Kaye Draper’s latest urban fantasy/romance series is going to be another hit for me, I think. This author includes a note in her book blurbs about being tired of tropes, and she puts her money where her mouth is — once again, the characters in this story were unique, fascinating, and flawed. As an added bonus, the world-building (both in terms of specific characters and the greater world they live in) was extremely well done.
The premise of this urban fantasy reminds me strongly of the world of Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels series — but it is nowhere close to being a duplicate or rip-off. Instead, I enjoyed the same vibe of magically post-apocalyptic world where people of all sorts have adapted (mostly) to their new paradigm and are just trying to get by.
Sam is a pretty specific result of this new paradigm themself. The first-person point of view works well for a nonbinary and intersex character, who also happens to be a mixed human/”shifter” hybrid. I look forward to seeing how their relationships develop over the course of this series.
Rating: 5 (out of 5) stars. Cross-posted to Amazon and Goodreads.