Cat o’ Nine Tales: The Jane Yellowrock Stories
Author: Faith Hunter;
Format: Audiobook;
Narrated by: Khristine Hvam;
Publisher: Audible Studios (2013).
This audiobook consists of 13 paranormal fantasy stories about Jane Yellowrock, a shapeshifter and vampire hunter whose business card reads, “Have Stakes—Will Travel”. She has a mysterious past and is not quite sure about her future, either. Jane is very confident, however, in her ability to hunt down the darker characters in these stories and banish them from this world, in one way or another.
These stories are not always told from Jane’s point of view, which made them a little difficult to follow for me, a newcomer to this author and her characters. One story really threw me off, as Jane didn’t even appear in it. That was backstory, and I’m sure that readers of the series (starting with “Skinwalker”) would get a lot more out of them than I did.
However, it did give me an idea of the writer’s talent. The characters are all well-drawn, although there is definitely a lot missing about Jane herself. She is portrayed as a good guy, although I doubt I would feel that way about her in person. She travels around the South on a motorcycle, working for hire to kill vampires, witches, and werewolves. Not all of those creatures are bad, apparently. Jane’s best friend is a witch. Her sometime employer is a powerful vampire from New Orleans. Her old lover is a werewolf. They all live among humans, but occasionally, one (or a group) will act up and need extermination.
The action is well written and fast-paced. I could definitely follow everything and imagine the atmosphere. This isn’t a genre I read very often, but I was impressed by the work.
Ms. Hvam’s narration was fine, although it seemed like the southern drawl was very forced at times. Timing was good, the inflection was very clear, and the different characters interacted well.
I would recommend this book for those who like paranormal action with strong female protagonists.