Graveyard Child by M.L.N. Hanover Series: The Black Sun's Daughter
Published by Pocket Books on April 30th 2013
Pages: 320
Goodreads
It’s a homecoming, of sorts, for Jayné Heller—and she wants some long-awaited answers to her past, in this fifth book in the acclaimed Black Sun’s Daughter urban fantasy series.
After years on her own, Jayné Heller is going home to find some answers. How did the powerful spirit calling itself the Black Sun get into her body? Who was her uncle Eric, and what was the grand plan to which he devoted his life? Who did her mother have an affair with, and why? And the tattoo—seriously—what was that about?
Jayné arrives during the preparations for her older brother’s shotgun wedding, but she’s not the only unexpected guest. The Invisible College has also come to town, intent on stopping the ceremony. They claim an ancient evil is threatening the child that would be Jayné’s niece, and that the Heller family has been rotten at the core for generations.
The deeper Jayné looks, the more she thinks they might not be wrong. And behind them all, in the shadows of Jayné’s childhood home, a greater threat waits that calls itself the Graveyard Child...
Graveyard Child is the fifth (and final?) installment in The Black Sun’s Daughter series. I rattled my way through the first four books last year and got swept up into the lives of Jayné Heller and her friends and fellow demon hunters. I have been eagerly awaiting this book after the ending of Killing Rites left off on such a pivotal cliffhanger.
This book picks up pretty much where the last one ended with Jayné, having made that all-important telephone call to her mother, travelling back to her hometown in Wichita to confront her parents (and possibly attend her older brother’s wedding). Ex and Chogyi Jake are of course along for the ride, ready to back Jayné up if required.
As Jayné was expecting, things do not go too well with her parents – especially her dad. After the Invisible College turn up and ransack her family’s house, her parents are even more aghast when her rider takes over and sends the goons packing.
Jayné is ready to chalk it up to a lesson learned and accept that she may never truly have the answers to what her Uncle Eric was really up to and why she has a rider (demon) inside of her. However, just as she and her friends are packing up to leave, Jayné is approached by her older brother Jay, distraught because his (pregnant) fiancé has been kidnapped by the Invisible College. Jay begs Jayné to help him get her back.
However, things are not as they seem and Jayné will have to face up to some troubling truths about her family. Not knowing who the real ‘bad guys’ are, she must rely on her friends to help her uncover the truth, before it is too late.
I really enjoyed Graveyard Child and felt it was a nice parallel to the first book Unclean Spirits. Jayné has really grown up a lot since then and it is made even more apparent in this book, now that she has to face her ‘demons’. A lot of questions that have been building across the last four books finally get some answers. We learn the truth about Jayné’s missing two days as a teenager and the meaning behind her tattoo. Her family is revealed to be even more messed up than we were led to believe and more is discovered about Jayné’s Uncle Eric and what he was up to prior to being killed.
Graveyard Child was a solid entry in the series and works well if it is the finale as, although left somewhat open at the end, it does tie up most of the plot threads though I have to say I was disappointed there was no resolution to the tension between Jayné and Ex. There seemed to be ‘something’ between them and although it is alluded to, nothing is really resolved apart from Jayné admitting she has a ‘thing’ for him but doesn’t think it would be a good idea to do anything about it.
I am hopeful that there will be more books so this could be explored in the future but as it stands this was my only real niggle about Graveyard Child, especially after what was happening between them in the last book Killing Rites. I would still say that my favourite book in this series was Killing Rites (followed closely by Vicious Grace) but Graveyard Child was highly entertaining and the story kept me enthralled from the first page to the last (indeed I read it in one sitting).
Leave a Reply