Review: Inked by Marjorie M. Liu

Book Description:

Four tales of urban fantasy and paranormal romance explore body art that is more than it seems—in a world of magic and mayhem that always leaves it mark . . .

New York Times bestselling author Karen Chance's "Skin Deep" tells the tale of a war mage in Las Vegas who stumbles across an ominous magical ward that appears as a dragon on her skin--and has a mind of its own…

When New York Times bestselling author Marjorie M. Liu's demon slayer Maxine Kiss investigates a grisly murder at a high-class soirée, she finds herself involved in a conspiracy dating back to World War II--and a secret mission that her grandmother may have carried out for the US Government, one that involves the mysterious "Armor of Roses."

In USA Today bestselling author Yasmine Galenorn's "Etched in Silver," a supernatural agent is on the trail of a sadistic serial killer, when an unexpected ally comes to her aid, setting in motion a magical ritual that may end up binding them together, body and soul.

When the heavily tattooed body of a man is found in a Northern California town, FBI Agent Lily Yu is drawn into the case. Trouble is, the victim wasn't human--and the killer isn't finished in USA Today bestselling author Eileen Wilks's "Human Nature."

*Note* I will be reviewing each story in this anthology in separate posts.

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Review:
“Armor of Roses” by Marjorie M. Liu continues her Hunter’s Kiss series.  If you’re interested reading this series chronologically, the order would be:

1. Hunter Kiss (prequel included in the anthology Wild Hunt, and as an eBook novella)
2. The Iron Hunt (Hunter Kiss, Book 1)
3. Darkness Calls (Hunter Kiss, Book 2)
4. Armor of Roses (included in the anthology Inked)

Maxine Kiss is a demon hunter.

a woman whose body is covered in living tattoos—her own personal demons to call upon when the sun goes down, who both protect her life, and are destined to end it. -Marjorie M. Liu

I don’t know what it is about this series, but I’m always underwhelmed. The world building is interesting enough.  This is a world populated by zombies, but not the undead kind. Liu’s zombies are humans possessed by parasitic demons. I think it might be the character of Maxine.  Despite have a unique and intriguing back story (all the women in her family host the tattoos/demons until her daughter comes of age at which point the tattoos/demons move on to the next generation and the woman dies) I find her rather dull. To be fair her mission and unavoidable fate are grim, but she is so completely morose and joyless that it’s hard to develop any empathy for her. And in Armor of Darkness she was bland again. 

Finding a message that her grandmother left for her, Maxine uses her magical ability to travel back to the time of WWII and help her future grandmother hunt down the nefarious Black Cat who is amassing an armor of rose tattoos that bind the lives of children.  If you’re a fan of this series, this story doesn’t really add anything to the meta-narrative of the series or even any real character development. 

Without spoiling anything, towards the end of this story there is a scene involving children forced onto the set of a porn film being made. The sex itself is not overly graphic, but the presence of little children there was very disturbing.

Sexual Content: A group of people are filming a pornographic film where children are present.

My Rating (out of 5):

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Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Berkley; Original edition (January 5, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425231976
• ISBN-13: 978-0425231975

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