Dana Cameron

I was very impressed with this first Emma Fielding mystery, set primarily in Maine. Emma is an archaeologist, leading a dig in south coastal Maine, at what she hopes will turn out to be an abandoned British fort that predates Jamestown. And then bodies start turning up . . . .

Her take on archaeology and academia felt entirely authentic, and lo and behold the "about the author" section at the end revealed that she is an archaeologist, so that accounts for it. Her Maine locations are almost show more entirely fictional, so she avoids inaccuracies that annoy natives like me, for the most part. (Except the very minor quibble that 95 is the interstate in Maine, so nobody calls it "Route 95", it's "I 95".)

The mystery is good, and the characters are realistic, neither too good to be true or so flawed you want to slap them (except maybe the ultimately revealed villain who was a bit over the top evil).

I would happily read more of this series. show less

Archaeologist/professor Emma Fielding hopes that her current field project will secure her tenure at the Maine university where she is the newest member of the Anthropology department. She believes that she has discovered the location of an English fort predating, not just the Plymouth colony, but also Jamestown. As her crew comes closer to discoveries that will confirm the fort's location, strange things begin happening. First Emma discovers a corpse on the beach. Then an armed treasure show more hunter forces his way onto the site and threatens to harm Emma if she gets in his way. Things continue to get worse from there, and as the crimes begin to pile up, Emma is puzzled to find herself a suspect rather than a victim. Like it or not, Emma is involved and can't rest until she finds out how these incidents are connected and who is behind them.

This is a very good start to a mystery series. The story is told with just the right amount of suspense. It has a nice balance between reason and action, so it might appeal to fans of adventure novels as well as traditional mystery fans. It has a bit more violence than most cozy mysteries, but not enough to put off most readers. It always irritates me when supposedly intelligent characters (like university professors) heedlessly put themselves in dangerous situations that a person of average intelligence would avoid, so I like Emma for her ability to curb these impulses, at least most of the time. This is a series I definitely want to continue reading. show less

This is a gift, it comes with a price
Who is the lamb, and who is the knife? – Florence & The Machine, Rabbit Heart

"This belonged to my sister-in-law," Prometheus explained. "Pandora."

A lump formed in my throat. "As in Pandora's box?"

Prometheus shook his head. "I don't know how this boxbusiness got started. It was never a box. It was a pithos, a storage jar. I suppose Pandora's pithos doesn't have the same ring to it.” ― Rick Riordan, The Last Olympian

You see what we do to each other show more over the slightest differences in religion or politics? We beat each other up over baseball games. We’ll kill over the wrong-colored bandana. What would we do faced with the Fangborn? – Adam Nichols, Seven Kinds of Hell


One thing you must know about this book before walking into the story is this – you hold in your hand not some simple, See Jane Run, Run Jane Run novel. If you are looking for minimal world building, simplistic answers, and only two or three characters with clear-cut goals, this book isn’t for you. It is so far out of the “let’s just do mindless entertainment” wheelhouse you can’t even see it from the top of the Pharos Lighthouse. Instead, this is a book of complexities. Of unknown alliances, political convolutions, archeological mysteries, and xenophobic hatreds worthy of any Shakespearean play. Families destroy one another, blood is spilled, and there is avarice, sociopathy, vigilantism, viciousness, and political infighting enough to fulfill any Roman Senate chamber. No, if your idea of a good book is simplicity, walk away now.

Ah, but if you are like me – if you long for convolutions, for amazing world-building, a plethora of characters with both known and unknown agendas, a modern storyline with tentacles reaching back to the beginnings of time, a deep understanding of the history, archeology and stories of the cradles of civilization, rejoice, my friend! For Dana Cameron’s words will reach out to you, grab your mind and inject it with adrenaline, force you to pay attention, to learn, and to madly mark up whole paragraphs in order that you might research the lands and stories she portrays. It. Was. AWESOME!!!

Of course, the idea that there are creatures in this world, those who call themselves the Fangborn, calls to my love of all things fantasy. And Ms. Cameron’s concepts of fantastical creatures are not simplistic either. “Vampires” harken back to the snake goddesses of Knossos and Minoa rather than being the more Germanic wall crawlers popular in modern literature. There is no disturbing of the laws of physics as werewolves retain their mass when changed, and, gratefully, their clothes! Rather than burning in the sun, these vampires crave the sunshine, as do their snake cousins, and use their fangs to heal, and their powers of mind control to protect. Very different than what one normally would expect – but then, Ms. Cameron also makes grand use of various animal entities from history, from the Egyptian Anubis to the Greek Medusa.

A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history. - Mahatma Gandhi

History is about to change, worlds are set to collide, and humans are, of course, acting like humans – and not exactly in a good way. No, you will not learn who all the characters are and what their alliances are in this volume of the story. Who exactly are the Fangborn who first approach Zoe? Who, or what, is Download and from where do his powers spring? Is Adam really to be trusted, or merely a mercenary, willing to change sides on a whim? More importantly, exactly who and what was Zoe’s father – and apparently more importantly, her mother? The book ends with the answers in Zoe’s hands, in a thin, coffee stained folder. Is it the truth? Is it a lie? Only time will tell. Well, and the next volume, should help of course! [bc:Pack of Strays|18984507|Pack of Strays (Fangborn, #2)|Dana Cameron|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1388717558s/18984507.jpg|27004482] comes out on April 15, 2014 (only a few days away, Hooray!) and my finger was hot on the preorder button. Shh, don’t tell anyone, but no matter what book is next on my spreadsheet, that one gets moved to the top!

I received this book from Justin Golenbock at 47North and Netgalley in return for a realistic review. All comments are my own and reflect my own interests. I want to thank Justin for this marvelous opportunity and look forward to reading the next book in the series! show less

Zoe Miller has spent her life on the run with her mother. She has also hidden a secret from her mother. Since she was sixteen, she has had to control her anger or unleash a Beast. Now that her mother has died of brain cancer, the family that they spent their life running from is catching up.

All of a sudden Zoe learns that she is fangborn—a born werewolf. To add even more complications, there are rival families of fangborn who are arguing about coming out to humans and who each want Zoe on show more their side of the argument. Zoe is an archaeologist who picked up an inconspicuous artifact from a dusty, long hidden box in the museum basement because it called to her. She didn't know that it would lead to the kidnapping of her cousin and a world-wide hunt to rescue him, discover Pandora's box, and reunite her with a long-lost love.

Along the way Zoe learns more about being a fangborn and learns that she is more unusual than she or the other fangborn could have imagined. I liked the adventure. I liked Zoe because she wasn't a superhero but was a young woman trying to do her best for the only family she had left. I liked the romance that was rekindled with Will.

I thought the plot was quite complex with all the various groups who were after Zoe. Between a secret fangborn US senator who is willing to manipulate anyone to bring about his version of the future and a human Russian mobster who things gathering the same artifacts Zoe is searching for will make him fangborn and various fangborn of different families, Zoe has her hands full.

The ending demands a sequel. I can't wait to read it! show less