Starting with Urban Shaman by C. E. Murphy, this series follows Joanne Walker, half Irish have Native American woman now living in Seattle and forced into being a beat cop and a Shaman after coming back from Ireland and her mother’s funeral.
That… was a mouth full.
So, this is going to have spoilers. And I am publishing this BEFORE I publish the rest of the individual book reviews because I just binged this series in a couple of days. And I am not kidding.
What does this series get right?
Writing, to begin with. This book series, of which I don’t think any of the novels are actually particularly long, sucks you in and the fact that it is a plot driven series really keeps everything moving.
The CHARACTERS! Joanne is an interesting character (but, sorry, I can only imagine her with long hair, or at least shoulder length. I just don’t think the spiky hair is really her) and handles situations in a unique way that is consistent for her character. Morrison, I couldn’t get enough of. He is such a great boss and foil character, and he really shows the most growth of the other characters, while staying consistent with his own morals. Morrison pushes Joanne to be a better cop, to think before she just does things, and that she can be a lot more than she thinks. And, once she finally leaves the force, he shows what he’s wanted to do. That he can be there for her, no matter what. That he can stay behind and give her what she needs from far away, in Raven Falls, without rushing in to save her, which is what he does in Mountain Echoes when she asks him to drive Petite all the way to South Carolina.
The stakes. In a number of ways, the stakes never get higher than they were in the first novel, when it comes to the world as a whole. Even the final book (can I please get some more short stories of Morrison and Joanne after this, please?) the stakes are… surprisingly similar to the first book. Because they were started there. The damage is greater, but Joanne has been racking up damage all through the series.
The other romantic interests. I love Thor. I really loved that, even though it was always clear it would be Morrison, something Thor even seems to openly acknowledge at the beginning of Walking Dead, when he is acting like the rest of the friends during her drunk interaction with Morrison (definitely didn’t agree with his costume choice). But we got a taste of that, and Murphy did a great job of really satisfying that curiosity as Joanne was interested in him from the get go. And he still lived through everything. (I’ll take Thor, please.)
Action scenes. This author knows how to write them.
What didn’t I like?
Okay, so, before I get into this, I wanna discuss something else first. After binging this series, I then went on a hunt for the short stories (only a few) read those, then went hunting for fanfiction. It…. doesn’t really exist? I found a few people who have posted little things, but it is nothing like the other urban fantasy novels out there. And I can’t help but wonder… why? And I think the below reasons might contribute to that.
There is rarely a time when Joanne’s actions are truly character driven. When she works on her car, between novels when she keeps going under to try and figure things out. But, most of it is story/action driven. Even when she finally kisses Morrison, it is because she basically has to to save him. Morrison’s decisions aren’t action driven, he was just waiting for her to quit the force so that they could be together. That was never really a secret, as much as Joanne wanted to deny it, he gave her a choice much sooner of being a detective or them being together. He kept it her choice. And, I think it really would have maybe worked out better for Joanne if, as Gary told her, she had enjoyed things more and taken time for herself. She really didn’t need to be a detective for the work she was doing. She could have left, and Morrison could have started calling her what she really was all along, a consultant. We could have had a lot more of Morrison and Joanne. I mean, Coyote was great, but the whole time I was chanting Morrison, Morrison.
There is so much action in this series, action that the characters definitely grow through and learn from, but we don’t get many quiet moments. Even the quiet moments are tension filled (awkward double date definitely included), and I just wanted some more sweet moments. A book that gets compared to this, other than the Jane Yellowrock series (haven’t read that, I’ve read the Soulwood series instead which was amazing and had lots of slow bits), is the Mercy Thompson series. That series has the problem of the climax and main issues constantly getting bigger than real life (I still read them, but, they aren’t the same as the first 8 or 10 anymore), but does so well with it’s characters.
The last big problem? JANE DOESN’T LEARN FROM HER MISTAKES WHEN IT COMES TO PEOPLE! Oh, hello Judy, who never uses my real name, sure, I’ll just help with all the things. Oh, coven, you are doing things I’m still skeptical of, guess I’ll do them because the spirit animal told me to. GHAHAHAHAH. Same with the chick and brother. Clearly that was odd. And, I just don’t see Morrison actually falling for that and having the girl already spending the night at his house. He just doesn’t seem like the type.
Overall, I really liked this series and really do recommend it. If you are looking for something that has a good amount of romance in it, keep walking. If you want something with a lot of action and a really great multi-book arc and slow burn, this is a fantastic series. Wonderful monsters that, from the first book, are really built into it. We aren’t discovering things new out of left field, we are discovering new things that seem…. honestly, reasonable.
