Sheep Review: The Taken by Vicki Pettersson + Give Away

The Taken (Celestial Blues #1) by Vicki Pettersson

He’s a fallen angel. She’s a rockabilly reporter. Together they must solve a deadly string of murders plaguing the mortal and the immortal worlds.

Griffin Shaw used to be a PI, but that was over fifty years ago when gumshoes hoofed the streets . . . and he was still alive. Now he’s a Centurion, an angel who assists other murdered souls through their journey to the afterlife. But while Shaw might be an angel … he’s no saint. Haunted by the mysterious events surrounding his own death, he seizes a chance to wreak some vengeance when he witnesses a deadly attack on journalist Katherine “Kit” Craig.

Joining forces, the unlikely avengers take to the streets, hunting a killer whose trail of bodies stretches across Las Vegas and into an immortal netherworld. It is a dangerous trek that lead them into the darkest corners of Sin City and into the heart of an evil conspiracy extending beyond the lights of the Strip that could destory them both.

But destruction isn’t the only threat Griffin faces. The closer he gets to Kit, the more he finds himself bewitched by her mortal charms. Can he resist falling under her spell? And does he want to?

If you are a fan of Vicki’s “OMG fabulous” dark Urban Fantasy series Signs of the Zodiac, like I am, and have been looking forward her new Celestial Blues series you need to stop right here for a second…(1 Mississippi)…The Taken is not like her previous books. I made the mistake of diving into it with preconceived ideas and that made it hard for me to be objective. I finished The Taken well over a week ago and haven’t written this review till now because I needed to step back and forget about what I thought it should have been. This is not an urban fantasy; it crosses many genre lines but I think dark paranormal mystery/thriller  with romance pretty much covers it. <G>

 

I really like Vicki’s spin on the angel mythos; when someone dies they go into the Everlast, this would be like heaven. Some people get to go straight there and some are sent to a dark forest inhabited by the Third, the portion of the angelic host that followed Lucifer against God. The forest of the Third is briefly touched on, but hopefully will be explored more deeply in future books. Pures were the first angels created by God and they serve him but don’t have much to do with human souls. Those who die violently have to be put in incubation where they get past the memory and regret of their death then enter the Everlast. Some souls aren’t able to let go of their past and they become Centurions, a low form of angel, who have to usher other violently killed souls in hopes that by helping others they will alleviate their own mental anguish and move into the Everlast. Griffin Shaw was a private investigator when he and his wife were brutally murdered 50 years ago. Incubation wasn’t able to erase his need to know who killed them and why so he became a Centurion.

 

The Taken has a few issues you find with most debut series, for example the characters feel a little stiff as if the author hasn’t quite gotten comfortable with them yet. The beginning is slow and I found easy to set it down. I understand there was a need to do some character development and world building, and it is done well, but there just wasn’t a lot of action, instead we meet many characters as multiple storylines are slowly woven together. My favorite character is Anne (Anas) a Pure with an attitude problem that finds her fate connected to Grif. Through her experiences we learn information about angels and their purpose in the Everlast. The second half of the book is when the sh** hits the fan story-wise and it ends with a bang. I love Griffin Shaw, Pettersson did a great job of portraying what a man from the 50’s would act and think like. He is a man of few words, yet capable of loving passionately. I liked his journey of letting go of his past and grabbing hold of his future. Kit Craig was likable, but I didn’t connect to her like I did with the other characters and I honestly don’t know why. The rockabilly aspect was interesting, but it seemed to overshadow the character. She also had to learn to let go of her past and trust love again. The irony of Kit and Grif’s relationship was very clever as well as the contrast of Kit’s rockabilly lifestyle and the harshness of the murder investigation that turns in to something much worse.

The villains in this book aren’t the supernatural kind, but they are just as evil as any I have read, almost disturbingly so. The story deals with rape, murder and the selling of young girls as sex slaves.

 

This is a good start to a new series and I don’t think The Taken should be used to judge how the rest of the series will develop. There are some wonderful possibilities that can be explored in the world Pettersson has created and I look forward to reading about them. 

 

3.5 Sheep

SharonS (edited by BAK)

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