Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire

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Book review: 'No Humans Involved,' Kelley Armstrong.

No Humans Involved, by Kelley Armstrong.
Spectra, paperback
544 pages, dark urban fantasy/supernatural romance, she sees dead people
Currently in print

***

By the time we got to No Humans Involved, I was incredibly excited about the idea of Jaime Vegas getting her own book. After all, we started off cold with Elena, and only got very sketchy introductions to Paige and Eve before we were asked to take an interest in their stories. Jaime, on the other hand, played a major role in Industrial Magic, Haunted, and Broken before she was asked to take the stage on her own. Could she make the transition from supporting player to lead actress?

You bet your ass she could.

No Humans Involved finds Jaime -- a supernatural necromancer masquerading as a non-supernatural spiritualist -- reaching for the brass ring of her chosen profession: a television series of her very own. How's going to prove herself? By doing a kick-ass job on the set of a reality show, of course, one where some of the best spiritualists in the business have been brought together to contact the spirit of Marilyn Monroe. It's all smoke and mirrors, of course...unless you happen to be a real necromancer. For Jaime, the situation is very, very real.

Ghosts are harassing her. Her co-stars are being prejudiced against her. The producers are playing everyone in the house off against each other. And to make matters worse, someone in the city is dabbling in powers so dark that even a necromancer wouldn't go there. Luckily for Jaime, she's not entirely alone -- she has allies, most notably Jeremy Danvers, the Alpha of the werewolf Pack, and the man she's had the hots for ever since they first met. Does he reciprocate? Given his position in the supernatural world, can he reciprocate? And until they've managed to survive the mess they're in, does it even matter?

Jaime is my second-favorite of Armstrong's narrators, placing just barely behind Paige in my personal ranking. (If Jaime got a second book -- hint, hint -- she might well take the prize.) She's vulnerable, she's strong, she's interesting, and she has very good reason for her resistance to her own capabilities. Jaime makes sense, both as a person and as a character (the two aren't always the same thing). Jeremy is an incredibly refreshing hero, and ranks right alongside Lucas in 'the sexiest men Armstrong has ever created.' Rarefied company, to be sure.

There aren't currently any public plans for another Jaime book (the most recent book, Living With the Dead, has just come out, and doesn't feature Jaime at all; the book after, Frostbitten, is another Clay and Elena adventure). So we should enjoy the time we get in her company, which is well-worth the enjoying.

Next up is Personal Demon, in which Hope Adams gets a book all her own, and I stop reviewing these for a little while. Hooray!
Tags: book review
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