Skip to main content

Greywalker by Kat Richardson

Once again, the cover struck me first. She looked interesting to me. Like she knew things. And I liked the slanted city she leaned up against, looking like a character in its own right. I love it when a particularly city or a particular building is a main character in a story. The whole thing is that much richer for it. The good news is I wasn't wrong. Harper Blaine does, in fact, know things. Things she'd rather not know, as it turns out, but know things she does. And the Seattle of Greywalker is a dark, wet, teeming character, and you can tell Kat Richardson knows her way around the place and loves it for all its dark, wet, teemingness.

Harper Blaine is a P.I. who finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time and winds up dead. For two minutes. After she comes to in the hospital things are....different. Suddenly she sees shadows and outlines of figures who aren't there. At least not on this plane. And just like that, she's forced to accept a whole new worldview. One in which the creatures of nightmare and fairy tale drift along beside the living. They exist in an alternate plane known as the Grey and Harper is a greywalker, a mortal who can cross planes. What that ultimately means is up to Harper to find out. Fortunately, she has a few good friends to help her figure things out, including a witch, a ghost, a couple of vampires, and one extremely tall auctioneer with silver hair.

In case this description sounds like the last urban fantasy you read, let me dispel that thought. Greywalker reads like Raymond Chandler meets Charlaine Harris' Harper Connelly mysteries. The emphasis is on the noir, hardboiled private investigator about town. At first, the paranormal events are almost an afterthought. They come to play a much larger role as they begin to alter Harper's life, but the mystical never overshadows the gritty, real feel of the book. It was a nice surprise, different from what I was expecting, and I enjoyed getting to know Harper and how refreshingly adult she was about things--her job, her relationships. Not always trying to prove her worth to anyone and everyone who crosses her path. I look forward to following this series as it develops.

Labels:

Comments

  1. Kimberly Swan4:19 PM

    Something you said really struck me, it was about her not always trying to prove her worth to everyone. That's true through each of the books, and she's a very down to earth character who treats people equally. Great review Angie. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Angiegirl5:02 PM

    Thanks! She definitely stood out to me as being down-to-earth and someone I'd like to have as a friend, as opposed to some of the more glittery, super powerful heroines of UF.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thea1:39 PM

    Dang. Another book to add to the pile! Great review Angie--I agree with Kimberly above. The usual out to prove to the world UF heroines are great, but can get tiresome, and I would love to read an 'adult', more secure heroine.

    Thanks for the rec!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Angiegirl3:45 PM

    You bet, Thea. Harper would fit the bill, I think.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ciara5:15 PM

    Fun. I've been meaning to read this series, since the author lives near me and it's set in Sea-town. But I didn't know anyone who'd read it yet, and I hate to be the ginny pig. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Angiegirl5:31 PM

    I know what you mean, Ciara. I held off for awhile and then received a copy as a gift. I'm very glad because I like the characters and tone of the series a lot.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

You Might Also Like

The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker by Leanna Renee Hieber

This book has made the rounds and no mistake. I started seeing early reviews awhile back and read a few delightful interviews with Leanna Renee Hieber and found myself intrigued to read her first novel-- The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker . I was, therefore, tickled to receive a copy for review from Ms. Hieber and quickly set about settling in. I knew it was a Gothic paranormal mystery of sorts, featuring (among other things) a group of loyal comrades, a private London academy, a bit of magic, an albino, and a swoon-worthy broody professor a la Richard Armitage in North & South . *moment of silence for the awesomeness of The Armitage* And that was the extent of my pre-reading knowledge. That and the fact that I loved the cover with its simple yet moody, midnight blue and its slightly off-kilter, scripty title. Miss Percy Parker is about to embark on an adventure, albeit a much larger one than she imagines. Leaving the convent--the only home she's ever known--a...
9 comments
Read more

Review | The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vols. 1 & 2 by Beth Brower

I feel a bit giddy finally talking to you all about this series. If you'll remember, I fell madly in love with The Q  when it came out a few years ago. Now, Beth Brower is writing The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion — a series of novellas set in London in 1883. Each volume is an excerpt from the incorrigible Emma's journals, and the first two volumes are already available with the third on the way soon. I think they'd make rather perfect pandemic reading. Humorous and charming down to their bones, they're just what the doctor ordered to lift your spirits in this uncertain time that just proves to be too much some days. If you're experiencing one of those days, I suggest giving Volume 1   a go (it's only 99 cents on Kindle, $4.99 for a trade paperback copy). It will surprise exactly none of you that I own print and digital editions of both volumes.  Miss Emma M. Lion has waited long enough. Come hell or high water (and really, given her track record,  both a...
4 comments
Read more

Bibliocrack Review | You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian

If I'm being perfectly honest with myself, I've done a shamefully poor job of addressing my love for Cat Sebastian 's books around these parts. I've certainly noted each time her beautiful stories have appeared on my end-of-the-year best of lists, see:  The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes ,  basically every book in  The Cabots series , and of course  We Could Be So Good .  And the pull is, quite simply, this: nobody is as kind and gentle with their characters and with their hearts than Cat Sebastian. Nobody. I haven't always been one for the gentler stories, but I cannot overstate the absolute gift it is sinking into one of Sebastian's exquisitely crafted historicals knowing that I get to spend the next however many pages watching two idiots pine and deny that feelings exist and just  take care of each other  as they fall in love. I wouldn't trade that experience for the world. Not this one or any other.  Only two things in the world people count b...
2 comments
Read more