Release-Day Review: Shattered Bonds by Faith Hunter (Jane Yellowrock #13)

Shattered Bonds (Jane Yellowrock #13)
Faith Hunter
Published: Oct. 29, 2019 (Ace)
Purchase: Amazon
Review source: copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review

Reviewed by: Margaret

Rating (out of 5): 4 stars

Note: While review will be spoiler free, it does make reference to previous books in the series. If you haven’t started yet, check out VBC’s review of Skinwalker.

When we last saw Jane Yellowrock I was kind of pissed at her. After defeating the European vampires and suffering significant losses, Jane abandons her found family and the vampires she’s supposed to protect so she can die alone in the mountains from magical cancer. But now Clan Yellowrock has regrouped, setting up shop in an Appalachian winery while they search for a cure for Jane.

But that search gets put on hold when Edmund, who’s watching over Jane’s new territory in Europe, goes missing along with some other members of her clan. Then Jane learns that the younger Son of Darkness, the brothers who created the vampire race—the older of whom Jane killed in Dark Queen—is coming for her. No matter how much Jane tries to get out of supernatural politics, the vampires keep pulling her back in.

Much of the action in Shattered Bonds is magical, taking place inside Jane’s head. This is the kind of thing that normally drives me crazy, but I’ve gotten used to Jane spending time in her Soul Home over the course of the series. I’ve also grown to love Beast and was struck by how much more sophisticated her voice has gotten. Jane and Beast are truly a team at this point and it’s fun to see them working together. But because Jane’s so introspective, I didn’t get to see as much of the supporting characters as I would have liked—Jane’s guys are really my favorite things about the series.

Shattered Bonds shows Jane in transition, though even at the end I’m not sure what she’s going to become. She’s building a new life in a new location and learning new things about her history and her role as the Dark Queen. She even has a new character to help her work through things and I’m curious about how that relationship will develop. Most of all though, I was happy to see the return of a certain old character who answered some lingering questions about Jane and Beast.

One thing Faith Hunter does well in this series is play the long game, bringing back elements from several books earlier to bite Jane in the ass. But at the end of Shattered Bonds, I don’t feel like there are many loose ends left. In fact, I can only think of one. I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next for this much-changed Jane.

Sexual content: sex