The first book in this series was a breathe of fresh air in UF. The heroine wasn't all powerful, she was quite vulnerable, had lots of friends, wasn't afraid of letting people get close and the best bit - she owned a bar and bookshop built into the cliff face. That was so unbelievably cool!
This book started of really well. I enjoyed the banter between Sam and her beau, Clive. It reminded me of the interaction between Kate and Curran. It's also a laugh out loud book in places and I love a bit of humour. Also, New Orleans! Love New Orleans books, I was excited for some nasty vamp action.
However, I think that the character growth happened way too fast in this one. It's almost like we needed another book in between. Sam goes from someone who has no powers to a werewolf extraordinaire, she slashes heads off left, right and centre when she didn't even know how to fight in the previous book (and I liked that about her - sometimes I get fed up with all these kick ass heroines) She's now a necromancer (??!!) and knows everything there is to using her powers (How?) when it's been literally 4 weeks since the last book. Vampires in this book literally don't stand a chance - she just destroys them. Slash! Swipe! Rips out their minds. Jeez, even Anita Blake needed a few years to hone her craft and she is the biggest know-it-all. Sam does it in two days and takes out all vampires in New Orleans.
Also, her friends were the same, when you have a gorgon, a dragon, a demon, a Furie, a master vampire boyfriend...where is the conflict? They just go in and kill them all. The end. I think more time could have been spent building the dramatic tension and the plot was kind of obvious. We all know who dunnit but the villains seemed pathetic next to Sam's team.
It's a shame as I really enjoyed the first book, I will give the next one a try but if it's more and more power with accelerated growth then this series might not be for me.