Title: Fire Baptized (Habitat # 1)
Author: Kenya Wright
Publisher: Dragonfairy Press
Publication Date: 18th January 2012
Pages: 276
Format: E-Book - EPUB
Genre: Urban Fantasy / Paranormal
Source: Review Copy from Author
Since the 1970s humans have forced supernaturals to live in caged cities. Silver brands embedded in their foreheads identify them by species: a full moon for Vampires, a crescent moon for Shifters, a pair of wings for Fairies, and the list goes on, for each supernatural species has been tagged and categorized by humans.
Lanore Vesta is marked with a silver X, the brand of Mixbreeds, second-class citizens shunned by society. She stays to herself, revealing her ability to create fire only during emergencies. All she wants to do is graduate college and stop having to steal to survive. But when she stumbles upon a murder in progress, she catches the attention of a supernatural killer. Now all she wants is to stop finding dead bodies in her apartment.
Enlisting help from her Were-cheetah ex-boyfriend MeShack and a new mysterious friend named Zulu, she is steered through the habitat’s raunchy nightlife. But their presence sometimes proves to be more burden than help, as they fight for her attention.
While the corpses pile up, and the scent of blood fills the air, Lanore is left wondering: will she find the psycho or die trying? (Goodreads Synopsis)
Lanore Vesta is marked with a silver X, the brand of Mixbreeds, second-class citizens shunned by society. She stays to herself, revealing her ability to create fire only during emergencies. All she wants to do is graduate college and stop having to steal to survive. But when she stumbles upon a murder in progress, she catches the attention of a supernatural killer. Now all she wants is to stop finding dead bodies in her apartment.
Enlisting help from her Were-cheetah ex-boyfriend MeShack and a new mysterious friend named Zulu, she is steered through the habitat’s raunchy nightlife. But their presence sometimes proves to be more burden than help, as they fight for her attention.
While the corpses pile up, and the scent of blood fills the air, Lanore is left wondering: will she find the psycho or die trying? (Goodreads Synopsis)
I was asked by the author to review this book and, since it sounded like a fun read, I accepted.
On the whole I wasn't disappointed as Fire Baptized offers a sassy heroine and plenty of action set in a world of supernatural creatures.
Lanore's character is full of fight and makes a wonderful urban fantasy/paranormal heroine. At times I found her blind independence a little too much, but I admired other aspects of her character that kept me hooked on the story.
The story itself is an interesting concept, reminiscent of works like The Skin Dancer series by Anthony Francis, and I found the world Wright has created intriguing. My only concern was the lack of background information on the creation of the Habitat. If you hadn't read the blurb first, it would take you a while before you realised the supernaturals had been placed in a caged environment by the humans. This is a major plot element and yet it relied on the blurb to get that information across. I would have liked to have seen the reason for this/more background information worked into the text.
The book ends with the threat of war both against the humans and amongst the supernatural groups. This works fine as a hook to lead into a second book, but I did wish there was more of a character-based cliff-hanger as well. As it is, I would be interested in reading the next instalment, but I am not on the edge of my seat to do so.
My final comment would be that this piece has a few flaws, but it still a fine urban fantasy tale and worth checking out.
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