Customer Reviews

Sins & Shadows

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I loved everything about this book! Sylvie Lightner P.I. extraordinaire is having a very bad day and it's about to get worse. Syl had the unfortunate experience of interrupting a group of Satanist during their power ceremony. Well, we all know Satanist, right? They just have no sense of humor and now she's the object of their fixation. As if being stalked by Satanists isn't horrific enough, try having a god as a client...... Syl has decided to close up her P.I. business after the Satanist incident but as she's walking out her shop door, the God of Justice (GOJ) appears and insists that she use her skills to locate his lover. The GOJ lover Bran has gone missing and is suspected of being kidnapped. Unable to locate him, GOJ needs Syl and compels her, by means of threats, to take the case. Tension is rising between various gods who covet GOJ's power and would like to use this vulnerability to siphon more power for themselves. During these conflicts, earth is going to hell in a hand basket with widespread cataclysmic events, as a consequence from having too many gods and too much power on earth. Meanwhile, time is not on Bran's side and Syl literally has the fate and weight of the world on her shoulders. Following leads Syl crosses paths with the utmost unwavering and timeless wickedness that she must defeat to retrieve Bran. How do you out-smart a timeless being who has honed their malicious skills and through their relentless cleverness is determined to succeed? I was literally enthralled by this story and actually lost sleep over it, it was so good. This book is creative, fast paced and action-packed. Syl's character is strong, mean and always gets the job done. I highly recommend this book and look forward to the next book in the series.

I also recommend:

Blood Engines (Marla Mason, Book 1)
Succubus Dreams (Georgina Kincaid, Book 3)
Magic Strikes (Kate Daniels, Book 3)
Bloodring: A Rogue Mage Novel
Storm Born (Dark Swan, Book 1)

This was an interesting book. Initially, I thought I had stumbled onto book 2 of the series. Several concepts are mentioned (eg. Magicus Mundi, ISI...) without being explained. Also there are references to the death of a friend and in the middle of the book there is mention of a dead husband. This threw me for a loop, and I did an Amazon search to make sure I had not missed a another book in this series. Things are thrown out without explanation and without being referred to ever again. This is why I detracted 1 star from this review.

Having said that, the book was refreshing because there are no vampires and no werewolves! There are however plently of Gods - Greek, Egyptian, Judeo-Christian. I enjoyed the world building. Our heroine, Sylvie is fairly typical of this genre- tough, scarred, angry, etc.

The action moves quickly. This is UF not Paranormal Romance. There is a relationship but with a surprising twist that caught me by surprise, and shows that the author is willing to take risks.

All in all, a good read, if a little uneven.I will definitely read the sequel.

A strong start for a new series, the book focuses on Sylvie Lightner, a (sort of stereotypical but still loveable) temperamental heroine and her PI business dealing with paranormal events, which is about to close down until it gets a job from a god who won't take no for an answer. The plot is the strong point of this book and includes some twists that, while well-hinted at and sensible, aren't entirely predictable. The book itself is well-written above all else and feel a bit like what would happen if Janet Evanovich wrote things that were fantasy and about ten times more intelligent.

Definitely recommended for those who like urban fantasy, those who like fantasy in general, and those who like the conventions of popular thrillers.

When I first picked up the book "Sins & Shadows," I believed the volume to be from a freshman fantasy author; however, I was only part correct. In actuality, Lyn Benedict is a pseudonym. The author also writes political intrigue under the name Lane Robins (See "Kings and Assassins", "Maledicts")

Our heroine is Sylvie, the owner of a PI agency. She's about to close up shop and fire her one employee when Kevin Dunne, the God of Justice, walks into the shop and tells her he wants her to find his lost lover Brandon Wolf or else everyone she loves is going to suffer. This urban fantasy takes place in a world where the Gods of Rome are real and just as capricious as the mythos describes them to be.

There are several flaws in this book that detract from this reviewer's enjoyment. "Sins & Shadows" reads like the second book in a series. Terms such as Magicus Mundi, ISI (some kind of government agency), and events within the book are mentioned but not explained fully. If you like me are a character reader this may not be the book for you, Sylvie herself is more of an antihero than a sympathetic lead, so you will not bond with her.

The closing leads me to believe this is the first book in a continuing series for the Shadows. The concept is interesting enough for me to consider picking up the second book, but I would probably have to read a chapter or two in person before I actually made the purchase.

Rebecca Kyle, December 2009

Lyn Benedict also writes political-intrigue fantasy under the name Lane Robins. I learned this before starting _Sins and Shadows_, and I've been wondering ever since whether I'd have figured it out if I hadn't known. The setting, plot, and prose style are completely different from the Lane Robins books, but there are some echoes in the general themes: love, vengeance, and the havoc that gods wreak when they meddle in mortal affairs.

Sins and Shadows introduces us to Sylvie Lightner, nicknamed "Shadows," who works as a sort of paranormal P.I. After a satanic cult kills one of her friends, Sylvie is about to call it quits. Just as she's firing her assistant and packing her office, she is approached by a god in need. Kevin Dunne is the Greek god of Justice, and he's shown up with his Furies in tow, wanting Sylvie to help him find his missing lover.

"Wait," you might say. "There's no male Greek god of Justice that the Furies answer to! And even if there were, he wouldn't be named Kevin!" Sylvie's reaction is much the same. How Kevin became a god is part of the central mystery Sylvie must unravel if she is to save the day.

I really loved the world-building here. Lyn Benedict immerses the reader in a complex setting filled with bureaucracy, gods of various pantheons, and competing agendas. The prose is great too. It's less ornate than the style she uses in Maledicte and Kings and Assassins, but the simpler style suits the gritty modern setting, and she's just as good at evoking beautiful or gory images with her words as she is when she's writing as Lane Robins. The scene that stands out most to me is the novel's (only) sex scene, in which Benedict twines together the romantic emotions with a very different kind of tension; there's a mysterious threat in the background that adds some creepiness to the scene. When I figured out why Sylvie was so affected by certain colors in her partner's room, I got chills.

The biggest sticking point in _Sins and Shadows_ is Sylvie herself. I had a lot of trouble liking her. She pushes people away. She uses people. She loses her temper at the worst possible moments. The good news is, Benedict writes Sylvie's nasty streak into the story in a realistic way. She doesn't just go around mouthing off with no consequences. She gets called on it all the time, and her attitude often lands her and her friends in mortal danger. And once in a while, it works in her favor. Best of all, as _Sins and Shadows_ ends, there is hope for a more-sympathetic Sylvie.

I'll be following the Shadows Inquiries series. The complex world-building, evocative prose, and layered plot are more than enough to make up for a heroine with a whole bag of chips on her shoulder. And as for her, well, I just need to keep in mind that I didn't like Ilona Andrews' Kate Daniels much at first, either, and now she's one of my favorite fantasy characters. I'm looking forward to seeing what Sylvie's character arc will be.

This is a very dark urban fantasy without a lot of comic relief, but there was one line that cracked me up; I think Benedict may be giving the subgenre a little affectionate ribbing:

"How many pretty women carry a big gun and an even bigger mouth?"

I'll read more of this on the train (July 31, 2009)on the way home tonight, but after that. . .not so much. I rarely quit reading in the middle of a book, but I find it rather slow going. It goes off in too many directions and things aren't really explained. I find Slyvie to be a bit of a witch with a "b" instead of a "w", and I get the fact that it's her defense mechanism, but still! Was it really necessary for her to be so condescending to Tish when they're in Bran's studio looking for the portrait of Lily? The author's ideas are great, but I agree with another reviewer, it feels like you're reading the 2nd or 3rd book in the series.

I liked this book. Sylvie is a complex, deeply flawed character, and I found myself really interested to see how she was going to muck things up from situation to situation. I gave this review only three stars because, like other reviewers have mentioned, a lot of things in this world went unexplained, and this novel felt like a later book in a series, rather than the first. Some terms became clearer through repetition, but the author teased about characters and places that never actually appeared in this novel's present, which just seemed lazy. Dunno. I would probably read future entries in this series, and I hope that they continue to build primarily on the world introduced in this novel, rather than introducing entirely new things and not accounting for them in any satisfying way.

I saw it when it came out, but ignored it because the bookstore shelves were flooded with urban fantasy sporting clone cover about tough gritty females in dark modern fantasy settings. My bad. It took me a year to get to it and the one good thing about the delay is that I only have a few weeks to wait for book two *^_^* -- and it's gonna be a hard wait. First off, this book blows other urban fantasy out of the freaking water. This isn't your ditzy shoe freak shopaholic thrown in with the big bad werewolf and vampire playboys flavor of the month. This isn't your chip on the shoulder paranormal gal who is "tough as nails" who spends half the book pissing off the cops with b rated banter and tissue thin motivation. This book is THE REAL DEAL - Start, one female established (but unlicensed) paranormal PI, emotional status soul sucking grief and guilt due to the recent death of one of her employees by a group of power wannabee Satanists. Sylvie is tired and feeling like she's a danger to those she cares about, so she's cutting her losses and closing shop. Or at least she's trying to when in walks a client who doesn't take no for an answer.

Enter Kevin Dunne (sp?) God of Justice and half out of his mind with worry about his missing lover, moody and beautiful artist Bran, who disappeared two weeks past. The God of Justice wants Sylvie because she has a brain and is doggedly persistent. He's also prepared to hand her the ultimate in pay offs, rewards only a God capital G can accomplish.

What's a girl to do with the ultimate open check? You go on the ultimate missing person's case. In the course of doing so, Sylvie gets crossways with shady black ops government departments who keep an eye on the supernatural part of their world, makes deadly enemies with underground magical organizations bent on taking over the world, and goes up against a relentless power hungry Immortal whose just too close to having the same dark and relentless personality and traits as Sylvie for comfort.

As events evolve and information is revealed, the case turns out to be far more than a missing person, but a plot to steal the power of a god, and the destruction of the world as we know it from the coming presence and conflicts of clashing Gods battling on the mortal world.

Sylvie's deductive reasoning is solid, and she's just a little something more than your regular human off the street. With an iron will to soldier on and defy both the odds and personal obstacles, her unrelenting personal credo, " Ceedo Nulli" ... "I yield to none", Sylvie strives to solve her case, keep the world from going kablooie, and avenge her fallen friends and loved ones. All the while she's coming to grips with her personal kills for the greater good, and the darker side of herself that welcomes, even enjoys the death she brings to her enemies.

Fave parts, I loved when she was teamed up with the youngest of the Furies. I hope maybe we can see that Fury again.

An unlicensed PI who deals with paranormal cases, Silvie has given up and is closing down her detective agency when a client walks in and insists that she take his case. Silvie has no intention of taking the case, losing a partner has broken her spirit, but she soon finds that it's pretty much impossible to say no to the god who is searching for his lost lover.

There were things that I liked about the book, the human cop who became the god of justice and his companions the Furies of legend legendary were great. But I just didn't like Sylvie, she was incredibly dark for a protector - quick tempered, vindictive, and quick to kill - and she had few redeeming moments in the book. She was supposed to be smart, but spent most of the story being reactive. I have to say that I liked the monsters better - the youngest leather wearing Fury was lethal but entertaining. I also really didn't like the ending of the story, I hated the final fate of a character who had gone through a transition which had given him the potential for being something really interesting.

So, overall since this was a mixed read for me I ended thinking that Sins & Shadows was just okay, but I will be reading the next one book Ghosts & Echoes since it's already in my TBR pile.

Sylvie Lightner wants out of the supernatural detective racket, but a newly minted god drags her back in when his male lover goes missing in Chicago. Suddenly she faces enemies as old as time, fighting a fight the gods can't win, while those same gods turn the Second City into a magical Baghdad. And if that's not bad enough, a secret about Silvie's own family threatens to drag her under.

Lyn Benedict enters the overcrowded fantasy noir market with a potboiler which name-checks every urban fantasy cliché and could afford to be trimmed by as much as a third. Reading this book, I noticed how often the action just goes on, and on, and on, when Benedict's point is long since made. Then, as if to offset this, she'll suddenly lurch through actions so fast that I get whiplash.

Benedict offers moments if insight and clarity. I really liked the pull Sylvie feels between her divinely ordained mission and the dying friend she left behind. This is the sort of human touch that makes stars out of authors like Jim Butcher and Charlaine Harris. But they never last in this book. The character just resists introspection. And as a result, she's completely at the mercy of the plot.

Apparently, Benedict thinks stories happen in the physical confrontations. This would explain why Sylvie keeps mixing it up with government agents, mighty monsters, ageless demigods, and penny ante thugs. It also explains why Sylvie treats sex like a full contact sport, and why Benedict's dénouement lingers over the course of several chapters. This book cries out for a firm editorial intervention.

Fantasy noir is a big, busy market. This book, while it has moments of clarity and insight, requires a strong constitution to plow through. If you're jonesing for your fantasy mystery fix while you wait for Butcher or Harris to publish their next installment, maybe give this one a try. But know what you're getting into; Benedict promises more than she's equipped to deliver.