Royal street

I'm always interested in a good urban fantasy novel. When I won a copy of the fourth book in the series, I knew I needed to go start at the beginning so that everything made sense. And boy, am I glad I did.

This book starts off with a bang, introducing the reader to New Orleans just days before Hurricane Katrina strikes. The reader then weathers the storm and aftermath with the characters that are reeling from the destruction. In Suzanne Johnson's world, New Orleans is already a hot spot for paranormal activity. But the storm weakens the borders and is allowing all those paranormal creatures and undead easier access to our world.

This book introduces us to DJ. She's a green wizard, drawing most of her powers from potions and wards. She's still learning how to control and understand her powers when her mentor disappears during the hurricane. Since Gerry, her mentor, is the Sentinel of New Orleans, she is asked to step into his position by the Elders, who are the ruling group of wizards. They don't want her looking into Gerry's disappearance and send Alex, an enforcer, in to help her with her new job.

Phew! Now that we have the ground laid, let's get into this review. I really like where Ms Johnson was going with this book. It's an interesting world that was created and setting it to coincide with Hurricane Katrina was a winner in my book. She didn't gloss over details of how bad the hurricane and aftermath were and yet everything fit well into the story.

For the most part, I liked DJ. She was a little snarky, I laughed from time to time with her antics. She was a little hard headed and rebellious, not listening to the advice (or orders) of those who knew more than she did. Alex wasn't as alpha as I would have liked him to be. He let DJ dictate what they were going to do and then had to mop up after her when it didn't work out as planned. I think their dynamic would have worked better if he stood up to her a little more. There is an underlying spark between the two which wasn't explored a lot during this book, but I have a feeling will be present in the future books of the series.

In the end, the supporting characters really stole the show. From Jean Lafitte to Louis Armstrong to Baron Samedi, Ms Johnson pulled historical and voodoo characters into her story to enrich the plot. The scenes that these characters were in amped up the action and helped save this book from being a little mundane. There are only so many times that I want to read about DJ and Alex eating MRE's or all those little day-to-day chores they were doing that didn't really advance the plot (but did add some understanding about like in New Orleans at that time).

All in all, I enjoyed this story and am interested in seeing where this is going to go. I was slightly disappointed at the ending, but the journey to get there was worth the ride.