The Iron Hunt (Hunter Kiss #1) by Marjorie Liu
Paperback, 320 pgs.
Published June 24th, 2008 by Ace
Source: Purchased
Demon hunter Maxine Kiss wears her armor as tattoos, which unwind from her body to take on forms of their own at night. They stand between her and her enemies, just as Maxine stands between humanity and the demons breaking out from behind the prison veils. It is a life lacking in love, reveling in death, until one moment—and one man— changes everything.
A few weeks ago I got the latest book in this series for review, since I hadn't read the first ones I added them to my wish-list and luckily I found the first one used almost right away. And when I went to read the first page just to get a feel for the story {wasn't actually going to keep reading it right then}, I was sucked right in. And I stayed sucked in until I finished the book.
This was a unique and creative story with some fascinating characters. I always love when an author messes with your head. When you think someone's a bad guy but compared to other bad guys he's/she's practically a good guy. And sometimes you nearly hate a character and then they do something that makes you totally love them. In this book there are bad guys, worse guys and then the even worse guys. And as for good guys, well, that seems harder to determine. Are any of them really good? I think so but yet I've been proven wrong a time or two already...
My favorite 'characters' are the five demons on Maxine's body. During the day they are tattoos and they shield her from harm. I mean she can get hit by a bus and be fine. But at night they peel away from her skin and are like these awesome little dragons (well, that's just what I picture) and they will protect Maxine no matter what. They are vicious and chew on tools just for fun. They are totally kick butt and can kill in the blink of an eye. Zee is the only one that actually speaks but they are all intelligent and understand everything said, etc. They were absolutely awesome creatures and elevated this book to a whole other level to me. Really, can I have one? Or five would be nice ;)
Maxine is a pretty kick butt chick. She's had things drilled into her head since she was child and her mother had 'the boys' {the demon things} on her and 'did away' with the demons in our world. Maxine's mother taught her a lot but in this book she realizes that her mother kept loads of secrets as well. She starts to feel like she knows nothing about demons and the supernatural. There's so much going on all of a sudden and she just feels in the dark. As the story goes on and she discovers many new things she has to suffer through a lot as well. This elevates her to a new level of kick butt'ness and I'm sure as the series goes on she'll continue to grow as she learns more. I was very pleased with her character though and how she was able to balance her darker self with her what her heart said was right.
This is a pretty fast paced book and a lot of that is due to the constant action. It was hard to put down because I'd say 'just to the end of the chapter' but then there would be a horrible cliffhanger, so I had to keep reading. I read almost the entire book in one sitting. It seriously was that good. I don't usually fall in love with urban fantasy books in the first book so I was surprised how much I liked this one right from the get go. If there's anything I could maybe say is a negative is that it was a bit confusing at times. I think much of that was just because it was so hard for me to wrap my head around everything. It's a minor complaint though and one I'm not sure could be any other way.
I'm very anxious to continue this story. I want to see where the story line goes but I'm eager to learn more about Grant, her boyfriend that has some super powers of his own, and some secrets that her grandfather is still hiding. I very highly recommend this book to urban fantasy readers, it's definitely not one to be missed!
4.5/5 stars
