I've come to the point where I left off this series, with Shattered Bonds being a brand new read for me. Hunter had a pile of problems to deal with in this installment, including a very sick main character, a chaotic vampire political scene, some very offended arcencials, a snippy Anzu Enforcer, and the biggest, baddest villain yet. Jane is on death's door, but circumstances don't make allowances for illness. Jane is forced to rely on her team, reawaken her attention on vampire matters, and spend a lot of time in puma and half form, as Beast does not share her magical cancer.
The big, bad ugly, Shimon bar Ioudas, one of the original vampires, is known as the Flayer of Mithrans (which, in typical Jane style, becomes the FOM, something which I struggled to remember as I read). For all the build up of how powerful and immortal he was, I thought he was rather easily dealt with. But, as I mentioned, Hunter was juggling a pile of plot lines. The solution to a bunch of issues revolves around a chance discovery Janes makes while in Beast form.
If Jane is to retain her position of Dark Queen and see things run according to her values, she is going to have to return to NOLA and pick up the reins of power. Not only is Leo gone, Derek Lee has been turned vamp. He's always grumpy with Jane, so dealing with him could be entertaining. Jane and Lincoln Shaddock have a new, closer relationship and Jane is starting to realize he may have extra powers she knows little about. Gregoire has been appointed European Warlord, doing what he does best, tearing up the battlefield. The problem seems to be that no one reasonable wants to rule, only the power-hungry bad guys. (I often wonder why anyone would go into politics and it seems to apply to this fictional world as well as our real one). But Jane has come to care about the vampire world and has those protective skinwalker tendencies. How will having her at the top change vampire society?
I've got one more novel to read (True Dead) in order to be up to date for the release of Final Heir this fall. Totally doable, though I will probably put it off until August while I plough through a tall stack of library books.
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