Customer Reviews

Frost Moon (Skindancer, Book 1)

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(32)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

"Frost Moon" grabs you by the neck and throws you head first into the rip-tide life of Dakota Frost, magical tattoo artist and skindancer. This dark urban fantasy by Anthony Francis challenges you from the start to keep up or drown, tangled in the hidden roots you can feel lurking just under the surface.

Dakota is part of the Edgeworld--an alternate-world subculture that is populated by weres, vampires, witches, magicians, and the occasional agent of a secret government law enforcement agency--set in Atlanta, Georgia. As a magical tattooist, Dakota inks powerful designs into her own skin and that of her clients. Whether for protection or control, these magical tattoos can take on a life of their own.

In "Frost Moon", Dakota is recruited by law enforcement to consult on evidence from a serial killer who is murdering Edgeworlders for the very same kind of tattoos that Dakota creates. And there are only days left until the next murder is expected to occur. The story launches from there. Much of the plot is invested in Dakota's process of tracking down people to consult on new magical tattoo designs and the dangers she encounters along the way. And oh, what trouble she gets into with the numerous supporting characters that are tossed into the mix, seemingly at random.

The biggest criticism I have for this book is that time is unbelievably condensed, with too much happening in too short of a time frame. At times, the plot feels excessively full with too much going on while still being delivered in a rather brusque tone. Francis struggles with the balance between too much information/action and not enough, a hazard of creating his own world for this series, though he manages to pull most of it together at the end.

Overall, a good read. I look forward to seeing what is in store for Dakota Frost in the next book of Francis's Skindancer series.

Note: This review is of the "Early Reviewers" edition of this book via LibraryThing. (*** 1/2 )

I think the author has created a very promising "Edgeworld" for a continued fantasy series. I quite enjoyed the idea of skin-dancing and magical tattoos, and loved the uber-Liberal Dakota (the first line is the best!), but I never got to a part in the book where I was waiting with great anticipation to see what happened next. I found it a bit slow and filled with somewhat irrelevant details (honestly, the whole bit about Savannah didn't pan out at all, as her protection proved all but worthless) but I was interested in seeing how it ended.

The author ties things up fairly well, and didn't surprise me (I knew who the bad guy was, so no Scooby-Doo ending here), and I found the characters of Dakota and Cinnamon both likable. The only other complaint that I had is the notion that a 6'2" woman covered in tattoos and a purple Mohawk is turning heads from Feds to wolves to karate teachers, but I guess she just has a universal appeal that I didn't quite see. It's not at the top of my list, but I'd recommend it to those who like urban fantasy.

I picked up this book because the premise sounded great: a magical tattoo artist who helps the police with a serial killer who's hunting people with magical tattoos. Unfortunately, it goes downhill from there. When not making sophomoric grammatical errors, the author is busy going into explicit detail about people and events that do not further the plot. While reading, at times I felt like saying, "Okay...where is he going with this?" and at others I was like, "Huh, how'd we get from there to here?" There were several world-building items that needed more clarification, and others that needed much less. Another reviewer wrote that Francis needs some work with the balance of world-building and plot-building scenes. I would have to agree.

Another thing that bothered me was the overabundance of the author's political and social values that seeped into the book. Okay Francis, I get that you're a left-wing social progressive, but I don't need to be reminded of it on every other page. I read urban fantasy to get away from politics, not to be preached at about your views on religion, gay marriage, liberal politics, and driving an eco-friendly vehicle.

The final straw was the pedophilia. Yes, you read that right. The main character is openly bisexual. And I mean in-your-face bisexual. Her ex-girlfriend plays a major role in the book and she quite frequently talks about how sexy her ex looks. I admit that I like my heroes and heroines to be heterosexual, but I probably could have handled the bisexuality if Francis hadn't brought a child into it. Oh yes, he goes there. He has a THIRTEEN YEAR-OLD GIRL talk about getting into the main character's pants - and this is after we learn that the main character was initially attracted to the child. Sorry, that was pretty much it for me. That's not sexy; that's sick.

This book sounded great when I read the synopsis... so great in fact that I jumped through a few hoops to acquire the book. I love the ideas that Mr. Francis explores, they are original and have a lot of potential to go big places. Now here are the BUTs:

The author seems to have fallen into that cliche category of "male author who has no earthly idea how to write a female lead character with any believability." Dakota is a male fantasy; she is 6'2" tall, beautiful, has big boobs, is witty, has a sexy profession, has connections to the BDSM scene, and the love of her life happens to be a -- wait for it -- stunningly gorgeous redheaded vampire queen. Did I mention she's bisexual rather than outright lesbian? That means all of the male characters whose paths she crosses throughout the book are all attracted to her and presumably have a shot at dating her. Also, Dakota needs character flaws in order to grow throughout the trilogy the author seems to have planned for her, and so far I can't find any other than the obvious big one (her reactions after her attack). And even here, her recovery is too quick, too perfect. She even demonstrates her innate mothering skills and ends up with an instant family at the end of the book. I found myself unable to relate to her or sympathize with her at all. Maybe this is how men feel when they read romance novels?

My suggestion for Anthony Francis is to get a better critique circle.

I really like the premise of this first book in the Skindancer series. Magical tattoos have appeared in other works of paranormal romance/urban fantasy-- but I don't recall them ever being the central focus, as they are in Frost Moon. Unfortunately, it takes more than a terrific premise to make a novel outstanding.

Anthony Francis does have some skill as a writer, but I believe he could use some help on the editing end of things. There are quite a few instances of awkward phrasing, and rather creative use of punctuation. At times, the language seemed a bit dated (why does everyone refer to the main character as "Miss Frost" instead of a more modern "Ms. Frost" or just "Dakota?"). Francis also launches into a great deal of descriptive detail, which I would expect from someone trying to build a world that can sustain future books in the series. However, a good editor could give the author some feedback on when things get too descriptive. Frost Moon wasn't supposed to be a travelogue, but sometimes it felt that way-- telling more than I really wanted to know about Atlanta (or even the alt-Atlanta where the EdgeWorld, exists).

For all the details regarding "place," I felt that the descriptions of characters were a bit flat. The story is told from Dakota Frost's POV, and she describes herself as a "six-foot-two, attractive, largebreasted (sic) woman," which does tell us something about the main character, but isn't the most interesting description. Dakota takes several opportunities to remind the reader of her attractiveness-- which I might be willing to forgive if Dakota had been an irresistible charmer. Dakota's observations about herself suggest that she's either insecure or just shallow-- and I can't decide between the two. Dakota frequently tells us how she's the best magical tattoo artist and that she's a badass-- but she never convinced me on latter (she kinda wimps out on more than one occasion) and as far as the former goes-- well, how many magical tattoo artists are there, anyway?

One thing that particularly irked me in reading this book is that almost every male in the story is attracted to Dakota-- or so she thinks and relays to the reader. And with all the potential conquests, we only get a few tepid scenes between Dakota and Philip--Dakota's very own Man-in-Black. Philip was a bit of a yawn, and it's a good thing that Dakota has her ex-girlfriend and other friends to help bail her out of trouble, because Philip is off elsewhere doing his cloak-and-dagger stuff. And actually, it seemed to me that Dakota had more rapport with Wulf, but any relationship with him dead-ends-- so why even start the reader down that path?

I could go on and on with a critique (I didn't even get to the scenes with Cinnamon) but I think I will wrap this up. I think this story had potential, but the author needs to grow as a writer and have better editing. As it stands, I could see Frost Moon working as a comic book(and the author has comics in his background, according to his bio) or even a role-playing game. The novel really needed the characters and storylines fleshed out more, and needed better pacing. Moreover, page-turning action would have won me over. If I could have gone halfsies, I would have given this book 2.5 stars. Perhaps the next book in this series will shore up the deficiencies and be a more worthwhile read.

Great story! Outstanding job of creating an alternate and awesome world where Vampires, Weres, Magicians and Magical Tattooists exists. Dakota Frost is a skindancer and magical tattooist. Her tats come to life before your very eyes, dancing with power on her skin. She is one of the best. There is a serial killer on the loose who is collecting magical tatoos and when the cops come to Dakota for help she realizes she has to warn the magical people of the underground, she could even be in danger herself. Skindancer Dakota Frost is equal to Kate Daniels, Mercy Thompson, and Rachel Morgan.

From the number of positive reviews I am assuming the book improved. However, I had to stop reading because while the concept was quite interesting the heroine seemed to be yet another two dimensional action heroes who managed to solve everything while the other characters were mesmorized by her chest. Two stars for the idea behind the book and the universe.

FROST MOON was way too weird for me. I was cool with protagonist Dakota Frost's big Mohawk, and her tattoos, and her bisexuality. But the uber-Christian vampire ex-girlfriend who accuses Dakota's tattoos of being the work of Satan while tarted up in a French maid's uniform? The "elegant gothic Lolita" and the guy in "cheekchiller" chaps who roleplayed as a dog for the whole book? Toss in a few random vampires with names like Transomnia and Calaphase, and I'd had enough.

I'm guessing that Anthony Francis is going for the Laurell K Hamilton crowd here, because in FROST MOON all of his characters are always in costume, they all have stage names, and relationship drama masquerades as plot.

Speaking of plot: FROST MOON has about a dozen. Francis kickstarts the book with a hunt for a serial killer who's targeting people with magic tattoos, like the ones that Dakota makes. Then we get a sub-plot with a lone werewolf who wants a special tattoo to control his beast. We get a third sub-plot when a sleight-of-hand magician who tries to debunk supernatural events challenges Dakota to a sort of duel. Add in Dakota's reconciliation with her ex-girlfriend, her relationship with the organized weres (including a young stray named, of course, "Cinnamon"), and a half-crazed vampire out to revenge an insult to his pride, and what you've got is...a mess, actually.

At first, none of these plots seem to have anything to do with one another. By the end, they intersect too neatly. In the meanwhile, it seems like Francis forgets about one story in order to pursue another. Halfway through the novel I found myself wondering if anyone was ever going to go look for that serial killer.

Personally, I think it's a bad sign when a half-dozen people in the novel accuse Dakota, the protagonist, of looking like a stripper or a prostitute. I want to clutch my pearls and buy her a sweater. I roll my eyes when Dakota insults someone for looking like they shop at Hot Topic in one sentence and then admits to shopping there herself in the next. Because I'm not in the target demographic and FROST MOON was written for a different audience.

As soon as I started this book, I knew I probably wouldn't like. The main character, Dakota Frost, and I could not have been more different. She is over 6 feet; I'm 5'4" on a really tall day. She is muscular and intimidating; I can occasionally make it 20 full minutes on a treadmill. She is a tattoo artist with her body a masterpiece of work; I have been known to faint after a flu shot. She is young and hip; I vaguely remember young but can't even guess how to be hip. She obliterates the mores of sexuality; I have been married to my college sweetie for almost 20 years. She hangs out with werecreatures and biker dudes; I teach middle school (okay, maybe that one isn't too dissimilar!)

We had absolutely nothing in common. There was no way I was going to be able to connect with this character or this book.

And yet........

Slowly, without me realizing it, she had me hooked. With all of our dissimilarities, I discovered how very much we had in common. Then I really started to like her. She is one kick-butt heroine with a soft marshmallow center she doesn't want anyone else to see.
The best way to describe the plot? It is noir/goth vampire murder mystery with werewolves and other creatures of the night thrown in. That's the best way to describe this mess. I mean mess in the highest complimentary way, though. That's the real strength of this book. It's like you're traveling along in this girl's messy life, trying to figure out who is bad and good and what should she say and/or do to not offend and just get along the best she can. (See what I mean about having stuff in common? Surely, suddenly!, I'm not the only one whose life is too complicated.)

The plot twists and turns were unexpected and thrilling; the secondary characters were intriguing and scary; the setting was fascinating--everything about this book worked for me. There is plenty here for a lengthy series with new adventures.

Did I mention the magical tattoos? The real strength of this book, and this series, is going to be this new genre of magic. I have honestly never read a book about doing magic with tattoos and love the concept. The author made all those inks and colors leap off the page and into my imagination. I can say I've never read anything like it before and I loved it.

Maybe enough to get my own tattoo? Well, I've have to read the second book to decide for sure.

I really wanted to like this book but I kept reading and reading waiting for something exciting to happen, and finally gave up without finishing it. Too bad, the premise sounded interesting, although I have to admit the lesbian stuff didn't do anything for me--although if this had been a page turner, I could have overlooked it.