Author: Caroline
Barnard-Smith
Title: Jinn Nation
ASIN: B0058OE3JC
Publisher: Little
Hoot Press (2011)
My rating: 2 of 5
stars
“Once, the vampire Dylan had feared nothing and no one. He'd rampaged throughout the world on a seemingly never ending quest to fill his eternal years with the finest, most outrageous extravagances; with exquisite, soft-limbed young women and copious amounts of rich, vibrating blood. But life, however full of joy, inevitably changes.
Finding himself alone for the first time in his long unlife, Dylan turns to the preternatural race of savage creatures called the jinn - a path that inevitably leads him to Christa, a strangely childlike woman with the power to control minds and read thoughts. Mutually intrigued by each other, they set out on a blood-soaked road trip that crosses the United States and the Atlantic Ocean, finally leading them beyond the world itself to the mysterious fae kingdoms of the Inbetween.“ GoodReads’ blurb
*
I’m damn close to
being the ultimate vampire fan, I think, and I have to admit that the premise
for Jinn Nation was fascinating: vampires have been hunted to extinction, a new
supernatural race is vying for control, and a couple of unlikely characters
seem to be chosen by fate to navigate these difficult times as saviors or
betrayers of helpless mankind.
However, there were
several things that didn’t work for me, which was a pity because I could tell
that the potential for a great story was there. Two issues bothered me in
particular: the presentation of the world, and the characters.
For example,
suspension of disbelief was difficult when we gloss over Dylan’s backstory in
the prologue and learn that the fearsome vampires have been killed while they
organized a massive feeding. How can humans just kill them all, to the point of
pushing them to extinction, if they were so powerful in the past?
Then, there’s the
jinn themselves: a welcome addition, a more than original idea, but by the end
of the book I still didn’t know what was their relationship with the moral
world: are they lords ruling openly? Do they hide? Are they considered myth, or
just unknown? How can they hide their massive killings in any case, or if they
don’t, where’s the police?
Much later into the
book we face another situation: why can random people recognize Christa as a
supernatural savior and give her a name and understand what she’s expected to
do even when she ignores it all? The Internet seemed a bit farfetched as an
answer, and that’s just the thing: there are too many questions without
answers, or without believable answers.
This issue is more
prominent during the first part of the book – which is also the slower part.
It’s all about travelling, and indulging themselves, and there’s not a clear
conflict ahead. While I approve the building of the relationship and of the
setting through the character’s actions, I do believe this time it took a
little too long to reach the point where the actual plot begins to unfold. From
that point on, though, the book’s fast paced and follows a clear direction.
Again there’s a but,
though.
The characters are
the ones moving the plot forward, and I couldn’t understand their actions at
all times. I’m not talking about relating to the egotism, the childishness, the
lack of responsibility... I can love characters presenting all those flaws if
I’m given a solid reason and solid behaviour. But I can’t believe that Christa
is mature enough to be in love with Dylan, or that Dylan has the ability to
return her feelings because I’ve not seen them progress that far beyond their
initial state. While I do get Dylan’s mercurial mood changes as part of his
vampire nature, Christa’s swings and her refusal to accept her role made me
want to slap her –hard- and just tell her to grow up.
The supporting cast
suffered from the same shortcomings in general lines, though that’s not what
grabbed my attention about them. Rather, it was the way they popped up when
they were needed to, well, to support the main couple. For example, at one
point Dylan discovers he’s not the last vampire by running into an old friend –
just in time to force a confrontation with the Jinn, who posed to threat
otherwise. Darrel, Christa’s childhood friend, comes in at the perfect juncture
to spur jealously in Dylan, when his relationship with Christa’s at its
weakest.
Those are the main reasons I can’t recommend this book. It’s original,
the level of mature content in both gore and non-graphic sex is a new take on
all the sweetness and sparkles, but... I think it falls short of its potential.
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