Title: Unclean Spirit

Author: M.L.N. Hanover

Series: Black Sun’s Daughter

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Rating: 2/5 starts

The Overview: Jayné Heller thinks of herself as a realist, until she discovers reality isn’t quite what she thought it was. When her uncle Eric is murdered, Jayné travels to Denver to settle his estate, only to learn that it’s all hers — and vaster than she ever imagined. And along with properties across the world and an inexhaustible fortune, Eric left her a legacy of a different kind: his unfinished business with a cabal of wizards known as the Invisible College.Led by the ruthless Randolph Coin, the Invisible College harnesses demon spirits for their own ends of power and domination. Jayné finds it difficult to believe magic and demons can even exist, let alone be responsible for the death of her uncle. But Coin sees Eric’s heir as a threat to be eliminated by any means — magical or mundane — so Jayné had better start believing in something to save her own life. -Goodreads

The Review:

After finishing Unclean Spirits, I’d like to lament a few disappointments with a wishlist:

#1: I wish the characters had been developed, not just better, but at all.

#2: I wish the concept of the “unclean spirits” would’ve played a stronger, more direct role in the story.

#3: I wish the plot hadn’t been so simple.

#4: I wish all of the things I’ve come to love about this author had been represented in this novel.

Daniel Abraham (aka MLN Hanover, aka 1/2 of James S. A. Corey) has a pretty solid spot in my top authors list for his Long Price Quartet and Expanse series. I appreciate the subtle beauty of his writing, his interesting story ideas, and (most importantly), the rich characters he creates filled with so much depth they feel like real people (are you all sick of hearing me talk about Avasarala – aka my homegirl?). He’s literally my number one example for how to write amazing characters, so what happened here?

My disappointment in Unclean Spirits was a little more acute due to the lack of all of the essential components I’ve come to associate with this author. I’m actually kind of shocked that it was so sub-par of his usual standard. Minus the profanity, the delivery of this book read very much like a thin YA novel, lacking in any real substance or development (with an insta-lust on top of it all). It was practically a case study in telling vs showing where the characters would spring up feelings, convictions, and even magical talents without any groundwork to show the reader how they got to those points. Because of this I was never invested in the story – almost comatose with impartiality.

The concept of the book (revolving around parasitic “unclean spirits”) was an interesting one, and in fact my only positive takeaway from the book was the scientific discussion about the spirits vs earthen parasites. However, they didn’t play a significant role in the story other than on the periphery. I wanted to see some badass body-hopping and instead I got a big thug possessed by a spirit and lots of speculation and theory.

Overall, the book didn’t give me anything to sink my teeth into and had it been any other author I may have DNFed. It wasn’t the worst urban fantasy I’ve ever read, but it was far from the best.

Series status: I probably will not continue anytime soon (if at all). At least until I knock out the dozen or so other UFs on my TBR. I own this whole series, so we’ll see if it makes it past the next library purge. I admit to being mildly curious if all of the things I was missing develop later in the series because, despite my experience with this first book, I know the brilliance the author is capable of. We’ll see.

Recommendations: This would be a difficult one for me to recommend. If you’re thinking to read because you love the author (as I did), my inclination is to suggest you pass (on this one – everything else by him is superb). If you’re thinking to read this because you like urban fantasy, I wouldn’t say pass, but there are plethora of titles I’d hand you first.

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by Niki Hawkes