Early Review: Stormwalker by Allyson James

*Disclosure: I received this book courtesy of Penguin Group

STORMWALKER by Allyson James will be released on May 4, 2010

Book Description

Half-Navajo Janet Begay comes to Magellan to investigate the mysterious disappearance of the police chief's daughter. But the people of Magellan sense that Janet is not what she seems, and they're right.

Janet possesses extraordinary power which is tied to the storms that waft across the desert. The only person who can control her when she's caught in the storm's evocative power is Mick, a dark-haired, blue-eyed biker Janet can't seem to touch with her powers. He can wield fire and not get burned, and Janet's never sure where he goes when they're not together.

Together they investigate mysterious disappearances, which Janet fears are tied to her mother's people, the mythical gods from below the earth. They are helped along the way by Coyote and Crow, but these shapeshifting gods have their own agendas.

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Book 1 in The Stormwalker Series

Review:
There is a lot to like about Allyson James first book in her new Stormwalker series. The stunning cover art by Tony Mauro is just the beginning. The world building involves a Native American twist on the four elements: Earth, Fire, Water, Wind, and a mythological history of earth.  The main character, Janet Begay, is a Stormwalker. When a storm rages, Janet becomes essentially an X-man (minus the creepy white eyes and comic book spandex).

I did have a moment of disorientation in the beginning of STORMWALKER wondering if I'd missed some earlier novella in this series. Thankfully no. Allyson just chose to throw her characters right in the middle of the story and provide the back-story of Janet meeting both Mick and her mother in flashback chapters. So if you feel like you missed something in the first few chapters, don't worry, it's coming.

Normally Janet endures the mother of all magical hangovers the day after riding a storm, unless Mick is there. Mick is Janet's on again/off again lover. With fire abilities that rival her storm powers, Mick can siphon off her storm energy and leave her calm and nearly sexually sated. When caught up in a particularly heady storm, the experience for Janet is almost orgasmic (see the scene in the jail).

Speaking of sex, there is quite a bit in STORMWALKER. A lot of Janet's magical abilities have sexual repercussions. Tantric magic, for example, created by some spectacularly creative sex, can reinforce magical wards. Ultimately, there ended up being more references to crazy wild sex than actual descriptions. Most, not all, of the sex scenes are relatively brief and only moderately graphic.

And I haven't even mentioned Beneath yet. Imagine the planet as an onion with layer upon layer of worlds, each better than the last. Various gods and humans escaped through to this world and sealed below the rest, including Janet’s psychopathic mother. Some of Beneath’s nastier creatures made it into our world including skinwalkers and nightwalkers (aka shifters and vampires). 

As far as the plot goes, I never really bought into Janet's reason for being in Arizona. She explains that she's been hired to find a missing woman, and decides to buy and fix up an old hotel in the process.  The how and why are a bit weak, as is the initial reason for her level of dedication. The clues that she puts together are also pretty random, and I still think that the last leap in logic was totally unbelievable.

But I didn't really like STORMWALKER because of the missing woman mystery. I liked it because of the main characters and the paranormal world that they lived in. Janet is this tough biker chick who never got over her first love. She struggles believably with wanting to just be loved and knowing her own self-respect won't allow her to stay with a man who won't reveal anything about himself. Mick, for all his smoking good looks and fiery nature, doesn't seem to know how to love Janet the way she needs to be loved. Each one is trying so desperately to protect the other that they don't realize that they may lose each other anyway. Their whole relationship is volatile and addictively compelling and I can’t wait to read more about them when Firewalker comes out on November 2nd.

Sexual Content: Several sex scenes of various lengths and graphical intensity.  References to ménage sex.  Attempted rape.

My Rating (out of 5):
Excellent - Loved it! Buy it now & pre-order the sequel.

Click HERE to read an excerpt of STORMWALKER

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Berkley; Original edition (May 4, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 042523469X
• ISBN-13: 978-0425234693
• Cover Art: Tony Mauro

Disagree with my review?  Contact me your review for this or any other book I’ve reviewed and I might use it for 2nd Opinion Review