Book Review - Skinwalker by Faith Hunter

Faith Hunter's Skinwalker follows Cherokee vampire hunter, Jane Yellowrock to New Orleans to track a rogue vampire killing humans and it's own kind. Jane isn't just an ordinary vampire slayer, she's a skinwalker with the ability to transform into other creatures. After recovering from slaying a family of rogues, Jane is hired by Katie, vampire madame of Katie's Ladies and the vampire council in New Orleans. Jane has ten days to track down and destroy the rogue while avoiding becoming entangled in vampire and police politics or becoming the new plaything of the head vampire, Leo or one of his minions.

Hunter has assembled an interesting assortment of characters and an intriguing storyline. The plot and the arc of the story are compelling. The problem is with the pacing. Momentum builds and as a reader, you are pulled into the action, then Hunter bogs you down with flashbacks and so much extraneous detail that she brings the reader to a grinding halt, trying to digest the onslaught of factoids. Then the action once again takes off, but as the reader, you're still trying to digest her details and how they affect the action taking place. The excessive detailing also takes focus away from the readers ability to form an association with the characters. The main character, Jane Yellowrock, is so overly described and has so many odd unexplained flashbacks, that she becomes confusing. Where did she come from? What made her who she is? What exactly is she? Is this book about the action or the random thoughts of the main character? Given the amount of detailing Hunter does, those are questions that should have been answered and possibly in a way they had been, but with so much to filter through it is hard to say. I did like the plot and the creativity behind the story, although I would have enjoyed it more with less extraneous details. I would give this three out of five stakes.