#33 Urban Shaman by C.E. Murphy
After attending her mother's funeral, Joanne Walker hops on a plane to her home city, Seattle. As the plane is landing she notices
something strange down below, a man with a knife, and a woman being followed by a pack of dogs. Once the plane touches down, Joanne rushes to the rescue with the help of an elderly cab driver, an act that tangles her life up in a world of dangerous gods, and and give her access to powerful shamanic magic she didn't know she had.
One of the things that drew me to Urban Shaman (despite the great cover) was it's unique premise that didn't involve the typical paranormal elements (vampires, werewolves, witches, etc). Murphy's mix of Celtic and Native American mythology is certainly a change from the norm. It's nice that in a genre that seems to require a minimum of one sex scene per novel, to have a book that focuses more on character growth, leaving romance behind. I also enjoyed the positive portrayal of older individuals in this book, and the fact that the male-female friendships didn't all feel like set ups to future romantic entanglements.
Unfortunately, despite it's original premise, the execution is sloppy. There's just too much going on at once here. We have a protagonist who's a mechanic but also a cop, two big bads to follow, multiple murders on top of a spiritual journey, and a plethora of side characters that often feel underdeveloped. I also found that I had a bit of a problem with the protagonist, who just seems to be a bundle of extremes. She spends the entire novel tripping over herself, cracking jokes, and acting like an all around space shot. It was impossible for me to comprehend how this woman, who didn't even seem to know basic police procedure, graduating in the top three at the police academy.
This brings us to the biggest problem I had with this novel: plausibility. I had a very hard accepting the initial set up of the exhausted Joanne being able to see a man with a knife, a pack of dogs, and a woman all on one street corner from the vantage point a commercial jetliner coming in for a landing. That did not seem physically possible without some sort of supernatural explanation, for which there is none. I also found the idea of the Seattle police department supporting Joanne's position as a cop to be a little unlikely, given how she acts like a crazy person for much of the book. The speed in which most characters accept the concept of the supernatural seems alarmingly fast to me. This only scratches the surface. This lack of plausibility really tainted my enjoyment Urban Shaman, constantly bringing me out of my reading experience and making me pause to over analyze many scenes. It also caused me to view the book with a bitter level of skepticism instead of the normally open and curious state I usually approach fiction with. This, as a result, probably made me dislike the book more than it deserved.
Urban Shaman was a frustrating read. I love how it's not afraid to take the less conventional route. As someone of Irish heritage, I was really looking forward to the Celtic elements. Unfortunately I just couldn't warm up to either the protagonist, or the plot, which despite it's occasional moments, ultimately proved to be overstuffed and unrealistic. I suspect most of these problems arise from the fact that this is Murphy's debut novel. Unfortunately, there's just not enough in here for me to give her further work another shot. I will be posting this book back on paperbackswap and hope that it finds a home with someone that will appreciate it more.
Rating: two stars
Length: 344 pages
Source: paperbackseap
Challenge: This book is not part of any challenges
Similar books Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson and Alpha and Omega series also feature protagonists of Native American descent. Start with either Moon Called, or Cry Wolf. For another series that occasionally combines murder mysteries with the supernatural check out Jim Butcher's Dresden Files, Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld, Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse Series, and Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan Series.
Other books I've read by this author: This is my first
xposted to temporaryworlds , bookish , and goodreads
something strange down below, a man with a knife, and a woman being followed by a pack of dogs. Once the plane touches down, Joanne rushes to the rescue with the help of an elderly cab driver, an act that tangles her life up in a world of dangerous gods, and and give her access to powerful shamanic magic she didn't know she had.
One of the things that drew me to Urban Shaman (despite the great cover) was it's unique premise that didn't involve the typical paranormal elements (vampires, werewolves, witches, etc). Murphy's mix of Celtic and Native American mythology is certainly a change from the norm. It's nice that in a genre that seems to require a minimum of one sex scene per novel, to have a book that focuses more on character growth, leaving romance behind. I also enjoyed the positive portrayal of older individuals in this book, and the fact that the male-female friendships didn't all feel like set ups to future romantic entanglements.
Unfortunately, despite it's original premise, the execution is sloppy. There's just too much going on at once here. We have a protagonist who's a mechanic but also a cop, two big bads to follow, multiple murders on top of a spiritual journey, and a plethora of side characters that often feel underdeveloped. I also found that I had a bit of a problem with the protagonist, who just seems to be a bundle of extremes. She spends the entire novel tripping over herself, cracking jokes, and acting like an all around space shot. It was impossible for me to comprehend how this woman, who didn't even seem to know basic police procedure, graduating in the top three at the police academy.
This brings us to the biggest problem I had with this novel: plausibility. I had a very hard accepting the initial set up of the exhausted Joanne being able to see a man with a knife, a pack of dogs, and a woman all on one street corner from the vantage point a commercial jetliner coming in for a landing. That did not seem physically possible without some sort of supernatural explanation, for which there is none. I also found the idea of the Seattle police department supporting Joanne's position as a cop to be a little unlikely, given how she acts like a crazy person for much of the book. The speed in which most characters accept the concept of the supernatural seems alarmingly fast to me. This only scratches the surface. This lack of plausibility really tainted my enjoyment Urban Shaman, constantly bringing me out of my reading experience and making me pause to over analyze many scenes. It also caused me to view the book with a bitter level of skepticism instead of the normally open and curious state I usually approach fiction with. This, as a result, probably made me dislike the book more than it deserved.
Urban Shaman was a frustrating read. I love how it's not afraid to take the less conventional route. As someone of Irish heritage, I was really looking forward to the Celtic elements. Unfortunately I just couldn't warm up to either the protagonist, or the plot, which despite it's occasional moments, ultimately proved to be overstuffed and unrealistic. I suspect most of these problems arise from the fact that this is Murphy's debut novel. Unfortunately, there's just not enough in here for me to give her further work another shot. I will be posting this book back on paperbackswap and hope that it finds a home with someone that will appreciate it more.
Rating: two stars
Length: 344 pages
Source: paperbackseap
Challenge: This book is not part of any challenges
Similar books Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson and Alpha and Omega series also feature protagonists of Native American descent. Start with either Moon Called, or Cry Wolf. For another series that occasionally combines murder mysteries with the supernatural check out Jim Butcher's Dresden Files, Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld, Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse Series, and Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan Series.
Other books I've read by this author: This is my first
xposted to temporaryworlds , bookish , and goodreads