For Kira Solomon, normal was never an option.

Kira's day job is as an antiquities expert, but her true calling is as a Shadowchaser. Trained from youth to be one of the most lethal Chasers in existence, Kira serves the Gilead Commission, dispatching the Fallen who sow discord and chaos. Of course, sometimes Gilead bureaucracy is as much a thorn in her side as anything the Fallen can muster against her. Right now, though, she's got a bigger problem. Someone is turning the city of Atlanta upside down in search of a millennia-old Egyptian dagger that just happens to have fallen into Kira's hands.

Then there's Khefar, the dagger's true owner -- a near-immortal 4,000-year-old Nubian warrior who, Kira has to admit, looks pretty fine for his age. Joining forces is the only way to keep the weapon safe from the sinister Shadow forces, but now Kira is in deep with someone who holds more secrets than she does, the one person who knows just how treacherous this fight is. Because every step closer to destroying the enemy is a step closer to losing herself to Shadow forever....

REVIEW

This was a very promising start to a new series, and while this book on its own didn't completely blow my mind, it has set the scene nicely for more adventures to come.

Quite a substantial part of the book was devoted to establishing the world-building and the magic in use, as well as some background on the mythology, which in this series is Egyptian and African in origin. I really enjoyed this aspect. I haven't seen a book featuring Egyptian mythology since the Otherkin series by Eve Silver. It baffles me why this is so little seen in urban fantasy, when we see such an abundance of others such as Norse, Celtic and Greek. Also refreshing was that the main character, Kira, was a 5'9" black woman with blue and black braids who rides a suped up motorcycle, carries a light blade and can kill people just by touching them. How cool is that?

The only real negative for me was a slight problem with the story telling. I got the impression the author wanted to show me a lot of stuff all in this one book, rather than pacing herself and concentrating on a few specific areas of the world-building, or leaving out some of the mythology to spend more time getting to know Kira and her friends or the potential love interest character a little more. It left me with a feeling of, on the one hand being slightly overwhelmed by information, and on the other hand, being slightly underwhelmed with the amount of action. For a Shadowchaser she didn't do a whole lot of chasing. The plot was fairly gentle and there was never much tension created, either by the Big Bad or of the sexual variety.

 “Children, please, As entertaining as this conversation is, can you not wait until after breakfast? A demigod likes to know he’s at least appreciated, if not worshipped.” 

However, before I make it seem like I am picking it to pieces I will go back and repeat my initial comment, that this was a great start and has laid a good foundation for more. Especially with the potential for a new team dynamic in the next books and a promotion of sorts for Kira.

One last thing of note: Kira's ability to learn an object (or a person's) history through touch is a very interesting trait for a main character to have. And I am glad to know there are exceptions to the gift/curse in the form of 4,000 year old Nubian warrior Khefar, who was a great addition to the story, and who I look forward to learning much more about in subsequent books.

3.5 Stars! ★★★