Red-Headed Stepchild (Sabina Kane, #1) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Feb 14, 2010 Kay rated it it was amazing

Shelves: urban-fantasy, awesomesauce

I LOVED this book! This is my first five star read this year, and to come from an author I knew nothing about, well, it is a pleasant surprise!

Where to start? Well, RHSC is really pure, action-packed, no-frills urban fantasy. But it is just plain funny! Even though this was a tough book, it was also really hysterical. Jaye Wells has a great sense of humour and here is one scene that I just have to share:

--"Why haven't you exploded yet?" The demon was closer now, only a few feet away. I opened on I LOVED this book! This is my first five star read this year, and to come from an author I knew nothing about, well, it is a pleasant surprise!

Where to start? Well, RHSC is really pure, action-packed, no-frills urban fantasy. But it is just plain funny! Even though this was a tough book, it was also really hysterical. Jaye Wells has a great sense of humour and here is one scene that I just have to share:

--"Why haven't you exploded yet?" The demon was closer now, only a few feet away. I opened one eye to look at the arrow. Blood bloomed from the site of impact, just over my left breast.

"I—I don't know." Holding myself up became difficult as the seconds passed.

"Hmm. I wonder if I should stake you just to be sure."

"I'd really prefer it if you didn't," I said. "I'm sure I'll ignite any second."--

The book only gets funnier from there. Jaye Wells manages to fit in humour in the most unlikely of places - a lot of it coming from her astounding secondary characters. I was head-over-heels with the demon!cat Giguhl and the mysterious!hot!mage Adam.

The universe is a super complicated one and even though we are tossed straight into the action, it is still an easy verse to get a handle on. She somehow manages to incorporate humour, world-building, appropriate sexual tension, and politics into her faeries, mages, vampires and demons. Wells says she is inspired by Kim Harrison, and while I can see that in her work, I have to say that I much prefer her work over what I have read from Harrison so far.

As for Sabina, well... it took a while for me to warm up to her. She is cold as ice at the beginning of the book, and I wondered if I could like a character who seemed - at least to start with - to be utterly devoid of a concience! But it meant that watching her open up - even a little bit - to new people with different ideas became very satisfying. Although I am still not in love with Sabina, I understand her. I see masses of potential in her and can't wait for the next book!

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Jul 02, 2010 Sherri rated it really liked it

Red-Headed Stepchild is the debut novel from Jaye Wells, so there is a bit of background development and world building in the book, but not too much that it slows the pace down. What makes this different than your typical urban fantasy/paranormal novel is the different take on the heroine that the author takes. Not only is the heroine one tough chick, but she really doesn’t start out as a likeable character. She is a half-breed vampire assassin sent to kill in the name of the vampire council an ...more

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