The Scent of Shadows: The First Sign of the Zodiac (edition 2007)

unreadable

a remarkably uneven book.

during the first half, we're learning about a bizarre new world right along with the heroine - it's dark and odd and confusing, and makes for compelling reading. this first half is capped off by possibly one of the best love scenes i've ever read in a dark fantasy, wherein the sex is not only steamy, but you get the very firm idea that the characters actually do LOVE each other.

after this, the heroine descends into the actual other world, and all of a sudden, it gets more than a bit cliched. our chick is getting her superhero tips from a comic book shop, and the villains are utterly one-note.

all in all interesting enough to check out the sequel(s), but not as great as the initial pages promised. ( )

The first of the series; this one's a keeper. While the overall tone of the book was dark, there were bits of humor sprinkled in appropriate places. The main character, Joanna, is what my grandmother would call "a real pill"; full of cynical, sarcastic, get-out-of-my-way at-i-TUDE.

There are touching moments, there are kick-butt moments and there are "eeewww" moments. This one was hard to put down. When I finally did finish it, I went straight to the computer to find out how to get the next one in the series. ( )

I know that some will argue that this book does not fall into the category of urban fantasy, because it does not involve, fae, vampires, werewolves, or any of the other usual suspects; however, I am going to call this urban fantasy, because it takes place in Las Vegas, which is an urban setting. I know that this is thin ground to stand on, but I am going to nonetheless.

The Zodiac warriors actually have powers and special weapons assigned to them based on what astrological sign they are born under. Joanna, the protagonist, is The Archer because her mother was a warrior of light and her father a warrior of the dark, and she shares her birthday with her parents. Her birth and ascension was foretold in their mythos, which btw can conveniently found in comic books written about them. Joanna refers to herself and the other agents of light as super heroes

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My full review: http://coffeecookiesandchilipeppers.blogspot.com/2012/03/scent-of-shadows-by-vic... central character, Joanna, is a strong female, who has survived a terrible assault to become a reasonably normal adult. The book is written in the first person, so we get a great insight into her thoughts and feelings, and she is a generally sympathetic character, so I was invested in finding out more about her and her past. The other characters are mostly well drawn and there are some nice relationships: I especially liked her barbed sparring with Olivia’s BFF, Cher. However, I felt like Chandra, as “the angry competitor for her role who hates her at first but then has to grudgingly admit that she’s quite good” was more than a little generic, even down to the fact that Rachel mistook her for a man at first. The world that Ms Pettersson builds is mostly believable, and quite well detailed. The zodiac theme feels a little forced and I would have liked some reason why the warriors are identified by the signs. There is talk of them being a separate race from humans, but some more details would have helped this to seem less random. I was also confused as to the true number of the warriors: it sometimes reads as if there is a set in each town or city, but then that makes Joanna’s role as the Kairos seem a bit strange. Also, I really struggled with the instruction manuals for being an agent for either side being produced and kept in a comic store: this made very little sense and was almost reason for me to stop reading. This was just silly and was a major stumbling block. Hopefully, these problems will be addressed in the later books. One aspect that I really did like is the Light’s use of cats as guardians because they can identify Shadow warriors: this is a nice way to incorporate our perception of cats and their supposedly supernatural powers . . . little Tiddles doesn’t like that guy down the street because he is an agent of the Shadows!My biggest issue with this book was the pacing. I almost gave up with it several times during the first two thirds because it was so heavy with exposition and so slowly plotted. Fortunately, the plot reaches a turning point, after which Joanna starts to kick some ass and the pace picks up nicely. I understand the need to establish the world, the characters, etc., but this was very hard going, and I spoke to several people who had given up before getting to the turning point. I hope, again, that this is not an issue in the later books. This is not your traditional vamp-ridden urban fantasy, and that is refreshing. Plus, it is nice to have a heroine who is grumpy and paranoid, but has a really good reason to be like that: the assault robs her of her innocence, her mother and her boyfriend, so we can forgive her for being very defensive. It is a little rough around the edges, however, I am glad that I stuck with the book as it has great promise and it seems that this is her first published novel, so I can cut the author some slack: I am looking forward to reading the second book in the series. ( )