Flight into Fantasy

Title: Pure Blood (Nocturn City, Book 2)

Author: Caitlin Kittredge

Genre: Paranormal romance

Reason for Reading: I read the first book for Bookshare. I enjoyed it and decided to grab the second one to see just what was happening in Nocturn City.

Synopsis:

In the shadows of Nocturne City, witches lurk and demons prowl, and homicide detective Luna Wilder must keep the peace—while living life as a werewolf. Now bodies are turning up all over town, the brutal murders linked by a cryptic message: We see with empty eyes…
To make matters worse for Luna, she can’t get wolfishly handsome Dmitri Sandovsky out of her mind. The last time he helped her with a case, Dmitri suffered a demon bite that infected him with a mysterious illness…and now his pack elders have forbidden him from associating with Luna. But she’ll need his help when high-level witches start turning up slaughtered. Because a war is brewing between rival clans of blood witches and caster witches—a magical gang war with the power to burn Nocturne City to the ground.

Other Opinions

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My Thoughts:

There’s a darker edge to Luna’s world, one that gives this series a sense of being more authentic than some. Relationships aren’t always rosy, and people’s interactions with one another feel authentic, even if they don’t always show everyone in the best light. Dmitri, for instance, is living a life that his pack has forced on him, sharing his bed with a woman that meets with the pack’s approval. And why? Because it’s easier to accept that fate than to fight against it. That doesn’t make him noble, but it feels appropriate for the character we met in the first book. He chose his pack, and feels comfortable with the weight of their traditions. At one point he accuses Luna of failing to understand, because she has forsaken the pack concept, and I can definitely see his point.

Luna, on the other hand, rails against the pack, her grandmother, the new police captain, in essence because she feels unloved and unlovable. She receives some unwelcome feedback about herself from a surprising source, and gradually she begins to realize that she is inflicting many of her woes on herself because she actively pushes people away. Brief glimpses of others’ reactions to her suggest that our narrator’s perceptions may not be entirely reliable when it comes to herself and her relationships

At points, I felt that Luna’s internal turmoil overshadowed the rest of the book. There is a case to be resolved surrounding the battle for possession of an ancient magical artifact with some interesting history behind it. And Luna, who has always worked alone, receives a new partner, Barbie Cop. It would be easy to write Barbie off, and Luna tries, but her partner proves herself on at least a few occasions, and it was amusing to have to watch Luna come to terms with that realization.

Irina, Dmitri’s new girlfriend, proved entertaining. She did what every red-blooded woman or were would do when confronted with the “other woman.” She fought back. And when her own efforts were in doubt, she enlisted others to help her.

This book afforded us a glimpse into Luna’s past from two different perspectives. Through her new partner, Shelby, she can study a reflection of herself, one that allows her to do some introspection. While confronting her past in another form, she begins to question who she has become, and takes a few tentative steps to change it. It’s too early to tell whether she’s on the right path, but I certainly hope she is, because I would like to spend more time with the plot when we next visit Nocturn City.

Luna also reaches a realization about her magical abilities; in essence, she is a witch after all, but her powers don’t manifest in the usual way. She is a “path”, a witch that absorbs magical energy instead of casting it outward. This is likely why she never could learn from her grandmother’s lessons, because she was trying to send magic outward instead of drawing it to her. This will either be the beginning of the “new power every book” scenario, or an opportunity to explore how this nuance of magic makes her different and special. I’m betting on Kittredge to make this another opportunity for an enjoyable tale.

The book was a fast-paced enjoyable read, and once I immersed myself in it I didn’t put it down. Ms. Kittredge knows how to tell a story, and once she draws you in, it’s hard to get free again.

Final Thoughts:

There was just a little too much internal conflict and whining in this book for my tastes. In a few places, I think that the central mystery got lost in Luna’s struggle to understand herself. Nonetheless, when we got down to it, I did like the story and the bits of world building that were done. I enjoyed the final showdown between Luna and her adversary, and feel that I have a better sense of Nocturn City and its struggles to fit magic into the world we live in, a world already full of crime and mayhem. At the end of the story, we’re left with new plot strands to explore, and I’m definitely eager to see where they lead us. A third book is already out, Second Skin, and a fourth book is due out on September 1, called Witch Craft. By all means pick up this series. I’d recommend that you clear your calendar, because once you start, you won’t want to put it down.

Final Grade: B