Review: Unclean Spirits by M.L.N. Hanover

Unclean Spirits by M.L.N. Hanover (The Black Sun's Daughter #1)

Review copy from Orbit


Synopsis from Goodreads
In a world where magic walks and demons ride, you can't always play by the rules.

Jayné Heller thinks of herself as a realist, until she discovers reality isn't quite what she thought it was. When her uncle Eric is murdered, Jayné travels to Denver to settle his estate, only to learn that it's all hers — and vaster than she ever imagined. And along with properties across the world and an inexhaustible fortune, Eric left her a legacy of a different kind: his unfinished business with a cabal of wizards known as the Invisible College.

Led by the ruthless Randolph Coin, the Invisible College harnesses demon spirits for their own ends of power and domination. Jayné finds it difficult to believe magic and demons can even exist, let alone be responsible for the death of her uncle. But Coin sees Eric's heir as a threat to be eliminated by any means — magical or mundane — so Jayné had better start believing in something to save her own life.

Aided in her mission by a group of unlikely companions — Aubrey, Eric's devastatingly attractive assistant; Ex, a former Jesuit with a lethal agenda; Midian, a two-hundred-year-old man who claims to be under a curse from Randolph Coin himself; and Chogyi Jake, a self-styled Buddhist with mystical abilities — Jayné finds that her new reality is not only unexpected, but often unexplainable. And if she hopes to survive, she'll have to learn the new rules fast — or break them completely....

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7.5/10

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This is a very decent read especially for a first book in the series, BUT... what I found really hard to swallow is improbability of the decisions made by Jayne. 

She is a poor student from a very strict religious family, who suddenly receives a huge fortune from her uncle, who's been estranged from the rest of the family as long as she can remember. She is absolutely normal, - no dangerous, adrenaline-ridden hobbies, no sharp shooting or martial arts or even cheerleading in her past.

So instead of taking her fortune and going far away in a warm tropical country she is suddenly deciding to join the team like a fifth wheel to go on a mission to kill a Rider with unlimited resources, who's been an archenemy of her uncle all his life and eventually killed him.

The team knows what they are doing, she doesn't. They have training, she doesn't. They ask her persistently to not join them, because she is inexperienced and nobody expects her to step into her uncle's shoes, but she gets really noble and jumps into the most dangerous situation you can possibly jump into right from the start.

WHY?

Would any sane person act like that instead of supplying the resources and the money and saying adios amigos? I wouldn't. No need to put your life on the line when you can pay the professionals to do just that, especially when you are not equipped for it and there are no reasons important enough for you to do it yourself. I don't get her motives.

I guess you can say that clueless klutz is not my favourite type of hero. Apart from that, the book reads well, and I expect that the next few books in the series will be much better than Unclean Spirits.

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Неплохо написано, особенно для первой книги серии, но по-моему мнению, на главную героиню зря испортили бумагу.

Ну какой разумный человек, получив огромное наследство от внезапно умершего дядюшки не начнёт его тратить вместо того, чтобы броситься ничего не зная и безо всякой подготовки в опасную операцию по уничтожению паранормального Рэйдера, за которым всю жизнь охотился почивший в бозу дяденька?

Ну даже если уж очень хочется отомстить за родственника, - у тебя денег немеряно, твою налево! Найми профессионалов, спонсируй команду, которая уже работает над проблемой...

Какого чёрта Жени, которая ни хрена не знает, у которой отсуствует какая-либо подготовка, надо с головой бросаться в самоубийственную миссию? В общем, мотив нелеп, исполнение - неловкое как девица в брачную ночь... хотя я считаю, что последующие книги потихоньку всё это исправят.

Ну не люблю я героинь-клуш, что поделать! *разводя руками*