Review – Blood in Her Veins (Jane Yellowrock Anthology) by Faith Hunter (4.5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 560 pages
Publisher: Roc
Release Date: February 2, 2016
ISBN-13: 978-0451475756
Stand Alone or Series: Companion to Jane Yellowrock series
Source: eGalley from NetGalley.com
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

I got this to review through NetGalley. This is a collection of nineteen Jane Yellowrock stories/novellas. Many of these stories have appeared in other places (for example there are a lot of stories from Have Stake Will Travel in here). However, there are a couple new and original stories as well.

I considered listing all the stories and commenting on them all, but let’s face it nineteen stories is a lot to provide a story by story summary for. That being said this was an awesome addition to the Jane Yellowrock series. This is a very long running series and the stories in here are in chronological order. Hunter also comments before each story letting you know exactly where in Jane’s timeline the story takes place.

I have read a lot of these stories in previous anthologies, so I was planning on skipping over those stories because this is a vveeerryy long book; however, I ended up reading them all again because they are just so enjoyable and so addictive. It was also incredibly fun to see how far Jane Yellowrock has come over the course of the series. This was just such a fun look at Jane’s journey and did a great job of reminding me of all the things that have happened throughout this series. It was great to read this before the next book in the series, Shadow Rites, which comes out in April.

There are some new stories in here as well. I especially enjoyed Off the Grid which introduces us to Nell Ingram who will feature in Hunter’s new urban fantasy series. There is also a story called Cat Fight in which Jane has to return to the Bayou and deal with some witch vs. vamp trauma. There is a fantastic story that wraps up the book called Bound No More in which we see how powerful Angie Baby is becoming…this was just spectacular.

Additionally there are a lot of stories from other characters’ POVs. There are a few from Ricky Bo’s POV; this gave more insight into what Ricky Bo’s been through…although they were kind of tough to read knowing where things went for Ricky Bo and Jane. There are a couple of very good stories from Bruiser’s POV as well; I especially enjoyed the one where he first meets Jane.

The only complaint I have (and it’s a small one) is that some of the early and mid stories get a bit repetitive if you read them one after another. Ideally I think this would be a book best read a few stories at a time…not devoured over a couple days like I did (I got it for review and was trying to get it read quickly).

Overall this is a fantastic, and complete, collection of stories from the Jane Yellowrock universe. It was an entertaining and nostalgic trip through Jane’s journey and I thoroughly enjoyed it. This book reminded me how entertaining and addictive this series is. I would definitely recommend this book to fans of the Jane Yellowrock universe and fans of urban fantasy in general.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– New Release Challenge