Review: A good additon to the Dance with the Devil series
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 31, 2013
If you've read any of Ms. Derr's other works, you'll recognize this setting fromDance with the Deviland Dance in the Dark. It's urban fantasy / alternate America if magic really existed. Along the way, you revisit a few of the minor characters from those other books, but you don't need to have read them to enjoy this story.Our main character is Jackson Black, son of a famous gunslinger, and sorcerer and gunslinger in his own right. In a world populated by demons, vampires, and other paranormal creatures, it's not unusual for people to live extraordinarily long lives - sorcerers included. Which leads to gunslingers born in the wild wild west that are still alive and kicking in the modern era.Jackson - Jackie - is a vibrant, three-dimensional character with a fabulously colorful way of speaking that you can almost hear as you read along. Brave, smart, honorable, you can't help but like him and want to keep reading just to find out his story. Jackie's altruism prompts him to lend assistance wherever he can, and that usually drags him into a whole mess of trouble. Like other stories in this world, we follow along on some smaller sideplots, while a larger mystery begins to fall into place.Admittedly, there are times when the events are a little hard to follow, and you're not entirely sure where the characters are going or why, but it's interesting enough to go along for the ride. You meet some interesting secondary characters along the way, including a mysterious demon with a tragic backstory and an intense interest in Jackie.The writing is solid - good, consistent, characterizations, charming dialogue, enough description to set the stage.  Some might find the story a little slow; it takes awhile for the plot to take shape, the real action doesn't kick in until the end, and we don't even meet Jackie's romantic interest until over halfway through the book. But Ms. Derr has such a talent for creating interesting characters and compelling chemistry between them (the sexy parts with Jackie and his love-interest are HOT) that it's worth the read anyways.