Yvonne Navarro

Before reading Highborn, I was familiar with Yvonne Navarro only as she had written a few of the Buffy, the Vampire Slayer novels. I had enjoyed her writing based on one of my favorite shows of all time (no small thing, that) and was definitely interested to see what she would do with characters and a world of her own creation.

Highborn was a deeper, more developed story than a lot of the urban fantasy coming out today. Brynna had a nice fish-out-of-water thing going for her that helped make show more her hardened demon personality understandable and humorous at times. Her character was the highlight of the novel, but almost equally enjoyable was the way the story always had a surprising wist just as things were starting to settle down. Every time it seemed like the story was wrapping up, something other, completely plausible, thing happened to continue the tale. Obviously, all those unread pages at the end of the book should have been my first clue, but it was so easy to get wrapped up in the story that I wouldn't even notice I was no where near the end.

I don't have much interest in reading about demons living in hell and because of this, Highborn's prologue made me wary of the story to come. Luckily, the prologue was short and gave just enough information for the reader to get an idea of Brynna's previous life without giving too much of that information up front. As the story progressed, we learned more about Brynna's experiences, but in bits and pieces as they related to the current plot progression. This did wonders for keeping me fully interested in the modern, Earth-based story.

I never go out of my way to read books about demons, angels, fallen angels or any of the other Heaven/Hell flavors, but I plan on doing just that with the Dark Redemption series. Brynna is a character that I need to follow, need to know more about and need to see how life works out for her. Highborn is a great book. show less

AFTERAGE was a whole lot of freaking fun!

The vampire apocalypse has already occurred and entire cities have been decimated. With isolated survivors cut off even from each other-how could a premise this good go wrong? The good news is, it didn't.

What I liked most was the...I guess I'll put it as...different levels of vampire. They have differing levels of energy and power. I won't even get into the Queen. (That's what I'm calling her.)

I also liked how the story of each survivor, (or show more surviving group), was introduced. I think it takes a special skill and confidence to jump into a story with a large cast and Yvonne Navarro did it deftly and with panache. I never felt that the story was lost or unwieldy. It all came together in a most satisfying way.

With a lot of strong female characters populating the landscape of vampire-ridden Chicago, how could I not enjoy this book? I especially liked Louise and her little dog, Beau, and of course, I had a fondness for Jo as well. (Though I could not help being reminded of Swan, a character in another GREAT post apocalyptic tale. Bonus points if you know what character and/or book I'm talking about.)

AFTERAGE was written in the 90's but it doesn't feel dated. I think that's because there's no electricity in this world, so phones and the internet would be out of the picture anyway. Even though decades have passed since this was written, the characters and themes involved are timeless. They still worked their way into my heart, and perhaps if you let them, they'll work their way into your heart as well.

Highly recommended!

You can get your copy here, (but read my 2nd note below first!): https://www.amazon.com/AfterAge-Yvonne-Navarro-ebook/dp/B004J17GTO/chashorcor-20

*I read this book because of THE HORROR SHOW WITH BRIAN KEENE podcast. (They're doing an online book group and this is the second book they're reading.) I probably wouldn't have made time to read it otherwise, so thanks to the HORROR SHOW crew for bringing it to my attention. *

**This is not the edition I read. I read the copy included in [b:A Haunting of Horrors: A Twenty-Novel eBook Bundle of Horror and the Occult|23995027|A Haunting of Horrors A Twenty-Novel eBook Bundle of Horror and the Occult|Chet Williamson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1437541338s/23995027.jpg|43595795]. The individual novels therein do NOT come up in a search of one's Kindle library, but luckily I pulled up the book and happily discovered AFTERAGE was in there. I only mention this in case you have this volume as well. ** show less

This was a slightly different take on a fallen angel needing redemption. The book starts just before the fallen angel, demon, left hell. We are shown a tiny bit about what it was like in a prologue then the book jumps right in at Chapter One within a few minutes of her arriving on Earth. The action begins there, too, as she is running for her life. We never quite find out how she got to the mortal plain but Navarro does a great job of presenting this nonhuman's first few days in Western show more Society.

Brynna is basically a sociopath at first. She knows (or remembers) nothing of love or friendship or selflessness. She does what makes sense for her at that moment. Even her quest, to gain redemption so she can reenter the kingdom Heaven, is based on selfish reasons. She isn't evil anymore in that she doesn't try to hurt anyone but it doesn't occur to her to protect, either. She has no emotion when someone is murdered in front of her, just considers the situation. She does try to catch the perpetrator but when she is blocked by a locked door she stops and moves on with her own business.

It's a process as she figures out how to function in this society and what is appropriate behavior and finally how to feel. This is a really important part of her redemption, learning to be human, learning to understand that her side of the war in Heaven was wrong for thinking God shouldn't hold these human closer to His heart than the angels.

The religion wasn't over the top at all, quite appropriate given the subject matter, but I did find myself thinking again about how the JudeoChristian faiths are so obsessed by the idea that we are so important and number one in the eyes of our ideas of our creator(s). Kind of egotistical, actually. But I digress.

I never quite feel that Brynna really is seeking to be redeemed. I never really see that she is sorry for what she did in Hell (she was not an innocent by any means and does remember it) or thatshe does good because it's the right thing to do. I do believe she has appropriate feelings eventually but I never really felt any deep emotion until the very very end. There is supposedly this connection between her and the love interest but I never felt it either. They were just words telling me what I should see but don't.

I do like the characters well enough and I think Navarro is good at making each a unique recognizable individual. The characters are multicultural and gender equal for the most part (but still no glbti folks). The world the author built works for me and is rife with possibilites.

Navarro has written a lot of Buffy comics and it shows. There is plenty of action and suspense and drama here and the pacing is great. The women are strong and complex and the men allow them to be. Brynna is special and really kick ass and she doesn't do dumb things, probably because she has little emotion. The men are strong, too, although the detective is appropriately but stupidly macho and does understandably do dumb things because he just doesn't get that he is useless against demons.

But there are a number of holes and major problems. Like they find a hit list and they never deal with it past the plot of the book. Hopefully it will be handled in the next book. At another point, the detectives find the scene of the crime for a missing person's case, and there is at least one major clue, but they say that it's nothing and one even asks, "What are we doing here?" Brynna also hides evidence that would solve the case from Eran and when he finds out he's mad for about two seconds then gets over it.

There are small things like in the beginning she sleeps behind a dumpster and is wearing the clothes she found and put on after climbing out of a marsh, two days ago, but no one notices that she stinks or suspects she doesn't have any other clothing, at least not at that point. Also, Eran gets a cell phone for her when he doesn't know her and has just met her and he signs up for a 2 year contract, not a prepay? She also won't eat "flesh" but fish is okay. UGH. Fish is flesh!

Okay, this is probably a dumb complaint but the hispanic names are all excellent, uncommon but believable, but Eran instead of Aaron? and she comes up with Brynna on the spot, a modern name with no meaning she mentions, but an appropriate last name? And a priest is Father Paul Murphy.' Really. No stereotyping there. Apparently no originality either.

So I'm torn. On the one hand I enjoyed the book and couldn't put it down but on the other, I just didn't care enough about the characters and I didn't quite get why they cared about each other so much. I think I would probably enjoy the next book but I am now drawn to it. That's unusual when I finish a book in a series. Usually, even if I didn't like it that much, I do really want to know what happens next. Here, whatever.

BUT there is a wonderful, believable kick ass dog so that brings the star rating from 2.5 to 3. Yes, I am easily pleased by dogs in books.

So I don't necessarily recommend it but I don't not recommend it either. Read someone else's review because this is probably no good to you at all. show less

Despite the torments of eons serving the Devil, fallen angel Brynna, holds on to a hope of redemption. She is determined to deserve the forgiveness of her Maker, and escapes her Hellish existence taking on the guise of a mortal with vague plans to earn her Grace. It is difficult for Brynna to assimilate in modern day America, she struggles to empathise with the concerns of humanity and understand everyday tasks. When a man is killed by a sniper in front of her, Brynna becomes involved in the show more investigation by Detective Eran Redmond for someone who is targeting Nephilim, those born of a human mother and angelic father, all the while hunted by the Devils minions, because He wants her back.Highborn is a strong start to this new urban fantasy series with interesting elements and characters. The fallen angel trope is becoming increasingly popular in the genre but Navarro gives it an original twist. Once an angel, and now a demon, Brynna is now hiding from Hell disguised as a human. It has been hundreds of years since she has spent any time on Earth and even though she finds astonishing beauty in the simplest of things, she is essentially removed from human emotions. She has to work to develop compassion and mercy given her natural inclination to violence. Brynna provides an unique perspective with her detached curiosity and I enjoyed the growth of her character as she becomes involved with different people and situations. There is the beginning of a relationship for Brynna and Eran, though it is not a dominant theme The pair face unusual challenges given Brynna's background and I will be interested to see how it develops. The storyline provides fast paced action and flows well. Navarro has firmly established the rules for her world without heavy handed tracts of text and combines the paranormal with the mundane seamlessly. The mystery surrounding the identity and purpose of the sniper is a little weak, but the author neatly weaves several disparate events together into a solid well written storyline. Highborn heralds an intriguing new urban fantasy series with a dark edge. I really enjoyed the strong characters and storyline and I'm looking forward to the second book,[b:Concrete Savior|9690825|Concrete Savior (Dark Redemption, #2)|Yvonne Navarro|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1293557633s/9690825.jpg|14578929],due for release early next month. show less