Inkspot Fancy

In a London where Aristocrats have turned into vampires and werewolves, lording a whole new power over the regular folks, and as happens in this case, a new class is created - half-aristocrat children with extra strength and abilities without being fully vampires or werewolves. And in that tense world-between-worlds, where halvies protect the aristos who birthed them, a family mourns the death of a sister.

At least, most of them do. Alexandra isn't so sure her sister's dead, and a glance at the body in the morgue confirms it. But the question is, who would fake her sister's death - and why?

The setup to this book is excellent. The worldbuilding was fascinating enough that it carried me through the book. But the flaws really held this one back from being as awesome as it could have been.

The major flaw being, it's just too *easy.* Xandra hears about her sister's death and immediately disbelieves it - and she's right. She goes looking for her sister and immediately finds her. She meets her estranged, missing mother, and it's mostly okay, just a bit of a spat. Even the climactic battle is more of a curb-stomp.

It's hard to feel real fear for the protagonist and that makes it a little hard to feel concern for her. She's Superman facing off against some bank robbers, so overpowering that the story loses interest.

Luckily, I liked Xandra, and like I said, I loved the worldbuilding. Her siblings are fun, and a lot of the supporting characters are great with the exception of her love interest, who feels like the love interest from the Parasol Protectorate books but with all the fun bits removed. He's a bit sterile and perfect.

Still, there's more than enough good stuff here to make me come back for the second installment.