Purchased from BetterWorldBooks.com
Ex-Library book from the Hamilton East Public Library

Description:
Abigail Irene Garrett drinks too much. She makes scandalous liaisons with inappropriate men, and if in her youth she was a famous beauty, now she is both formidable--and notorious. She is a forensic sorceress, and a dedicated officer of a Crown that does not deserve her loyalty. She has nothing, but obligations.

Sebastien de Ulloa is the oldest creature she has ever known. He was no longer young at the Christian millennium, and that was nine hundred years ago. He has forgotten his birth-name, his birth-place, and even the year in which he was born, if he ever knew it. But he still remembers the woman who made him immortal. He has everything, but a reason to live.

In a world where the sun never set on the British Empire, where Holland finally ceded New Amsterdam to the English only during the Napoleonic wars, and where the expansion of the American colonies was halted by the war magic of the Iroquois, they are exiles in the new world--and its only hope for justice.

The idea for this story is great, the concept is great, the settings are great, and the characters are incredibly interesting! I mean, you have Abigail Irene a sorceress detective of somewhat older years (meaning not a teen and not a 20-something) who drinks a bit too much and chooses her own sexual partners during a time period when such a woman is frowned upon...or worse. And you have Sebastien, a vampire that may just be the oldest one around who likes to help solve murder mysteries just to breakup the boredom of forever. Then there are all the other characters that are all well thought out and three-dimensional! How great is that!?

Then the setting is a somewhat steampunk, alternative reality set during the first rumblings of American independence from England and the Iroquois with their own brand of magic (which you never get to find anything out about) pushing on another front. What's not to like? But I think you can feel where I am going with this and it's a shame.

Each section of the book is a minor murder mystery for Abigail Irene, Sebastien, and the crew to solve. With the reveals being heavy on the side of lack-luster. There is an overarching story line but it's frail and doesn't really go anywhere. :/ It builds up to something that you never feel is actually realized.

This book could have been great! It could have been stellar! But, it just wasn't. Bear had all the elements for a fantastic story but she just didn't bring it together. I really enjoyed her book Dust! What happened to her writing from one book to the other? I think they were even published in the same year.

There just seemed to be some kind of disconnect. It was almost like the author lost interest in the story from time to time. Like she really enjoyed coming up with the concept and the mysteries but didn't really care where it ended up. I don't know. I'm just really disappointed. It could have been so much better than it was. And I really like the character ideas and the setting so much that I would probably read the next book...if this one hadn't ended the way it did. I find it really hard to believe she squeaked out 5.5 books in this series, but she did. (I think my high/average rating is due to how much I wanted to like the book and less on the actual merits of the book.)

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Added to the Vampire Bookbox: Round VI!

Happy Reading!

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Taken out of the vampire book box