Book Review: Blood Rock

Blood Rock

Book Two, The Skin Dancer Series
By: Anthony Francis
Published By: Bell Bridge Books

Publication Date: July 29th, 2011

Buy it at Amazon

Source: Galley provided by Publisher via NetGalley

Audience: Adult

My Thoughts:

Ok, as you may know, this series grabbed me from the first book. Well the second of the series went above and beyond my expectations and then some. I gave Blood Rock a whooping 5 birdies, and while I didn't WANT to put it down, my family kept insisting they needed food or clean clothes and other assorted nonsense. Pfffttt. But I digress. The story is gritty and true to life as Dakota feels her way around motherhood and increasingly messy romantic relationships and vampire politics. We also get to meet her dad and the master skin dancer who taught her, as well as learn a little more about her back story, and watch her move forward. No date has been set for the final installment of the trilogy, Liquid Fire, but I will be happy to let you know when I know.  

The Characters:

Dakota is back, being as awesome if not more awesome than before. My favorite new aspect of her character - mother lion! Cinnamon is back as well, adjusting to life topside. These two are my favorite by far and keep me coming back for more. Both of these books stay on my Nook and I can't wait to go back a revisit them. We also get a deeply personal connection between Dakota and Calaphase, a tantrum of epic proportions thrown by Dakota's ex Lady Saffron, and all sorts of police interference in things strictly Edgeworld. 

The Plot:

As a dangerous and implicitly mad magical graffiti artist terrorizes Atlanta's Edgworlders, both her vampire friends and her adopted weretiger daughter Cinnamon are in great danger. It gets very complex and twisty, as well as dark. There is so much going on, including an investigation on the magical showdown from Book 1 that left an evil madman dead and everyone else, including Dakota and Cinnamon, nearly so. This story if fast pace, leaves you guessing and hungry for more.

Synopsis:

Dakota Frost is back, and the ink is about to hit the fan-again. 

Graffiti comes to life in the dark heart of Atlanta’s oldest cemetery, slaying one of the city’s best loved vampires before the eyes of his friend Dakota Frost. Deadly magick is at work on the city’s walls, challenging even the amazing power of Dakota’s tattoos to contain it. The hungry, graffiti magick loves to kill, and the Edgeworld is no longer safe from its own kind. 

Dakota begins a harrowing journey to save those she loves and to discover the truth behind the spreading graffiti-even if that truth offends the vampires, alienates the werekin and creates police suspicion of her every action. 

Saving Atlanta may cost her everything, including custody of her “adopted” weretiger daughter, Cinnamon. But failure is not an option. If the graffiti isn’t stopped, Cinnamon could be the next victim.