I didn't care for this one, though I did finish it but won't read more in the series. I liked Gary, but Joanne left me flat. She learned most of her "magic" on the internet...

Charles de Lint can write Native characters who deal with woo-woo in fascinating ways. I'm thinking "Wild Horses" in Moonlight and Vines, "Making a Noise in the World," in Tapping the Dream Tree and the novel Forests of the Heart. And *several* more.

Also, Sherman Alexie's Flight which features an Indian/ mixed blood teen who gets a lot of his information from the History Channel.

I'm still plowing through... started a bit late, but I'll finish in time, I swear.

I'm not really enjoying the book, though, I must admit. the entire story just reeks of deus-ex-machina. the magic, though given a base of celtic-native-american, is never given solid rules (beyond the limitation Joanne has of 'you can only heal' - which, I admit, I like), so it feels way too open.

People who said they feel like they've seen the character before, I have to agree. The book reminded me way too much of the Mercy Thompson books, a series that I liked quite a bit more. Maybe that's what people are seeing? Then again, the ungainly, hardcore, oh-look-magic female MC seems to have gotten fairly popular lately.

Tried to finish, but gave up before the home stretch. No one on the day they are being hunted by 2 gods should be walking around talking about what a great mood they're in. How is the reader supposed to invest emotionally in the threat if she doesn't?

DNF I'm afraid. I just lost interest and never wanted to back. Oh well. I won't be reading the rest in the series either.

This was not my favorite book. I am not a fan of the overly complicated, all of the place, confusing plot. At times I was reminded of Karen Chance's Cassie Palmer series and why I ultimately decided to put that one down. I really felt like she was literally making it up as she went along and I like my paranormal books to read like they were well thought out.

Meh. I won't be reading anymore in this series.

I felt like a little kid was telling me a story.

At one point she falls down, hits her head, and travels to a magic dream land with one of the enemies. Half the book took place in one magic dream land or another.

Her super power was like anything she wanted it to be: see through walls, see through time, travel through time, heal any injury, become invisibile, magic net ...

Gary wasn't a bad charactor, but I don't think he belonged in half the book.

I thought the negotiator trilogy was okay, but I this one hade a different writing style, and I didn't like it.

I can't think of anything good to say about this book.

If you like heroine, you should try aviatrix or executrix. They need to add -trix to more words.

Crowgirl, that was interesting. Thanks for posting. :)

I use the word heroine sometimes, when I'm talking about an extraordinarly brave female in a book. I like the sound of the word. And though I have no problem with calling a female an actor, hero doesn't seem like the correct word for an heroic female. Don't know why. I also, believe that when applied to the real world the word hero is used too often and incorrectly.

mostunexpected wrote: "I prefer heroine. "

LMAO, what a set-up line, but instead of a joke here's a bit from Daily Writing Tips:

>>Related to the adolescent 'Look' is the reluctance among speakers of any age to use words that sound like something else. One such word is the feminine form of hero.

Admittedly, there’s a tendency for nouns with feminine endings to be abandoned in the face of modern feminism. Actress, for example, has mostly fallen out of use with members of the acting profession, except as an Academy Award category. Likewise “poetess” and “authoress” are felt to be abominations by women who write.

The word heroine presents a different problem. It is too common in the discussion of literature to be abandoned. In ordinary conversation, and on television, however, people seem to prefer to use the word hero for both male and female persons of prowess.

The word heroine is being driven out of ordinary speech because of its pronunciation. I’ve seen a cousin to 'The Look' on the faces of people who hesitate before calling a woman a “heroine.” Often they opt instead for “female hero” rather than say a word that sounds the same as an evil drug.

Personally, I see nothing wrong with using the word hero as a unisex word.<<

Link: http://www.dailywritingtips.com/alas-poo...

Almost finished reading... I'm struggling a bit. Joanne is the most well adjusted, self-congratulating heroine I've come across in UF fiction. If she says once "I congratulated myself..." she says it a dozen times. And I do not understand why, half way through the book when she realises 2 celtic gods are trying to kill her, that she talks about what a great mood she's in and doesn't at all seem to be looking over her shoulder. Maybe I missed something that detailed why, on the day when she is at most risk, she seems least concerned.

Agree with Blackrose... wow her abilities came easily and with no training. Unfortunately these were flaws I couldn't get past. Won't be reading any more of the series.

Gary was good, though. An odd but somehow refreshing character, even though I was unsure exactly what he was adding to the narrative.

Theresa wrote: "Crowgirl, "She-ros"? What does that mean? Just curious... :)"

It came from a quote from a blog I get answering the question "What kind of Super Hero would you be":
>>"I'm a Post-modern Samurai She-ro."<<
~by Gwen Bell a yoga-teaching, social media Swami Girl
(she was named one of the 50 Most Powerful and Influential Women in Social Media,)

I prefer heroine.

Theresa wrote: "Summer, seems pretty obvious in hindsight. *sheepish grin* Thanks."

Hey, I'm just glad I knew an answer. I won't tell you long it took me to figure out what HEA stood for. :-)

Summer, seems pretty obvious in hindsight. *sheepish grin* Thanks.

Theresa wrote: "Crowgirl, "She-ros"? What does that mean? Just curious... :)"

I think she's making a play off heroes as a masculine word... "he"-roes..."she"-roes...

And Crowgirl, I couldn't agree more with you. It does seem to be a common plot device in urban fantasy.

Crowgirl, "She-ros"? What does that mean? Just curious... :)

WELL, this will annoy those who liked this series but I ended up speed reading #2 & #3 because I found them so boring (library trip once a week so I was stuck with them.)

I am just so sick of "women with traumatic sex events in their past so they have to overcome their aversion to men and are a bitch because of it." Jo needs therapy not magic. In fact I would love to see one of these screwed-up She-ros do just that and set an example.

Since I've know many real life women who REALLY had horrible stuff to overcome I find Jo just pathetic. Not even the humor was worth the read.

One thing I did appreciate is the fact that even though she works as a mechanic on the police force, at least she was trained as an officer. I get real tired of books that take the average citizen and put them into a situation that only a police officer/detective can handle and the character some how figures everything out. Most people cannot do that.

I liked this book a lot for a first book in a series. I read her other trilogy first and liked her writing style. I have the second in this series sitting here to read so I at least liked book one enough to want to continue.

@Michelle: I'm a big fan of analogy, in general, and I thought that using the mechanic thing and relating it to her understandings was a good way of explaining things on a less esoteric level. I think that the level of her abilities was a bit beyond the pale, though.

@Crowgirl: I thought that the author did a fairly good job at not equating the term 'shaman' specifically with the Native American cultures. Many people in the story were called shaman, from different walks of life and cultural backgrounds. It was used in the more generic "core shaman" sense, a la Michael Harner, which focuses more on shared practices and techniques which are found throughout various cultures, like trances, vision quests and drumming, as opposed to specific cultural beliefs and heritages.

When referring specifically to practices of the North American Indians, she did use medicine, and not shaman - at least from what I recall. That said, I can see how the general implication is there, since the main character is partly of the People and is called a shaman, but she seemed to try very hard to avoid the usual pit falls. She didn't always succeed, and perhaps I give her too much credit for the attempt. Even with some of the mangling of the Celtic mythos, I give her credit for doing a far better job than I've seen elsewhere. *shrugs*

I do agree, though, that her abilities came far too easily, without much to any training or real understanding of what she was doing. And we can only hope that Coyote becomes more lively in future installments.

Crowgirl wrote: "I particularly dislike the use of title Shaman, as its a New Age term that has nothing to do with North American Indian tribes."

We recently had people come close to death here in AZ due to the Plastic Shaman of the New Age money makers.
(see http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/09...)

If you are a writer and want to incorporate Amerindian myth into your story here is a good site to start with. Big letters in red: Native people DO NOT use the label "Shaman." http://www.newagefraud.org/

Michelle M. wrote: "How did people feel about how Jo handles her powers in the practical sense? Using her knowledge as a mechanic as an analogy for what she wants to accomplish magically?"

I'm about 2/3s of the way through this book and I feel like Jo just pulls rabbits-out-of-the-hat when she needs magic for the story line. I'm not very impressed with this story. I particularly dislike the use of title Shaman, as its a New Age term that has nothing to do with North American Indian tribes. I will cut the author slack in that its just entertainment but I do think the mythology is not used as well as it could be. Coyote is such a fun clown and comes off flat and uninteresting. I have the next 2 in the series and I will read them also. Often the first book in a beginning series isn't as well constructed as characters develop later on.

How did people feel about how Jo handles her powers in the practical sense? Using her knowledge as a mechanic as an analogy for what she wants to accomplish magically?

blackrose, I've read three out of the four books so far, so to be fair my assessment of him is probably cumulative.

Thinking about it more carefully, in US I think he does fit the "What next?" role, but to become that involved and to hang on that long, he must think it's all a fascinating sort of crazy.


They keep getting closer over the course of the books.

I'd meant to add that the character Gary reminded me of the movie 'The Shadow'. I forget the cabby's name in that one, but he was also there mostly for transport and humor. (Cheesy movie, btw, but I love it.)

I guess I can see how he would fit that role for you. I mostly got the "I want to see how this turns out" sort of audience replacement vibe as opposed to the "this is so freaking cool" vibe, but I can see how it could go either way.

That is true about Gary. He is always up for any adventure and has an almost childlike glee to participate.

blackrose: "Just once I'd love someone to find out they had some cool powers and go "Oh, wow, this is AWESOME!"...How many people wouldn't love to have something genuinely supernatural happen, even just a little?"

See, for me, this is what Gary brings to the table. He's lived life, thought he'd seen it all, and then the Powers that Be see fit to dump this "crazy broad" in his life and he's so excited by all of it, he just HAS to find out what insane supernatural thing happens next. He's in a position and at an age that he can afford to accept strange goings on. And he's a go with the flow, seize the moment kind of guy. He refuses to pass up the chance for something amazing. Compared to the "why me" characters and doubting Thomases, he's awesome.

I liked this story ok, but I didn't think it was great. I did like it enough to read the next two in the series - but I also hope it's not an unending one, because I doubt my interest would be held that long.

Some of the things that annoyed me are pretty standard for 'first in the series' books and for the genre in general, i.e. the secondary characters aren't very well fleshed out and aren't always entirely believable, and I'm sort of tired of the reluctant hero thing. Just once I'd love someone to find out they had some cool powers and go "Oh, wow, this is AWESOME!" instead of going "Why me? I just want to be normal! *whine*"

I get whining a little when things are going tough, but come on. How many people wouldn't love to have something genuinely supernatural happen, even just a little?

One of the other things that annoyed me was that even though she's new to her power, she seemed to be able to do everything she needed to relatively easy. People can takes months to learn how to do a trance, and some can never manage at all, but she gets it down pat on her first try?

I didn't find the narration that annoying. Actually, compared to some of the other first person narrations I've read which set my teeth on edge, this was quite good. (For instance, I hate hate HATE the narrator's voice of Wraith. Loved the plot, hated the heroine. Had to ditch that series. I also found Sookie Stackhouse's narration annoying. Coming fresh from that book, this was, like, literature... )

Anyway... there were a few mythological things which sort of made my eye twitch, but she actually handled the material far better than I've seen in some series, which just take the barest hint of 'fact' and butcher it completely. I was a little irked at the "all things Celtic are interchangable" - but that's such a common thing I can't really blame her for it. I even liked the quip about "Do the Cherokee have Coyote?" thing, paying homage to the fact that Native American tribes are not interchangable, too. We'll see how she handles it in future installments, though.

As for Gary - I liked Gary in that he was fun and brought humor to the book, but I agree that he's not entirely believable. Let alone the fact that he's 70 (she does make mention to how fit he is), there's the notion of a cabbie sticking around in the first place after what happened. Most people would be "glad its your problem" and high tail it, but everyone was eager to help in this story.

I mostly liked Morrison, but I think the laid the sexual tension on just a bit too thick (she says with sarcasm).

Mostly I did find it enjoyable, though. There were times I had to suspend my disbelief a bit more than I'm usually willing to, and I had to suppress a few groans and eye-rolls. I do wonder if I would have liked it so much if not for the mythological elements, since the Celtic mythos is of particular interest to me.

3 - 3 1/2 stars

I'm a sucker for decent stories that revolve around mythology. The theme never gets old for me. I also like it when mythology comes into our modern world with a few twists and turns. I agree with Michael about Murphy's writing style, but I got used to it. The writing that annoyed me could be overlook in lieu of the overall story line. Urban Shaman is my favorite in the series.

Michael wrote: "I'm struggling, folks.
I'm having trouble getting past the writing style. Don't get me wrong, it's well written. But the author keeps talking to 'me' - even uses second person sometimes. It jars me..."

I had the exact same sentiments. In fact, I actually started reading this in September and was pretty discouraged, so I put it aside for a while. I've been reading it here and there and am now almost finished. It took me until about page 250 or so til I felt engaged with the story and cared a little about what happens to the characters. The writing style turns me off, too, and I also feel as if I've seen Joanne before...

But I'm willing to give the rest of the series a try.

I think Gary is a gimmicky unconventional sidekick, but I do still like him.

Darcy wrote: "Michael ~ You aren't wrong with your thoughts. When I first read this book it was hard for me. In fact I decided to give it up, then along came a snow strom and I was trapped in the house with no..."

Thanks, Darcy, I keep at most books, and I'll keep reading this one! Sometimes it is just getting used to a style.

MFS

Gary serves the purpose of encouraging her and sort of bringing her back into the social world. Since she has major parent issues, he acts as a stabilizing force too. Plus, I suppose his enthusiasm helps keep her going. I actually like him BECAUSE he's a unique choice of sidekick.

In later books, he's an example of what she should aspire to...his verve for life and balanced "take it as it comes" attitude highlights the things she needs to change about herself.

He's hilarious. I like how they essentially adopt each other!

I think without him egging her on, she'd be more inclined to give up. She doesn't want to disappoint him, and he wants her to reach her potential.

Michael ~ You aren't wrong with your thoughts. When I first read this book it was hard for me. In fact I decided to give it up, then along came a snow strom and I was trapped in the house with nothing to do and was forced to read the rest. I was glad that I did, but the whole book seemed that way to me, but the rest of the series is not. It is one of my favorites, and I was waiting not so paitently for the new one that just came out last month. My advice is to stick with it if you can.

I'm struggling, folks.
I'm having trouble getting past the writing style. Don't get me wrong, it's well written. But the author keeps talking to 'me' - even uses second person sometimes. It jars me right out of the story.

I'm only a third of the way through, but I also feel like I've seen this character before, not the six foot tall half Indian Half Irish mechanic/cop, but the can't seem to get out of bed without having to stub her toe and make some witty comment about it character. I like the Celtic mythos and the Coyote/trickster elements. I even think Gary is interesting although I have to agree with the above poster that I struggle with his purpose but I'm willing to give the author the benefit of the doubt.

Am I the only one having trouble with the author's voice?

I loved this whole series (The Walker Papers). I like it better than the Gargoyle series. It has been a while since i read them, thus I will probobly comment more about things folks comment. I like the half Indian and half irish thing. How cool to have two rich cultures to weave into this charicter huh!

I like the way the book began. Jo's thoughts and seeing someone/thing sinister on the ground from the airplane. It's the hook that brought me in.

To me this was such a fun book. Jo is so reluctant to be what she is. Gary seems a good balance, and really was a great sport for going along with the crazy woman in the cab. I am not sure I would have done that. I love Billy, such a crazy counter point.

I really enjoyed this book. I thought Jo and Morrison had great chemistry. The Celtic elements were great. It was pretty awesome to see Jo having to deal with the Wild Hunt and Cerunnos, The Horned God. And I love the aspect of her totem spirit being a trickster coyote. I also liked that there was no sex and almost sex. This was great urban fantasy IMHO.

I liked Gary but I was surprised he could keep up with Joanne. I kept expecting him to drop dead from a heart attack or something. My grandparents are in their seventies and they are no where near as strong or as healthy as Gary.

I enjoyed Jo and Morrison's antagonistic relationship. One always has to get the better of the other. It was funny and well-written. As for the story, it wasn't that good. I was either confused or bored most of the time.

Gary is very cool. And I like Joanne, except (like many UF heroines) she can come off either really whiney or bratty a lot. I like the idea/angle in this series, but the stuff in Jo's garden drags on, imo. This just isn't one of my favorite series. Not terrible or anything but nothing spectacular. I liked the Negotiator books better.

Well, I like Joanne but I don't like Gary. It is not that I don't like him but I don't get what is he doing in the story. I am only 1/3 through, but so far I am puzzled at what is this 70 year old guy bringing to the story. Maybe something will be revealed later.....?

One thing I really like about Joanne is that she's very real. She's gets flung into a supe situation and realizes she has a responsibility, but is flailing about, trying the best she can with little knowledge and despite her reluctance.

And I love Gary!

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