Black Dust Mambo

Black Dust Mambo kept a fast pace with action packed scenes, a few that were very intense, that included bits of snaky humor. It encompassed the stereotypical Cancun people speak along with the traditional superstitions of voodoo/hoodoo conjuring and practices, which are two of the reasons that I really enjoyed this book. Adrian Phoenix made these stereotypes work for this book in the form of making more authentic and turned it into an intense, fun, sit-on-the-edge of your seat story. Kallie kept me laughing and cheering her on with her boisterous personality and the intense scenes surrounding plot gave me a very real feel for those in danger. Oh, and there is a very sexy nomad with blond dreads that I have a particular fondness for show more named Layne. Can't wait to read more about him.

I found Black Dust Mambo to be written in a different style from Adrian Phoenix's Maker Song series. The world building didn't seem as complex, which made this story move at an easy fast clip. I'm definitely going to pickup the next book in this series. show less

2.5-3 I love Adrian Phoenix's Maker Song series but this was nothing like it. Kallie the heroine- she brash, rude, makes stupid choices and punches her friends in the face for trying to protect her. Her friend Belladonna is almost exactly the same. I was so taken aback by their weak choices, unbelievable actions and misplaced distrust I could not enjoy the story. I just did not like either one of them. They treated their male friends with such disrespect...Well I just couldn't get past them.
The story was slow paced and dragged. I found myself confused several times when POV's changed, trying to figure out who was who ? The second 1/2 of the story moved at a quicker pace and was easier to follow but I still did not connect to the show more characters. I finished the story and was left hanging- a cliffhanger ending ARGUH ! I am very sorry to say this series is a complete miss for my taste. show less

2.5/5 stars

I have to be honest. This book was a big disappointment for me. Maybe I was expecting too much from it, but it fell short in multiple places for me. I read [b:Caught Forever Between|13431124|Caught Forever Between|Adrian Phoenix|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327779514s/13431124.jpg|18922942] before I read this book and it was great! I loved the author's voice, the characters, the world. Admittedly that story was written farther along then this book, so maybe this series matures to that, but I'm really not interested in pursuing that hope after this book.

Kallie wakes up in a hotel bathroom after a night of partying. When she goes to join her paramour of the night in bed she finds him dead, murdered and his Clan brother show more knocking on the door demanding to see him. The spell was meant for Kallie and not only is she trying to find the killer gunning after her cousin, herself, and her childhood friend, she has to deal with her one night stand's clan, and the HA police force breathing down her neck. It's a great start. Unfortunately it flounders from here as the MC proves she's really not that bright.

My issues:
1. The italics. Oh for the love of god. There's a flag on the field for excessive use of italics. There must be a penalty box here somewhere. These useless, annoying, repetitive italics are used to peer into the past, from years, to moments ago. Unfortunately the interesting past parts are repeated ad nauseum (I get it, her mama tried to shoot her!) and the more recent italics memories are repeats of previous parts, word for word, paragraph for paragraph at times, or simply could have been added to the normal text, considering they happened 30 seconds ago.

2. The punching. Kallie, get some anger management! She punches undeserving people repeatedly, and I mean to the point of broken noses, for things like following her to protect her. She punches the equivalent of a police officer, and nobody even blinks. That's what tasers and flexicuffs are for. This does not make her bad ass any more than the fact that other characters are amazed when she says "please" and "thank you". It just makes her a bad person who doesn't seem to deserve these friends of hers.

3. Superficial as hell. There's a dead guy in your bed and you're thinking his friend is hot? I'm sure he is, but let's have a little shock, a little tortured reality beyond "aww, all my fault, so sad, man he's hot...". They're all this superficial, and it's in beyond silly ways. I mean it's nearing the end, the bad guy is out there, they can't get up with loved ones to have things confirmed or denied and they go to judge and compete in a wet boxer contest? Idiots that deserve to die for 1,000 please. This entire scene was so silly I was just in shock. I wanted to personally hex all of them. Preferrably with VD's.

4. Layne and Augustine. Seriously, you're using a guy's body and doing that to him? If it had been a man in a woman's body there would have been screaming and ranting from readers. I don't see how this is any better with man on man. That's seriously not hot to me.

5. The end mystery wrap-up is ridiculous. She almost dies because of a case of mistaken identity? WTF. Absolutely useless. It just killed all the suspense. Bad guy! Oh wait, still bad guy, but nothing to do with you.

There's more even beyond this, but these were literally so eye rolling for me that I wrote them down to remember for later. There's promise here. The idea is good at least, even if I hate all the characters. (Soo annoying. If anyone ever mutters "Hellfire" around me I will pull a Kallie and break their nose). It's just superficial all over, from characters, to place, to magic evaluation. It should have been dark, gut wrenching, magical, scary, any of the above and overall it was yawnable, boring and made me just hope for the end to get there. Maybe she'll publish another novella for me to enjoy. Preferably one where the author is not trying to set up an annoying, superficial relationship/triangle. show less

Review posted here: http://offbeatvagabond.blogspot.com/2011/02/review-adrian-phoenix-black-dust-mam...

Anyone that knows me knows that I am a big fan of Adrian Phoenix. That is why I had to buy this book. Her Maker's Song series is one of the most amazing series I have read. But Ms. Phoenix has managed to make me love her even more with her new series Hoodoo. This was an amazing debut and I can't wait for the next book.
This book holds nothing back. You are instantly thrown into the action and it won't let go. This book starts off with Kallie waking up next to her sexy nomad, Gage, remembering the hot night they had. But that hot night quickly turns to dread when she realizes Gage is dead. He was hexed to death. Quickly we are show more introduced to another nomad who is quite sexy named Layne (my new book boyfriend). Hot, tall and blonde dreads (a new little feature I enjoy) and him and Kallie have a strange connection, albeit wrong given the circumstances, but still. Layne knows something is wrong and finds out his best friend is dead and he believes Kallie to be responsible.That does change fast though, thank God, I would have hated if they didn't get along.
We are introduced to a multitude of new characters in the first couple of chapters. All of them bring so many different levels to this book. After Layne, we are introduced to Kallie's best friend Belladonna Brown (definitely sounds like the name from a '70s blaxploitation film) and she definitely acted as such. She was one of my favorites in this book. She is hilarious and naughty, but always has Kallie's back.Then we meet Layne's ex-wife McKenna, another fiery character who acts bigger than she is (she is referred to as being a leprechaun). Then we meet Dallas, a man whore and fellow friend who was sent to spy on Kallie by her aunt who seems to be behind everything. Also Augustine, whose job is to investigate the murder and who seems like a stick-in-the-mud, but becomes quite likable.
This book has the same format as the Maker's Song series. It is still set in the beautiful city of New Awlins (Woohoo!) and we are shown everybody's side in this story. But one thing that was different was the comedy. Maker's Song is a very dramatic and tragic series and the only release really is Von. This book has as many light moments as dark moments. It is very well balanced. One of my favorite moments in this book is the wet boxers contest naughty Belladonna judged in and got Kallie to throw the water in.
Something that I always love about Phoenix's work, is that you don't know where her books will go. That was definitely no exception here. You think you got a handle on things and then it takes a complete right turn. We are thrown bunches of curve balls and every one of them makes you more interested in the story. There was not a dull moment for me and the ending is proof that book 2, Black Heart Loa, is going to start with a bang.
Overall, if you are looking for something fun, sexy, and fast paced with a plot with plenty of twists, this is the book for you. It is a great Urban Fantasy, a great suspenseful mystery, and it is about Hoodoo, which is very new to me. I hope to find others about hoodoo magic because this really peeked my interest. Highly recommended! show less

I liked this book. Yes yes I know, if I start like that you know I'm trying to lay the groundwork against a lot of fuckery to follow. But, no, really, I like this book.

The story follows Kellie Rivière, hoodoo practitioner who has gone to visit a magical carnival run by the Hecatean Alliance, kind of international magic police/UN. It's a time to party and play with your fellow magical practitioners and Kellie has a blast – until she wakes up and finds the guy she slept with last night is now dead in her bed. And worse, the magic seems to have been aimed for her.

She now has to deal with her dead lovers surviving friends and family, the Hecatean Alliance officials and the shadows of her own traumatic past while trying to find out who is show more trying to kill her, her friends and her family in the name of an ongoing vendetta.

I think one of the things I love about this book is the variety of magic. We have a lot of supernatural worlds in urban fantasy where you have a thousand different magical creatures, such diversity is common. But far too often we just see “witches.” And that's it – they're witches. Magic is magic. But here we saw wiccans and hoodoo and voodoo and more formal Hecetean magic – it's interesting to see the variety of magical traditions there and the promise of more to come in future books. It interests me it does.

It was also fairly new to focus on voodoo and hoodoo as the primary characters' magical tradition. Too often these traditions are the antagonists, the evil darkness, the unknown, the scary. It's nice to see the change.

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You may also read my review here: http://www.mybookishways.com/2011/04/review-black-dust-mambo-by-adrian.html

When hoodoo honey Kallie Riviere tries to snag a little fun at the Hecatean Alliance's annual carnival, she's treated to the shock of her life when she finds the lifeless body of her nomad fling on the bed in a pool of his own blood. Shocked and horrified, Kallie calls on her BFF Belladonna for help. When the Hecatean Alliance accuses Kallie of murder, all hell breaks loose. Or should I say, all hoodoo? As the investigation gets under way, Kallie finds out that one of the people she trusts the most, her aunt, may be involved, and it's up to Kallie to find out what secrets she may be holding, even if it means the unraveling of show more everything she holds dear. Black Dust Mambo is a magic drenched, sexy, carny ride that you won't want to get off of. Kallie is a great protagonist, sassy and smart, and I kept turning the pages, hoping to find out what secrets she holds in her past. Her best friend, Belladonna is a spicy voodooine with a foul mouth that frequently had me laughing out loud. Then there's Layne Valin, the sexy Vessel, and best friend to Kallies deceased fling, who's out to avenge his death, and who has more than a passing attraction to Kallie.

This book was just so much fun! Ms. Phoenix is wonderful at building atmosphere in her novels, and that talent is certainly on display in Black Dust Mambo. You can almost hear the sounds of the bayou and see the voodoo magic swirling, and who doesn't love a carnival? Especially a carnival full of illusionists, magicians, witch doctors, and a very memorable wet-boxers contest. Yes, a wet-boxers contest. Rounding out the fun is murder, mayhem, zombies (not those kinds of zombies), a villain bent on revenge, and a mystery that'll keep you riveted! The only thing I didn't like about Black Dust Mambo was that it ended, and I'll have to wait until June for the next book in the series, Black Heart Loa! show less

To start off, I have not read any other of the Phoenix books. I picked up the book based on the title, the premise, and what I read in the description at Amazon. As anyone knows who has read my reviews, all you have to do is mention Louisiana and it's people, culture, and belief and I am right there, trying it out.

This book is not the best I have ever read on the subject, but it is very, very far from the worst. I have great hopes for this as an ongoing series, it shows great promise. It does, indeed, take place in one 24-hour period. Some people didn't like that, I found it a great take on a beginning. But then, I liked the series "24" also. Fast action is my forte. What is more interesting to me is world-building and character show more development. Phoenix does the one in a fast, solid, believable manner, which I find quite encouraging. Hers is a realistic subculture, which could very much be set within our own world. The character development is short, but concise, and will give us the opportunity to learn the characters over time. I like that.

As for the comment from one reviewer that the Voudon was not well realized, one must realize that not everyone is a Voudon practitioner, just as not everyone is Catholic. Those are some strange rites there, too, but I don't have to know how to do them, or necessarily want to. And besides, if I want a lecture on Voudon, all I have to do is go to my bookcase. But be that as it may, she may not have gotten it 'right' in some expectations, but this is, after all, a novel. Right?

As for the 'romance' I really liked that it was, in some people's estimation, "slow." Hey, this WAS set in a 24-hour period, right? Shouldn't it take a bit of time to develop a 'love interest'? So many books of this type today are thinly veiled erotica with very little story line, it is refreshing to see a female lead not jumping right into bed in the first chapter with the character you hope to see as the 'love interest'. I am hoping Ms. Phoenix allows the relationship to grow over time. MUCH more interesting in the long run! (Of course, I wouldn't have kicked Gabe out of bed either - a shame he had to get killed off in the first 2 pages! lol)

I didn't really care for the language that much - I despise the word "ain't" and cringed every time it came up. But, having lived in the South for thirty years, I understand what the author is saying - I just don't have to like it! But, then again, it wouldn't be realistic without it, so, be that as it may.

All in all, I have already downloaded "Black Dust Loa" and am looking forward to seeing if she meets the promise of the first book. I am also checking out her other books, and will find it interesting to see if Ms. Phoenix lands on my "must read" list. show less