32231885_sEditorial Review of The Light Who Shines

May 19, 2014

by Douglas C. Meeks

(Author Note: Mr. Meeks is one of Amazon’s top 500 reviewers. He’s actually #257 if you want to be exact, and I do!)

Where do we start, the prologue gives us the history that the entire series will be based around and since it promises to bring down what amounts to a Goddess that will be a tall order but that is more of a series ender rather than this story, but it gives us a bit of insight.

Bluebell Kildare (a.k.a. Blue) is a Sensitive, basically she can feel people emotions and feelings to the extent she is almost a walking lie detector, and these skills have proven very effective in her job as an investigator for the Supernatural Investigation Bureau. Her boss Jack Tanner (A Daylight Vampire, the good guys) has feelings for her which are reciprocated by Blue but both pretty much keep their feelings to themselves for most of the book but this is a very on/off again thing with a heaping share of “I’m not worthy” thrown in for good measure, never fear, I think it will eventually work out …….. maybe.

This novel centers on finding the killer of a young boy and the search for why he had a very powerful item in his possession when he dies. The killer wants it back and is willing to torture and kill to get it, this puts Blue right in the crosshairs of the action and drives Jack a bit crazy trying to protect someone that does not want to be protected.

The mystery of the “whodunit” is pretty good but you can get a pretty good idea of the culprit about halfway through, a goodly portion of the book (as most Book #1 in a series are) is dedicated to world building and a bit of the characters history which feeds into the story very well. A big background into the overarching storyline is the racist type movement against the “Gifted” which was a bit overdone in the first few chapters but evened out and fit into the story right nicely although the “religious fanatic” moniker has been overused and a more secular sect would have been just as effective and a bit more original IMHO.

The secondary cast was excellent and I hope will be fleshed out a bit more as the series progresses, good mix of characters. The one that steals the show though is a wolf (Varg) who seems to appear from nowhere, decides he is Blue’s guardian and proceeds to do just that on several occasions, there are a lot of questions about him since he seems to understand language and displays a few not so normal wolf powers. I am sure we will see more of him in future books.

The plot was done well even interspersed with the history and world building, the ending was great and entices the reader to continue without the use of any cliffhanger (I hate cliffhangers).

Bottom Line: Excellent novel, alpha male hero/strong heroine, good reading, no scanning, loved the wolf, loved the characters almost as much, sex was in line with the story and not overdone even though mentally chaotic, violence is about as graphic what you should expect after reading about the first death (not overdone and not whitewashed in any manner). Highly recommended and will be continuing with the series, great new world. 4.5 Stars round to 5 for Amazon/Goodreads.

Link: http://amzn.to/1gaAQKO