Jaye Wells’ Green-Eyed Demon (Orbit/Hachette, March 1, 2011), her third installment in the Sabina Kane novelsย brings to a head the conflict between Sabina, a half vampire half mage, and her grandmother Lavinia, the leader (Domina) of all vampires and who raised her. Lavinia having kidnapped Sabina’s twin Maisie, who had been raised by the mage side of the family, has evil in mind. Can Sabina stop her? Find peace? Learn how to trust? Love?Most of the action takes place in New Orleans and the city originally freaks out the team of Sabina, Adam, and Giguhl as it’s so accepting of the strange. Some prejudice of non-supernatural entities is shown with an exchange between Sabina and Madam Zenobia (Zee), a voodoo practitioner, shopkeeper, and human. But in some ways that only highlights the prejudice that Sabrina herself faces as a scorned “half-breed.”
With fun characters – love the Demon Giguhl (aka Gigi or Mr. Giggles) and the just introduced fae faerie (you have to read this) Brooks or Pussy Willow – there is some humor to be found in this very taught book, but the focus is more on propelling the plot line forward than lingering too long in reflection or humor. Much like her character Sabina, Wells’ charges full steam ahead.
Having not read the other two entries in the series, I feel slightly at a loss, but Wells’ fills in enough back story to make the reader come up to speed quickly. However, I will be ordering those other two as I’d like to see the evolution of her characters.
Romance is seen between the mage Adam, who serves the leader of the mages (Orpheus) as one of the inner circle of guards, and the Sabina. It’s apparent that Sabina has issues – Giguhl gives her advice drawn from watching Oprah – and it’s not clear whether or not that will have an effect. Not going to give out any spoilers, you’ll just have to wait till Green-Eyed Demon is released to see.
Wells’ Sabina Kane reminds me slightly of Laurell Hamilton’s Anita Blake, but without Anita’s early vulnerability or the highly charged sexuality of the later Blake books. But Wells has similarity in styles which makes this a good read. To get a preview, read the first chapter courtesy of the author’s website.
See Amazon, for information on the series.
From the publisher:The clock is ticking for Sabina Kane. She has to save her sister from her mysterious captors. And in order to do that, she has to broker a deal between the mages and the vampires before all hell breaks loose.But as much as Sabina is focused on surviving the present, the past won’t be ignored. Before she can save those she cares about, she’s got to save herself from the ghosts of her past. Because the past is haunting her. Literally.
