Cold Reign (Jane Yellowrock, #11)

by Faith Hunter

[Quirky Cat]

Another fantastic follow-up in the Jane Yellowrock series, Cold Reign is a fast paced urban fantasy read. This should go without saying, but don't jump into the series at number eleven, and instead start back at book one. It's worth the patience and time.



Quick warning first: rape is mentioned in this book as part of one of the characters past. Readers of the Yellowrock series have seen/read much worse, but I still wanted to throw that out there.
I'd like to start this review by saying that I love the Jane/Bruiser relationship. I never liked Rick, so it's nice to see her with a competent gentleman that actually cares for her. Plus, let's be honest here, they're freaken adorable together, and everybody knows it. Ricky-bi (as Jane calls him) makes an appearance, but he is very firmly put in his place by Jane. It was tremendously satisfying to see (and Bruiser got to listen in on it too, so double win!).
There is a lot going on in this book, so I had just a bit of trouble keeping everything straight. That being said – I think things were intentionally chaotic and confusing as Jane herself (our main perspective) had to figure out what pieces of the puzzle went where. It appears that the European Vamps decided to finally make their move, and they used multiple long laid plans to do so; creating havoc throughout the city and Leo's court. I think Leo may have seen some of this coming, but didn't tell Jane so he could force her to deal with it (while also putting her in position for other plans of his) which irritated the heck out of me. But that's vamp politics in a nutshell for you. I'll be curious to see the state of Leo's court after everything has settled again.
Jane/Beast's magic is evolving and changing into something else, and I for one am finding watching the transition to be utterly fascinating. I've always found their magic interesting, so it's exciting to see more about it. I appreciate the fact that Jane's time stopping magic has a price; it has kept it from feeling overpowered (a fact with [name] truly learns this time around). So when that magic in particular started changing...things got interesting. I'm not sure where it's going to lead, but I sure am curious about it!
As always Cold Reign was left open ended, but not to the point of being a cliff hanger. A couple of the points left on the table have left my questioning and anxious for book twelve, but I'm impatient like that.

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