Product Description

In a world where being of mixed-blood is a major liability, Sabina doesn't really fit in. And being an assassin - the only profession fit for an outcast - doesn't help matters. But she's never brought her work home. Until now. Her latest mission is uncomfortably complex, and threatens the fragile peace between the vampire and mage races. As Sabina scrambles to figure out which side she's on, she uncovers a tangled political web, some nasty facts about her family and some unexpected new talents. Any of these things could be worryingly life-changing, but together, they could be fatal ...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #99193 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Review
'Brassy, sassy, and hip! Wells' promising debut is a fast-paced trip through a dark and dangerous landscape featuring an unusual take on vampires, mages, faeries, and demons. It hooks you on page one and takes you for a great ride!' Kat Richardson, author of Poltergeist.

About the Author
Jaye Wells took an art history degree, before embarking on a series of random career paths. She eventually became a magazine editor, then took up freelance writing. But she left all that behind to make stuff up for a living. She lives in Texas with her saintly husband and devilish son.

Customer Reviews

New series with potential...
This is the first book in a new urban fantasy vampire series. Sabina Kane is half Vampire half Mage, and as such she is very much the bad blood in the family tree. Raised by her Grandmother, who is one of a trio of Head Vampires, Sabina is their assassin and is under their control. She is ordered to infiltrate a form of cult and kill their leader, however along the way she learns a few truths about her Grandmother and Vampire politics, things that put Sabina's position in jeopardy.
Coupled with this is the fact that a strange owl and a strange Mage are stalking her. The Mage - Adam Lazarus claims that he can train Sabina to perform magic, even though she has always denied her Mage heritage. Lazarus inevitably provides the sexual tension in the book, while a demon that gets summoned to kill Sabina provides much of the humour.
This is a nice fast paced book, a fine start to what promises to be a good series. There is obviously a lot of scene setting, and I freely admit that after a while I started to skip over the vampire/mage politics, the added fairies and demons were a nice mix. This reminded me a little of Lilith Saintcrow's Danny Valentine novels and Kim Harrison's Rachel Morgan series, if you liked either of those then you should find something in this to interest you.

New Vampire Assassin in Town
I read this as part of a book club read and, despite liking paranormal and unban fantasy/thrillers, wasn't too sure if I was going to like it or not.

Sabina Kane, is a half-breed and an outcast to her vampire kin. Part vampire, part mage, she was raised by her vampire grandmother(who also happens to be one of the Dominae, leaders of the vampire nation) to be an assassin - not a role for a well-brought up vampire to aspire to. Ordered to kill her best friend, David, she is then thrust into a role more suited to a spy than an assassin: her task? - To infiltrate an organisation run by another vampire half-breed and kill its leader who, her Grandmother says, is working to bring tear apart the vampire nation.

For a loner Sabina is soon acquiring new friends at an alarming rate: a demon sent to kill her, one of the Fae ordered to spy on her and a mage, who appears to know more about her past, than she does herself.

Sabina's red and black hair could become almost as famous as Harry Potter's scar, along with her familiar, a cat/demon with a predilection for buying from the shopping channels.

The first third is a bit slow as it sets the scene, but overall I found this a good, steady read, adding a slightly different twist to the usual paranormal world, and I look forward to the next installment.

Impressive start to a new series - can't wait for more
As others have said, Jaye Wells has created a sound, magical world based on various myths, with enough grains of 'truth' to make it all very credible. However, the real quality of the book lies in the relationships between the main protagonists which contain both pathos and humour. Sabina is an interesting and flawed character (appropriate with the background mythology) but I warmed to her as her relationships developed with the nymph Vinca, Adam the sexy mage and best of all Gighul (or Mr Giggles), the demon who becomes a talking bald cat. As I'm mentioning talking cats am I the only person who saw a similarity to Sabrina the Teenage Witch with her black cat Salem (who was actually a warlock turned into a cat), not to mention the 3 Dominae led by nasty Granny but who could also be compared with Sabrina's 2 aunts in the TV series? A tip of the nib that made it even wittier to me. I eagerly await the sequel and recommend this highly.