Wild Hunger (Heirs of Chicagoland, #1)

by Chloe Neill

[Berls]

3.5 stars
I have mixed feelings about this spin off series so far. On one hand, I'm excited to see the old characters I loved, but on the other hand their presence has me less excited about their kids taking the center stage. And maybe, because of how close it is, it just didn't feel little like I was just watching Merit all over again - it didn't necessarily feel fresh. I'm hoping that with some time, the new characters will grow on me.

Elisa Sullivan is Merit and Ethan Sullivan's daughter - and the only vampire ever born. We got that story back in Chicagoland Vampires and while it's helpful that I know it and the characters, you could easily step in with this book and never read the original series; everything relevant from the previous is really well explained. It's not surprising that Elisa reminds me a lot of Merit - that is her mother after all. She has some differences of course, especially the reason she was able to be born, which is a power with longer lasting effects than anyone realizes -- I think this is likely to be the series plot point.

We also see Mallory and Catchers daughter Lulu, who has rejected her magic. A disappointing point for me, as they were actually some of my favorite characters and their magic made it super interesting. Equally disappointing, Mallory and Catcher have moved away. But I see the same sort of friendship-gang forming in this book - Lulu, Elisa, and Connor (Shifter, son of the Apex Gabriel). And the Omsbuds office has it's altered but even more prominent role.

The plot itself feels very much as expected, like Chicagoland Vampires it's very much a detective procedural type story, housed in Urban Fantasy. I enjoy the way the mystery unfolds and am fine seeing that format repeated.

This was narrated by Suzanne Elise Freeman, a new narrator for me (I think). I enjoyed her narration. I think she was similar enough to the Chicagoland Vampires final narrator that she was able to mimic the voices for old characters, while breathing new life into the kids who are taking center stage. I look forward to continuing the series.