Keystone

I had only read one of Danikka Dark's previous books and really enjoyed it, but for some reason I have not jumped into anything else of hers. When she reached out to me to see if I would be interested in reviewing her new book KEYSTONE, I looked it up and decided it sounded interesting enough that I wanted to give it a try. I wasn't aware that the Crossbreed series is a spin-off of the Mageri series until after I was done reading it, but I didn't feel like I was missing anything, so if you are new to Dannika Dark's books, I say jump right in.

Raven comes off tough, independent, bad-ass and confident, but you quickly realize she is really lonely, has plenty of flaws and she has a vulnerable side to her as well. When she has the chance to show more join Keystone, she is both apprehensive and excited. Her time there is anything but smooth and proving herself to be part of the team is harder than she expected. Raven is the main character, but let me tell you, all the other characters are just as entertaining and part of the story as her. Each team member brings their own unique skill set to the team and without one, the others couldn't do everything that they do. I loved watching them work together and I really felt that they were a family.

There isn't really any romance in KEYSTONE, but there is a connection that I wish would have been explored more. Raven and Christian had a love-hate relationship that could totally be a hot romance if they were allowed to explore things. I have to say that them not being able to and Raven not wanting to in the end really bummed me out. On the other hand, this character came off as a really big asshole sometimes and a man slut on top of that, so maybe it's a good thing? I guess we will find out in future books.

I will totally be reading more of the Crossbreed series. I enjoyed everything from the characters to the world and the story line. I look forward to watching them all grow and I think I might jump into some of Dannika's backlist books as well.

* This book was provided free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. show less

This one constantly beat me over the head with pseudo-wisdom.

Furthermore, it's supposed to be "show, don't tell" not "show and tell".
It's really sad because it does the "showing" part pretty well but then redundantly explains everything anyway for good measure in case the showing didn't work.
Everything is spelled out in excruciating detail in a way that made me cringe quite a bit.

Apart from that, there is a bit of personality switcheroo going on.
Trust between protagonists is there and gone constantly for no other reason than to keep the drama going. This is a bit vexing because at its core the trust conflict is a fitting plot device that could've worked much better with a bit more planning and maybe proofreading.

I was eye-rolling a lot show more because of the thick layers of clicheés the plot is wrapped in.

Let's say it's just not particularly original or interesting in any way.

Even though it is a much better contribution to the Mageriverse than "Sterling" was, I don't think it deserves 3 stars. Let's say Sterling was 2.0 while this one is more like 2.9 (or 1.5 vs 2.4 if you do proper rounding I guess). show less

I was attracted to this book by the reviews and ratings. I figured with the genre and the vast quantity of books in the series (and by the album art) that this wasn't going to be deep reading. It's nice to have some fluff once in a while. The beginning of the book seemed to deliver, but then it sort of lost its way.

The point of the main group, Keystone, was vague and fluccuated between hit squad for the rich & powerful and freelance investigative unit. It sort of makes sense at any point in time, but over the course of the novel it seemed more and more ridiculous. The mysterious leadership of the breeds contracted out killings to this group when they couldn't prove guilt enough by normal means. But that same leadership group are the show more ones making the rules. Why pay this outside group to do this stuff, and why does this outside group randomly start caring about evidence and proof of guilt at odd times.

The characterizations are also pretty flat. I know that's to be expected, but with such a large cast I was hoping for a bit more. I never really got a good sense of who the main character, Raven Black, truly was. Her desires and motivations shifted from scene to scene. For someone who's been effectively homeless for five years I didn't get much of that vibe from her either.

The story itself was okay. The bad guy never seemed like a real threat. The challenges presented all seemed to have much simpler solutions than the characters chose. I don't think I'll be reading anything else in this series. show less

I was attracted to this book by the reviews and ratings. I figured with the genre and the vast quantity of books in the series (and by the album art) that this wasn't going to be deep reading. It's nice to have some fluff once in a while. The beginning of the book seemed to deliver, but then it sort of lost its way.

The point of the main group, Keystone, was vague and fluccuated between hit squad for the rich & powerful and freelance investigative unit. It sort of makes sense at any point in time, but over the course of the novel it seemed more and more ridiculous. The mysterious leadership of the breeds contracted out killings to this group when they couldn't prove guilt enough by normal means. But that same leadership group are the show more ones making the rules. Why pay this outside group to do this stuff, and why does this outside group randomly start caring about evidence and proof of guilt at odd times.

The characterizations are also pretty flat. I know that's to be expected, but with such a large cast I was hoping for a bit more. I never really got a good sense of who the main character, Raven Black, truly was. Her desires and motivations shifted from scene to scene. For someone who's been effectively homeless for five years I didn't get much of that vibe from her either.

The story itself was okay. The bad guy never seemed like a real threat. The challenges presented all seemed to have much simpler solutions than the characters chose. I don't think I'll be reading anything else in this series. show less

3.5 of 5 stars

Listened to audio narrated well by Nicole Poole. She did an amazing job with the varying accents, making listening to the diverse characters effortless on a readers part.

Raven Black is an unauthorized, undocumented and unregistered turn, and worse she's half mage and half vampire. She's been living on the streets as a rogue, scraping by and serving vigilante justice for supernaturals preying on humans. She was never properly trained and has no idea how to use most of her powers or her skills.

When the Keystone group approaches her she's distrustful at first, then hopeful that she might finally have a place in the supernatural world but she's on probation and she's not very good at following rules.

Keystone is a group of show more supernaturals gathered by Viktor to hunt down the most notorious, untouchable, outlaws in the breed world. They are an eclectic group that I look forward to getting to know better.

-Viktor - shifter, leader, financier, father figure and final decisionmaker
-Christian Poe - broody Irish vampire, former bodyguard, Raven's assigned partner who's opposed to her joining the team, yet he's attracted to her and things get a little steamy between them although no fraternization is allowed.
-Niko is a blind healer mage, with some serious fighting skills and a great scene stealer. He can see what most people can't.
-Gem Larou a brilliant mage, that knows sixteen languages, decipher codes, loves gems and looks like a pixie with purple hair.
-Wyatt Blessing the gravewalker, he can communicate with ghosts and they can tell who belongs in a cemetery as well as an avid gamer and computer geek.
-Shephard Moon the sensor, he can read emotional imprints left behind a scene as well as give and receive sensations.
-Claude Valentine is a cheetah, and fabulous hair dresser, catering to elite clients.
-Blue is a shifter that can retain awareness when she shifts.

While the book had a lot of potential it also had problems with consistency, making the world building spotty. It also felt like the author was telling a reader things rather than showing us. All of the above makes a reader stop and ask questions, pulling them out of the story. I hope this is just first book in the series problems and the second book in the series will be better.

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3.5 stars.

Nothing special but a quick and easy read. The main characters all really annoyed me. Still a bit interested in where it will go though, so something was done right.

This was an exciting urban fantasy about half-mage/half-vampire Raven, and her attempts to find a place for herself and do right in the world.