I'd read Witchery before this novel, so I knew what Ms. Monstague's writing style was like, more or less. Actually, it's rather similar to my own--lots of action, over the top situations, and some fun, if campy, dialogue at times, but that campiness actually enhanced the novel for me, rather than detracted from it.
And it was FUN! Jade is a lot of disparate characters wrapped up into one badass lady: witch, shifter, vampire, and fae, and she's basically your kickass heroine who happens to choose lady partners, so while it's kinda got a lesfic aspect to it, that part is not belaboured or pushed. It's simply presented, and the novel is better for it. Jade also has a fondness for wine, chocolate, meat, and blood, only if nothing else is on hand.
I'm not going to spoil the story by saying what happens, but to me, this is a mishmash of a lot of different urban novel elements. (I did the same thing in Beginnings, and it worked). This works even better. Ms. Montague has tied a LOT of loose ends together, and in spite of the possibiility of the novel spiraling into thirty different directions, it all comes together in the end.
What I enjoyed most is the fast pace. I like that in a novel, and Ms. Montague delivers. She also makes her characters quite different, so there's no overlap of dialogue which could be misconstrued as someone else speaking. In theory, that's easy to do; reality paints a different picture, but the author pulls it off quite nicely.
If I have one complaint, it's that the last few chapters really weren't necessary...too much exposition, which could have been used in the second novel. I think everything could have been summed up and stopped after Chapter twenty-six or twenty-seven, but that's nitpicking on my part. Still, it was a fun ride, and one worth taking for any reader out there who enjoys this genre.
Recommended.