Eileen Wilks

Cullen Seaborn, the Nokolai werewolf and sorcerer has created a prototype that could change so much for the world – helping reduce the ongoing problem of the magical turn which is so destructive for technology. Albeit with a few side effects that still need ironing out

Those side effects make it all the more important to track it down when it is stolen. Made even more of a problem when the very existence of that prototype was supposed to be a carefully kept secret only known to Nokolai show more loyalists.

It becomes even more complicated when the thief gets in it – and it’s Rule’s unknown half-brother with additional problem of both Robert Friar’s evil manipulations and two different factions of sidhe.

I love Lily. I don’t think I’ve stressed this enough about how utterly awesome this character is. Because above everything else she is professional and she is sensible – and my gods that is so very rare in this genre

Lily is a cop and it permeates her character. I love to see that professionalism in everything –how she looks at every scene as a crime scene, how she sums up every person as a witness or suspect. Her logical, sensible way of summing up every situation she’s in with intelligence and logic. This is, more than anything, Lily’s super power. Not her abilities, not her immunity to magic, not any kind of fighting skill – but her intelligence and her professionalism. The way she approaches every mystery and investigation with keen intellect and steady progress is so excellent. Especially in this genre where most protagonists decide to “solve” crimes by hanging around until the bad guy tries to kill them (often with no apparent reason). Lily is a dedicated and capable investigator.

I also like the conflict of her development, especially how she needs rules to ensure she doesn’t step outside the law, I like the way she recognises what she is actually capable of rather than, again, so many protagonists who are happy to decide they are the ultimate authority and don’t need any pesky rules.

She’s also a woman of deep passion who cares desperately for those around her but makes decisions without emotion. All her decisions are rational. She cares about Beth, her sister and Rule, her fiancé but she doesn’t let caring for them make ridiculous decisions. She doesn’t have massive over-dramatic reactions to things like Rule not telling her everything or them having a disagreement. When Rule is going through difficult times Lily is so perfect, she’s there for him while giving

In fact that’s something else I love about this book – the relationships between the characters is so sensible without being emotionless. Beth, Lily’s little sister, is obviously a very different woman from Lily – but their relationship was meaningful and deep, their disagreements present but handled in a sensible manner without either side doing something ridiculous or turning against each other. I love the dramatic emotional moments of Beth, the complexities of her dealing with things like killing someone, even in self defence and what that does to someone.

Lily’s relationship with her friends and colleagues doesn’t feature as massively in this book but part of that is how awesomely those characters are presented – because Cyna, Ruben, Sam etc all have their own lives, their own issues and their own battles. They’re not all their for Rule and Cullen and Lily to call upon whenever they want – because every character is so very heavily involved in the meta plot of this world

Which, again, I say is amazing and I would head this review with that because it’s awesome – but Lily is definitely one of my top 10 favourite protagonists in the genre and has to take first billing

I love this world. I love the epic, I love the building of the ever more epic conflict. I love the development of the differing factions and societies: honestly, I would gladly read a textbook on sidhe culture in this world because the development is so excellent. Including differing factions – yes differing factions and complicated politics and beings that are not so much good or evil but just alien. This is what I really like is how we realise that the Sidhe just have radically values and culture to humanity – as they should. Even with their goal being for reasons completely beyond anything Cullen and Lily had imagined because the Sidhe goals and values are society is so different from anything they knew.

Which brings me back to relationships – because so often Lily can be in opposition to someone yet still have a lot of respect for them which we see here again. She can build a rapport even with her kidnapper because she respects them and can see their point and because they’re actually characters and not just demonised evil. This applies to the odd twist of Beth’s love interest as well.

That political and cultural development also is expanded excellently with the werewolves, the different lupi packs, the different relationships between their packs and what it means for Rule to be both second in command of one pack and Alpha of a different pack as well as relationships between the

This world building continues not just from cultures and magic and also mechanics. Again, I would read an entire book of Cullen exploring the possibilities of magic and how it works. I love how they don’t have all the answers, that they do have theories and a lot of exploration and experimentation and thinking which is very real.

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This is the anthology that got me into paranormal romance. I ADORE the Alpha & Omega series - it is the root of my love of a traumatized heroine. I've read this story over and over. I also love Karen Chance's Dori books, so there are two of my favorite series on one anthology! I like Eileen Wilks' contribution well enough, though I need to get into that series a bit more, I think. Sunny's story did nothing for me, sorry. Maybe I'll give it another try at some point, but as I recall, it read show more like mystical woo woo porn to me. I like sex in my books, but as far as I remember, I didn't like that story. Oh well, this book gets re-read so often, I am sure I'll try it again at some point. show less

Every now and then I read a review that mentions something along the lines of, "I'm not going to summarize this book because you can read the description."

You kids are so cute with your functioning memories. Despite having placed book #7 of the series on my TBR list, I did not remember the general plots of books #3-#6, so I decided that I must have skipped them. Until I reached the last third of Mortal Sins and recognized a particularly tense emotional scene. I thought I remembered how it show more turned out, but I peeked to be sure. So I will continue to remind myself of the plots, who narrates and all those silly things, because apparently, if I don't, I won't.



However, don't consider that a mark against Mortal Sins or this series. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that people who would like a police procedural combined with a world rich in lupi and magic could do far worse than to pick up Eileen Wilk's World of the Lupi series. In most of them, particularly the first, Detective Lily Yu and Rule Turner, poster boy for the lupi-rights movement, are the leading protagonists. As the series progresses, each book may bring in other viewpoints depending on the case being worked. Mortal Sins concentrates almost exclusively on the stories of Lily and Rule as they attempt to wrap up issues in D.C./Virginia area.

Mortal Sins has two major plots: the personal one of a custody hearing for Rule's son, Toby; and the professional one of a series of seemingly unconnected killers who are almost fatally confused and whose victims smell of death magic. I thought the balance between the two was handled quite well, resulting in Lily and Rule feeling like a typical busy professional couple who were trying to balance needs of personal, family and professional lives. When Rule discovers the missing victims and both he and Lily note the death magic, she eagerly takes over the case on behalf of the FBI. Meanwhile, as Rule deals with Leidolf pack issues from the last book, the press gets wind he is in town on personal matters.

It's fun to watch Lily work, as her competence, focus, and drive often set those unused to her off balance. There's often some power dynamics when has to work with other agencies, and Wilks doesn't shy from bringing up sex, race, or species issues. Honestly, it's always a pleasure. Lily's such a thinking person, and her technique is to ask frequent questions, which often results in interesting answers for both her and the reader. Rule, however, often seems to be the feeling part of the couple, an absolutely enjoyable turnaround from normal female and male characterizations. The investigation struggles at first, as the team tries to sort out likely from unlikely scenarios. The fact that a great deal of magic was let into the world seven months ago means everyone is still discovering ramifications.

Wilks does a nice job of keeping the focus on the investigation and the family issues without getting distracted too much by prior plots or side characters. That said, it is likely a series that is harder to pick up without reading book one and two where Wilks does a more thorough introduction to her world. There's a bit of awkward info-dumping in the beginning of this one, but it's a nice shorthand for those forgetful folks (cough, cough). I thought characterization was extremely impressive, from Lily and Rule progressing, to Toby's nine-year-old perspective, to Granny.

I'd recommend this series to fans of urban fantasy. I think if you wanted to like Anne Bishop's Others series, but found it boring and illogical, this might be more palatable. Or if you liked early Anita Blake (minus the multiple sex scenes; while present here, they are quickly completed). I also suspect fans of the earlier Kate Daniels might enjoy this; while there isn't the prevalent humor and new mythology, there's a kick-ass, competent woman in charge. Thinking about it, I'd say it most feels like Shaefer's Daniel Faust series, with less smart-ass. Really, it's become my new favorite candy series, although it feels more satisfying than your average Skittles. Maybe it's a brownie read: solid and satisfying.

Note: series continues to maintain it's lead for "Worst Cover Art for a Series," 2018 reads edition. show less

In deference to Mimi, I'm letting my four stars stand.

Lily's years in Vice and Homicide prior to making detective had rubbed the green off, but her shield was still shiny. She figured she could be philosophical about handing this one off to one of the senior detectives... after she conducted the initial interviews at Club Hell.

Originally read back in my urban fantasy heyday, Tempting Danger was written in 2004 and added to my library back in 2010 (I have no actual clue when I read it) with a show more four star rating. I'm guessing I found Wilks through an anthology, [b:On the Prowl|285212|On the Prowl (Alpha & Omega, #0.5)|Patricia Briggs|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1422192630s/285212.jpg|276710], back when I was looking for more UF that wasn't completely paranormal romance, and on that level, it mostly satisfies.

It begins with Detective Lily Yu at a murder scene, examining a person who has clearly been killed by a large animal. Werewolves, or lupi, are no longer shot on sight, but this killing could re-open human-lupi hostilities, especially as poster-boy-lupi Rule is the lead suspect.

Everyone else reacted. Not Turner. He didn't shift position by so much as a finger. Rather, he seemed to gather stillness around him like a force field, a quiet whose power lapped out over the others, gradually silencing them. He spoke two words: "Who died?"

The narration is third person and primarily from Lily's point of view. She's easily one of my favorite things about the book. Methodical and analytical, she feels like an experienced detective, despite being only 28. We get a solid sense of her background in the department, her strategies for dealing with her peers, and her sometimes-challenging relationships with her family. It becomes almost a running joke with her and Rule that she has "a couple more questions," both professionally and personally. Secondary viewpoint is from Rule, with very minor page time given to another lupi, Cullen.

The plot is interesting, and a nice combination of police procedural and UF Big-Bad-Threat. It moves quickly, and Lily and Rule's separate problems end up dovetailing nicely.

It's interesting, to go back and read a book in a genre that has since exploded. There were aspects that felt very tropish to me, which is to say, the way people acted was not particularly surprising. It made me think quite a bit about UF conventions and where they came from. The first Sookie Stackhouse came out in 2001, Kate Daniels in 2007, Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan in 2004, Rachel Caine published her first UF in 2003, Carrie Vaughn in 2004, Marjorie Liu in 2005, Karen Chance in 2006, Cassandra Clare in 2007, Patrica Briggs' Mercy 2007, Jeaniene Frost in 2007, Karen Marie Moning in 2007, Nalini Singh 2006. By contrast, the first Anita Blake was in 1993, so perhaps it is not any wonder that this had an Anita Blake vibe to it. Wilks also had solid history publishing romance before this series, so that is evident as well.

There's parts about this that feel perhaps a bit stereotypical, but Wilks writes with such skill that things that might have been eye-rolling for me in a lesser writer just seem appropriate, if not fantastic. For instance, a Native American doctor-earth healer, a grandmother with mystical connections and the precog in the wheelchair all had the potential to become ugly tropes but empathetically were not.

Verdict? This holds up on re-read to an older, less patient carol., who would easily give it 3.5 stars. If a detective-paranormal is your jam, bring on the bread. I think I'll be dipping in and out of this series to see what Lily's up to. show less