Red-Headed Stepchild by Jaye WellsSabina Kane series
ISBN# 978-0-316-03776-1
Available now
Published by Orbit/Hachette Book Group
Format: mm pbk., 342 pages
Genres: fiction, urban fantasy
This is the first book in the Sabina Kane series, now I have to wait a whole year for Mage in Black. There's one thing in Sabina's world that isn't explained well, luckily I watched Bitten By Books video interview with Jaye before reading the book. Who knows how long it would have taken me to figure out that apples, and any products or bi-products, are what rob vampires of their immortality. It's hardly mentioned in the book, so although vampires are being staked with applewood the why is a mystery. Be sure to visit the "extras" section of her website for some flash fiction and the playlist for Red-Headed Stepchild.
Sabina Kane is a mixed blood, mage and vampire, and maybe the only one allowed to live. Being a mixed blood may have made her an outcast, but being an assassin for the Dominae (the vampires' ruling council) has made her a pariah. She takes her first step into unknown territory when she's ordered to kill the closest thing she's ever had to a friend in a vampire named David for suspected treason. That same night she's given her hardest mission yet, she must infiltrate the Temple of the Moon (basically a cult) and find out what their leader's real plans are before killing him. When she gets home a demon is already there waiting to kill her, and while looking for her "in" to the cult she picks up a mancie tail who saves her yet claims to have sent the demon. A person doesn't expect to make friends while infiltrating a cult, but that's exactly what happens to Sabina. Suddenly she has no idea how to do her job while keeping her new friends in the dark about her assignment and safe. Sabina's future becomes even murkier when information from Clovis (the cult's leader) pans out and shows an even darker side of the Dominae.
I liked this book a lot, and the reasons I liked it are probably the very same reasons some people didn't. Sabina is not a hero, she's an assassin, and occasionally she kills humans while feeding. I think most of the readers that really didn't like Sabina, either didn't finish the book, or they just couldn't see where she was coming from. She can clearly see a cult for what it is, but for most of the book she's unable to see the manipulations that bind her tighter than any rope. Sabina doesn't come out a hero by the end of this book, but the blinders are finally off. What frustrated me a little was how long it took for her to "wake up" when we the readers knew what was happening from very early on. Should the reader know what's going on 100 - 200 pages before the protagonist? I think it just leads to the reader being aggravated. I highly recommend this book to urban fantasy fans, especially those looking for anti-heroes. If you don't like Sabina yet, keep reading.
Zhye
I like your review of this book.
ReplyDeleteI read this book a month ago and i loved it, while so many disagree with me.
I agree with you it was frustrating to see the heroin struggle to realize what we could see from the beginning, but i think she had to go through that.
I can't wait to read the next Sabina Kanes
I'm really looking forward to "Mage in Black" too. I agree she had to take her time coming to terms with all the manipulation. If she'd have seen right through it she would have been less believable. I almost didn't pick up this book at all because it seemed everyone that had read it just downright hated Sabina. After reading it myself the only conclusion I can draw is that they were comfortable with the same old heroine and have no idea what to think of Sabina.
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