Labyrinth

Kat Richardson’s Greywalker series is noir at its finest; and it reaches the darkest tones ever in the fifth book, Labyrinth. In fact, this book is unrelievedly dark, scary and suspenseful. Richardson topped herself with the fourth book in this series, Vanished; now she has topped herself yet again.

Labyrinth requires one to have read the earlier books in the series; it does not stand well by itself. In fact, I was astonished to find how many clues Richardson had lain about her fictional detective, Harper Blaine, as she told her earlier stories. The way she marshals all of the details previously set out reminded me of the way a lawyer writes a motion for summary judgment – grabbing this detail from that document, another from this show more deposition, a third from a bit of investigation by an expert, until they’re all woven together to form an airtight case – only here, what Richardson is doing, is formulating a plot that seems inevitable once all the clues have been assembled. It is skillfully done.

In Labyrinth, Harper returns home from London only to step into a nest of snakes – well, vampires, actually – immediately upon her return. Within the first fifteen pages of the book, Harper is attacked by a man – and I use the word “man” loosely – who wants her dead so that she can once again be resurrected, this time with further abilities to not only see but manipulate the Grey, the netherworld between life and death, the place where ghosts dwell and psychic energy has appearance, color and shape. Harper survives that encounter, but is forced to go into hiding at the same time she must be out and around in order to conclude her investigation and make sure she and her friends survive. Fortunately, the vampires she must avoid sleep during the day, but that isn’t sufficient protection when the Grey is constantly clamoring in her head, ever louder, and blood mages who remain fully human are laying traps.

Richardson has shown herself to be an able researcher in Blaine’s past outings, and, while history and geology are less necessary to this plot than in the earlier novels, she uses what information she needs here very well. Her mastery over her character and her character’s past is impressive as she weaves a tight net over Harper, but rarely lets Harper lose control. When Harper is overcome from time to time, Richardson makes us understand and even feel it, telling Harper’s story almost as if she is narrating a documentary instead of writing fiction.

I stayed up late a couple of nights in a row to finish this book, and would have stayed up through the first night to read it all if it hadn’t been that my husband, slumbering beside me, would probably not have appreciated a comatose wife on Thanksgiving Day. It is compelling; the writing propels you from event to event, and being able to listen in on Harper’s torment as the Grey reaches ever more deeply into her brain, her body and her soul is fascinating and frightening.

I don’t know where Richardson is going to take Harper next. It's hard to imagine that she could again reach the peaks she's attained with Labyrinth. I’m definitely signing up for the next tour, though, because Richardson has earned a devoted follower in me. show less

Richardson took us on a ride this time! I had many bleary mornings because I could not put the book down the night before. I was fascinated by the change Harper was undergoing as well as the new abilities she gained with each passing day. The mystery of what Wygan would use her for was just as riveting and became more horrible as more was revealed. A thoroughly exciting story. The only thing I hold against the author is the torturous ending, where she almost had me believing Harper wasn't coming back--till the very end! ;-) I loved every moment of torture and suspense.

this book Harper returns to Seattle to find things a mess. Edward's been kidnapped, the serpent-like vampires are taking over the city and their leader Wygan has something horrible planned for Harper, if only she knew what. So all she has to do is rescue her dad's ghost from Wygan, avoid getting killed (again), and figure out what Wygan's big plan is. Easy right? Luckily she has Quinton to back her up and will also get some help from the Danzigers. Overall a great addition to the series and a must read for fans. Richardson does a great job of tying up lots of little loose ends. Not as much action or interesting research as in previous books, but still a fun read all the same.

I was really anticipating enjoying this book. I liked the book before it and this one was supposed to be the culmination of a lot of plot threads. We were supposed to get some answers. And we sort of did. My spoiler-ific breakdown of how this broke down:

I'm really glad the author didn't invoke some tired device, like claiming her big bad was actually King Tut or Cleopatra as a vampire. Thank you for that. However, she instead created a new type of monster--a type of vampire--that just wasn't working for me. So they're the same as other vampires, except they are slower and feed off emotions. Ok, but not all of them work this way? And some of them are sustained by the original vampire, but some aren't? Why? Why, why, why not just make it show more a normal vampire? I don't understand the reason behind creating a new type when you have the original kind in your story already.

They used guns? Why? They attacked her apartment? Why? Why did some characters hate her so much?

Also, so much exposition. And traveling. Lots of getting from point "a" to point "b" and all the description involved.

And please, if you're being hunted, why would you go to your friends who have a toddler without at least calling first to see if it's ok? And what's up with the dog? Sure, it's always fun to have dog interaction--good tension breaker--but why add something else to an already complicated storyline?

I do like this author and this world she's created, but this book just didn't come together for me. show less

I've finally figured out why some readers find Kat Richardson a challenge to read. Though her descriptions are vivid her style is more narrative than a discourse. She demands your attention by making you chew her words slowly. If you tried reading the Greywalker Series and decided that it's not for you, I am asking you kindly to reconsider. You might have tried to speed read and sad to say it doesn't work like that. You have to take your time and imbibe Harper Blaine's story and I understand that not rushing is, in itself, a challenge for us who are part of ADD generation. Maybe this series will convince you to slow down and enjoy a good book once in a while.

This is the fifth book is the Greywalker series by Richardson. Last I heard she was contracted for six books in this series. This book was a great addition to the series. I enjoyed how it tied up a lot of the loose threads presented in the previous novels.

In this book Harper returns to Seattle to find things a mess. Edward's been kidnapped, the serpent-like vampires are taking over the city and their leader Wygan has something horrible planned for Harper, if only she knew what. So all she has to do is rescue her dad's ghost from Wygan, avoid getting killed (again), and figure out what Wygan's big plan is. Easy right? Luckily she has Quinton to back her up and will also get some help from the Danzigers.

To be honest I liked the last book show more "Vanished" a bit better than this one; that one had more action and just plain old more interesting things going on. But, this book does an excellent job of tying up all the weird random stuff that has been going on throughout the series. Quinton is in the story a lot more and I enjoyed that; him and Harper have such a nice normal relationship despite all the weird stuff going on around them. Carlos also joins the story again and it was nice to learn a bit more history about him, he is a really interesting character. Cameron also makes a reappearance and in a big way.

Not a ton more world-building is done, but we do get to see Harper learn how to do new very awesome things with the Grey, so that is a lot of fun. As I said there isn't as much action in this book as in previous ones, there is a lot of planning. Richardson usually focuses on an area of research for each book and that wasn't as apparent in this book. The research that is presented deals more with the Egyptian vampires than anything else.

Many things are wrapped up in this story and, given the somewhat cliffhanger ending, I am kind of wondering what will happen to the story after this book. It seems like most things are resolved and given that there was only one more book on the contract for Richardson I am wondering if book six is going to just be a wrap-up book or if she has had more books added to her contract and we will see the start of another huge storyline with Harper.

Overall a great addition to the series and a must read for fans of this series. Does a great job of tying up lots of little loose ends. Not as much action or interesting research as in previous books, but still a fun read all the same. I look forward to finding out what Richardson does in the next book. show less

I didn't like this book much, though I'm not sure it is the fault of the book. It seemed to drag most of the time, and the explanations of the supernatural were much more metaphysical and hard to grasp than earlier books in the series. It also felt like a lot of navel gazing on Harper's part.

I'll still follow the series because it looks like it gets back to normal after this one, this book is a lot of origin story fallout and wrap up.