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Jill Kismet #6
Angel Town
Jill Kismet is back from the grave in this explosive conclusion to Lilith Saintcrow's urban fantasy series.
She wakes up in her own grave. She doesn't know who put her there, she doesn't know where she is, and she has no friends or family.
She only knows two things: She has a job to do: cleansing the night of evil. And she knows her name.
Jill Kismet.
She wakes up in her own grave. She doesn't know who put her there, she doesn't know where she is, and she has no friends or family.
She only knows two things: She has a job to do: cleansing the night of evil. And she knows her name.
Jill Kismet.
207 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
32 people are currently reading
1323 people want to read
About the author
Lilith Saintcrow
132 books4,514 followersLilith Saintcrow was born in New Mexico, bounced around the world as a child, and fell in love with writing stories when she was ten years old. She and her library co-habitate in Vancouver, Washington.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 121 reviews
January 27, 2016
'Angel Town' took me months to start, weeks to read, and months to review. Not a good track record for this book. Usually when I've read a series, I can't wait to read the last book. Here I was exhausted from the others and dreading this conclusion. When I closed the last page, I sighed in relief. Now that I'm finally getting this review done and out of the way, I'm again relieved.
Despite how much I fall into Lilith Saintcrow's books at the beginning when the series is fresh, I seem to get annoyed when I keep reading. The same thing happened with the Dante Valentine series, although Jill Kismet treated me a little kinder. While this one still irritated me in some ways, I didn't end up seeing bright red RAGE lights flashing before my eyes like with Dante.
I slowly lose respect for the characters as I keep reading them. At this point I didn't care much and strangely was only interested in the point of view of the villain, Perry, which is an indicator you've kind of lost the reader. The protagonist killed blindly most of the series but would conveniently get a conscience with the storyline warranted it. Other characters blended together, no one standing out much, because they all tended to think and act and see things the same, mirror copies of each other.
I didn't feel the chemistry vibe of the relationship between Jill and Saul either - it was there, I guess, but my interest was nill anyway.
These books are always heavily action-orientated but this exhausting pace wears thin. Every time I turned around, it was another action scene after another, with not enough pause for me to care. Ultimately the finale and some of the overlying plot was a little confusing too.
Sometimes a relationship with a series starts on a strong note but ends badly. This was one of those times. Since it's happened twice in a row to me now with this author, I don't think she and I have the chemistry to continue on into new relationships.
March 12, 2013
I felt obligated to finish this series, even though the last few books were a chore to read. This had all the makings of a good series (dark world, more action than romance, anti-hero), but it never really clicked for me. I get that Jill is gritty and not your typical hero, but she ended up being unlikeable for me. I slowly began to realize that she's a bigot. She'll kill hellbreed just for breathing, if she can get away with it. I guess they are supposed to be evil, but it's mostly implied and they never seemed any more evil than Jill. Then again, maybe that's the point because she's a hypocrite too.
To be fair, her hypocrisy sort of came to light in this final book, but only in a cursory way. She acknowledged it and then moved on. In the end, I just didn't care what happened to her and her gang. The only sympathetic character ended up being Perry, which I'm guessing wasn't the intention.
Oh well, I'm glad it's over. Next time I'll have to be more careful before I get invested in another series by this author.
To be fair, her hypocrisy sort of came to light in this final book, but only in a cursory way. She acknowledged it and then moved on. In the end, I just didn't care what happened to her and her gang. The only sympathetic character ended up being Perry, which I'm guessing wasn't the intention.
Oh well, I'm glad it's over. Next time I'll have to be more careful before I get invested in another series by this author.
December 16, 2011
Lilith Saintcrow's writing isn't for everyone. It's dark and lyrical, throwing aside grammar rules to build tension and emotion. I love it. Every minute of it.
This is the final book in the Jill Kismet story arc. In the last book Jill died, sacrificing herself so that the demon Perry couldn't get his greedy claws any deeper into her city through her. Now for most people that would be THE END. Not for unlucky Jill. Instead she wakes in her own grave with no name, no memory and the feeling of wasps crawling over her rotting flesh. This is why I love these books. It's hard to dig through the plot of a Saintcrow book. So much of it is the way it's said. She's admittedly repetitive, but it's enjoyable all the same.
Kismet digs her memories back one by one, finding that her city and her world are on the brink of disaster and her mate-sick lover is dying without her. As usual there's no time for a vacation and Jill finds herself thrown right back against Perry and the hellbreed. As if that's not enough, there are other forces in play now and they are circling just as tightly around Jill, demanding her attention and her work. Perry's real plans finally come to light in the end, and despite it all he comes across as almost pitiable. Almost.
The ending was fitting. I'll miss Jill, Saul, Anya, Monte and all the rest, and as in all her books the story doesn't wrap everything up neatly. The city is burned. The characters beleaguered, hurting, dead and worse. Still, the greater arc is completed and sun sets on it all, for now.
If you enjoy dark urban fantasy, demons and worse this is a great series. Saul is no Japhrimel, but Jill unlike Dante knows what she has is good and glories in her lover. The troubles of previous books are pushed aside.
This is the final book in the Jill Kismet story arc. In the last book Jill died, sacrificing herself so that the demon Perry couldn't get his greedy claws any deeper into her city through her. Now for most people that would be THE END. Not for unlucky Jill. Instead she wakes in her own grave with no name, no memory and the feeling of wasps crawling over her rotting flesh. This is why I love these books. It's hard to dig through the plot of a Saintcrow book. So much of it is the way it's said. She's admittedly repetitive, but it's enjoyable all the same.
Kismet digs her memories back one by one, finding that her city and her world are on the brink of disaster and her mate-sick lover is dying without her. As usual there's no time for a vacation and Jill finds herself thrown right back against Perry and the hellbreed. As if that's not enough, there are other forces in play now and they are circling just as tightly around Jill, demanding her attention and her work. Perry's real plans finally come to light in the end, and despite it all he comes across as almost pitiable. Almost.
The ending was fitting. I'll miss Jill, Saul, Anya, Monte and all the rest, and as in all her books the story doesn't wrap everything up neatly. The city is burned. The characters beleaguered, hurting, dead and worse. Still, the greater arc is completed and sun sets on it all, for now.
If you enjoy dark urban fantasy, demons and worse this is a great series. Saul is no Japhrimel, but Jill unlike Dante knows what she has is good and glories in her lover. The troubles of previous books are pushed aside.
April 28, 2019
This was a decent ending to the series. It had enough action to be entertaining, and wrapped up most of the threads with conclusions.
I was less annoyed at Jill in this book than in the previous one, although she didn’t really get any more likeable.
I also didn’t find Perry to be as formidable an opponent as the series was working him up to be. Maybe I just read the series too quickly, but he didn’t seem scary in the last few books. Nothing really was. Everything was just a bit too easy. I mean, really, Jill broke multiple bones in every fight and just shrugged them off every time. It’s hard to be invested if there isn’t real danger.
The one thing I noticed in this book was the repetition of explanations from previous books. Like the exact same sentences. Several times, for various different things. It was annoying, and felt lazy.
Overall, this was a good ending to a series that felt too long and repetitive and just plain annoying. But I was invested enough to plough through to the ending, and I’m left satisfied with the ending. It’s not mind blowing, but it worked.
I was less annoyed at Jill in this book than in the previous one, although she didn’t really get any more likeable.
I also didn’t find Perry to be as formidable an opponent as the series was working him up to be. Maybe I just read the series too quickly, but he didn’t seem scary in the last few books. Nothing really was. Everything was just a bit too easy. I mean, really, Jill broke multiple bones in every fight and just shrugged them off every time. It’s hard to be invested if there isn’t real danger.
The one thing I noticed in this book was the repetition of explanations from previous books. Like the exact same sentences. Several times, for various different things. It was annoying, and felt lazy.
Overall, this was a good ending to a series that felt too long and repetitive and just plain annoying. But I was invested enough to plough through to the ending, and I’m left satisfied with the ending. It’s not mind blowing, but it worked.
January 25, 2021
In her notes, Saintcrow mentions Kismet is bent, not broken like her other character Dante Valentine. Saintcrow writes bent and broken characters better than anyone I know and, perhaps it's macabre of me but it's inherently soothing to see written in black ink before me what it looks and feels like to be let down in childhood and to keep moving on out of sheer stubbornness and spite.
Hey, we all found a way to keep moving somehow. Whether or not we're whole while we go is a different matter. But aren't our chips and cracks beautiful?
Hey, we all found a way to keep moving somehow. Whether or not we're whole while we go is a different matter. But aren't our chips and cracks beautiful?
April 25, 2017
I officially love weres. Never did before, I was always indifferent to them. Saintcrow made me love them in this series. The final book ties everything together well, though I felt that it was a tad rushed and missing the same gruesome depth of the others. No matter, it was a beautiful ending to a series.
March 31, 2014
This was an absolutely stunning conclusion to what has been one of my favorite urban fantasy series. Nobody writes visceral, blood-guts-and-ichor, guns- knives-and-silver bullets, heaven-and-hell, demons-and-Weres, dark urban fantasy like Lilith Saintcrow. I can't really find any faults at all (with the exception of a small detail: A name, of course...)
Angel Town book held my interest from the moment Jill clawed her way out of a shallow desert grave, right up until the uncharacteristically happy ending(?)
For most people, waking up in their own grave would be a striking wakeup call. For amnesic Jill, it's a call to wage dangerous battles against the forces of evil ... and against herself. Of course, poor Jill jumps of the frying pan and right back into the fire, especially when she finds out her old nemesis Perry may indeed be much more than he seems: He’s got a diabolical plan in the works, and a future that includes playing house with Jill, gifting her with silver charms, (daaaw, how cute & totally adorable *cough*, let me rephrase: freaky is that?)but it does NOT include her friends and colleagues…
The reunion with matesick Saul was heartbreakingly tender. Saul is no doubt my favorite Were ever. Seeing his protectiveness at work makes me long for a Were-cat of my own. And her friends; always ready to defend her. Gotta love them; Weres, sanctuaries, hunters and apprentices alike.
However, there’s no denying that the Perry-Jill dynamic was the highlight of this novel for me personally. Their co-dependence and Perry’s twisted love was amazingly well crafted. Throughout this novel, Jill finally comes to know the hellbreed behind the bland façade; who she, and her entire line of hunters have been dealing with all this time. Ultimately, I understood his merciless ambitions, his frighteningly possessive feelings towards Jill, his pride and his need for greatness. Yet, despite his evil nature, there is this “other” aspect: The one that makes us almost pity Perry, as he reveals to Jill what the rack really represents to him.
The end battle was as dark and gritty as one would expect from an author like Lilith Saintcrow. Seeing Jill face her demons one final time was bittersweet. But realistically, there could be no other outcome. DO NOT READ THE NEXT SPOILER IF YOU INTEND TO READ THIS SERIES.
The ending was equally perfect: Saul’s little interspecies acceptance speech was awesome and funny. God, how I wish I could join them on their future adventures, but since I cant, I wish them all the best; they certainly deserve it. “DO SVIDANIYA", Jill and Saul. Wish I could include you too, Perry; because you told us that even hellbreed can dream…
... And so can humans: Dream of a Perry-prequel/sequel, that is. God, I’m ready to beg, grovel, nag and Trade to get my hands on a Perry spin-off. And I don’t think I am the only one. Bad-boys can be so intriguing, can’t they? ;-)
6 stars!
Or should I say: 666? ;-)
Angel Town book held my interest from the moment Jill clawed her way out of a shallow desert grave, right up until the uncharacteristically happy ending(?)
For most people, waking up in their own grave would be a striking wakeup call. For amnesic Jill, it's a call to wage dangerous battles against the forces of evil ... and against herself. Of course, poor Jill jumps of the frying pan and right back into the fire, especially when she finds out her old nemesis Perry may indeed be much more than he seems: He’s got a diabolical plan in the works, and a future that includes playing house with Jill, gifting her with silver charms, (daaaw, how
The reunion with matesick Saul was heartbreakingly tender. Saul is no doubt my favorite Were ever. Seeing his protectiveness at work makes me long for a Were-cat of my own. And her friends; always ready to defend her. Gotta love them; Weres, sanctuaries, hunters and apprentices alike.
However, there’s no denying that the Perry-Jill dynamic was the highlight of this novel for me personally. Their co-dependence and Perry’s twisted love was amazingly well crafted. Throughout this novel, Jill finally comes to know the hellbreed behind the bland façade; who she, and her entire line of hunters have been dealing with all this time. Ultimately, I understood his merciless ambitions, his frighteningly possessive feelings towards Jill, his pride and his need for greatness. Yet, despite his evil nature, there is this “other” aspect: The one that makes us almost pity Perry, as he reveals to Jill what the rack really represents to him.
The end battle was as dark and gritty as one would expect from an author like Lilith Saintcrow. Seeing Jill face her demons one final time was bittersweet. But realistically, there could be no other outcome. DO NOT READ THE NEXT SPOILER IF YOU INTEND TO READ THIS SERIES.
The ending was equally perfect: Saul’s little interspecies acceptance speech was awesome and funny. God, how I wish I could join them on their future adventures, but since I cant, I wish them all the best; they certainly deserve it. “DO SVIDANIYA", Jill and Saul. Wish I could include you too, Perry; because you told us that even hellbreed can dream…
... And so can humans: Dream of a Perry-prequel/sequel, that is. God, I’m ready to beg, grovel, nag and Trade to get my hands on a Perry spin-off. And I don’t think I am the only one. Bad-boys can be so intriguing, can’t they? ;-)
6 stars!
Or should I say: 666? ;-)
November 6, 2011
*Rating* 4 twinkles in a young girls eyes
*Genre* Urban Fantasy
*Review*
Angel Town, the last book in the Jill Kismet series, opens several months after Jill (Heaven's Spite) made a stunning decision that left her friends and colleagues struggling with her disappearance. The author graphically challenges the reader to hold on and allow her to write, one final time, about Jill and the fight she has coming ahead of her as she awakes from the dead in a her own grave, knowing that her flesh has rotted outside, and it appears she has been rebuilt.
Jill has no clue where or who she is. She gets flashes that her name is Jill, but the rest comes slowly to her. Her silver charms in her hair are gone. She is weaponless, and has a mark on her arm which she doesn’t remember getting. Her clothes are torn, bloody, and filthy like one of the walking dead.
Shortly thereafter, she starts to have memory bursts and ends up face to face with a stranger who she knows, but apparently, can't put a name to. He ends up being a key character in the overall story line after Jill understands and realizes that Perry is up to something absolutely huge and will have extreme consequences for mankind.
Who is Blue eyes, and how does Jill know him? Why did he have her gun, and ring that her mentor Mikhail gave to her? What is in her wrist and who put it there? Perry’s scared lip print is still visible, yet she can only catch glimpses of her life before her fateful decision.
Then more questions are tossed out and answered: Who put Jill back together again, and sent her back from hell? Why is Jill able to single handedly put away would be attackers without breaking a sweat, and why is she drawn to a bar that Perry owns? Jill soon remembers a dream about Perry, and putting her gun in her mouth and then darkness.
I have only one complaint about this book and it’s Saul, the were cat. There is a point where Jill is given an opportunity by her fellow hunter Anya Devi to learn about her lost memories, and Saul turns into a cry baby and whiner and pretty much refuses to allow her to do anything without him. I know they were supposedly mates and all, but his overall appearance and actions were unwarranted and grating on my nerves.
End thoughts:
First, I have to say that I am sad that this is the end of Jill, Saul, Galina, Hutch, Anya Devi, and especially Perry and his absolute obsession with Jill. I shall miss Jill's adventures and heroism and kick ass actions that make other heroines in this genre look like a bunch of flaky wimps and candy asses or whores of Babylon who have to sleep their way through the supernatural world in order to keep them from going insane.
You could make a case that this series is going out on the right note, and not being lead down the wrong slope where authors just refuse to let a series die after losing readers, and nearly having a reader revolt at how they destroy their characters because of their personal views.
I'm pretty sure that the end of this series could NOT have been done any better had it been written by anyone else. I will NOT however spoil it, nor give away anything that might be considered a spoiler. I will leave it to those who have followed this series from the very beginning to come up with your own thoughts and feelings about how this series ended.
Was this book better than the Dante Valentine series ending? How about the Strange Angels series she does under another name of Lil St. Crow? I'll let you know when I read them both shortly. Until then, there is a new series that she has written, and will be out sometime next year. There is even a preview in the back of this book for those who get that far that sounds interesting to me.
If you have followed this series to this point, I definitely recommend that you leave a day to read this book from start to finish. It is totally worth your time and effort.
*ARC receieved from Orbit via Netgalley on 11/04/2011*
*Genre* Urban Fantasy
*Review*
Angel Town, the last book in the Jill Kismet series, opens several months after Jill (Heaven's Spite) made a stunning decision that left her friends and colleagues struggling with her disappearance. The author graphically challenges the reader to hold on and allow her to write, one final time, about Jill and the fight she has coming ahead of her as she awakes from the dead in a her own grave, knowing that her flesh has rotted outside, and it appears she has been rebuilt.
Jill has no clue where or who she is. She gets flashes that her name is Jill, but the rest comes slowly to her. Her silver charms in her hair are gone. She is weaponless, and has a mark on her arm which she doesn’t remember getting. Her clothes are torn, bloody, and filthy like one of the walking dead.
Shortly thereafter, she starts to have memory bursts and ends up face to face with a stranger who she knows, but apparently, can't put a name to. He ends up being a key character in the overall story line after Jill understands and realizes that Perry is up to something absolutely huge and will have extreme consequences for mankind.
Who is Blue eyes, and how does Jill know him? Why did he have her gun, and ring that her mentor Mikhail gave to her? What is in her wrist and who put it there? Perry’s scared lip print is still visible, yet she can only catch glimpses of her life before her fateful decision.
Then more questions are tossed out and answered: Who put Jill back together again, and sent her back from hell? Why is Jill able to single handedly put away would be attackers without breaking a sweat, and why is she drawn to a bar that Perry owns? Jill soon remembers a dream about Perry, and putting her gun in her mouth and then darkness.
I have only one complaint about this book and it’s Saul, the were cat. There is a point where Jill is given an opportunity by her fellow hunter Anya Devi to learn about her lost memories, and Saul turns into a cry baby and whiner and pretty much refuses to allow her to do anything without him. I know they were supposedly mates and all, but his overall appearance and actions were unwarranted and grating on my nerves.
End thoughts:
First, I have to say that I am sad that this is the end of Jill, Saul, Galina, Hutch, Anya Devi, and especially Perry and his absolute obsession with Jill. I shall miss Jill's adventures and heroism and kick ass actions that make other heroines in this genre look like a bunch of flaky wimps and candy asses or whores of Babylon who have to sleep their way through the supernatural world in order to keep them from going insane.
You could make a case that this series is going out on the right note, and not being lead down the wrong slope where authors just refuse to let a series die after losing readers, and nearly having a reader revolt at how they destroy their characters because of their personal views.
I'm pretty sure that the end of this series could NOT have been done any better had it been written by anyone else. I will NOT however spoil it, nor give away anything that might be considered a spoiler. I will leave it to those who have followed this series from the very beginning to come up with your own thoughts and feelings about how this series ended.
Was this book better than the Dante Valentine series ending? How about the Strange Angels series she does under another name of Lil St. Crow? I'll let you know when I read them both shortly. Until then, there is a new series that she has written, and will be out sometime next year. There is even a preview in the back of this book for those who get that far that sounds interesting to me.
If you have followed this series to this point, I definitely recommend that you leave a day to read this book from start to finish. It is totally worth your time and effort.
*ARC receieved from Orbit via Netgalley on 11/04/2011*
November 28, 2012
If I thought I knew the meaning of the words intense or gritty, Ms Saintcrow gave me a lesson. And what a lesson or maybe I should have said what a ride.
The action is non-stop until the very last page and nothing is ever as it seems.
It's a great ending to a very good series, even if I admit there were quite a few similarities with the last book of the Danny Valentine series. In a note to reader Ms Saintcrow declares that Jill and Danny are very different, as the first is whole when the second is broken. I do agree that they are different characters. I wouldn't dare to say that Jill is whole or viceversa that Danny is broken compared to Jill. "Whole" on these two women is a tone out of tune. :)
Am I the only one to wonder what was Perry real "mission"? What did he want from Jill? Was it love, even if warped?
The only thing I feel safe to say is that Kismet and Saul are coming back to Santa Luz.
The action is non-stop until the very last page and nothing is ever as it seems.
It's a great ending to a very good series, even if I admit there were quite a few similarities with the last book of the Danny Valentine series. In a note to reader Ms Saintcrow declares that Jill and Danny are very different, as the first is whole when the second is broken. I do agree that they are different characters. I wouldn't dare to say that Jill is whole or viceversa that Danny is broken compared to Jill. "Whole" on these two women is a tone out of tune. :)
Am I the only one to wonder what was Perry real "mission"? What did he want from Jill? Was it love, even if warped?
The only thing I feel safe to say is that Kismet and Saul are coming back to Santa Luz.
December 28, 2011
This was confusing to pick up on having not read the other five books in the series. It was surprisingly long (compared to the HarperTeen lengths I'd been used to reading) but surprisingly good. Considering my ride with Saintcrow's Strange Angels series was pretty shaky and bumpy, I was pleasantly surprised. Her adult books are much quicker reads and frankly much better. I still wasn't totally enthralled, though; there were some moments when I had to convince myself I didn't want to put it down, even though I really did, like it was a burning sensation in the back of my throat--
anyway, I enjoyed Angel Town, and I'm sad it's the last in the series I probably will eventually read.
anyway, I enjoyed Angel Town, and I'm sad it's the last in the series I probably will eventually read.
January 24, 2013
Finally got my hands on last book in series and have to say Jill Kismet still holds her place at the top of my favorites list for seriously dangerous heroine character. The author pulled out all the stops with this final book, Jill totally road off into the sunset in her own unduplicated style!
Sad to see series finish but happy with how things tied up and that Jill cheated death one more time.
Sad to see series finish but happy with how things tied up and that Jill cheated death one more time.
November 20, 2011
This is a phenomenal book. God I LOVE this series. Really, this is the best Urban Fantasy series ever and Lilith Saintcrow brings it to a wonderful and satisfying end.
Go read this book. Go read the series. Do it, do it now.
Amazing and excellent.
Go read this book. Go read the series. Do it, do it now.
Amazing and excellent.
July 26, 2012
Lilith Saintcrow is by far one of my top favorite authors. I loved Dante Valentines' series and journeyed with Jill Kismet from beginning to end. Both are strong woman role models but Jill spoke to me more then Dante. I was sad to see Dante's series end and also sad to say goodbye to Jill.
March 31, 2015
Review for the whole series is posted with the first novel Night Shift.
November 6, 2011
Chapter 1
I shivered, pushed the door open. My feet left bloody prints on faded blue-speckled linoleum.
The diner was deserted. Long white lunch counter with chrome napkin holders, pies under glass domes, and the smell of industrial coffee fought with the reek around me. The night wind had scrubbed the worst of the stink away, but I still felt it like a cloud breathing from my skin.
Why I was worried about that when I was dripping with sandy, crusted filth, bare-and bloody-footed, and wild-haired in the rags of leather pants and a T-shirt was beyond me. Still…it bothered me. Something about my hair bothered me too. I felt completely naked, even though all my bits were mostly covered. I was too scrawny for there to be much to look at anyway. Pared down to scarecrow bone, muscle wasted away, my elbows bigger than my biceps, my knees knobs.
The diner sat alone off the highway, its windows glowing gold with warm electric light. Two ancient, spaceship-shaped gas pumps stood outside in a glare of buzzing fluorescents. No car was visible for miles in any direction. In the distance, the glow of a city rose, staining the night. I’d been heading for that glow for a slow, stumbling eternity, reeling drunkenly on the blacktop because the shoulder was full of pebbles and other things. Broken glass. Cigarette butts. Nameless, random trash.
I was just another piece of refuse, blowing along.
The booths marched away, all covered in blue vinyl. The tables were spotless, their chrome edges sharp-bright. The window booths even had sprays of artificial violets in tiny mass-produced white ceramic vases, the kinds with pebbled sides and wide mouths.
For a moment I had a memory, but it slipped away like a catfish in muddy water. I stood there on an industrial-grade rubber mat that used to say WELCOME in bright white paint. The E and the OM were scuffed into invisibility by God alone knew how many feet.
The place probably did a land-office business during the day. Maybe.
“Justaminnit!” someone yelled from the kitchen. There was a sizzle, and the heavy sound of a commercial freezer slamming shut. “Be right with ya!”
Yeah, great. I don’t even have any money. There was a phone in a booth outside the front door, but who the hell would I call?
I didn’t even know my own name.
“Well, good eveni—gooood gravy Marie!” The man hove into sight, two hundred fifty pounds if he was an ounce, most of it straining to escape his white T-shirt and the stained apron slung loincloth-style below his considerable belly. Despite that, he looked hard, and the lightness of his step told me he could do some damage if he wanted to.
If he had to.
But he simply stopped and stared at me. “Goddamn, girl, what happened to you?”
How the hell did I know? I’d just clawed my way out of a goddamn grave. I opened my mouth, shut it.
The door opened behind me. Instinct spiked under my skin; I jerked to the side. My bare, bleeding feet slapped down, braced for action. I ducked, my hand blurring up in a fist.
But broad, warm fingers closed around my filthy, naked upper arm.
He set me on my feet. Taller than me, stoop-shouldered and wiry, his dishwater hair laying close to the skull, and a shadow of acid-melt scarring over the lower half of his face. I stared, a sound like rushing water filling my head, and his ruined lips twitched. You could see where the scars had been really bad, but they were…were they?
Yes, they were retreating. I knew it because I’d seen him before. The black curtain over whatever had happened to me didn’t part, but I knew him.
“You,” I whispered.
“I’m about to call the authority.” Apron Man crossed his beefy forearms. “What the fuck is—”
The scarred man looked up. His eyes were bright blue, and that was wrong, too. Something shifted under the skin of his face, and his mouth opened slightly. No sound came out on the slight, soft exhale, but the fat man shut up.
“Well, why’n’tcha say so?” he mumbled. “Nobody ever tells me nothin’. Coffee, comin’ up.”
Blue Eyes looked down at me. Then, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, he raised his other hand, indicating the booths. Like he was asking me where I wanted to sit.
Those eyes. They’d been filmed before, gray cataracts hooding them. And the scarring had been much, much worse, in runnels and pleats like the flesh had been reshaped with acid. He’d worn gray coveralls, and the name tag had been a snarl of faded thread.
“I know you.” My voice cracked halfway through. “How do I know you?”
He shrugged a little, and indicated the booths again.
Great.
Well, there wasn’t anything else I was doing. I picked a booth along the wall, since the windows made my nape prickle and I needed to see the front door.
Why? Why do I need to see it?
I just did, that was all.
He let me choose my side, slid in across from me. Fine threads of gold glittered in his hair under the lights. There were fluorescents in here, too, but over the door and the window booths were incandescent bulbs. It made the light softer, actually—fluorescents are hell on everyone.
Sand fell off me. The scrim of eggwhite goop in my mouth tasted of ashes. My skin prickled with insect grime. Bloody footprints tracked in from the front door, and now that I was sitting I felt just how filthy and exhausted I was. Every part of me had been pulled apart and put back together by someone who had no fucking idea what they were doing.
I stared at Blue Eyes. He regarded me mildly, his ruined mouth curving up in what could have been a small smile. Strings of dirty hair fell in my face, and it seemed wrong. I tried again to think of what my hair should look like. Got exactly nowhere.
We sat like that for a while, until Apron Man brought two heavy, steaming china cups and plunked them down. He gave me an incurious glance and walked away, his heavy shoes blurring two of my footprints.
What the hell?
Blue Eyes cupped his hands around his mug. Looked at me.
I figured I could ask, at least. “Who am I?”
Blue Eyes shrugged. It was a very expressive shrug. Now that I was sitting down, the shaking started. It began in my feet and worked its way through my bones one at a time, until I was shivering like a junkie. The neon OPEN sign in the window buzzed, and Apron Man began to sing as something sizzled on the grill. An old Johnny Cash tune, “Long Black Veil.”
How could I know that, and not know my own name?
My stomach cramped. “You know me,” I hazarded. “But you can’t talk?”
Another small shrug, this one different than the last.
“You won’t talk.”
This earned me a nod.
Well, great. “How am I…Jesus. You…I…” I looked down at myself. The trembling threatened to rob me of words. “I know you somehow.”
Another nod. Then he made a slow, deliberate movement, reaching under the table like he was digging in a pocket. Faint alarm ran through me, tasting like copper through the ashy sludge in my mouth.
He laid the gun on the tabletop, its barrel carefully pointed away from either of us. I stared, my mouth hanging open as he picked up his coffee mug, deliberately, and drank.
It was a .45, custom-built. A nice piece of hardware, dull black, a real cannon. I knew what it would feel like if I picked it up. I knew the heft and the pull, knew exactly how much pressure to apply on the trigger. I could feel that the butt was reinforced as well for pistol-whipping.
“My gun.” I sounded like all the air had been punched out of me. “That’s mine. I have a gun.” Or I had one. And you’re returning it.
Blue Eyes nodded. He set down his mug with a decisive little click, then edged the butt a little closer to me with one fingertip. A faint breeze touched my face. His mouth opened as if he would say something profound, but then he shut it tightly and shook his head. Sorry, Charlie. No can speak.
“You’re going to have to help me here. Give me a verb, or something.” The shaking started tapering off. Sand slid off my clothes, pattered on the bench and the floor. The thought of a shower filled me with sudden longing. Maybe some food, too. A bed to sleep in, because I was so, so tired.
Dead tired.
Nausea cramped under my breastbone again. Blue Eyes was fiddling around under the table once more. This time he came up with something very small. A tiny metallic sound as he laid it on the table, his palm covering it.
A gun, and something else. I looked up.
His face changed. With the cataracts over his eyes peeled away, those eyes spoke for him. Right now, they burned with pure agonizing sadness. The expression drew his mouth down, and I found out the scarring was retreating. It shrank on his face a little, the skin smoothing out. I blinked.
His hand lifted.
It was a ring. A simple circle of silver, and my heart leapt like a landed fish inside my chest. Scruffed up and obviously worn, I knew that if I picked it up I would see the etching on the inside. Tiny scratches of Cyrillic, the only thing I would ever know how to read in that alphabet, because someone had shown me a long time ago.
Do svidaniya, it said. “Go with God.”
The other meaning: “goodbye.”
Bile whipped the back of my throat. I picked up my mug with dream-slow fingers. It was too hot, but I took a searing gulp of the acrid coffee anyway. It tasted like it had been on a burner for a while, but it was better than the eggwhite crap.
Ectoplasm. It was ectoplasm. Something’s happened.
Hot water filled my eyes. A tear rolled down my cheek, and Blue Eyes nodded. He pointed at my right hand, and I knew without asking what he meant. I set my mug down and turned my hand over, looking at the thing embedded in my right wrist. Just in the softest part, above the pulse’s frantic tattoo.
It was fever-hot, a glittering, colorless, diamond-shaped gem set in my skin. Its edges frayed, like it had been surgically implanted and then pulled around a bit. It spasmed and settled like a shivering little animal. That tiny twitching tremble communicated itself up the bones of my arm, settling in my shoulder with a high hard hum.
Fear whipped through me, and a bald edge of anger like smoking insulation.
“What the fuck is this?” I whispered.
His lips moved slightly, and the flesh on his face crawled. Like there were bugs underneath. I pressed back into the booth, my torn heels sending up a shriek as I shoved them into the floor, my right hand darting for the gun with scary, instinctive speed. Fingers curling, my arm tensing, the barrel trained unerringly at his head.
Familiar. Done this before, too.
He pointed again at my right wrist. His lips moved slightly. The words slid into my head, interlocking puzzle pieces of meaning.
When you’re ready.
One moment he was there, solid and real. The next, there was a pop of collapsing air, and the booth was empty. Another breeze feathered against my face, touching the crusted strings of my hair. I flinched, the gun lowering as I scanned the entire place.
Empty. Except for Apron Boy, who came shuffling out from the kitchen. Quick as a wink, I had the gun under the table. My left hand scooped up the ring, and the feel of cool metal sent a zing through me, like tinfoil against metal fillings.
Apron Boy held a steaming plate, which he plopped down in front of me along with silverware wrapped in a paper napkin. “Nice guy,” he said. “Paid for your breakfast, at least. You eat right on up, honey.” He looked expectantly at me, expecting some kind of conversational volley back.
I cleared my throat. “Yeah. Thanks.”
That seemed to satisfy him. He hove away, moving side to side like a walrus shouldering up onto a rocky beach, but lightly, his feet planted with care. The plate held ham, scrambled eggs, hash browns.
It looked good.
Eat while you can, Jill.
A klieg light went on inside my head. “Jill,” I whispered. “I’m Jill.”
I tucked the gun safely away. The ring fitted securely on my third left finger. Was I married?
A pair of dark eyes, silver-scarred hair, and fluid grace. He half-turned, reaching for something beside the stove, and the clean economy of motion made my heart skip a beat.
As soon as the image came, it vanished. I shook my head. More sand slipped free in a hissing rush, but none of it fell into the food. I was suddenly hungry. Not just hungry.
Famished.
A gun. A ring. And whatever that thing was on my wrist. And vanishing blue-eyed mutes. Whoever I was, I was certainly interesting.
Well, as long as the food was here, I’d take it. I’d worry about what to do afterward.
I hunkered down, stripped the napkin off the stamped-metal knife and fork and spoon, and started shoveling it in.
I shivered, pushed the door open. My feet left bloody prints on faded blue-speckled linoleum.
The diner was deserted. Long white lunch counter with chrome napkin holders, pies under glass domes, and the smell of industrial coffee fought with the reek around me. The night wind had scrubbed the worst of the stink away, but I still felt it like a cloud breathing from my skin.
Why I was worried about that when I was dripping with sandy, crusted filth, bare-and bloody-footed, and wild-haired in the rags of leather pants and a T-shirt was beyond me. Still…it bothered me. Something about my hair bothered me too. I felt completely naked, even though all my bits were mostly covered. I was too scrawny for there to be much to look at anyway. Pared down to scarecrow bone, muscle wasted away, my elbows bigger than my biceps, my knees knobs.
The diner sat alone off the highway, its windows glowing gold with warm electric light. Two ancient, spaceship-shaped gas pumps stood outside in a glare of buzzing fluorescents. No car was visible for miles in any direction. In the distance, the glow of a city rose, staining the night. I’d been heading for that glow for a slow, stumbling eternity, reeling drunkenly on the blacktop because the shoulder was full of pebbles and other things. Broken glass. Cigarette butts. Nameless, random trash.
I was just another piece of refuse, blowing along.
The booths marched away, all covered in blue vinyl. The tables were spotless, their chrome edges sharp-bright. The window booths even had sprays of artificial violets in tiny mass-produced white ceramic vases, the kinds with pebbled sides and wide mouths.
For a moment I had a memory, but it slipped away like a catfish in muddy water. I stood there on an industrial-grade rubber mat that used to say WELCOME in bright white paint. The E and the OM were scuffed into invisibility by God alone knew how many feet.
The place probably did a land-office business during the day. Maybe.
“Justaminnit!” someone yelled from the kitchen. There was a sizzle, and the heavy sound of a commercial freezer slamming shut. “Be right with ya!”
Yeah, great. I don’t even have any money. There was a phone in a booth outside the front door, but who the hell would I call?
I didn’t even know my own name.
“Well, good eveni—gooood gravy Marie!” The man hove into sight, two hundred fifty pounds if he was an ounce, most of it straining to escape his white T-shirt and the stained apron slung loincloth-style below his considerable belly. Despite that, he looked hard, and the lightness of his step told me he could do some damage if he wanted to.
If he had to.
But he simply stopped and stared at me. “Goddamn, girl, what happened to you?”
How the hell did I know? I’d just clawed my way out of a goddamn grave. I opened my mouth, shut it.
The door opened behind me. Instinct spiked under my skin; I jerked to the side. My bare, bleeding feet slapped down, braced for action. I ducked, my hand blurring up in a fist.
But broad, warm fingers closed around my filthy, naked upper arm.
He set me on my feet. Taller than me, stoop-shouldered and wiry, his dishwater hair laying close to the skull, and a shadow of acid-melt scarring over the lower half of his face. I stared, a sound like rushing water filling my head, and his ruined lips twitched. You could see where the scars had been really bad, but they were…were they?
Yes, they were retreating. I knew it because I’d seen him before. The black curtain over whatever had happened to me didn’t part, but I knew him.
“You,” I whispered.
“I’m about to call the authority.” Apron Man crossed his beefy forearms. “What the fuck is—”
The scarred man looked up. His eyes were bright blue, and that was wrong, too. Something shifted under the skin of his face, and his mouth opened slightly. No sound came out on the slight, soft exhale, but the fat man shut up.
“Well, why’n’tcha say so?” he mumbled. “Nobody ever tells me nothin’. Coffee, comin’ up.”
Blue Eyes looked down at me. Then, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, he raised his other hand, indicating the booths. Like he was asking me where I wanted to sit.
Those eyes. They’d been filmed before, gray cataracts hooding them. And the scarring had been much, much worse, in runnels and pleats like the flesh had been reshaped with acid. He’d worn gray coveralls, and the name tag had been a snarl of faded thread.
“I know you.” My voice cracked halfway through. “How do I know you?”
He shrugged a little, and indicated the booths again.
Great.
Well, there wasn’t anything else I was doing. I picked a booth along the wall, since the windows made my nape prickle and I needed to see the front door.
Why? Why do I need to see it?
I just did, that was all.
He let me choose my side, slid in across from me. Fine threads of gold glittered in his hair under the lights. There were fluorescents in here, too, but over the door and the window booths were incandescent bulbs. It made the light softer, actually—fluorescents are hell on everyone.
Sand fell off me. The scrim of eggwhite goop in my mouth tasted of ashes. My skin prickled with insect grime. Bloody footprints tracked in from the front door, and now that I was sitting I felt just how filthy and exhausted I was. Every part of me had been pulled apart and put back together by someone who had no fucking idea what they were doing.
I stared at Blue Eyes. He regarded me mildly, his ruined mouth curving up in what could have been a small smile. Strings of dirty hair fell in my face, and it seemed wrong. I tried again to think of what my hair should look like. Got exactly nowhere.
We sat like that for a while, until Apron Man brought two heavy, steaming china cups and plunked them down. He gave me an incurious glance and walked away, his heavy shoes blurring two of my footprints.
What the hell?
Blue Eyes cupped his hands around his mug. Looked at me.
I figured I could ask, at least. “Who am I?”
Blue Eyes shrugged. It was a very expressive shrug. Now that I was sitting down, the shaking started. It began in my feet and worked its way through my bones one at a time, until I was shivering like a junkie. The neon OPEN sign in the window buzzed, and Apron Man began to sing as something sizzled on the grill. An old Johnny Cash tune, “Long Black Veil.”
How could I know that, and not know my own name?
My stomach cramped. “You know me,” I hazarded. “But you can’t talk?”
Another small shrug, this one different than the last.
“You won’t talk.”
This earned me a nod.
Well, great. “How am I…Jesus. You…I…” I looked down at myself. The trembling threatened to rob me of words. “I know you somehow.”
Another nod. Then he made a slow, deliberate movement, reaching under the table like he was digging in a pocket. Faint alarm ran through me, tasting like copper through the ashy sludge in my mouth.
He laid the gun on the tabletop, its barrel carefully pointed away from either of us. I stared, my mouth hanging open as he picked up his coffee mug, deliberately, and drank.
It was a .45, custom-built. A nice piece of hardware, dull black, a real cannon. I knew what it would feel like if I picked it up. I knew the heft and the pull, knew exactly how much pressure to apply on the trigger. I could feel that the butt was reinforced as well for pistol-whipping.
“My gun.” I sounded like all the air had been punched out of me. “That’s mine. I have a gun.” Or I had one. And you’re returning it.
Blue Eyes nodded. He set down his mug with a decisive little click, then edged the butt a little closer to me with one fingertip. A faint breeze touched my face. His mouth opened as if he would say something profound, but then he shut it tightly and shook his head. Sorry, Charlie. No can speak.
“You’re going to have to help me here. Give me a verb, or something.” The shaking started tapering off. Sand slid off my clothes, pattered on the bench and the floor. The thought of a shower filled me with sudden longing. Maybe some food, too. A bed to sleep in, because I was so, so tired.
Dead tired.
Nausea cramped under my breastbone again. Blue Eyes was fiddling around under the table once more. This time he came up with something very small. A tiny metallic sound as he laid it on the table, his palm covering it.
A gun, and something else. I looked up.
His face changed. With the cataracts over his eyes peeled away, those eyes spoke for him. Right now, they burned with pure agonizing sadness. The expression drew his mouth down, and I found out the scarring was retreating. It shrank on his face a little, the skin smoothing out. I blinked.
His hand lifted.
It was a ring. A simple circle of silver, and my heart leapt like a landed fish inside my chest. Scruffed up and obviously worn, I knew that if I picked it up I would see the etching on the inside. Tiny scratches of Cyrillic, the only thing I would ever know how to read in that alphabet, because someone had shown me a long time ago.
Do svidaniya, it said. “Go with God.”
The other meaning: “goodbye.”
Bile whipped the back of my throat. I picked up my mug with dream-slow fingers. It was too hot, but I took a searing gulp of the acrid coffee anyway. It tasted like it had been on a burner for a while, but it was better than the eggwhite crap.
Ectoplasm. It was ectoplasm. Something’s happened.
Hot water filled my eyes. A tear rolled down my cheek, and Blue Eyes nodded. He pointed at my right hand, and I knew without asking what he meant. I set my mug down and turned my hand over, looking at the thing embedded in my right wrist. Just in the softest part, above the pulse’s frantic tattoo.
It was fever-hot, a glittering, colorless, diamond-shaped gem set in my skin. Its edges frayed, like it had been surgically implanted and then pulled around a bit. It spasmed and settled like a shivering little animal. That tiny twitching tremble communicated itself up the bones of my arm, settling in my shoulder with a high hard hum.
Fear whipped through me, and a bald edge of anger like smoking insulation.
“What the fuck is this?” I whispered.
His lips moved slightly, and the flesh on his face crawled. Like there were bugs underneath. I pressed back into the booth, my torn heels sending up a shriek as I shoved them into the floor, my right hand darting for the gun with scary, instinctive speed. Fingers curling, my arm tensing, the barrel trained unerringly at his head.
Familiar. Done this before, too.
He pointed again at my right wrist. His lips moved slightly. The words slid into my head, interlocking puzzle pieces of meaning.
When you’re ready.
One moment he was there, solid and real. The next, there was a pop of collapsing air, and the booth was empty. Another breeze feathered against my face, touching the crusted strings of my hair. I flinched, the gun lowering as I scanned the entire place.
Empty. Except for Apron Boy, who came shuffling out from the kitchen. Quick as a wink, I had the gun under the table. My left hand scooped up the ring, and the feel of cool metal sent a zing through me, like tinfoil against metal fillings.
Apron Boy held a steaming plate, which he plopped down in front of me along with silverware wrapped in a paper napkin. “Nice guy,” he said. “Paid for your breakfast, at least. You eat right on up, honey.” He looked expectantly at me, expecting some kind of conversational volley back.
I cleared my throat. “Yeah. Thanks.”
That seemed to satisfy him. He hove away, moving side to side like a walrus shouldering up onto a rocky beach, but lightly, his feet planted with care. The plate held ham, scrambled eggs, hash browns.
It looked good.
Eat while you can, Jill.
A klieg light went on inside my head. “Jill,” I whispered. “I’m Jill.”
I tucked the gun safely away. The ring fitted securely on my third left finger. Was I married?
A pair of dark eyes, silver-scarred hair, and fluid grace. He half-turned, reaching for something beside the stove, and the clean economy of motion made my heart skip a beat.
As soon as the image came, it vanished. I shook my head. More sand slipped free in a hissing rush, but none of it fell into the food. I was suddenly hungry. Not just hungry.
Famished.
A gun. A ring. And whatever that thing was on my wrist. And vanishing blue-eyed mutes. Whoever I was, I was certainly interesting.
Well, as long as the food was here, I’d take it. I’d worry about what to do afterward.
I hunkered down, stripped the napkin off the stamped-metal knife and fork and spoon, and started shoveling it in.
March 17, 2019
This review will be for the whole series not just the last one, and there may be some spoilers.
To start off, I am going to mention that I love love *love* Lilith Saintcrow's work, I have read a lot of her books and each one bring something new and unique to the table and is written in Saintcrow's unmistakable writing style. This series was no exception. I absolutely adored Jill Kismet, she was a fun kick ass character, who constantly toed the line between good and evil and it was refreshing to read about a character who has inherently good intentions but struggles not to use cruel methods to solve her problems. Also, ALSO, I have no words to describe my feelings when Jill takes her own life in book 5, while I understand this may trigger some people, I also think it was masterfully done and completly in character.
Besides Jill, I also adored.... Perry. Surprise! I bet you thought I would say Saul, and while I did love him and all the other side characters, I found that they were all relatively flat compared Jill and Perry. But Perry, boy oh boy, what a masterpiece. He is the villain you love to hate, hate to love and kind of wish had gotten a redemption arc at the end of the series. Perry really was amazing in all of his glorious mindfuckery.
As you can probably tell by now, I really did enjoy this series (I read it in a week... so that should tell you even more), however I did have a few problems with it. For one, it was too long. I personally think this series could have been chopped up into 3 or 4 books with the whole Perry arc being tightened up a bit, as some of the middle books felt a bit like filler. My favourite books in this series were 1, 5, and 6. While books 2, 3, 4 were interesting they didn't have the oomph of the other three books.
Additionally, there were some aspects of the world/Jill's powers that were not mentioned in earlier books that suddenly became super important in later books. Like Banefire, I'm pretty sure it wasn't mentioned in the first few books even though it seems like it would have been useful early on. Also Jill's damnation, her potentially being damned if she crosses her moral line wasn't brought earlier even though that is also a fairly important detail. With these details only coming up in later books the whole arc of the series seemed a little unplanned.
That being said... I still loved it.
To start off, I am going to mention that I love love *love* Lilith Saintcrow's work, I have read a lot of her books and each one bring something new and unique to the table and is written in Saintcrow's unmistakable writing style. This series was no exception. I absolutely adored Jill Kismet, she was a fun kick ass character, who constantly toed the line between good and evil and it was refreshing to read about a character who has inherently good intentions but struggles not to use cruel methods to solve her problems. Also, ALSO, I have no words to describe my feelings when Jill takes her own life in book 5, while I understand this may trigger some people, I also think it was masterfully done and completly in character.
Besides Jill, I also adored.... Perry. Surprise! I bet you thought I would say Saul, and while I did love him and all the other side characters, I found that they were all relatively flat compared Jill and Perry. But Perry, boy oh boy, what a masterpiece. He is the villain you love to hate, hate to love and kind of wish had gotten a redemption arc at the end of the series. Perry really was amazing in all of his glorious mindfuckery.
As you can probably tell by now, I really did enjoy this series (I read it in a week... so that should tell you even more), however I did have a few problems with it. For one, it was too long. I personally think this series could have been chopped up into 3 or 4 books with the whole Perry arc being tightened up a bit, as some of the middle books felt a bit like filler. My favourite books in this series were 1, 5, and 6. While books 2, 3, 4 were interesting they didn't have the oomph of the other three books.
Additionally, there were some aspects of the world/Jill's powers that were not mentioned in earlier books that suddenly became super important in later books. Like Banefire, I'm pretty sure it wasn't mentioned in the first few books even though it seems like it would have been useful early on. Also Jill's damnation, her potentially being damned if she crosses her moral line wasn't brought earlier even though that is also a fairly important detail. With these details only coming up in later books the whole arc of the series seemed a little unplanned.
That being said... I still loved it.
November 12, 2020
Angel Town is the sixth and final book in the Jill Kismet series written by Lilith Saintcrow. It centers on Jill Kismet, a Hunter, set in a world five hundred years in the future.
Jill Kismet awakens in her own grave and her escape was quite gruesomely desribed. She doesn't remember who she is, but manages to find a diner in the desert and then get a ride into town. Her memory comes back in bits and pieces, but the world she left is not the world she came back to. The uneasy truce between supernaturals is broken, the war is raging on the streets of her city and she drops right in the middle of it. Besides trying to gain her complete memory back, Jill has to save the world.
Angel Town is written rather well. In the final installment Saintcrow again gives her heroine very little time to readjust to living again when she plops Jill Kismet into the middle of things – a war between supernaturals. Jill has to face recovering her memory and doing her job as a Hunter, which has been imbued in her mind and body – even if her mind hasn't remembered. True to fashion, the narrative is filled with thrilling scenes, romance woes, supernatural creatures, and the most logical endings.
Overall, the Jill Kismet series is written rather well. Saintcrow has created an intriguing futuristic world of magic and demons with a list of new vocabulary that makes the world so real. The eponymous main protagonist, Jill Kismet, started out rather strongly and was rather consistent throughout the series – she is first and last a strong female protagonist.
All in all, Angel Town is written rather well and is a wonderful conclusion to an equally wonderful series.
Jill Kismet awakens in her own grave and her escape was quite gruesomely desribed. She doesn't remember who she is, but manages to find a diner in the desert and then get a ride into town. Her memory comes back in bits and pieces, but the world she left is not the world she came back to. The uneasy truce between supernaturals is broken, the war is raging on the streets of her city and she drops right in the middle of it. Besides trying to gain her complete memory back, Jill has to save the world.
Angel Town is written rather well. In the final installment Saintcrow again gives her heroine very little time to readjust to living again when she plops Jill Kismet into the middle of things – a war between supernaturals. Jill has to face recovering her memory and doing her job as a Hunter, which has been imbued in her mind and body – even if her mind hasn't remembered. True to fashion, the narrative is filled with thrilling scenes, romance woes, supernatural creatures, and the most logical endings.
Overall, the Jill Kismet series is written rather well. Saintcrow has created an intriguing futuristic world of magic and demons with a list of new vocabulary that makes the world so real. The eponymous main protagonist, Jill Kismet, started out rather strongly and was rather consistent throughout the series – she is first and last a strong female protagonist.
All in all, Angel Town is written rather well and is a wonderful conclusion to an equally wonderful series.
October 23, 2019
So I finally finished this series.
Only took me like two years.
I am very torn about these books; there is so much that is good about them but also so much that are boring and borderline terrible.
I really liked the first two books, than the three following bored me, and now the final book I found amazing.
A+ for world building. Buffy meets Supernatural, and co operates with the police force to take down the darkness in town? Yes please.
It's a lot of action, but the fight scenes becomes way too long way too often. I don't need five pages going through Jill throwing her whip at a hellbreed or firing her guns while falling down roofs and breaking all of her ribs twice every chapter.
Also apart from Perry and Jill, all other characters are completely unreachable. Who are they? What are their personalities? So much stereotyping. All weres are like this, so we don't need to explain any new were character. Same with the hunters. Galina as well is a very elusive character, but that I think may have been the point.
There is also so much happening to Jill that is painful to read. So much trauma. I get that it is supposed to get her to the point she needs to be at the end of this last book, but sometimes it feels like the classic trope of to make a girl character strong you need to hurt and traumatize the fuck out of her.
And I ain't buying that.
Even so, I really enjoyed this book and I think it made up for a lot of mistakes in previous books.
Only took me like two years.
I am very torn about these books; there is so much that is good about them but also so much that are boring and borderline terrible.
I really liked the first two books, than the three following bored me, and now the final book I found amazing.
A+ for world building. Buffy meets Supernatural, and co operates with the police force to take down the darkness in town? Yes please.
It's a lot of action, but the fight scenes becomes way too long way too often. I don't need five pages going through Jill throwing her whip at a hellbreed or firing her guns while falling down roofs and breaking all of her ribs twice every chapter.
Also apart from Perry and Jill, all other characters are completely unreachable. Who are they? What are their personalities? So much stereotyping. All weres are like this, so we don't need to explain any new were character. Same with the hunters. Galina as well is a very elusive character, but that I think may have been the point.
There is also so much happening to Jill that is painful to read. So much trauma. I get that it is supposed to get her to the point she needs to be at the end of this last book, but sometimes it feels like the classic trope of to make a girl character strong you need to hurt and traumatize the fuck out of her.
And I ain't buying that.
Even so, I really enjoyed this book and I think it made up for a lot of mistakes in previous books.
November 21, 2016
The end of a great series, sadness
As with great series you always wish for more. But alas it was time for Jill and Saul to get their HEA. A final battle, a freedom from her debt and to learn she isn't anything like a hellbreed. Jill survives it all. It was a fun ride Kismet may you have many content years with your cat.
As with great series you always wish for more. But alas it was time for Jill and Saul to get their HEA. A final battle, a freedom from her debt and to learn she isn't anything like a hellbreed. Jill survives it all. It was a fun ride Kismet may you have many content years with your cat.
September 18, 2020
Strong beginning (I love the amnesia trope) Lots of emotional moments between the kick-ass and, this being the last book in the series, the anticipated final confrontation with Hellbreed Perry. Great series. I will definitely be reading more from Lilith Saintcrow.
December 10, 2023
This book was a great "ending" book. I've read many series where there was a lot left unfinished, but that is not really the case here. The ending is not all hearts and flowers (far from it), but it doesn't leave you with tons of questions.
May 28, 2018
Good series, ok ending. 1 book too long for the series.
October 14, 2019
Wow. Just wow. And with an ultimately satisfying ending.
May 31, 2020
3.5 stars
December 4, 2016
Sixth and last in the Jill Kismet urban fantasy series revolving around a hunter who works with the police in Santa Luz, New Mexico.
My Take
Damn, Saintcrow really kept me wondering up to the very end. I was very happy that Jill had actually managed to survive, er, come back from events in Heaven's Spite, although Perry certainly was scary to see! That demon was just manic!
I rather wish we had gotten more details about the war that had erupted in the months Jill was dead. I totally hadn't expected that happening. I certainly hadn't expected the allies who appeared either.
On the whole, I was a tiny bit disappointed as I didn't have the same depth of feeling for the characters this time. To be fair, it could be me holding myself back simply because I knew this was the last in the series and I'm going to miss Jill and Saul; I think it's their warehouse home...
Saintcrow does make a good point toward the end: that one of the big differences between good and evil is that good is willing to come together for the common good whereas evil only works together if it benefits the individual.
The Story
If Jill died in Heaven's Spite, then how is it she' rising back up out of a maggoty shallow grave? Admittedly, she doesn't even know who she is or how she got there. Or why she had been buried. And it takes a while before the whole of her past comes back to her.
As the bits and pieces do dribble in, Jill finds her way to Sanctuary fighting and rescuing along the way, each blow seeming to knock another memory loose. Perry. The caretaker. Her were friends. Saul. Everyone, who's still alive, who has a part in her life is carefully happy to see her again. Even if all Hell is literally breaking loose.
The Characters
Judith was reborn when Mikhail pulled her out of a snowdrift one winter and gave her the choice of becoming his apprentice or anything else she wanted. Grateful, Judith became Jill Kismet, a hunter of scurf, hellbreed, and Traders. Assisting the police of Santa Luz in keeping the peace. Killing the other. Mikhail has been dead for awhile now; she's only recently learned that he tricked her into taking Perry's mark. Assuring her that it would help her in identifying, fighting, and recovering from fighting. But there's still Saul in her life. A cat shifter and Jill's lover. With Jill dead, Saul is dying of matesickness. Gilberto is Jill's apprentice but training with Anya Devi, another hunter helping out with Jill dead.
Theron is a panther shifter and friend. Galina is Sanctuary. No one wants to violate a Sanctuary---too well-protected for one---as it acts as both neutral ground and a shop where both sides can purchase supplies. Hutch is a computer hacker protected by the government as long as he aids Jill. Montaigne is Jill's police liaison while Badger and Sully are detectives who work frequently with Jill. Fathers Blake, Rosas, and Guillermo of Sacred Grace had a more intricate relationship with her. Too bad they weren't more trusting...
Vanner is a policeman driven mad and he may be possessed Melendez is a voodoo practitioner. Not necessarily a bad guy. All the time. He does allow Chango to ride him, a god to whom Jill owes a favor.
Perry, a.k.a., Hyperion, is a demon and runs the Monde, a demon bar which Jill must visit on a regular basis. It was a part of her deal with Perry that in exchange for the mark, she cater to his, um, personal whims. Now Perry reveals how extremely interested he is in Jill and fully demonstrates to what lengths he'll go to have her Hellbreed, a.k.a., 'breed, are demons while Traders are humans who have traded their souls and gained the ability to modify their bodies. The caretaker out at Henderson Hills, the abandoned insane asylum, turns out to be more than anyone expected.
The Cover and Title
The cover is black and white with purples and blues featuring Jill's face in a three-quarter profile, part of a sword and its hilt that aligns at an angle with her cheekbone. Where the blade meets the hilt, a pair of wings has been engraved; an outline of a purples-blue five-pointed star is near her eye.
The title is too true as Santa Luz does turn into Angel Town.
My Take
Damn, Saintcrow really kept me wondering up to the very end. I was very happy that Jill had actually managed to survive, er, come back from events in Heaven's Spite, although Perry certainly was scary to see! That demon was just manic!
I rather wish we had gotten more details about the war that had erupted in the months Jill was dead. I totally hadn't expected that happening. I certainly hadn't expected the allies who appeared either.
On the whole, I was a tiny bit disappointed as I didn't have the same depth of feeling for the characters this time. To be fair, it could be me holding myself back simply because I knew this was the last in the series and I'm going to miss Jill and Saul; I think it's their warehouse home...
Saintcrow does make a good point toward the end: that one of the big differences between good and evil is that good is willing to come together for the common good whereas evil only works together if it benefits the individual.
The Story
If Jill died in Heaven's Spite, then how is it she' rising back up out of a maggoty shallow grave? Admittedly, she doesn't even know who she is or how she got there. Or why she had been buried. And it takes a while before the whole of her past comes back to her.
As the bits and pieces do dribble in, Jill finds her way to Sanctuary fighting and rescuing along the way, each blow seeming to knock another memory loose. Perry. The caretaker. Her were friends. Saul. Everyone, who's still alive, who has a part in her life is carefully happy to see her again. Even if all Hell is literally breaking loose.
The Characters
Judith was reborn when Mikhail pulled her out of a snowdrift one winter and gave her the choice of becoming his apprentice or anything else she wanted. Grateful, Judith became Jill Kismet, a hunter of scurf, hellbreed, and Traders. Assisting the police of Santa Luz in keeping the peace. Killing the other. Mikhail has been dead for awhile now; she's only recently learned that he tricked her into taking Perry's mark. Assuring her that it would help her in identifying, fighting, and recovering from fighting. But there's still Saul in her life. A cat shifter and Jill's lover. With Jill dead, Saul is dying of matesickness. Gilberto is Jill's apprentice but training with Anya Devi, another hunter helping out with Jill dead.
Theron is a panther shifter and friend. Galina is Sanctuary. No one wants to violate a Sanctuary---too well-protected for one---as it acts as both neutral ground and a shop where both sides can purchase supplies. Hutch is a computer hacker protected by the government as long as he aids Jill. Montaigne is Jill's police liaison while Badger and Sully are detectives who work frequently with Jill. Fathers Blake, Rosas, and Guillermo of Sacred Grace had a more intricate relationship with her. Too bad they weren't more trusting...
Vanner is a policeman driven mad and he may be possessed Melendez is a voodoo practitioner. Not necessarily a bad guy. All the time. He does allow Chango to ride him, a god to whom Jill owes a favor.
Perry, a.k.a., Hyperion, is a demon and runs the Monde, a demon bar which Jill must visit on a regular basis. It was a part of her deal with Perry that in exchange for the mark, she cater to his, um, personal whims. Now Perry reveals how extremely interested he is in Jill and fully demonstrates to what lengths he'll go to have her Hellbreed, a.k.a., 'breed, are demons while Traders are humans who have traded their souls and gained the ability to modify their bodies. The caretaker out at Henderson Hills, the abandoned insane asylum, turns out to be more than anyone expected.
The Cover and Title
The cover is black and white with purples and blues featuring Jill's face in a three-quarter profile, part of a sword and its hilt that aligns at an angle with her cheekbone. Where the blade meets the hilt, a pair of wings has been engraved; an outline of a purples-blue five-pointed star is near her eye.
The title is too true as Santa Luz does turn into Angel Town.
March 18, 2017
It had its issues with both craft and representation, but I'm going to miss this series.
May 31, 2012
If you thought Heaven's Spite was an intense book, this one is really intense! This takes off right after the events - those shocking, cliffhanger, "Oh My God!" events - of the last novel. Those final events of the last novel cause Jill to wake up in a strange place - without any clue or idea of what or who she is - what she was doing, what's going on. There is absolutely nothing. She somehow makes it to a diner, where a mysterious man buys her a meal...and she begins to remember a few things. Which just gives her a few more questions. Jill must figure out not only who she is, but she has to remember what she was in the middle of. Is she going to continue her previous life, are her memories true memories? Who are her allies and can they even trust her when she goes back? So many variables to work through; is there something else going on? Was she a pawn that unwittingly followed some Machiavellian script? Will she ever be free or safe? How did she get to where she woke up? Was she dead? {Will these questions ever END? Am I now doing what I hate to read? question after question after question?} Things begin to fall in place, puzzle pieces start to form a picture, and it's not a pretty picture.
With this final novel, as with all her novels, Lilith Saintcrow brings you into a story, as if you were inside a virtual video {or something like that} . With every scene, charms are jingling, smells are smelled, pains are felt, and the scar - her demon mark is basically a side character - makes itself felt. All of this combines to bring you right into the action. I like this about Saintcrow's writing - the demon mark isn't mentioned just once at the beginning of each book - it's used as a character and a mood detector. The same with the charms and all the other descriptive detailing. Plenty of atmosphere, the virtual reality without the tech.
I really enjoyed this final novel of the series. Though reading it was bittersweet, because I knew it was going to be the last and I was enjoying it so much. I wanted to get to the end, and yet I didn't want to finish it because it's the very last novel. Angel Town is a dark, compelling, gritty story. The storytelling is stellar and as the final in the series, Angel Town stood out with the shocking beginning, the intense situations Jill was in and the incredible ending. If you're a fan of dark, gritty storytelling with flawed, tough yet slightly vulnerable heroines, then you're going to enjoy this one. Saintcrow outdid herself with the ending to this series with its fitting - it's not Happily Ever After, it's more maybe we're going to be happy, definitely we're going to suffer more, but hey, here we are - ending.
Luckily for me and other die-hard fans of Saintcrow/St.Crow work, Ms Lilith is hard at work writing more novels. Unfortunately for me, some of these are only available in e-book form. Luckily for me -again- there will be other books in print. I'm happily waiting to read more of her fantasy or urban fantasy work, and looking forward even to some more of her Young Adult work.
With this final novel, as with all her novels, Lilith Saintcrow brings you into a story, as if you were inside a virtual video {or something like that} . With every scene, charms are jingling, smells are smelled, pains are felt, and the scar - her demon mark is basically a side character - makes itself felt. All of this combines to bring you right into the action. I like this about Saintcrow's writing - the demon mark isn't mentioned just once at the beginning of each book - it's used as a character and a mood detector. The same with the charms and all the other descriptive detailing. Plenty of atmosphere, the virtual reality without the tech.
I really enjoyed this final novel of the series. Though reading it was bittersweet, because I knew it was going to be the last and I was enjoying it so much. I wanted to get to the end, and yet I didn't want to finish it because it's the very last novel. Angel Town is a dark, compelling, gritty story. The storytelling is stellar and as the final in the series, Angel Town stood out with the shocking beginning, the intense situations Jill was in and the incredible ending. If you're a fan of dark, gritty storytelling with flawed, tough yet slightly vulnerable heroines, then you're going to enjoy this one. Saintcrow outdid herself with the ending to this series with its fitting - it's not Happily Ever After, it's more maybe we're going to be happy, definitely we're going to suffer more, but hey, here we are - ending.
Luckily for me and other die-hard fans of Saintcrow/St.Crow work, Ms Lilith is hard at work writing more novels. Unfortunately for me, some of these are only available in e-book form. Luckily for me -again- there will be other books in print. I'm happily waiting to read more of her fantasy or urban fantasy work, and looking forward even to some more of her Young Adult work.
November 26, 2011
If you aren't caught up on this series I would advise you to avoid anything about this book as it will spoil the ending from the last one. And what an ending it was! When I read it I was furious with it, but understood why Jill did what she did.
Her waking up in a grave and clawing her way out was sure a bang up way to start this book out! I really felt like the first quarter of the book was confusing, but that was to be expected. Jill was confused herself and we were taking the path with her. She wasn't sure who or what she was, but with each clue her past slowly started coming back. I loved how different things would cause her to know, her guns and actions so ingrained in her, like fighting among my favorite. I worried for her thought, how much damage was done to her and was she really herself.
It seemed like all of her friends had some of those same worries for her, but they accepted her back with open arms. When I learned what had happened to Saul I wanted to cry. Their reunion was great, but because of what happened Saul now has some series issue with letting Jill out of his sight. This brought about some big fights with them and Jill is forced on a couple of different times to just let Saul know how much he means to her. Something I loved, because I know she loves him, but she has a hard time letting him know. I know Saul knows this, but he needed to hear it.
I thought it was interesting where Jill got help from. It really makes a person think, especially where Jill is concerned.
I also thought the big show down with Perry was great. It has needed to happen from book one, but as we learn it has needed to happen for a lot long than that. The past comes into play here and not just Jill's. She does learn some interesting facts about her mentor. I am not sure what I think about what she learned, part of me understands what he did, the other is so angry that he pushed that off on Jill.
I loved the ending, it was great! Through out the books Jill has had to pay a high price and this time was no different. She had to go in blind faith that her actions would stop things and know she couldn't keep her promise to Saul. But in her actions she would keep him safe so it was ok.
I am sad that this series is over with. It has been one of my favorites to read, so dark, yet there was hope there. I loved the author's thoughts at the end. It was great for her to describe what her thoughts when writing the series and gave me a better understanding of why she did what she did.
Her waking up in a grave and clawing her way out was sure a bang up way to start this book out! I really felt like the first quarter of the book was confusing, but that was to be expected. Jill was confused herself and we were taking the path with her. She wasn't sure who or what she was, but with each clue her past slowly started coming back. I loved how different things would cause her to know, her guns and actions so ingrained in her, like fighting among my favorite. I worried for her thought, how much damage was done to her and was she really herself.
It seemed like all of her friends had some of those same worries for her, but they accepted her back with open arms. When I learned what had happened to Saul I wanted to cry. Their reunion was great, but because of what happened Saul now has some series issue with letting Jill out of his sight. This brought about some big fights with them and Jill is forced on a couple of different times to just let Saul know how much he means to her. Something I loved, because I know she loves him, but she has a hard time letting him know. I know Saul knows this, but he needed to hear it.
I thought it was interesting where Jill got help from. It really makes a person think, especially where Jill is concerned.
I also thought the big show down with Perry was great. It has needed to happen from book one, but as we learn it has needed to happen for a lot long than that. The past comes into play here and not just Jill's. She does learn some interesting facts about her mentor. I am not sure what I think about what she learned, part of me understands what he did, the other is so angry that he pushed that off on Jill.
I loved the ending, it was great! Through out the books Jill has had to pay a high price and this time was no different. She had to go in blind faith that her actions would stop things and know she couldn't keep her promise to Saul. But in her actions she would keep him safe so it was ok.
I am sad that this series is over with. It has been one of my favorites to read, so dark, yet there was hope there. I loved the author's thoughts at the end. It was great for her to describe what her thoughts when writing the series and gave me a better understanding of why she did what she did.
November 20, 2011
You may also read my review here: http://www.mybookishways.com/2011/11/...
While I was sad that Angel Town was the last book of one of my favorite series¸ Jill Kismet was certainly ushered out in style. Not that I expected anything less. As soon as I finished Heaven’s Spite, I immediately started Angel Town because, well, at the end of Heaven’s Spite, Jill dies. I mean, Ms. Saintcrow really didn’t leave me a choice. I’m not giving anything away since it says right in the cover copy that she’s back from the dead in Angel Town, but I’m really glad I waited until it was out to read Heaven’s. So, Angel Town begins with Jill literally clawing herself out of her grave, and it is a visceral, gritty, violent scene which sets up the rest of the book perfectly, as well as providing Jill with a rebirth of sorts. She doesn’t immediately remember who she is, but a certain blue-eyed man will help her with that (as well as return her gun to her). I’ll admit, I got a kick out of Jill’s trip to WalMart for some jeans and sneakers. Seriously, Jill without her leather coat, boots, silver hair charms, and whip is like a bird without wings, but she manages to make those flimsy sneakers work for a bit, even as she has to kick some hellbreed ass. Poor Jill jumps out of the frying pan and right back into the fire, especially when she finds out her old nemesis Perry may be much more than he seems, and he’s got a diabolical plan in the works, one that could result in the destruction of the world as we know it.
Many times, this series has chewed on my heart and spit it out¸ and Jill did it again in this one. Jill seems to think there is something missing inside of her, but as she fights for the lives of all she holds dear, it’s never so obvious that Jill is the kind of person, the kind of fighter , we should all aspire to be, even if for most of us that doesn’t include a gun and a whip. Her love for Saul, the gentle werecat that won’t leave her side, is heartbreaking in its intensity, and one of my favorite urban fantasy love stories. Angel Town is pretty much non-stop on the action, and the author’s usual talent for building stomach churning menace is on full display. Jill will stop at nothing to stop Perry and she’ll see help from some expected and unexpected places. Angel Town was an amazing finale to one of the best series in urban fantasy!
While I was sad that Angel Town was the last book of one of my favorite series¸ Jill Kismet was certainly ushered out in style. Not that I expected anything less. As soon as I finished Heaven’s Spite, I immediately started Angel Town because, well, at the end of Heaven’s Spite, Jill dies. I mean, Ms. Saintcrow really didn’t leave me a choice. I’m not giving anything away since it says right in the cover copy that she’s back from the dead in Angel Town, but I’m really glad I waited until it was out to read Heaven’s. So, Angel Town begins with Jill literally clawing herself out of her grave, and it is a visceral, gritty, violent scene which sets up the rest of the book perfectly, as well as providing Jill with a rebirth of sorts. She doesn’t immediately remember who she is, but a certain blue-eyed man will help her with that (as well as return her gun to her). I’ll admit, I got a kick out of Jill’s trip to WalMart for some jeans and sneakers. Seriously, Jill without her leather coat, boots, silver hair charms, and whip is like a bird without wings, but she manages to make those flimsy sneakers work for a bit, even as she has to kick some hellbreed ass. Poor Jill jumps out of the frying pan and right back into the fire, especially when she finds out her old nemesis Perry may be much more than he seems, and he’s got a diabolical plan in the works, one that could result in the destruction of the world as we know it.
Many times, this series has chewed on my heart and spit it out¸ and Jill did it again in this one. Jill seems to think there is something missing inside of her, but as she fights for the lives of all she holds dear, it’s never so obvious that Jill is the kind of person, the kind of fighter , we should all aspire to be, even if for most of us that doesn’t include a gun and a whip. Her love for Saul, the gentle werecat that won’t leave her side, is heartbreaking in its intensity, and one of my favorite urban fantasy love stories. Angel Town is pretty much non-stop on the action, and the author’s usual talent for building stomach churning menace is on full display. Jill will stop at nothing to stop Perry and she’ll see help from some expected and unexpected places. Angel Town was an amazing finale to one of the best series in urban fantasy!
July 31, 2012
I have a habit of picking up books in a series out of order. Got this from the library just because it seemed kind of interesting. Maybe that affected my enjoyment of the book, I don't know, but it didn't work for me.
Maybe it was because I arrived late, reading the last book in the series first(!), but the start was promising. Jill Kismet wakes up in a grave with no memory. I figure, hey, that's fine because I don't know what's going on anyway. I'll learn as she does. It didn't really work out that way. Despite the fact that she starts out with no memory, she gets it back pretty fast. Lots of characters and terms that maybe I should have been familiar with but wasn't. I just couldn't keep up with it and halfway through the book I was pretty confused. But I had to finish. There was a lot of action. Maybe too much and that sort of added to the feeling of confusion. Seems like there was rarely a pause to take a breather.
So I was a little disappointed. I mean I like strong, gun-and-knife weilding, leather-wearing women as much as anyone else, but Kismet seemed to have too much attitude for the tender moments to feels convincing. By the way, why does every female urban fantasy protagonist seem to have a stud were-creature for a boyfriend? I have to admit that I don't read much urban fantasy, but that seems to be the trend.
Saintcrow's prose through Kismet's first-person narrative is at times beautiful and evocative, but more often wanders into purple-prose territory, which means a lot of scanning of paragraphs for me. Got kinda old. Also, she gets lazy with the word fuck. I'm not a language prude but the "fucks" just got repetitive, like filler for dialogue.
But, hey, I'm not saying it's awful. It just didn't do it for me for a variety of reasons. If it were a movie I can see myself digging it. A lot of visual action going on in there. And I did like the story. I just didn't like Jill Kismet telling the story to me. If I were a fellow Hunter in the book, she and I probably wouldn't be close friends. I'd get tired of her voice.
I probably won't go back to read the other books in the series, but I'd be willing to read another by Saintcrow. I don't generally give up on an author after one book, or even one series. It might be that this one just wasn't for me. So, two stars. It was okay, not awful, but it didn't stand out and I couldn't like it enough for a three
Maybe it was because I arrived late, reading the last book in the series first(!), but the start was promising. Jill Kismet wakes up in a grave with no memory. I figure, hey, that's fine because I don't know what's going on anyway. I'll learn as she does. It didn't really work out that way. Despite the fact that she starts out with no memory, she gets it back pretty fast. Lots of characters and terms that maybe I should have been familiar with but wasn't. I just couldn't keep up with it and halfway through the book I was pretty confused. But I had to finish. There was a lot of action. Maybe too much and that sort of added to the feeling of confusion. Seems like there was rarely a pause to take a breather.
So I was a little disappointed. I mean I like strong, gun-and-knife weilding, leather-wearing women as much as anyone else, but Kismet seemed to have too much attitude for the tender moments to feels convincing. By the way, why does every female urban fantasy protagonist seem to have a stud were-creature for a boyfriend? I have to admit that I don't read much urban fantasy, but that seems to be the trend.
Saintcrow's prose through Kismet's first-person narrative is at times beautiful and evocative, but more often wanders into purple-prose territory, which means a lot of scanning of paragraphs for me. Got kinda old. Also, she gets lazy with the word fuck. I'm not a language prude but the "fucks" just got repetitive, like filler for dialogue.
But, hey, I'm not saying it's awful. It just didn't do it for me for a variety of reasons. If it were a movie I can see myself digging it. A lot of visual action going on in there. And I did like the story. I just didn't like Jill Kismet telling the story to me. If I were a fellow Hunter in the book, she and I probably wouldn't be close friends. I'd get tired of her voice.
I probably won't go back to read the other books in the series, but I'd be willing to read another by Saintcrow. I don't generally give up on an author after one book, or even one series. It might be that this one just wasn't for me. So, two stars. It was okay, not awful, but it didn't stand out and I couldn't like it enough for a three
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