The Scent of Shadows: First Sign of the Zodiac (Signs of the Zodiac, #1)

by Vicki Pettersson

The first book of a refreshing new urban fantasy series from ex-Las Vegas showgirl, Vicki Pettersson. For fans of the hit tv show Heroes. Two groups of superheroes - one light, one shadow - fight for control of sin city, Las Vegas.

When she was sixteen, Joanna Archer was brutally assaulted and left to die in the Nevada desert.

By rights, she should be dead.

Now a photographer by day, she prowls a different Las Vegas after sunset - a grim, secret Sin City where Light battles Shadow-seeking answers to whom or what she really is, and revenge for the horrors she was forced to endure.
But the nightmare is just beginning, for the shadows are hunting Joanna, and they want her for their own . . .

• ISBN10: 0060898917
• ISBN13: 9780060898915
• Publish Date: 27 February 2007
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 19 October 2022
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Avon Books
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 464
• Language: English

Reviews

[Angie]

The Scent of Shadows is a dark Urban Fantasy focused on superheroes and vengeance. Joanna Archer is trying to live a normal life after she was brutally raped and beaten as a teen. Now, it's the day before her twenty-fifth birthday and nothing is going right. She's on the blind date from hell (probably literally), her millionaire father announces that she's not his daughter and disinherits her, then her sister is killed. If that's not enough, a homeless man tells her she's a superhero and needs to come with him immediately or risk being framed as her sister's murderer. Happy Birthday!

I liked the first half of The Scent of Shadows much better than the second, even though it's more character driven than I usually like. Joanna is going about life in a way that she thinks is best. She's a bit disconnected, preferring to stay behind her camera, but she's convinced herself it's for the sake of her art. The only person she's really close to is her younger sister, Olivia, who is her complete opposite, yet her anchor. Joanna learns a lot about herself and the world around her once she meets Warren and he tells her about the signs of the zodiac. After her blood filled birthday, she must become someone new in order to stay alive and protect others. It's all very dark and not very optimist, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

The second part of The Scent of Shadows was a bit rough for me. It's where all of the action picks up and Joanna actually gets to try out her new abilities and fight the Shadows. However, my brain was preoccupied with the fact that she was just whisked away to the alternate reality where the Lights and Shadows have their headquarters. They went through a lot of trouble to give Joanna her new identity and make sure that it's flawless so no one would get suspicious, but they take her away from the real world for some unknown amount of time without any explanation or cover story in place. It's not like she's some unknown person in her new life; people will notice she's gone! And there's no indication as to how much time has passed. Perhaps it was a single night, in which case, no one may notice she's gone. But it felt a lot longer than that. I was hoping this would be explained once the fight was over and she was returned to the real world, but that doesn't pick up until three months later.

The Scent of Shadows has an amazing premise: a band of superheroes for each sign of the zodiac, and a Light and Shadow side that are warring. Joanna is, of course, different than anyone else and part of a prophecy, so that wasn't anything new, but everything else was unlike anything I had read before. Despite my confusion in the second half, I do think this was a promising start to the series and I was eager to learn more about this world.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[Melanie]

Interesting storyline, though there were somethings that made you go WTF? I really like the main character. I've already bought the entire series as ebooks when they were on sale. I'll try the second one and see how it goes from there.

[wyvernfriend]

Joanna was raped as a teenager and now finds strength in hunting down other attackers and enacting some retribution on them. She finds herself caught up in a world of demons, shadows and light. She has to survive the first few days before she can become fully involved. Her sister gets pulled into the plot and things get more and more complicated.

It's not a bad read but not exceptional. There are some interesting twists and further books may improve things.