Yasmine Galenorn – Shadow Rising

Book 12 in the Otherworld / Sisters of the Moon series, published October 30, 2012.
Genre: urban fantasy
Cover: lovely, this is Menolly and her Nerissa.



We're the D'Artigo sisters: savvy half-human, half-Fae ex-operatives for the Otherworld Intelligence Agency. My sister Camille is a wicked-good witch with three sexy husbands. My sister Delilah is a two-faced werecat and Death Maiden. And me? I'm Menolly, a jian-tu turned vampire in love with a wildly hot werepuma. Unfortunately, life is about to get very, very nasty...

Nerissa and I can't decide on what we want to do for our promise ceremony and we're bickering like an old married couple. My sisters and I head to Otherworld for a meeting with Queen Asteria. Once there, we discover that Shadow Wing has dispatched Telazhar - a malevolent necromancer - to reignite the Scorching Wars. And as soon as we return back home, we find Gulakah, the Lord of Ghosts, waging a battle to control the magical beings over Earthside. Caught between two terrible enemies in a battle spanning two worlds, we can only hope we're in time to stop all-out annihilation.


What can I say about this series that I haven’t said before? This is the twelfth book, and it is still going strong and fresh. There is no real progress though; things are getting direr by the day in Seattle, and in Otherworld. War is threatening, and allies have to be found soon.
Two good things happened though, the girls make up with their father, who shows real remorse about the way he treated Camille and Menolly, and it is time for the wedding between Menolly and Nerissa! Which was a lovely ceremony, only I would have preferred Camille as the performing priestess.
Gulakah, the Lord of Ghosts, is in Seattle, and ghostly activities are cropping up everywhere, and not with mundane ghosts. Evil sprits, demon ghosts, soul suckers abound. There has to be a Demon Gate to the Nether Realms, letting them in. And only the most powerful of Lords can control them. The magical community is hit hard.

Chase is discovering more and more about his powers though, and that is not without danger. But we also learn a bit more about Shade, Delilah’s love, and Roman, the Vampire Ruler, of whom Menolly is the official Consort, even though she loves Nerissa. We finally get to meet Blood Wyne, Romans’ mother, and the ultimate Vampire Queen, and wow, did I love that part of the story! Yasmine Galenorn is a master at describing rituals and scenes, and it is just amazing.

Next to all the fighting, and the hurrying from one scene to the other, there is bit of time for home, for friends, to enjoy life, but their home is invaded again and again by evil, and Camille has to ask Ivana, the Maiden of Karask, for help again. Still, I think she will be needed in this battle again and again, and I hope Menolly can stay out of her debt by making the right bargains. It sure is intriguing to read about the Elder Fae. They really are scary.


But as usual, I am looking forward to the next book, which will be starring Camille again, and I hope to learn a bit more about the Courts of the Fae Queens, and the rituals of the Moon Mother. Camille is to lead the Wild Hunt.

Yasmine Galenorn is a really great author, she writes parts that are on the cusp of very scary (for me, that is), but she also can tug on my heart strings with the various relationships and their problems and hopes and dreams. Her characters are very lifelike and I love the sister that is telling the story in each book the most, though I usually do admire Camille the most. They started out together, three sisters, and have all found friends and lovers and other helpers, their family has extended, and the world keeps getting build more and more in each book.

If you want to start reading this series, please start with the first book, or you cannot possibly enjoy the dynamics in the interactions of the various characters.

9 stars

© 2012 Reviews by Aurian