My Urban Fantasies: Review: Witchling by Yasmine Galenorn

Title: Witchling

Author: Yasmine Galenorn

Series: Otherworld, #1

•Source: Purchased
•Publisher: Berkley Books
•Publication Date: October 2006

Opening Line: Seattle is gloomy most any day of the year, but October can be especially rough in the bad weather department.

We're the D'Artigo Sisters: Half-human, half-Faerie, we're savvy—and sexy—operatives for the Otherworld Intelligence Agency. But our mixed-blood heritage short-circuits our talents at all the wrong times. My sister Delilah shapeshifts into a tabby cat whenever she's stressed. Menolly's a vampire who's still trying to get the hang of being undead. And me? I'm Camille—a wicked-good witch. Except my magic is as unpredictable as the weather, which my enemies are about to find out the hard way...

Camille:
"At the Wayfarer Inn, a portal to Otherworld and the local hangout for humans and beasties alike, our fellow operative Jocko's been murdered. Every clue points to Shadow Wing, the soul-munching, bad-ass leader of the Subterranean Realms. He's made it clear that he aims to raze humankind to the ground, turning both Earth and Otherworld into his private playground. Our assignment: keep Shadow Wing and his minions from creeping into Earth via the Wayfarer. The demons figure they're in like Flynn. After all, with only my 'bumbling' sisters and me standing in the way, how can they miss? But we've got a secret for them: faulty wiring or not, nobody kicks ass like the D'Artigo girls."

Witchling is told from Camille's point of view. Camille is the oldest of the three sisters. They are half-faerie and half-human. Each of the sisters possess their own special talents, but with a slight twist. Because of their half-human side their faerie powers do not work like they are supposed to. Camille is a witch whose spells backfire. Often. Delilah is a werecat who, instead of changing into a big cat, shifts into a golden tabby cat. Menolly is a vampire, but was not born this way. Menolly was a top-notch acrobat who could climb anything. Shortly after the sisters joined the OIA, they assigned Menolly to spy on a rogue group of vampires. Menolly was collecting information on them when here wall climbing ability shorted out. Menolly fell. The vampires caught her, tortured her and, when they were done, turned Menolly into a vampire.

I really wanted to give this book 3 moons for the storyline alone, but I just could not do it. The entire book was just flat. The fight scenes and sex scenes are written in the same tone as the mundane scenes. Like I said. Flat. I really did love the idea behind the story though.

The characters were a little off as well. I cannot quite put my finger on it, but something about the dialect was off. It's quite possible that I've gone completely insane, but there was something about the way they spoke that just drove me nuts. My biggest problem was that the characters seemed to contradict themselves. Camille did not seem to have any problems using magic during the fight scenes, but when she tries to magically lock a door it explodes. You would think that during at least one fight scene that something would go terrible wrong.

Witchling, for me, was just okay. There were some low points: Instead of feeling immersed in the story, it felt like I was being read to. Which is exceptionally sad considering I read the eBook. There were definitely some high points as well: Smoky the shape-shifting dragon who turns into a gorgeous piece of man candy who is all attitude.

Will I read the next book in the series? I'm seriously considering it. I realize that this is Yasmine Galenorn's first urban fantasy book. There was bound to be a few bumps in the road. What do you think?

Favorite Quotes

No shifting the jeans to fit her butt, no adjusting her boobs in her bra. In fact, she didn't have to wear a bra. No, she was like a beautiful porcelain mannequin, who would never fade, never gain weight, never have to face the world of underwire.

I was starting to feel like the universe stooge on the end of the bad-deal train. Bring me a demon's finger bone, or I'll take one of yours. Terminate the demons, or they'll destroy the world. Get Tom Lane out of my sight, or I'll eat you for breakfast.

Smoky frowned—not an easy task for a dragon.

"Yes, I said dragon. And a powerful one at that. Smoky may look all man, but trust me, under that gorgeous hunk of man flesh is a pure, fire-breathing dragon."