Genre:
Urban Fantasy/Mystery/Romance
Description:
“Shifters
across Alaska are going missing. When up and coming interior designer
Ametta Dorn rescues the gorgeous Kodiak shifter Lucky Osberg, she
comes into the crosshairs of two relentless hunters. While Lucky sets
his sights on wooing her, the killers seek to not only capture her in
her powerful polar bear form but to also take her skin.
To
prevent her murder and the deaths of other shifters, she must work
with Lucky to track down and stop these merciless hunters. After all,
their enemy’s plan for shifter skins is something much more
terrifying than collecting mere trophies.”
Author:
“Christine
Rains is a writer, blogger, and geek mom. She has four degrees which
help nothing with motherhood but make her a great Jeopardy player.
When she's not reading or writing, she's going on adventures with her
son or watching cheesy movies on Syfy Channel. She's a member of
S.C.I.F.I. and Untethered Realms. She has one novel and several
novellas and short stories published.”
Appraisal:
I have
read and reviewed several of Christine Rains’ novellas and I enjoy
the way she writes. Dark
Dawning is set in Alaska
and grabbed my interest right away with its Inuit mythology. I have a
weakness for Native American stories. However, I can’t recall
having read any stories about polar bear shifters before. I dove in
head first and devoured the novella enjoying the story till the end.
Then my mind started to question some of the events, like how did
that happen? Was a certain ritual being performed that wasn’t
mentioned? And where was Saskia this whole time? We know she was out
hunting the hunters, but why did she not find a way to communicate
with her family after a certain length of time? Was she that
egotistical and inconsiderate all the time?
Sorry,
I guess I jumped ahead of myself here. Saskia, Kinley, and Ametta
Dorn work together in a custom home building/design/renovation
business in rural Alaska. They are polar bear shifters and this story
centers on Ametta, the youngest of the three sisters. Her expertise
is in design and her dream is to move from Alaska and set up her own
design firm in a large metropolis far from Alaska. This has become a
source of contention within the family recently.
When
Ametta rescues an injured Kodiak bear who is being hunted by an elite
set of hunters the mystery begins. It seems that she and gorgeous
Kodiak shifter Lucky Osberg are on their own to figure out who, what,
and why. Ametta is head-strong, intuitive, and impulsive. It seems
like she can be her own worst enemy at times. Ametta
meeting Lucky has the potential of throwing a huge wrench into her
future plans. The sexual tension between them is palatable and
intriguing.
The
action is fast and furious and I became totally engrossed. The twists
in the story kept me off balance, which caused the questions above.
I’m pretty sure I’ve worked out some of the answers. The rest I’m
hoping will be answered in the following novellas. Characters are
developed in differing amounts, depending on their importance. Saskia
and Kinley are introduced with key personality traits and I suspect
they will become more fully rounded as the series continues. I am
anxious to learn more about the Black Shamans, the ancient police of
the shifters. Saskia’s association with them is briefly touched on
when they were brought into the mystery. The plot quest comes to
light at the end of this story, which includes some mystical
properties. So while one story arc is completed there is much more to
come as the hunt continues.
Bottom
line, I found this novella compelling but was left wanting. This is a
common problem with novellas for me. I think this may be a promising
new urban fantasy series with some original elements.
FYI:
Dark
Dawning is book one in
the Totem
series, of which there are six completed so far.
Format/Typo
Issues:
No
significant issues in proofing or formatting.
Rating:
**** Four Stars
Reviewed
by: ?wazithinkin
Approximate
word count: 25-30,000 words
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