midian?
Rating:





Recommendation: I would recommend this to big fans of supernatural/paranormal fiction. 

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