Emma is a siren, banished from Olympus by Demeter for
failing to keep Persephone safe, she now must seek redemption by saving
kidnapped women and girls as an FBI agent if she is to ever have any hope of
returning to Olympus. And in the meantime she must avoid any romantic
entanglements or risk Demeter’s spite
Which makes her new partner, Zach, who she previously had
a fling with, very complicated indeed. Especially since he’s a werewolf with a
difficult past and fleeing political turmoil in his pack.
But emotions aside the job calls, people are going
missing, people without any apparent connection between them – it’s their job
to find them, preferably alive.
The story and world are definitely appealing – Emma is a
cursed Siren and we have a wonderful new take on Siren mythology (especially since
siren mythology is one of those that has several different versions). Emma’s
quest for redemption, without any real confidence of ever being redeemed, is a powerful
one – but not one that eats up the story with angst. She seeks redemption so
she gets on with her job – she’s not happy with Demeter but she isn’t going to
curl up into a sobbing ball for pages of how miserable she is, but at the same
time her sadness, frustration and despair is apparent.
The book is a police procedural and I know that has been
done a lot in Urban Fantasy – but it works. It works because it is actually a
police procedural with the law and detective work and channels and procedures
to follow. “Detective” isn’t a job just used as a title to justify why the
woo-woo character happens to be involved in the latest case, it actually means
something. Which in turn leads to the story being compelling as Emma and Zach hunt
down leads, follow up possibles actually have to interview people and work and
chase dead ends and generally do police work.
It’s got a wide world that has only been hinted at but
already leaves me eager for more – the different werewolf packs and politics
from that, the vampire kings and their own politics. With lovely extra twists
like the vampires not wanting to reveal themselves to humans because they
distrust the humanity of humanity! Because human exploitation, arrogance and
cruelty is such that they think it wiser to hide from them – I love that twist.
When it comes to romance there’s usually a lot of tropes
going on that give me headaches – but this managed to navigate them well, much
to my happy surprise.
Firstly, there’s no love at first sight or love at first
woo-woo – there’s attraction that grows into more and there’s also history
between them. Just the fact they have been together before, that they know each
other, that they’ve worked together gives a foundation on which that attraction
and emotion can actually be built upon rather than just racing to the “rawr,
sexy times!”
There’s a curse preventing true love with Demeter’s wrath
falling on any man she forms a meaningful relationship with. I know, I started
the eye-roll – doomed relationship, curse, conflict, angst – but hold those
rotating eyeballs! This actually works! It works because it is developed, it
works because there’s a reason behind it and, most of all, it works because the
protagonist doesn’t just ignore it! She doesn’t just say “oh I’m cursed woe woe
angst angst cry me a river, I am the saddest panda of all!” and then ignore the
curse until it conveniently shuffles off and goes away. She changes her
behaviour because of the curse, she tries to work round it, she tries to
actually end a doomed relationship. And, at the end of the book, the curse
hasn’t magically vanished. This is a curse that is there for development of
Emma and her relationship – not just introduced for some easy conflict and
angst. It has meaning, it has a purpose it is part of the story.
And there’s a jealous ex, a violent jealous ex who hates
Emma – yes, those eyes are rolling again! But no, because she is humanised, she
is given a full set of motivations. Her relationship with Zack is given context
and meaning. And her anger at Zack leaving has far more basis than a woman
scorned – there are other consequences, other things happening with her pack
and her life that are affected by Zack leaving and she’s gone out on a limb not
just for herself but for her entire people. So, yes, she’s pissed at one of the
main impediments to Zack coming home and sorting shit out.
I could probably sum up the romance in this book by
simply saying it takes so many of those romance tropes you love to hate – and
then does them RIGHT.
We had some diversity as well. While the protagonist and
her love interest are both straight and white, two of the semi-important side
characters are gay men. Their relationship is some of the motive behind the
evil in the book, so there is an element of a destructive relationship, but
it’s not the cause of the evil, merely the perpetuation of it and the evil
stems from their deep emotional connection and caring not from any of the usual
tropes which are, thankfully, absent. I’m not comfortable with the Siren power
ensnaring a gay man, however, since mystically forcing a gay person to be
attracted to the opposite sex has bad connotations and is badly used in
fiction.
Emma’s best friend, Liz, is a WOC. She’s a witch who uses
her witchy powers to help Emma which can be fraught territory – but she’s just
one more supernatural in a sea of supernatural rather than being the super
special magical helper. In fact, in terms of this story her magic could have
been non-existant and the character would still have stood as a good friend of
Emma’s.
And she is a good friend – which is not just surprising from a racial standpoint, but also from a gender standpoint. Far too many women in this genre are either completely alone or only have friends that exist to be side-kicks and helpers. Liz and Emma are friends. They spend time together, they have lunch together. They talk about their life troubles together – and it is “their”. Because while Emma complains about her Demeter-ness and falling for Zack, equally Liz talks out her commitment issues with her boyfriend and the fact that he is a vampire. In fact, when Liz has a crisis, Emma rushes round to talk to her – even in the middle of a case – Liz is an important enough part of Emma’s life for her to be a priority. That is depressingly rare in urban fantasy. We see no end of characters willing to drop everything to rush to the protagonist’s aid – but it’s unusual to see a protagonist willing to do the same for a friend or for the friend’s issues ever to be considered important enough to be worthy of such attention from the protagonist.
Beyond that, Emma is also extremely skilled at what she
does – she’s successful, she’s a powerful witch and she’s beautiful – and
beautiful in her own right rather than a “oh woe is me my friend is so much
prettier than me” fashion that is, again, depressingly common in Urban Fantasy.
Which is another element of Emma that I like, she is
beautiful, she is supernaturally beautiful as a Siren and she’s aware of the
fact. And she tries to hide it because it gives her away as a siren which she
is trying to hide. She never angsts about her looks or having to hide, she
never worries about not “making the effort” nor does she make her disguise
pretty – nor is she stunningly gorgeous but unaware of the fact. She wears a
plain-Jane disguise and is happy with that, she doesn’t need it to be more, is
irrelevant to her daily life and she’s still attractive to Zack despite it.
Emma is also competent at her job – and beyond a “I have
magic powers and they do the work for me” though, obviously, they help. She’s a
keen observer, which we see often in her descriptions and awareness of things
around her. She’s good at reading people, she knows the law, she’s methodical,
she does a lot of leg work, a lot of eliminating leads and comes up with a lot
of good ideas. She’s good at her job because she is good at her job and works
hard – not because of woo-woo (which helps make her truly excellent at her
job).
I also like that she’s deeply ethical. I complained that her asking Zack many questions and insisting on answers is jeopardising her secret since, naturally, he feels free to ask her questions. But at the same time the questions are asked because they have ethical implications – because him doing things legally and him not being involved in shady dealings are vitally important to her.
I also like her take on the old Siren myths, remarking
how history can be distorted by people’s biases and how women are used to be
scapegoats for all kinds of things going wrong
This book is one of the good ones. Not because it’s so
unique and different and odd – but because it is a solid Urban Fantasy. It
takes so many of the elements I love about the genre and it makes them work and
does them right. All of the old frustrating tropes are taken and ironed out,
the clichés made realistic, the characters fleshed out, the relationships
allowed to flourish.
I love the story, I love the world, I love the concept
and I love the characters. Now bring me book 2 so I can love that as well.
