Skinwalker

Jane Yellowrock, Book 1

By: Faith Hunter

Narrated by: Khristine Hvam

Length: 14 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

Jane Yellowrock is the last of her kind - a skinwalker of Cherokee descent who can turn into any creature she desires and hunts vampires for a living. But now she's been hired by Katherine Fontaneau, one of the oldest vampires in New Orleans and the madam of Katie's Ladies, to hunt a powerful rogue vampire who's killing other vamps.

©2009 Faith Hunter (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

• Audie Award Nominee - Judges' Award for Best Paranormal Audiobook, 2011

"A new, strongly unique voice in the dark fantasy genre." (Kim Harrison)

"Hunter's very professionally executed, tasty blend of dark fantasy, mystery, and romance should please fans of all three genres." ( Booklist)

"Khristine Hvam portrays Jane with an adventurous-sounding voice edged with a twang.... Hvam’s voices for the Louisiana locals whom Jane learns to love and respect.... augment an intriguing story with hints of Native American mysticism." ( AudioFile)

Good story, I would recommend

Though I'm not a huge fan of the narrator I feel like the story manages to supersede it. I started it once before but the narrator got me to lose interest, but later I picked it up and finished it and decided it was a good book

OK

Overall, the author spend way to much time on describing surroundings which made some parts of the book tedious. I did not like her writing style when it comes to the beast character at all but it was never the less well written. It jest wasn‘t good enough for me to buy the second book. I did not like the reading performance at all. If one cannot imitate an accent, it is better to read it normally.

Try it - you might like it!

I put off listening to this series for almost two years. It continuously showed in my recommended list but I was convinced I wouldn't like it - maybe it was the cover art???

I gave in and bought it last week because it was on sale. I listened to it immediately and was pleasantly surprised. The character of Jane is pickly and tough, not very likable at first. She has been hired by a local vampire council to hunt a rogue. Jane is uniquely qualified for the job bacuse she shares her body with Beast, a panther spirit whose body she hijacked by accident when she was a child. Jane/Beast can transform into animal form and has a well developed sense of smell.

If you can suspend your disbelief long enough to get into the story, it is fast paced and well written. The references to Cherokee culture are well researched and seamlessly integrated. The dialog is okay - not spectacluarly witty, but okay. The voice of Beast is the one dialog exception. The way Faith Hunter writes for Beast and Khristine Hvam reads it is masterful!

After resisting this series for two years, I bought the other three books after finishing this one! Don't be deceived by the cover art it hides a great story!

Fantastic Debut to an Awesome Series

I was a little reluctant to purchase this book, the review did not appeal to me, however I took the plunge, and loved it. The main character is strong, and I love her sense of humour. Beasts character adds another dimesion which I really enjoyed. I loved this so much, that my next 2 purchases were the next 2 books in the series.

Great Potential but Falls Short

What a novel idea for a vampire novel. I loved the idea of a shapeshifter that hunts vampires. At times, this is story showed real potential but for the most part, I just didn't connect with the story. Really, I didn't connect with Jane Yellowrock which is a real shame because I can see what the books could be. Maybe one day I'll give some of the other stories a try if Audible puts them on sale cheap or if I find them in an used book store cheap but I won't be jumping to read them.

Such a surprise!

Honestly when I saw this series come up on my surprise sale I was iffy about it. When I looked at the pictures and read the title and then the summary I thought to myself "great another vampire sex book just what the world needs". Boy was I wrong. Jane Yellowrock is not about sex falling in love or needing a man. Actually they all need her. This is such a good book that I went ahead and bought the entire series. Then I bought her other series.the character of Beast keeps the story interesting and keeps Jane humble. everyone that I've convinced to read the series has been a convert and most of them don't even like paranormal or urban fantasy. The narration is spot on I never had to wonder who was talking. I can't wait to see more from Faith Hunter and Beast.

Why so many great reviews?

The beginning had potential, then quickly bombs with all the over descriptive boringness. The plot itself would have been good but too much is too much. I liked the character at first and how she stood up for herself when she met the madam vampire, she seemed like a badass and I also like how she nicknamed everybody she was quite quirky at first. She then turns into a girly girl with all her shopping, tea drinking, dancing, hair do's and blushing, it felt like a totally different character than who was introduced in the first chapters. What really made me lose my interest was when she turned into Beast and went prowling for what seemed like forever, this was boring and annoying because it went on for what seemed like forever. I could have lived with this if it was only one time, but then the next scene was even more boring with all the tea descriptions and later it was even more boring with her thinking how extraordinary she was because she could dance. Plus she must have a huge neck to hold up her turban style hair with all the things in it that she needs to change forms, which from previous description was a change of clothes along with weapons. When she gets asked out on a date and she says that she will only go to a place that sales beer, but then doesn't drink. What? I also wasn't a fan of Rick, I just didn't like him. I usually like bad boys but this guy just seemed a bit skeevy. I'm not even going to go into character Leo the perv. Also she is supposed to be this badass vampire killer, but to date she has been seriously injured after every vampire she has tried to kill, and without help she would have been screwed. After about two hours I was bored, I did continue to listen and at hour 6 I gave up on it and I won't be continuing on with this series. Narrator has a nice voice and I enjoyed listening to her, but she does mispronounce words randomly and I kept correcting her as the story went by like I would if I was helping a kid read.

Vamps and Shifters beware.

Getting to know Jane was half the fun of the book, she is different, smart and has a believable personality. A Cherokee descendant that has received a rare paranormal gift that she does not have much background or knowledge of. We find out and learn about her as she does. The story had just the right amount of characters and paranormals to make it exciting but not over the top. New Orleans was a great backdrop for a rouge vampire hunt.

The choppiness of the verbiage while she is in her skinwalker state is a little off putting but did not upset the canter of the story. I think this hit on all four cylinders and I was happy to find this new author.

Great listen

Would you listen to Skinwalker again? Why?

Prolly :) Its a good listen, not always action action but hours of entertainment

What was one of the most memorable moments of Skinwalker?

Cant spoil the book for other readers

Have you listened to any of Khristine Hvam’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Its just as good as her other work

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

the book has its moments :)

Any additional comments?

good book :) worth the credit :)

Great Plot , Not so great writing

My biggest issue is with the Beast .. the way it's written made me grit my teeth and desperately want to skip. I understand that it's a beast and therefor doesn't think in humans terms but I literally stopped paying attention when the narrator read those parts and got to the point where I just skipped ahead and dealt with the missing information because it irritated me so much. The actual plot line is pretty good. I liked the heroin though I agree with another reviewer that she spends a wee bit too much time complimenting herself and her prowess but it's not to a jarring extent. The narration wasn't great , wasn't terrible. Also thank you to whoever did the sound editing because, unlike the Patricia Briggs series, the levels were all good and I didn't find myself constantly raising and lowering the volume.