Skinwalker: A Jane Yellowrock Novel: 1 Mass Market Paperback – 7 July 2009

This book is so enjoyable. Full of humour, mystery, a brilliant heroine who has street smarts up the wazzoo, a witty, dry sense of humour, lots of sexy males for her to toy with and overall is well written and sumptuous with detail and history. (Oh, and rides a motorbike like a bad ads). It's clever and not at all predictable. I liked the main characters sassy attitude and no nonsense approach to her job. The relationship between her and the beast within is amusing and interesting, and there's plenty of room for a full series, of which I believe there is, so I'm very excited to keep reading. I would recommend this to all avid urban fantasy readers like myself. I always like it when an author writes about vampires, witches, were's etc with their own unique ideas of the history of them and doesn't just go with the run of the mill myths you see so often nowadays. Highly recommended.

Well that was really good - I almost didn't read this, as its just been sitting in my tbr pile for ages. Jane is pretty kick-arse with all her weapons and fighting skills. Initially she did come across as a bit arrogant but actually she was pretty funny as the story went on. She is obviously a bit socially inept as she seems rather awkward and a bit aloof with other people. I found the circumstances of her background intriguing and you find out bits and pieces with her throughout the book.Beast and her voice was pretty cool ... It takes a bit of getting used to but as the story went on I was looking forward to hearing beast's voice as well. The mystery surrounding who and what Jane is kind of develops throughout but there are still questions by the end.The mystery of the rogue was pretty good too and kept me guessing throughout and there were a lot of interesting characters and politics going on.Also something I want to know more about are Rick's tattoos! That was an unexpected revelation when you find out what they are - they must mean something otherwise they were way too much of a coincidence...looking forward to finding out more later in the series.I did find it a bit odd that nearly every man (human or vamp) in this seems to be gorgeous and fancies Jane...although thankfully, despite flirting a bit with them, she doesn't jump into bed with any of them. I guess they are being set up as a love interest for later but there wasn't really any romance in this. It was definitely more urban fantasy, which worked well.My only real criticism is that there were parts where the descriptions were just way too much - sometimes we hear loads of info about the decor and layout of houses or randomly, descriptions of tea, teapots and tea drinking!!?? Apart from those few instances though I found this an entertaining read.

One of the best authors of the decade, a true masterclass of storytelling art. A tapestry of fiction with plot points woven throughout the whole series which makes the 2nd read even better than the 1st as the clues pop out. A lesson on how to weave a story without dropping important plot point stitches or leaving ends untied or rushed. Written without pointless padding or unnecessary graphic sex scenes this is another spectacular series from Ms Hunter.

This is the first book I have read by faith hunter and I am mightily impressed with it!the storyline is brilliant and eye catching, full of surprises and vivid scenes and descriptions. the characters are very well planned and thought out being complex as human nature is. I loved reading Jane's character and finding things out about her past along with her. I have never read anything about this type of shape changer and that kept me on edge the whole time.I would definately recommend this book your others and is definately deserving of the 5* rating aasbit is a very compelling page Turner!!!!

If you enjoy Urban Fantasy, than you should give Jane Yellowrock a go. There is plenty of kick arse scenes, plenty of handsome men to have an occasional flirt with, and a few laughs along the way. Just a warning though, if you enjoy a lot of sex in your books, then do not bother with this series. Personally I found it quite refreshing not to have sex a large part of this genre. Jane, and beast are a pairing that I enjoyed a lot. Yes, there was times the descriptions could get too much in the details, which did not bother me as much as it seems to have some others. Please give it a go, I have had many very late nigts over the last couple of weeks reading this world that Faith has spun for me to get lost in. I enjoy this sort of story telling, and if there is anyone out there that can give me new Authors in the same lines as Faith Hunter, than please let me know.

5* on the complexity; every character is busy. Lots of description without being fluffy. Solid, gritty character making an urban fantasy plausible. No wasted text; story kept on the move. Pleasure to read and could not put it down until finished.

Tout est dans le titre. L'histoire nous entraîne des les premiers chapitres. Jane est forte, amusante et captivante, l'intrigue et la chasse est haletante, on se plonge facilement dans cet univers de pouvoir, de secrets et de séduction. Je recommande.

This was a book and not a short story masquerading as a book. Great pleasure in reading. A couple of my guesses on suspects and character positions along the way were proven wrong by the end. Great character details, interesting take on educating readers about another culture and good scene. Well written and edited.

Nun hat die Welt vielleicht nicht auf noch eine Vampirjägerstory gewartet - ich war auf der Suche nach gut lesbarer Fantasy und bin hier endlich mal wieder fündig geworden.Die Geschichte von Jane spielt in New Orleans und verspinnt sehr schön wieder eine Variation von Vampiren, die gut mit Menschen zusammenleben - es sei denn, sie drehen durch und werden "rogue". So einen jagt Jane im Auftrag der ansässigen Vampire. Ihr eigenes Rätsel (was ist sie eigentlich, teils Cherokee, sie teilt ihren Körper mit Beast, kann ihre Gestalt wandeln und hat einen sauberen Gedächtnisverlust über viele Jahre) wird langsam aus- und aufgebaut und wird sich bestimmt noch über die nächsten Bände ziehen.Ich lese es grade noch fertig (bin bei 80%) und werde danach den nächsten Band kaufen. Das Englisch gefällt mir, der Fluss der Geschichte ist schön geschrieben und der Umgang der Autorin mit ihrer Sprache hat Charme und Witz.Wer gerne Fantasy liest, wird hier auf seine Kosten kommen. Für mich eine willkommene Ergänzung zu meinen sonstigen Lieblingen wie der Grave Witch Serie oder Fever Series oder oder oder...

Faith Hunter is a new author for me. I started with a downloaded sample of her SkinWalker to my kindle, then liked the sample well enough to buy the novel, and liked what I was reading well enough to stay up most of the night to finish it. Hunter did an overall great job with her characterization of Jane Yellowrock who slays rogue vampires for living. Jane happens to be is a very special kind of native American shape changer and I loved it that Jane has a web site where she advertises her vamp slayer services with some slight spin about her 100% kill rate.In Skinwalker, Jane is hired by the New Orleans vampire council to identify & terminate a local rogue who is killing humans and vampires. The mystery plotting to identify the rogue was particularly well done. The reader is introduced to plenty of well developed secondary characters who were all potential suspects to be the rogue vamp. I couldn't put the book down because I couldn't figure out "whodunit" and when I finally got to the end during the wee hours this morning, I was pleasantly surprised that the culprit was someone that I had considered but who had not been my first choice - yet he wasn't some unknown who just came flying in out of no where either -- there were sufficient Hercule Poirot type clues that he was the one. (I do get bored when I can figure out "whodunit" in the first few chapters.) Skin Walker satisfies on a number of levels: good writing; intriguing characters (primary and secondary); great world building; good plot; good mystery and almost no gratuitous filler. I recommend it wholeheartedly and I intend to buy the next Jane Yellowrock novel that is supposed to be published in 2010. (An aside: I hope that Faith Hunter will abandon the New Orleans setting. Vampire killing in New Orleans (or Louisiana) is predictable and old old old hat and I would prefer reading about Jane operating in a fresher setting, such as the Appalachian Mountains.)Some musings: I was browsing through Faith Hunter's backlist when I read a review by a reader who noted that Hunter's main character Thorn in the Rogue Mage trilogy was subjected to frequent episodes of unwanted lust that the reader felt amounted to gratuitous sexual teasers with no follow-through. That reminded me that I had been repelled by 3 or more similar episodes in Skin Walker. The most cringe worthy was the scene where Jane was compelled by her Beast to stand submissively while Rick groped her (Ugh, what a creep he is - though complex and not one dimensional and full of surprises). There were one or two other scenes where Jane has to fight off unwanted feelings of lust imposed by one or more of the vampires. I'd like to point out that like the Mages' reader, I have NO problem if Jane and her Beast want to get it on (willingly) with every Tom, George, Rick or Leo but coerced feelings of lust used as a plot device to create or justify sexual tension is a no-go for me. In the end, I decided not to buy any of Hunter's Mage novels despite my overall 5 star liking of Skin Walker.