Recently Read: Unclean Spirits

I've just finished another one of the books Christine gave me for Christmas: Unclean Spirits: Book One of the Black Sun's Daughter by M. L. N. Hanover.

Normally, I shy away from books that proclaim themselves the start of a new series. Too frequently, I've found myself invested in a story and waiting for installments that never appear or worse, appear but are unable to uphold the promise of the earliest installments. But hey, this one was a gift, so...

Jayné (pronounced zha-nay) Heller is about to turn 23, has turned her back on her religiously conservative family, and is technically a college dropout, having failed to register for the next semester. She has been called to Denver by her uncle Eric's lawyer to handle his estate--or so she thinks. As it turns out, her uncle was wealthy beyond her wildest dreams with properties all over the world--and she is his sole heir.
She is also heir to his fight against the dark forces at work in the world, with her first objective being to avenge his death.

In Hanover's world, the forces of evil are the riders, various demons who take possession of humans to become the various monsters with which we are familiar: vampires, weres, et al. Magical powers can be marshaled by many humans, but ability and study are required to master the more powerful magics--but the costs can be severe.

I enjoyed the pacing of the plot and the character development (particularly that of Jayné) in this first installment. I also liked Hanover's metaphysics and the self-consistency (so far) of this world. From the beginning the use of the term "riders" evoked images of voudoun worship, ala Nalo Hopkinson's Brown Girl in the Ring. I do have qualms about future installments: between Jayné's as-yet undefined magical abilities and virtually unlimited wealth, it may be difficult for Hanover to keep the stories interesting and the characters grounded. It's one thing for our heroine to solve problems by throwing money at them in the initial flush of her new wealth, but I'll probably lose interest in continuing the series if deus ex automatic teller machina becomes a recurring theme.

Then again, maybe I just have more sympathy for economically struggling characters like Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden or Patricia Brigg's Mercy Thompson....

The story continues in Darker Angels (The Black Sun's Daughter, Book 2).

My rating: 4 stags.