As a living descendant of Artemis, the Huntress, private investigator Nikki Glass knows how to track someone down. But when an Oracle shows up, warning the Descendants about wild dog attacks in Washington, D.C., Nikki is afraid it might be a trap. The Olympians believe the "dogs" are really jackals, controlled by a blood-crazed descendant of the Egyptian death-god Anubis. Whatever...If Nikki hopes to muzzle Dogboy, she's got to catch him in the act. But when she stakes out a local cemetery, she ends up face-to-snout with a snarling pack of shadow-jackals whose bite is worse than their bark. "Dog" spelled backward may be "god," but that won't stop Nikki from teaching these old gods some new tricks. Like playing dead.
It really has been over a year, close to two, since I last read Dark Descendant, so diving into Jenna Black's Deadly Descendant took some doing, but it had to be done! Luckily, the finer points of the first novel were touched upon in the beginning that I was able to grasp what was going on.
This time around Nikki is more sure of herself and her purpose. Granted there are still some misgivings and whatnot, but she at least knows who she is supposed to be. And since she is the descendant of Artemis, the Greek goddess of the hunt, she knows a thing or two about tracking down the bad guys. Having to track down some some Anubis descendant using jackals to kill people should be no problem. Except for the fact that it becomes a problem.
All too early in her hunt for the bad guy, she is attacked by the jackals. She should heal from these wounds like she would from any other fatal attack, but it's not happening. In fact, she gets worse. Anderson soon realizes that she's contracted a super-rabies of some sort that effects her and her descendant status. They think of a cure and act on it, but it leaves Nikki a little scarred in some ways.
Then it's back to the hunting game. And that's when Nikki sees a pattern to the murders. All have been men and all of them bare a resemblance in appearance to Kostantin. After some fact checking, it becomes apparent that Kostantin and the murderer have a connection of some sort. One that is leading the Anubis descendant to go on a killing spree.
Due to improper memory, I felt like I was meeting the characters all over again. And in ways this was nice. We see Anderson, the leader, who's the brave sort and willing to do what it takes to keep everyone safe. Even using his Hand of Death--as Nikki referred to it--when he has to take care of the seriously bad descendants. They will not heal from what he does, he quite literally kills them and ends their existence.
Jamaal is another character of interest, he's a descendant of Kali and has more than a few issues of his own that he needs to work out. Yet, in this novel, Nikki gets to see another side of Jamaal. He doesn't change necessarily, only lets his vulnerability peek out every now and then. Enough for Nikki to feel something more for him. There's definite chemistry between these two, but Jamaal is so hot and cold at times, it's hard for Nikki to know how he really feels.
Emma is one of those crazy whacked out people you cannot determine if they are a villain or not. True, she had it rough being under a lake for years and years because that's what Konstantin did to her. Emma wants Anderson to kill him, but he won't since he's trying to keep peace with the Olympians--descendants of the Greek gods and goddesses. Add in the fact that Anderson has been spending some time with Nikki--in showing her the ropes and all that descendant jazz--makes Emma a very jealous and crazy bitch. I can definitely see her becoming the enemy one day!
The pacing to this one was pretty good. Trying to read a book during the weekend gets harder for me since that's when I tend to do stuff, so stopping on a Friday and picking it up again on Monday leaves me racing to remember all that went down. Deadly Descendant definitely picks up the action and storytelling for the series. And I have high hopes that Rogue Descendant is going to be just as fabulous if not more!
Jenna's latest adult series is a far cry different from her Morgan Kingsley series, yet it still packs a great punch in the Urban Fantasy genre with action and spice of romance! The fact that it has mythological ties, just adds to the enjoyment!
Overall rating 4/5 stars
I want to try Jenna's books. This sounds like a wonderful series for me. :) Thanks for the review.
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