Written by C.E. Murphy, Urban Shaman is the first novel in the Walker Papers series, and boy is it a start. This novel follows Joanne Walker as, after returning back to Seattle from Ireland, she learns that she has powers that must be used to stop ancient mythical beings from being unleashed for eternity on the mortal realm. No big deal for your average cop mechanic. Who lost her position as a mechanic and as now a beat cop as punishment. The good news is she now has an impromptu sidekick in an old ex-football player cabbie.
This is a fun book. This is an urban fantasy book. And this novel is amazing. The pacing covers just a few days, and we get a grumpy tall female lead who works through life an is very complex. I absolutely love Walker as a main character. And all of the support characters are… exactly as fleshed out as needed for this story. The captain is grumpy but clearly interested in Walker (I don’t consider that any kind of a spoiler as I haven’t read the rest of the series), I enjoy all of her coworkers, and the bad guys are wonderfully complex and aren’t one dimensional.
The writing of this novel is just perfect. It hits the right pacing so that, as I read it, I saw a move, a world, unfold around me.
This isn’t a romance, and there is a LOT of blood and action in this novel. If you aren’t okay with that, then don’t read this book.
But, if you enjoy a novel with strong characters, excellent writing, action and adventure, and a complex main character, honestly this book hits all of those sweet spots. Highly recommend it.
